Most students will be holed up in the library during the hibernation period that is reading days, learning the material they meant to learn months ago and writing the papers they've supposedly been researching all semester. But for the select group of students enrolled in Art History 301: Polynesian Art in the University Museum, reading days will mark the culmination of a semester's worth of planning. The 16 students of ARTH 301, a class taught by Gwendolyn DuBois Shaw, will help to install "Trouble in Paradise: The Art of Polynesian Warfare"at Penn's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The exhibit opens April 29th and will run until December 31st.
The exhibit will focus on the artistry of hand-carved 19th century war clubs from Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, New Zealand and the Marquesas. Yes, you read that right. It's fair to say that these students have spent an entire semester studying something so obscure, you probably didn't even know it existed. For laymen, the word "Polynesia" conjures up images of hula dancers and volcanoes. After a semester of study, however, the students of ARTH 301 might argue that warfare tools speak volumes more of the people and culture of Polynesia than a cheap souvenir ever could.
On top of their research on individually selected weapons mined from the museum's existing collection, students worked under the tutelage of museum staffers to handle all aspects of the exhibit, from writing up press releases to preparing multimedia clips to accompany the actual exhibition. The hands-on nature of the class was made possible by its status as a Halpern-Rogath Curatorial Seminar. In past semesters, students enrolled in these classes were given the opportunity to co-curate exhibits at the ICA and the Arthur Ross Gallery. The class even had enough funding this semester to send students on research missions to Honolulu and London.
Art History is the kind of major that many people consider impractical. And even then, most Art History classes consist of lectures about famous paintings and important works. In this seminar, though, the department let students take their scholarly pursuits out for a real-world spin. When asked if he could see himself putting the skills he gained in the seminar to use, senior Art History major Patrick Turevon said, "Well, that's the question I actually ask myself everyday." The path for an Art History major may be uncertain, but one thing's for sure: when push comes to shove, these students can wield one mean war club.
