Why Art Museums On College Campuses Are Important For Students

BY SAMANTHA BROWN

 Art plays an important role in shaping the future of students. The importance of art and culture is highly discernable when it comes to clubbing it with academics. The addition of arts can form a competitive environment for students and can ensure the holistic development of their altruistic values. This is the reason why many Universities are spending lavishly on art galleries and art museums on college campuses…sometimes art makes us think out-of-the-box and propels our imaginations and creativity.

The Universities are now trying to encourage students to develop their affinity towards art and culture. Knowing about different kinds of art, from different places, different art forms help a person to become knowledgeable.  Rather than spending time in a virtual world, students must now increasingly spend time in the real world, interacting with real people, beholding real art and knowing about art forms from different places and different parts of the world.

What is the importance of art museums on college campuses?

• College museums are often called the “Teaching museums” where students get to learn about and experience different artifacts, fine art specimens and that too firsthand experience that counts the most and are better than reading about these forms in textbooks. The students see it, experience it, understand its beauty and learn from it….this way they can retain the knowledge better. What we read is easy to forget but what we see remains with us for a long time.

 

• Students can raise questions about different art forms, this way they can engage in a healthy conversation with their professors and learning process is certainly better than just sitting in the classroom and studying. This is more activity-oriented and makes a student wonder why? And the imagination gets a push. This way of studying and getting to know about things is much more interesting and engaging. This way is very beneficial for students who have taken up art-history courses.

 

• The works of world-renowned artists are exhibited and some colleges open their museums for visitors too. This ensures healthy growth and development both for society and college students. Recently an exhibition was organized at the University of Virginia’s Fralin Museum of Art which had the title, Warhol: Icons. This exhibition showed different, epic and wide array of amazing figures starting from saint Apollonia to Marilyn Monroe to show how the concept of celebrity came into being. This exhibition acted as a teaching tool for the Sociology, media, English and History students and raised a multitude of questions regarding how time and the concept of celebrity have changed since medieval times to the present day where Instagram is a perfect sensational platform and how do celebrities get such status.

 

• Now you must be thrilled to know that some medical universities and colleges such as Clinician’s Eye program in Virginia use art as a teaching tool to help medical students understand visual analysis and recognition of patterns. Some med schools encourage students to sympathize with the patients through the medium of art and paintings. Art and painting represent softer emotions and feelings and any sane person praises a good piece of art or artifact these are also tools to interact with people more.

 

• People now connect to visuals, graphics, images, and videos more than anything else so museums are instrumental in bringing out the creativity and innovativeness of a person. We don’t connect to texts as much as we do to visuals. Today’s literacy is of a new kind. That is why universities and colleges are spending so much to set up their own museums and art galleries within the college campuses.
• Nowadays, colleges are honestly becoming ‘art-tourist destination’. Well, these museums attract well-known art connoisseurs from across the globe. This way the college ensures their advertisement and popularity. The reputation, too, is a big thing which is promoted through these art galleries and museums. The colleges and Universities get donors through these exhibitions that they organize to interact with people as well as students. So, as we can understand not only the students but also the colleges and universities benefit from the art galleries and museums which adorn the college and university campuses. Now colleges are upgrading themselves and spending luxuriously to set up museums in their campuses… to meet the requirements of the students as though this is becoming an arms race. The more the facilities, the better for the colleges as more students get interested.

Installing art in college with professional services

For shifting fine art – artifacts and paintings to college museums, the best is to seek professional services who are well-equipped to make it a seamless process.

A fine art moving company specializes in moving fine art such that prevents any kind of damage to the artifacts. They take special care in shifting the delicate stuff right from the starting till the end. They make sure that the fine art pieces remain absolutely intact and the shifting work is done without any hassles.

Some professional art moving services provide insurance too… in case your precious gets damaged you can claim compensation. Also, a fine art moving company ensures affordability along with quality service. You can blindly trust them for they guarantee 100% quality work.

So, if you want to move your delicate fine art stuff, then you can opt for these specialized companies who provide trained workers. This way you will be able to save a lot of your valuable time and also ensure that all the fragile or delicate paintings are safe.

 

By-line

Samantha Brown is a freelance writer who specializes on carrier guidance, she is also motivational speaker and author