November 19, 2015 - Panola College students visited the Dallas Museum of Art on Thursday, Nov. 12, through a grant funded by the Panola College Foundation. Art Professor Ann Boland wrote the grant to provide students the opportunity to experience a large city museum. Humanities, photography, and Spanish students also participated.
“We are grateful to the Panola College Foundation for this grant,” Boland said. “Museums give students an opportunity to interact and engage in the visual arts. For many students, this is their first experience in visiting a museum, and, hopefully, will be the beginning of a life-long interest.”
Students who attended included Nathan Allred, Kristina Almeida, Jarid Barton, Ani Buongiorne, Sarahi Contreras, Travis Corley, Melissa Crooks, Melissa Espinoza, Miguel Garcia, Jessica Gherts, Monique Glasper, Katie Golden, Rogelio Gonzalez, Morgan Greenman, LaRaysha Hall, Laurin Hammons, Tammy Johnson, Christie Liles, Clarissa Menefee, Mia Sartor, Samuel Slone, Addison Smalley, Carlie Smith, Lauren Williams, Magdalene Yoerger, Maddy Youngblood, and Jenna Yule.
Faculty and administrators who accompanied the students were Boland; Dr. Kathy Watlington, Spanish professor; Teresa Beasley, humanities and communication professor, and Tryphena Bledsoe, director of institutional planning and research.
Admission to the permanent collection at the Dallas Museum of Art is free. In addition to art works from around the world, the museum features a comprehensive exhibit of works from North America, including ancient native cultures. A special exhibit in progress this month is entitled “Form/Unformed – Design from 1960 to the Present.” Other free exhibits include “Spirit and Matter: Masterpieces from the Keir Collection of Islamic Art,” and a unique exhibit, “Concentrations 59: Mirror Stage, Visualizing the Self After the Internet.” Special exhibitions, which require an admission fee, include “Inca: Conquest of the Andes,” “International Pop,” and, opening on November 20, “Jackson Pollock: Blind Spots.”
Christie Liles, a nursing student, said this was her first time to visit a major museum. “It opens our minds up to the possibility to so much other beautiful things in the world outside of a small town,” she said.
Jarid Barton said his favorite exhibit at the museum was a thumb piano in the Asian/African exhibit hall. “It had musical appeal and we were allowed to play it,” he said. “I enjoyed having exposure to different cultures both in and out of the museum.”
Clarissa Menefee enjoyed the examples of intricate vases because of the incredible detail in their construction. She said having a chance to visit the Dallas Museum for the first time “teaches you about other cultures and exposes you to other things outside of our small town.”
While this was her first time to visit the Dallas Museum of Art, student Ani Buongiorne, who is from Dry Creek, Alaska, has visited The Prado and the British Museum. She said her favorite exhibit at the Dallas Museum was a glass chair in the exhibit about the 1960s. “I loved how the roses were set inside the glass. You could see every angle.” She added that the benefit of visiting a major museum is that the experience “broadens your creative horizons and allows you to see how other people think.”
