Museums, Education and Engagement

The Owens Art Gallery launches a new collection of visual descriptions written by Mount Allison University students.

Throughout the winter 2021 semester, the Owens has continued to be a teaching museum, with students in FINH 3301, Museums, Education and Engagement exploring the public dimension of museums with course instructor Lucy MacDonald, Curator of Education and Community Outreach.

Together, the students in this class have considered the many factors that shape museum experience and the ways that museums engage and connect with audiences and communities. Central to these conversations have been ideas of access and accessibility. With the goal of providing opportunities for students to apply their research and learning, students developed visual descriptions for a selection of serigraphs by Alex Colville from the Owens’ permanent collection. Visual descriptions give blind and low-vision visitors access to artworks through descriptions that are written in language that is vivid, specific and succinct. Focusing on the visual elements of artworks without interpretation or analysis, visual descriptions reflect universal design thinking, offering any visitor a new point of entry into an artwork.

The visual descriptions in this collection were developed through a process of close-looking, drafting, peer review and editing. Students then recorded their descriptions. This special collection is available now on Soundcloud featuring descriptions by Ella Christison, Kayla Collins, Ruth Curry, Libbie Farrell, Daisy Graham, Kailey Haws, Miranda King, Alice Liu, Chloe Lundrigan, Victoria MacBeath, Brookie Martin, Nat Martin, Sophia Patrell, Laika Dadoun, Michelle Roy, Jasmine Saulnier, Shane Smith Bergeron and Stuart Trenholm.

The visual descriptions developed by students in this course make an important contribution to expanding accessibility at the Owens. The Owens is committed to reducing barriers to access with the goal of becoming a barrier-free facility within the next ten years.

Listen here.

The serigraphs 
In 2013, in memory of his late wife Rhoda (Wright) Colville, Alex Colville made a gift to the Owens Art Gallery of the complete set of 35 silkscreen prints produced by the artist during his lifetime. The first print, titled After Swimming, was made in 1955 and the last print, titled Willow, was made in 2002. The Owens Art Gallery is the only institution to own the complete set of Colville’s prints.

We would like to acknowledge, honour, and pay respect to the traditional owners and custodians—from all four directions—of the land on which we live. It is upon the unceded, ancestral lands of the L’nuk (Mi’kmaq) that the Owens Art Gallery is located. While this area is known as Sackville, New Brunswick, it is part of Siknikt, a district of the greater territory of Mi’kma’ki. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship,” which the Mi’kmaq, Wolastoqiyik, and Peskotomuhkati first signed with the British Crown in 1725.

The Owens Art Gallery acknowledges the generous support of all its funders, including Mount Allison University, the Canada Council for the Arts, the New Brunswick Minister of Tourism, Heritage and Culture, the Town of Sackville, and the Friends of the Owens.

Image description: Within a large gallery space, unframed, matted prints by Alex Colville are displayed on tables. Students sit on chairs near the works, many writing in notebooks, while one uses a laptop. In the foreground, on the table nearest us, is a large circular composition depicting a crow with a silver spoon that flies upwards against a blue sky with scattered clouds.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Owens Art Gallery is currently closed to the public.