Roanoke College students curate exhibition with The Clay Center

By Margo Boone '26

An exhibition curated by Roanoke College students will open on Dec. 19 in the Juliet Art Museum within The Clay Center in Charleston, West Virginia.  

“Beauty Runs Free: A Rooted Rhapsody” is an exhibition that aims to emphasize the beauty of West Virginia and the many reasons people call the state home. The student curators came from multiple worlds of academia, including art history, art education, history and communications, and had to collaborate to make an exhibition honoring the rich heritage of West Virginia. Their work included researching artists' biographies and conducting artistic analyses, which involved breaking down intricate details and understanding the nuances and significances of each piece. 

“This process of putting together the exhibition was a tedious, yet beautiful, journey in balance,” said Art Duncan '25. “We all had to consider our own perspectives coming in and weigh them against the realities portrayed by the artists we selected.” 

The class that did the work, "Curation in Action,” was led by Associate Professor Julia Sienkewicz. Sienkewicz gently guided students to make calculated decisions, which allowed them to practice the kind of critical thinking and decision-making skills that they will carry with them through any career. 

“Working with these students has been a uniquely rewarding experience,” Sienkewicz said. “From the beginning, they understood that the stakes of this opportunity were high, and they worked hard to learn, from scratch, how to plan and execute an art exhibition. When we started the semester, they were a class of students, but I have watched them grow into a room of young professionals.” 

The students were guided through the process of creating an art exhibition from beginning to end. Using pieces the museum already owned, they created an exhibition highlighting West Virginian artists and their love of the state. Once the overall theme was decided, the class was broken up into groups to focus on the state’s main attractions. While some students focused on the landscapes and West Virginia’s coal mining industry, others researched how the state has moved and developed over the years. 

"As an elementary education major, I found that this art curation class was able to help me fine tune my collaborative, organizational, creative, leadership and communication skills," said Mary Beth Mills '26. 

Andrew Teeter ’71, a member of the Roanoke College Board of Trustees, played a major part in connecting the students to faculty at the Clay Center. The center has been a staple in many West Virginian lives, from collaborating with local school districts to many going to spend the day playing and learning about STEAM. Teeter also helped fund the exhibition catalog. 

The students’ exhibition will be presented at The Clay Center in the Juliet Art Museum from Dec. 19, 2024 to March 2025. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets can be purchased at the box office. Adult tickets are $12 and child, senior, teacher and military tickets are $8. Children 2 and under get in free. The Clay Center offers parking across from the building for $3, payable at the Clay Center kiosk.