Students Bring “Liquid Commonwealth” to Life at the Muscarelle

Excellence

Art history students Amelia Kim '27, Holly Gardner '26 and Sabine Krigsvold '27 discuss one of the paintings they chose for "Liquid Commonwealth," an exhibit they and their classmates curated at the Muscarelle Museum of Art.

A new exhibit at the Muscarelle Museum of Art owes its existence to the students in The Curatorial Project, an undergraduate course required for William & Mary students with a concentration in art history.

It began last August with a call for artworks around the idea of Virginia as a place shaped by its various liquid environments: the Atlantic Ocean, the Chesapeake Bay, rivers, lakes, human-made reservoirs and other aqueous systems that sustain life here. The choice of topics aligned with William & Mary's celebration of the Year of the Environment.

With guidance from the staff of the Muscarelle, the students reviewed nearly 800 digital entries. Collaboratively, they chose 54 winners to display and grouped the artworks into categories based on themes they chose.

"We knew we wanted themes about the environment and human health, and it was easy to see how water fit into that," said Amelia Kim '27. "But water can be fun, too. We didn't want to ignore that." One playful painting depicts a man in a flamingo floatie relaxing in a pool; another photograph shows swimmers jumping from a bridge into the water below it.

MEG ROBERTS ARSENOVIC
Sonic Boom from the Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater series, 2025
Gouache and acrylic on Virginia road map

The students learned how to hang the art. They wrote the didactic panels. On a mild afternoon in December, they gathered in a second-floor gallery to give their first guided tour of "Liquid Commonwealth: The Art and Life of Water in Virginia."

A semester's worth of work in the books. And on the walls of the Muscarelle.

"We got to have the total experience, pick the works, figure out the best way to display them, choose the themes and work together as a team," said Sabine Krigsvold '27, "but we had a lot of conversations with museum staff in order to make it work."

The class of 15 leaned on the staff's expertise. Registrar Laura Fogarty worked with them on all the logistics related to the delivery of the artwork. Web Developer Brendan Reed managed the digital collection of the nearly 800 submissions of artwork. Facilities and Exhibitions Manager Kevin Gilliam showed them how to install the artwork and the didactic panels.

The class is taught each fall, rotating among the faculty of the Art & Art History Department. This year it was led by Alan C. Braddock, Ralph H. Wark Professor of Art History, American Studies, and Environmental Humanities at William & Mary.

The 2025 Curatorial Project class selfie taken by Dr. Alan Braddock, bottom left.

"The Curatorial Project course gives art history majors valuable experience doing real-world museum work," Braddock said. "For students who want to pursue a career in museums, the course serves as an important pre-professional practicum. Many students say that it was the most engaging course they have taken in college."

Their final project is now open to the public. "Liquid Commonwealth: The Art and Life of Water in Virginia" runs through Feb. 15. All 54 artworks illustrate a theme related to water. All of the represented artists are living; a lot of the paintings were freshly done. "One, the paint was still wet," said Elizabeth Moore '27.

Holly Gardner '26 pointed out one of the paintings that was created by an artist with an unusual side gig. "She's the artist-in-residence at a stormwater utility plant in southwest Virginia," Gardner said.

Because Virginia residency was one of the requirements to enter the juried exhibition, some of the winning artists were able to come to the show's opening reception, a singular thrill for Emma Pineda '27 who met the artist whose work she had written about. "She complimented me on the caption I wrote for her piece," she said. "That was so nice to hear."

CAROLINE MINCHEW
Vernal, 2023
Archival inkjet print and natural pigment

The only thing the students didn't do was pick the winners. That was left to Muscarelle Director David Brashear, Braddock and Professor of Art Brian Kreydatus. The $5,000 first prize went to Caroline Minchew, for a photograph titled "Vernal."

Though the exhibit intentionally set out to celebrate the ways in which the inhabitants of the Commonwealth experience water, students also felt it reinforced the urgent significance of a resource they've been thinking about throughout their studies. "In this year of the environment, it turned out to be a very interdisciplinary exercise," said Lelia Cottin-Rack '28.

Susan Corbett, Communications Specialist

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