Ellis Library Colonnade
From October 2023

“Discovery of Biographies Untold and Works Unnumbered” is now on display showcasing research and creative works completed by students enrolled in the Honors Seminar during Fall 2023, GN_HON 1050H, “Get Real, Go Places! Let Objects Take You There.” The eight-week course explores the study of material culture and the opportunities for research that objects and artifacts make possible. Students are introduced to the concepts of object biography, provenance, and approaches for interpreting, inspecting, and synthesizing objects through regular use of a sketchbook journal and student feedback. The course is taught by Dr. Sarah Buchanan of the iSchool at the University of Missouri (in the College of Education and Human Development) and by gallery, library, archive, and museum professionals based on the Mizzou campus who belong to the Material Culture Studies Group, established in 2014.

Art and heritage objects are often collected for their outward beauty, but a closer look even just beyond the surface can reveal many more fascinating layers to their story. Innovative combinations of method and material hold great promise for deepening our personal connections to representative art, or “finishing” the unfinished work of those whose legacies we encounter today. Our student showcase features 18 art objects created by 11 undergraduate students, each based on the class visit to a particular collection on the Columbia campus. Students created weekly syntheses reflecting on their visit and a culminating object analysis supportive of continued study.

On display here are papier-mâché geometric shapes in the style of an artist’s book in our Special Collections, a map of its exhibitions and placement in permanent collections, textile art inspired by Isaiah ‘Fireball’ Jackson’s “View of a Prison Cell,” a paper floral arrangement of irises and speculative blue peonies, digital art of a mirror inspired by UMKC Professor Hyeyoung Shin’s “Face the Music” in the Bingham Gallery, reflections from the concurrent student exhibit “TAM 2280: Designing with Ginger” Rogers, drawings of a coin depicting Justinian I (545-565 CE) and of a terracotta Silen mask (100s BCE), and an animation image of an Inuit shell reloader seen further in our neighbor exhibit on Alaska Native Heritage.

For their contributions to the success of the course we gratefully thank: Megan Ballengee, Jessica Boldt, Gary Cox, Kelli Hansen, Rachel Harper, Anselm Huelsbergen, Nicole Johnston, Benton Kidd, Madeleine Lemieux, Maggie Mayhan, Pete Millier, MU student Paige, artist Hyeyoung Shin, Candace Sall, Karlan Seville, and Joan Stack.

Trust in the process of discovery!

Come visit Ellis Library’s colonnade to see this exhibit put together by MU undergraduate students! Mizzou’s undergraduate Digital Indigenous Studies class put together an exhibit at the end of their semester to complement an online exhibit that they created during
their coursework. The exhibit uses objects from the museum’s collections and was done in consultation with the Kawerak people.

Since the Museum of Anthropology is still under construction, the exhibit is being displayed on the first floor of Ellis Library. To learn more and to see the digital exhibit, visit the the Museum of Anthropology’s website.

The Cast Gallery in Ellis Library is open! The North portion of Room 202 on the second floor of Ellis Library is now home to this collection brought to you by the School of Visual Studies.

The gallery is open during library hours but will be closed occasionally for instruction.

See more Art and Exhibits in the Libraries.

This exhibit is on display in Ellis Library Colonnade from March 3 to April 28, 2023.

Just in time for Women’s History Month, view a collection of literary and arts integration projects led by Dr. Kathryn Fishman-Weaver. This bright display draws the viewer right into stories about youth participatory action research (YPAR), global education studies, and experiences teaching women’s and gender studies in schools. From murals created with kindergarten scholars to a bubblegum pink model of the human brain (3D printed at 300% size), this exhibit is a must-see for anyone interested in teaching and learning. Fishman-Weaver also includes copies of her six recent books, a peek inside a new poetry project, and bold posters celebrating co-authors, educational collaborators, advisory editors and student researchers.

Dr. Kathryn Fishman-Weaver began her teaching career in a public K-8 school in Oakland, CA. Since then, she has taught and led programs in special education, gifted education, English language arts, and teacher preparation. Fishman-Weaver currently serves as the executive director of Mizzou Academy and as an associate teaching professor in Learning, Teaching and Curriculum. She holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology, a master’s degree in special education, and a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy analysis. Dr. Fishman-Weaver is the author or coauthor of six books in education: Wholehearted Teaching of Gifted Young Women (2018), When Your Child Learns Differently (2019), Brain-Based Learning with Gifted Students (2020), Connected Classrooms (2022) coauthored with Stephanie Walter, Teaching Women’s and Gender Studies Grades 6-8 (2023) co-authored with Jill Clingan, and Teaching Women’s and Gender Studies Grades 9-12 (2023) also co-authored with Jill Clingan. Her work has appeared in numerous publications and has been referenced by the U.S. Department of Education. She has lectured and led professional development sessions around the world.

Picturing Women Inventors is organized by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in collaboration with the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, and was developed in collaboration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and made possible with the support of the Lyda Hill Philanthropies IF/THEN Initiative and Ericsson.

This exhibit, which is currently on display in Ellis Library, includes a selection of books about inventions and patents which was drawn from the MU Libraries’ collection. It will be on display until February.