By: Maureen McGavin | Oxford College at Emory University

Students from Mary Johnson’s Drawing 1 class at Oxford College gather around artwork from the Michael C. Carlos Museum in an exhibit at the Oxford College Library. They listen as Andi McKenzie, curator of the Works on Paper collection, talks about the selection of drawings and the artists.

Paper hasn’t always been widely available, so early artists couldn’t afford to waste paper practicing on multiple sheets, McKenzie tells them; instead, they might draft various subjects on the same sheet, repeating forms or darkening lightly sketched lines as they refined their ideas toward a final composition.

“You can see the mistakes, you can see the artist working through it,” says McKenzie. “You can see the iterations.”

Johnson, an assistant professor of art at Oxford College, says seeing the drawings up close and hearing how artists worked through their mistakes will help her “students imagine their process as an iterative one, where their drawing is ‘living’ and will be engaged with over multiple stages. Seeing their drawing as a living entity that changes over time helps them push past perfectionism.”

The exhibit is titled “Start of the Line,” a play on wording, “not just on the act of drawing, but also on what we hope will be the long line of collaborations on similar projects between the Libraries and the Carlos,” says McKenzie. 

The nine featured images are from the Carlos Museum’s Works on Paper collection. Some of the pieces are from the recently acquired Cochran collection of African American art; others are drawings from the 16th to 18th centuries. One contemporary drawing by Manuel Hughes, framed and mounted on the wall, is so delicate that it’s in danger of fading and is shielded from light by a covering that can be lifted briefly when someone wants to see it.

“I’ve never seen an artist’s draft before,” says Sam Kapelnikov, a first-year student in the class. Knowing how the artists faced the same struggles with perfectionism even in their first drafts, Kapelnikov says she will start her future sketches on scratch paper.

The fragile pieces in the exhibit are typically housed in climate-controlled storage at the Carlos, and McKenzie loves “getting them out more. I shouldn’t be the only one who gets to look at them.”

“If we had a transporter, we could move collections between the Oxford and Atlanta campuses all the time!” says Valeda F. Dent, vice provost of libraries and museum at Emory University. “But we actually have something even better — dedicated curators, librarians, archivists and staff who are focused on exposing our students and communities to as many different experiences as possible, including those in art, creativity and history. We look forward to many more collaborations like this one.”

The Libraries-Carlos Museum partnership

Emory Libraries and the Carlos Museum aligned under the same Emory University umbrella in February 2021 and began collaborating and sharing their resources and collections. Curators at the Carlos Museum have helmed exhibitions at the Woodruff Library, and staff members such as Clint Fluker — former Rose Library curator and now senior director of culture, community and partner engagement for the Carlos Museum and Emory Libraries — have led curatorial and book conversations at the Carlos.

However, this is the first time the Carlos Museum and Emory Libraries have collaborated on this type of project: curating and designing an exhibit of items from the Carlos collections in the Oxford Library to help students learn and to inspire them to push beyond their own perceived limits.

It’s also a project that was two years in the making, and the Oxford College Department of Art joined this collaboration. Jacob Lackner, a teaching and learning librarian at Oxford College Library and subject librarian for art history and studio and visual arts, chairs the library’s museum and exhibitions team. He started getting to know the people at the Carlos, building relationships and describing the possibilities at the Oxford campus. Lackner gave presentations to Oxford faculty about how they could incorporate the Carlos’s collections into their classes, after which Mary Johnson approached him about working with her drawing class. Lackner also organized the meetings between the Oxford exhibitions and Carlos teams as the project developed.

“On the Oxford side, we purchased new security cameras and UV film for the windows to protect the artwork from sunlight damage,” says Lackner. “At the same time, the Carlos team put in an incredible amount of work, surveying the space, creating a model, installing the case, monitoring the light, purchasing an artwork hanging system, and preparing, transporting and installing the artwork.”

“We could not have done this without Jacob,” McKenzie says. “He’s done a tremendous job of getting everyone on board and keeping this project moving. He and [Oxford College Library director] Ellen Neufeld have been so supportive.”

As for Lackner, he sees the benefits of the Carlos/Emory Libraries partnership through the lens of what it can do to improve the academic experience for students.

“At the Oxford library, we’re always trying to teach students about the different dimensions and platforms for information in the world. This partnership has brought a new and exciting form of information — museum collections — into the library space,” says Lackner.

“It’s a new way for students to learn, whether they are enrolled in a drawing class or just walking to a study room. We know that not every student is going to make it to the museum, so we brought a small piece of the museum to them. It also gives our space a feeling of character, history and design that really enhances the visitor experience.”

“Start of the Line” is open to the public and the campus community through Dec. 1. The Oxford College Library is open on weekends and during fall break but closed on university holidays; check the hours page before visiting.