‘Rooted Here’ exhibit examines Oxford’s history of art

Professor Annie Dell’Aria, assistant professor of art history at Miami University, tasked her students to curate an entire art exhibit in one semester. Now, it’s open to the public.

The capstone class has been around for 15 years, according to Dell’Aria, and has pushed students to investigate, find and curate an exhibit focused on one central theme.

The newest exhibit, titled “Rooted Here,” focuses on various artists and mediums of work in and around Oxford.

The idea stemmed from Dell’Aria’s own research on local artist Nancy Holt, who was known for creating land art sculptures.

One of Holt’s pieces, titled “Star-Crossed,” sits behind the Richard and Carole Cocks Art Museum (RCCAM).

Dell’Aria’s interest in Holt’s work opened the door to research other artists in the area.

“All of these other famous artists have come through Miami or West[ern] College,” she said. “What if we did a show that was based on here?”

The class divided the exhibit into four themes: 

• Expanding the grid, which focuses on the history of exhibitions within the RCCAM;
• Curating the landscape, which homes in on local public art collections;
• Outside influences, which feature discussion about visiting artists;
• The modern heartland, which explores the tension between regionalism and its movement in the 1930s and 1940s that represented working-class and rural life

While researching, students had to sift through documents, notes and models to fully experience the curation process through detailed archival research with the help of Jason Shaiman, interim director and curator of exhibits at RCCAM.

Dell’Aria highlighted how special this class is for her and her students.

“I don’t really know of any other major art history programs that let students curate a whole show,” Dell’Aria said. “It really is a unique program.”

Dell’Aria said she believes the exhibit will help identify the region as somewhere that has a strong art history and presence. 

“I hope that they learn to rethink the relationship of this small, rural southwestern Ohio landscape in relation to the avant-garde,” Dell’Aria said. “I also want them to take away how awesome the students are and the great work they can do.”

One of her 18 students, Anderson Knapp, curated the work of Paul Cadmus, a painter who focused on themes of queer subculture, according to Knapp.

In 1981, Cadmus held an exhibit in Oxford, which, according to Knapp, was significant for the time.

“They got a lot of freedom to put on an exhibition that might not normally happen in rural Ohio because it’s a lot of queer art,” Knapp said. 

For Knapp, the whole project highlighted Miami University’s significance in the arts on a personal level.

“As students, we’re only there for so long,” Knapp said. “I feel like a lot of us don’t know a lot of the history … it was really inspiring to see what has been accomplished here and how it’s been changing as of recently.”

Knapp hopes that visitors to the exhibit will see Miami University and Oxford as more than just “flyover country” and learn more about the lives and works of the many different artists who have made an imprint here.

“It’s really inspiring to see that Miami is important in contemporary art history,” Knapp said. “There’s so much to learn about how innovative Miami has been in the past in the arts.”

Knapp added that the exhibit strongly reiterates the essentiality of art and arts programs at Miami.

“I hope that people realize how important the arts have always been to Miami,” Knapp said. “It’s something we shouldn’t get rid of.”

On March 11 at 5 p.m., students will have the opportunity to stand by their curated works inside the RCCAM and speak to visitors about the work each put into the exhibit over the fall semester.  

Experimental filmmaker Bill Brandt, one of the artists whose work was featured in the exhibit, will speak and recreate an art piece from 1972 during an event on April 7 at 5 p.m. at Sawyer Gymnasium. 

The “Rooted Here” exhibit opened to the public on Jan. 28 and will run until June 13. 

To read more about the exhibit, visit the RCCAM website.