Gallery Learning Community
About
The Gallery Learning Community (GLC) offers a larger sense of art professions by providing students with opportunities to network within and outside of the Wayne State University (WSU) art galleries. Students are exposed to career development in relation to social practices at art institutions and organizations that vary in scale and budget, including galleries, museums, and community-based centers.
Gallery Management Course (Winter Semester)
Students gain knowledge of exhibition work by observing and interacting with galleries and museums that vary in scale and budget, including the following types: non-profit academic institutions, non-profit small and large-scale museums, community-based galleries, and commercial galleries. This course offers a larger sense of the profession through readings, opportunities to network within and outside Wayne State University’s art galleries, and hands-on experience. The following operational fundamentals are thoroughly examined: exhibition and season design, marketing, budgeting, and standard facility operations.
Student Participation
WSU’s Galleries provides students with hands-on experience, including exhibiting their own artwork, and participating with exhibition installation and program development, offered through courses and scholarship awards. Students become familiar with professional practices and position themselves for internships and careers related to their interests and disciplines of study.
GMC/GLC students with Terry Birkett, Director of Collections Management, Detroit Institute of Arts, 2019
Gallery/Museum
Students are provided with opportunities to work in the galleries to observe and experience hands-on exhibition installation and programming. GMC students and gallery staff also promote and install our annual undergraduate exhibition as one of their four major projects.
2019-20 GLC Peer Mentor, Shannon Kurzyniec (BFA, 20), assisting with the installation of Letterpress Now
Research
Students gain exhibitions of their works, internships and jobs by becoming familiar with proper presentation formats for application materials, taught in the Gallery Management Course and through gallery programming. Students report back on their success with internships through direct study courses, and also update us on their success with professional career paths after they graduate.
2017-18 GLC Peer Mentor, Shelbie Wright (BFA, 18) instructing silkscreening at Butzel Family Rec. Center
Community
Students are given the opportunity to volunteer with annual workshop programs for youth at Detroit recreation centers during the summer. The program follows the Gallery Management Course offered in the winter semesters where students are exposed to possible careers related to community outreach. Students who are interested often help with the coordination and implementation of the workshops for professional experience.
Student Success
Clove Ellis (2023, MA and 2021, BFA)
Instructor and Studio Assistant, Detroit Institute of Arts
Artist and Founder of Peachfuzzums
DaJanae Grayer (2024, BA)
Internship, Detroit Institute of Arts
Tia Nichols (2022, MFA)
Gallery Manager and Curator, The Carr Center (current)
Collections Assistant, Mack Alive Detroit
Kelly Farrell (2021, MA)
Gallery Manager, Detroit Artists Market (current)
Hailey Hayward (2021, BFA)
Membership Associate, Detroit Artits Market (current)
Elena Marcozzi, (BFA, 2021)
Artist in Residence, AmericCorps - Imagine Arts, TX (current)
Kathryn Goffnett (2020, MA)
Assistant Curator of Collections, Cranbrook Museum of Art (current)
University Art Collection internship, Adjunct Instructor at WSU, and Jeanne and Ralph Graham Collections Fellow at Cranbrook Museum of Art
Isabelle Lauerman (2020, MA)
Exhibitions Project Manager, Detroit Institute of Arts (current)
Curatorial + Exhibitions Coordinator, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (2022-2023)
Curator, Illitch Holdings, Detroit, MI (2019-2021)
Samantha Hohmann (2020, BA)
University Art Collection internship and writer for Essay’d Art Magazine, Detroit
Shannon Kurzyniec (2020, BFA)
MFA Candidate (Craft/Materials Studies), Virginia Commonwealth University (2022-2024)
Artist Residency, Penland School of Craft; Artist Residency, Virginia Commonwealth University
Brigid Crawley (2020, MA)
Graduate Research and Archives Assistant, Dominican University
MA Candinate, Master of Library and Information Science and a Certificate in Archives and Cultural Heritage Resources and Services, Dominican University
Sydney Frakes (2020, MA)
Gallery Assistant, David Klein Gallery
Theresa Riviera Clark (2019, BFA)
Junior Interior Designer, Kraemer Design Group
Alissa Seelmann (2018, BA)
Administrative Assistant, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research, Bloomfield Hills, MI (2018 - 2021)
Dylan Schutter (2018, BFA)
Jr. Art Director, BNP Media, Chicago, IL
Danielle Bidigare (2018, BA)
MBA Candidate University of Michigan
Progamming and Outreach Coordinator, MIDTOWN Detroit INC
Internship, Detroit Institute of Arts
Evan Condron (2018, BFA)
Assistant Art Director, Dally in the Alley (current)
Studio Supervisor and Assistant, Progressive Art Studio Collective (current)
Cafe and Bar Manager, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit
Youth Programs Manager, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit
Jena Smoyer (2017, BFA)
Marketing and Communications Manager, Ella Sharp Museum, Jackson, MI
Juana Williams, (2017, MA)
Associate Curator, Detroit Institute of Arts (2023)
Director of Exhibitions, Library Street Collective, Detroit (2022)
Inaugural Curatorial Fellow for Detroit Arts Festival, Art Mile and Independent Curators International (2021)
Exhibitions Curator, Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts, Kendall College, Ferris State University, MI (2018 - 2020)
Andrew Morawski (2017, BFA)
Art Handler and Installer, Artpack Services Inc., Farmington Hills, MI
Noah Schaver (2015, BFA)
Art Department Manager, Inkorporate Graphics (current)
