Posted 12:10 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015
Area artists are invited to submit their work to a Pump House exhibition that blends La Crosse community history and art: [art]ifact.
Pump House exhibit will feature historic artifacts and corresponding new artwork
Area artists are invited to submit their work to a Pump House exhibition that blends La Crosse community history and art: [art]ifact. The exhibit, originally conceived by three UW-L students, will showcase local historical artifacts from the La Crosse County Historical Society’s collection and new original artwork from area artists inspired by these objects. Along the way, UW-L students will learn to be experts at artifact analysis and research, public relations, curatorial work and educational programming to move the project forward. [caption id="attachment_38699" align="alignleft" width="593"]
Public Policy and History major Callie O’ Connor, left, says the process of compiling La Crosse history artifacts for the exhibit has been exciting. Here O’Connor and UW-L Assistant History Professor Ariel Beaujot look at a 1940s dress with a tag that says “Zita Maher at Newbergs, La Crosse” at the La Crosse County Historical Society. It took some digging to figure out what the tag meant.[/caption]
“To do a project like this, you have to have a community that believes in its students,” says UW-L Senior Ariel Reker, one of the project leaders.
Reker says that community support was first apparent when she and two other students presented the original project idea to classmates, faculty and community organizers as a capstone project in Assistant Professor of History Ariel Beaujot’s Intro to Public and Policy History course in fall semester 2013.
“We thought we’d do the presentation and we’d be done,” says Reker. “But after we finished, I had so many community members come up and say, ‘We like this, and you need to make it happen.’”
Now, through a team effort between the Pump House Regional Arts Center, the La Crosse County Historical Society and UW-L’s History Department, the project is becoming a reality.
In 2015-16, UW-L students in Beaujot’s Public and Policy History classes will choose 15 artifacts that were made in La Crosse and represent the community’s diverse history. Then, a jury from the Pump House will select 15 artists from artistic submissions received. Artists will be assigned a historic object, which they will use for inspiration to create new artwork for the exhibition. Historic artifacts and corresponding new artwork will be displayed side by side at the Pump House exhibit in spring 2016.
“[art]ifact will show our accomplishments as a community historically and today,” says Beaujot.
Reker is heading up the overall direction and public relations aspects of the project and Callie O’Connor, a UW-L senior, is working on the curatorial end. Their duties match their future career goals to be a museum director and curator, respectively. Beaujot serves as their mentor.
“The reason we are able to do this at such a young age and get so much experience is because of Ariel,” says O’Connor. “She gives us so many opportunities. This university has been incredible in giving us the experiences we need in the history world outside of college.”
O’Connor and Reker have already begun the search for artifacts for future UW-L history students to consider for the exhibit. La Crosse’s history has a long and varied manufacturing past representing everything from buttons to cigars to women’s undergarments.
“It’s so interesting — it’s been like a scavenger hunt — contacting person after person after person to find out more details about each item,” says O’Connor.
One artifact, a purple, 1940s dress with a tag that read “Zita Maher at Newbergs, La Crosse,” left the two with a lot of questions. They went to library after library searching the archives for what the words meant. They eventually learned the dress was from a women’s section in the upstairs of a men’s clothing store that used to be located downtown, Newbergs. And “Zita Maher” was a new line of “high society” city clothing coming out of New Berg’s at the time.
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Public and Policy History major Ariel Reker, left, with La Crosse Historical Society's Peggy Derrick at the La Crosse Historical Society. The project will bring more La Crosse Historical Society artifacts into public display at a time when their physical presence in the community is limited.[/caption]
The project has also included many hours of presenting, meeting and coordinating various aspects such as the project’s website. Reker, O’Conner and Beaujot have been working closely with Peggy Derrick, curator at the La Crosse County Historical Society, and Toni Asher, executive director of the Pump House, to plan the project.
“I don’t’ know a lot about exhibits, and I don’t work at an art gallery, but by working with different organizations and learning from experts, I’ve been able to learn,” says Reker.
Both agree the public and policy history major at UW-L is less about spending time in class and more about getting experience in the community — something they like.
“It’s been 100 percent experience getting — It’s about going out there, making connections, meeting people and networking,” says O’Connor.
Reker says before enrolling at UW-L, she was torn between UW-L and a private university in the Twin Cities. The ability to do research as an undergraduate and the strong community and university connection are two reasons she chose UW-L. At the Twin Cities campus, community connections weren’t apparent and the area surrounding campus was uninviting and dangerous.
“I almost didn’t come to La Crosse, but there are so many moments where I realize I wouldn’t have gotten the same opportunities somewhere else,” says Reker. “I don’t think La Crosse realizes how connected the community and the university are. This project is just capitalizing on that relationship.”