This is a six-week course that will require no previous knowledge of Museum or Curatorial studies. We will spend class time together looking at how for profits, otherwise know as a commercial art galleries, produce art exhibitions- solo and group exhibitions. Students will have assignments and readings, that will support the visits and research that we will embark upon as group. We will meet with artists and producers – gallery directors, staff, archivists, art handlers, and artists to better understand the myriad of ways that galleries, and museums develop exhibitions. This course will primarily concentrate on the time frames, objectives and structures of commercial galleries. Though the course has no specific pre-requisites, it will be taught as a seminar, and it will require each student to develop a self-directed research project of the students’ choosing. It would be of great benefit to the student and the course, if interested students have successfully completed art history courses and studio art courses. Permission by the instructor is necessary for enrollment in this course, and students will need to submit in writing, how this course will benefit and complement their studies. They will also need to complete a registration/declaration of agreement form. This course will take place over Field Work Term, and is purposefully based in NYC. It will set out to demystify many aspects of exhibition making–its curatorial processes, procedures, timelines, responsibilities, budgets, and various roles of both makers (artists, both living and if deceased, their estates and or foundations) and the producers that work on the exhibitions in galleries and museums, and their staff, whose positions range from directors to curators, gallerists, conservators, registrars, exhibition designers, fabricators, art handlers, and all the employees who support these endeavors. Note that this course is only available to students doing a Field Work Term in New York City. Please contact Liz Deschenes for more information.