{"id":3766,"date":"2026-10-01T09:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-10-01T14:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/?p=3766"},"modified":"2026-09-30T21:04:24","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T02:04:24","slug":"nerman-museum-unveils-first-exhibition-curated-by-students-the-unseen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2026\/10\/01\/nerman-museum-unveils-first-exhibition-curated-by-students-the-unseen\/","title":{"rendered":"Nerman Museum Unveils First Exhibition Curated By Students: “The Unseen”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo By: Bianca Little<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

The Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art unveiled its first exhibition curated by student interns titled \u201cThe Unseen\u201d on Aug. 26.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The exhibit, funded in part by the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, was developed by seven student aides turned interns. The exhibit, located in the previously unused McCaffree Gallery space, is built around Native American Artist Terran Last Gun\u2019s \u201cAnother Human Being Experience: Return of the Unseen to Offer Guidance.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>JCCC student and intern on the project Mayte Caballero said the curated exhibit focused on showcasing the human experience regarding what goes \u201cunseen\u201d in a Native American context. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cThe real purpose of it was to demonstrate the different perspectives or experiences that people can relate to, or maybe have heard of, that they can empathize with,\u201d said Caballero. \u201cIt\u2019s really just to show how we as human beings are super different, but at the same time we still have similar things we can relate to.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Student interns were first introduced to the field of curation through instruction.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cWe basically planned a little mini class where students could learn the whole process of curating from the soup to nuts. Things like writing the labels for [the pieces] and various marketing materials,\u201d said Katherine Morse, manager of Learning and Academic Engagement at the Nerman. Morse helped facilitate the three-month process from the start, between late May and early June. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Interns began by planning the pieces of the Nerman collection to feature in the exhibit. This included asking questions about the location of pieces, framing and visibility status. The options narrowed to entirely paper pieces and a common theme developed from Last Gun\u2019s collection.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Studying graphic design, Caballero said the internship taught her new skills and made her more open-minded about perception. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI actually learned a lot more with the technical stuff and mounting. It makes me think in graphic design: if I want my audience to see something, I\u2019ll have to make it available in certain ways and aspects,\u201d said Caballero.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Interns also had to gauge accessibility.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cMy piece is the <\/span>hat<\/span><\/a>, which is the only sculpture in the exhibition, so we had to think about the pedestal. We had to make sure it was small enough so somebody with a wheelchair could go completely around the exhibition,\u201d said Caballero.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>In addition to physical guides and placards, the Nerman also uses <\/span>Bloomberg Connects<\/span><\/a> to help visitors engage with the art wherever they are. The virtual guide offers translation services and maps. It also provides more information about \u201cThe Unseen\u201d exhibit and descriptions of pieces written by curatorial interns. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cIt helps because we know not everybody is going to interact with someone directly. It would be delightful for everyone to get a staff-led tour of the exhibition, with people talking about it themselves, so we have a lot of [online] resources,\u201d said Morse.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>For Caballero, her experience as a student aide and intern for the Nerman gave her new insight into the art field.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI never really knew much about art museums except for visiting them and everything, but here I’ve really learned more about how they create community and how they help bring people together,\u201d said Caballero.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u201cThe Unseen\u201d is expected to last until Feb. 28, 2027. Be sure to check out the student-curated exhibit on the museum\u2019s second floor.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>To learn more about \u201cThe Unseen\u201d and <\/span>student aide and volunteer opportunities<\/span><\/a>, check out the <\/span>Nerman Museum\u2019s website.<\/span><\/a> \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u201cI never really knew much about art museums except for visiting them and everything, but here I’ve really learned more about how they create community and how they help bring people together,\u201d said Caballero.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":3767,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_ppma_block_editor_authors":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[364],"class_list":["post-3766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Saul Epstein","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/sepstein\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2026\/09\/FINAL-Unseen-Exhibit-BL-300x200.png","coauthors":[{"link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/aneesah-jameel\/","display_name":"Aneesah Jameel"}],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Life<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Life<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 8 hours ago","modified":"Updated 20 hours ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on October 1, 2026","modified":"Updated on September 30, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on October 1, 2026 9:00 am","modified":"Updated on September 30, 2026 9:04 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":364,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"aneesah-jameel","display_name":"Aneesah Jameel","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2026\/09\/FINAL-Unseen-Exhibit-BL.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3766"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3768,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3766\/revisions\/3768"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3767"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3766"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=3766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}