Pomona College students have the opportunity to apply for funded research grants to conduct focused projects during the summer. Below are recent projects conducted by art students.
Monuments and Monumentality: Research and Curriculum Development
Ananya Goel ’24
Advisor: Victoria Sancho Lobis
For my project, I undertook informational research for the curriculum development of an ID1 class called “Public Art, Monuments and Monumentality.” The class is being taught in collaboration with the Pomona College Benton Museum and leverages its vast and unique resources to help students analyze the shift in the societal perception of public monuments as a consequence of social movements, such as the Black Lives Matter movement. I worked to incorporate the recently installed site-specific works of public art in the Benton Museum’s courtyard into my research for the class, including Alison Saar’s “Imbue,” and other works on campus, like Orozco’s “Prometheus.” I compiled bibliography of over fifty resources for the class. Along with my research, I authored the text for a micro website that will be used in the course. The website does a parallax view close analysis of “Prometheus” and covers a range of categories, including interpretation, mythology, history and creation process. This website will be added to the Benton Museum website.
Constructions of a Post-War Korea
Austin Kim ’23
Advisor: Sarah Sarchin
The initial aim of this project was to create a series of quilts that engage with themes of the 38th Parallel and post-war memory construction experienced by the Korean diaspora. As time progressed, I realized that the beginning stages of reading/research was crucial to solidify a necessary foundation to bring this project into fruition. During these ten weeks, I was able to produce an installation-based art piece alongside a quilt that focuses on the psychic constructions of post-war memory in spaces of domesticity. In this series, I wanted to explore how memories of division are reconstructed, forgotten, and recollected through spatial mappings of geographies, oral histories and documentations of the Korean War.