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  • Museum Staff

    February 21, 2024
Feature Image Students at last year's spring student night event at the museum.

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Spring Student Night at the Museum: February 29

The Georgia Museum of Art Student Association is hosting its spring Student Night this February 29 from 6 to 8 p.m. The Student Association hosts a total of three student nights during the academic calendar. If you missed the first two this fall, be sure to attend this semester’s event, which will highlight the museum's latest exhibitions, including “Kei Ito: Staring at the Face of the Sun” and “Richard Prince: Tell Me Everything.”

In years past, the spring Student Night was often Valentine’s Day themed, but this year the Student Association decided that the exhibitions should be the true focus of the event. Organizers wanted to celebrate the current works on view at the museum and increase student engagement with the art community. “We encourage people of all backgrounds and majors to come out to the museum,” said Charlotte Greenberg, an officer for the Student Association and former president of the group.

As is typical for Student Night events, students can look forward to making their own art with a project inspired by Ito’s exhibition, which spans five galleries and features works of cameraless photography focused on the trauma of nuclear weapons. His works, inspired by his grandfather’s anti-nuclear advocacy after he survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, use light, breath and chemically reactive paper to create images. His cameraless photography methods aren’t new. In fact, the method was used to capture the first known photographs in history, in 1827. According to Blind Magazine:

We often forget that Nicéphore Niépce, the inventor of photography as we know it and whose Le point de point du Gras (1827) is considered to be the first photo in history, took photographs without a camera. In the 1810s, with his brother Claude Niépce, he experimented with the exposure of images on paper dipped in silver chloride. The use of the camera–known as the camera obscura at the time—now completely overshadows the discovery of photosensitive materials, which back then were a prerequisite for any form of image reproduction and the favorite material for photos without camera.

It was by accident that, in 1727, a hundred years before “the first photograph,” the German physicist Johann Heinrich Schulze discovered that a mixture of chalk, nitric acid and silver was sensitive to light, after it had been left in the sun inside a vial. He then studied those chemical reactions on glass bottles soaked in silver chloride. He covered them with stencils in the shape of letters and exposed them to light, and watched words and sentences being imprinted. Were these first experiments not the very essence of “photography,” from the Greek word Photos, meaning light, and Gràphôs, meaning to write?

Also on deck for the event, a showing of the original “Godzilla” movie, released in 1954. The film aligns with the topics explored in Ito’s exhibition. There will be a discussion about the movie’s connections to Ito’s art following the film.

The event will also feature free food, drinks and music, all provided by the Georgia Museum of Art Student Association. Greenberg said she is looking forward to this semester’s event because it will bring people together to talk about and be inspired by Ito’s work. She’s also excited to see the art that everyone creates with the Ito-inspired art project at the event.

Through the three Student Night events each school year, the Georgia Museum of Art Student Association aims to encourage students to participate in the arts community on campus, as well as increase awareness of the Georgia Museum of Art and all of the activities and programming that students can enjoy throughout the year on campus.

The Student Association also contributes to the student art community by hosting a pop-up market each spring, now in its 8th year. The event gives student artists and early-career artists a chance to sell their works with no fee and gain experience participating in an artist market. The experience is often a first for student participants. Last year, the event included nearly 30 students and young artists. The event was hosted at local artist Stan Mullins’ Art Studio on Pulaski Street. A Georgia Museum of Art intern was in attendance and wrote this feature article about the event on our blog. This year’s event will be held April 27, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The market will, once again, be held at Mullins’ studio at 650 Pulaski Street.

Also ahead this year for students, the Georgia Museum of Art will hold its end of the semester Study Break event on Tuesday, April 30:

Study Break at the Museum: Need a break from studying for final exams? Students are invited to stop by the museum on Reading Day to participate in one of our art and wellness programs or take a pause and enjoy some art in the galleries at their own pace. This program is presented in partnership with UGA’s Office of Student Care and Outreach and sponsored by the UGA Parents Leadership Council.

Looking for more arts events and programming at the Georgia Museum of Art? Follow us on Instagram at @georgiamuseum or sign up to be a Friend of the Museum for free and receive weekly email updates. You can also take a look at our calendar online or pick up a copy of our quarterly newsletter, Facet, which includes a calendar of events.