16 ACUMEN • SPRING 2026 “Being part of the College of Arts and Sciences, I love that this activity embodies both sides of that title,” he says. “Art and science are often placed on polar opposite ends of a spectrum, but in the gallery, those lines blur into something more beautiful than either discipline on its own.” Art for Art Students Of course, the most obvious classes to benefit from the galleries are those in the Department of Art, Architecture and Design. Collett Akins ’27, who is majoring in art history and materials science and engineering, is interested in art conservation. She has worked at the galleries in various capacities since her freshman year at Lehigh, and in the fall of 2025, she was one of 16 students from across the university enrolled in Crow’s Museum Collections and Exhibitions class. The class was divided into three parts examining how museums collect works of art, then how they use those objects, and finally, how LUAG specifically chooses objects for its permanent collection. This particular group was tasked with recommending works from local artists in the Here and Now exhibition to add to the collection. Asked to look for works “that speak to the time they live in” Akins reflected on Al Johnson’s painting titled “Grandma’s Chair,” a piece she felt gives students a perspective on a story that could easily be forgotten. “When I look at it, it makes me think a lot about this idea of ancestral knowledge and how a lot of times, especially women once they hit menopause, society doesn’t value their opinion as much,” she says. But they still have so much knowledge. They still have so much to offer and give that could really benefit society and inform younger generations.” culture, and society. Health students in her Intro to Buddhism course, for instance, could learn about traditional Tibetan medicine while examining paintings of the Medicine Buddha. Even prior to that exhibition’s arrival, Pitkin brought students to the galleries every semester for tours or to make art themselves. “I often assign my students to spend time in the galleries, and then to choose two pieces, one Tibetan or Himalayan and one from another section of the galleries. Then they do a close visual analysis of the two pieces and think about how they ‘speak’ to each other,” she says. “This provides a jumping-off point for many kinds of analytical and reflective writing projects, as well as often opening up perspectives and topics that students had not previously thought of. Family life, aging, migration, human relationships with the natural world, anxiety, and self-discovery are all themes students have come up with themselves and explored while doing these projects.” In his genetics class, Tartaglia’s students explore 19 art pieces dispersed across campus— from LUAG’s Main and Lower Galleries inside Zoellner Arts Center to network galleries in academic buildings. Students photograph the works and connect them to a provided list of questions, then explain why they chose each piece to answer specific questions. Left to right: Director William Crow talks to students in the lower gallery; students participate in a workshop; Annabella Pitkin leads her class through key aspects of Buddhist artwork; students learn art conservation in the LUAG archive. PHOTOS COURTESY OF LUAG
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