Lebanon Valley College students, faculty, and staff from the Creative Arts Program and Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery traveled to the Allentown Art Museum (AAM) for a specialized tour made possible by a Teaching Art in Context grant awarded to Dr. Barbara McNulty from the Council of Independent Colleges. McNulty is the Director of the Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery and Assistant Professor of Art History.

The students toured the museum’s Renaissance and Baroque collection in the Kress Gallery and a temporary exhibition, Scarlet Poppies and Ultramarine Butterflies: The Language of Color, curated by the AAM in collaboration with the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

“Not only was it fun to get out of the classroom, but it was incredibly educational,” said Sophia Bunting ’25. “We applied our religious, historical, and scientific classroom knowledge about pigment and paint while being able to view the artwork in person. When you’re in the presence of beautiful artwork in a museum setting, you gain a stronger appreciation of the time, effort, and skill of these past artists.”

Bunting, a Creative Arts major and intern at the Arnold Art Gallery, also emphasized the connection between the temporary exhibit and Professor Michael Pittari’s Color & Culture class that examines the role color has played throughout human history.

“The Scarlet Poppies and Ultramarine Butterflies: The Language of Color exhibition directly correlated to conversations in class about the modern usage of color. I would have never gotten the chance to view any of these exhibitions without this trip,” said Bunting.

Students taking Color & Culture selected a work of art from the Kress Collection for further research, including materials and methods, subject matter and symbolism, conservation, and overall significance. Students will present their findings to the class in mid-October.

Olivia Hagelbarger ’27, a Nursing major, enrolled in the Color & Culture course as an elective to learn more about art—a topic that sounded interesting but she didn’t know much about.

“It was very exciting to take what we have been learning so far in the classroom and apply that knowledge to the art pieces in the museum,” said Hagelbarger. “Going to the museum opened my eyes to the beauty art holds and how you can interpret an art piece any way you want.”

Students concluded the day exploring the rest of the AAM galleries and exhibitions and viewing a work by LVC’s artist-in-residence, G. Daniel Massad, Niche (1997), in the museum’s permanent collection. Massad shared details about his artistic process and working with pastel, as well as the story of his own trajectory as an artist.

About the Council of Independent Colleges
The CIC’s grant program is sponsored by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, which offers grants in defined program areas and professional development fellowships for historians of art and architecture, art conservators, art museum curators and educators, and art librarians.