Student-Curated Exhibition Explores Intimacy, Collaboration

Rhizomatic Intimacies, a new student-curated exhibition at the Grinnell College Museum of Art (GCMoA), highlights the depth of student collaboration, experiential learning, and alumni partnership at Grinnell College.  

Curated by 12 students enrolled in Professor of Art History Michael Mackenzie’s Exhibition Seminar, Rhizomatic Intimacies explores themes of intimacy through portraiture, landscape, and the body. The exhibition features photography from the private collection of Grinnell College Trustee Keith Jantzen ’80 and Scott Beth, which includes works by renowned photographers such as Diane Arbus, Johnnie Chatman, Peter Hujar, Sheila Metzner, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Alfred Stieglitz.  Chatman will also be giving a public lecture in the museum on Feb. 16.

The seminar and resulting exhibit exemplify Grinnell’s commitment to collaboration and student leadership, and showcase how Grinnell students turn classroom learning into professional-level practice and shared discovery.  

Built Through Collaboration  

The project grew out of Mackenzie’s visit to see Jantzen and Beth’s collection in California and conversations about teaching an exhibition seminar centered on direct engagement with collectors. Recognizing the educational potential, Mackenzie invited the collectors to collaborate with his students.  

“The collection was so rich in possibilities, and the opportunity to work directly with collectors was invaluable,” Mackenzie said. “It allowed students to explore not just the artworks themselves, but the social and emotional networks that give those works meaning. The students truly took ownership of this project – from  — from developing the conceptual framework to making difficult curatorial decisions together.”  

Offered once every three years, the exhibition seminar gives students hands-on experience in all aspects of exhibition development, including research, writing, design, installation, and public interpretation.  

Student Ownership and Experiential Learning  

For Ella Barnett ’27, a history and art history double major, the collaborative and long-term nature of the course made it particularly impactful.  

 “I feel like pretty much everything I did in this class was really intensely collaborative,” Barnett said. “The products that we produce are a lot more enduring than a typical class.”  

Students traveled to California to view the collection in the collectors’ homes  collection in Jantzen’s and Beth’s home and participated in behind-the-scenes gallery visits, gaining insight into professional museum practice.  

“It was a very special experience to be trusted in that way,” said Neva Zamil ’27, an art history and sociology major. “Seeing the works in such personal settings really changed how we thought about the exhibition.”  
 

From Student Vision to Public Exhibition  

Mackenzie was especially pleased that the students in the seminar took ownership of the project, noting that the exhibition’s conceptual framework and title emerged directly from the students.  

“They met on their own, developed the conceptual framework, and even came up with the title,” he said. “That combination of ‘rhizome’ and ‘intimacy’ came entirely from them. As a teacher, that’s a dream.”  

For Jantzen, working closely with students was equally meaningful.  

“The level of engagement and insight they brought was astonishing,” Jantzen said. “It was eye-opening for us to see our collection through their eyes. This kind of hands-on, student-led experience is truly transformative — for the students and for us as collectors.”  

Rhizomatic Intimacies is on view at the Grinnell College Museum of Art through March 29 and is free and open to the public.