Iowa State’s University Museums celebrated their 50-year anniversary Tuesday. The event, held in the Scheman Building, unveiled a video project the University Museums had been working on for four years.
“I was here before the Museums existed,” said Lynette Pohlman, director and chief curator. “To see it come from an idea, to 50 years later, over five entities that serve so many faculty, students and alumni, it’s the growth over the course of the 50 years that I find astounding.”
Duane Reeves, assistant vice president for Auxiliary Enterprise, was the driving force behind the creation of the video. Museum staff stated that though the work of many people went into the production of the film, Reeves was the one with the idea that started it all.
“We are really excited, this was an almost four years in the making project,” Reeves said. “We decided that we just had to immortalize what has happened with this place in the last 50 years, and where we’re going to go with it.”
The film included excerpts from interviews with members of the Iowa State and University Museums community that helped engage with and grow the organization.
One of the major topics covered in the film was the importance of art in combination with education, as well as visual literacy. Iowa State has over 2,700 public art pieces that span over 1,900 acres, making it the largest collection at a state university in the nation.
The film also revealed that sighted people obtain about 80% of their knowledge and education through visual stimuli. The interviewees featured in the film corroborated this statement and continued to stress the importance of having art on a campus full of young adults seeking an education.
“I believe every day that University Museums impact our community,” Iowa State President Wendy Wintersteen said in the film.
University Museums plan to release the extended versions of the interviews featured in the film weekly throughout the rest of the year to continue the 50-year anniversary celebration.
For more information about University Museums, as well as their upcoming exhibits, visit their website.
