Lianna Hamby ‘17, Hannah Lehman ‘17, Mary Thompson ‘19, and Sarah Johnson ’19 curated an exhibition of paintings from the University of Puget Sound collection of Abby Williams Hill (1861-1943) featuring images of different U.S. National Parks by the Tacoma artist. The exhibition celebrated both the centennial of creating the National Park Service and the longstanding connection of Hill’s works with the Art Department and Kittredge Hall; Professor emeritus Ron Fields worked extensively with the paintings and archival material and wrote the foundational book on the artist. This student-curated exhibition proposed that Hill’s paintings sought to preserve an untouched (and uninhabited) vision of the National Parks – one in which viewers and visitors could inscribe their own experiences. Research projects from Museums and Curating in the Twenty-First Century: History, Theory, and Practice (Art History 380, fall 2016) provided background material for the exhibition.
