Jessa Barton ’24 is Finding the Stories Behind the Art of EC

When Elmira College alumni and student families came to campus at the end of September for Reunion and Family Weekend, they were greeted with a new art exhibit in Tifft Lounge featuring the works of faculty, staff, and alumni stretching back to the late 19th century.

Jessa Barton ’24, Elmira College Collections Manager, curated the exhibit with help from Assistant Professor of Art Aaron Kather. Still on display, the exhibit features the works of alumni, including Gertrude Bullis Reitemeyer ’23, Laura Woolsey Dailey ’25, Elizabeth Case ’53, and Gainor Roberts ’63. Faculty and staff included Clara Cowles (daughter of the College’s first president, Augustus Cowles), Helen Hitchcock Bjorvand, Richard Cramer, Lars Hoftrup, and Dr. M. Anstice Harris (Dean).

“When I got this position, one of the things I wanted to do was highlight student, faculty, and alumni works,” said Barton. “I see so much energy from the incoming classes and want to reflect that back in the physical appearance of the campus. I want to connect our students to the alumni-rich history so that they know they are part of something bigger than their own experiences.”

While Barton started working at EC soon after she graduated, getting to her goal took some time. She spent much of her first year in her role researching, cataloging, and mapping the art scattered around campus and in storage spaces. To do this, she’s leveraging the skills she developed studying History at EC and what she’s learning as she earns a Master of Arts in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins University.

Through this process, Barton became an expert on the art of EC.

“I like that I can walk into a room and point out who painted a piece and when they worked here,” she shared.

It also helped her understand the campus’s collection and which works have significant meaning to the College and its tight-knit community. For Barton, the value of the collection comes from the stories it can tell to current and prospective students as well as alumni.

“For example, in researching Dean Harris’s biography and hanging her artwork, I learned about one of the first women to graduate from Yale and how she introduced hallmarks of our campus experience like Mountain Day. How she served as the first female president of Elmira College – even if that was only an interim position,” shared Barton.

To better highlight EC’s collection and get artwork out of offices where it is rarely seen, she’s worked with faculty and staff to rethink how the art is displayed.

“We’re moving away from mounting each piece directly to the wall,” she explained. “We’re experimenting with static picture hangers, where the hooks will remain in place while the artwork within the box frames is interchangeable.”

Student photography is currently on display in the new box frames hanging outside the 1855 Room.

Another of the stories Barton has unearthed is that of Elizabeth “Ginx” Case ’53. During a recent EC Board of Trustees reception, Barton gave a spotlight presentation of the artist and how EC came to possess dozens of Case’s paintings and a series of her sketches, photographs, scrapbooks, and awards.

Case came to EC with the intent of becoming a medical illustrator. She went on to become a noted artist, working on Disney’s Sleeping Beauty, as a combat artist for the U.S. Navy, and a muralist with the National Society of Mural Painters.

In 2003, Case was invited to put together a 50-year retrospective in the George Waters Art Gallery. She donated four of her pieces to EC, saying, “It was an honor to be back among the people most influential in my development.” Later, Case’s family donated sketchbooks, photographs, scrapbooks, awards, and additional artwork.

By cherishing and honoring these stories, today’s students know that the work they produce will also be valued and cherished.

As Barton says, “Art inspires and connects us, bridging differences and opening us to new worldviews.”