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Monday, February 19, 2018

Clarke Opens New Exhibit: A Thank You Note


By Frank Boles

Every exhibit opening is accompanied by a list of organizations and people to whom we are indebted. Last Thursday we opened “(dis)ABLED BEAUTY: the evolution of beauty, disability and ability,” and I would like to thank the staff of the libraries for their work in creating this exhibit as well as our CMU institutional partners, including:

 The Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders

 The Fashion Merchandising Design program within the Dept. of Human Environmental Studies

  CMU History Department 

My thanks also extend to our external institutional partner, the Fashion School at Kent State University, where many components of this show were first conceived and exhibited through a partnership between Dr. Stacey Lim of CMU and Dr. Tameka Ellington of Kent State.

The exhibit crosses disciplinary lines in interesting and informative ways. It addresses the subject of disability and ability both from a scientific and clinical viewpoint, as well from the more subjective world of fashion. In addition the show, as we have constructed it here at CMU, includes substantial additional components reflecting oral history interviews done with individuals with disabilities who are members of our campus community and also, as part of CMU’s celebration of its 125th anniversary, a discussion of both how Central’s academic program has addressed disability as well as how the campus itself has changed to accommodate individuals with disability.

I would particularly like to acknowledge the contributions of the Libraries Exhibit Coordinator, Janet Danek. Although what was created for the exhibit at Kent State was beautiful, their exhibit space is not our exhibit space, and the Kent State show had to be redesigned and sometimes reimagined to work within our galleries, while at the same time honoring the integrity of the original exhibition. In addition Janet had to incorporate substantial additions to the original show, which reflected the contributions of Central faculty and staff who had not participated in the Kent State exhibit but who helped center the exhibit you will see tonight in ways that more fully represent CMU.
 


Much of what you will see in the exhibit reflects Janet’s creative ability and hard work, designing the CMU iteration of (dis)ABLED BEAUTY to high standards and working within a very tight timeline. Despite all the rest of us involved, we collectively could not have created the exhibit without Janet’s many contributions. It just wouldn’t have happened.