The cross-departmental collaboration between the biology department, the art department, Grafton Library, and students led to the creation of a one-of-a-kind display in Hunt Gallery this April centered on the many stories that shape our campus community.
By Jasmine Louis ‘28
Art management and business student Amiyah Anglin ’26 co-curated her senior thesis project in Hunt Gallery called “Collections of Curiosities” with James Madison University artist Jeremy Starn.
As her major requires, Anglin decided to curate a gallery for her senior year project as an art management student. Inspired by “cabinets of curiosities,” which Anglin describes as a Renaissance-era pastime that led to the creation of museums, “Collections of Curiosities” takes on a similar theme.
Anglin and her cohorts aimed to spark conversation around the question of why people collect through launching this exhibition. She describes collecting as something “everyone does and they don’t know that they do it. It’s a style of art without them even knowing.”
The idea originally found her when a colleague presented it to her after creating a smaller version. “When she threw the idea out there, I kind of fell in love with it.”
Anglin said that they then found Jeremy Starn, an MFA candidate and artist at James Madison University, who also liked the idea and wanted to take part in it. Over months of planning and collaboration, the intricate pieces of composing the gallery began to fall in place and students were able to submit their collections to Anglin and Starn around December of 2025.
They accepted any and all sorts of collections, which Anglin said “intentionally challenges traditional ideas of academic authority by allowing students to help define the meaning and importance of objects displayed in a university gallery.”
But, she also discussed the unique challenges that presented themselves in getting the different collections to look cohesive.
“Going from a dead rat to Pokémon cards and trying to tie that into one gallery was a lot, and we had to be considerate of where the placing and everything went because of that.”
-Amiyah Anglin ’26
The exhibit was installed over a three day period, but the work it took to get there began during the summer before Anglin’s senior year. The dedication to this project finally paid off when the exhibit opened this past April.
From live bugs to old family photographs and vinyl records, the exhibit explored the art found in everyday life and the striking beauty of it all.
When asked what she wants the MBU community to take away from the exhibit, Anglin ‘26 said, “I want them to think about the arts at Mary Baldwin. And I want to show them that the arts are not just about painting or singing or dancing or doing theatre. It’s genuinely all around us and affects us so much.”
She continued on by saying,“that’s what I want people to see when they walk through the gallery — that the arts is an important aspect of Mary Baldwin and you shouldn’t just cut that out of our community and our lives.”