The Art History Virtual Exhibits are online versions of public exhibits coordinated by Dr. Billie Follensbee, Professor of Art History at Missouri State University, and displayed in the Special Collections and Archives gallery of Duane G. Meyer Library at Missouri State.

The exhibits feature art and artifacts from North America, Mesoamerica, the Isthmian region, South America, Africa, the Pacific Islands, and Australia, and the educational labels and exhibit texts displayed with the objects represent the best student work from Dr. Follensbee’s advanced undergraduate Art History classes.

These courses, including ART 385: Art of the Americas, ART 386: Art of Africa, ART 485: Art of Mesoamerica, and ART/MST 488: Basic Conservation of Art and Artifacts, are Citizenship and Service-Learning Integrated courses. As part of their coursework, the students agree to study and research art and artifacts loaned to the University by our community partners–local museums, collections, institutions, and private collectors who do not have the resources to research or conserve the objects. As a result, the students are allowed to work hands-on with real art and artifacts from these cultures; the community partners have their objects studied, researched, and conserved; and the community and University benefit from a public, educational exhibit and reception. The exhibits are then published in this online virtual exhibit, which also serves as a publicly accessible catalog.

To access each exhibit, please click on the title in the “Categories” box to the right of this post. Then click on the title of the individual project or object, which will bring you to the titles, researcher(s), photographs, and explanations of the objects researched. Bibliographic references for the research projects are available upon request from the researchers.