Alissa Schapiro has been interested in the Magnes Collection for nearly 10 years. Writing about American art and antisemitism during World War II, her dissertation\u2019s title was derived from a piece held inside the Magnes. Today, she starts her first day as the museum\u2019s senior curator.<\/p>\n
A block away from campus in Downtown Berkeley, the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, or the Magnes, is UC Berkeley\u2019s only Jewish museum and research center. Founded in 1962, it is the only public university-affiliated Jewish museum in the U.S.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe collection at the Magnes \u2026 offers opportunities to explore universally relevant stories of migration, family, faith, and identity through a specifically Jewish lens,\u201d executive director Hannah Weisman said in an email. \u201cThe collection and the work we do at the Magnes focus on the idea that even as we seek common ground, there is value in plurality and difference. This vision \u2026 makes the Magnes a place of learning and community building for the campus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schapiro previously served as the curator at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles and holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, a master\u2019s from the Courtauld Institute of Art and a bachelor\u2019s from Harvard University.<\/p>\n
Schapiro mentioned outreach as critical to her success as the senior curator, adding that she judges an exhibit\u2019s success by how many classes visited it. Weisman shared the sentiment, writing in an email that the Magnes has recently been taking a more \u201cintentional approach to community engagement,\u201d including connecting with UC Berkeley students and campus organizations.<\/p>\n
The Magnes will be hosting its second annual Jewish Arts & Bookfest on May 3 to connect students and the wider Berkeley community with more than 30 authors to celebrate the diversity of Jewish culture. Tickets sit at a discounted rate of $5 for campus students.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the things that really drew me to the Magnes and to Berkeley was thinking of the potential of how many different professors and classes could come and utilize the collection in their teaching,\u201d Schapiro said. \u201cThe collection is this historic collection that shows thousands of years of art and culture that relates to, of course, Jewish history, but also larger cultural \u2026 and intellectual history and religious tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schapiro emphasizes collaboration in her curatorial practice, be it with other museums such as BAMPFA, Skirball and Bancroft, or with faculty and students.<\/p>\n
Currently, Magnes works with UC Berkeley\u2019s Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program and Work-Study Program to give students pathways into researching the collection.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost importantly, (I want to) make sure that the objects and the Magnes\u2019s collection are not just tucked away in storage,\u201d Schapiro said. \u201cI very much see myself as a steward of these objects, and I don\u2019t want them to just sit in the dark.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alissa Schapiro has been interested in the Magnes Collection for nearly 10 years. Writing about American art and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[119676,49110,110275,119677,119678,119675,143,145,144,69994,149,119679,119680],"class_list":["post-276808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-alissa-schapiro","tag-bampfa","tag-bancroft","tag-hannah-weissman","tag-jewish-arts-bookfest","tag-magnes-collection","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-skirball","tag-uc-berkeley","tag-undergraduate-research-apprenticeship","tag-work-study-programs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}