Digging Into the Past to Create Art

What kind of artistic inspiration can Gen Z teenagers draw from a piece of 19^th-century earthenware or a glass pharmaceutical bottle? Plenty, if you consider the works produced by Advanced Art students and presented in the exhibition, Unearthed: St. Benedict’s Archaeology Project, at Rutgers University-Newark. “It’s bringing artifacts to life and showing what life was like in Newark at that time,” said Visual & Performing Arts Department Chair Pam Wye H’18. Like many artistic endeavors spearheaded by Ms. Wye, the artifacts project was multidisciplinary and included archaeology, history, writing, art and more.

Works from the course, “Imagining 19^th-Century Life from Artifacts Unearthed at St. Benedict’s Prep and Rutgers University-Newark,” were created by art students in the Fall 2023 and Winter 2024 semesters. In the fall class, students engaged with artifacts collected by the late Fr. Maynard Nagengast, O.S.B., during the 1980s when the Henry and Agnes Brennan building was constructed. Students in the winter class examined artifacts excavated during the construction of the Honors Living and Learning Community at Rutgers-Newark. They researched these items and envisioned how everyday objects used by 19^th-century families were utilized and displayed in their homes. Additionally, students designed postcards, which were popular at the time, that referenced the artifacts and their significance to the families displayed alongside the paintings. 

The series of murals from the fall and winter Advanced Art classes was first unveiled at the Interdisciplinary Project celebration in March 2024. Karen Bernard, museum registrar at the Paul Robeson Galleries at Rutgers-Newark, attended the event. Impressed with the work, Ms. Bernard told Director & Chief Curator Anonda Bell about the murals, and a venue was secured to display the paintings, which featured historic items from the Rutgers dig. Unearthed opened last September at the Honors Living and Learning Community and remained on view until June 30, 2025. A special reception, attended by St. Benedict’s artists, was held at the HLLC in March 2025.

“Rutgers made an amazing amount of material available to us,” said Ms. Wye. “The kids learned a lot and they really enjoyed it.” The art teacher hopes to pursue more community partnerships with art institutions in Newark. “The Benedict’s Visual Arts Department has had fruitful collaborations with the Paul Robeson Galleries in the past and we look forward to continuing that in the future.”