Over 100 people gathered at the Lowe Art Museum on Oct. 1, for the opening of its latest ArtLab exhibition, “Let the Picture Lead: Helen Frankenthaler and Her Circle.”
Inside ArtLab, visitors enter the world of Helen Frankenthaler, an abstract expressionist known for her innovative soak-stain technique. Surrounded by bursts of color, geometric forms and works that do not always reveal an obvious image, visitors are encouraged to interpret what they see.
“Feel the paintings. Don’t look, feel,” said Dr. Tola Porter, the Lowe’s assistant director for learning, engagement and technology, when asked what she hopes someone unfamiliar with Frankenthaler or abstract expressionism takes away from the exhibition.
A group of University of Miami students spent a semester learning how to turn research and ideas into a museum exhibition.
ArtLab is a curatorial practicum led by Professor Nathan J. Timpano, Chair of the Department of Art and Art History, and Dr. Jill Dupe, director of the Lowe. The program offers students the chance to visit places like New York City and get a behind-the-scenes look at museums.
“The process was very new to us,” ArtLab student Sarah Fachado said. The class brought together students from different backgrounds, including art history, graphic design and business, allowing each to offer a different perspective. “It was all these different elements where I was like, ‘Oh, I never thought of it like that,’” Fachado said.
The exhibition is also a gift from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, which provided the Lowe with Frankenthaler prints and funding to support the exhibition.
The student curators looked beyond the Lowe’s collection and included several loans from the Pérez family collection, allowing them to select works that complemented Frankenthaler and the other artists represented.
The Frankenthaler Foundation gift and local loans gave students access to works that helped them build a broader story around Frankenthaler and her circle.
For some, the opening was also a chance to return to a museum they had supported for years.
Three longtime Lowe docents, volunteers to lead museum tours, and educational programs for schoolchildren, attended the opening and expressed their appreciation for the exhibition.
“We very much believe in the museum, love the museum and we’re interested in the different kinds of shows,” one docent said. “We are big supporters of the museum.”
The docents also remembered earlier ArtLab exhibits, when student-curated shows occupied a smaller space rather than the dedicated gallery visitors entered Thursday night.
Another attendee, Kevin Friedman, said the exhibition showed how artists working during the same period influenced one another.
“Nothing works in a vacuum,” Friedman said. “You get inspired by everything that you see.”
The students’ involvement continues beyond the exhibition. Each researched and wrote about a piece, and some contributed longer essays to an upcoming catalog, which will be available digitally and in print.
For Porter, that interaction gives the artwork its life.
“These things don’t live unless we are doing the work,” Porter said. “It’s almost like a clock starts ticking when we look, and the artwork is doing a thing while we’re looking at it.”
The Lowe Art Museum offers free general admission, including to University of Miami students. “Let the Picture Lead: Helen Frankenthaler and Her Circle” will be on view through Feb. 6, 2027.