A signet ring that might hold an inside joke. Tessellated mosaics comprised of stolen chips of ancient marbles. A delicate bowl with its gilt rim dappled by wear. Twenty-one artworks are presented in Beneath the Beautification: Selections from the Education of the Cleveland Museum of Art, curated by the 2023-2024 cohort of high school fellows from CMA’s Currently Under Curation program. This jewel box of an exhibit will be on view until September 27, 2024 in the museum’s Ingalls Library and Museum Archives, one of the largest art research libraries in the nation.

The Education Collection itself is a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of the internationally renowned art museum in our backyard. It began in 1914, two years before the museum opened, as a publicity ambassador, showing the public what an art museum was all about. As the museum grew, so did the collection; at its high point, it reached about 18,000 objects gathered by museum educators. The collection was housed at the museum but themed exhibitions traveled throughout the community, with over 32,000 installations placed in schools, libraries, and community centers by 1992.

In the 90s, the museum added a few thousand pieces from the Education Collection to the museum’s permanent collection and deaccessioned some pieces. And community outreach shifted from objects in display cases throughout the community to the Art To Go collection of today, where museum staff bring artworks to schools, libraries, adult living communities to handle and discuss works of art, encouraging close observation and strengthening critical thinking skills.

“The Currently Under Curation program was started in 2018,” says Sabine Kretzschmar, Manager of the Education Art Collection. “It offers high school students the chance to dive deeply into the process of curation, giving them as much decision-making power and authority in calling the shots to curate real-world exhibitions.”

Beneath the Beautification was created by Alex Anderson (Shaker Heights High School), Helena Cherian (Mentor High School), Oliver Clasen (Lakewood High School), Logan Fribey (Homeschool), Anna Lucia (Ohio Virtual Academy), Claire Pirnat (Westlake High School), Sam Schultz (Westlake High School), Giada Spisak (Independence High School), Bridgid Sutliff (Lakewood High School), Faith Teutschbein (Bay High School), Julia Wang (Solon High School), and Abbi Zarlinga (Westlake High School).

Meeting weekly thorough the school year, the cohort took Kretzschmar’s guidelines for the exhibit—answering the question “What is adornment?” with an object that was no larger than the size of two fists—into CMA’s vast Educational Art Collection. From this collection of about 10,000 artworks from around the world and spanning 5,000 years, students chose items that resonated with them. And then they had to work fast, to research and build an exhibit that met the demanding didactics standards and the finished, polished look of CMA’s exhibits.

As they researched, they also refined their interpretation of what adornment meant to them. For most of the objects, there wasn’t a great deal of information about the object on hand, and students traced sources and possibilities through Google Image searches while diving into collections of similar objects held by other museums. Kretzschmar assisted but let students follow their interests and conclusions “to get them to fall in love with lifelong learning and follow their own curiosity.”

What they discovered was that adornment is a basic human need, revealing itself in ways both splendid and intimate, abounding in tiny items that were often designed for everyday use. For Zarlinga, who chose a set of intricately detailed gold medallions of French hunting dogs, it meant that “not all artwork was created for emotional or meaningful purposes; sometimes the simple beauty of it is enough to make it worth something.”

Wang chose a pair of Chinese child’s shoes embroidered with tiger heads and the character pronounced as wáng. “Because Wang is my last name, this object captivated me instantly; already, there was some cultural connection between the tiger head shoes and I. Additionally, when I was little, my grandma used to knit me slippers to wear. Thus, this object was a reminder of a memory that I cherish.”

The intersection of adornment and practicality resonated with Teutschbein, who chose a flint case. “Functionality appealed to me despite its seemingly contradictory definition with that of adornment. Yet several pieces in the collection had both function and adornment. The yearning for accessories to be made beautiful was apparent, and felt intensely human.”

There are echoes to ancestry in Fribley’s choice of a stunningly simple Cherokee basket, Clasen’s frisson of discovery of a hidden letter from Union General Benjamin Butler in a 19^th century snuffbox, and the shimmering loveliness of Pirat’s Chinese yupei pendants, suitable for adorning hair, a necklace, or a belt.

All 21 pieces are featured in three cases within the Ingalls Library, which is on the second floor (excellent signage will guide you there). The exhibition also features a ‘zine designed and produced by the cohort, a copy of which is at the Library’s reference desk. This is absolutely worth spending time reading (the chairs in the periodical section of the Library are mighty comfy) to get a deeper understanding of not only the objects chosen and researched, but also a glimpse into the curators’ perception of adornment and beauty. (Or you might want to try a hand at the vintage card game whist, the directions of which are included in Sutliff’s section about a whist counting board from the early 1900s, made in Japan for the export market).

After the exhibit, the cohort’s work will live on. According to Kretzschmar, the students’ research on exhibited items will be added to the archive of the Education Collection; in many cases, it rounds out what had been a meager record of a beautiful object.

And when the renovation of the Museum’s entrance is completed, it will feature another iteration of the Education Collection: display cases curated by future cohorts of Currently Under Curation fellows.

“Adornment is beauty, something that is unnecessary, yet shared by all humans,” notes Clasen. “It’s something that doesn’t need explanation. Something that exists simply to exist, to be beautiful. Perhaps this is a universal truth, applying not only to beauty but to everything. To us. There is a certain freedom in purposelessness.”

The Ingalls Library part of the Cleveland Museum of Art, with different hours than the Museum. The Library is open Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 am to 4:45 pm. Closed Saturday, Sunday, Monday.

The Currently Under Curation program is made possible with generous support of The Cleveland Foundation.