Groundbreaking at the Grimshaw-Gudewicz Art Gallery. Dignitaries sporting artist berets are using shovels.The Grimshaw-Gudewicz Art Gallery first opened its doors to the public in October 2000. Designed by the architecture firm Handlin, Garrahan, and Associates, it was the result of a two-year campaign led by the Bristol Community College Foundation, which raised more than $500,000. Those funds were matched by public funds through the assistance of the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance, an agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  

Under director Kathleen Hancock, the Gallery functions as a forum to present ideas about art and art-making. Each semester for the past twenty-six years, faculty from across the college use the Gallery as a teaching and learning tool.

In the fall of 2000, I was eager and yet a little anxious to take on the role as the first Director of the Grimshaw-Gudewicz Art Gallery,

Although the inaugural exhibition, Selected Works from Bristol Community College’s Permanent Art Collection, was already on the schedule for October, the Gallery had not officially opened its doors to the public.

While the main exhibit hall was completed, some elements of the reception area and the courtyard were still under construction – it would take the rest of the academic year for them to be finished. That year my desk was a folding table, and I stored tools and other Gallery furniture behind portable office partitions in the reception area. I felt a little like the Wizard of Oz then when I asked visitors to ‘pay no attention’ to what was behind the office partitions. I was incredibly busy in those next few seasons working with my colleagues to refine the mission, establish the structure, develop meaningful programming, and make sure that we had all the necessary tools and equipment in place to support the installation process.

The Gallery’s role has always been to be a forum to present ideas about art and art-making. My approach has always been to use exhibitions to provide opportunities for students and the community to participate in the creative process. Over the years, I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with many extraordinary people. And together we have created many memorable exhibitions.

Since its inauguration that included a display of works from the College’s permanent art collection, the Gallery has hosted a diverse array of exhibitions. These exhibitions and the many others have expanded our notions of where art lives and how we, the audience, experiences it. 
– Kathleen Hancock

Director of the Grimshaw-Gudewicz Art Gallery

The Beginnings of Art Education at Bristol Community College

Marion Wilner, Bristol Community College's first art professor, holding one of her worksWhen artist-teacher Marion Wilner was appointed to the faculty in 1966, the college’s first year of operation, art was not a high priority in the curriculum. The study of art was viewed perhaps as a luxury in a community that needed jobs and a workforce with practical skills. But this narrow outlook did not prevail for long, for Marion Wilner brought to the college not only her great skill and dedication as a teacher, but also a deep understanding of the potential of art as a focus of study and career preparation. She led us to recognize that artistic interests and talents were to be found across the spectrum of social and economic class  and that Bristol’s mission could and should accommodate these interest and talents. Thanks to her vision and enthusiasm, Bristol’s art program evolved over time with an Art Transfer program officially recognized in 1980. The addition of commercial art eventually led to the full array of courses in graphic arts, electronic imaging, and web design Bristol offers today.