Marti Jo Boren Hall, of Sherwood, is a student at Arkansas State University where she is working on BA in Art History with a certificate in Museum Studies. She will intern at the Central Arkansas Library System Butler Center for Arkansas Studies. Her project will involve the analysis and care of the Rohwer Japanese American Incarceration Camp Collection, which was donated in 2010 by Rosalie Gould, former mayor of McGehee, who fought to preserve the history of the camp. The collection includes hundreds of artworks produced by U.S citizens of Japanese descent while incarcerated in Arkansas. High school art teacher and Rohwer Camp art instructor Mabel Jamison “Jamie” Vogel was allowed to keep much of their work and bequeathed it to Gould for the archive, which extensively documents a shameful episode in U.S. history.
From Marti Jo
My future professional goal is marketing and programming in the museum context, with a particular focus on public service work. Coming from the Little Rock area, I am aware of the impact that cultural outreach can have on a population, and I want to use the knowledge I have gained in my studies to create programs that serve the public, offering a way for communities to interact with the arts. My passion lies in bridging the gap between communities and the arts. Our world needs social equity, and the arts can play an important role in attaining that balance.