The Princeton University Art Museum since its founding in the late 1800s has aimed to provide students with exposure to original works of art and to teach the history of art through the many objects they have from around the world. Princeton University faculty members use objects in the museum as teaching tools to give students a deeper understanding of ancient cultures and people.
Last semester, Christina Halperin, then a Cotsen Fellow in Latin American Studies and now a lecturer in the art and archaeology department, taught a course titled “Mesoamerican Material Culture.” In this video, students in the course study ancient Maya artifacts in the museum and then reproduce Mesoamerican pottery techniques in the Wilson College Ceramics Studio on campus.