“The sheer mass of art that is here—it's mind blowing,” said Thomas Ogg, a philosophy student in the Columbia School of General Studies. A weekly visitor to the Met Museum in New York City, he had initially planned to visit three museums a week while in Paris, but quickly found this pace “incredibly exhausting.”
Drawn to the summer Art and Music Hum (AHMH) program for its interactive class structure (normally spread over two semesters), Thomas valued the frequent museum visits integrated into the AHMH curriculum. These transformed his typically solitary practice into a collaborative opportunity to “analyze” artwork with peers. “That’s been a real highlight of the program,” he said. “It felt like a very unique experience.” During a course excursion to Amiens, Thomas and his classmates visited a Gothic cathedral guided by their instructor Lindsay Cook, a specialist in medieval architecture. “Seeing it in person and understanding her perspective… it was an experience I couldn’t have had in New York or many other places in the world,” he reflected.
Following the advice of one of his professors, Thomas attended “almost every scheduled event at Reid Hall.” One of his favorite events was a lecture by the curator of the Manet Degas exhibit at the Musée d’Orsay. He spoke of the value of experiencing these events with the general public, noting how Professor Bacwezska’s concert felt more enriching when shared with a very engaged audience, instead of just his fellow students who enjoy her musical prowess in the classroom.
Focusing on language and ethics, Thomas appreciated the inclusion of philosophical texts in the Art Hum curriculum. Engaging with the philosophers that the artists were reading at the time, he developed a strengthened interest in the field of aesthetics. He plans to continue exploring this area of philosophy, just in time for his upcoming applications to PhD programs.
Thomas’s biggest advice to future AHMH students is to prioritize sleep. He found that without eight hours of sleep, he felt worn out. “The class really requires you to be emotionally open at all times and aware of your personal responses,” he emphasized, as this personal engagement “is the raw material of the class.”
Beyond Reid Hall, Thomas highly recommends spending time at Parisian cafés. “All the seats are pointed out towards the street so that you're in the city,” he said, unlike in coffee shops in the United States, which can feel isolating since “...you’re supposed to stay in your bubble and not bother anyone.” The defining trait of a Parisian cafe is “the ability to sit and chat for three, four hours,” he said, which he enjoyed daily.
Learn more about summer programs at Reid Hall.
