Located in an award-winning building on the St. John’s College campus, just steps from the Maryland Statehouse, the Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Museum (/m) presents changing exhibitions in a free and welcoming environment. Like the college, we foster curiosity by encouraging deep engagement and open-ended conversation, asking timely and persistent questions of the human experience through art and with extraordinary artists. We are the only nationally accredited visual arts museum in Anne Arundel County, one of only five in Maryland, and the only one on a college or university campus in the state.
/m was founded as the St. John’s College Gallery in 1975 in a former science lab on the second floor of Mellon Hall, one of the few buildings designed by California architect Richard Neutra on the East Coast. Initially the gallery was overseen by the college’s artists-in-residence, and managed by current and recent students. Its purpose was to bring Great Art to campus as a complement to the Great Books program.
In late 1980s, the college decided to construct a dedicated building for the gallery. It assembled an advisory committee that included art dealer Eugene Thaw (A47), Sherman Lee, director of the Cleveland Museum of Art, Sydney Freedberg, senior curator at the National Gallery of Art, and Tutor Emeritus Tom May. With money from Elizabeth Myers Mitchell, a local art collector, philanthropist, and member of the college’s Board of Visitors and Governors, it hired Annapolis architect Chip Bohl. The renamed Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Gallery opened in 1989 with an exhibition titled “Word and Image,” curated by then artist-in-residence Burton Blistein.
In 1990, the college hired Hydee Schaller, who had worked as an assistant at the Hood Museum of Art at Darmouth and the Harvard University Art Museums, to serve as the first director, a position she held for 31 years. She oversaw 211 exhibitions—of Picasso ceramics, American Indian art, jade, Rembrandt etchings, Mayan ceramics, and more. Lucinda Edinburgh joined as Art Educator in 1996, a position she held for 26 years. Schaller and Edinburg obtained accreditation for the museum from the American Alliance of Museums in 2014.
The gallery closed temporarily in 2020 due to the pandemic and subsequent Mellon Hall renovations. In 2022, the college hired Peter Nesbett, an African American art scholar and experimental curator, to reopen it, and with Jenny Cawood, an art educator and painter, as Manager of Artistic Inquiry, they did, giving it a new name, mission, and program philosophy. The mission now echoes the college’s commitment to open-ended collaborative learning and inquiry.
Peter Nesbett, Director peter.nesbett(at)sjc.edu | 410-626-2536
At the museum since September 2022, Peter is an award-winning art historian, experimental curator, editor, administrator, and occasional art activist. He began his career as a scholar of African American Art, co-edited three books on Jacob Lawrence, co-founded and co-directed an experimental art gallery in Harlem called Triple Candie, and then with Shelly Bancroft produced projects across Europe and North America. From 2010 to 2015, he was Associate Director at the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage in Philadelphia. He is responsible for exhibitions, long-range planning, fundraising, and public relations.
Jenny Cawood, Manager (of Artistic Inquiry) jenny.cawood(at)sjc.edu | 410-626-2556
Brought onto the /m team in October of 2022, Jenny is a museum educator, art and film critic, international academic advisor, and art historian. After graduating from St. John’s College in 2017, she moved alone to Aix-en-Provence, France, ultimately earning two Master’s degrees in Art History and Painting over the course of four years there. She has conducted creative tours in museums across Europe, published her critical analysis for various publications, and exhibited work with other artists in France. As Manager of the Mitchell Art Museum, she is responsible for student enrichment & engagement, educational programs, event management, and daily operations, among other things.
Aedan Turner (A27), Museum Host Anita Therese Kent (GI26), Museum Host Ari David (A25), Museum Host Clara West (SF27), Museum Host Mathilda Neidinger (A28), Museum Host Maya Wolfe (A26), Museum Host Natalie Goldman (A27), Museum Host Tawheeda Sikder (A28), Museum Host
On January 1, 2025, the museum launched a new Advisory Council, replacing the longstanding Board of Advisors. The Advisory Council is comprised primarily of working arts professionals in the Annapolis-Baltimore-DC-Eastern Shore region. Its dual-purpose is to serve as a programmatic thinking-partner for the director, and expand the museum’s community.
Joy Chambers (Annapolis, MD)—arts patron Rhonda Pindell Charles (Annapolis, MD)—attorney and City Alderwoman Martina Dodd (Annapolis, MD)—Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, Banneker-Douglass-Tubman Museum Jeff Huntington (aka Jahru)(Annapolis, MD)—artist, co-founder, and Executive Director, Future History Now Lindsay Karson (Potomac, MD)—Learning and Development Manager, Glenstone Macarena Olsen (A13)(Annapolis, MD)—Creative Director, Poesis Creative, Annapolis Jason Patterson (Chestertown, MD)—public historian/artist, and director of MuSE: A Community Museum, Washington College Babette Pendleton (Annapolis, MD)—artist, curator, and Manager, National Gallery of Art/Corcoran Institute Partnership Joseph del Pesco (Baltimore/Barcelona/Mexico City)—International Director, Kadist Foundation Lu Zhang (Baltimore, MD)—artist and Executive Director, A Blade of Grass
/m would like to thank Kathy Clatanoff, Tara Clifford, Janet Gellici, Robert Koenke, Marilyn Lyons, Laura Ricciardelli, Wilford W. Scott, and Melissa Yanowitz for their service to /m’s former Board of Advisors.
Emeritus members have dedicated in excess of twenty years of service to the museum and remain exceptionally supportive.
/mbassadors are people who have made financial or other important contributions to the museum’s programming or operations over the past year.
