PARTNERS
Johnson Museum of Art
Nevada Museum of Art
The Holland Project
(Photo credit to Johnson Museum of Art)
Replica of Lee Bontecou's 1959 sculpture of welded iron, canvas, wire, and velvet in the Johnson Museum of Art's collection
The Journey Starts:
During Ana’s internship at Johnson Museum of Art in Ithaca, NY, Ana noticed how many visitors especially K-12 students wanted to move closer, touch a work's textures, and explore its details — needs that traditional, sight-centered display couldn't meet. She began adapting replicas with tactile structures and clearer physical detail, and the response, especially from children and from blind and visually impaired visitors, revealed something larger: art doesn't have to be understood through a single sense.
The featured piece is Ana’s tactile model of a replica of Lee Bontecou’s masterpiece, presented with a sectional view to illustrate how the model was constructed, designed as an educational and interactive learning tool for K–12 students. This model has been in use since summer 2025. This is the start of Curate Lab.
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The Journey Continues:
Nevada Museum of Art
The Nevada Museum of Art in Reno is the only art museum in Nevada accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, the highest standard for museums in the United States. Ana has volunteered there since 2024, and it has become a natural home for Curate Lab's mission.
At Curate Lab, we believe people understand art more deeply when they can touch it, build it, and make it themselves. Tactile models and hands-on making aren't extras for us. They are central to how we help people of every age connect with art.
That belief comes to life in the museum's Second Saturday program, a free monthly hands-on day for families. Each session introduces kids and adults to a different medium, including printmaking, glasswork, ceramics, and origami. Instead of only looking at finished artwork, participants learn how it's made by working with the materials and building objects of their own. Guiding visitors through this process, Ana has seen how making something with your hands changes how you look at art. A child who has pressed a print or shaped clay sees a gallery differently afterward.
Second Saturday has reached hundreds of local families. It has inspired young artists of all ages and helped build a strong, creative arts community in Reno, Nevada.
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Growing Together:
The Holland Project
The Holland Project is a youth-driven arts nonprofit in Reno and one of the city's most energetic spaces for emerging artists. Through programs like Young Blood, its teen art showcase held twice a year, and WIP (Work In Progress), Holland gives young artists a real gallery, a real audience, and a community to grow with.
Ana joined Holland's young artist programs and brought Curate Lab with her. Her goal went beyond making her own tactile models. She wanted to invite other teen artists into the work, encouraging peers to study great works of art and reinterpret them as tactile models: pieces that can be touched, taken apart, and understood through more than one sense. From one project to a shared platform. This is where Curate Lab grows into a shared platform.
Design tactile models inspired by masterworks, using any materials and techniques.
Share their models and the story behind how they were made.
Partner with museums in Reno, across the country, and around the world that want hands-on learning tools for students and visitors of all abilities.
Build it with us
Curate Lab started in a single museum. Now it's growing through a community of young artists who believe art should be felt, explored, and shared. The future of accessible art is being made by hand, and we're building it together.