Portraits of a Profession
This spring, Richmond Law’s Professional Identity Formation (PIF) class stepped outside the classroom and into the Harnett Museum at the Modlin Center to explore professional identity through art.
Utilizing the University of Richmond’s Museums+ initiative, which allows faculty to co-curate course-related exhibitions using the University’s art collections, Professor Janice Craft collaborated with Martha Wright, Curator of Museum Programs, to tailor an installation specifically for PIF students. The exhibit was designed to provoke deep, personal inquiry and challenge students to consider not only who they want to be as lawyers, but also who they want to be as people.
“It’s important to me to always emphasize the twin themes of agency and accountability in professional identity formation,“ Craft said. “Only the student can decide who they’re going to be as a lawyer, but they’re never making those decisions in a vacuum. They are accountable to others and to the demands and responsibilities of the legal profession.”
Working in tandem, Craft and Wright were able to create an exhibit that addressed those objectives. “I shared the syllabus with Martha and the themes I hoped the exhibit would highlight, and she reviewed the museum’s entire collection to select pieces that spoke to them.”
The exercise invited students to engage with works of art not just as viewers, but as reflective participants in their own professional development.
“Legal texts, especially in the first year, often train students to think in abstract, detached terms,” explained Craft. “The experience of art, on the other hand, is deeply personal. It forces a personal response. It doesn’t just ask students to interpret what they see; it asks them to notice how they feel. And that opens the door to a kind of self-inquiry that a casebook doesn’t often invite.”
That invitation resonated deeply with Zachary Braswell, a rising 2L in Craft’s class.
“In law school, I often find myself focused on performance, precision, and logic,” he said. “The art exhibit, however, asked me to reflect inward on my values, experiences, and motivations, and it inspired me to become a lawyer that is not just intellectually skillful, but also emotionally aware.”
Craft accompanied each of her five PIF sections to the museum and was repeatedly struck by the depth and nuance of the students’ reflections, stating that the interpretations sounded more like they came from students pursuing an MFA, versus a law degree.
For rising 2L Delayna Major, the experience underscored the individuality of interpreting art. She and three of her classmates analyzed a single image and came away with varying interpretations influenced by their personal perspectives.
“While I interpreted the piece as a foreshadowing of the challenges of maneuvering through a competitive environment like law school, one of my classmates regarded the piece as a celebration of the value of collaboration in overcoming shared obstacles,” she said. “Although we all underwent a shared experience as first-year law students—rotating through the same curriculum, attending similar networking events, and enduring the same obstacles of final exams—the unique experiences that molded us as individuals leading to law school and supporting us through the process continues to shape our identities and our perspectives of these shared experiences."
Originally intended as a one-time collaboration through the Museums+ initiative, the success of the exhibit has reshaped how Craft envisions future iterations of her PIF courses.
“I wasn’t sure how students would respond,” she said. “But two things happened: 1) students largely responded positively to the experience, and 2) I realized that faculty aren’t confined to teaching at the museum only when participating in Museums+. To be honest, I’m almost more excited about the prospect of using the whole collection on display at the museum, versus a smaller installation, to explore course themes with students.”