This November, sitting in the Currier auditorium for an Art Talk about the Embellish Me exhibition, Tricia Wentworth had an epiphany: the Pattern and Decoration artists on stage were making art when she was in college studying art.

 

It was a full circle moment that took her back to Smith College, when she was “just a girl from Gloversville, New York” sitting down for her first Art 100 lecture. “I knew nothing about art,” she says. “I was highly intimidated.”

 

However, that foundational course piqued her curiosity and inspired Tricia to become an art history major. Learning about art in the context of history clicked with her. “It all became so alive for me,” she says.

 

That seminar at Smith was just the beginning of Tricia’s educational journey. Every story of her life invited her to deepen her knowledge about art and history, whether she was studying at the Sorbonne during her junior year in Paris or getting to know her son’s talent as an artist.

 

When her family moved to Concord, New Hampshire, a field trip with the local gardening club brought her to the Currier. She fell in love with the museum, recognizing that it would nourish her curiosity.

 

Years later, now a Trustee of the Currier, she found herself in the auditorium, learning about the Pattern and Decoration movement for the first time. The Art Talk enriched her understanding about a time in art she thought she knew – one that synced up to a moment in her own life similarly full of transformation.

 

When you’re a lifelong learner like Tricia, that’s what you do: you keep learning. Life invites you to discover new layers, new ideas, and new ways of thinking. Art is a remarkable ally in that pursuit of knowledge.

 

“Art can serve many purposes,” she says. "It can help you learn. It can calm you. It can excite you. The power of art is endless.”

 

She named a seat to support expanded opportunities for participation in the arts. Different forms and mediums provide different entry points, she says.

 

The right entry point can prompt someone else – someone like her – to keep learning, thinking, and growing.