Nestled above the hills only about four miles away from campus, the Getty Museum functions as an integral part of the UCLA experience. Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the Getty has resources that art aficionados and art novices alike can appreciate.
“I think because the Getty is so close to UCLA, literally everything from just a very nice place to hang out … to concerts and lectures, all the way to doing sophisticated research in the research institute, are ways UCLA more and more can tie into the Getty,” said Peter Tokofsky, an adjunct professor in UCLA’s German department and an educational specialist at the Getty Museum. “I think UCLA’s been connected to the Getty Center in a lot of ways since it’s been open and I think it’ll just continue to grow.”
The Getty Center’s three institutions, the Getty Museum, the Getty Villa in Malibu and the Getty Research Center housed inside the Getty Museum, all serve as opportunities for students to explore artwork for classes and recreation. Since the Getty Center’s inception on Dec. 16, 1997, the Getty functions as a place where prime internships and research can be conducted.
“I remember as a faculty member at UCLA literally just looking out at Royce Hall and seeing the Getty Center grow and get built down the hill, and all of us just wondered what it would become and what kind of resource it would be,” said Tokofsky. “I know that even after 10 years, it’s still a process of discovery.”
The Getty Research Institute may cater exclusively to academics, professors and graduate students, but undergraduate students are encouraged attend the Getty Museum for art history, theater, history and classics courses.
“You can get close to a Van Gogh and see the impasto,” said second-year theater and art history student, Rebecca Rom. “Some of those works there are big deals that are in all sorts of art history books, and the fact that they’re so close, and you can see them for free, and it costs a quarter to get there on the bus is amazing.”
The Getty Museum houses 65,104 separate objects and rotates paintings and sculptures in and out of the museum to minimize light exposure.
But for first-year linguistics student Mikael Miller, who visited the museum with his floor from Hedrick Hall, the art is not the only draw.
“It’s fun to just to go there with friends and hang out, talk, and talk about the exhibits and at the same time, just go lay down at the grass and just enjoy yourself because it’s really beautiful,” said Miller.
With recreational events such as live music on Friday nights and an annual college night, occurring on Feb. 28 this year, the Getty has worked to connect to the university community.
Tokofsky hopes that the Getty’s relationship with several Los Angeles-area institutions will continue to grow on an academic level.
“I like to see the museum as a compliment to what the university does,” said Tokofsky. He said the Getty is not just a resource for UCLA, as he has also worked with the University of Souther California and local community colleges.
“Some of the transfer students coming into UCLA will already be familiar with the museum and already have the kind of experience that would make them better students,” Tokofsky said. “There are just a lot of possibilities.”
But even with academic programs and recreational opportunities at the Getty, students still recognize the importance of the museum itself.
“It’s kind of a tranquil, ideal place in the middle of this bustling city,” said third-year art history and history student Ellen Garibaldi. “It’s way up on the hill and it’s all white and gleaming and it’s pretty serene. You can’t hear traffic or anything like that.”