Standing just a few steps away from 2,000 years’ worth of art, from ancient Asian sculptures to Vincent van Gogh and Picasso, six El Camino College students and three professors spent an afternoon immersing themselves in history.
The Anthropology Club and faculty traveled to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena to view art and discuss museums Friday, April 25.
Founded in 1975 by businessman and art collector Norton Simon, the museum showcases ancient Asian art, European art from the 14th to the 20th centuries and American modernist pieces.
Club President and anthropology major Tanner Hatchett, 23, organized the event and arranged for the group to travel to the museum together in an ECC van.
“Since last semester, … I had wanted to do something kind of fun for the club, namely being a field trip,” Hatchett said. “I want the club to go out and do things.”
As the Norton Simon has free admission for students with a valid school ID, it was selected as an accessible option.
“I’m glad I got to come out today. Being able to interact with the art, like even conversationally, even in the van as we were coming back — that’s a highlight in and of itself,” anthropology major Jamie Chappell, 27, said.
Club adviser and anthropology professor Lawrence Ramirez, philosophy professor Roberto Garcia and art history professor Karen Whitney all attended the excursion, and shared insight about the experience and the artworks on display.
Whitney’s Art History 102B class — History of Western Art from the Proto-Renaissance to the 19th Century — includes an assignment where students research any selected artwork from the Norton Simon collection.
“It was great that everyone came [and] already had a genuine interest in seeing things that was independent of anything the instructors needed to say,” Whitney said.
Chappell, who joined the club this semester, had visited the museum before and generally visits museums solo or with one or two others.
“Going as a group and having either discussion or having one of the professors chime in – even fellow peers – it made the experience different,” Chappell said.
![(L-R) Tanner Hatchett, 23, anthropology major and Anthropology Club president, and studio art major and club member Jordan Irby, 24, hold up a complimentary print reproduction from the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena of "The Aldrovandi Dog," an oil on canvas painting dated circa 1625 by Italian painter Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, in El Camino College Lot K on Friday, April 25. Irby contemplated the artwork and found that it can only be described in one way. "It&squot;s just [a] dog," he said. (Nikki Yunker | The Union)](https://eccunion.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/yunker_anthropology_042525-4.jpg)
Chappell noted that viewing art in person is a different experience from hearing about it in a lecture or reading about it in a textbook.
“You don’t get a grasp of the scale until you’re before a lot of them,” Chappell said. “So that part of the experience of the art, you can only get by going to a museum.”
The Anthropology Club meets Tuesdays from 1-2 p.m. in the Anthropology Museum, Arts Complex Room 100.
