Art History

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Dr. Orel to spend fall semester in London

Quarry A image by Gerry Allaby
Platform in front of Quarry E, Gebel El Haridi, Egypt (Photo by Gerry Allaby)

 

Dr. Sara Orel, Professor of Art History, will be teaching for the Missouri in London program in the fall of 2010.  While there she will offer courses in Non-Western Art and Culture and Islamic Art.  She will also be working on finishing up several Egyptological projects while there, including preparing the final publication of the Egypt Exploration Society's Gebel el Haridi Survey Project.  She will present her research on the site at the Third British Egyptology Conference, to be held September 11th and 12th at the British Museum.

Haridi is a stunningly beautiful series of cliffs beside the Nile just south of Asyut.  The earliest identified occupation consists of rock-cut tombs of the Old Kingdom, and the latest major architecture dates to Late Roman/early Christian times.  The quarries, cemeteries, and settlements will be the focus of a book coming out in the next couple of years.

 

 

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Art History Cupcakes!

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Ruby Jenkins and Melinda Gross at the bake Sale

Last week, the Art History Society had a bake sale to raise funds (after the fact) for their trip to the College Art Association conference this past February in Chicago.  Customers could either buy premade cupcakes (see below) or could request a custom-decorated, art history-related cupcake. 

Careful observers will notice in the selection below interpretations of (top row, left to right):  van Gogh's Starry Night, an Art History faculty member, and Jasper Johns' Target, and (bottom row) the Mona Lisa and Jeff Koons' Balloon Dog.

Starry night and sara face and jasper johns cupcakes

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Alumna at the National Park Service

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Alumna Adrien Keables (Art History and History, '08) recently sent this picture of her during her work as a Park Ranger in Interpretation at Glacier National Park.  The picture shows Adrien at the left helping two Junior Rangers show off a wolverine pelt.

Adrien had this to say about the way her Art History degree helped her in this work:

When people look at art, they all bring their own perspectives, experiences, and ideas; everyone gets something different out of it.  The same thing happens when people encounter nature or wilderness.  For an interpreter, the trick comes in finding out a little bit about visitors' perspectives, meeting them where they are, and then working from there.  Imagine you're outside talking to a group of people and a deer walks by.  Now, kids who grew up on Bambi will respond differently than, say, a hunter, or someone who can't keep deer out of her garden, or even someone who has only ever seen a wild animal in a zoo.  The interpreter in this instance has to talk to all those people at once and help them appreciate and understand the deer beyond their first reaction.  That's the idea anyway.  A lot like taking your extended family to an art museum.

Posted on by art history faculty Art History, Department, News and Events, Student Groups

Art History Students Attend CAA in Chicago

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A group of Art History majors attended the recent College Art Association conference in Chicago.  CAA is the national conference and professional organization for those involved in teaching art, art history, and graphic design at the university level also includes others such as museum professionals, those involved in the art market, and so on (for more, see http://www.collegeart.org/).  Students worked as room monitors, attended sessions, and visited museums such as the Art Institute of Chicago, where the picture above was taken.  Thanks to Valerie Lazalier for sharing this picture with the Department!

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Student-curated “The Big Read” Exhibition on Vietnam War Opens

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"The Things They Carried:  Mementos from Kirksville Vietnam War Veterans" opened last week at the Kirksville Arts Association Arts Center. Congratulations to the student curators:  Matt Carlson, Melinda Gross, Luke Icenogle, Michele Kaminski (alumna), Karin Li, Sam Lyons, Cecilia Muruato, and Valerie Lazalier.  This exhibition, organized and curated by Truman State University students (mostly Art History majors or minors, and mostly Art History Society members), focuses on the experiences of Kirksville vets and displays information about and items associated with those vets service overseas.  To prepare for the exhibition, the students interviewed six local veterans and those vets have generously and graciously loaned pictures, uniforms, and other items to the exhibition.  In addition, the show features some other items from other Kirksville residents as well as photographs from the National Archives in Washington D.C.

The exhibition will be on display in the Arts Center through Friday, February 26, 2010.  For directions and gallery hours, please visit:  http://www.kirksvillearts.com/newsite/

This show is part of the larger The Big Read project going on in Kirksville during February and March 2010.  Funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Big Read focuses on increasing reading in communities across the country.  For the Kirksville Big Read, residents will be reading Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, which focuses on the Vietnam War.  For more information on The Big Read, to obtain a book, or participate in other related activities, please visit:  http://bigread.truman.edu or call (660)785.4383.

The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest.

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Exhibition organizers and curators Michele Kaminski, Melinda Gross, Cecilia Muruato, Valerie Lazalier, Karin Li, Luke Icenogle, Samantha Lyons, and Matt Carlson at the exhibition opening.
 
Views of the Exhibition:

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National Research Conference Congratulations!

Congratulations to Natalie Hall, Luke Icenogle, Samantha Lyons, and Cecilia Muruato, all of whom had their proposals accepted to present at the National Council of Undergraduate Research conference this year in Montana.  Cecilia, Natalie, and Sam will present on their Art History Senior Thesis projects, and Luke will present research done in Renaissance Art.  That makes a 100% acceptance rate for Truman applicants in Art History!  For more information on the conference, please visit:  http://www.umt.edu/ncur2010/ 

Posted on by art history faculty Art History, Department, Faculty Scholarship and Creative Work, News and Events

Ancient Egyptian Pottery Comes to Truman!

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This image shows one of the pots being removed from the packing case in which it arrived from Toronto.

This spring, Kirksville and Truman State University are fortunate enough to play host to a collection of ancient Egyptian pottery on loan from the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada (http://www.rom.on.ca/).  This extraordinary loan, and the resultant exhibition "Vessels of the Past", have been arranged by Truman Egyptologist and Art Historian Dr. Sara E. Orel.  Dr. Orel did her doctoral work in Toronto and traveled there to select these remarkable objects.  The exhibition will be in the University Art Gallery (Ophelia Parrish) through Tuesday, February 16, with closing recption on the 16th at 6:00 p.m.

In addition, Dr. Orel has been invited to present a talk about her research on Egyptology as part of the Truman Faculty Forum series (http://forum.truman.edu).  Her talk, "The Garstang Excavations at Beni Hasan, Egypt", will take place on Tuesday, January 26 at 7:00 p.m. in Magruder Hall Rm. 2001.  For more information see:  http://forum.truman.edu/html/current.html.  The Forum aims to present faculty research in an accessible manner to both the campus and community.

Thanks and congratulations to Dr. Orel!

 

 

Posted on by art history faculty Art History, Department, News and Events

Internship Congratulations!

Art History junior Valerie Lazalier has just been awarded a Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum Internship for June & July 2009.  CONGRATULATIONS, Valerie!

To learn more about the Truman Library & Museum, please visit http://www.trumanlibrary.org/index.php  To learn more about the internship, please visit:  http://www.trumanlibrary.org/voluntee/intern.htm or contact Dr. Jeff Gall (History) at jgall@truman.edu.  A link to Valerie's Rome study abroad blog also appears on the right of this very blog.