Fall 2020 Newsletter
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NEWSLETTER FALL 2020 KRESS FOUNDATION DEPARTMENT OF ART HISTORY 1301 MISSISSIPPI STREET, ROOM 209, LAWRENCE, KANSAS 66045 PHONE: 785-864-4713 F EMAIL: [email protected] F WEB: ARTHISTORY.KU.EDU FROM THE CHAIR Our hearts go out to everyone adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed well over a million lives worldwide, done serious economic damage in many countries, and caused tremendous suffering and distress. All CONTENTS of us who have maintained good health, secure housing, and financial stability during these difficult times should be thankful and do what we can to help those who have been less fortunate. FROM THE CHAIR 1 Like most U.S. institutions of higher education, KU shut down its campus in mid-March in response to the pandemic and moved courses and final exams DISTINGUISHED 4 online, requiring students and instructors to adapt quickly to an unsettled and ALUMNI AWARD unsettling situation. KU’s resilient art history faculty and GTAs did a remarkable job of adjusting their teaching methods and accommodating students whose lives RETIREMENT 6 and academic pursuits were disrupted. The pandemic forced KU to cancel many significant spring events, including in-person Commencement. The art history MURPHY LECTURE 8 department regrettably canceled our annual Amsden Awards Ceremony, at which SERIES we recognize undergraduate students for superior academic performance and FACULTY NEWS 10 present graduate student awards. Other events were rescheduled and shifted to an online format, including the interdisciplinary symposium “Visual and Material ALUMNI NEWS 16 Culture of the Silk Road(s)” (see page 9). GRADUATE 22 All summer courses were delivered online. Then, after much careful planning for STUDENT NEWS the new semester, KU resumed classes this fall in online, hybrid, and in-person formats – the latter conducted with participants masked and physically distanced WITH THANKS 23 to protect their health and safety. With the exception of Curator of Visual Resources Mark Olson and his graduate assistant employees, all KU art history faculty, staff, GTAs, and GRAs have worked remotely this semester. We expect the spring semester to look much like the fall, as we do our best to continue teaching, learning, conducting research and performing service in the midst of challenging circumstances. Alongside the pandemic, the nationwide protests by Black Lives Matter and others against police brutality and systemic racism sparked by the May 25 killing of George Floyd heightened awareness of our need and capacity as art historians to help advance social justice. An ongoing dialogue between the art history faculty and the newly formed History of Art Graduate Students Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Inclusion Committee resulted in the department’s public statement, posted on our website, of our commitment to creating and sustaining FROM THE CHAIR, CONTINUED FROM THE CHAIR, CONTINUED a diverse, equitable, accessible and inclusive community of students, teachers, and scholars. Toward that pandemic and to have had the flexibility “One of the things that has been most end, in collaboration with the HAGS DEAI committee, we have organized a lecture series for 2020-21, to teach remotely before relocating to “Intersections of Identity: Expression, Exchange, and Hybridity.” This series aims to demonstrate how that state. “Between facilitating my own helpful to me during these months are art history’s critical investigation of the past – and contemporary artists’ and art historians’ grappling with children’s online learning, converting the videos offered online to members challenges of the present – can help us to recognize, analyze, and combat racism and inequality, affirming our my classes from face-to-face to online, discipline’s value in the ongoing struggle to create a more just and equitable society. The first two speakers in preparing to move, and starting at a new of the Frick Collection. Watching these the series, Norman Akers and M. Carmen Lane, presented their talks in September and October 2020. (See school, I feel like I have been working has been a relief for me because it brings page 8 for the KU student-designed lecture posters.) Dipti Khera, Kimberly M. Jenkins, and Keri Watson non-stop since the pandemic forced us me some perspective on the fortunes will speak in the series, which is broadcast on the KU Art History YouTube channel, in February, March, and all into lockdown in March. It’s been April 2021, respectively. Please check the department’s website for details and we hope you will join us for both rewarding and exhausting, and I and misfortunes of artists and others.” the lectures. am so thankful that my family has been healthy so that I’ve been able to be a —Lea Rosson DeLong (PhD ’83) The department invited alumni to offer steady support for my students.” The lecture series, “Intersections of brief reflections on how COVID-19 Identity: Expression, Exchange, and has affected their lives and work. BEVERLY JOYCE (PhD ’03), Professor of Art and Gallery Director at the Mississippi University for Women, MICHAEL AURBACH (MA ’79, MFA, calls the effects of the pandemic “initially devastating” and now “frustrating and exhausting.” “Our university Hybridity,” aims to demonstrate how Southern Methodist University ’83) shut down during spring break. We had just closed a huge exhibition, the Mississippi Collegiate Art art history’s critical investigation of reported, “the coronavirus has given Competition, and were packing up nearly 200 works of art from eight different universities across the state. the past – and contemporary artists’ me an opportunity to get a lot of work We were also getting ready for three new exhibitions to open after students returned from the break. One done around my new home in Overland of the artists featured in an upcoming show had driven three hours to deliver her artwork. All of that came & art historians’ grappling with Park. Unfortunately, it has prevented to a screeching halt with the shutdown. The artwork from the various universities sat in piles in our largest challenges of the present – can help me from visiting my older brother who gallery for the whole summer.” Beverly reports that her galleries are now open, but offering no receptions is in hospice care in Dallas, Texas.” In or traditional gallery talks. “Instead, I am learning how to record video gallery talks and tours that will us to recognize and combat racism & addition to making travel difficult or eventually go online. … COVID-19 has forced me to become at least a little more tech savvy.” inequality, affirming our discipline’s impossible, the pandemic resulted in cancelled events and disrupted plans. Several of our alumni noted the comfort that art has provided during the pandemic. Wichita Art Museum value in the ongoing struggle to create curator TERA LEE HEDRICK (MA ’05, PhD, Northwestern ’15) tells us that the WAM “reopened to the public For example, REINHILD KAUENHOVEN at the end of June. Attendance is down and the days are quieter than usual, but for those who do visit, the a more just and equitable society. JANZEN (PhD ’78) lamented “the cancellation of the much-anticipated museum feels more necessary than ever. For many Wichitans who are most vulnerable to the virus, WAM is exhibition of the oeuvre of Albrecht Altdorfer (hero of my dissertation and subsequent book) at the Louvre, one of the only places they go. People know that they can visit safely—they don’t need to touch anything, it is as well as the symposium on Altdorfer in connection with this exhibition, also in Paris. I had received an easy to socially distance, and we have a great HVAC system. In the galleries, they can find solace, inspiration, invitation to the opening of this exhibition, scheduled for April 23, 2020. Of course, my husband and I had and joy from works of art. When everything is so difficult, it is a true bright spot for me and other staff that made extensive travel plans around this once-in-a-lifetime event, including a meeting with one of the primary WAM is a haven for people in the community.” LEA ROSSON DELONG (PhD ’83) writes, “One of the things collectors of Bakala’s carvings (hero of my recent research) and a visit to the newly re-conceptualized Africa that has been most helpful to me during these months are the videos offered online to members of the Frick Museum in Tervuren, Belgium.” Collection. Watching these has been a relief for me because it brings me some perspective on the fortunes and misfortunes of artists and others and because it brings me some relief from the terrible concerns of the MARIA ELENA BUSZEK (PhD ’03) reports that she was in London the week of March 7 to give a lecture at day.” LEESA FANNING (PhD ’98) observes that the pandemic, while tragic, provides “an opportunity for deep Cambridge University and barely made it back home before the shutdown of travel from Europe to the U.S. contemplation. I will never again take for granted being with people I treasure or directly experiencing a Then, “within two days of my arrival, I was joining everyone in shock-trooping my CU Denver classes into work of art. With galleries and museums closed, my art history books have provided great comfort. They, remote-online approximations!” Maria had to postpone her planned summer research travel to the Getty along with the artists and ideas represented therein, remind me that I took the right path. I will seek out art Research Institute and New York City. However, she was able to continue work on her book project, “Art