newsletter of the department of art history Spring 2015 It’s All About Students 1 2014 Phi Beta Kappa Students. Amaris Sturm, Kelsey Wingel, Anna Kelleher, Omar Durán-Garcia, Elizabeth Knight, Contents Kristin Wittman, Kelsey Mello. Photo by George Freeman. From the Chair 3 Graduate Student News 16 News Highlights Undergraduate Activities 4 Degrees Awarded Convocation Addresses Awards and Other Honors Undergraduate Awards Individual Updates Clubs and Workshops Around the Department 8 Alumni Corner 30 Green Light Initiative Reports Artstor and Shared Shelf News Lecture Series Thanks to Our Donors 34 Delaware Awake Exhibition Faculty News 12 2 Spring 2015 From the Chair Editor: Ikem Stanley Okoye As I write, it’s awards day in the Department of Art History, Editorial Assistant: Karli Wurzelbacher when we celebrate the achievements of our undergraduate and graduate students. This year is the 25th anniversary of the Anna R. and Robert T. Silver Award for Excellence Photography/Layout: George Freeman in Teaching. Robert Silver turned to art history late in Perry Chapman, Interim Chair. life; with his MA he taught at the Academy of Lifelong Photo by George Freeman. Department of Art History Staff: Learning. As many of you may remember, presentation of Linda J. Magner the award is accompanied by a reading of the now-famous letter in which Susan Silver describes how her father prepared for each class at home, with her mother as audience. Since there was only one slide projector, he practiced his lecture Insight is produced by the Department once with the left slides, and then he read it over again with the right slides. of Art History as a service to alumni and friends of the Department. We are always pleased to receive your opinions and Slides and slide projectors are things of the past, and reminders of our discipline’s ideas. Please contact Linda J. Magner, technological history. Now our images are entirely digital. So, too, is this newsletter—for the Old College 318, University first time. To those of you who prefer paper, I make a special plea: read the e-newsletter. of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 You will see that the Department has much to celebrate in the accomplishments and (302-831-8416) or [email protected]. impact of its remarkable faculty, current students, and alumni. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Department and the PhD program—both On the cover: were founded in 1966—we look both back and to the future. Since the last newsletter, An end of term student performance two members of the faculty, Nina Athanassoglou-Kallmyer and Linda Pellecchia, have of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata on the retired; we miss them and wish them the very best. Looking forward, we are planning steps of Old College (part of “Women a 50th anniversary celebration for fall 2016, and an interdisciplinary Art & Science in Antiquity,” taught in the spring of symposium, “Green Light, Prospects in Lighting Design and Technology,” to be held in 2014 by Lauren Hackworth Petersen). September 2015. The most exciting news for the immediate future is that, in fall 2015, we Photo by George Freeman. will welcome two new colleagues, Jason Hill, who specializes in news photography and photojournalism, and Jessica Horton, whose expertise is in Native American contemporary art. In this time of downsizing in the humanities, we are most heartened that one search resulted in our hiring two fabulous young professors. New hires demonstrate the University’s confidence in the Department. However, the reality is that we rely increasingly on external funding to support student research and professional development, as well as for graduate student stipends. We have received funding unprecedented for the Department in the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation’s generous support for our innovative and thriving Curatorial Track PhD. Now, as part of our 50th anniversary celebration, we plan to announce a fund-raising campaign to build our endowment, particularly in support of graduate programs. Details about that fund will be forthcoming. We look forward to your joining with us as we continue to capitalize on our strengths and achievements and ensure a distinguished future for the Department. H. Perry Chapman Professor and Interim Chair The University of Delaware is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer and Title IX institution. For the University’s complete non-discrimination statement, please visit www.udel.edu/ aboutus/legalnotices.html. 3 UNDERGRADUATE ACTIVITIES WHERE DO WE COME FROM? Convocation Address by Mollie Armstrong, Class of 2013 Good afternoon recent graduates, faculty, parents, and family members. Today is about celebrating the end of a journey—a journey, which despite spanning only four years, has taken us across several hundred centuries of history, culture, and of course art. When I sat down to reflect on this journey and my time at UD, a painting by Paul Gauguin immediately popped into my head. The painting, entitled Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? is a monumental reflection on the philosophical meaning of life and Mollie Armstrong. Photo by George Freeman. death. Now, I am not going to tackle the After graduating in the spring of 2013, Mollie Armstrong spent a summer as a collection management intern lofty subject of human existence, but I at Stratford Hall, the birthplace of Robert E. Lee, where she assisted with the relocation of over 300 objects would like to ponder these questions. to storage as the institution prepared to renovate the historic dining room. Currently, she is the Curatorial Where do we come from? What are we? Assistant at the Portland Museum of Art in Maine. Over the past year, she has conducted research for the PMA’s acquisition program and contributed entries to a catalogue of highlights from the PMA’s collection, set to be Where are we going? published in February of 2016. She is also preparing an installation of photogravures by Edward Curtis from the PMA’s permanent collection. Four years ago, fresh out of high school, I did not envision myself at the University Our passion drives us forward. It leads The same goes for sharing our passion of Delaware. However, in the middle some of us to pursue grad school and with the general public. As the president of my sophomore year, I transferred dedicate ourselves to expanding the of the Art History Club, I have spent to UD. Among the Georgian Revival discipline via traditional academic time with many of you outside of the architecture and in the halls of Old research. Many of us will find our futures classroom. Through game nights, trips College, I discovered a surprisingly vibrant in art education, museums, galleries, or to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and diverse community. The places we auction houses. We have already spent and student/faculty luncheons, we have call home are scattered across the country time in these places, working for the celebrated our knowledge and love of and the world. Regardless of where we University Museums or interning at art history. My involvement with the Art came from, we share a passion for art Winterthur, the Cleveland Museum of Art, History Club has also been a reminder and cultural heritage. Engrained within and Christie’s. that a strong appreciation for art exists us is the belief that material culture can beyond the majors who are here today. I communicate who we are as individuals, Many in our graduating class have have met many students from the business and reveal what it means to be human. backgrounds in conservation, and aspire and engineering departments who share to spend their lives restoring the world’s our awe of human creativity. As we take This passion, however it may manifest treasures. The unique partnership between the next step in our lives, I urge you to itself, is what has motivated us over the the Art Conservation and Art History stay connected with each other and with past four years. It is the reason why our Departments at the University of Delaware our professors. Take advantage of the Art dorm rooms were perpetually littered with has enriched our education in more ways History Department’s alumni organization. mountains of coffee-table-sized books, than one. An art conservation class on the Continue to share your passion with each why we spent days memorizing the titles, science of color encouraged me to view other, but also remember to embrace the artists, and dates of artwork, and why color as anything but stable. I have learned unlikely art lovers. Artstor is one of our best friends. Passion is to consider conservation in my analysis of the reason why I filled my schedules with art and our double majors have learned Our futures are uncertain. We enter a art history classes that I did not need to to conserve with art history in mind. competitive job market, and for many of graduate, like the two American art classes Furthermore, this collaboration has taught us the end of our undergraduate career I enrolled in this past semester. us that we all have a role to play in the is just the beginning. We know we have preservation of material culture for future a long road ahead of us. Most likely, we generations. will not end up where we thought we 4 UNDERGRADUATE ACTIVITIES would. Yet, we have prepared for this In conclusion, let us return to those Today we ask the question: Where are we indeterminate tomorrow. We are armed questions posed by Gauguin. Where do going? I don’t know, but I wish you all the with our enthusiasm and the skills of we come from? What are we? Where best of luck as you discover the answer.