01/29/2025
We invite you to check out the second edition of Contours ArteCalle published by University of Minnesota Libraries. The publication is "a decolonial feminist, performative publication that highlights scenes of neighborhood-based art and activism in the Americas." Prof. Cindy García who is the interim chair for our department is a founding editor and performance director for Contours ArteCalle.
Current Issue - Contours ArteCalle
Contours: Arts. Activism. Pathways is a digital publication that highlights scenes of neighborhood-based art and activism and invites a global dialogue over the aesthetics, politics, and rhythms of everyday life.
11/13/2024
The exhibition is curated by students enrolled in ARTH 3940: Topics in Art History, taught by Dr. Daniel M. Greenberg and Dr. Dwight K. Lewis, Jr.
Layers of Joy: A Community Celebration of Black Art and Artists in Minneapolis
Curated by Art History & Philosophy students for the Department of Art's Quarter Gallery, the exhibition features five artists creating work with and about Black joy.
11/01/2024
Congratulations to Professor Sinem Casale who won the Religion and the Arts Book Award from the American Academy of Religion for her book Gifts in the Age of Empire: Ottoman-Safavid Cultural Exchange, 1500–1639.
Announcing our 2024 Book Award winners! Congratulations to Loriliai Biernacki; Sinem Arcak Casale; Carlos Eire; Molly Farneth; Mbaye Lo and Carl W. Ernst; and Elizabeth O’Brien. Read about their books and see the shortlist in each award category: https://ow.ly/cw5950TXvZN
10/23/2024
The 8th biennial symposium of the Association of Historians of American Art took place last week in Birmingham, AL. Current doctoral candidates Aleisha Barton and Taylor Rose Payer presented research on the artists Faith Ringgold and Maureen Gruben and Nadia Myre (respectively), and alum Colleen Stockmann was in attendance, too.
AHAA opened with a roundtable panel on the journal, Panorama, founded by UMN professor Jenn Marshall and still published by the University of Minnesota Libraries. Past and current gopher grads, including Christina Michelon, John Hardy, and Ashley Duffey have contributed to the journal.
10/08/2024
Congratulations to Christina Michelon (PhD '18) who has been appointed as the Pamela and Peter Voss Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Michelon was previously Associate Curator at the Boston Athenaeum where she oversaw the graphic arts collection. She received her PhD in Art History from the University of Minnesota, specializing in the visual and material culture of the United States. Her writing has appeared in the journals Common-place, J19, New England Quarterly, Panorama, and in American Art, for which her essay “The In/Visibility of Mourning: Seeing Labor, Loss and Enslavement in an Antebellum Posthumous Portrait” received the 2021 Frost Essay Award from the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Prior to joining the Athenaeum, she completed a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship at the American Antiquarian Society and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library. Her work has also been supported by the Smithsonian Institution, Henry Luce Foundation and American Council of Learned Societies, Rare Book School’s Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography, and others. At the Boston Athenaeum, Michelon’s projects have included the permanent collection reinstallation Re-Reading Special Collections, supported by a grant from the Terra Foundation for American Art; Revisiting the Ruins: The Great Boston Fire of 1872; and the student-driven exhibition Oceanic New England, a collaboration with the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Michelon is currently at work on an exhibition and catalogue about Boston artist Allan Rohan Crite, a collaboration between the Athenaeum and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, as well as a book derived from her dissertation about the creative reuse of printed images.
[image credit: Jacob Van Blarcom / art: Tamsie Ringler, River of Iron: Pouring the Mississippi (detail), cast iron, 2015, Weisman Art Museum.][image credit: Jacob Van Blarcom / art: Tamsie Ringler, River of Iron: Pouring the Mississippi (detail), cast iron, 2015, Weisman Art Museum.]
10/07/2024
Throughout history and across cultures, humans have been haunted by a host of terrifying figures, from ghosts, witches, and monsters to mall-invading zombies and evil clowns. Why, then, do we find it so entertaining to intentionally use these to scare ourselves? Join Dr. Peter Harle (Art History) for an exploration of Halloween haunted houses, divination games, legend trips, cryptid tourism, monster parades, and other forms of creepy fun. 🎃
Playing with Fear: Monsters, Myths, and Mayhem
Explore why humans love to scare themselves with ghosts, monsters, zombies, and more through Halloween haunted houses, cryptid tourism, legend trips, and other eerie traditions.
10/04/2024
Happy World Teachers' Day (10/5) to our amazing faculty!
Teaching Excellence in ARTH 1004W: Introduction to Asian Art
This is "Teaching Excellence in ARTH 1004W: Introduction to Asian Art" by UMN College of Liberal Arts on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the…
09/24/2024
Join us on Thursday, October 3rd, from 5-6:30pm at Pillsbury House + Theatre for a workshop with Cynthia Davis, before the performance of A Walless Church. In 1998, Davis developed, as a World AIDS Day project, the Dolls of Hope Project, which involves making handmade cloth dolls to be given to agencies working with HIV/AIDS affected and/or infected children, youth and women on a local, national and international level. To date, over 7,000 Dolls of Hope have been disseminated across the globe. In this workshop community members are invited to make a doll while learning more about current advocacy efforts around HIV/AIDS and Davis' work.
Dolls of Hope Workshop with Dr. Cynthia Davis of Drew University
Art History, Theatre Historiography and Performance Studies, the Dance Program, and Associate Dean Tracey Deutsch Host Visiting Professor from Los Angeles
09/17/2024
Join the Department of Art History for the Donald R. Torbert Lecture in Architectural History by Dr. Jonathan Cortez (Department of History, The University of Texas at Austin).
"The Urgency of Spacial Scripts: Racialized Carceral Reconfigurations in U.S. Immigration History"
Join the Department of Art History for the Donald R. Torbert Lecture in Architectural History by Dr. Jonathan Cortez (Department of History, The University of Texas at Austin).
09/04/2024
Opening reception this Friday at 6pm! All are invited.
Rhymesayers
2411 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55405
Healing Words / Healing Mind Exhibition
Healing Words / Healing Mind showcases the calligraphy and photographs of Rev. Seido Suzuki, the abbot of Toshoji in Okayama Province, Japan.
08/28/2024
Healing Words / Healing Mind showcases the calligraphy and photographs of internationally respected Zen teacher Seido Suzuki Roshi (Born 1955), the abbot of Toshoji in Okayama Province, Japan. Each work on display is connected to the longstanding tradition within Zen that considers art as a form of spiritual practice. Suzuki Roshi’s calligraphy records the natural, rhythmic, and spontaneous qualities of a Zen mind deeply engaged in the process of creation. His photographs capture his unique perspective, finding wonder and joy in the natural and built landscape of Toshoji. The exhibition explores the pathways that Suzuki Roshi’s art offers to self-reflection, peace, and healing for ourselves and our broader communities. Please visit Rhymesayers in Minneapolis from September 6-20th for the exhibition. (First flyer was inspired by Shodo Canada Competition flyer.)
05/02/2024
Please join us in congratulating Ashley E. Kim Duffey!
Ashley E. Kim Duffey Awarded 2024-25 Smithsonian American Art Museum Fellowship
PhD candidate Ashley E. Kim Duffey has been appointed as a William H. Truettner Predoctoral Fellow, Smithsonian American Art Museum and Big Ten Academic Alliance Fellow in the Smithsonian Institution Fellowship Program.
05/01/2024
Check out our summer course offerings!
Summer 2024 Art History Courses
We are pleased to offer Art Since 1945 and Black Art in Minneapolis this summer.
04/19/2024
BLK ART in MINNEAPOLIS (ARTH 3940) is a special opportunity for students to have hands on experience with curating local art. This course will be offered in May 2024 and has limited seats left. Be sure to secure your registration now!
Description: Together with your classmates, museum professionals, and your instructors, you will organize an exhibition that spotlights local Black art, artists, and narratives. It will open at the Quarter Gallery in the Nash Gallery at the UMN in November 2024. Working with your instructors, you will curate every aspect of this show, including choosing works of art, designing the exhibition space, and writing interpretive content for the gallery! Participants will be introduced to local Black artists and delve into the diverse narratives, expressions, and histories embedded in their artworks. Through hands-on experiences, we will learn the art of selection, presentation, and interpretation, fostering a deeper understanding of the significance of Black art in Minneapolis.
Instructors: Daniel Greenberg (Art History) and Dwight K Lewis Jr (Philosophy)
Time and Date: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu 10:00AM - 01:15PM
Location: Carlson School of Management 2-228
Term: May Term (05/13/2024 - 05/31/2024)
Registration CRN: 86871