Penn Visual Studies

Join Visual Studies and our friends in other departments for a pair of study breaks, hosted by the Arthur Ross Gallery: Monday May 4th, 1-3, Wednesday May 6, 1-3!

The College of Arts and Sciences and the First-Year Seminar Faculty Working Group invites you to a First Year Seminar Showcase, Tuesday, April 21, 6:00 — 8:00 pm in Bodek Lounge (Houston Hall). The event will feature student projects from eighteen different First-Year Seminars, including Visual Studies 1070, Learning to Look, Looking to Learn, taught by Kaitlin Pomerantz!

Photos from yesterday's all-day workshop, Perception, Phenomenology & Programmed Art, on op and kinetic art. Pictured here are Ivana Bianchi of the University of Macerata, Gideon Caplovitz and Lars Strother, both of the University of Nevada-Reno. Thanks to them for a great event!

Last weekend's Celebration in Honor of Gary Hatfield became a Visual Studies reunion with Ben Baker, Kevin Connolly, Megan Velong ('13), Ian Verstegen, Gary Hatfield, Sasha Igdalova ('14), Zab Johnson, Louise Daoust and Tiina Rosenqvist. Great to see everyone thriving both at Penn and beyond!

Penn Visual Studies welcomes Aleksandra (Sasha) Igdalova's return to the Penn campus! A 2014 Visual Studies major, Sasha is now Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, collaborating with the Humanities & Human Flourishing Project and the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative. Welcome back Sasha!

Errol Lord, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania is the new director of the Visual Studies program, succeeding Gary Hatfield after many years of service. Prof. Lord specializes in ethics and aesthetics and will be teaching PHIL 1380 (Aesthetics) and PHIL 2383 (Philosophy of Visual Art) within the curriculum, as well as other core curriculum courses. Welcome Prof. Lord!

Yesterday at the commencement closing reception of the Visual Studies senior exhibition we honored Prof. Gary Hatfield who retires in June. Prof. Hatfield helped conceive the Visual Studies program at Penn and served as its director for many years. We are grateful for his vision and efforts to maintain what is still a unique Visual Studies program, the only one in the US that rigorously combines academic Philosophy and Psychology with Art History and Fine Arts. Congratulations on your retirement Prof. Hatfield, and Thank you!

Visual Studies 1010 was back at Dia Beacon, where we got to see the new installations by Renée Green and Lucas Samaras (Green's installation shown)

Many thanks to VLST alums Allison Tsai ('23) and Morgan Jones ('22) for visiting us and telling us about their careers!

Penn Visual Studies congratulates Sasha Igdalova ('14) on the award of her PhD from Goldsmiths, University of London, in Psychology!