Call for Papers
Midwest Art History Society Conference
April 14, 15, 16, 2011
Grand Rapids, Michigan
Proposals of no more than 250 words and a recent CV are due by October 15 electronically to the respective chairs noted at the end of each description.
GENERAL SESSIONS
- Ancient Art and Architecture
- Envisioning the Medieval
- Late Medieval and Northern Renaissance Art
- Italian Renaissance and Baroque Art
- European Art and Architecture 1600-1800
- 19th Century European Art
- Design History in the Furniture City: Life Cycle of Objects Prints and Drawings
- Prints and Drawings
- Photography
- 20th Century Art: Détournement: Appropriation in Art Since 1900
- African Art: Is the “Dichotomy Methodological” approach still Relevant?
- Where is Asia?
- Contemporary Art
- Recent Acquisitions in Midwest Museums
SPECIAL TOPICS
- The Body in Art
- Conservation and Appearances of Art Objects & Art Historical Interpretations
- Crossing Boundaries
- The Garden as Ideal
- Public Sculpture
GENERAL SESSIONS
Ancient Art and Architecture
This open session on ancient art and architecture invites paper proposals on all topics related to the history of visual culture prior to 400CE. Although topics from across the globe will be considered, preference will be granted to proposals addressing Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman cultures.
Linda Maria Gigante
gigante@louisville.edu
Envisioning the Medieval
In recent years the scholarship of medieval art has been revitalized by the application of diverse methodologies to the study of visual culture. Interdisciplinary and theoretical approaches, in addition to historiographic considerations, have prompted scholars to reconsider formal and geographic categorization, contact between cultures, as well as the role of the visual in constructing individual and institutional authority. Proposals that engage with new approaches to the production, reception, and re-use of visual media created between 600 and 1400 in Europe and the Mediterranean are welcomed.
Sigrid Danielson, Grand Valley State University
danielsi@gvsu.edu
Late Medieval and Northern Renaissance Art
This session invites papers on all aspects of art and architecture pertaining to the Late Middle Ages (all geographical regions) and Northern Renaissance, circa 1300-1600.
Anne Heath, Hope College
heath@hope.edu
Italian Renaissance and Baroque Art
Papers are sought which deal with Italian religious art in all media, with special emphasis upon issues of context, function, and display. Among the works that may be discussed are altarpieces, cult objects, and prints, as well as luxury objects designed for public or private display, or objects of simple, daily use. Religious works created for civic buildings are also of interest. The term religious art may be interpreted broadly to include works of still life, portraits, genre, and landscape that convey religious meaning.
Judy Mann, St Louis Art Museum
Judy.Mann@slam.org
European Art and Architecture 1600-1800
This session will consider topics concerning European visual art or material culture from 1600 to 1800. Work in all media (painting, sculpture, architecture, prints, or decorative arts) is welcomed as the focal point of the topic.
Valerie Hedquist, University of Montana
Valerie.hedquist@umontana.edu
19th Century European Art
This session is open to presentations on new research, innovative methodologies in the field of 19th century art (broadly defined): new interpretations of familiar works; papers on perception, critical theories, primary criticism, global interchange of forms, styles and ideas.
Phylis Floyd, Michigan State University
Floyd@msu.edu
Design History in the Furniture City: Life Cycle of Objects
Contemporary design theory encourages consumers and producers alike to think about the life cycle of objects—where and how they’re born, how they age, where they go in the “afterlife.” This session invites submissions exploring the relevance of these ideas in the history of design broadly defined. Where does ‘aging well’ fit within the list of criteria for assessing historical or aesthetic significance in architecture or the decorative arts? Is sustainability and ecological awareness a mode of design thinking exclusive to the twenty-first century? Papers may address larger themes or specific examples within design, architecture, material culture, or the decorative arts.
Eric F Gollannek, Independent Scholar
efgollan@gmail.com
Prints and Drawings
Papers are invited dealing with any topic addressing prints and drawings as distinct genres within art history and art criticism. A variety of methodological approaches is welcomed. This session will be hosted in the Jansma Prints and Drawings Center in the Grand Rapids Art Museum.
Cindy Buckner, Grand Rapids Art Museum
cbuckner@artmuseumgr.org
Photography
This session invites papers addressing a wide range of historical, theoretical, and critical concerns in photography. Participants are not limited to a particular period and are encouraged to consider topics such as the critical implications of the real, issues in documentary past and present, photography and modernism, photographic aesthetics, photography and identity, or photography and new media.
Elizabeth VanArragon, Calvin College
evanarragon@calvin.edu
20th Century Art: Détournement: Appropriation in Art Since 1900
This panel focuses on the use of found or appropriated materials in aesthetic expression in modern and contemporary art. The use of found or appropriated objects and images has paradoxically been employed as a means to anarchic or reverent ends. Topics may include fetishization or anti-art propensities in the plastic, applied or performing arts.
Tamara Fox, Hope College
fox@hope.edu
Kimberly James Overdevest, Grand Rapids Community College
koverdev@grcc.edu
African Art: Is the “Dichotomy Methodological” approach still Relevant?
African scholars have struggled to establish taxonomies to differentiate the rural/urban dichotomy in material production, especially where ongoing rural traditions have continued into the post-modern period. Scholars have used such methodology for decades when researching many areas of African art. Additional examples used to assess African material culture include: authentic/inauthentic, West/the other, village/bush, male/female, spiritual/temporal, to name but a few. This panel considers the ‘dichotomy methodological approach.’ Is this a Western construct? Is it still relevant? Is it incongruent with indigenous Africa approaches to visual culture? Are there more effective constructs for contemporary material culture research? What impact does this methodology have in the development of your current work? Presentations are welcome addressing these oppositional examples or other related concepts.
Fred Smith, Kent State University
fsmith@ksu.edu
Where is Asia?
What is the state of Asian art history today? This session seeks papers on recent research on Asian art as well as papers or works-in-progress on the state of “Asia” within the art historical discipline and its incorporation into the teaching curriculum.
Christine Hahn, Kalamazoo College
chahn@kzoo.edu
Contemporary Art
Since the 1980s contemporary art has been characterized by pluralism and globalism. Contemporary art further expresses an acute awareness of the role of art history and contemporary events in culture. This diversity is magnified by the range of media used today and the fact that there is no longer a hierarchy of media. The possibilities seem unlimited. This art seeks to give expression to contemporary life and thought. What characterizes contemporary art today? Which artists are making the most meaningful contributions and why? What important cultural trends are expressed through contemporary art? This open session welcomes papers on art since the 1980s and on any aspects of art since this time.
Leesa Fanning, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
lfanning@nelson-atkins.org
Recent Acquisitions in Midwest Museums
Acquisitions are central to the vitality of museums. This session seeks proposals related to significant acquisitions made by Midwest museums over the course of the last three years. Acquisitions in periods from across the history or art are a worthy subject of consideration and welcomed as the focal point of this open session.
Susan Bandes, Michigan State University
bandes@cal.msu.edu
SPECIAL TOPICS
The Body in Art
From Paleolithic sculpture to 21st C performance and film, the human form has been central to art. This session seeks papers that examine the use of the body in both historical and contemporary art production and practice. Topics may include portraiture, the body as the site of political, social or psychological identity, the glorified or abject body, the nude, the clothed body, and the role of fashion in art.
Suzanne Eberle, Kendall College of Art & Design
eberles@ferris.edu
Conservation and Appearances of Art Objects and Art Historical Interpretations
The visual appearance of a work of art object results not only from the techniques and materials used during its creation, but also the cumulative, sometimes complex physical history which results in its present condition. How does our knowledge about the technique, materials, and state of conservation inform our particular art historical interpretation of an object? How are we challenged to reconstruct the former appearance, meaning, and even the function of an artwork based on our understanding of its current state? Topics touching on these issues from a wide diversity of objects, media, historical periods and cultures are sought for submission and discussion.
Kenneth Bé, Gerald Ford Conservation Center
kbe.lute@gmail.com
Crossing Boundaries
This panel will address the issue of crossing borders in modern and contemporary art and theory. “Borders” here should be conceived broadly and/or metaphorically as the barriers dividing nations, media, styles, disciplines, cultures, genders, etc. The goal of the panel as a whole is to consider a range of structural limitations facing art and artists, and how such limitations have been complicated or transgressed. Papers may be historical or historiographical in nature, and interdisciplinary topics and approaches are especially welcome.
Kirsten Strom, Grand Valley State University
stromk@gvsu.edu
The Garden as Ideal
Because of the way gardens foreground the complex relationship between art and nature, they typically give physical form to various ideals regarding nature and its role in the constructed environment. This panel invites papers addressing gardens throughout history as these spaces shaped visions of how the world – or at least a portion of the world – should be ordered. Presentations might address issues of paradise, the garden as a sacred space, themes of knowledge construction, notions of nature perfected, the function of geometry, or the picturesque.
Craig Hanson, Calvin College
CraigAshleyHanson@gmail.com
Public Sculpture
Grand Rapids, home to Alexander Calder's La Grande Vitesse, is an ideal place to consider the role of public sculpture in defining and shaping modern and contemporary ideas about art and its relationship to community. Calder's stabile, dedicated in 1969, was infamous for its initial negative public reception, but quickly became a positive symbol for and of the city. Such success helped to solidify a connection between public sculpture and community projects. This session seeks papers that offer perspective on how this relationship has evolved. Proposals that address case studies or offer more broadly-based examinations of public sculpture from the mid-twentieth century to the present day are welcome.
Paula Wisotzki, Loyola University Chicago
pwisots@luc.edu