The Life Of The Object: An Experimental Workshop And Conference On Production, Consumption, and Creative Reuse In American Culture
The Mid-America American Studies Association (MAASA) Conference at The University of Wisconsin-Madison
Sponsored by the UW Art History Department, the Material Culture Certificate Program, the Material Culture Focus Group, the Art History Grad Forum, and the Chipstone Foundation
April 7-11, 2011
Historians and cultural critics who study objects have long focused on the relationships between production and consumption, but these dynamics deserve reexamination in today's object-flooded world. At the same time, the concept and aesthetic of reuse is enjoying the spotlight in contemporary fashion and design, but has been employed for many years by architects, artists, and the American public as a strategy for survival as well as a political statement. This interdisciplinary experimental workshop and conference invites questions related to the core themes of production, consumption, and reuse in American history and contemporary life.
This workshop and conference offers an unconventional venue for considering the role of objects in American culture. It will consist of hands-on workshops and experiments with objects while also offering a more traditional scholarly context for the presentation of papers. We believe that our understanding of material culture relies as much upon rigorous scholarly research as the sensorial and tactile engagement with artifacts and cultural landscapes.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Public Lecture: "What Made Early American Architecture American: The Origin of Regional Building Practices"
PUBLIC LECTURE
"What Made Early American Architecture American: The Origin of Regional Building Practices"
Tuesday, October 12
5:30, Elvehjem Building (Chazen Museum of Art, L140)
DR. CARL R. LOUNSBURY
Senior Architectural Historian, Architectural and Archaeological Research Department, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Lecture Description: The study of early American architecture has often been framed within the broader context of colonial American history, a story that is shaped by the push and pull of two forces—European inheritances on the one part and the adaptation to local environments and developing social and economic conditions on the other hand. Some things worked in the new world—others did not. As with all aspects of their lives in the new world, American building practices were also selective in nature. Colonists carefully chose those elements of British building that best suited their own peculiar needs and desires. They charted a separate course from mainstream English practices from the beginning of settlement in the first decades of the seventeenth century in the Chesapeake. Even in New England where the rupture of old world and new world lives was less traumatic, craftsmen eventually developed new construction practices outside English norms. Although framing practic
es and materials set American colonial building apart from English precedents, new world settlers also rethought the arrangement of their houses and developed decorative ideas that made them in some respects distinctly American with regional variations. This illustrated lecture explores some of these themes that are at the heart of the study of early American architecture.
CO-SPONSORED by the Departments of Art History and Landscape Architecture, the Material Culture Program, and the Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures Program
"What Made Early American Architecture American: The Origin of Regional Building Practices"
Tuesday, October 12
5:30, Elvehjem Building (Chazen Museum of Art, L140)
DR. CARL R. LOUNSBURY
Senior Architectural Historian, Architectural and Archaeological Research Department, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Lecture Description: The study of early American architecture has often been framed within the broader context of colonial American history, a story that is shaped by the push and pull of two forces—European inheritances on the one part and the adaptation to local environments and developing social and economic conditions on the other hand. Some things worked in the new world—others did not. As with all aspects of their lives in the new world, American building practices were also selective in nature. Colonists carefully chose those elements of British building that best suited their own peculiar needs and desires. They charted a separate course from mainstream English practices from the beginning of settlement in the first decades of the seventeenth century in the Chesapeake. Even in New England where the rupture of old world and new world lives was less traumatic, craftsmen eventually developed new construction practices outside English norms. Although framing practic
es and materials set American colonial building apart from English precedents, new world settlers also rethought the arrangement of their houses and developed decorative ideas that made them in some respects distinctly American with regional variations. This illustrated lecture explores some of these themes that are at the heart of the study of early American architecture.
CO-SPONSORED by the Departments of Art History and Landscape Architecture, the Material Culture Program, and the Buildings-Landscapes-Cultures Program
Friends of Art History Lecture: October 1, 2010
"Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria"-- introduces the exquisite stone, terra cotta and bronze artwork from the ancient city-state of Ife (1000-1500 CE) in the context of extensive trading networks and empires of West Africa.
A lecture presented by Evjue-Bascom Professor, Henry Drewal, Department of Art History.
Friday, October 1, 4:30-5:30, Room L150 Elvehjem
A lecture presented by Evjue-Bascom Professor, Henry Drewal, Department of Art History.
Friday, October 1, 4:30-5:30, Room L150 Elvehjem
Symposium: "Ways of Knowing/Ways of Showing: African/Diaspora Arts in a Museum"
The Department of Afro-American Studies (celebrating its 40th anniversary) and the Department of Art History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are pleased to announce a two-day public symposium and roundtable discussion:
Ways of Showing / Ways of Knowing: African/Diaspora Arts in a Museum
October 7-8, 2010
Room L140 and L166 Elvehjem Building / Chazen Museum of Art
University of Wisconsin-Madison
This symposium brings together six renowned scholars of African and African diasporic arts to UW-Madison for a lecture series and seminar discussion on the re-presentation of African and African Diaspora arts in a museum context. This public programming is a crucial part of preparations for the installation of a permanent African arts gallery in the expanded Chazen Museum of Art, opening in October 2011.
The October 7 lecture/discussion symposium is free and open to the public. Advanced registration is required for the Graduate Student Seminar on October 8 - email mrarey@wisc.edu). See the attached poster and schedule of events below for more information.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday, October 7, L140 Elvehjem/Chazen
10:00 Welcoming remarks
10:10 NII QUARCOOPOME Detroit Institute of Arts
"Re-Discovering the 'African' in African Art Exhibitions: The Re-Making of the Detroit Institute of Arts' Permanent Galleries"
10:50 NICHOLE BRIDGES Baltimore Museum of Art
"Locations and Publics: Rethinking African Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art"
11:30 ELIZABETH HARNEY University of Toronto
"The Orphans of Modernism"
12:10 Lunch break
2:00 CHRISTA CLARKE Newark Museum
"Object Lessons: Exhibiting African Art in the 21st Century"
2:40 C. DANIEL DAWSON New York University
"Who Speaks for the Gods? Practice and Province in Public Exhibitions"
3:20 MOYO OKEDIJI University of Texas at Austin
"Omu Iya Dun: African American Asante-Style Drum in the British Museum"
4:00 Open discussion
4:20 Closing remarks
Friday, October 8, L166 Elvehjem/Chazen
10:00-12:00 Graduate Student Seminar with speakers.
Space is limited and advanced registration is required: email mrarey@wisc.edu.
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"Ways of Showing, Ways of Knowing: African/Diaspora Arts in a Museum" is made possible through a generous grant from the UW Anonymous Fund, and was organized by the Department of Afro-American Studies (celebrating its 40th anniversary) and the Department of Art History with the sponsorship of the African Diaspora and the Atlantic World Research Circle, the Art Department, the Department of Gender and Women's Studies, and the Center for Visual Cultures. This event also celebrates the 2010-2011 Year of the Arts at UW-Madison and the opening of the expanded Chazen Museum of Art in October 2011.
Ways of Showing / Ways of Knowing: African/Diaspora Arts in a Museum
October 7-8, 2010
Room L140 and L166 Elvehjem Building / Chazen Museum of Art
University of Wisconsin-Madison
This symposium brings together six renowned scholars of African and African diasporic arts to UW-Madison for a lecture series and seminar discussion on the re-presentation of African and African Diaspora arts in a museum context. This public programming is a crucial part of preparations for the installation of a permanent African arts gallery in the expanded Chazen Museum of Art, opening in October 2011.
The October 7 lecture/discussion symposium is free and open to the public. Advanced registration is required for the Graduate Student Seminar on October 8 - email mrarey@wisc.edu). See the attached poster and schedule of events below for more information.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday, October 7, L140 Elvehjem/Chazen
10:00 Welcoming remarks
10:10 NII QUARCOOPOME Detroit Institute of Arts
"Re-Discovering the 'African' in African Art Exhibitions: The Re-Making of the Detroit Institute of Arts' Permanent Galleries"
10:50 NICHOLE BRIDGES Baltimore Museum of Art
"Locations and Publics: Rethinking African Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art"
11:30 ELIZABETH HARNEY University of Toronto
"The Orphans of Modernism"
12:10 Lunch break
2:00 CHRISTA CLARKE Newark Museum
"Object Lessons: Exhibiting African Art in the 21st Century"
2:40 C. DANIEL DAWSON New York University
"Who Speaks for the Gods? Practice and Province in Public Exhibitions"
3:20 MOYO OKEDIJI University of Texas at Austin
"Omu Iya Dun: African American Asante-Style Drum in the British Museum"
4:00 Open discussion
4:20 Closing remarks
Friday, October 8, L166 Elvehjem/Chazen
10:00-12:00 Graduate Student Seminar with speakers.
Space is limited and advanced registration is required: email mrarey@wisc.edu.
------
"Ways of Showing, Ways of Knowing: African/Diaspora Arts in a Museum" is made possible through a generous grant from the UW Anonymous Fund, and was organized by the Department of Afro-American Studies (celebrating its 40th anniversary) and the Department of Art History with the sponsorship of the African Diaspora and the Atlantic World Research Circle, the Art Department, the Department of Gender and Women's Studies, and the Center for Visual Cultures. This event also celebrates the 2010-2011 Year of the Arts at UW-Madison and the opening of the expanded Chazen Museum of Art in October 2011.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Guest Lecture in AH363 by BA Harrington
BA Harrington, a practicing studio furniture maker and a graduate student in Art History, guest lectured in Prof. Martin's AH363 class, American Decorative Arts and Interiors: 1620-1840. She holds a MFA in 3-D/Wood from the UW, granted in 2007, and will finish her MA in Art History this year. Her unique position as both an artist and academic allows for a unique interpretation of objects that draws on both the making and the using of objects. Her own work explores the connections between older furniture forms and can be seen at her website, www.baharrington.com
Mobile Making in AH563
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| The potential meaning-making objects spread out on the table. |
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| PhD student Amy Braebender with her mobile. |
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| A student shares her finished mobile. |
Here are some photos taken by Professor Ann Smart Martin of her mobile making exercise in the Material Culture methods seminar, AH563. This semester's focus is "Skilled Hands and Inquisitive Minds." The goal of the activity was to learn about craft and workmanship, work process, and the meaning behind objects not only through seminar discussion, but through doing.
Some of the issues brought up about craft and workmanship was the balance of free creativity and the need and use of an established design or pattern, as all made the same product. People created their mobiles with choices informed by color, shape, or theme, and it is through these choices and associations that students individualized them and made these objects meaningful and symbolic.
Revamped Website, Brought to You by Carrie Roy!
June 10, 2010 by UW-Madison Material Culture Focus Group
The Material Culture Program has a revamped website. Yay! Please check it out. The spotlight of this post is on Carrie Roy, the site’s designer.
Carrie is a dissertator in the Department of Scandinavian Studies, concentrating on the concepts of binding and animism in metalworking, woodworking, textile production, and other creative processes in ninth- and tenth-century Norse culture. Her favorite aspect of the website is the interactive desk on the front page. It may seem like frou-frou, but to her “objects disclose new compartments of information, connections, and relationships that often go unseen.” It symbolizes the intriguing puzzles and subtle clues that object study holds, Carrie’s favorite aspect of material culture.
Raised on a ranch in North Dakota, she proudly acknowledges her rural roots, ivy league education, artistic talents, AND her stint as Miss North Dakota 2000–but only alongside her discus, shot put, power-cleaning, and bench pressing accomplishments. As she says, “I’m not a girly-girl.” (Talk about a brickhouse!) In addition to this, she avidly rides her bike around town, and she recently put on skates to try out for a roller derby team.
Carrie, the ever-surprising, talented, multilingual website designer extraordinaire.
Carrie is a dissertator in the Department of Scandinavian Studies, concentrating on the concepts of binding and animism in metalworking, woodworking, textile production, and other creative processes in ninth- and tenth-century Norse culture. Her favorite aspect of the website is the interactive desk on the front page. It may seem like frou-frou, but to her “objects disclose new compartments of information, connections, and relationships that often go unseen.” It symbolizes the intriguing puzzles and subtle clues that object study holds, Carrie’s favorite aspect of material culture.
Raised on a ranch in North Dakota, she proudly acknowledges her rural roots, ivy league education, artistic talents, AND her stint as Miss North Dakota 2000–but only alongside her discus, shot put, power-cleaning, and bench pressing accomplishments. As she says, “I’m not a girly-girl.” (Talk about a brickhouse!) In addition to this, she avidly rides her bike around town, and she recently put on skates to try out for a roller derby team.
Pricey Pee Pots
June 10, 2010 by UW-Madison Material Culture Focus Group
An article in The Economist’s March 24, 2010 issue addresses authenticity in copies of Marcel Duchamp’s “Fountain,” a urinal displayed as a work of art, part of the artist’s broader series of readymades. It also gives some insight into the contemporary art market, and the ever-present questions in art history and material culture centering around monetary value, meaning, and cultural worth. Found art, especially this one, presents no easy answers, but the ongoing discussion continues to fuel the art world and aspects of Modernism.
Closer to home is Wisconsin’s own John Michael Kohler Arts Center, with its artist-designed washrooms. Six artists created unique bathrooms, and the website provides images and a description of each one. Click on over there to see them, especially Matt Nolen’s work, which presents an architectural history lesson on tiles. The history of architecture while sitting awhile in the bathroom is not a bad way to multitask…
Closer to home is Wisconsin’s own John Michael Kohler Arts Center, with its artist-designed washrooms. Six artists created unique bathrooms, and the website provides images and a description of each one. Click on over there to see them, especially Matt Nolen’s work, which presents an architectural history lesson on tiles. The history of architecture while sitting awhile in the bathroom is not a bad way to multitask…
Symposium Recap
April 8, 2010 by UW-Madison Material Culture Focus Group
Fun times for the Focus Group’s first symposium, which will turn into an annual event. HUGE THANKS TO BA AND CARRIE for their monumental efforts putting everything together. BA acted as primary organizer, securing Mr. Gates for the event and moderating the event in various ways. Carrie designed the poster and brochures, in addition to overseeing the presentation submissions and presenting her own work that inspired our “Object as Interface” theme.
HUGE THANKS ALSO GO TO THEASTER GATES for graciously agreeing to be our guest speaker. He spoke about his experience as an artist, leaving us with many considerations.
The huge thought-provoking issue that struck me was how one’s academic work can be socially aware and socially responsible. Having work that will matter to others besides the academic world or that will engage social issues beyond theory and abstraction is important to me, but the way in which to go about it eludes me. This will, obviously, require further thinking.
Fun times for the Focus Group’s first symposium, which will turn into an annual event. HUGE THANKS TO BA AND CARRIE for their monumental efforts putting everything together. BA acted as primary organizer, securing Mr. Gates for the event and moderating the event in various ways. Carrie designed the poster and brochures, in addition to overseeing the presentation submissions and presenting her own work that inspired our “Object as Interface” theme.
HUGE THANKS ALSO GO TO THEASTER GATES for graciously agreeing to be our guest speaker. He spoke about his experience as an artist, leaving us with many considerations.
The huge thought-provoking issue that struck me was how one’s academic work can be socially aware and socially responsible. Having work that will matter to others besides the academic world or that will engage social issues beyond theory and abstraction is important to me, but the way in which to go about it eludes me. This will, obviously, require further thinking.
Chipstone and ArtBabble
The Milwaukee-based Chipstone Foundation, with whom the Material Culture Program has a close relationship, has partnered with ArtBabble, a website that compiles the videos of various institutions, whether they be exhibit tours or interviews. Check out the Chipstone’s videos!
Object As Interface Symposium
February 17, 2010
The group is hosting its first-ever symposium, which will become an annual event for us. This year’s theme is “Object As Interface,” suggested by member Carrie Roy, refers to the multifarious relationship that objects play in our lives as representations and mediators of our personal and cultural values/aspirations, and the role(s) that objects play in challenging and refuting these values.
Our fine event will take place Saturday March 13, 2010 from 10:15am to 5pm at the Red Gym, 716 Langdon St. Madison, WI 53706.
The guest speaker will be Theaster Gates, an artist and scholar based in Chicago, who has an upcoming exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum titled “To Speculate Darkly: Myth, History, and the Creation of a Black Craft Superhero,” set to open April 16, 2010. Visit his website for more information about his work, and read the museum’s press release here.
To register for this event, please send an email with “Symposium Registration” as the subject to bharrington@wisc.edu BY MARCH 4. Include your name, department, your area of interest.
Send paper/presentation proposals of no more than 250 words, addressing an aspect of “object as interface” to croy@wisc.edu BY MARCH 1. Include in the subject line “Symposium Paper.”
Object As Interface Poster
The group is hosting its first-ever symposium, which will become an annual event for us. This year’s theme is “Object As Interface,” suggested by member Carrie Roy, refers to the multifarious relationship that objects play in our lives as representations and mediators of our personal and cultural values/aspirations, and the role(s) that objects play in challenging and refuting these values.
Our fine event will take place Saturday March 13, 2010 from 10:15am to 5pm at the Red Gym, 716 Langdon St. Madison, WI 53706.
The guest speaker will be Theaster Gates, an artist and scholar based in Chicago, who has an upcoming exhibition at the Milwaukee Art Museum titled “To Speculate Darkly: Myth, History, and the Creation of a Black Craft Superhero,” set to open April 16, 2010. Visit his website for more information about his work, and read the museum’s press release here.
To register for this event, please send an email with “Symposium Registration” as the subject to bharrington@wisc.edu BY MARCH 4. Include your name, department, your area of interest.
Send paper/presentation proposals of no more than 250 words, addressing an aspect of “object as interface” to croy@wisc.edu BY MARCH 1. Include in the subject line “Symposium Paper.”
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