Exciting New Blog: It's A Material World

Current UW-Madison Art History Graduate Student Gianofer Fields, in collaboration with Travis San Pedro, has been working on a fairly recent blog: It's a Material World that deals with our everyday interactions with the material world. Please take a look at it...

www.itsamaterialworld.org


The following is a brief synopsis from the website:

"In our lifetime we’ve seen the mobile phone shrink from the size of a suitcase to something easily lost in a coat pocket. Examining the everyday objects we choose to possess helps us place ourselves within a cultural context of technology and change. This project is called “It’s a Material World.”

First, it is a virtual exhibition and meeting place: an exploration of everyday and evocative objects with a savvy blending of multiple media practices.  A radio interview mode teases out meanings and feelings from scholars, artists and ordinary people, a visual frame gives the viewer a chance to see and join in a conversation, and an electronic format allows ephemeral events and interviews to be captured and archived. 

Our goal is to facilitate conversations between authors, craftspeople, designers, manufacturers, scholars, and students about the way our lives are interwoven with things, ideas, relationships, and meanings."

 

Employment Opportunity: Operations Program Associate with the Wisconsin Veterans Museum

There are two full-time project openings at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum.  These positions are for approximately two years, with a possible extension, and include full benefits.

The Wisconsin Veterans Museum is a  history museum but would welcome applications from individuals with collections experience in any type of museum.

The Veterans Museum is on the Capitol square in Madison.

Please see the link at: http://wisc.jobs/public/job_view.asp?annoid=54584&jobid=54099&index=true

Employment Opportunity: Assistant Professor of Material and Visual Culture with Parson, The New School for Design

Parsons The New School for Design, a division of the New School, seeks applicants for Assistant Professor of Material and Visual Culture, a renewable term faculty position within the School of Art and Design History and Theory.


Applicants should demonstrate expertise in the history and interpretation of the material world from the perspective of art and design history, archaeology, anthropology, the history of science, or material culture.  Candidates must be innovative in their methodologies of research in demonstrating how materiality and visuality contribute to historical understanding. Field of specialization is open, but preference will be given to specialization in a period prior to the twentieth century and/or with a non-Western focus. 


Candidates must have experience with innovative pedagogical approaches that will engage students from a variety of disciplines across Parsons and the wider University community.


To apply and for full position description, please visit http://careers.newschool.edu

Employment Opportunity: Art and Design Historian of Modern and Contemporary Designed Objects

The Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) invites applications  for a historian of design as a full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty member beginning August 2012.

The ideal candidate will join an active research department of fifteen full-time historians of modern and to excellent teaching. The successful applicant will have a commitment to exceptional teaching, a doctoral degree, and a record of research and material culture studies, art history, or in other fields related to design history where designed objects are the focus. All candidates must specialize in modern and contemporary practices, though expertise is open to any geographical area within design history.

Please see the responsibilities, qualifications, required materials and application procedure on the www.saic.edu/about/jobs/faculty website.

By Monday, December 5, 2011, please submit an application at http://SAICfaculty.slideroom.com

FIU Fellowship Program: The Wolfsonian

The Wolfsonian–Florida International University is a museum and research center that promotes the examination of modern visual and material culture. The Wolfsonian’s fellowship program is intended to support research on the museum’s collection, generally for periods of three to four weeks. The program is open to holders of master’s or doctoral degrees, Ph.D. candidates, and others who have a significant record of professional achievement in relevant fields. 

The focus of the Wolfsonian collection is on North American and European decorative arts, propaganda, architecture, and industrial and graphic design from the period 1885–1945. The United States, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands are the countries most extensively represented. The collection includes works on paper (including posters, prints, and design drawings), furniture, paintings, sculpture, glass, textiles, ceramics, lighting and other appliances, and many other kinds of objects. The Wolfsonian’s library has approximately 50,000 rare books, periodicals, and ephemeral items.

All applicants are encouraged to discuss their project with the museum staff prior to submission to ensure the relevance of their proposals to the Wolfsonian’s collection. For more information about The Wolfsonian and its collection, visit the website at http://www.wolfsonian.org, call 305.535.2686, or email research@thewolf.fiu.edu. An electronic application form will be available through The Wolfsonian’s website after November 15, 2011. Applications for the 2012–13 academic year must be postmarked by December 31, 2011.

Material Culture Program and Kohler Foundation on the UW Homepage

Have you looked at the University of Wisconsin, Madison home page recently? 

If not then you should because there is currently a story up about the UW Material Culture program through the Art History department and its fruitful relationship with the Kohler Foundation and its focus on Outsider Art.

Current UW Madison Graduate Student Emma Silverman spent seven weeks in Lucas, Kansas studying and conserving the 'Garden of Eden' site.

Samuel Dinsmoor created more than 150 handmade sculptures that represent religious, national and populist stories that set about his home in Lucas. It is currently listed on National Register of Historic Places, but due to its relatively remote location it has proven difficult to maintain.

Already well known for its preservation of folk and vernacular art environments the Kohler Foundation stepped in assist in the sites preservation and conservation.

To learn more please refer to the story at: http://www.news.wisc.edu/19793

Exciting New Website/Blog: War and the Visceral Imagination

How does Material Culture shape our sense of War?

Share in the discussion at: http://warandvisceralimagination.wordpress.com/

This is just one of many questions that you are invited to explore on this blog and in Baltimore during the annual meeting of the American Studies Association (ASA) this October. 

The blog and ASA panel is called “War and the Visceral Imagination” because it is interested in how embodied experiences of the material shape wartime notions of citizenship, obligation, and the national imaginary.

The broader aim is to inspire conversation about the multi-sensory nature of human encounters with the material world. For example:

• How do sight, smell, touch, hearing, and taste serve as means to transmit cultural values?
• What questions become possible when traditional Western classifications of the senses are challenged?
• Which scholars have influenced your work with material culture?
• What challenges do scholars of the past face in their study of embodied material experience? What approaches can help overcome these obstacles?
• How does your own work relate to the issues raised here?  

The blog hopes to expand the conversation to include material culture scholars—particularly representatives of museums and archives—who are not able to attend the conference. All are welcome to pose questions, share ideas, and contribute to the discussion.

So, please, join in the conversation and sign up for the RSS feed. And, if you are on Twitter, follow @cjceglio and look for the #warvi hashtag.