The major textbooks for Art History introductory courses have expanded their coverage of the arts of the Americas, Africa, Oceania, and Asia. As university art departments endeavor to globalize their curricula and museums expand their non-Western collections, the subject matter may be unfamiliar to many image curators and catalogers working with support materials who have been schooled only in the European tradition. The presenters will offer a 4- hour primer in the Art of the Americas to address this concern. They will give an overview of the geography, history and indigenous cultures of North and South America and Mesoamerica, show typical examples of objects and architecture and explain their identifying features, and then offer attendees the opportunity to try their hand at applying general cataloging terms to images of similar objects. After a review of the results, the presenters will briefly talk with the attendees about working with the CCO and the Getty vocabularies and other sources for cataloging the art of the Americas. Attendees will receive handouts listing the major time periods and cultures in each region and a bibliography of general reference materials for further guidance.
ORGANIZER:
Karen Kessel, Sonoma State University
PRESENTERS
1: Claudia Brittenham, University of Michigan
2: Kimberly Jones, University of Texas at Austin
3: Karen Kessel, Sonoma State University
NOTES
Claudia Brittenham is a specialist in Mesoamerican art and is co-author with Stephen Houston and Cassandra Mesick of the volume, Veiled Brightness: a History of Ancient Maya Color, 2009, University of Texas Press, and was a principal consultant for the fifth edition of Marilyn Stokstad and Michael Cothren's art history survey textbook, Art: a brief history.
Kimberly Jones recently received her PhD in Pre-Columbian Andean Art and Archaeology and is co-editor with Steve Bourget of The Art and Archaeology of the Moche, An Ancient Andean Society of the Peruvian North Coast, published in 2008 by the University of Texas Press.
Karen Kessel is curator for Visual Resources in the Art and Art History Department at Sonoma State University and has taught a survey course in Native North American art.
Sponsored by the VRA Education Committee.
Karen Kessel's Special Bulletin #15, Finding and Cataloging Images of Native American Art, is available for a discount price as a pdf download to workshop participants via Registration form.
Attention Wednesday Workshop Attendees
In order to take advantage of better facilities at the University of New Mexico and to alleviate pressure on the hotel meeting room schedule, the two Wednesday morning workshops will be held at the Zimmerman Library on the UNM campus. Since local public transportation runs almost directly from the hotel to the university, we have decided that it will be the means by which we get everyone to the workshops.
Attendees will meet a local committee member in the hotel lobby at 7 am and walk south on Rio Grande Boulevard to Central Avenue. On the far side of Central Ave is a bus stop. The group will take the #66 or the #766 eastbound buses, depending on which one comes along first. The fare is $2 for a day pass, and we will provide these for you.
The bus will proceed down Central Avenue (Route 66, for Americana buffs) through downtown, past the Alvarado Transportation Center to the main UNM stop at Central and Yale. Attendees will walk the equivalent of two short blocks north through the UNM campus to the Zimmerman Library. Workshops will be held in the computer labs. And FYI - Zimmerman has a Starbucks counter, and drinks with lids are permitted in the labs!
For the return to the hotel, simply do the same thing in reverse! If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thanks very much,
Brian Shelburne
VRA Vice President for Conference Arrangements
bps@library.umass.edu 413-545-4061
Cindy Abel Morris
VRA Albuquerque Local Arrangements Committee Chair
cdabel@unm.edu 505-277-6415