The UO Art History Association (AHA) is presenting the 9th Annual International Student Symposium and keynote lecture on April 25-26 at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (JSMA) on the University of Oregon campus. The public is invited to share ideas and learn about research papers written by students nationwide.
“It’s a way to create dialogue among undergraduates and graduates,” says Kelsie Greer, event co-chair.
This year’s symposium, “Experience and Experimentation: An Investigation of Alternative Artistic Practices,” is inspired by and will be held in conjunction with “West of Center,” an exhibition at the JSMA high¬lighting the art of the 1960s and 1970s counterculture, particularly of the western United States.
Elissa Auther, co-curator of the JSMA exhibition and this year’s keynote speaker, will kick off the symposium at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, April 25, with a lecture, “Exhibiting Utopias,” on the challenges of curating experimental artworks.
Auther is associate professor of contemporary art at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs as well as an adjunct curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver. She is author of String, Felt, Thread: The Hierarchy of Art and Craft in American Art (2009), and coeditor of the collection of essays, West of Center: Art and the Counterculture Experiment in America, 1965-1977 (2011), which examines the ways in which subjective experience was reconsidered during the postwar period on the West Coast.
AHA is hosting a reception after the lecture in the Laverne Krause Gallery in Lawrence Hall from 8-9 p.m. The gallery will feature artwork from current UO students.
On Friday, April 26, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., students from around the country deliver their research on varying artistic practices that challenge the norm. The public is welcome to attend.
“In past years they tended to be broader topics,” says Jordan Koel, event co-chair. “Because we are working with the museum and the exhibit, we wanted to expand on those ideas while still being precise.”
The symposium gives selected students 30 minutes to present their research (including a Q&A session) on varying artistic practices that challenge the norm.
“As art history students, it’s our job to pick everything apart and try and put it back together in an interesting way,” says Greer. She suggests the symposium can offer students a deeper understanding of concepts learned in art history classes.
While the symposium offers a unique learning opportunity for the university community, it also provides professional development for members of AHA. Greer and Koel have been planning the symposium since May 2012 with the assistance of AHA officers and members.
“It really is a group effort,” says Koel.
The symposium is open to the general public. All events will take place at the Ford Lecture Hall at JSMA, 1430 Johnson Lane, on the University of Oregon campus in Eugene.
By Cari Johnson