Associate Professor Emeritus Robert O. Mellown has published ten articles on the historic architecture of The University of Alabama and Tuscaloosa for SAH Archipedia, a free and subscription-based encyclopedic resource for worldwide architecture published by the Society of Architectural Historians. Mellown's articles are viewable in both versions. Mellown wrote entries for Bryce Hospital; Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion; The University of Alabama campus; Gorgas House; President's Mansion; Manly, Clark, and Garland Halls; Frederick R. Maxwell Hall (the old Observatory); Woods Hall; Morgan Hall and Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library. Mellown is the author of numerous books and articles on architecture in Tuscaloosa including Historic Structures Reports for the Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion, Drish House, Marmaduke Williams House and Bryce Hospital, authoritative architectural references commissioned by the Heritage Commission of Tuscaloosa County with support from the Alabama Historical Commission. His most recent book is The University of Alabama - A Guide to the Campus and Its Architecture (University of Alabama Press). Read more about Mellown's publications here. Right: Robert Mellown recently led a sold-out OLLI tour of UA's historic campus architecture. Left: Robert Mellown preparing to be interviewed for Discovering Alabama's special on our state capitals for the Bicentennial. The episode will air in October. Mellown received his undergraduate degree in studio art from The University of Alabama. After receiving the PhD in art history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he returned to UA and taught nineteenth-century art and architecture, Renaissance and Ancient art for forty-one years. He serves on a number of community and state committees. He is a lifetime member of the Tuscaloosa Preservation Society and a founding board member of the Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion Foundation. He was a member of the Bryce Hospital Historical Committee which was formed by the Alabama Department of Mental Health and The University of Alabama to insure the preservation of the integrity of the historic structure. He is a member of the Tuscaloosa Bicentennial Committee and a consultant for the Alabama Bicentennial Commission. Launched in 2013, SAH Archipedia is an authoritative online encyclopedia of the built world, published by the Society of Architectural Historians and the University of Virginia Press. Their goal is to have all fifty states represented and to become a comprehensive resource for information on buildings around the world. Funding for the project also comes from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the American Institute of Architects, the Graham Foundation and Two Cat Digital. The Society of Architectural Historians, founded in 1940, is a nonprofit membership organization that promotes the study, interpretation and conservation of architecture, design, landscapes and urbanism around the world. Robert Gamble, retired Senior Architectural Historian at the Alabama Historical Commission, is State Coordinator for Alabama for the Archipedia project. Gamble wrote and compiled many of the current Alabama entries and recruited other architectural historians from around the state to write on their specialties. Gamble is the author of The Alabama Catalog – Historic American Buildings Survey: A Guide to the Early Architecture of the State (University of Alabama Press). Entries were also written by Ralph Allen, Cart Blackwell, Alice Meriwether Bowsher, Delos Hughes, Michael Panhorst, and Caroline Swope. Alabama has sixty-four entries in all on the new website, the most coming from Tuscaloosa County and the University. Birmingham, Huntsville and Mobile have seven entries each. According to the SAH Archipedia website, Alabama's current sixty-four entries comprise the first half of a list of the state's most representative buildings and sites. There'll be more to come! Above: Dr. Mellown discusses the renovation of a 19th century statue, "Hebe," salvaged from Bryce Hospital with Bob Fanning (Engineering) and Art and Art History technicians Patrick O'Sullivan and Mike Eddins and (center) Professor Craig Wedderspoon. The statue was repaired, repainted and placed at the entrance of the New Bryce building.
Art History Graduate Achieves Long-term Goal
Allison Springer is following a path she set for herself when she received degrees in apparel and textile design and marketing at UA ten years ago. After Springer received the MS in marketing in 2006, she moved to New York City to work in fashion. For the next five years, Springer worked in the creative departments at Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy's. Then she left New York to travel in Europe and develop her interests in art and history. She returned to her alma mater in 2015 to pursue a master's in art history, with the goal of seeking a Ph.D. in art history in order to teach and research. This spring, Springer successfully defended her master's thesis in art history, titled "Mixed-Race Fantasies: Abolitionist Propaganda as Spectacles of Race in the Nineteenth Century." Springer was accepted to PhD programs at Rice University in Houston, Tex., and the University of Kansas in Lawrence. She reports that she plans to attend Rice in the fall. Right: Allison Springer presents her thesis research in a paper at the 22nd Annual Graduate Student Symposium in Art History in 2017. For more information about the programs of the UA Department of Art and Art History, visit this link: https://art.ua.edu/about/prospective/. The University of Alabama, the state’s oldest and largest public institution of higher education, is a student-centered research university that draws the best and brightest to an academic community committed to providing a premier undergraduate and graduate education. UA is dedicated to achieving excellence in scholarship, collaboration and intellectual engagement; providing public outreach and service to the state of Alabama and the nation; and nurturing a campus environment that fosters collegiality, respect and inclusivity.
Micah-Shea McKibben Defends MA Thesis on Botticelli
Micah-Shea McKibben successfully defended her MA thesis in art history, titled "Moving Beyond Beauty: Uncovering Sandro Botticelli's Isis," and graduated from The University of Alabama in December 2016. McKibben graduated cum laude from the University of South Alabama's Honors Program in 2012 with a B.A. in art history and a minor in history. Her undergraduate honors thesis was titled, "Knowing the Code, Analysis of Three Female German Expressionists." As a graduate student, she specialized in 15th-century Renaissance Italy and early 20th-century art. In March 2016, she presented her research on Botticelli's "Isis" at the South Central Renaissance Conference in St. Louis, Missouri, a regional conference of graduate students and professionals in Renaissance Studies. For more information about the programs of the UA Department of Art and Art History, visit this link: https://art.ua.edu/about/prospective/. The University of Alabama, the state’s oldest and largest public institution of higher education, is a student-centered research university that draws the best and brightest to an academic community committed to providing a premier undergraduate and graduate education. UA is dedicated to achieving excellence in scholarship, collaboration and intellectual engagement; providing public outreach and service to the state of Alabama and the nation; and nurturing a campus environment that fosters collegiality, respect and inclusivity.
Student Researches Slave Architecture on UA Campus
Junior art history major Nadia DelMedico presented her original research into extant slave dwellings on the antebellum UA campus at the new undergraduate poster session during the 22nd Annual Graduate Student Symposium in Art History, at UA's Bryant Conference Center in March, and at the recent URCA conference. DelMedico and Sommer Hallquist were awarded Harrison Prizes for Excellence in Undergraduate Research at the symposium. DelMedico's poster titled, “Too Close to Home: The History of Slavery on the University of Alabama Campus,” was selected as the third place winner in the Arts & Humanities category of the URCA poster sessions. DelMedico’s poster won second place in the Harrison Awards.
Art History Professor Publishes Groundbreaking Study in Visual Culture
Associate Professor Lucy Curzon has published the first full-length study of the British group Mass-Observation's engagement with visual culture. Mass-Observation and Visual Culture – Depicting Everyday Lives in Britain (Routledge, 2017) critically analyses the role that visual culture played in the early development of the innovative British anthropological research group founded in 1937. In Curzon's new book, she explores the paintings of Graham Bell and William Coldstream; the photographs of Humphrey Spender (brother of Stephen Spender); the paintings, collages and photographs of Julian Trevelyan; and Humphrey Jennings’ photographs and widely recognized Mass-Observation film, Spare Time, among other sources. Her research positions these works as key sources of information with regard to illuminating the complex character of British identity during the Depression era. Curzon is associate professor of art history in the UA Department of Art and Art History. Her research focuses on issues of identity politics as they concern the production of visual culture in twentieth-century Britain. She has previously published work on LGBTQ+ portraiture, as well as articles or chapters on the Ashington Group and Humphrey Spender’s photographs of Blackpool in the 1930s. She regularly presents her work at national and international conferences. She received the PhD in Visual Culture Studies from the University of Rochester in 2006 and holds a doctoral certificate in Gender and Women’s Studies. In addition to her research and teaching, Dr. Curzon has organized numerous exhibitions showcasing the work of both regional and nationally recognized artists. She serves as Director of Graduate Studies for Art History and is editor-in-chief of FutureForward, the journal of Integrative Teaching International. For more information about The University of Alabama’s Department of Art and Art History degree programs, go to our website.
UA Students Give Rare Tour of Historic Home
Sunday, April 30, UA art history students will give special public tours of Lyon Hall, a historic Greek Revival home in Demopolis, Alabama. Talks on the historic architecture, art and decorative arts in the home will begin at 2:00 pm and occur every twenty minutes until 5:00 pm. Under the direction of UA assistant professor Dr. Rachel Stephens, five art history students have engaged in a semester-long study of Lyon Hall, built in 1852. To research the home, they were given access to the Lyon family archives, which have remained largely untouched since the mid-nineteenth century. The tours and talks are the culmination of research by student guides Laura Wymer, Olivia Turner, Amy Smoot, Jamie Reschke and Lauren Eich. Lyon Hall, owned by the Marengo County Historical Society, is not usually open to the public, so this will be a rare opportunity to view this historic home and learn about its inhabitants. Refreshments will be provided. The event is free and open to the public. Any donations received will benefit the preservation of this historic landmark through the Marengo County Historical Society. For more information about art history and other degree programs in the UA Department of Art and Art History, go to our website.
Art and Art History Students Present Research at URCA
FLIGHT SIMULATION Senior BFA major Kalypso Homan made a head-spinning presentation at the recent Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity Conference held at UA. Art history majors Nadia DelMedico, Sommer Hallquist and art history minor Reed O’Mara presented their research in posters during a session held in the Heritage Ballroom at Ferguson Student Center on UA campus. Homan explained how her dizzying idea was brought to life: “The aim of this project is to use a HTC Vive headset to bring the viewer on a 3D time-based immersive virtual reality experience. With our research we are exploring the possibility for a realistic flight simulation from the point of view of a bird. This simulation takes the form of a predatory chase. The player will enter the role of the prey fleeing a supernatural force, the goal being to add a sense of speed, urgency and fear to the simulation. The entire experience should be so intense that the player might suspend disbelief for long enough to believe that they are flying, or even flying for their life.” ART HISTORY RESEARCH POSTERS Junior art history major Nadia DelMedico presented original research into extant slave dwellings on the antebellum UA campus. Her poster titled, “Too Close to Home: The History of Slavery on the University of Alabama Campus,” was selected as the third place winner in the Arts & Humanities category of the URCA poster sessions. DelMedico’s poster also won second place in the Harrison Awards for Excellence in Research at the Undergraduate Poster Presentation during the 22nd Annual Graduate Student Symposium in Art History at UA’s Bryant Conference Center. Other presenters at the URCA poster session included senior double major in art history and anthropology Sommer Hallquist. Hallquist's poster was titled "Images of Antichrist within Bible moralisée Codex Vindobonensis 2554, Vienna, Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek." Economics and German major Reed O'Mara presented her art history research poster, "Getting Ahead: The Roles of Headless Saints in the Contest for Coronation Site."
UA Student Wins Competitive Museum Internship
Rising senior Sommer Hallquist, a double major in art history and anthropology with a minor in French, has been setting goals and making plans for an exciting and challenging summer. "One large goal of mine has been to receive an internship position in a museum to gain more practical experience in the field," Hallquist explained. She recently checked that goal off her list when she was offered one of eight highly competitive summer internships at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Cloisters Museum in New York. Dr. Jennifer M. Feltman, Assistant Professor of Medieval Art and Architecture said, "This is such great news for her professional development and future in museum studies and art history. She will be also a wonderful ambassador for our department, college and UA." Hallquist has netted several awards and honors lately. She received an Honorable Mention for her poster research project at UA's Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity (URCA) Conference in April. Titled “Images of Antichrist within Bible moralisée Codex Vindo bonensis 2554, Vienna, Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek,” the poster outlining her research on apocalyptic imagery in a 13th-century illuminated Bible was also recognized in March at the new Undergraduate Poster Session at the 22nd Annual Graduate Student Symposium in Art History where she won third place for the Harrison Award for Excellence in Research. These awards, as well as her recent study abroad experiences, have come about in part because of the goals Hallquist has set for herself. "I have most definitely been setting goals to accumulate experiences that will be useful to me both in graduate school and hopefully within my career." Last summer Hallquist went on two big adventures. First, she studied at the National University of Ireland, Galway, on the west coast. She took courses in Late Bronze Age and Early Medieval Irish art and in Archaeology in Ireland. “We visited numerous sites on the Burren in County Clare that included wedge and chambered tombs that had been excavated by the professor himself!” Hallquist was also invited, along with two other UA students, to accompany Professor Ian Brown of UA’s anthropology department to participate in excavations in Greece. The program is part of the College of Arts and Sciences' Alabama-Greece Initiative, in which UA professors and students collaborate with their peers at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece. Hallquist had worked with Dr. Brown on gravestone iconography in 2015 through UA’s Emerging Scholars Program. That year, she and fellow anthropology major Madeline Anscombe won second place for their gravestone iconography research project in the Emerging Scholars Division of Fine Arts and Humanities at the URCA Conference. Also last summer, Hallquist spent two weeks working on excavations in Vergina, Greece, known for the tomb of Philip II, father of Alexander the Great. Hallquist elaborated, "The goal of our project was to learn more about the city’s layout, daily life in the time period and the role of the people who lived within the city and used this sanctuary." Hallquist’s days were divided between fieldwork in the morning and early afternoon and laboratory work and scholarly lectures in the evening. Lectures were by the project archaeologists, including one who had been on the original excavations of Philip II’s tomb in the 1970s. As part of her goal of gathering more archaeological experience, Hallquist also has a job as a lab assistant at PanAmerican Consultants in Tuscaloosa, where she is able to work with Woodland, Mississippian and historic period artifacts. Looking ahead to her summer of medieval art at the Met Cloisters in New York, Hallquist is enthusiastic. "I am beyond excited for this incredible experience. I will have the opportunity to conduct my own research project and public presentation incorporating materials from the museum's collections and in conjunction with the museum professionals at the Cloisters." As for the future, Hallquist wants to continue her studies in Early Medieval art, specifically in illuminated manuscripts and so will apply to graduate schools in art history this fall. "I am very drawn to Insular art, so I may focus my attention there, but have yet to set that in stone." Go to our website for more information about UA's Department of Art and Art History's art history and other degree programs. ###
Harrison Award for Excellence in Research Given to UA Alumna
UA and UAB art history faculty announced winners of the Harrison Award for Excellence in Research - Graduate Paper Presentation and Undergraduate Poster Presentation during 22nd Annual Graduate Student Symposium in Art History on March 3, 2017. UA alumna Erin Hein, now a graduate student in art history at Case Western Reserve University, was awarded first place for her paper presentation, "Uncovering Roman Activity at the Aquae Apollinares through The Vicarello Goblet.” In 2016, Hein received the BA in art history and BS in chemistry from UA. She was awarded a highly competitive, six-week art conservation internship at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) Museum. First place for the Harrison Award for Excellence in Research - Undergraduate Poster Presentation went to Sarah Faulkner, a graduate student in art history at UAB, for her poster presentation,“The Crux of Cultural Crossroads: Indigenous Elements in the Mahabat Maqbara.” The Harrison Award was begun in 2015 by Jim Harrison III, to recognize excellence in art history research. More information about this year's symposium is here. Harrison Award for Excellence in Research — Graduate Paper Presentation First Place: Erin Hein (Case Western Reserve) "Uncovering Roman Activity at the Aquae Apollinares through The Vicarello Goblet.” Runners Up Margaret Hankel (UGA) for “The Photographer as Author: Albert Renger-Patzsch and Die Welt ist schön” Rebecca Teague (UA) for “Nanni di Banco’s St Luke as a Statement Against Albizzi Control” Harrison Award for Excellence in Research — Undergraduate Poster Presentation First Place: Sarah Faulkner (UAB) “The Crux of Cultural Crossroads: Indigenous Elements in the Mahabat Maqbara” Second Place: Nadia DelMedico (UA) “Too Close to Home: The History of Slavery on The University of Alabama’s Campus” Runners Up: Sommer Hallquist (UA) “Images of Antichrist within Bible moralisée Codex Vindobonensis 2554, Vienna, Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek” Rachel Polaniec (Case Western Reserve) “To Engage, Educate, and Entertain: Living History Museums and the Visitor Experience”