Sometimes there’s no substitute for seeing the object you are studying first hand. For more than three semesters, from a graduate seminar in medieval cathedrals, to intensive thesis research, art history graduate student Rebecca Teague has focused on the sculpture programs of three 12th-century cathedrals in three small towns in northern Italy. She is now writing her master’s thesis on the cathedral facades designed by the sculptor Niccolò in Verona, Piacenza and Ferrara. Teague’s research focuses on what may have shaped the iconography of the programs, especially local influences. “My thesis looks at some of the large-scale political issues going on at the time of the cathedral was built, filtered through a local lens," she said. "Why, for example, was a less common historical figure or saint chosen over one more commonly used? You have to delve into what the local people valued, what the local culture was like at the time. So, not only do sources for some of this imagery come from farther afield, such as the Lateran in Rome, but there are similar examples of the imagery at sites nearby.” Then, during a study-abroad trip with the Department of Art and Art History last May, Teague got to see the cathedrals in context. She was able to visit Rome, Florence and Venice with the student group and served as a teaching assistant to Dr. Tanja Jones, who is also her thesis advisor. After the main part of the trip was over, Teague and Dr. Jones made a side trip to Verona, to view first hand the cathedral doorways at Verona, and nearby Piacenza and Ferrara. Teague made her home base in Verona for four days. Each day she would work on one of the cathedral sculpture programs. She traveled to each town to experience the space, take photos and make notes about details that particularly struck her as she viewed the work up close. To get to Ferrara, for example, she traveled by train, which took a little over an hour. Once there, she explained, “I would spend the rest of the morning taking photos of the cathedral all the way around.” After lunch, she returned to the cathedral square to take more photographs. “I would look at the interior and take photos of the architectural plans that nearly every church displays in the crypt. I would also often take a walk in the area surrounding the church and make notes about nearby buildings. Then I would check to see if the same buildings were around during the time period that the cathedral was being built.” Getting to see the buildings and their sculptures up close, and to explore the town around the cathedrals, some of which existed in the 12th century, helped her understand their reality. She said, “I devoted all my time to the actual experience of the space,” and saved researching sources for when she was back in the US. This fall, with her thesis almost completed, Teague hadn't forgotten about the real-life experience of her research subjects. She still sounded in awe of the scale of the architecture she was able to see: “I got a sense of how weathered they are, how large they are, their sense of power.” Rebecca Teague received the BA in psychology at Auburn University at Montgomery before being accepted in the MA program in art history at The University of Alabama, where she was awarded a teaching assistantship for three years. In 2017, she was awarded a mid-year Academic Merit Scholarship from the Joseph and Carolyn Bolt Endowed Support Fund in Art History. At the 22nd Annual Graduate Student Symposium in Art History, she won second place for the Harrison Award for Excellence in Research – Graduate Paper Presentation for her paper, “Nanni di Banco’s St Luke as a Statement Against Albizzi Control.” After defending her thesis, “Carving Politics: Niccolò’s Façades at Piacenza, Ferrara, and Verona Cathedrals,” Teague hopes to graduate in December and take some time off before she continues her studies in Romanesque art in a doctoral program. For information about UA Art and Art History's programs, go to: https://art.ua.edu/academics/. For information about our trip to Spain in 2019, go to: https://art.ua.edu/study-abroad/
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.
22nd Annual Graduate Student Symposium in Art History
About the 2017 Symposium Photos: Flickr.com | Facebook.com 2017 Graduate Student Presentations and Keynote Speaker Ariana Panbechi, George Washington University, “Projections of Prestige: Aristocratic Portraiture of Qajar Iran” Isabel Lee-Rosson, University of North Texas, “American Diplomacy and Lebanese Art, ca. 1970: Contextualizing Paul Guiragossian’s Exhibitions in the United States” Mariana Gómez, University of South Florida, “Safe Conduct Pass (Paiza): Apotropaia and Human Representation in Islamic Art” Erin Hein, Case Western Reserve University, “Uncovering Roman Activity at the Aquae Apollinares through The Vicarello Goblet” Margaret Hankel, University of Georgia, “The Photographer as Author: Albert Renger-Patzsch and Die Welt ist schön” Rebecca Teague, The University of Alabama, “Nanni di Banco’s St Luke as a Statement Against Albizzi Control” Kelby M. Cox, The University of Alabama, “Stitching Agency: Enslaved African American Quiltmaking and the Prejudicial South” Carmen Gonzalez Fraile, University of Alabama at Birmingham, “Photographs of the Children’s March and Their Afterlives” Allison Springer, The University of Alabama, “Commemorating Freedom with Spectacles of Race: Abolitionist Propaganda during the American Civil War” Keynote Lecture: Dr. Kristin Schwain, University of Missouri, “Establishing an African American Eden: Samuel Albert Countee’s World War II Mural for Fort Leonard Wood’s Black Officers’ Club” Undergraduate Poster Sessions Alea Bondarenko, University of Alabama at Birmingham, “The Queen’s Stepwell at Patan, Gujarat” Nadia DelMedico, The University of Alabama, “Too Close to Home: The History of Slavery on The University of Alabama’s Campus” Sarah Faulkner, University of Alabama at Birmingham, “The Crux of Cultural Crossroads: Indigenous Elements in the Mahabat Maqbara” Sommer Hallquist, The University of Alabama, “Images of Antichrist within Bible moralisée Codex Vindobonensis 2554, Vienna, Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek” Riley E. B. Kliethermes, University of Tennessee, “Artemisia Gentileschi: Criticisms of the Feminist Perspective” Victoria Klouda, University of Tennessee, “The Luttrell Psalter: Medieval Marginalia and Viewer Visual Literacy” Reed O’Mara, The University of Alabama, “Getting Ahead: The Roles of Headless Saints in the Contest for Coronation Site” Rachel Polaniec, Case Western Reserve University, “To Engage, Educate, and Entertain: Living History Museums and the Visitor Experience” Chandler Roberts, Marian University, “The Uncreated Image: The Omission of Authentic Birth in Art” Jessica Shieh, The University of Alabama, “The Lasting Significance of Springtime: Julian Onderdonk’s Dynamic Legacy as an American Impressionist” More about the Annual Graduate Student Symposium in Art History Program for the 2017 symposium: PDF | Issuu.com Past Symposia
Online Catalog Features UA Art Resources
Image Resource Center student assistant Delilah Marshall recently catalogued her 915th item in The University of Alabama Department of Art and Art History's online catalog at LibraryThing.com, a crowd-sourced organizational tool. Marshall has spent the last two years building an online catalog to make departmental educational resources more accessible to art and art history faculty and students. Along with research and image search services, the Image Resource Center offers DVDs and videos, as well as books and journals to faculty, instructors and grad students in the Department of Art and Art History for check out. Undergrads must have a faculty or instructor sponsor in order to check out IRC materials. For old-school users, our Excel database of DVD and videos is attached here. To access DVDs, videos, books and journals of the IRC, go to LibraryThing.com, create an account (free) and search through more than 700 titles at our online catalog: https://www.librarything.com/catalog/UA-ImageResources. If you have questions or need help, contact Visual Resources Curator Rachel Dobson, 348-1893 or rachel.dobson@ua.edu.
Visiting an 11th-century church inspires student’s research.
Even though Lauren Eich just graduated from UA with a BA in art history, she is still hard at work researching the medieval architecture she loves. Last fall Lauren Eich (BA ARH 2014) took Dr. Tanja Jones’ Late Medieval Art History course and took on the research topic of the Abbey Church of St. Etienne in Caen, France. Eich had a difficult time finding English language studies of the church and good photos of its interior. She ended up translating French studies of St. Etienne and other Caen churches into English. This summer on a trip to France, she visited Caen and St. Etienne. She took photographs of the ambulatory, the chapels, and the details of the choir -- photos that also will help if she continues research on St. Etienne in graduate school. Eich writes, “It’s such a beautiful church and it has so much history that I have been really surprised about the lack of literature on it. It was built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century. The church survived the Normandy bombings in World War II, because the people of Caen painted a red cross on a white sheet and hung it on the roof to mark it as a hospital. When I visited it was incredible to see the photographs from WWII of people living in the church to avoid the bombs.” Eich will receive her second BA in studio art in January and plans to apply to graduate school in art history.[F14]