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Graduate Student, Research, Research Travel

Dario Robleto’s The First Time, The Heart and Death-Centric Museums

Hanna Stoehr is a graduate student in the joint Master of Arts in Art History and Museum Studies Certificate program. Hanna was awarded a Department of Art History travel grant to support her Qualifying Paper research on contemporary artist Dario Robleto.

When I decided to write my Qualifying Paper on the language of death and mourning contained within the artwork of contemporary artist Dario Robleto, my first act was to look up where I might find his artwork in person. Unfortunately, his artworks arescattered throughout North American museums, and many of the artworks I was interested in viewing were not on display. Before resigning myself to viewing images in only printed publications, I looked into the three galleries that represent Robleto, and was delighted to find that his latest body of work, The First Time, The Heart would be on display at the Inman Gallery in Houston, Texas, from April 6 – May 26, 2018.

A view of Dario Robleto’s The First Time, The Heart at the Inman Gallery in Houston, TX.

Though the window for viewing the artwork was small, I believe that the success of my analysis hinges upon a deeper understanding of Robleto’s artwork that could only be achieved by viewing the art in person. Fortunately for me, the Department of Art History agreed and granted me the opportunity to travel to Houston to view this exhibition. Along the way, I also thought to add in stops at several other Houston museums to see how museums currently display death. I finally decided upon visits to the National Museum of Funeral History, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Museum of Fine Arts, and the Rothko Chapel.

An elaborate and large hair work wreath at the National Museum of Funeral History.

On my first day in Houston, I travelled directly from the airport to the National Museum of Funeral History. I was greatly interested to see how a museum that quite literally devotes itself to death elects to display and interpret the topic. For me, the National Museum of Funeral History was a bit of a playground. I was enamored by the display of antique hearses and delighted when I came across a small silver mourning spoon etched with birth and death dates and an image of the deceased. Most bizarre of all were the museum’s “selfie spots” which included one in front of a wax recreation of the body of Abraham Lincoln.

The National Museum of Funeral History’s “selfie spot” in front of a wax reproduction of Abraham Lincoln’s corpse.

However, I found that the various displays (there were fourteen to view!) were highly uneven both in terms of interpretive materials and, in some cases, obvious sources of funding. Exhibitions such as Celebrating the Lives and Deaths of the Popes and The Making of a Saint were beautifully and professionally executed, contained interpretive text galore, and took up some of the greatest square footage in the building. However, the Dia De Los Muertos and Egyptian Embalming displays were quite sad in comparison. The exhibitions looked uncared for, lacked interpretive text, and relied upon souvenir objects and craft store materials rather than historic artifacts. My lasting impression is that the museum’s ambition to present as much death history as possible was not matched by the museum’s resources.

Exhibition design for Death of a Pope was off the hook.

The following day I made my way to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Looking back on my trip, I believe that I spent the most time at this museum, due in part to the great variety of exhibitions available. I spent a great deal of time in the Cullen Hall of Gems and Minerals and went a little crazy taking photos of the objects on display in the Fabergé: Royal Gifts exhibition. However, I had to recalibrate my museum brain when I entered the Cabinet of Curiosities exhibition. In three rooms, visitors were allowed to touch a majority of the objects on display. It took a great deal of effort to reach my hand into displays of taxidermy to touch—actually touch!—the body of a swan. I noticed that this reinterpretation of a historic Cabinet of Curiosities garnered lively conversation among my fellow visitors and instilled a great sense of mischief in me. Though it was allowed, I felt a bit giddy at the opportunity to touch a kangaroo pelt (note: kangaroos are incredibly soft and fluffy).

Visitors at the Cabinet of Curiosities exhibition at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

When I entered the Museum of Natural Science’s Death by Natural Causes exhibition, I was quite ready to be wowed. Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed when I entered the exhibition hall and was immediately accosted by gimmick after gimmick that predicted my age of death (forty-six, if the fortune-teller is to be believed), showed me what I would look like if I suffered through the bubonic plague, experienced a rattlesnake bite, untreated malaria, and many other maladies. I left feeling slightly entertained, but no more educated or emotionally touched by the topic. My experiences earlier in the week had shown me that though death is a topic of interest in major museums, those museums blunder forward with notions of death as an unexpected terror that needs taming.

After answering a series of health and lifestyle questions, the Fortune Teller in the Death By Natural Causes exhibition at the Houston Museum of Natural Science told me I would live to be 46 years old.

After visiting the Houston Museum of Natural Science, I made my way to the famed Rothko Chapel, in which meditative artworks by the colorfield painter are displayed. When I arrived, I found the chapel was closed to the public, as a funeral was taking place. As I waited for the service to conclude, I briefly marveled that in my efforts to learn more about the business of displaying death, that I had just happened to stumble upon a funeral. When I was able to enter, it became apparent to me why a community would select the chapel as a place to honor the deceased. Just inside the door, there were texts from a handful of major Eastern and Western religions, marking the space as neutral ground. As I wandered about, looking at the paintings, people started gathering. Some took seats on benches, others settling down on meditation cushions. The space was silent but for the hum of the air conditioning, the settling of the other visitors, and my slow footsteps. Though the space had been cleared of all decorations from the funeral, I felt that the contemplation of death still hung about the room, charging it with the careful contemplation that I had sought during my visits to other death-centric museums and exhibitions in Houston.

A view of the Rothko Chapel’s interior, courtesy of the Houston Chronicle.

When I stepped into the Inman Gallery the next day to finally see Dario Robleto’s The First Time, The Heart, my visit to the Rothko Chapel was instantly recalled. Perhaps it was the similar color scheme and the slight humming of the air conditioning in the small space, but I believe that the exhibition experience was relatable because of the similar feelings and reactions I had during my visit to the Rothko Chapel. Earlier in my trip I decided to leave the visit to the Inman Gallery until the last day. After my contrasting experiences at the National Museum of Funeral History and the Houston Museum of Natural Science, I was ready to have a meaningful experience with death-centric art. I entered the grey gallery, noting groupings of framed artworks on the walls surrounding two cases containing pulse tracings cast in metal. An adjacent room held a book full of these metal pulse tracings, all recorded during specific quotidian experiences between the years 1854-1913. Audio recordings of those heartbeats surrounded me as I entered the room. I sat on the gallery floor, listening to each of the heartbeats in turn:

Name softly called while sleeping, 1877
Excitement; pulse leaping, 1886
Anger, 1874
Smelling lavender, 1896
Being scolded; shamed, 1876
Perfect mental repose, 1879
Flatline (dying of stomach cancer), 1870

Recordings of heartbeats and their sculpted pulse tracings displayed in the adjacent dark room under the title Unknown and Solitary Seas.

I did not get up from the gallery floor for a very long time. Though the exhibition was held in only two small rooms, I spent nearly two hours taking in each work of art (an etching of each pulse tracing), listening to each recorded heartbeat more than once. What I found was an exploration of the ways in which the heart is a site of humanity. It grows, lives, weakens, and dies. The First Time, The Heart was an exercise in reading empathy and human experience. This theme is common in Robleto’s body of work, and in the interest of my research, contains a great number of links to death and mourning. As I push forward with my Qualifying Paper, I am grateful to the University of St. Thomas Art History Department for providing me with the opportunity to dive deeply into my study of death and mourning by way of traveling to Houston to see the incredible Robleto exhibition.

A view of the sculpted pulse tracings created for The First Time, The Heart.

June 18, 2018 by
Graduate Student, Research, Research Travel

New Museums and Technology: Trip to Artechouse in Washington D.C.

Ashleigh Wood is a graduate student in the joint Master of Arts in Art History and Museum Studies Certificate program. Ashleigh was awarded a department travel grant to complete research for her Qualifying Paper.

While I am very excited to share my account of my research trip to Washington D.C. earlier this month, I will refrain from sharing too many details about the actual visit to Artechouse as this will be the in-depth topic of my qualifying paper and presentation this fall. This spring, I worked on an independent study with Dr. Jayme Yahr. Titled New Museums and Technology, this independent study served as preliminary research for my Qualifying Paper. Long interested in the topic of the future of museums and the use of technology to create new and immersive experiences, I decided to write on what I am calling an immersive art experience. Artechouse in Washington, D.C. will serve as one of my case studies and after some basic research, I realized the need to visit the space myself, especially given the nature of the art space and the difficulties I would face if writing about an immersive art experience without visiting the site. I decided on the specifics of my topic and crossed my fingers as I applied for the department travel grant. I was fortunate enough to be awarded the grant, and very excited to spend a couple of days in Washington, D.C.

Artechouse Installation

Initially, I expected that my trip to D.C. would take place over the weekend, but after receiving my travel grant and checking online for tickets for Artechouse I was extremely surprised to find that the weekend time slots were completely sold out! This was great considering how many people must be interested in this kind of space, but not so great when considering my availability to travel. Also, the immersive dining experience was unfortunately sold out on all days. I booked two available week day sessions, one for the daytime experience and one for the over 21 drinks experience. I booked a flight, hotel, settled on the idea that the location would be entirely walkable (which proved mostly true), and prepared notes and questions for my visit to the art space.

Having developed a topic before heading to D.C., I was well prepared for the experience, probably more so than the typical museum visitor, and also ready to be critical if necessary. I also anticipated the use of an augmented reality app that would enhance the experience at Artechouse by downloading it before arriving.

National Museum of African American History and Culture

I arrived in D.C. late on a Thursday evening, navigated my way to the hotel, and woke up early to visit some museums before heading to Artechouse. I paid extra attention to exhibitions that relied on the use of technology and interactive exhibition displays. The National Museum of African American History and Culture was perhaps the most impressive, with so many exhibitions I barely had enough time to wander through them all. Most notable was the educational facility that encouraged children and adults to emulate dancers projected onto a large life-size screen while dancing to the two-step. After visiting this exhibition, I was excited to visit Artechouse, a space dedicated entirely to the immersive art experience.

Washington Monument

A ten-minute walk from the Washington Mall landed me in an area of D.C. that was made up of office buildings, hotels, and a single Starbucks. I finally found Artechouse hidden away from street view and entered through a set of sliding doors with the Artechouse logo. On the right was a minimal white desk, two staff, and two iPads where reservations were accessed. A group of individuals scheduled for the 4pm tour gathered and a staff member briefly introduced us to the space, led us down a darkened stairway, and into a lower level meeting area that led into the main art space. We were told what installations contributed to the overall exhibition Sakura Yume (Cherry Blossom Dream). Once briefed, our tour began. I use the word “tour” lightly as we were given free-reign of what spaces we visited and for how long.
The huge introductory gallery was very impressive and fully immersive, just as expected. It was overwhelming, induced emotions of calmness and relaxation, and was really enjoyable. The other installations were equally impressive, despite differing in scale and response to visitor interaction.

Artechouse Installation, Sakura Yume

In the evening, I returned to the space for a 10pm drinks events where the bar converted into a fully functioning bar with drinks ready for augmented reality activation when placed in front of the app. The whole space felt similar to earlier but was free of children and the pace felt slower and more social.

Artechouse Installation, Sakura Yume

The experience was fundamental to my research because despite being prepared for the space, there was an entirely new level of immersion and interactivity that came with experiencing the space firsthand. I am very grateful for the opportunity and believe that this case study, when compared with my other case studies on interactive and immersive art experiences, will prove interesting.

May 17, 2018 by
Graduate Student

Meet Our Graduate Students: Marilyn Burnett


Marilyn Burnett is currently in her second year in the M.A. Art History and Museum Studies certificate program. 

What did you do professionally before this? How has that helped you in the program?

I have a broad business background in program management and IT. This experience helped me to be able to jump into a new program and systems and be comfortable negotiating the assignments and software.

What drew you to the University St. Thomas Art History M.A. Program?

I started with the Certificate in Museum Studies because St. Thomas was the only one to have this as a standalone program. I have enjoyed these studies and have chosen to continue on to finish my M.A.

What advice would you give someone thinking of applying to the St. Thomas Graduate Art History/Museum Studies Certificate program?

I started in the spring semester and I missed the introductory Methods class and some other things. You can definitely make it work, but if you possibly can, I would recommend starting in the fall.

What are you currently interested in?

I am interested in the idea of “Otherness,” how it is portrayed in art and how artists are re-appropriating stereotypical images from the past with new meaning and identity.

How are your classes going? What have been your favorites?

I have really enjoyed both seminars last spring as they have explored the idea of how “Otherness” appears in the art from a postcolonial standpoint.

What has been your biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge is probably not having the Methods class to introduce some of the theories and best ways to do things. It just means a little more reading!

May 8, 2018 by
Graduate Qualifying Paper, Graduate Student, Research Travel

Researching Memory Politics in Memorial Museums: the National September 11th Site

Amanda Lesnikowski is a graduate student in Master of Arts in Art History program. Amanda received a Department of Art History Travel Grant to complete research for her Qualifying Paper, which she will present in May 2018. 

The National September 11th Memorial and Museum in New York

Thanks to the University of St. Thomas’ art history department student travel grant, I was able to spend part of January at the National September 11th Memorial and Museum in New York.  I am planning to graduate with my M.A. in art history this coming May. My qualifying paper will focus on the role of memory politics in two memorial museums: The National September 11th Memorial and Museum and the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk, Poland. By looking at different aspects of the National September 11th Memorial and Museum, I will be able to better understand how its spaces have incorporated the many emotions and opinions that surround the 2001 terrorist attacks. In the end, I hope to discover how memorial museums that began as single monologues have become inclusive spaces with community-based dialogues. When a museum, such as the Museum of the Second World War, has a historical agenda, it is left to exhibit history with a particular point of view—one that the museum has chosen as being representative of whatever history it has put on display. The power this decision-making gives to a museum can sometimes lead to it having a conflicting relationship with its government. State voices wish to recall memories that will serve a national interest, but those memories do not always align with what the museum has chosen to display.

I applied for the grant with the intention of spending one day outside at Michael Arad’s memorial pools, Reflecting Absence, and a second day inside at the museum, designed by SNØHETTA and David Brody Bond. I wanted to use this travel opportunity as a chance to walk through the spaces firsthand, read wall labels, listen to tour guides, and observe visitors. While travel websites like Yelp! and TripAdvisor are useful, nothing compares to an in-person experience. When I went online to purchase my tickets, I was disappointed to see that they were not touring the outdoor memorial. I knew that the memorial was open to the public starting at 7:30 a.m., so I thought I would get my bearings outside using their mobile app before going into the museum. After exploring a bit on my own, I took my mobile ticket to the K-9 unit at the museum’s entrance before walking through a security set-up that reminded me a lot of an airport.

An example of merchandise available for purchase in the gift shop.

I have read a lot about the commodification of tragedies so I made a beeline to the gift shop.  I was dying to know if there were really coffee mugs commemorating the September 11th terrorist attacks. I walked around the store snapping photos of all of the things that made me shake my head. All of the walking and snapping did not fill the time until my 11:30 a.m. tour, so I went to the tour desk to see if I could sneak on the next tour and the reissued me a new ticket.

The memorial museum is built underneath where the World Trade Center’s north and south towers once stood. You begin the experience on the ground level where security is, and the first sub-level is where you find the gift shop, membership desk, and tour desk. According to our tour guide, the memorial museum has a dual mission: to memorialize those who were killed and to educate on the events of the day and days that followed. He also told us that the tour would have four themes: violence, heroism, solidarity, and remembrance.

These panels are where we began our tour.

Our group began to walk down a shallow ramp where a large map of the United States showed where the planes originated and where they ended. Large, vertical panels showed an outline of the United States and played images of people reacting to the towers. Overhead audio played of people sharing where they were when it all happened. Our tour guide met us at the end of this area and told us that our group was about to explore Foundation Hall followed by Memorial Hall. The tour would not include the in memoriam or historical exhibitions. I was really surprised by this! None of my previous research acknowledged that the tour was only of large artifacts and the foundation walls.

Overlooking Foundation Hall, you can see only a fraction of the exhibition space.

The tour began overlooking Foundation Hall where the iconic last column was standing. We continued down a ramp which led us to the survivors’ stairs. This important set of stairs is what saved so many people that Tuesday morning. We broke from talking about Foundation Hall to learn about Memorial Hall. This is where the unidentified remains are housed. Behind a large blue wall is the office of the city’s medical examiner. Within that private space is also a reflection room for families of victims. Next, we turned our focus back to Foundation Hall. Our tour guide took us to a twenty foot antenna fragment, an elevator motor, Ladder Co. 3’s fire truck, and a piece of steel from the north tower that had an outline from the plane’s impact. Our tour guide left us at the end of our hour at the base of the last column. I asked why the tour did not include the in memoriam or historical exhibitions and our guide said that given the content the decision to explore these two exhibitions needed to be a personal one.

The survivors’ stairs were the first artifacts to come to the museum.

Underneath the north tower is both a temporary exhibition space and the historical exhibition. These areas, along with the in memoriam, did not allow for photography. The historical exhibition is divided into three sections: the day of, pre-September 11th, and the days that followed. These three areas were very emotional, so much so that I actually appreciated the ban on photography. The south tower sat atop the in memoriam exhibition. A large square room was full of photographs of the deceased. Wrapping around the room in alphabetical order, the photos where accompanied by a recording of the reading of their names. In the center of the space was a small room with benches where you could sit to listen and read the stories being played out loud. It took me an hour to move through, but I do not regret the time I spent inside.

 

This blue wall is an iconic representation of the memorial museum.

This experience was incredibly important to my qualifying paper research. I want to thank the University of St. Thomas’ art history department for their generosity and support!

The last column is another popular image from both Ground Zero and the memorial museum.

April 10, 2018 by
Graduate Student

Meet Our Graduate Students: Theresa Nelson

Photo by: Josh Feist, J. Feist Photography

Theresa Nelson is currently in her second semester in the M.A. Art History and Museum Studies Certificate program. She was enrolled in Methodology and Approaches of Art History and Museum Studies in the fall. For the spring semester, she is enrolled in Dr. Barnes’ seminar ARHS515: Art of Spain and Her Colonies and Dr. Shirey’s seminar ARHS535: Seeing Otherness: Afropean Intersections.

Where did you go as an undergraduate and what did you study?

 I went to the College of Saint Benedict where I majored in English and minored in Art History.

What drew you to the University St. Thomas?

What drew me to St. Thomas were the people. I met Dr. Victoria Young, Professor and Chair of the Department of Art History, and we immediately bonded over St. John’s University—St. Ben’s brother school—and she was welcoming and open to talk about the program with me. She also put me in contact with Dr. Heather Shirey, Associate Professor and Director of Graduate Studies, another helpful source to talk to about the program. I quickly came to the conclusion that I really like these people and would like going here.

What advice would you give someone thinking of coming to the St. Thomas M.A. in Art History and Museum Studies Certificate program?

Talk to people, whether it’s the faculty or students. This was the reason that I chose St. Thomas.

What are you currently interested in?

That is a hard question. When I first started in Art History, I was set on studying Impressionism. Then it moved to Modern and Contemporary art. Currently, I am unsure, so I am eager to take the variety of courses to find something that clicks and that stands out. However, as a broad category I have always been interested in Surrealism and have become more interested in feminist performance art. In addition, architectural history has become more of a minor interest. I don’t know very much about it, but I’m interested in delving more into it.

How are have your classes been?

Good. They are the perfect classes to start the program. I had taken other theory classes before, both English and Art History, so it’s a lot of review, which was a nice way to ease in, but also some new things building on information that’ll be useful going forward. Museum Studies is very discussion based, which I like. Talking about things is a good way to dive in to ideas of Museum Studies instead of something that is more research based. I think hearing my peers’ ideas when they come from such a variety of backgrounds allows you to see Museum Studies through an array of perspectives.

What has been your biggest challenge?

Does procrastinating count? I have always been a chronic procrastinator. The workload is manageable, classroom discussion comes naturally, but motivating myself is sometimes hard. I’m glad that I am working alongside taking classes, but sometimes the call of Netflix is strong when there are so many things going on! 

 

March 21, 2018 by
Graduate Student

Meet Our Graduate Students: Jessy Saffell

Jessy Saffell is currently in her second semester in the M.A. Art History/Museum Studies Certificate program. Last fall, Jessy was enrolled in one of the graduate program foundational courses, ARHS500: Methods and Approaches to Art History. Currently, she is enrolled in two seminars this spring: ARHS515: Asmat Museum and Beyond: Collections, Colonialism and Controversy – Exhibiting Non-Western Art and ARHS535: Seeing Otherness: Afropean Intersections.

Where did you go as an undergrad and what did you study?

I went to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, right near Uptown. I graduated with my BFA in Illustration.

What drew you to the University St. Thomas?

My motivation came from the Museum Studies Certificate, as I want to curate professionally.  The University of St. Thomas is the only university that has the curating component integrated in their M.A. Art History in the surrounding area. In addition, after talking with Dr. Shirey (Director of the Art History Graduate Program) and Dr. Yahr (Assistant Professor and Director, Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies) I definitely felt welcomed and comfortable here, which made it clear that, yes, this is where I want to be.

What advice would you give someone thinking of coming to UST Graduate Art History/Museum Studies Certificate program?

First thing, talk to the faculty. That was the big contributing factor for me, as they were welcoming and easy to talk to. Secondly, if you can, come and see the campus. It’s good to get the feel of what you will potentially be spending money on, in addition to where you will be spending a good amount of time.

What are you currently interested in?

I have always been a huge fan of Renaissance art. That is definitely where my passion is in the field of Art History. I specifically am interested in religious Renaissance art and looking at the history that influenced those religious pieces. This peaks my curiosity.

However, I am interested in Vincent Van Gogh as well. There are distinctive turns in his life, which parallel mine, in addition to the fact that my favorite painting (Starry Night) of his was painted exactly 100 years before I was born. There are just some unique parallels between our timelines.

 

What has been your biggest challenge?

Getting back into the swing of school after being out of it for five years. In addition, getting the confidence back and knowing that I’m not going to know all the right answers right away. In relation to this, it’s okay to struggle and ask for help. So in a nutshell, getting back into the school routine, habit and mindset.

January 30, 2018 by
Graduate Student

Meet Our Graduate Students: Kira Lapinsky

Kira Lapinsky is currently in her first semester in the M.A. Art History/Museum Studies Certificate program. She is enrolled in Methodology and Approaches of Art History and Museum Studies I this fall.

Where did you go as an undergrad and what did you study?

I did my undergrad at the University of Minnesota – Duluth. I graduated with a B.A. in Art History with a minor in international studies.

What drew you to the University St. Thomas?

I wanted to go somewhere nearby in order to continue working my current job as an administrative and collections management assistant for Thrivent Financial Collection of Religious Art. Both of my team members at Thrivent are alumni of the University of Saint Thomas Art History Master’s program. They both had great experiences with the program, which encouraged me to apply.

How is your experience at St. Thomas so far?

It has been great. The professors are supportive and I enjoy my classmates. I feel like it’s been manageable with my work schedule and I know there are a lot of resources available here at St. Thomas if I need help.

What advice would you give someone considering the Graduate Art History/Museum Studies Certificate program?

I would say a good place to start is to talk to Dr. Heather Shirey (Director of Art History Graduate Program). She is a great resource to go to with questions and advice about the program. In addition, it might be a good idea to talk with another faculty member that is closely in line with your specific area of interest. If you are able to, come to the campus and walk around, get the overall feel of the place the best you can. It also would be a good idea to look at the fellowship opportunities that are available within the program.

What are you currently interested in?

I became interested in printmaking through my job. It isn’t one of the core mediums that you learn about in art history classes, but I learned a lot about it through work. I would also like to explore printmaking in the German Expressionist movement. I am also interested in identity studies, so it’d be interesting to see what women printmakers during the German Expressionist era were doing. That is something I will be looking into as soon as possible, but I haven’t decided on a Qualifying Paper topic yet.

How are your classes this semester?

I am really enjoying both of them for different reasons. Museum Studies exposes me to ideas about museums I hadn’t really considered before. It’s amazing to see all the little things that could change to make the museum experience more enjoyable and easier for people. So, I really like it for its applicable knowledge. Further, the Methods class is also applicable in your research. In addition, it’s nice to recognize ways of thinking for research and being able to put a name to it, like Marxist or Feminist Theory.

What has been your biggest challenge?

I have always, to some extent, struggled with procrastination. So, it’s making sure I’m doing what I need to do in time, considering my work schedule on top of my classes – in a nutshell, time management. I always seem to make it work.

November 29, 2017 by
Graduate Student, Research, Research Travel

Interning at the Shanghai Museum

Jayne Cole is a graduate student in the Department of Art History. This past spring, she was awarded a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation and the Consortium for the Study of the Asias, to travel and do research in China during the summer. During her time in China Jayne interned at the Shanghai Museum.

This past summer, I traveled to China with Professor Elizabeth Kindall and classmate Floris Lafontant after receiving a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation and the Consortium for the Study of the Asias. It was my first attempt at grant writing, and the process tested my patience and writing abilities. I was grateful for Elizabeth’s help editing multiple drafts.

When the news came in the spring, I was ecstatic! The days slowly crept by until I left on June 21. I spent a total of 5 weeks in China: 2 with Elizabeth and Floris, and the last 3 by myself interning at the Shanghai Museum.

My summer research questions centered on understanding and experiencing Chinese museums. I used my internship at the Shanghai Museum to not only gain work experience, but also to better understand the Chinese museum world from behind the scenes.

Exterior of the Shanghai Museum

The first two weeks with Elizabeth and Floris flew by! We spent our time visiting exciting new sites, traveling to seven different cities, experiencing a plethora of museums, and eating wonderful food. I learned so many things during those first two weeks: what questions to answer when visiting a museum, how to conduct research, how to properly photograph a building, and how to ask new questions when something does not go as planned.

I was nervous when Elizabeth and Floris said goodbye to me in Shanghai after the first two weeks. My Chinese language skills are marginal at best, and I was in one of the biggest cities in the world! The only character I could read on a street sign was the one that said “road.” Not helpful. However, as soon as my internship started, I felt comfortable and at home.

My internship was in the Education Department of the Shanghai Museum. I was tasked with editing documents in English, and conducting a survey to foreign guests. I worked three days a week.

Inside the Chinese Ethnic Minorities’ Art and Crafts Gallery

The Shanghai Museum is huge! It has many different permanent exhibitions and has one of the largest museum collections in China. As a result, it is an extremely popular tourist location for both Chinese and international tourists. Many guests waited in line for over two hours to enter the museum.

The Education Department is located in the basement of the Shanghai Museum, and spread between many different offices. I often got lost trying to find the bathroom. I was the only international intern in the office, although they had about ten other college students volunteering. Many of the interns spoke English and attended school in the United States. I made friends quite easily, and still chat with many of them over WeChat, a communications app popular in China that is a combination of texting and Facebook.

Jayne and Venus

My boss paired me with a partner, a high school volunteer named Venus. She translated for me in the office, and also assisted me in my work assignments. We were fast friends, and I was grateful for her help. She often helped me order lunch.

Editing was harder than I expected it to be, but I enjoyed it. I primarily helped edit materials for the exhibition 100 Objects from the British Museum. It was really rewarding to work on something that will be used in the near future. A highlight was editing an official document used by the museum to negotiate future visiting exhibitions and cultural exchange.

Surveying was another interesting challenge. Using skills from a previous job I held at the Walker Art Center, I compiled a list of visitor-experience based questions (in English) with the help of Venus.  We centered our questions around a specific exhibit focused on the different cultural groups in China. Venus and I administered the survey for four days and surveyed 48 people. After our surveying concluded, we analyzed the results and summarized them in a report for our boss, which Venus wrote in Chinese. It was a really fascinating project, and I learned a lot about Shanghai Museum’s international audience, the museum’s strengths, and areas of improvement.

Jayne surveying in the Chinese Ethnic Minorities’ Art and Crafts Gallery

In my spare time, I visited a lot of museums. My surprising favorite was the Propaganda Poster Museum. The museum was hidden in the basement of an apartment complex and challenging to find, but luckily I had a friend with me who had been there before. I was excited to find a poster I wrote about last semester in Heather Shirey’s class!

Jayne at the Propaganda Poster Museum

I left Shangahi the last week in July. I was sad to leave, but am excited to go back in the future! I left with a much better understanding of Chinese museums, and am excited to continue developing my research this upcoming semester.

October 4, 2017 by
Graduate Student, Research, Research Travel

Research in China on Museums and Collecting

Floris Lafontant is a graduate student in the Masters of Art History program and the Museum Studies graduate certificate program.

Over the end of June and beginning of July, I traveled to China with fellow graduate student Jayne Cole and Dr. Elizabeth Kindall. The seventeen-day trip was arranged around important sites for each of our research projects. I had never been to Asia before and I was excited for the chance to continue the research I began in Dr. Kindall’s Fall 2016 Contemporary Chinese Art course.

Jayne (right) and I visited the Forbidden City first. This established our baseline for historic site visit experiences.

Jayne and I arrived in Beijing, where we met Dr. Kindall. Over the next seventeen days we traversed China to five other cities: Hangzhou, Ningbo, Nanjing, Yangzhou, and Shanghai. We visited a range of historic sites from tourist staples like the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square to traditional gardens, history museums, and contemporary art museums. We visited sites that were swarming with fellow tourists as well as museums where we were the only visitors in the expansive halls. My research specifically pertained to two art museums in Shanghai, but I think the knowledge acquired by visiting the gamut of historic sites was crucial for forming a well-rounded and informed argument.

We traveled by plane, train, high-speed train, cab, subway, bus, and foot. I constantly wished I had packed lighter.

I was incredibly grateful to travel with Dr. Kindall. This was my first research trip abroad and my first time in a country where I did not speak the language at all. What could have been a stressful time was instead a deeply informative and enlightening experience with Dr. Kindall’s guidance, experience, and language skills.

Teamwork was essential to keep from feeling too overwhelmed.

Jayne and I acted as each other’s research assistants throughout the trip. After traveling so far and with only so much time at each site, I found having a partner invaluable. Our goal was to gather as much information as possible to use upon our return to Minnesota. We traded off on taking notes, took countless photos, and bounced ideas and questions off each other. It helped having a friend and colleague to talk through all the new information we acquired throughout our days.

Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai.

Surrounding this research trip, I did an independent study with Dr. Jayme Yahr to develop my research into a Museum Studies focused paper. In my original paper for Dr. Kindall’s seminar, I researched Chinese art collector couple Wang Wei and Liu Yiqian. I argued for a connection between Wang Wei’s gender identity and the art collection she shares with her husband. My goal with the research trip abroad was to see if this idea was manifested in her private museums in Shanghai.

Jayne and I stand between the Chinese characters for “Art Street” in Hangzhou.

The two private museums we visited in Shanghai were the Long Museum West Bund and the Long Museum Pudong, both owned by Wang Wei and Liu Yiqian. Following the visits, I felt that the museums did not provide substantial evidence to support or refute my original claims. At the time, it was frustrating to feel as though more than a semester’s worth of research had come to a dead end. With Dr. Yahr’s guidance, I shifted focus and reevaluated my research. Rather than investigate identity and gender studies, I found my research supported an analysis of identity and the tenuous line between collector and consumer. Building off my observations of the Long Museum West Bund and my study of Wang Wei’s interviews since 2009, I completed a paper titled “Now on Display: Wang Wei and Liu Yiqian.” The final result is not what I had expected to achieve at the start of my independent study. It would never have taken the direction it did without my research trip to experience the museums in China first-hand.

Jayne helps me by taking notes while I process my thoughts and observations in the Zhan Wang exhibition at the Long Museum West Bund.

September 5, 2017 by
Graduate Student, Research Travel

Identity, Harassment, and Calvin and Hobbes

Keith Pille is a graduate student currently completing research supported by a Graduate Student Fellowship for Research on Topics Related to Women and/or Gender Issues  from the Luann Dummer Center for Women. Keith also was the recipient of a Department of Art History Student Research Grant.

At the end of June, with the assistance of the Department of Art History Student Research Grant, I travelled to Brooklyn to talk to the cartoonist Ariel Schrag.

The author, with a panel of Ariel Schrag’s drawing of herself.

I wanted to ask her some questions about her work, and about the choices she made while drawing her autobiographical comics. I also wanted to ask her about what she has experienced having very revealing, personal comics out in the world. What was it like having intimate parts of her life on view for strangers, especially when said strangers had a very low barrier to getting hostile feedback back to her?

Ariel Schrag

This interview was part of an independent study project I’ve undertaken with Dr. Shirey, in which I’m examining the work of three women who draw autobiographical comics. Aside from Ariel Schrag, I’m talking to Julia Wertz, a California-based cartoonist whose work is widely praised and has appeared in the New Yorker; and to Deena Mohamed, a woman living in Cairo who uses superhero comics to examine her experiences in a coded fashion. I’m particularly interested in whether the spectacularly toxic misogyny that infects the internet—and you can’t make comics in the 21st century, or at least can’t have anyone read the comics you make, without a hefty internet presence—affects their work.

Ariel Schrag very nicely agreed to meet me in a cafe in Brooklyn. She was very friendly, funny, and easygoing; she was a great interview. One of the things I most wanted to ask her about was a technique she uses in her comics: when depicting her normal, day-to-day life, her style is simplistic and minimalist, often described as “cartoony.”

Schrag’s standard “cartoony” normal style

Periodically, though, when a character is fantasizing or dreaming, she shifts into a detailed, more realistic style with more natural proportions and perspective.

Schrag’s “dream realism” style

When I asked her what her thought process behind this was, she surprised me by describing the move entirely in terms of influences, saying that she was borrowing the idea from Bill Watterson’s comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, specifically some strips where Calvin and his friend Suzy are playing house (against Calvin’s will) and Waterson renders the panels in a photorealistic style.

Calvin and Hobbes panels showing Watterson’s “realistic” and “cartoony” styles

She also cited a section in Art Spiegelman’s Maus where Spiegelman similarly styles for a section to draw emphasis.

“Realistic” and “cartoony” styles in Spiegelman’s Maus

I was struck by her focus on influences—that isn’t a line of inquiry that I’ve heard artists talk about as a student of art history. But it is a line of inquiry that I’ve heard a lot before in music writing. I spent several years as a music journalist, and during that time had approximately 6,000 conversations with Twin Cities bands that included some variation of “so who are your influences?” It’s a topic that seems to emerge in all music writing (well, rock music writing; nobody ever seems to talk about Mozart’s influences). And the thing is: influences came up right away in my other interviews, too.

Which leads me to a theory: I think there’s a really interesting parallel between self-produced indie autobio comics and low-stakes music scenes. Both are artistically democratic situations where pretty much anyone with something to say can participate; formal training is rare in both cases (and none of the three very talented and accomplished cartoonists I’m talking to have any formal training), with people instead getting enthused and largely teaching themselves. I don’t think it’s much of a reach to say that self-taught artists are naturally going to lean heavily on influences from the material that got them excited to begin with.

We talked about several other interesting comics-technique things, but they’ll have to wait for the paper. I’d like to use my remaining space here to talk about the other side of our conversation: the part about reception, harassment, and misogyny.

My initial theory for this project was that the women I’m studying may have received toxic, misogynistic feedback from men (especially online), and that this may have been affected their artistic choices. To my surprise, Schrag said that this wasn’t really the case with her, that she hadn’t gotten much of what she would describe as misogynistic reactions. Rather, she said, when she’s received negative feedback, it was often from within the LGBTQ community and took the form of intracommunity discussions (which she said was great and welcome). She, knowing the focus of my project, said at one point, “I’m sorry I haven’t been harassed more! But I’m also glad.” (Like I said, she’s very funny).

Later, though, she described a phenomenon that she didn’t want to call misogynistic harassment, but which definitely sounded to me like bad behavior centered around gender: that of men (including, in at least once case, a man in prison) reading her comics and getting creepily over-familiar and lecherous (although she wanted to point out that she’s also gotten a lot of wonderful, thoughtful feedback from men as well, even a different man in prison). Schrag’s comics focus heavily on her experience in high school as she discovered that she was a lesbian; as such, there’s a lot of sex in them. Most people understand this is part of the story she’s telling, she says, but it does lead to some creepy emails. “When I wrote the comics, I never had a goal for them to be titillating; I don’t think it ever even occurred to me that they would be. And I think that was naïve. And now as an adult, the idea that an adult man might read my comics with a prurient interest does disturb me to some extent. But there’s nothing I can do about it,” she said.

I asked her if it felt strange to have so many details of her life out in the open; for instance, when we sat down, I knew all sorts of intimate details about her life, even though we’d only exchanged a couple of emails. She said it didn’t feel strange at all, since her comics add up to a story that she has complete control over. “I guess it’s a little weird, but it’s such a controlled version of a story of my life, and it’s something that I know anybody could read,” she said. “I don’t feel exposed per se, because it’s something I chose to put out. It’s not the same if someone were to read my diary.”

Panel from Schrag’s more recent comics work

We talk a lot in art history about artists using their work to create and assert their identity; Schrag’s statement about her comics being a controlled version of her life strike me as a perfect example of this.

If you want to hear more about Ariel Schrag, Julia Wertz, Deena Mohamed, and my general thoughts on autobio comics, come to the grad symposium in September!

August 21, 2017 by