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Researching Environmental Art in London, England

Tove Conway in front of the Royal Academy of Arts where John Constable and J. M. W. Turner studied. Tove will present her research at the Inquiry at UST Poster Session on Tuesday, October 2, 2018.

Tove Conway is an undergraduate English and Environmental Studies major currently completing research for her Sustainability Scholars Grant. Her research paper is titled, “The Evolution of Environmental Art: Visualizing the Relationship Between Humans and Nature Since the Nineteenth-Century.”

I am beyond thankful for the opportunity to travel to London, England, for my research on environmental art. Receiving a research travel grant from the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, the University of St. Thomas Department of Art History, the University of St. Thomas Department of English, and the University of St. Thomas Department of Geography and Environmental Studies made this trip a reality. The purpose of my trip was to experience and study three styles of environmental art in person, which brought my work full circle.

“Art takes nature as its model” –Aristotle

The facade of the National Gallery, London

My research is blowing me away… across the world in fact! I studied art history abroad in London with Dr. Victoria Young and Dr. Heather Shirey in 2016, but I was ecstatic to return for a whole new adventure. Brimming over with history and culture, traveling to London for my research was a dream come true. The top stops on my itinerary took me to museums and to natural settings alike, such as the National Gallery and Hyde Park. Walking in and out of galleries and parks allowed me to feel and see the evolution of environmental art beneath my feet and before my eyes.

The entrance to the National Gallery’s exhibition, “Thomas Cole: Eden to Empire”

Panning from an image of thick black factory smoke during the Industrial Revolution to small green spaces of bustling New York City and London shows how we are physically changing our planet. Likewise, environmental art reveals how and why people personally responded to these changes through the years. In my research I break down the Environmental Art Movement into three phases: landscape paintings, earth art, and urban ecological art. Sketching landscape paintings at the National Gallery and Tate Britain, walking through the cobblestone courtyard of the Royal Academy, and being within arms-length of Christo’s vibrantly colored London Mastaba personally introduced me to the true power, passion, and hope that environmental art holds.

Thomas Cole, View from Mount Holyoke, Northampton, Massachusetts, after a Thunderstorm—The Oxbow, 1836, oil on canvas, 130.8 x 193 cm., The National Gallery, London

Unfortunately, photography was not allowed in the gallery, but take my word for it that the National Gallery’s exhibition, “Thomas Cole: Eden to Empire,” was breathtaking and visually dramatic. It was spectacular how the visible rise and fall of brushstrokes on the craggy American landscapes were congruent with Cole’s reoccurring theme: the rising and falling of human empires. Seeing The Course of Empire series up close seemed to create a short story between nature and humans. The five paintings evolved from a savage state to inevitable destruction and desolation in the name of human progress. Meanwhile, across the room, The Oxbow painting portrayed a question mark-shaped river, perhaps asking if it is possible to avoid this kind of ending. Turning slowly in the middle of the exhibition to create a panorama of Cole’s paintings, I felt that Cole had preserved parts of America’s identity in his paintings, and also left a warning of human destruction.

Christo’s London Mastaba on the Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park, London

On my last day in London, I walked from the Royal Academy of Arts to Hyde Park to see Christo’s London Mastaba. Christo is an environmental artist who is known for constructing temporary and controversial pieces of art using metal oil barrels or fabric—industrial materials lacking artistic function. Christo’s Mastaba was 66 feet high and consisted of a whopping 7,506 oil barrels. I was able to rent a paddleboat for an hour and slowly gravitate towards the blinding red, mauve, and blue barrels that were juxtaposed against the natural tones of Hyde Park. Sitting ten feet from the sculpture, I thought about how Christo’s art focuses on human intervention and conflicting areas between urban and rural or natural and artificial. To me, this piece was very special to behold because I consider it a hybrid between earth art and urban ecological art. It is temporarily placed in an urban green space in London, but it also engagingly interacts with the natural Serpentine Lake and its ecosystem as an earth art piece would.

A small model in the Serpentine Gallery’s exhibition, “Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Barrels and The Mastaba 1958-2018”

After studying the London Mastaba up close, I continued walking through Hyde Park to the Serpentine Gallery to see Christo and his late wife Jeanne-Claude’s exhibition, Christo and Jeanne-Claude: Barrels and The Mastaba 1958-2018. The exhibition was laid out as a timeline of their work with barrels—representing small models of trapezoid mastabas and blown up images of their large-scale environmental art projects. The exhibition ended with the bright sketches and photographs of the London Mastaba, their first large-scale sculpture in the UK and only on view for the summer of 2018.

London was calling, and my research answered. I am so thankful for funding from the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program and the English, Art History, and Geography and Environmental Studies departments. Environmental art has the potential to challenge the status quo and spark change through our increased awareness of environmental degradation, and I believe my research runs parallel to this mission. Traveling to London allowed me to truly visualize and experience the relationship between humans and nature in art, and then personally contribute to modern sustainable development.

August 22, 2018

Research, Research Travel, Students, Undergraduate Student

Architecture in the Big Apple

Parker Schlueter is a junior Mechanical Engineering major at the University of St. Thomas with an interest in architecture. Parker was awarded a Department of Art History Travel Grant to research architecture in New York City.

Everyone always says that visiting New York City at least once in your life is a must. Recently, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the city through a grant I received from the Department of Art History at St. Thomas. As one of the most influential cities in the world in the realms of culture, business, and media, New York has almost an endless number of different things to experience. Although I only had two days, my mom and I left no time wasted in our efforts to take in as much of New York as we could – we logged 17 miles of walking!

A picturesque view of Manhattan captured on my visit to the Empire State Building

In the fall of 2017, I took a course titled the History of American Architecture, taught by Dr. Victoria Young. Through a strong friendship between Dr. Young and successful American architect Bartholomew Voorsanger, I was able to listen to Mr. Voorsanger talk to our class during a question and answer session. With my current pursuit of an Engineering degree, I found Mr. Voorsanger’s explanations and descriptions of his projects and design processes very interesting. One of our assignments in this class was to write a book review on the biography of Mr. Voorsanger, UNFOLDED: How Architecture Saved my Life, and after receiving very kind feedback from Dr. Young on my review, she asked me if she could share it with Bart. I gladly said yes, and within a couple of days I received a message from Mr. Voorsanger saying that he too had enjoyed my book review, and felt that I had a bright future ahead of me. From this, I knew that I wanted to learn more about his profession, and with the help of Dr. Young I was able to set up a trip to New York to meet with Mr. Voorsanger and learn more about not only his architecture, but the architecture of the city as well.

Myself (left), Mr. Voorsanger (middle), and Mr. Dobday (right) conversing at lunch at the Garden Court Café in the Asia Society

To begin my New York adventure, flying into LaGuardia Airport was a great first experience. With this being the first time I had ever been to New York, seeing the sheer size of the metropolitan area from the airplane was breathtaking; it was nothing like I had ever seen before! Immediately following our landing, I went to the Asia Society in Midtown Manhattan for lunch with Mr. Voorsanger, Dr. Young, and a couple of Bart’s associates: Martin Stigsgaard and Louis Dobday. It was fun listening to how all of them got into architecture growing up and also which particular aspects of their profession they are most passionate about. We then got to talk about how the construction of the Bollinger Canopy of Peace at the National WWII Museum is coming along, and what the inspirations were for the design. I especially enjoyed this conversation, for it connected the fields of architecture and engineering together. After lunch was finished, Bart took us on a tour of the Asia Society building, for he was the architect of the complete redesign and renovation that took place from 1997 to 2001. Initially, I thought it would be him explaining large-scale design factors, such as “why these stairs curve like this” or “how I chose to arrange the walls in the museum.” These were topics that he covered, but I was surprised by how much more he could explain within his design of the building; the one that took me by awe was why he had chosen a deep blue glass for the material of the main stairway. He explained how the blue color was supposed to reflect the same color found in the museums most prized piece, a 15th-century porcelain flask from the Ming Period with a blue dragon painted across the main body.

The main stairway found within the Asia Society building

The rest of the evening on my first day in New York was spent with my mom walking about the city. We got to see some of the city’s most iconic places, such as Central Park, Times Square, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and Rockefeller Center. The built landscape varies in so many ways in New York, which can easily be seen through the places I have just listed: Central Park really takes you out of the feeling of a big city with its serene nature and greenery, whereas Times Square does just the opposite with all of the tall buildings, bright lights, and thousands of people. You can also be brought back in time by walking into St. Patrick’s Cathedral, for its gothic styling is absolutely stunning on the inside with its high vaulted ceilings and artisanal glasswork.

The North Pool of the 9/11 Memorial

On day two of my visit, my mom and I started the day by going to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Although this was not part of the trip spent with Mr. Voorsanger and learning about the architecture of the city, I can say with certainty that it was my favorite part of New York. The 9/11 museum was the most powerful and awestriking exhibit I have ever been in. For someone who isn’t old enough to clearly remember the events that took place on that day, this museum still induced many emotions within me. After viewing this, going back outside to the two pools of where the towers used to stand was very moving. Following this, I linked back up with Dr. Young, and we met Martin, Bart, and Masayuki Sono (another one of Mr. Voorsanger’s associates) at the Rammellzee Exhibition at the Red Bull arts gallery, designed by Martin Stigsgaard. Rammellzee was a popular street artist within New York in the late 20^th century, and had very eccentric and colorful art which were influenced by his original graffiti works. The most interesting of all of his works were the “Garbage Gods” – these were massive costumes that he constructed out of various items he found in the streets of New York, which he then performed his music in. Martin gave us a full walkthrough of the exhibit, and explained completely his design process of every aspect of the space, which was a great learning experience.

One of Rammellzee’s Garbage Gods, next to the pyramidal urn that contains Rammelzee’s ashes – one of Rammelzee’s own pieces of art

To end our final day, my mom and I checked some more items off of our list of places to visit in New York. We walked the entirety of the High Line, visited the Empire State Building, and walked to look at Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building. All of these were fantastic experiences, and cool to view in a new-born architectural understanding. Altogether, this trip not only opened my eyes to one of the greatest cities in the world, but it also heightened my interest for architecture. I am excited to see where my future leads me!

Pictured from left to right: Mr. Sono and his wife, Mr. Stigsgaard, myself, Dr. Young, and Mr. Voorsanger outside of the Rammelzee Red Bull Arts Exhibit

August 16, 2018

Research, Research Travel, Students, Undergraduate Student

Experiencing Florence’s Architectural Identity

Benjamin Schroeder is an undergraduate Art History major and recently went on a research trip to Florence, Italy. He is a Young Scholar this summer and received additional support from the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program and an Art History Department Undergraduate Research Grant to help make travel for his architectural-focused project possible.

July 6^th-7^th: Viaggiare a Firenze

After researching all summer, the time to come to Florence has arrived! But getting here was no simple task. My plane left MSP at 4:25 pm, and I arrived in Paris CDG airport for my connecting flight to Florence at around 7:00 am. From Paris to Florence was a much easier flight, at less than two hours, I got here right about noon. Prior to this trip, I had spoken no Italian (as I took Japanese as my language requirement), So I had to equip myself with some Italian survival phrases, which got me to my hotel. My hotel just so happens to be in the same piazza as one of my buildings I am studying, the Santa Maria Novella. Being dropped off at the Santa Maria Novella Façade, done by Leone Battista Alberti (my favorite architect), was so surreal. Pictures that I have been studying have not done it justice. Seeing it in person is just such a different experience, the grand scale of it really sets in. The proportions seem so different, when you can actually walk around the building and see it from many different angles. I couldn’t check in until 2:00 pm, so I just took the longest time admiring Santa Maria Novella, and studying all of the details that can only be offered in real life. After I settled into my room, I set out to explore the city a bit and made it to the only building of this trip that is free to go in, the Palazzo Vecchio. The Palazzo Vecchio is the most famous secular building in town, a place where the royalty would speak to the people in the piazza below from a balcony. I didn’t use a map while getting there because I felt like I knew the city well after studying it all day everyday this summer. I knew the general direction I had to go, and I ended up getting there and back to my hotel very easily. Although, up until I actually got to my destination, I felt lost (even though I wasn’t), because the way the city is set up. Florence’s medieval city layout persists today, with buildings so close and roads so narrow, it can be hard to tell where you are. But anyway, I successfully got there and was able to see the grand gothic building and the replicas of Michelangelo’s David and Donatello’s Judith Beheading Holofernes. I felt just like a Renaissance Florentine standing in the piazza. I could just imagine looking up at the balcony and seeing the town rulers speaking to the people. After heading back to the hotel, I feel like I have a real grasp for the city, and I that I am amply prepared to set out again tomorrow! Somehow, I have been up for more than 30 hours, so I can go to bed at a normal time, no jet lag! I am excited for going to the Uffizi Gallery and San Miniato al Monte tomorrow!

Palazzo Vecchio, exterior.

July 8^th: Uffizi e San Miniato al Monte

I started the day around 4:00 am today, took my time getting ready and then went up to the rooftop terrace at my hotel, which has a spectacular view of the Santa Maria Novella, and I relaxed and took some nice photos. The terrace has a great panoramic view of the city too, offering a good view of the Duomo and its campanile (bell tower), as well as San Lorenzo. Breakfast at my hotel starts at 7:00 am, so after brushing up on some Italian phrases and know-hows, I headed to eat. My Uffizi reservation was at 8:30 am, so after breakfast I left to my destination. I figured out the trick to getting to most places in Florence is to just go along the Arno river and then dive into town when appropriate. The Arno is practically the only place where you can go in a straight line, everywhere else has seemingly arbitrary turns everywhere and you can get disoriented very easily. I am studying architecture, so why go to an art gallery? The occupation as we know today as a professional architect did not exist in the 15^th century (not until the 18^th century did being an architect become a professional craft). The people who ended up making these beautiful buildings that we are familiar with today were artists and sculptors. Take the architect of the cupola (dome) at the Duomo, Brunelleschi, for example; he was a goldsmith by trade, yet being the Renaissance man he was, he had the math/engineering knowledge to be an architect. So, when yesterday I mentioned that Alberti is my favorite architect, he was actually much more than that (Alberti was actually the first Renaissance man, being an expert in a great number of things). The halls between the galleries are filled to the brim with large sculptures around the perimeter. It’s crazy to see how on some of the labels it will say that the piece was acquired by the museum many hundreds of years ago; it really makes you realize how old the establishment is. My favorite paintings were The Birth of Venus by Botticelli and Raphael’s The Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist. After the Uffizi, I made my only trek south of the Arno, going to the high point of the city at the Romanesque church San Miniato al Monte. I wasn’t sure if I could go inside the church, but sure enough, the door was wide open. I was walking through the big church where there were no lights and just windows, it seemed derelict. But then I heard an organ playing, and realized a church service was just ending, I had forgot it was Sunday! After it ended, I explored the area where the service was held. Before I knew it, another service was starting, so I figured I would take advantage of my opportunity to attend a church service in Italy in a centuries old building! I don’t speak Italian, but somehow I made some Italian friends during the service. By now it was late afternoon, and I headed back to the hotel, ate and it was time for bed again already! Tomorrow I have Bargello in the morning and Santa Maria Novella in the afternoon!

Uffizi, interior.

San Miniato al Monte, exterior.

San Miniato al Monte, interior.

July 9^th: Bargello e Santa Maria Novella

4:30 am is the best time to get up when abroad, I am convinced. After breakfast, I headed out to my 8:30 am reservation at the Bargello Museum. The Bargello is known for having some of the most famous sculptures in the world, namely ones by Donatello. Unlike the Uffizi, which was very crowded at opening, the Bargello was almost empty, save for this Londoner and his family. My goal was to find Donatello’s 1440 bronze David, yet when I walked into a room and saw it I was completely taken aback. Seeing all of these great works that I have been studying for so long is like a dream. The greatest part was that I was completely alone in the room, and could go right up to the sculpture. No railing or any other obstruction, just me and the 578-year-old masterpiece. I had access to unlimited angles, giving an unparalleled experience (I see Michelangelo’s David tomorrow at the Academia and I doubt I will have this freedom of viewership). Not too far away from this bronze nude (the first nude of David since antiquity), was Donatello’s first David, which is a stark contrast with his more well-known one. This David is clothed and resembles a classical style. Hidden in the corner of the room, are two gold panels. These panels are from the 1401 competition for the commission of the panels on the east door of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, the competition was to create a panel of the Sacrifice of Isaac. One was by Filippo Brunelleschi (who just so happens to be the architect of the dome at the Duomo) and the other was Lorenzo Ghiberti. This legendary competition yielded two masterpieces depicting the same thing. The story goes that the competition either ended in a tie, and that Brunelleschi withdrew because he didn’t like ties (or something), or that Ghiberti out right won. I was not expecting to see these, as David was my focus, and I was absolutely blown away and had to stare at them for a great length of time. I am not ashamed to say that I spent hours in that room, in sheer awe of what I was in the presence of. As it got closer to noon, I supposed it was time to leave. Santa Maria Novella was my next building, and I am living right next to it this week, making it the easiest place to go yet. But before I went there I had lunch and figured out where Santa Croce is (my building for Wednesday). In case I haven’t mentioned this, Santa Maria Novella’s façade is hands down architecture at its finest. I’ve already been analyzing it from the outside my entire trip, but today I got to go inside—which did not disappoint. My first objective was to find Masaccio’s Trinity, as it is one of the first (maybe the first?) to implement Brunelleschi’s one point perspective technique in painting. When I found it, I realized I totally forgot it was a fresco, it was painted straight onto the wall! This makes its architectural elements even better, tricking the observer to thinking that he/she is viewing architecture. Sta. Maria Novella has such grand Gothic pillars and arches inside, making for a massively open environment. I felt very close to God here. After sitting in the pews and enjoying the presence of God, I wandered about and realized you could explore the cloisters. The same style of the nave was translated to the cloisters, just on a smaller scale, which was great because it gave a closer look at the vaulted arches of the ceiling. One thing you’ll notice in my pictures is that the medieval tower of the church is being refurbished, and that it is comically covered with a picture of the tower itself. Nonetheless, I walked away from Sta. Maria Novella a very happy young man. I will of course continue analyzing its façade for the rest of my stay. Up tomorrow is what many visitors here would consider the two main events: 1) The Santa Maria del Fiore (Il Duomo) and the Academia art gallery (which houses Michelangelo’s David). Can’t wait!

Me with Donatello’s David inside the Bargello.

Me at the rooftop of my hotel overlooking the Santa Maria Novella.

July 10^th: Santa Maria del Fiore—Il Duomo, e Academia

I begin my day again at 4:30 am, mornings here are wonderful. The rooftop terrace offers a great place to watch the sunrise. After seeing it everywhere I have gone this trip, it was finally time to visit the Duomo. There was an endless line, but luckily, I had reserved a tour and got to skip the queue (people gave me some nasty looks of jealousy). My tour took us inside the cathedral, and we got to go to some off-limit areas. After that, we made the ascent up the cathedral and got to go out onto the terrace just under the dome. The lady that gave the tour was awesome, she taught me so much. The tour ended on the terrace, but we had the option to go all the way up the dome onto the lantern to get the best view of the city, which of course I did. It was a great experience, I could see everywhere I had visited on the trip thus far. After spending some time up there I went back to the bottom. My ticket allowed me to go into the Baptistery of San Giovanni and the campanile (bell tower), but at this point the lines were long and I still had to get lunch before going to Academia. Fortunately, the ticket lasts for 72 hours, so on Thursday, my last day, where I do not have any reservations for anywhere, I will head up there early. Next up was the Academia Gallery, which is home to Michelangelo’s David. There’s some other really cool stuff there too, such as Michelangelo’s Pieta (not the famous one), and a lot of other sculptures, but David is definitely the center of attention. That rang true for me too, I spent I do not know how long looking at David and getting pictures of as many angles as I could along with close ups of the details. After I was done with David, I left and explored the rest of the museum, and when I finished with that I planned on getting one last glance of David and then leave. But, some time had gone by, which meant the time of day had changed, which meant the earth had rotated in a manner that changes Florence’s reception of the sun, which meant there was new lighting on David! So, I had to get all the same angles as I took before, but with this new, warmer light. Everyone is so used to seeing David front on, where he is looking to the side, but never at an angle to get a real good look at his face. Getting a photo of David’s face straight on looks so different. I’ll include a photo so you can see. After all of this, nighttime has come again, my trip is going by so fast! Tomorrow is my last reservation for somewhere, and it is the church of Santa Croce! I had already walked by it when I visited the Bargello, so I know exactly where to go!

Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo), exterior.

Duomo, dome, interior.

Michelangelo’s David at the Academia.

Close up of David.

July 11^th: Santa Croce e San Lorenzo

I got up late today—5:28 am. I didn’t have time to lounge much before going to 7:00 am breakfast. Santa Croce is interesting, because like Santa Maria Novella, it is a medieval Gothic church with an eye-popping façade. The difference here is that this façade is neo-Gothic, where Sta. Maria Novella’s is Renaissance. But Santa Croce has one very important Renaissance factor—the Pazzi chapel! The Pazzi chapel is considered by some to be the greatest example of Renaissance architecture. Researching the Pazzi chapel has been slightly annoying though, because everyone has always thought it was made by Filippo Brunelleschi, the same guy that did the cupola on the Duomo. So, most scholarship that I have been reading reflects this. But one of my favorite architectural historians (second only to my advisor), Marvin Trachtenberg, has recently made the case (and it’s a compelling one) that the Pazzi chapel is not by Brunelleschi. He notes how different the Old Sacristy in San Lorenzo (which is more or less confirmed to be by Brunelleschi) is with the Pazzi chapel. This is why I am going to San Lorenzo today, so I can do some comparisons myself. I just got back to my hotel from Santa Croce this morning, and have not visited San Lorenzo yet. The battery in my camera has died, so I am hanging out while that charges. I haven’t decided yet if Brunelleschi made Pazzi chapel or not, hopefully I will have a better idea when I go to San Lorenzo. I have no reservations at San Lorenzo because they wanted my passport number online for some reason, so hopefully I can wander in there today. Anyway, I got off track a bit, back to Santa Croce. Like the other churches I have gone to, it has massive gothic pillars and arches inside. What makes this interior stand out is the people who are buried there. The main people were Dante Alighieri (The Divine Comedy), Michelangelo Buonarroti (David), and Galileo Galilei (Heliocentric model of our solar system), and Leone Battista Alberti (Santa Maria Novella façade!). They all had marvelous tombs and sculptures above their burial sites. It was weird to think that these famous figures’ bodies were so close to me. After hanging out with the dead guys, I went over to Pazzi chapel to examine it for myself. It definitely is spectacular, I’ll have to go to San Lorenzo’s Old Sacristy to see if I have an opinion on if it is by Brunelleschi.

Just got back from San Lorenzo, and I understand why these two places are compared. They are basically exactly the same! Both have rectangular plans with a dome in the center with an adjacent apse. I read an article that enumerated how these two places are different, so I will have to go back to that and see what exactly it says, as they seem so similar. So, at the moment I cannot give an opinion on if it is by Brunelleschi or not. On one hand you could argue that since they are so similar it had to have the same mind behind both of them. But on the other hand the plan could simply have been copied and have nothing to do with Brunelleschi. Either way though, Brunelleschi is involved, be it directly or indirectly. Now I am officially done with all of my reserved visits and tours, feels kind of sad I am nearing the end of my trip. But I still have one more day and I think I’ll spend the morning near the Duomo looking at the Baptistery and the campanile. Not sure what I’ll do for the afternoon yet. I intentionally left one afternoon open in case I came across anything that I felt like I needed to visit when I got here, and I have some ideas but I won’t mention any yet until I have formulated a plan. Off to dinner, see you tomorrow!

Santa Croce, exterior.

Pazzi Chapel (at Santa Croce), exterior.

Pazzi Chapel, ceiling.

San Lorenzo, Old Sacristy, ceiling.

Old Sacristy at San Lorenzo, exterior.

San Lorenzo, exterior.

San Lorenzo, façade.

July 12^th: Campanile e Baptistery di San Giovanni Battista, e Palazzo Rucellai

My last full day here, I am sad but also overjoyed that the trip has gone so well. I am heading back to Duomo’s piazza to head up the campanile to get a great view of the Duomo and the city, and also to the baptistery. In Florence you eat a lot of carbs, but you also walk a ton, so it balances out. This especially applies when going up the campanile, where there were as many steps as there are people in all of Florence. The campanile gives a perfect view of the Duomo for some great pictures. The only problem was that there was a cage around the top of the tower so it made a bad place to take pictures. Luckily there were some windows on the way up so I got some good pictures from there. It was so weird to think I was heading up in these areas that hundreds of years ago were off limits to most people. The top of the tower gives the best panoramic view of the city, and what I loved most about it was that I was there at the end of my trip, so I could point out every single place I had been! By now, I know Florence like the back of my hand, so seeing it from this view was pleasing. After staying up there for far too long, I headed down to the baptistery. The Baptistery of San Giovanni Battista lies adjacent to the Duomo, and is one of the oldest structures in the city. It is a Romanesque church (long thought to actually be a Roman church, although it is not) made between 3^rd-5^th c. CE with the present marble revetment done between 11^th-13^th c. CE. It was special being in this small, octagonal, long revered church dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. Most of the artwork was on the ceiling, so I spent forever looking up there and taking pictures. I forgot it was Thursday and that mas was starting, so I sat in on it! I am so lucky to have had two church services now in Italy! My favorite part about this service was that it was thirty minutes, churches back home need to take notes. By now it was noon and I went back to my room to cool off. My final building I examined was the Palazzo Rucellai, specifically its façade, done by Leone Battista Alberti (if you remember, he’s the best architect ever and did the Sta. Maria Novella façade). What made this building different than any of the others I have looked at, is that it has become completely integrated with present day society. What do I mean by that? Well while all of the other buildings I have visited have been preserved as they have been, Palazzo Rucellai had stores inside! I thought it was neat that a living area for one of the most powerful families in Florence is now a place for stores. People looked at me like I was crazy taking pictures of it, to them it was just like any of the other buildings around town. But nonetheless I took a couple million photos to log for my research. After saying goodbye to Palazzo Rucellai, I realized I was going to have to say goodbye to Florence in just a few hours. My sadness didn’t overcome me though, because I knew I had a very successful and safe trip and feel grateful for the grants that the Art History department had given me in order to come here in the first place. Now it is off to bed so I can get up early! Writing this blog has been delightful, I am so happy the department has asked me to do so.

Campanile, exterior.

Baptistery of San Giovanni, exterior.

Baptistery of San Giovanni, interior.

Baptistery of San Giovanni, interior view of dome.

Palazzo Rucellai, exterior.

July 13^th: A Casa!

My flight to Paris left at 6:35 am, which meant I had to leave at about 3:30 am and get up around 2:30 am! Fortunately, after a long day of walking in the heat I was able to force myself to sleep at around 6:00 pm the previous night, so it wasn’t so bad. The concierge man behind the counter ordered me a taxi, gave me some breakfast, and also handed me a cappuccino (my last Florentine cappuccino, a delicacy I had come to love and look forward to each morning at breakfast)! Before I knew it, taxi had arrived and it was time to go. One fifteen minute taxi ride, one two hour flight, one eight hour flight, one ten minute shuttle ride, and one four hour car ride later, I was back home! I was up for over 24 hours and was ready to sleep at a good bedtime, better luck next time jet-lag! Now that I am back home I have accumulated a wealth of information, and I am excited to start writing a final form of my paper! I am so excited to present on what I have learned, but it will have to wait until October. In the meantime, I will be writing my final paper and preparing, I cannot wait! Although I have physically left Florence, I am lucky enough to be able to mentally stay there for the rest of the summer with my research! Thanks for reading about my research trip!

July 20, 2018

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

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

Faculty, Research

THE ART HISTORY PROFESSOR IS IN: Dr. Craig Eliason

Get to know our faculty through this ongoing series. This month, we interviewed Dr. Craig Eliason, Professor of Art History in the Department of Art History.

What area of art history/architectural history did you focus on in graduate school? And where did you go?

I studied modern European and American art at Rutgers. My dissertation was on a Dutch avant-gardist and the relationship between the Dada and Constructivist movements in the 1920s.

And what area do you focus on now? Give one factoid everyone should know about that area.

My research area is the history of typography and type design. I have also become a practicing type designer.

Factoid: Good type design requires a thorough understanding of optical illusions. For example, a horizontal stroke will look thicker to the human eye than a vertical stroke of the same mathematical width. And if that horizontal stroke is intended to be read as centered, it should be slightly above mathematical center. See the H of Helvetica Neue Bold on the right, which appears more graceful than the geometrically “correct” H on the left.

Best advice you have ever received?

For undertaking and presenting research, the advice given in the book “The Craft of Research” is fantastic. Its authors are excellent at explaining how to mount a scholarly argument. My best friend from college introduced me to the book when we were both writing our dissertations.

If you weren’t a professor, what would you do and why?

I would probably be a full-time type designer. And/or a craft-cocktail bartender.

May 8, 2018

Archive, Exhibitions, Research

The Voorsanger Architects Archive: A Repository, an Educational Resource, and a Test Case

On Tuesday, April 17, the University of St. Thomas Department of Art History hosted an event that was part celebration, part symposium, part demo, and part product-reveal party. The product being revealed, the subject of conversation, and cause for celebration, was the department’s collaboration with Voorsanger Architects PC of New York; the Voorsanger Architects Archive serves as an educational resource for the department and a model (and test case) for digital preservation moving forward.

From left: Bartholomew Voorsanger, FAIA, Dr. Victoria Young, Dr. Ann Whiteside, and Dr. Dell Upton

From left: Dr. Ann Whiteside, Dr. Victoria Young, Bartholomew Voorsanger, FAIA, and Dr. Dell Upton

Tuesday’s event, billed as A Conversation about Architectural Legacy, featured architect Bartholomew Voorsanger, FAIA, in conversation with noted architectural historian Dr. Dell Upton and St. Thomas’ own Dr. Victoria Young. Dr. Upton walked Voorsanger through some of the greatest hits of his firm’s designs (most notably the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, establishing why Voorsanger and his firm are worthy of archiving; Dr. Young focused on the archive itself, examining both its features and the process through which it was created, thanking Christine Dent and several graduate student assistants.

Also present was Dr. Ann Whiteside, librarian and assistant dean of Harvard’s graduate school of design. Whiteside, an expert in digital archives and their attendant issues, noted that the world of design faces a mounting problem, with over 40 years of digital design documents, many of them in proprietary file formats (in other words, formats that can only be read by the specialized software used by a particular firm), piling up and creating a nest of archival problems that simply didn’t exist when design was done on paper (problems such as: how do you make sure these file formats will still be readable in 30 years? What type of file-corruption risks exists with different types of digital storage? How do you protect digital archives from accidental loss or erasure?). Whiteside is involved with the Building for Tomorrow project, which seeks to bring people from different sides of the issue (archivists, designers, academics, IT experts) together to find solutions for archives and museums, believing that collaboration is necessary for success.

The Voorsanger Architects Archive homepage, VoorsangerArchive.org

Along those lines, Whiteside cited the Voorsanger Architects Archive as an example of the right kind of collaboration. With the St. Thomas team working directly with people from the Voorsanger firm, she noted, a representative sample of projects could be chosen to be archived, and the Voorsanger team could help to make sure that files that they sent for archiving were in an easily-read format.

This collaboration is important. If long-term storage and file compatibility are the big-headline problems with digital design archives, they are far from the only ones. In this situation, as in many others, a hidden problem of resource allocation can come to dominate. Voorsanger mentioned Tuesday night that his firm, being medium-sized, lacked the resources to create the kind of meaningful long-term archive of its own design process that a large firm like Skidmore, Owings & Merrill could maintain. The University of St. Thomas Department of Art History, able to provide expertise, time, and digital (and physical) storage space, was able to step in and fill a gap, in the process creating a model for ways in which smaller architectural firms and educational institutions can form partnerships to archive design materials. To this end, the process of creating the archive has been well-documented so that it can be shared with other institutions embarking on similar projects and partnerships, thus establishing an educational resource potentially as valuable as the Voorsanger Architects Archive itself.

The digital incarnation of the archive is accessible through a website, VoorsangerArchive.org, and can be navigated by browsing by project or a robust search function. Archival objects include scanned documents, digital images and design files, informational records on physical models in the collection, and specially-created short video clips, dubbed “fragmenta,” that provide brief overviews of archived Voorsanger projects. The usefulness of this archive to students of design, architecture, and architectural history is self-evident, allowing researchers a powerful glimpse behind the curtain at the iterative design process behind 25 Voorsanger projects, including the National World War II Museum, the Wildcat Ridge Residence, and a redesign of control towers for La Guardia Airport.

Wildcat Ridge Residence

One challenge with Tuesday evening’s event lay in how to give a digital archive an exciting, engaging presence in the physical world; to this end, Department of Art History Gallery and the lobby of the O’Shaughnessy Educational Center were filled with technology for the evening. A virtual reality rig let visitors “walk” through immersive renderings of the plans for the National World War II Museum. Students with iPads circulated through the post-event reception, allowing attendees to browse the archive on the spot. A video screen displayed fragmenta on a loop. And archival physical models and photographs were on display, driving home the wide array of information available in the archive.

View of Preserving the Present exhibition. Photo by Mike Ekern, University of St. Thomas Photographer.

National World War II Museum display, part of Preserving the Present exhibition. Photo by Mike Ekern, University of St. Thomas Photographer.

Aside from its value to scholars and utility as a model of public/private archival cooperation, the Voorsanger Architects Archive allows the Department of Art History to provide practical, real-world experience to students in the growing field of digital humanities. Digital archiving is an important concept outside of the academy and architecture; museums and libraries now also find themselves struggling to maintain, protect, and exploit larger and larger bodies of digital records and archives (and, increasingly, born-digital art objects). For a department that keeps a steady eye on the practical realities of the museum world, the ongoing learning opportunity involved in maintaining, expanding, and using this archive is invaluable.

April 24, 2018

Research, Research Travel, Senior Paper, Students, Undergraduate Student

Three American Cities Through Their Abandoned Railroads

Madie Ley is a senior art history major, with a minor in history, who received an Art History Department Undergraduate Research Grant to help make this project possible. Madie will present her senior research paper on Friday, May 4, 2018.

The purpose of this research trip was to gain a site-specific perspective on three case studies that are part of my senior paper. My focus is on urban parks built on repurposed railroads—so-called “linear parks”—so I planned to visit the High Line in New York City, the Reading Viaduct in Philadelphia, and the 606 Trail in Chicago. As my paper also looks comparatively at the philosophy and practice of the first park designers in America, specifically that of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, it was also necessary to see two of his most popular parks: Central Park in Manhattan and Prospect Park in Brooklyn.

I set out at each park with a series of questions to answer. How did the design of the park affect my experience on the land? How did other people respond to—or ignore—different design aspects of the park? At Central Park and Prospect Park, I kept in mind the original intentions and design of the park and compared them to how the parks were conserved today, and how Olmsted and his partners Calvert Vaux and H.W.S. Cleveland would react to the current condition of the parks, and the evolution of the surrounding urban landscape.

One of the most important findings of my research trip had to do with the intentionality of moving through each park and how physical movement affected the thoughts that arose while taking in the surrounding landscape.

Olmsted favored creating paths that meandered, turned corners and invited curiosity within a park visitor. What would be on the other side of this bend? His biggest desire with park design was to facilitate a momentary escape into wilderness that was accessible to a working-class urban resident. At Central Park, the sanctuary effect was evident. As a first-time visitor, and someone who was unfamiliar with the area, I abandoned any attempt at trying to keep track of my location within the park, which direction I wanted to go, or where I wanted to end up when I reached urban surroundings again. The curvilinear nature of each path, the diverging walkways and bridges, and the sheer size of Central Park was enough to distract me from any prior expectations of how this visit would go. This phenomenon only compounded when I reached the Ramble, a densely-forested section of the park where small, unpaved footpaths tangled further in on themselves. At times, I was taken by complete surprise with an unexpected rocky outcropping culminating in a point on a pond, or a small valley with twenty-odd birdhouses full of seed and feathered visitors.

Central Park: View of West border of the park with lake and Bow Bridge in foreground, seen from Ramble overlook.

Later that day on the High Line, I had a similar experience, though it was facilitated by vastly different design elements. The High Line is a park built on an old elevated freight line that was used to deliver goods to warehouses in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan. Since the twenty-first century it has been developed into an elevated park, officially completed in 2014. It is incredibly popular to tourists and residents with a love for postindustrial, urban, and green spaces.

High Line, facing south

High Line, facing north with the Standard Hotel in background

In terms of the original purpose of urban parks—to create a sanctuary from the density of the built environment—I was certainly enveloped in a mental ‘escape’ from navigating crowded streets and subway stations, suspended ten feet above the street, but Olmsted’s manufactured ‘wilderness’ was far from view. A few plantings of trees, prairie grasses, and shrubbery honored the original wildflowers that had been photographed along the abandoned railroad bed in the 1980s and 90s before this land was developed into the park it is today. A far cry from Central Park’s great boulders and ancient oaks, I was very much still in the city, with apartments, office buildings, and construction projects surrounding me on all sides, at times as close as an arm’s length away.

However, the act of walking a single path, given the only direction is forward, effectively took care of wayfinding for me so that all my mental energy was left to taking in the environment around me. Just like Olmsted’s winding and meandering paths at Central Park eliminated any choice to determine where I would go, the minimalism of a single linear path at the High Line also removed navigation from my mental experience, leaving more space for contemplation and observation of the vertical landscapes around me. I felt similar emotions of wonder and curiosity, but the subjects of my attention were apartment balconies with an assortment of plastic furniture and bicycles, or luxury hotel rooms where one might catch a glimpse of the people who could afford such amenities.

A Railroad Artifact, 30th Street, May 2000 (Joel Sternfeld)

In Philadelphia, I visited the first phase of development along the former Reading Railroad line that goes through the northern part of Center City. The Rail Park takes advantage of a postindustrial environment similar to the High Line, with massive steel structures rising above the railroad, and a variety of elevation within the cityscape: portions of the proposed three-mile park and pedestrian transportation corridor are elevated, at street level, and underground. Much like Joel Sternfeld’s photographs that drew developers’ attention to the High Line, the urban explorer population of Philadelphia have given the Reading tunnel its five minutes of fame on Instagram and photography blogs. The Rail Park is part of a larger High Line Network of parks that echo similar design concepts, ranging from finished projects to proposals in early planning stages, located in urban spaces across North America. “Phase 1” is expected to open in July 2018.

Reading Viaduct Tunnel below Pennsylvania Avenue

My third and final destination was the 606 Trail in Chicago, opened in 2015. Built on the old Bloomingdale railroad line in the Logan Park neighborhood of Northwest Chicago, the 2.7-mile, elevated trail is mostly dedicated to bike transportation, catering to the commuter population that lives outside the city. As opposed to the High Line’s stylized, design-focused path that weaves through trees and exposed rails, the 606 trail is a paved bike path with lane markings, featuring a softer path material on each side for walkers and joggers.

Chicago’s 606 trail near North Kedzie Avenue

—

When it became clear that the Industrial Revolution would quickly take hold in America and land would not be spared, early proponents of the necessity of the natural world feared the fate of urban landscapes, and scrambled to set aside space for parks. In the 1800s, growth moved horizontally across the East Coast and with the development of the railroad industry, further West until the country had been mapped and Native claims to territory had been exploited or ignored. In our current postindustrial state, urban American landscapes have grown vertically to account for the lack of greenspace on the ground. Forward-thinking landscape architects are transforming former industrial transportation corridors into veins of suspended forestry, where pedestrians escape cityscapes via elevation.

April 12, 2018

Research, Research Travel, Senior Paper, Undergraduate Student

Researching Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, Italy

Annie Vitale in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute. Annie will present her senior research paper on Friday, May 4, 2018.

Annie Vitale is an undergraduate Art History major and is currently working on her senior paper. She was awarded the Art History Department Undergraduate Research Grant to help make travel for this project possible.

This March I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to Venice, Italy after receiving grants from both the University of St. Thomas Department of Art History and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program. The purpose of my trip was to research and experience first hand the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute, information which will sustain my senior research paper and will also be used to supplement the research used for my Summa Exam, which will allow me to graduate summa cum laude.

The exterior of Santa Maria della Salute

The focus of my senior thesis is the investigation of Santa Maria della Salute, a Baroque-style plague church designed by Baldassare Longhena, as not only a church but as a memorial to the Virgin Mary. Consecrated in 1632 in response to a plague epidemic that attacked Venice in 1630, the Venetians dedicated Salute to the Virgin Mary who they believed delivered their city from the plague. In my research I consider the church, its site, plan, interior and exterior elements, and function both contemporarily and historically, within the framework of memorial to the Virgin.

I had extensively researched Salute prior to my travel, however I believe a site cannot be completely understood without experiencing it in real life. The grants I received allowed me fully immerse myself in the architecture and ambiance of Salute.

The facade of Il Redentore

While in Venice I spent a great deal of time on site at Salute, taking extensive notes and countless photos (luckily Salute allows photography!) as well as sketching architectural elements of the space and its surroundings. Although I had visited Salute once before in 2012, I was able to experience it in a whole new light after researching it for the past several months. As I approached Salute I stood in awe of the theatrical facade covered in marble statues of Mary and the saints. Once I entered I continued to be amazed by the six chapels surrounding the rotunda, each housing a stunning altar decorated with a painting of scenes from the life of the Virgin. But what captivated me the most was the dramatic altarpiece, a sculpture of Mary dispelling the plague, which holds the Panagia Messopanditissa, a Byzantine icon of the Madonna and Child. I was overwhelmed by all of the Marian symbolism, Longhena even designed Salute in the form of a rotunda to symbolize Mary’s womb. Observing all of these elements first hand allowed me to better comprehend how they connect both visually and symbolically to strengthen the presence of the Virgin Mary in the space.

The facade of the Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute

I was able to attend a Sunday morning mass at Salute, as well as an evening organ concert. It was helpful to attend these events as they provided me with the opportunity to observe the how Longhena’s design fits the function of the space. I also visited the church’s Sacristy Museum which is home to gorgeous paintings and frescoes, some by Venetian painters Titian and Tintoretto (unfortunately the museum prohibits photography).

Visiting Venice allowed me to position Salute within the broader context of the city as I analyzed several other churches and important architectural works while I was there. I visited Il Redentore, a plague church dedicated to Christ the Redeemer, situated across the canal from Salute. I also visited Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari which houses some of the most impressive paintings sculptural works I have ever seen. It was helpful for me to visit these churches, among many others, as I compared them to Salute in an effort to determine exactly what aspects of Salute allow the church to function as a memorial.

The interior rotunda of Salute

I was able to take a boat ride up the Grand Canal where I saw the impressive facades of Ca’ Pesaro and Ca’ Rezzonico, two Venetian palaces designed by Longhena. It was really neat to see these facades in person and compare them to Longhena’s facade design of Salute.

The sanctuary of Salute with the high altar of Mary dispelling the Plague

I was also able to spend a few days in Florence, experiencing the art, architecture, and culture there as well (not to mention some of the best pasta and pizza I have ever had). There I visited several churches including Santa Maria del Fiore, Orsanmichele, San Minito al Monte and Santa Maria Novella. It was interesting to observe how churches other than Salute portray the Virgin Mary and encourage devotion to her. I was particularly fascinated by Orsanmichele, which was originally built as a grain market and later converted into a church. Orsanmichele houses Bernardo Daddi’s Madonna and Child which is said to have miraculous powers, healing many during the outbreaks of the plague.

The tomb of Canova inside of Santa Maria Gloriosa

My trip to Italy was nothing less than remarkable and, in a way, makes me feel like I have come full circle, back to the place the peaked my interest in art history nearly seven years ago. In 2012 as a sophomore in high school I traveled to Venice on a school trip and Salute was the first church I visited. I distinctly remember being captivated by the theatrical facade and stunning interior. It was after this trip to Italy that I became passionately interested in pursuing art history. Returning to Salute now, as I am writing my senior paper, not only provided me with incredible material to incorporate into my research, but also reminded me why I pursued a major in art history in the first place. I am confident that my time spent in Venice will contribute greatly to the success of my projects and I am beyond grateful for the generosity from the University of St. Thomas Department of Art History and the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program for making it a reality.

April 4, 2018

Faculty, Research

THE ART HISTORY PROFESSOR IS IN: Dr. William Barnes

Get to know our faculty through this ongoing series. This month, we interviewed Dr. William Barnes, Associate Professor of Art History in the Department of Art History.

What area of art history/architectural history did you focus on in graduate school? And where did you go?

I took an earned M.A. at Tulane University in New Orleans. While the M.A. at Tulane is general in focus, I wrote my Master’s thesis on the art of the Aztecs. I stayed at Tulane for my Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Art History and Archaeology. I took my exams in three areas: Pre-Columbian art history, Colonial Latin American art history, and World Archaeology. My Ph.D. dissertation focused on the royal art of the Aztecs.

And what area do you focus on now? Give one factoid everyone should know about that area?

I research and publish on the arts of ancient Mesoamerica, particularly the art and visual rhetoric of the Aztecs.

Factoid: In Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs had a system of compulsory education whereby youths learned reading, writing, and sacred lore.

Best advice you have ever received?

Academically? My advisor would regularly remind us that all it takes is one wild supposition to undermine a dozen solid arguments. As for life advice — one should never feel guilty about taking a nap.

If you weren’t a professor, what would you do and why?

If I wasn’t a professor I’d likely be a museum preparator or exhibit designer — failing that, I would have likely gone into CIS.

March 25, 2018

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