Virtual Reality (VR) is often in the news today, but is it just a gimmick? Is it being used effectively in liberal arts colleges, in museums, and at heritage sites? The three panelists will discuss their experiences, challenges, and hopes for VR within their fields. What kind of careers does VR offer in this area? Then, they will open the floor for questions from the audience.

Speakers: Kaelin Jewell (Barnes Collection, Philadelphia, PA)
Anthony Masinton (Buildings Archaeologist Heritage Sites)
David Neville (Grinnell College, Immersive Experiences Lab, Iowa)
Presider: Jon Chun, Digital Humanities, Kenyon College

After the panel discussion, talk further with the panelists and explore the interior of the Chapter House at Westminster Abbey and other sites using the latest VR headsets.

Generously sponsored by the Mesaros Fund, the Art History Department and the following departments and programs at Kenyon College: Anthropology, Biology, Chemistry, IPHS, Mathematics, Neuroscience, and special funding from the Gund Gallery, the Career Development Office, and the Center for Innovative Pedagogy

Dan Hicks is Professor of Contemporary Archaeology at the University of Oxford, Curator of World Archaeology at the Pitt Rivers Museum and a Fellow of St Cross College, Oxford. He was Visiting Professor at the musée du quai Branly in 2017-18, and was awarded the Rivers Medal of the Royal Anthropological Society in 2017. Dan’s new book, The Brutish Museums: the Benin Bronzes, Colonial Violence and Cultural Restitution was published by Pluto Press in November 2020, and has been described in reviews by Ben Okri OBE as “a startling act of conscience”, by The Economist as “a real game-changer”, by The Guardian as “beautifully written and carefully argued”, by CNN as “unsparing”, by Nature as “timely”, and by the Sunday Times as “destined to become an essential text”. The Brutish Museums was listed as one of the New York Times Best Art Books of 2020, with the recommendation: “If you care about museums and the world, read this book”.

This event is limited to Kenyon faculty and students; please watch your email for an invitation. An e-book of The Brutish Museums may be accessed via LBIS: https://consort.library.denison.edu/record=b8091515~S6.

This event is cosponsored by the Departments of Art History, Anthropology, Classics, and History

Sheila McGuire will provide an overview of core issues shaping the museum education profession today, including equity, accessibility, diversity, and inclusion. She will also discuss the learning framework developed by the Learning Innovation team at the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Mia). The framework describes how Mia’s educators define learning and explains the core focus areas that guide their vision and work: Creativity, Critical Thinking, Empathy, and Global Understanding. McGuire is currently the Head of Student and Teacher Learning at Mia and has worked there in museum education for more than 30 years.

This event is free and open to the public.

Sponsored by the Art History Department, the Mesaros Art Fund, and the Gund Gallery.

Gund Gallery exhibitions and public programs are supported, in part, by the Gund Gallery Board of Directors and the Ohio Arts Council.

Caitlin McGurk is the Associate Curator as well as an Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, the largest collection of comics and cartoon art in the world. She leads the comics history and education efforts at the library, as well as all publicity, community outreach, and exhibit curation. Caitlin has also worked for The Center for Cartoon Studies’ Schulz Library, the Bulliet Comics Collection of Columbia University, and Marvel Comics. She has also written for Diamond Comics Bookshelf magazine for educators and librarians, published her own comics, serves on the council for Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC) and as a juror for the CMA/CCAD Columbus Comics Residency Program. McGurk’s research and scholarship is on women in comics, alternative and underground comics, and early comic strips. Her most recent article was published in the Journal of Lesbian Studies on early queer characters in American newspaper comics.

This event is sponsored by the Department of Art History and Mesaros Art Fund.

A lecture by Josie Lopez, Curator of Art at the Albuquerque Museum. This event is sponsored by the Department of Art History and Mesaros Art Fund.

A lecture by Laure Marest, the Cornelius and Emily Vermeule Assistant Curator of Greek and Roman Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This event is sponsored by the Department of Art History and Mesaros Art Fund.

Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993) was an important American painter of the 20th century. Rakia Faber, registrar and collections manager for the Richard Diebenkorn Foundation, will discuss his career and the continuing work of the Foundation in supporting and expanding his legacy.

This event is sponsored by the Department of Art History and Mesaros Art Fund.

A film screening and Q&A with Liu Xun. This event is sponsored by the Department of Art History and Mesaros Art Fund.

Liu Xun is an artist and associate professor in the Department of Digital Media Art, College of Art and Design at Changsha University of Science and Technology, Hunan, China. Professor Liu will discuss the cultural issues explored in Jia Zhangke’s film, such as intertextuality, destruction and change, stagnancy and movement, politics and pop culture, and the spiritual homeland that people long for, but can’t approach.

This event is sponsored by the Art History Department and the Mesaros Art Fund.

The unveiling of the Obama portraits in February 2018 has transformed the National Portrait Gallery’s attendance. Leading up to the unveiling, Portrait gallery curators and historians were already working on exhibitions and programming that would increase the museum’s relevance in today’s world. Dorothy Moss, curator of painting and sculpture at the portrait gallery, will discuss the impact of the Obama portraits and will place these two portraits in the context of ongoing work to reimagine the National Portrait Gallery in its 50th anniversary year. Made possible with support from the Mesaros Fund.

Image credit: Amy Sherald, Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama, (cropped) 2018, oil on linen. National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. The National Portrait Gallery is grateful to the following lead donors for their support of the Obama portraits: Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg; Judith Kern and Kent Whealy; Tommie L. Pegues and Donald A. Capoccia.