Art History Newsletter - Issue 6 | 2021-22

COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN

ART HISTORY

Katsushika Hokusa , The Great Wave.

Wall Fragment from the Tomb of Amenemhet and His Wife Hemet, Egypt.

El Castillo, Chichén Itzá.

Mask from an incense burner depicting the old deity of fire, Teotihuacan

David, Michelangelo. Wassily Kandinsky, Upward

FACULTY

ART HISTORY

AT CAL POLY POMONA

ABOUT US

Our majors study the production, reception, and experience of art, architecture, design, mass media, and other artifacts that manifest visually or tangibly. Art historians may study any period, region, or cultural tradition. Our courses span the globe and every age. We regularly offer courses in areas as diverse as “Contemporary Art,” “Medieval Art,” “Japanese Art,” and “Art and Architecture of India.” Through such courses, students become familiar with significant works and styles, differing ways of interpreting them, and an understanding of the social functions and impacts of visual and material culture.

Students pursuing the B.A. in Art History must practice verbal and written communication as well as skills of interpretation, critical thinking, and research. These are foundations for various careers in and beyond art history. (A summary of common career paths for those with a B.A. in Art History is included in this brochure.) To best prepare students for careers in the field, our curriculum requires students to take elective courses for additional expertise or a minor most compatible with their goals. The faculty is dedicated to advising our students in this highly personal, yet consequential, process.

DR. ALISON PEARLMAN

Ph.D., Art History, University of Chicago, 1997

Dr. Alison Pearlman has a love of writing and a penchant for interpreting trends in contemporary art, the marketing of culture, and food and restaurant design. What do trends say about the people who create them, those who buy into them, and the cultural conditions that foster the exchanges? Pearlman’s books Unpackaging Art of the 1980s, Smart Casual: The Transformation of Gourmet Restaurant Style in America and May We Suggest: Restaurant Menus and the Art of Persuasion span those interests. Pearlman teaches courses in modern and contemporary art and design history as well as the senior seminar for art history majors. For Pearlman, there is a moment in the senior seminar when the beauty of the art history program culminates and comes into focus: the students present their independent research in a conference-style talk with visual aids, and their peers offer them valuable feedback in a constructive and caring spirit. It is immensely gratifying to see the students reach a level of cultural and historical awareness, critical thought, and professional generosity that will sustain them in any career path.

DR. KARLYN GRIFFITH

Ph.D., Art History, Florida State University, 2014

Dr. Karlyn Griffith investigates how layers of meaning are built within the visual world of the Middle Ages, especially in popular culture. This line of inquiry takes Griffith from illustrated manuscripts to the reuse of Roman materials in medieval and early modern objects and spaces. Her recent publications explore the art of the book and analyze illustrated manuscripts as art objects, rather than merely receptacles of information. Griffith’s research combines interdisciplinary approaches, such as from literature and archaeology, with traditional art historical practices of stylistic analysis and iconographical interpretation. These methods allow art to be viewed from the perspective of the cultures that made and used particular objects and monuments. They also form the framework of her courses. In class Griffith espouses the discipline of looking. This, combined with analyzing and articulating deductions, is the core of critical thinking. Students hone these skills in her Roman, Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque art and architecture courses. Griffith also coaches students in another important and transferable skill: cogent, persuasive writing. Critical thinking and writing provide the foundation for success not just in college courses, but especially in navigating the inevitable twists in their future career paths.

Dr. Alison Pearlman

Tableau Vivant of Leonardo Da Vinci, The Last Supper 1495-98 performed by Dr. Griffith's Art of the Italian Renaissance Spring '22 Class.

Dr. Karlyn Griffith

PROGRAM NEWS

THE ANNUAL ART HISTORY SPEAKER SERIES GRADUATE ASSOCIATION OF MEDIEVAL STUDIES

For the Spring 2022 edition of its Annual Art History Speaker Series, the B.A. in Art History hosted University of California, Santa Barbara, Ph.D. candidate Graham Feyl. Feyl is an Art Historian, writer, and curator whose research interests span queer art history, the relationship between craft and queerness, and material cultures. He holds an M.A. in Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and is currently a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

STUDENT NEWS

LEILA AL-SHIBIBI

For his talk, “ You’re Not Serious: Why Academic Unseriousness Is the Next Serious,” he generously shared his experience of graduate studies from a first-generation and queer standpoint. He spoke of his journey to get there: majoring in art history, working in a museum, and transitioning to work on individual research and study at the graduate level. He also discussed his work within the sub-field of queer art history, and explained how it fits into art history at large. In his talk and the Q&A afterwards, Feyl openly, warmly, and with humor helped students envision how to meld one’s personal interests and sense of self with professional avenues.

Dr. Karlyn Griffith was invited to deliver the keynote address at the ninth annual Graduate Association of Medieval Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Over a 3-day symposium Master’s and Doctoral students representing diverse disciplines and from international universities gathered to deliver research papers on topics

pertaining to the sacred and secular dichotomy in the Middle Ages. Dr. Griffith gave a talk about the interplay of secular art and the Apocalypse in the Middle Ages. The aim of her talk was to challenge the prevailing paradigm in medieval art history that privileges sacred interpretations of art to the exclusion of popular culture.

is currently the Student Assistant for the Special Collections and Archives Unit at the Cal Poly Pomona University Library. In this position, she assists with compiling research, preparing items for digitization, and entering and updating data into the Special Collections database. This summer, Leila will participate in the Getty Foundation’s AllPaper Seminar. She will work alongside a cohort of undergraduate and graduate students as they travel to various Los Angeles art institutions to learn about the stewardship of prints and drawings. At the end of this program, she will partake in an intensive weeklong residency at the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College to conduct research and present her findings in a professional-level project.

Previously Leila worked as a Getty Marrow Registration and Collections Management Intern at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. In this position, she played an active role in planning the institution’s inaugural

exhibition, Stories of Cinema by cataloging documentation and data related to the museum’s permanent collection and taking on exhibition preparation and installation duties.

Leila also interned at bG Gallery in Santa Monica, where she conducted research for digital marketing projects and completed the writing and editing of press releases and gallery website content. For the remainder of 2021, she worked as a Gallery Assistant at Markowicz

Fine Art and helped to launch the opening of the gallery’s Laguna Niguel location. Leila notes that she gained invaluable knowledge of the inner workings of the art market by maintaining contact with artists and clients and boosting the gallery’s presence on various sales platforms.

After graduating in Fallʻ22, Leila plans to apply to graduate programs in Library and Information Science to fulfill her career goal of becoming a museum archivist.

Machu Picchu, Peru.

Leila Al-Shibibi

Keynote address presentation

Graham Feyl

SENIOR PAPERS STUDENT NEWS

LEILA AL-SHIBIBI

“Vessels of Life, Purveyors of Change: Female Representation and the Palestinian Liberation Poster”

TORIE BASULTO

“The New Charlatans: Cyber Witches Rebranding Modern Witchcraft”

CHRISTOPHER FUENTES LEON

GAYLE HANNAH INA MARIANO NATNAT

“Ruined Canvas: Money-Making Damage”

NYDIA YURIAR

“The Qualms of a Prospective Art Educator: An Investigation into the Declining Role of Art in the Classroom”

NOAH SCARINGI s the new Art History Collective Director. The Collective is a student-run organization for Art History Majors. Noah is spearheading a revamp of the collective after two years of campus closures. His new vision for the group is to create a much-needed community for Art History Majors. He plans on coordinating with faculty-led Art History Major’s Meetings to host group advising meetings about how to prepare better for internships, jobs, and graduate school. Noah also wants to help raise the profile of internship and volunteer work on campus galleries and archives. Under Noah’s stewardship the Collective will provide informal opportunities for students to discuss ideas and concepts learned in class, from guest speakers, and in the field. Noah plans to organize museum and gallery trips, so stay posted!

PIPER BRIDGMAN has been working at the Womxn’s Resource Center as a Social Justice Leader since Fall 2020. Piper notes “it’s been an amazing opportunity to engage with this community, especially during the pandemic. We’ve had amazing events.”

April 9th was the annual Womxn’s Leadership Institute, a full-day conference consisting of a keynote speaker, a panel, group activities, and networking opportunities. Piper has also worked as the lead artist at the WRC. She designed the graduation pins for this year’s Womxn of Distinction Awards and made the logo for this year’s Institute, “Write Your Future,” which appeared on merchandise, from backpacks to mugs and padfolios. She is also the blog artist for The Delphic Oracle the Center’s blog.

“A New Dawn of Education: Reassessing Classroom Design for a Post-COVID-19 Era”

Logo of CPP's Art History Collective Womxn's Resource Center

ALUMNI NEWS

JESUS CORONA DE NIZ (2017)

i an Account Manager at Cadogan Tate Fine Art, an international fine art logistics company that originated in London. Jesus discovered the fine art logistics industry a year after graduating and has since enjoyed learning about its key function in the art world. Beginning as a fine art coordinator at Cooke’s Crating, one of LA’s oldest art handling companies, Jesus was able to combine experience gained from working in his family’s trucking company with his work at Cal Poly Pomona’s Kellogg Gallery. His main responsibilities as an account manager are developing and maintaining client relationships, project management, and selling services. The writing, attention to detail, and critical thinking skills of an Art Historian have come in handy just as much as the collections management policies and art handling skills learned at the Kellogg Art Gallery. In this position Jesus has had the opportunity to connect with gallery and museum directors in Los Angeles and around the country. Jesus notes that this industry is a great way to gain experience and connections that can segue into other positions in well-known art galleries and museums as well private collections.

MARINA MEGALLA (2018)

is a new Right of Way Agent for Caltrans, District 8, Right of Way Division in San Bernardino. For this position, Marina sells excess land previously acquired by the Department of Transportation for road expansions and other projects no longer viable to the public or other government agencies. In her new job Marina also coordinates public auctions. She shares that her writing skills developed in the Art History program have been essential in confidently composing memos to colleagues and external customers, and especially writing advertisements and data sheets for public auctions.

ATINEH MOVESSIAN (2019)

is currently a Master’s student at Tufts University, where she is specializing in Armenian Art and Architectue under the direction of Dr. Christina Maranci. This July she will present her first qualifying paper, “The Forgotten Women of the Monastery of Gandzasar (ca. 1260): A Reexamination of the Sculptural and Epigraphic Program,” at the Beyond Exceptionalism II conference held at the John Rylands Library in Manchester, UK. Atineh will present a second paper “Amenap’rkich’ Armenian Monastery of Trebizond,” at the 57th International Congress on Medieval Studies this May. She has also recently written an article about the monuments of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) for the April issue of Medieval World: Culture and Conflict magazine.

Atineh has been accepted to the UC Berkeley Ph.D. program for Art History. She is interested in studying the interactions between the Armenian, Byzantine, and Islamic cultural spheres and bringing Armenian art into broader art historical conversations.

CHEYENNE GALLEGOS (2020)

worked as a gallery assistant at the Walt Girdner Photography Studio and Gallery in Pasadena, where she assisted with art sales, framing, and photography restoration. The photos she helped restore from Walt Girdner’s collection will be used in the Gallery’s forthcoming book, Chlochard Cheyenne has since become a Literacy Assistant for LAUSD, a career move influenced by her desire to study Museum Education. She is currently working on her Multiple Subject Teaching Credential program at Cal State LA and she plans to teach general education at an elementary level.

COURTNEY D'ANNA (2019)

was accepted into the Cal State San Bernardino Teaching Credential and Master's of Education program and will begin her studies in Fall 2023. Her aim is to earn credentials in Art to become an art teacher at the high school level. Ultimately Courtney wants to pursue a Ph.D. in Art History so she can teach at the college level.

KEVIN TORRES SPICER (2017)

began his first year as a Ph.D. student at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) last fall. He is currently working on the coursework required to complete his Master’s in Art History by 2023. Kevin’s research explores the interaction between Indigenous American and Ibero-Mediterranean traditions in sixteenth-century Andean architecture. This summer he will conduct fieldwork in his home country of Ecuador to survey and identify possible architectural case studies for his Master’s thesis in cities such as Quito, Esmeraldas, Guayaquil, and the Chota Valley.

We’re very proud to announce Kevin also published his undergraduate thesis, “The Indigenous Capilla de Cantuña: the Catholic Temple of the Sun,” Tulane Undergraduate Research Journal 3 (2021): 36-55, written under the direction of Dr. Griffith. Additionally, the University of California awarded him with the prestigious Eugene V. Cota-Robles fellowship. He also obtained two fellowships to attend the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Society of Architectural Historians conferences. Currently, Kevin awaits the results of his application for a Foreign Language and Area Studies fellowship (FLAS) provided by the U.S. Department of Education to study Quechua, an Indigenous tongue of the Andes. This fellowship will allow him to conduct his research and fulfill a language requirement for his Ph.D.

Alumni Cheyenne Gallegos

Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci as Nymph

Alumni Jesus Corona De Niz Alumni Marina Megalla Alumni

Alumni Atineh Movessian

Figure Yei Rug, Hopi Dancer with Butterfly Maiden headdress, Navajo.

Alumni Kevin Torres Spicer

CAREER PATHS

CURATORSHIP

Required Credentials

Typically, a master’s degree is required for museum curating. M.A. degrees in Art History, Museum Studies, or Curatorial Studies are relevant.

Recommended while an Undergraduate at CPP: Pursue a museum or gallery internship while a senior. The art history faculty regularly announces and encourages internship opportunities at local museums. But we offer academic credit for only one, a Gallery Assistant Internship supervised by the Curator of the university’s Kellogg Art Gallery and Huntley Art Gallery. For the Gallery Assistant Internship at the Kellogg and Huntley galleries, students assist in the research of artists and artworks, art-collection inventory, production of exhibition checklists, art labeling and captioning, cataloguing, archiving and documenting collections, and maintenance of data. The position is ideal for students interested in learning art collections management and other related museum and gallery skills. Required duties also include gallery attendance (greeting patrons, attendance-taking, distributing visitor surveys, providing security for artworks), general gallery |maintenance (painting, cleaning, etc.), assisting with installation and de-installation of artworks (help with moving walls, art handling, hanging and presenting artwork, unpacking and packing of artworks, lighting of artworks), assisting with receptions and events, promotion through social media, and some administrative and clerical duties. Majors in art history may be given specialized projects to build further professional skills and expertise.

ART

CONSERVATION

Required Credentials

An M.A. in Art Conservation or Technical Art History is required.

Recommended while an Undergraduate at CPP:

Graduate programs in this area may require a record of specific taken and/or work experience. For an example, see the UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology’s UCLA/ Getty M.A. in the Conservation of Archaeological and Ethnographic Materials http://conservation.ucla. edu/. The site lists the following as requirements for admission into the program, in addition to a B.A. in one of the acceptable areas (which includes art history).

Education: A minimum of one academic year (2 semesters or 3 quarters) of study is required in each of the following areas: Archaeology, Cultural Anthropology, or Ethnography; Art History (studies in archaeological or ethnographic materials and/or traditions preferred); General Chemistry (with lab); Organic Chemistry (with lab). One other Science (i.e., Physical Chemistry, Biology, Geology, Physics, etc.) is preferred, but is not essential to be considered for admission.

Experience: Between 200–400 hours (the equivalent of 5 to 10 weeks of full-time work) of documented practical experience in conservation. Appropriate experience (volunteer, paid, or a combination) includes fieldwork, laboratory experience, exhibit preparation, or similar responsibilities performed under the supervision of a professional conservator. A letter of recommendation is required from at least one conservation supervisor.

COLLECTIONS MANAGEMENT

Required Credentials

Collections managers typically work in museums, but may work in any institution that requires taking care and managing a collection of objects. Librarianship is vast. There are librarians in corporate, public, academic, museum, and government institutions. For collections management, it is common to have an M.A. in Collections Management or a master’s degree in Library and Information Science (MLIS). Those wishing to pursue Art Librarianship should additionally pursue an M.A. in Art History. Some graduate programs, such as the Pratt Institute in New York City, ready students for both degrees.

Recommended while an Undergraduate at CPP:

Students who want to do collections management for museums or other exhibiting art institutions should consider a museum internship while a senior. Those who think they might want to work in libraries should consider interning as a page in a library. They may need to take a college-level course in statistics that includes descriptive and inferential statistics and pass it with at least a C. Admission to the MLIS at UCLA, for example, requires such a course.

SCHOLARSHIP AND UNIVERSITY TEACHING

Required Credentials

A Ph.D. in Art History or Visual Studies is required. Depending on the field of specialization, a Ph.D. in Classical Studies or Archaeology may be an appropriate alternative.

Recommended while an

ART EDITING & PUBLISHING

Required Credentials

With a B.A. in Art History, a student will have a good foundation in the subject area, but will need further development of skills in writing and editing, journalism and publishing. This can be accomplished in many ways, including work experience and education credentials. An M.A. in English, Journalism, or Arts Journalism is

ART ADMINISTRATION

Required Credentials

An M.A. in Arts Administration or Arts Management or Art Business (depending on area of interest) is desirable. The Sotheby’s Institute of Art at Claremont Graduate University, for example, offers an M.A. in Art Business and an M.A. in Arts Management.

ART LAW

Required Credentials

Acquire a J.D. (Juris Doctor degree) specializing in intellectual-property law or, as offered by Duke University, a J.D./M.A. in Law and the History of Art.

Recommended while an Undergraduate at CPP: Choose a Political Science Minor, and, from the elective courses, select those pertaining to law. Take the LSAT exam

MUSEUM EDUCATION

Required Credentials

An M.A. in Museum Education or Museum Studies is typical.

Recommended while an Undergraduate at CPP:

Consider pursuing a museum internship while a senior.

Newsletter Design by: Emmanuelle Hidalgo, Alejandra Arevalo, Gardenia Fernandez, Erika J Lopez

Fermin Revueltas, Corncribs (Las trojes), 1933.

Painting on Lateral Beam 2, South Korea. Parthenon Sculptures, Greece Ed Garman, Cluster No.15.

Walter Ufer A Yearling.

Gonzalo Lebrija, History of Suspended Time (A Monument for the Impossible).