Museum
Past Lectures
Spring 2008
"Addressing Social and Political Issues: A Book Arts Workshop"
DU Assistant Professor Alexander Mouton (Art).
Black Box Space, Burke Hall
This 3-hour workshop will introduce participants to the different forms books have taken throughout time, from scrolls and the codex to simple experimental structures.The meaning and significance of the Dafatir exhibition will serve as inspiration for creating spontaneous individual artists' books.Participants will be able to draw, collage, or print photographic images; create book pages from the work; and bind the books for a finished work that each attendee can take with them.
"The Great Divide:" A Gallery Talk
Thursday, February 7th: 7 PM
DU Assistant Professor Chris Barnard (Art)
Denison Museum, Burke Hall
Barnard will speak on his exhibition of paintings by the same name. A new faculty member in the art department, Chris Barnard has produced a series of paintings on the intersection of the southwestern US landscape and US military industries and bases located there. His work hovers between interest in traditional landscape, modernist painting, and political content.
Gallery Talk with Visiting Iranian Photographer Jamshid Bayrami
Tuesday, February 19th: 6 p.m.
Black Box Space, Burke Hall
Part of a week-long visit, Bayrami will be speaking on his exhibition of photographs on view through March 7th. Jamshid Bayrami's photos document major Islamic religious events, the lives of women in Iran, scenes from war torn locales like Iraq and Afghanistan, among other subjects.
Inaugural Book Club Meeting
Saturday, February 23rd: 3 p.m.
Buxton Inn
Book Selection: Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
Synopsis: In THREE CUPS OF TEA: One Man’s Mission to Promote . . . One School at a Time Greg Mortenson, and acclaimed journalist David Oliver Relin, recount the unlikely journey that led Mortenson from a failed attempt to climb Pakistan’s K2, the world’s second highest mountain, to successfully building schools in some of the most remote regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. By replacing guns with pencils, rhetoric with reading, Mortenson combines his unique background with his intimate knowledge of the third-world to fight terrorism with books, not bombs, and successfully bring education and hope to remote villages in Central Asia.
Immediately following: Private Denison Museum Book Club Tour: Museum director Dr. Natalie Marsh will lead a special tour of the four winter exhibitions, leading a discussion on the ways the works on view elaborate aspects of the book selection’s narrative.Refreshments served.
"Afghan Narrative Traditions and War," Noon Hour Brown Bag Talk
Wednesday, February 27th
Margaret Mills, Professor,
Herrick Auditorium
Dr. Mills is widely regarded as a leading specialist in the popular culture of the Persian and Farsi-speaking world. Her book, Rhetorics and Politics in Afghan Traditional Storytelling, won the 1993 Chicago Folklore Prize for best academic work in folklore. Mills will discuss the characteristics of Afghan narrative, relating oral traditions to the visual whenever possible.
War Rug Symposium
Wednesday, March 5th: 6-8 PM
Black Box Space, Burke Hall
Speakers will include:
Thomas Gouttierre, Dean of International Studies and Programs at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University Medical Center, and as the Director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at UNO. A 10-year Peace Corps volunteer in Afghanistan, a Fulbright Fellow there, and former Director of the Fulbright Foundation in Afghanistan, Gouttierre has been actively consulted by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee on International Relations regarding Afghanistan.
M. Homayun Sidky, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Miami University. Sidky, an Afghan-American, centers his research on ecological anthropology and the history and theory of anthropology of religion. Sidky is the author of Perspectives on Cultures: A Critical Introduction to Theory in Cultural Anthropology in addition to numerous articles and publications, including a recent article on American financing and instigation of the Soviet-Afghan war.
Bahram Tavakolian, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, Denison University. Tavakolian has conducted field research with Sheikhanzai nomads in Afghanistan and written about cultural representations of the "fierce Afghan" and about Afghan women in Victorian literature and popular culture and also on the effects of such images on British colonial policy during the "Great Game".
Richard Herrmann, Director,
Discussant, Brenda Boyle, Associate Professor of English and Director, Denison Writing Center. Boyle has written extensively on the Vietnam war and teaches on the subject of languages and rhetorics of war. She will contribute to this discussion of the Afghan-Soviet war, what has been called "Russia's Vietnam," by commenting on the rhetoric surrounding Afghanistan during the past 30 years.
Moderated by Natalie Marsh,
"29 Years: War Rug Imagery, Its History and Iconographic Shifts," Noon Hour Brown Bag Talk
Thursday, March 6th: Noon Hour Brown Bag Talk
Kevin Sudeith, War Rug Collector
Black Box Space, Burke Hall
New York based artist, collector and rug dealer Kevin Sudeith will talk about his ongoing fascination with war rugs.
Senior Exhibition Talks
April 12
Gallery Talks: 1:00 - 3:30 p.m.
Each graduating senior will speak about the work presented in the exhibition and the artistic and intellectual pursuits that have guided them in their studio work.
Spring 2007
9 February 5:30-7:30pm
The Art of Science exhibition opening
13 February 7:30-8:30pm
The Best Mind Since Einstein, a NOVA film
Feynman worked on the atom bomb at Los Alamos and developed a landmark theory of quantum electrodynamics, but he is best known publicly for his investigation into the Challenger space shuttle disaster. A quirky personality, Feynman was also a master safecracker, bongo player, and graphic artist.
21 February 5:00pm
Denison's Physics Heritage: Old Stuff From Barney Science
Thomas B. Greenslade, Jr., emeritus professor of Physics, Kenyon College Dr. Greenslade's talk focuses on the nineteenth century physics lecture demonstration apparatus collection held at Denison. Many of these pieces were elegantly and artfully constructed by Denison faculty and students.
27 February 5:00pm
Insect Aesthetics
Thomas Schultz, professor of Biology, Denison University Dr. Schultz's lecture explores the forms and beauty of the insect world.
1 March 11:30am-12:30pm
Dissonance and Harmony: Arrivals and Departures
Exhibition Opening
This one day exhibition at the Denison Museum showcases photographs by first-year international students. The subjects of the pictures include objects, customs, or scenes that are either strange or familiar to the photographer, highlighting the cultural harmonies and dissonances of being an international student at a US college. On March 2, the exhibition moves to Higley Hall.
Sponsored by the McGregor Connections Initiative and International Student Services.
1 March - 30 May
Monday-Thursday between 1:00 and 4:00pm or by appointment
Conservation in Action
The Denison Museum received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to preserve its Chinese paper rubbing collection. Everyone is invited to observe the conservation process and ask questions.
6 March 5:00-5:45pm
Student Curators' Museum talk
Cara Lovati ('09) and Stephanie Rozman ('08)
This talk looks at the scientific techniques and art historical research used to analyze a European oil painting in the Denison collection, as well as exploring the installation of the show.
22-23 March Times and places TBA.
Hands-on art workshop
Acclaimed artist Stacy Levy will be leading participants through the process of making an installation piece of art using materials from nature. Booking required. Please contact the Museum at 740-587-6255.
Sponsored by the McGregor Connections Initiative.
11 April 7:30pm Slayter Auditorium
Films: New Improved Institutional Quality: In the Environment of Liquids and Nasals a Parasitic Vowel Sometimes Develops (George Landow, a.k.a. Owen Land, 1976), Sky/Blue/Water/Light/Sign (J.J. Murphy, 1972), Print Generation (J.J. Murphy, 1973-1974), Raindance (Standish Lawder, 1972). The four short movies, ranging in length from five to forty minutes long, explore the mechanics of the cinema and/or human perception and memory.
Sponsored by the Denison Film Society and the Cinema Department.
14 April 11:00am
Senior Art and Art History Student Symposium
Senior students present their final projects.
Winter/Spring 2006
Celebrating the Year of the Museum-
Objects in Context: Documenting and Interpreting Collections
Terry Zeller, Professor Emeritus, Northern Illinois University
February 22 (Wed) - 5:00 PM -
Directors and Their Collections
Nannette Maciejunes, Director, Columbus Museum of Art
March 8 (Wed) - 5:00 PM -
Caring for Paper and Textile Collections: Fiber Degradation and Related Preservation Solutions
Teena Jennings Professor of Textile Science and Design, University of Akron,
and Melinda McPeek, Collections Manager, Denison University
March 29 (Wed) - 5:00 PM -
Piecing Together the Past: The Art and Science of Conservation
Jill Sterrett, Head of Collections and Conservation, San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art
April 12 (Wed) - 5:00 PM