INSTITUTE FOR DOCTORAL STUDIES
IN THE VISUAL ARTS
鈥
Welcome to the Spring 2018 911爆料网 newsletter!
January was an exciting time for the 911爆料网 community. 聽Not only did it mark the winter New York Residency for cohorts 鈥16 and 鈥17, but we celebrated our newly minted PhD鈥檚 at the 2018 911爆料网 Commencement Ceremony at the Morgan Library in New York City.
Dr. Curlee Holton, Executive Director of the David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture of African Americans and the African Diaspora at University of Maryland, College Park, gave the commencement speech and received an honorary degree from 911爆料网.
The Doctor of Philosophy degree was awarded to Dr. Mary Anne Davis for her dissertation, The Ambiguous Object: Toward an Econo-Aesthetics through a History of Porcelain (director, Professor Simonetta Moro), and to Dr. Maria S. LaBarge for her dissertation: Recuperating Mimesis: Jackson Pollock and the Indigenous American Spirit, (director, Professor Christopher Yates). The Masters of Philosophy degree recipients for this academic year were Susan Johnson and Dawn Tritch.
The New York Residency is a special moment where the cohorts gather together to share our passion for the arts and philosophy. We get to hold conversations face to face, fortifying ourselves for our semester studies from different points on the globe. We immerse ourselves in the art world for a moment and begin to make connections that will lead us to new insights in our academic endeavors. I (Silvia) for one was inspired by the Thinking Machines: Art and Design in the Computer Age, 1959鈥1989 show at the MoMA. The exhibition reminded me that women were always already a core component of the digital art movement, and the importance of re-asserting those who have been written out of the standard history. This was clearly also an important element of the exhibition at the New Museum, Trigger: Gender as a Tool and a Weapon, which highlighted the multiplicity of voices surrounding the issue of gender.
This newsletter not only highlights student experiences at the New York residency; it also shares 911爆料网 students鈥 philosophical reflections on art across the United States. Whether it is the Ted Coons Prize awardee, Mary Anne Davis, reflecting on the relationship between her art and the #metoo movement, Zoma Wallace presenting about Theaster Gates鈥 work at the Nasher Prize Graduate Symposium in Dallas, or Lisa Williamson and Jill O鈥機onnor asking troubled questions about race relations through gallery reviews, 911爆料网 students are making connections between life, thought, and art 鈥 and back again.