The College Art Association will feature the teaching, research and arts practice of several University of Chicago faculty members from the Division of the Humanities at its 2014 Annual Conference Feb. 12–15.
As the largest international arts conference, the event offers four days of art, discussion and lively debate. UChicago has a large presence at the conference, from panels with faculty and staff members to the keynote address by UChicago’s chair of Visual Arts Jessica Stockholder, the Raymond W. and Martha Hilpert Gruner Distinguished Service Professor. Stockholder’s public address will be at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 12.
The College Art Association will honor W.J.T. Mitchell, the Gaylord Donnelley Distinguished Service Professor of English Language and Literature, with the Distinguished Teaching of Art History award. Established in 1977, the award honors an individual engaged in teaching art history for most of his or her career. The College Arts Association gives the award based on a range of criteria, which includes inspiring students to pursue the humanities and outstanding success in both scholarly and class presentation.
William Pope.L., Associate Professor of Visual Arts, will be interviewed as part of a distinguished artists panel at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 14. UChicago staff members Hamza Walker, Associate Curator and Director of Education at The Renaissance Society, and Zachary Cahill, lecturer in Visual Arts and the Open Practice Committee coordinator, will lead the conversation with Pope.L.
These honors follow the recent announcement that two Assistant Professors in Art History, Claudia Brittenham and Cécile Fromont, have received the association’s Millard Meiss Publication Fund grants. These grants support manuscripts that already have been accepted by a publisher but require additional support. The grant will help fund the publishing of Brittenham’s The Cacaxtla Paintings, and Fromont’s The Art of Conversion: Christian Visual Culture in the Kingdom of Kongo.
In addition to these conference events, the new UChicago Arts Alumni Network in Chicago will launch at Design Cloud Art Gallery on Thursday, Feb. 13. The launch coincides with the 102nd annual CAA conference.
The arts have a vibrant presence on the UChicago campus, from the Department of Art History, the Department of Visual Arts and the Logan Center Exhibitions to the Open Practice Committee, the Renaissance Society and the Smart Museum of Art. Explore the UChicago Arts site to learn more about visual arts, museums and galleries and collections at the University of Chicago.
—Prof. Kunle Odunsi
