Presentations

This semester I really enjoy all of the papers that I'm writing, much much more than what I worked on last semester. (Though this doesn't mean that they're any easier to write haha)

Here's a little overview of what I'm currently slaving over:

For my Northern Renaissance I'm researching the cultural history of a series of 3 tapestries at the Met named "Courtiers in a Rose Garden" I'm focusing on the conservation work that has been done over it's history and discussing the differences in how it looked when completed vs. how it looks today. This is something completely different for me (being that my focus is 20th century American art) but this is one of my favorite papers I've written so far. I've recently gotten reallyyyyyy into conservation, and tapestry conservation is pretty cool.


For my 1960's class I'm writing about Mark Rothko (my serious favorite of all time). Though he did a majority of his famous works in the 40's and 50's there is definitely something significant about the work that he did in the 60's. I'm talking specifically about the commission of the Rothko Chapel in Houston Texas and how Rothko was obsessed with the environment in which people viewed his art. He nitpicked over hanging, lighting and spacing all to create these places where people could have special experiences. It was pretty neurotic, but it's what makes entering a room of his works so incredible. Love it.


Lastly, for my Art and Environment class I'm focusing on conservation again haha I'm researching the damaging effects of pollution on our cultural institutions like museums and national monuments. Acid rain, smog and general poor air conditions have a greater affect than many care to think about, and conservators are working like crazy to develop new methods of cleaning and caring for these important cultural icons.

Anyway, it's going to be a challenging couple of weeks trying to get all of this out of my brain, but I'm pretty excited about the end result. Dear blog: stop distracting me haha