AHSC NEWSLETTER, MARCH 10, 2008
DEAR MEMBERS,
Art Historians of Southern California is one of the oldest organizations in the United States devoted to the interests of art historians. Although we finally appreciate the importance of Southern California in the history of twentieth-century art, the area had no major museum when AHSC held its first meeting, and its reputation was based on movies, real estate, and the airplane industry. We now have four important museums and scores of galleries in neighborhoods and cities throughout the region. Within the past twenty years we have become a significant leader in the global art world, attracting extremely talented people in the academic, commercial, and museum environments.
Lets make sure that our organization keeps pace.
Our 50th anniversary in 2009 will coincide with the College Art Association Annual Meeting in Los Angeles February 25-28 and we need your participation and your ideas to make it a great event. Bring your ideas to the October AHSC meeting later this year, or e-mail us.
The AHSC 2007 Annual Meeting took place at Pepperdine University, thanks to Cynthia Colburn and Michael Zakian. Please look at our website under Past Events for a description of the meeting and its participants.
On Friday, February 22, 2008, the AHSC Session “Representing Material Culture Around the World” took place at the CAA annual meeting in Dallas. Dr. Constance Moffatt, Los Angeles Pierce College and Nina Berson, Los Angeles Pierce College introduced Dr. Jeanne Willette, Otis College of Art and Design, whose introductory paper was entitled Material Culture Studies as Art History. Dr. Birgitta Lindros Wohl, Cal State Northridge, discussed the role of oil lamps in antiquity in Material and Culture: Let There Be Light! Briana Simmons, Cal State Northridge, followed with an exploration of recent developments in the use of votive objects in Global Images, Local Context: Chromolithograph use in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.
Dr. Sean Roberts, University of Southern California, offered polyvalent views of Ottoman figures in The Everyday and the Distant: Ottoman and Egyptian Costume in the Paintings of Tintoretto. The session concluded after Dr. Ramela Abbamontian, Los Angeles Pierce College, questioned whether familiar ritual has a role in preserving identity in Let’s Have some Surj”: Drinking Coffee and Creating Community in the Armenian Diaspora.
As part of our commitment to emerging scholars, we were able to provide two members with travel grants to CAA this year. Congratulations to Briana Simmons and to Amy Von Lintel, USC, who delivered her paper, Learning to Look: Illustrated Surveys and Popular Art History in the Nineteenth Century in the Thursday session “New Directions in Nineteenth-Century Art History.”
Also in February, AHSC received its first donation of artwork. We are extremely grateful to Dr. Jean-Luc Bordeaux for his gift of a drawing which we will sell to create an endowment for further grants and scholarship.
Our board is working to improve the website, expand membership, create a tax-exempt entity, and is planning a workshop and the annual meeting which we want to hold in October this year rather than in November. We will send new e-mails as facts develop. Meanwhile, we welcome your comments, suggestions, assistance and donations and thank you all for your support and involvement.
Nina Berson, President, therizuli@ca.rr.com
Paul Zelevansky, Vice-President, pzelevansky@roadrunner.com
Jeanne S. M. Willette, Treasurer, jsmw@mindspring.com
Deana Hight, Secretary, deana.hight.37@csun.edu
Rachel Pinto, member at large, eaurae@gmail.com
Melissa VandeBurgt, member at large, melissa.vandeburgt@csuci.edu
