Under Emperor Napoleon III’s reign, Baron Georges Haussmann redesigned and reconstructed Paris by adding boulevards and green spaces, creating the city that we recognize today. The French Impressionists reacted to the new cityscape and painted in their signature style to capture Paris’ flourishing popularity and effervescent atmosphere. This lecture addresses the vantage points from which many Impressionist painters worked and includes a discussion of how they captured Paris’ major hubs through the use of windows and window-like perspectives, including: the expansive boulevards; the Gare Saint-Lazare; and the views and bridges along the Seine River.
Archives
Religious Art and Architecture in Colonial Latin America
The hybridization of indigenous and European arts in the colonial Americas can best be viewed through the lens of religious art and architecture from the Viceroyalties of New Spain and Peru. The fusion of European and indigenous beliefs and aesthetics, and how these melded into a new style, can be viewed in architecture, retablos (altarpieces), oratorios (oratories), and paintings. Images such as the Virgin of Guadalupe and the cornstalk Christ.
Mapas and Codices: Manuscripts in Ancient and Colonial Mexico
Writing has a long history in Mesoamerica from the early writing system of the Formative Period Olmec culture to the Aztec manuscripts of the early Colonial period. Less than 100 Mixtec and Aztec manuscripts are known from the pre-Hispanic and early Colonial periods that indicate the role of writing both before, during, and after the conquest of New Spain. This talk explores the Mixtec and Aztec manuscripts of the late pre-Hispanic and early Colonial periods, including an analysis of naming and writing conventions, toponyms, and their function as legal documents.
Ancient American Empires: The Art of the Inka and Aztec
In the early sixteenth century, the Spanish conquistadors arrived in Mesoamerica and South America in search of wealth and fame. What they found, though, were the highly complex empires of the Mexica (now known as the Aztec) of Mesoamerica and the Inka of South America. Through their sensationalized writings, the Spanish left a legacy of misunderstandings and misinformation about these ancient American cultures. By using first-hand accounts and objects from the VMFA’s collection, this talk engages with sixteenth-century colonial accounts and considers them from the view of the Mexica and Inka.
Turquoise, Jade, Shell, and Feathers (oh my!): Materiality in the Ancient Americas
For Ancient American cultures, such as the Maya and the Inka, the materiality of the artwork held important significance. Materials like jade, turquoise, feathers, spondylus, gold, silver, and textiles were highly prized because of their association with life-giving forces, such as water, the sky, the sun, and the moon. Using examples from the VMFA’s collection, this talk explores how materiality in the Ancient Americas informs the artwork’s meaning.
The Fabergé Obsession: Romance, Revolution, and Russian Decorative Arts
Why are so many people fascinated with Fabergé’s creations and the last days of the Russian empire? The imperial eggs are worth millions and the craftsmanship of Fabergé’s creations is remarkable, but perhaps the stories of opulence, revolution, and death associated with these works are the hooks that best catch our interest. This PowerPoint talk explores how VMFA’s collection of Russian Decorative Art evokes remembrances of a vanished era.
Group Playmaking aka Devised Theatre
Did you know you can make a wildly original play without starting with a script? Commonly called “devised theatre,” this theatre form is a way of collectively authoring a new play using the input and contributions of all participants. These contributions can be in the form of written text, myths, physical choreography, research, props, music, and much more. We will explore a subset of these methods and also have an introduction to physical theatre which is often used to generate material for original plays.
You Have What it Takes to Be a Performance Artist
What the heck IS performance art? Is it visual art? Theatre? Social Experiment? Performance art is expansive and seems to defy easy definition, and yet it’s the biggest movement in the art world in the last 100 years. In this introductory workshop, we will first take a video voyage through the history of the form and then recreate some iconic pieces. The workshop will culminate in the group creating an original site-specific (and possibly public) performance art piece.
Write a Brand New Play All in One Day!
This workshop is an introduction to the art and craft of playwriting. We will read one short masterpiece of theatre together out loud, and follow with a facilitated discussion of its narrative and story structure, ideas and motifs, and its special world. You will be guided through several warm-up writing exercises and then we will all write very short plays and take turns reading them out loud.
Learn to Frame Your Own Artwork!
Having your art framed at a retail establishment can be extremely costly!
In this comprehensive workshop you will learn to mount, cut mats, frame, and present your fine art with professional archival techniques. All tools and supplies, mount, mat, and frame are provided for you to frame your 5 x 7 or smaller work of art on paper in an 11 x 14 format. Additionally, instruction will be provided for framing works on canvas and/or panels. Participants also receive a full packet of information about all of the materials, processes, terms and resources used in framing and presenting art.
This is a full day workshop (6 to 8 hours) with an enrollment limit of eight participants.