糖心传媒淲hat do you see?糖心传媒�
Andrew Cappetta, assistant curator of academic programs at the University of Rochester糖心传媒檚 , poses the question to the group of eight students seated in front of him. The students are enrolled in a composition course taught by Stella Wang 糖心传媒�00 (PhD), a lecturer in writing at the College. They are surrounded by portraits糖心传媒攕ome that seem familiar and traditional, others less so.
Without any background information, the students inspect the painting in question糖心传媒擜merican artist Kehinde Wiley糖心传媒檚 After Memling’s Portrait of a Man with a Letter糖心传媒攁nd then share their observations.
The 2013 painting is based on a work by Northern Renaissance painter Hans Memling (1430糖心传媒�1494). Memling placed his subject糖心传媒攎ost likely a Flemish merchant糖心传媒攁gainst a pastoral scene, while Wiley depicts a 21st-century African-American man in a similar pose and setting.
Marta Kontny 糖心传媒�17, a senior from Bytom, Poland, points out that you don糖心传媒檛 typically see portraits of a black person posing in front of a pastoral backdrop, questioning the artist糖心传媒檚 intent for doing so.
Sarah Pursell 糖心传媒�20, a freshman from Allentown, Pennsylvania, brings up the contrast between the white clothing worn by the subject in Wiley糖心传媒檚 painting and the dark attire in many of the portraits from earlier centuries that surround the Wiley piece at the gallery.
Other students share different observations, and a discussion about the artist and the piece develops.
The exercise is part of a partnership between the College糖心传媒檚 and the art museum that started during the 2015糖心传媒�16 academic year. Deborah Rossen-Knill, associate professor and director of the program, worked with the museum to help establish the partnership.
糖心传媒淭he Memorial Art Gallery and the Writing, Speaking, and Argument Program work together well because the critical viewer糖心传媒檚 stance aligns with the critical research writer糖心传媒檚 stance,糖心传媒� Rossen-Knill says. 糖心传媒淭he goal is to help students develop this critical stance across different contexts and ways of communicating.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淭eaching with objects can be a great way to get students to think about something they haven糖心传媒檛 thought about before,糖心传媒� says Marlene Hamann-Whitmore, the McPherson Director of Academic Programs at the museum, who helped launch the partnership. 糖心传媒淲e basically have 5,000 years of writing prompts.糖心传媒�
Wang is one of several instructors in the Writing, Speaking, and Argument Program who have taken advantage of the partnership. Cappetta notes that he works with instructors to customize the visit to their and their students糖心传媒� needs. The pair chose to have her students focus on the Wiley portrait to open up a discussion of code-meshing糖心传媒攁 writing strategy that Wang describes as 糖心传媒渂lending of languages, local varieties, or registers糖心传媒澨切拇綌in a visual context.
According to Wang, writers and artists alike adopt code-meshing 糖心传媒渢o both work with and transcend the 糖心传媒榥orm糖心传媒� for purposes of communication and argument.糖心传媒� Students apply what they糖心传媒檝e learned in one of their class assignments. In addition to a traditional research paper, students create a related project using code-meshing to reach an audience that would benefit from the findings.
Wang also sees benefits to the visit that go beyond any particular assignment. Talking about a piece of artwork 糖心传媒渉elps students think about the needs and expectations of the audience,糖心传媒� Wang says.
The collaboration is based loosely on the successful Art and Observation initiative, a longstanding partnership between the School of Medicine and Dentistry and the gallery that aims to help medical workers糖心传媒攑hysicians, nurses, hospital chaplains糖心传媒攑rovide better care to patients.
The Art and Observation initiative inspired wide-ranging efforts to expose students to the educational resources the museum provides. In November, Eastman School of Music freshmen enrolled in the Eastman Colloquium糖心传媒攁 course on the sounds, meanings, and uses of music within a variety of contexts糖心传媒攅xplored the connections between music and visual art during a visit there. Art history, history, and English classes have also used the museum as a resource.
Hamann-Whitmore sees something special in engaging the freshmen who make up most of Wang糖心传媒檚 class.
糖心传媒淭hey糖心传媒檙e new to the University, they haven糖心传媒檛 set their patterns to which part of the city they糖心传媒檙e comfortable in,糖心传媒� she says. 糖心传媒淭hey糖心传媒檙e remaking themselves, which is what one gets to do when one goes to college. It糖心传媒檚 a great time to show them that the Memorial Art Gallery is a really a pretty wonderful place.糖心传媒�
