Summer School 2016

Michelle Apotsos, Assistant Professor of Art
Class format: lecture
What are the implications of identifying an artist as “Unknown” or using the name of a cultural group in the place of an individual artist? Further, what are the politics of identifying a contemporary artist in a way that they contest? Unpack the politics of identity and identification within the shifting roles of African artists from past to present in African Art Against the State.

Get physical as sound artist Crank Sturgeon amplifies the sounds of a live Badminton game. Take part in the game or kick back and listen.

Luana Maroja, Assistant Professor of Biology
Class format: Lecture
Consider the scientific role that animal coloration plays in natural and sexual selection. Using the now extinct Passenger Pigeon as a start, we will trace the story of how scientific and public acceptance of natural and sexual selection changed over time.

What happens when characters from WCMA’s collection leave the museum walls and sit down to dinner? Grab a bite and find out as the conversation unfolds across centuries and continents with Williamstown Theatre Festival actors!

Stephen Sheppard, Class of 2012 Professor of Economics
Class format: Lecture
How do Museum exhibitions and installations impact the art market? Contemplate the intersections between museum and market, aesthetics and economics and contextualize these theories within WCMA’s walls.

Get moving to the beat with Latin Dance instructor Alan Franco.

Emilie Boone, Mellon Curatorial Fellow
Class format: lecture
Whether a family snapshot, a document of political trauma, or a visual tool of cultural triumph, every photograph tells a story. The story, though, is far from fixed. How do those stories change over time and how can we account for their shifting meanings?

Perfect your putt with the help of a pro-golfer on our artist-designed mini-golf course on the patio.

Christina Simko, Assistant Professor of Sociology
Class format: Lecture
It isn’t just propaganda that promulgates state agendas. Think through the many ways that art reproduces, resists, or reformulates cultural and political narratives. Delve into works of art from African Art Against the State and put them into conversation with politically significant American art.

Williamstown Theatre Festival actors bring WCMA’s collection to life in this trip through the galleries.

Katarzyna Pieprzak, Chair and Professor of Francophone Literature, French Language, and Comparative Literature
Class format: Workshop
Museums constantly make decisions about objects and their reception. Which work gets shared? What is displayed alongside it? How are objects written about and analyzed? These decisions impact the way that works of art, knowledge, and even people have been organized over time. Consider the implications of these decisions by creatively re-crafting WCMA and its taxonomies.

Get a taste of the role science plays in your kitchen. Artist and chef Lexa Walsh cooks up some surprises on our patio.

David Gurçay-Morris, Assistant Professor of Theatre
Class format: Performance
Can art be democratic? Should it be? Is culture the result of a popularity contest, or should some individuals be chosen to represent us and curate our cultural experience? Players will grapple with these, and other questions as they craft their own aesthetic worlds in this immersive performance.

Make new friends and some friendly minimalist art with crochet artist Seth Koen. Pick up some yarn, a few new skills, and create a collective work of art on the patio.

Deborah Brothers, Costume Designer and Lecturer in Theatre
Class format: workshop

Chemistry Professor Thomas Smith and local beer brewer Sam Amoroso team up to show you how and why beer tastes as good as it does. Finish off the evening on our patio with a glass of homebrew.