Art history students show talent at Symposium
Melinda Latham, Daily Staff Writer
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The event, coordinated by the Art History Association, was designed to allow art history students to share their research with others in their discipline, as well as any others interested in the history of art, said Peter Wilson, a multimedia graduate student and president of the association.
"We're trying to reach out to other students and educate them about culture, and the way [artists] have influence over the culture," Wilson said.
The Art History Association began recruiting talent for the symposium in the fall from all public universities in California, said Anne Simonson, associate director of the School of Art and Design at San Jose State University. Simonson was responsible for the first symposium the department held, and she said that students from California State University and University of California systems, as well as Santa Clara University and local community colleges, have benefited from the event.
"It's just been a success since then," she said. "They can see there's a future in art history."
Seven undergraduate and graduate students came from SJSU, Sonoma State University, UC Davis and Cal State Los Angeles. Each presented a topic based on a paper they had submitted to the association. Topics covered included "The Universe in a Grain of Sand: Tibetan Sand Mandalas," presented in a lecture by Brid Arthur, a UC Davis graduate student.
"I thought of art as a very specific thing, but mandalas changed my mind," she said.
Arthur showed slides of Buddhist monks creating an Akshobya mandala, an art piece created with colored sand in intricate designs according to a specific pattern. The head monk draws "energy axes" to create the geometric framework for the mandala, and monks work for several days to design it. The monks are then to meditate on the design of the mandala. Once a few days have passed, the head monk breaks the energy axes and some of the sand is poured into vials, but the majority is dumped into running water. The mandala is considered finished only after it has been destroyed.
The lack of innovation and temporary nature of the mandala challenged Arthur's perception of art.
"It's contrary to the word art in every way that we mean it," Arthur said.
Not only did the lectures discuss art pieces, but also perceptions of artistry. In "The Myth of Ancient Egyptian Beauty," Angelica Muro discussed her research of the prevalence of cosmetics and beautifying rituals in ancient Egyptian society.
"I found myself immersed in a society of grace, elegance, beauty and sophistication," Muro said.
Egyptian men and women, in the time of the Pharaohs, would use cosmetics, wigs, and fragrances to beautify themselves, she said. Figurines of women also showed the ideal female body type, usually slender and narrow-hipped.
"The ideal is perhaps as unattainable as current feminine fashion," Muro said.
Other lectures included SJSU student Kathleen Follis's "Evolution of the Griffin Motif from Scythian Art," which explored how the griffin - a lion with a bird's head - came from the ancient central Asian Scythian culture and moved to the Celtic cultures and eventually modern culture.
"Van Gogh and the Influence of Japanese Prints," presented by Sonoma State senior Brooke Krystosek, explored how the post-impressionist artist Vincent Van Gogh was heavily influenced by ancient Japanese prints, of which he owned several hundred.
Some students said the lectures piqued their curiosity.
Jeff Ho, a senior marketing major, said he was particularly interested in the mandalas.
"I learned a lot of stuff," he said. "I wanted to know - how did they color the sand? How did they correct mistakes?"
Simonson said she enjoyed the diversity of subjects.
"There's a combination of Western art and world art," she said, adding that, as a discipline, "Art history was created by a bunch of 19th century German men going to Italy to study renaissance art. That really established how the field developed. (But) everything is important-multiple perspectives, multiple cultures. Some things connect humans in all cultures."
