Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0203 - LatinAmerican Art in Museums

In this museum studies course we investigate works of original art and material culture from the Americas, ancient to contemporary, in the Five College area in person. We experience works by artists such as Diego Rivera, Carmen Lomas Garza, and Rufino Tamayo as well as popular/material culture objects such as textile fragments, religious figurines, and ceramics. Defying a culture constantly propagating the rushed assimilation of images, we engage in slow and meaningful looking. We analyze works on public display and in museum study rooms, we consider the context surrounding objects -- exhibition models, ephemerality and disappearance, patronage, repatriation, authenticity and originality, museum pedagogy, archeological ethics -- as well as their historical contexts and curatorial uses. Approximately half of the course meetings take place at Five College museums for in-person looking, the other half of the course meetings occur at Hampshire College for discussion and presentations. Students travel by PVTA (not private car) in order to arrive at the museums. This is a speaking and writing intensive course; students create a portfolio of object labels, presentations, and group reports; by the end of the course participants author a scholarly text on one object from a Five College Museum.

Culture, Humanities, and Languages Independent Work Multiple Cultural Perspectives Writing and Research In this course, students can expect to spend 8-10 hours weekly on work and preparation outside of class time.