News - June 06, 2008

The heat is on: FIA grads work towards symposium during summer session

Christ Among the Doctors, 1506, Albrecht Dürer

What does it mean to be a FIA grad student at SU Florence during the summer?  Once the undergraduate students have left at the end of the spring semester, the month-long May break finds the grads working harder than ever, luxuriating only in the fact that they have the library all to themselves to prepare for their June preliminary presentations to the Symposium Committee, made up of SUF Director Barbara Deimling, Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Florence Rab Hatfield, and Coordinator of the Art History Department, Jonathan Nelson. The over-arching topic for the fall 2008 symposium has been finalized, and the push is on to define and tighten individual research topics over the summer.

Gone are the endless summer days filled with dozens of opportunities in which to spend free time—SU Florence grads are expected to continue working at an intensive level even during the summer break. Says Kellin Barlow-Wilcox, “A ‘break’ in our case means five to six hours of research a day instead of twelve. I am not sure we have even realized that it is now the summer session.”

The grads are excited about this year’s chosen symposium topic, intriguingly entitled “Gestures in Italian Renaissance Art.” Hatfield says he is “quite pleased with this very interesting topic, which involves many fascinating images. The students could well be breaking new ground.”

Nelson adds, “The analysis of gestures in art offers viewers invaluable and fascinating insights into the meanings of images, and into the societies that produced them. The positions of hands, in particular, allow us to explore how artists conveyed messages in their works. Two thumbs up for this topic!”

The grads will have a short break to rest and regroup however, during the SU Florence closing for the first three weeks of August. Plans are varied, with some students remaining in Florence while others will make a visit home, or take advantage of the time to travel in Europe. Graduate student Clark Marshall says he will be in Nice, France “living and studying French—then it’s back to Florence for the new semester.”

The 2008 FIA graduate symposium is scheduled to take place on December 12, at the SU Florence campus.

SUF Patrons summertime jazz and cocktails under the stars

Step into an evening of delights with the upcoming second annual Patrons Jazz & Cocktails. Jazz, sparkling prosecco, and cocktails will be paired with a catered buffet under the stars in the lovely SUF garden on June 12. Come celebrate the beginning of summer with SUF Patrons, faculty, and staff.