D ivision of H istorical and Critical Studies 2011 N ew sletter

Division of Historical and Critical Studies 2011 Newsletter
V OLUME 2 M ARCH 12, 2012

N EWSLETTER - DIVISION OF H ISTORICAL AND CRITICAL STUDIES
MessageFrom
the Chair
It has been a busy year for the Division of Historical and Critical Studies.
In addition to the faculty and student achievements a new non-studio
transfer Bachelor of Arts in Art History was approved. The first students
will enter the program in September 2012.
My term as Chair of the Division ends on July 1, 2012 when Dr. Marylin
McKay will resume her familiar role as Chair. I would like to take this
opportunity to thank my colleagues for making my tenure as Chair a
pleasant one.
Thank you,
Sandra Alfoldy

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Sandra
Marylin
David
Alfoldy
McKay
Dr. Marylin McKay was on sabbatical from January until June of
2011. Dr. McKay spent most of her sabbatical researching in Washington,
DC which resulted in an article on Walt Whitman that has
been accepted for the Walt Whitman Quarterly at Iowa State University
This article was noted by the publisher as “outstanding scholarship.”
( Dr. McKay received an internal NSCAD-SSHRC grant for
this research ).
Marylin is very happy to have her most recent publication appear this
past May called, Picturing the Land and is continuing research on a
second volume of landscape art.
Howard
Dr. Sandra Alfoldy’s new book The
Allied Arts: Architecture and Craft
in Postwar Canada will be published
by McGill-Queen’s University
Press in 2012. She is the recipient
of the SSHRC/NSCAD Faculty
Research Award for her new project
exploring the relationships between
popular culture and craft.
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Dr. David Brian Howard has been very busy in 2011 writing and submitting articles for publication.
David submitted an experimental text, ARSON/ART: A Manifesto, to the Eyelevel 5 Reshelving Initiative
at the Eyelevel Gallery. This Manifesto is also a forthcoming publication in the journal Politics
and Culture.

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David will be seeing two other articles printed in forthcoming publications: (2012): “Progress in an
Age of Rigor Mortis?: Canada’s Expo ‘67 and the Triumph of American Liberalism,” (excerpted from
Gnawing on Skulls: Allegory in the Age of the American Empire, Volume I), in Left Curve. Number
36 and (2013): “Compãnero,” (from the Introduction to The Golgotha Hole: Allegory in the Age of the
American Empire, Volume II), Left Curve. Number 37.
Jayne
Wark
Dr. Jayne Wark was still occupied with the exhibition
Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada 1965-80.
Jayne was thrilled to see it installed in Halifax
from March 18-May 8 at the four university galleries:
Anna Leonowens, Dalhousie Art Gallery,
Mount Saint Vincent Art Gallery and Saint Mary’s
University Art Gallery. In conjunction with the
exhibition, Tonia Di Risio and she organized the
one-day symposium, Traffic in Halifax – A Symposium
on Conceptual Art. Jayne is very pleased
to announce that Traffic will be going to the
Badischer Kunstverein in Karlsruhe, Germany in
2013 after it finishes its Canadian tour.
Secondly, in February Jayne gave a talk for Concordia
University’s Speaking of Photography series
called “Serious Art Is only Made in Black and
White: Photography in Conceptual Art in Canada.”
Thirdly, Jayne attended the New York Art Book
Fair at the end of September, where she participated
on a panel discussion marking the launch of
two publications on Martha Wilson, one of which

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is the Dalhousie University exhibition catalogue,
Martha Wilson: Staging the Self, which
included her essay, “Martha Wilson: Not Taking
It at Face Value.”
Bruce
Dr. Bruce Barber was on sabbatical part of the 2011 year spending six weeks in Germany where he
toured galleries, museums and archives in Leipzig, Berlin, Weimar, Dessau, Dresden, Hamburg and
finally in Copenhagen, Denmark. In Leipzig he was invited to Braunschweig to meet with the President
of Braunschweig University of Art, the second largest art school in Germany to discuss cooperation
and exchange programs between our two institutions.
Bruce has been working on a forthcoming book of his essays “Littoral Art & Communicative Action.”
He has published several articles in 2011 including “One day like no other” an essay for Debra
Philips’ Exhibition catalogue from her Anna Leonowens Gallery Exhibition; “Alchemy, Abjection
Allegory: Andrew Drummond’s Performance 1973-1983” in Andrew Drummond Observation/ Action/Reflection
edited by Jennifer Hay Christchurch Art Gallery, 2010; “Giorgio Agamben’s Homo
Sacer III and the Status of the Other” in Culture and Contestation in the New Century edited by Marc
James Léger. Intellect Books Bristol/ Chicago 2011 and “Cultural Interventions in the Public Sphere”
translated by Bálint Szombathy Magyar Műhely Budapest art magazine.
Exhibitions:
Barber
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“Traffic: Conceptual Art in Canada 1968-1980” Barnicke Gallery, Toronto Curated by Barbara
Fisher, Grant Arnold, Jayne Wark Traveling through 2010-2011
“Save As Art” Art & Documentation exhibition curated by Curated by Karolina Jablonska & Anka
Lesniak Imaginarium Gallery Lodz, Poland, April- May 2011
Presentation at Roma Pavilion 3rd June 2011 Web Launch of the Roma Media Archive UNESCO,
Palazzo Zorzi, Castello 4930 – Venezia. 3rd June 2011
Tell Me Tell Me SECRETS National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul, Korea 8 Nov 2011 –
19 Feb 2012

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Anna Leonowens Gallery I and 1a A New Work from the International Collaborative Project UFT
With Kim Morgan Paul Cullen, Laresa Kosloff Andy Thomson Bruce Barber Andrew Burton .
Max
Haiven
Dr. Max Haiven is a new professor with the Division of Historical and Critical Studies and a very
vigorous writer. In August, Max published an article in the journal Cultural Critique titled "Are Your
Children Old Enough to Learn about May ’68?: Recalling the Radical Event, Refracting Utopia and
Commoning Memory” and in September published an article in the journal Social Text titled
"Finance as Capital’s Imagination?: Reimagining Value and Culture in an Age of Fictitious Capital
and Crisis".
Max presented two papers in October with the first one at the Mobility Shifts International Future of
Learning Summit at the New School in New York on a panel titled "Mobilizing the Shift: Edu-Factory
and The Struggle Over Knowledge in An Age of Cognitive Capitalism". The second presentation was
a paper titled "Abject finance: Wal-Mart and the Unbankables" at the Canadian Association for
Cultural Studies meeting in Montreal.
CarlaTaunton
Dr. Carla Taunton completed her PhD from Queen’s University in Indigenous Visual Culture in the
Art Department in the Fall of 2011. Since arriving to NSCAD Carla spearheaded the organization of
the Aboriginal Outreach initiative at the university and was appointed the Aboriginal Community Outreach
Coordinator.
Carla published several articles, such as “Curating Craft” with Catherine Hale in the Fall 2011 Craft
Journal and participated in several public lectures including “Jeff Thomas in Conversation with Carla
Taunton” at Dalhousie Art Gallery.

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Mary
MacLachlan
SarahAlford
Sarah Alford exhibited in Nelson, BC with Jennifer Bowes and Dee
Gibson at the Oxygen Art Centre, called “Upon Reflection”.
Sarah has also had an article accepted into the first issue of the
Journal of Artistic Research. The article, "Taking the Book Apart"
integrates her academic research on the Art and Crafts figure Ellen
Gates Starr and her personal art practice into a discussion that arose
out of and facilitated this art historical research. The article itself takes
both a textual and visual form and it also describes and is artistic
research.
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Every January Mary MacLachlan teaches two Renaissance
art history classes for the Halifax Humanities 101 program
held at the North Branch Public Library. Originating in
Manhattan in 1995, this program offers disadvantaged
adults a chance to study classic works of literature, philosophy
and art. Mary is one of 60 Halifax university professors
who volunteer in this extraordinary program, “…based
on the premise that riches of Humanities education and cultural
experiences should not be accessible only to those
with economic privilege. The course provides students with
the opportunity to acquire cultural knowledge, common to
other educated individuals and to develop their analytical conversational and writing skills.” (HH101
Prospectus) In 2011, Mary’s seventh year with the program, she was thrilled to have a HH101 graduate
join her 18th Century art history class at NSCAD University in the fall semester.
In anticipation of Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission’s approval for a non-studio transfer
program for students from other universities interested in art history, Historical and Critical Studies
needed a new course offering to explain how the discipline developed. Accordingly Mary spent the
summer of 2011 inventing an alternative to the standard ‘pyramids-to-Picasso’ survey that would instead
introduce students to art historical practice as well as its origins and theoretical foundation. The
goal of Introduction to Art History is to understand art history’s language, to develop analytical and
research skills, and to acquire practice in art historical writing. The class is now into a second semester
and going strong.
“Fence For a Flax Field” 2010

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Awards
Congratulations
Dr. Bruce Barber was nominated as an Honorary Professor at the Sydney College of Art University
of Sydney, Australia
Dr. Carla Taunton has been awarded the Queen’s University Alma Mater Society Anti-Oppression
Award. The award is presented to a faculty or staff member for exemplary commitment and initiative,
both inside and outside the classroom, towards fostering a more inclusive campus, community,
and society.
Donna Jean-Louis Livingston received a teaching award from the Canadian Society for Education
through Art in October at the National Conference.
Rajee P. Jejishergil (NSCAD graduate) procured an entrance scholarship to Concordia University
for her Masters in Art History.
Daniela Julie Hollenbach (NSCAD graduate) has received a full entrance scholarship to complete
her PhD at Queen’s University in Art History.
Please contact the office of Historical and Critical Studies
for more information on any of the faculty listed above or not mentioned.
Thank you,
Ken Rice (krice@nscad.ca)