A colloquium presented by UM Art Department
This two-day, interdisciplinary colloquium organized by the Department of Art brings together scholars, experts, and students from the UM community and beyond to explore blue ideas, materials, and spaces, from medieval literature to early modern painting to local waterways to Caribbean islands. The colloquium features faculty research and creative endeavor, students’ art installations and research projects, and guest lectures to put into context our community’s blue experiences and to provoke creative thinking about the nature of blue.
Location: Merchants & Planters Bank Auditorium, Humanities Hall
This event is free and open to the public.
Individuals needing disability-related accommodations during this event should contact the host department or Access and Compliance (205.665.6250, AAC@thisvictoriahasnosecrets.com) as early as possible. Efforts will be made to accommodate all access requests regardless of timing, but the University cannot guarantee that requests made with less than one week’s notice can be met.
Participants are members of the University of Montevallo faculty unless otherwise noted.
Schedule of Events
Thursday, March 5, 2020
| 2:00 pm | Coffee, Merchants & Planters Bank Auditorium Humanities Hall |
| 2:20 pm | Welcome |
| 2:30-4:00 pm |
Session I: The Nature of Blue “The Philosophy of Color,” Stefan Forrester, Associate Professor of Philosophy and English, Department of English and Foreign Languages “The Google Earth Blue Marble Blues,” Amy Feger, Artist and Instructor, Department of Art “Black and Blue: The Bruises and Blessings of Coal along Alabama’s Waterways,” James S. Day, Michael J. Grainger Professor in Modern History, Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences |
| 5:00 pm | Reception and Artists’ Talk, AZUL/BLUE Bloch Hall Gallery Introduction by Karen Graffeo, Professor, Department of Art Talk by Susan Sechler Luss and Tatico Cuban |
Friday, March 6
| 9:30 am | Coffee, Merchants & Planters Bank Auditorium, Humanities Hall |
| 10:00-11:00 am |
Session II: The Blue in Between “Rivers as Liminal Spaces in Late Medieval Public Poetry,” Valerie B. Johnson, Assistant Professor of English, Department of English and Foreign Languages “Blue Earth in/between Sea and Sky in Early Modern Italian Paintings,” Catherine Walsh, Assistant Professor of Art History, Department of Art |
| 11:00-11:30 am | Gallery Walk & Talk, Cahaba River Watershed Project Bloch Hall, ground floor Scott Stephens, Professor, Department of Art Lee Somers, Associate Professor, Department of Art Elisabeth Pellathy, Assistant Professor of New Media, Department of Art and Art History, University of Alabama at Birmingham |
| 11:30-1:00 pm | Lunch (on your own) |
| 1:00-2:00 pm |
Session III: Blue Fiction “Sea as Blue as the Bluest Cornflower: Land, Sea, and the Agency of the Uncanny Body in Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid”,” Samantha Webb, Professor of English, Department of English and Foreign Languages “Finding Hydra,” Lee Rozelle, Professor of English, Department of English and Foreign Languages |
| 2:00-3:30 pm |
Session IV: Teaching & Learning Blue “AZZA: Cross-disciplinary explorations between art and zoology,” Kelly Wacker, Professor of Art History, Department of Art, and Katharine Murray, BS’20, Art “Blue in Environmental Studies: art, adventure, and advocacy,” Susan Caplow, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, with Sierra Bobo, BS ’21, Environmental Studies, and Hunter Watson, BS ’20, Environmental Studies “Folk History Surrounding Alabama Waters,” Sara Walley, BA ‘20, History |
| 3:30-5:00 pm |
Roundtable: Past, Present, and Future of Local Water Resources David Butler, Riverkeeper and Staff Attorney, Cahaba Riverkeeper |
| 5:30-7:00 pm |
Keynote Lecture “Confounding Mastery in Early Modern Wetlands,” Hillary Eklund, Provost Distinguished Professor, Loyola University New Orleans |
