“All that I desire to point out is the general principle
that Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life, and I feel
sure that if you think seriously about it you will find that it is
true. ”
— Oscar Wilde, The Decay of Lying
My focus is on non Euro-centric art, pop art, the functional uses of art, sound and music in art, and the visual arts of performance and cinematic traditions.
Previous research topics have included:
the role of art in the formation of the National Parks Service
the reflection of the cold war in pop media
the role of women in the revolutionary musics of Zimbabwe
the role of music in Piet Mondrian's abstract art
the way music is represented in image by Winslow Homer in his early engravings
how Indigenous-Canadian performance art is reacting to Canadian “reconciliation”
I have completed a music minor with a focus in ethnomusicology and have been fortunate to work with talented musicians and researchers in that field. Ethnomusicology presents art history with questions such as:
How do we consider the treatment of instruments in museum spaces? (Are instruments in museum collections still playable? Is maintaining functionality part of preservation?)
Is wear and tear through function an important consideration of these ascetically valuable objects?
How do we convey the objects as not only visual but auditory and performative?
What role does sound and/or music play in art?