OPP: MESDA SUMMER INSTITUTE to focus on Charleston

MESDA SUMMER INSTITUTE EARLY SOUTHERN MATERIAL CULTURE & DECORATIVE ARTS

THE CAROLINA LOWCOUNTRY: Charleston, Atlantic Port City

July 5 – 29, 2011

The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts is accepting applications from graduate students, decorative arts professionals, and independent scholars for the 35th MESDA Summer Institute.  The 2011 Summer Institute explores the material culture of the Carolina Low Country, with a focus on Charleston as an Atlantic port city.

Dr. Louis Nelson, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Architectural History, University of Virginia, is the 2011 UVA Resident Scholar. Professor Nelson teaches courses in American architecture specializing in colonial and early national architecture, vernacular architecture, and theories and methods of sacred space. The Beauty of Holiness, his most recent book, examines the ways Anglican churches in colonial South Carolina, the nexus of many social landscapes, express regional identity, social politics, and divergent theologies of the sacred.

In addition to Dr. Nelson, guest lecturers include leading scholars in American material culture and Chesapeake history.  The program’s month-long curriculum includes lectures, discussions, workshops, artifact studies, research projects, and a six-day study trip to Charleston, South Carolina.

The MESDA Summer Institute is a partnership between the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts and the University of Virginia’s Graduate Program in the History of Art and Architecture.   Students receive three hours of graduate credit through the University of Virginia.

COSTS AND HOUSING: Tuition for the 2011 Summer Institute is $2,000.00*.  Financial aid is available to qualified graduate students and museum professionals.  Students are responsible for housing and some meal expenses. Dormitory accommodation is available on the campus of Salem College, near the Institute center at MESDA. Double occupancy rooms are $465.00* for the four weeks. (Single supplement: $150.00). The cost for accommodations on the six-day study trip will be approximately $445 (double occupancy)*

*All costs are subject to change.

Applications are due April 20, 2011.

For more information – and an application – visit the 2011 Summer Institute website http://www.MESDA.org/SI

Or contact Sally Gant at SGant@oldsalem.org / 336-721-7361

Author: Camara Dia Holloway

I am an art historian specializing in early twentieth century American art with particular focus on the history of photography, race and representation, and transatlantic modernist networks. I earned my PhD at Yale University in the History of Art Department. Besides my leadership role as the Founding Co-Director of the Association for Critical Race Art History (ACRAH), I am recognized for my expertise on African American Art, particularly African American Photography, and as a seasoned consultant for exhibitions, museum collections, and symposia/lectures planning. View all posts by Camara Dia Holloway