Art History and Medical Education

Small Moments of Change: Medical Humanitieses
An interview conducted with Art History Chair Jeanette Kohl by Katherine Miller

With the introduction of consistent and effective medical practices in the 1900s patients lived longer, healthier lives. But with the onset of WWI, medical staff encountered a new challenge: patients who survived the trauma of face mutilation but were unable to look at themselves in a mirror. Doctor and academy trained artist Henry Tonks found a solution in using watercolors to paint new representations of his patients. Through his art he was able to create beautiful, touching renditions of their disfigurements, and his patients were able to look at themselves for the first time.

Dr. Jeanette Kohl uses this historic example to show how the humanities can foster human connection. Professor Kohl—Chair of the Art History Department at UCR, and passionate art historian with an interest in the history of the body as well as Renaissance portraiture and sculpture—supports creating more inclusive programs linking the humanities and sciences. Last December she organized “Vesalius and His Worlds: Medical Illustrations during the Renaissances” at The Huntington. She explains how this conference brought together people who were interested in the subject from a collecting point of view, a visual point of view, and an academic point of view. Read More

Long Night of Arts and Innovation

The Long Night of Arts & Innovation showcases Riverside’s exceptional talent in the arts, the performing arts, science and technology, and the culinary arts & sciences. Between 5 p.m. and midnight, you will have a chance to see more than 130 world-class projects, all in several venues throughout Downtown Riverside, including UCR ARTSblock.

Support has been provided by UCR College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (CHASS) and the City of Riverside

Melanie Nakaue: Eclipses

July 27, 2015 @ 6:00 pm – October 17, 2015 @ 6:00 pm

Culver Center of the Arts

Melanie Nakaue’s Eclipses is a multi-channel video installation comprised of a series of experimental animations. Through an amalgamation of collages,digital graphics, and stop motion animation, Nakaue depicts a disjunction between psychological and physical entities associated with “eclipses.” For this presentation at the Culver Center of the Arts, the idea of an “eclipse” is manifested through explorations of physical dimensions associated with layering and shadows. Nakaue unites these elements to illustrate the liminal space of passing between two states of being, consciousness and the unconscious.

Jeanette Kohl, chair of the Department of the History of Art, gave the commencement speech at UCR’s partner university in Germany, Friedrich-Alexander-Universitaet (FAU) Erlangen-Nuremberg.

Kohl was invited by FAU’s chair of the art history department, Professor Christina Strunck. The visit was part of an ongoing collaboration between the two universities. The partnership began in 2013, after a graduate student workshop with faculty and students from FAU in Riverside. Kohl and another UCR art history professor, Kris Neville, took a group of seven graduate students on a summer study trip abroad to the German university in 2014. Read more

The Art History Association, 1st Annual Tea

May 28, 2015 @ 2:30 pm – 4:30 pm, HUB 269

Leslie Paprocki, Museum Careers In The 21st Century: Insight From The Inside

June 3, 2015 @ 5:00 pm ARTS 333

Born and raised in Buffalo, New York and transplanted to Southern California at age 8, she has been captivated by the power of museums from a young age. Trips to art museums, historical houses and centers, parks, and other cultural attractions pepper the landscape of her childhood memories and in turn dictated her educational path. In pursuit of her passion for the history of art, she completed a Bachelor’s degree, Magna Cum Laude, in Art History and Administrative Studies and a Master’s degree in the History of Art, both from the University of California, Riverside.