[writing in progress - paper proposal accepted - 2024 SECAC Conference, formerly Southeastern College Art Conference to be held in October 23-26, 2024.] "Chicana Guilt and Visual Pleasure in Paintings and Drawings by Adan Hernandez."
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[awarded May 2024] 2024 LEAP into Action Grant Proposal. “The 2024 Hispanic Heritage Month Art Exhibition: art history meets skills training through experiential learning.”
This project merges art history education with skills training and pioneers a new teaching model. It integrates the acquisition of art historical knowledge with the application of practical skills to create an art exhibition honoring Hispanic Heritage Month. This initiative aims to enhance appreciation and understanding of students of Latin American descent, who make up 16.3% of the total University of North Georgia student population. A key goal is to provide UNG students with a comprehensive educational experience that prepares them for employment upon graduation.
Students will explore well-known traditions and established artists in Mexican, Chicano, and Latino art history alongside unfamiliar artwork entries from the invitational exhibition Roots, and they will be encouraged to draw parallels between them. They will demonstrate their findings through class presentations called “curatorial integrations” and “deep dive integrations,” connecting information from lectures and readings with themes, styles, and contexts detectable in the exhibition entries. Having established these parallels, they will write substantial and well-supported curatorial statements, artwork entries, and speeches to be presented in the exhibition space. Meanwhile, workshop-style class meetings will provide students with the hands-on training necessary to produce an art exhibition.
[project direction - upcoming] Roots - 2024 Hispanic Heritage Month Art Exhibition.
Library and Technology Center, University of North Georgia, October 1-November 21, 2024.
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[project coordination in progress] 2024 Bayeux Tapestry Replica Exhibit, College of Arts and Letters, University of North Georgia, September 14-19, 9 am-3 pm.
2024 Bayeux Tapestry Replica Exhibit, College of Arts and Letters,
University of North Georgia,
September 14-19, 9 am-3 pm.
A free audio-tour will be available to guide visitors along the 224 feet-long Bayeux Tapestry Replica and its rich historical narrative. An electronic device with internet access and headphones, such as a phone or tablet, is needed to access the audio-tour. For large groups who request it, in-person docents will be available.
Texts for the audio-tour were written by my students in Spring 2024 ART 3500 Visual Literacy and Communication, and will be recorded by Dr. Brian Corrigan, Senior Professor of Renaissance Literature at the University of North Georgia. Students in Fall 2024 ART 3500 Visual Literacy and Communication will serve as in-person docents for visiting groups.
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[manuscript in progress - this project is the corollary of the research publicly presented on April 2nd, 2024.]
"William Price's legacy and Dahlonega’s Historic Baptist Church of 1897: history, material culture, and symbolism"
co-authored by Reagan Smith and Ana Pozzi Harris
This essay investigates the Historic Baptist Church of 1897 located in Dahlonega, Georgia, a building whose exterior is well preserved, while its interior needs historic restoration. The building's significance lies in its link to the shared histories of the Dahlonega Baptist Church and the University of North Georgia, established in 1873 under the name North Georgia Agricultural College (NGAC). Our essay seeks to further establish the structure’s architectural and historical importance with the goal of noting its needed preservation. We discuss surviving documents associated with the building’s origins, namely those authored by Col. William P. Price (1835-1908), the chairman of the Baptist church’s board and the first president of the NGAC Board of Trustees. These documents reveal the reasons why Price advocated for a new building to replace the wooden Old Baptist Church of 1841. According to him, a new structure built in solid brick and beautifully decorated would enhance the congregations’ ability to save Dahlonega from moral decay, while also serving as a religious beacon for NGAC’s students and faculty. Other documents discussed provide information about the costly construction materials used, revealing how Price perceived material culture as evidence of the congregation’s moral progress. We then consider the building's architectural style in the context of Gothic Revival southern rural churches, and especially in connection to another local Gothic Revival building funded by Col. Price: the Administration Building of NGAC (now Price Memorial), an iconic building at UNG and in Dahlonega. Finally, we investigate the memorial windows preserved in the church interior, considering the persons whose names are inscribed in stained-glass and their connection to the history of the Dahlonega Baptist Church and NGAC. With this background, an interpretation about the windows’ symbolism in space emerges, suggesting that interconnected materials and architectural elements reveal the Price family’s wish to firmly inscribe itself in church and college history.
Some photos of the building. All photos by Reagan Smith.
Façade of Historic Baptist Church of 1987, Dahlonega, Georgia.
Façade Window. View from interior of Historic Baptist Church of 1897. Stained-glass.
Sainted Mothers Memorial Windows in interior of Historic Baptist Church of 1897. ca. 1897. Stained-glass.
Lewis Memorial Window in interior of Historic Baptist Church of 1897. ca. 1897. Stained-glass.
Price Memorial Windows in interior of Historic Baptist Church of 1897. Left: Martha Price. Right: William P. Price. 1910. Stained-glass.
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