Shirlynn S
- Research Program Mentor
PhD at Yale University
Expertise
History of Art (global art history from Renaissance - present); History of science and technology from 19th century - present; theories of vision and perception; history of cinema; media studies
Bio
I am an art historian who has specialized in 19th- and 20-century European, British, and American art over the course of my doctoral degree. I have designed my own course curriculum and taught as a faculty member at two different universities. At Yale Summer School, I taught an accelerated introductory art history course, and at Johns Hopkins University, I taught an advanced undergraduate course titled "Art and Technology: 1800-present". I have also had publications accepted at peer-reviewed journals, and have given public talks on my research in the United States and Europe. I enjoy problem-solving of all kinds; I became an art historian because I viewed each work of art as a puzzle to be solved through the craft of language. In my free time, I enjoy German strategy board games. I am also passionate about language-learning, and travel.Project ideas
Curating a Virtual Exhibition Using Omeka and ArtSteps software
How do you tell a story using objects and sites? In this project, we will curate a virtual exhibition using the web-based Omeka software and the ArtSteps VR software. I will work with you to come up with a theme of your choice, which might be based on a particular historical phenomenon (e.g. the Industrial Revolution, the invention of photography, the development of screens), a particular artistic medium or site of display (e.g. the panorama, the medical lecture theater, sites of civil engineering), or a theme or motif that you trace through time (e.g. how visual representations of women have changed over time). I will guide you through writing a curatorial proposal, an introduction to an exhibition, a catalog essay, and catalog entries for each object you choose. We will use spatial reasoning to determine an ideal narrative strategy for your virtual gallery (e.g. placing a single object on a large wall to heighten narrative impact). We will also learn how to source objects from museum collections and archives. By the end of this project, you will have developed a cohesive visual argument about an issue you care about, and we can explore the different formats through which you can publicize your project.
Review a Museum Exhibition
How do you apply a critical eye to a museum exhibition? For this project, you will visit an exhibition at a museum local to you. I will work with you to transform your opinions and observations of the exhibition into a critical analysis of the show. We will work on skills of visual analysis, and will spend time thinking about how the exhibition is organized (chronologically? thematically?), as well as what narrative it attempts to provide. We will discuss the exhibition's aims, and the criteria that determine whether an exhibition is a successful one. We will also explore various narrative strategies, and brainstorm alternative narratives that the exhibition could have followed, as part of critical analysis. Depending on the outcome of this project, we can also discuss refining and submitting the exhibition review to online art publications.