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Monday, October 18, 2010

Thomas Day: Master Craftsman and Free Man of Color


Professor Jo Ramsay Leimenstoll's recent book, Thomas Day: Master Craftsman and Free Man of Color has been receiving a lot of attention. Leimenstoll, who teaches in the Interior Architecture program, co-authored the book with Patricia Phillips Marshall, curator of decorative arts for the N.C. Executive Mansion and the N.C. Museum of History. The book focuses on Thomas Day (1801-61),a free man of color from Milton, North Carolina. Long admired as a furniture maker, Leimenstoll examines his architectural woodwork, still found today in many Greek Revival homes in Caswell County. The book also documents how Day was able to succeed in the antebellum South.

UNCG's press release on the book can be read at here, but also be sure to catch the interview on "The State of Things" and the review in The New York Times.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Faculty Book Talk on Monday, October 18-"The Disabled Body in Contemporary Art"


Join Ann Millett-Gallant on Monday, October 18, as she discusses and shows images from her recently published book, The Disabled Body in Contemporary Art. The talk is scheduled for 3 pm in the Gatewood Studio Arts Center, rm. 204, with a reception following. Dr. Millett-Gallant is a lecturer in UNCG's Department of Art as well as an instructor in the Bachelor of Liberal Studies program.

Read what people are saying about the book:

“There is little if any systematic work on the intersection between art history and disability studies. When a theory is broached, it usually comes down to the accusation that art has participated in the history of discrimination against disabled people. Millett-Gallant is able to discuss troubling aspects concerning disability in the history of art, and yet she finds a way to describe how these same troubling aspects resist discrimination. Hers is a complex idea of aesthetic representation, and her analysis does not fail to respect this complexity but, rather, dwells in it by providing a dense articulation of works of art, their allusions, and meanings. The book is of critical importance. It is the first of its kind.”—Tobin Siebers, University of Michigan

“An important contribution to the growing field of disability studies, Millett-Gallant brings art history into contact and collaboration with the perspectives of disabled models, artists, and critics. A must-read for everybody who is interested in cultural representations of disability.”—Petra Kuppers, University of Michigan and author of The Scar of Visibility: Medical Performances and Contemporary Art.