Williams Grads Present Art History at the Leading Edge

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. On Friday, May 31, 2024, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art will host public presentations at the Clark Art Institute's Manton Research Center by the Program's graduating Masters students. 

The presentations, timed in conjunction with Williams' 2024 Commencement weekend, will address a variety of topics in the history of art, including the gendering of seventeenth-century sculpture, late eighteenth-century abolitionism in painting, nineteenth-century electrotypes and imperial power, early cinema and death, cultural anthropology and cybernetics at the Museum of Modern Art in the 1940s, Andy Warhol’s computer art during the early years of the AIDS crisis, and contemporary photography and race. All presentations are free and open to the public. 

Presentations will be approximately twenty minutes each, in groups of three or four, with discussion following each group of presentations. Presenters include:

Duomi Chen [Shenzhen, China]

Jessica Chen [Sunnyvale, CA]

Ella Comberg [Philadelphia, PA]

Eva Dailey [Pownal, VT]

Jordan David [Twinsburg, OH]

Eliza Dermott [Middletown, DE]

Joanna García Cherán (Purépecha) [San Diego, CA]

Evan Garza [Houston, TX]

Nicholas Liou [Sunnyvale, CA]

Ricardo Mercado [Dallas, TX]

María Minuesa Sicilia [Madrid, Spain]

Alexandra Nicome [Minneapolis, MN]

Destini Ross [Indianapolis, IN]

Nathan Swift Sorscher [Birmingham, AL]

 

At 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 1, the public is also invited to attend the Program's annual hooding ceremony, honoring the students' accomplishments. 

The symposium and hooding ceremony will both take place in the auditorium at the Clark Art Institute's Manton Research Center, 225 South St., Williamstown, MA.

The Graduate Program in the History of Art, operated jointly by Williams and the Clark, is one of the most respected programs in its field. Alumni have gone on to become influential scholars and leaders of renowned museums and arts institutions, among other organizations. Visit http://gradart.williams.edu/ for more information.

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Williamstown Town Meeting Debates, Passes by Large Margins, CPA Grants

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — As it has done nearly every time since the town adopted the provisions of the Community Preservation Act, town meeting Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to respect the decisions of its Community Preservation Committee and award the CPA grants recommended by that body.
 
Among the last actions of the nearly three-hour meeting were the approval of two heavily-discussed CPA grants, one of which generated a negative advisory vote from the town's Finance Committee.
 
That grant went to the Sand Springs Pool and Recreation Center, a $20,000 allotment of CPA funds to renovate and expand facilities at the facility.
 
The Fin Comm voted, 3-5, not to recommend town meeting OK the expenditure, and several residents took the floor at Tuesday night's meeting to argue against approving a grant that the center plans to use to improve its sauna.
 
"Why would we do such a thing?" asked Donald Dubendorf. "I understand we have 'recreational purposes' under the act, but why would we do such a thing when we are in dire straits in other areas, like housing?"
 
The executive director Sand Springs took the microphone to explain that an infrastructure investment in the sauna is part of a strategy to make the facility a year-round town asset and improve the non-profit's revenue stream.
 
Enhanced revenues, in turn, allow Sand Springs to keep its entry fees lower and provide scholarships to families of limited means, Henry Smith said, including in the summer months, when it is "the only public, guarded waterfront in town."
 
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