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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Letter: Vote No on 'Jungle' Primaries

Letter to the Editor

To the Editor:

They don't call them "jungle primaries" for nothing.

Question 3 on the November ballot would trash two-party primary elections and replace them with California-style, chaotic — and extraordinarily costly — "jungle" primaries that would destroy the very political parties that have kept America stable since Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison created them in the 1790s.

Jungle primaries put all candidates, regardless of party, on one ballot with the top two vote-getters facing off in the general election — even if they're from the same party. That would create chaos, but the real issue is money: Jungle primaries give a distinct advantage to candidates backed by corporate money and the super wealthy. In short, jungle primaries move our primaries from the ballot box to big donor meetings long before campaigning even begins.

When something this radical is proposed, you have to look at who's behind it, who's funding it, and ask "why" they are doing it.

Their philosophical guru is Danielle Allen, a Harvard professor who ran for governor in 2022 but couldn't get 15 percent of the Democratic Convention vote to win the party's endorsement.

The money behind this extreme attack on small "d" democratic politics tells us more. With over $5 million in the bank as of Aug. 28, this is a very well-funded campaign — the lion's share of which came from wealthy Boston-area private equity individuals.

Twenty-two private equity executives gave $3.99 million, or 77 percent of all the money from individuals. Current and former Bain Capital executives contributed $1.92 million, and Berkshire Partners executives put up $1.32 million. In short, 22 rich people put up nearly $4 million to change how five million of us vote. Yes, it seems the ultra-wealthy want to destroy the two-party system that has kept our politics stable for 200 years.

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