Campus Stories - Art & Art History
The compelling origin story of the Stanford museum, university and Silicon Valley
When Jane and Leland Stanford experienced the immense pain of losing their only son, Leland Jr., just before his 16th birthday, they were compelled to enshrine his memory in a meaningful way. The resulting museum and university they founded not only secured young Leland’s place in history – artist Mark Dion argues that this particular…
Students minoring in art practice produce a major work of art at the new Stanford Hospital
Students Noah DeWald and Savannah Mohacsi were not exactly sure what their summer internship at Stanford Health Care would entail. Apprenticing with master painters to bring to life a conceptual work of art by an iconic 20th-century American artist that will be seen by thousands was beyond their imagination, as was the profound realization that…
Stanford Live presents a genre-bending musical performance exploring beauty and aesthetics in Robert Mapplethorpe’s photography
Marking 30 years since the death of groundbreaking photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, Triptych (Eyes of One on Another) explores the origins and impact of Mapplethorpe’s controversial photography. This staged musical work produced by ArKtype / Thomas O. Kriegsmann combines orchestra, vocal ensembles, theater, poetry, and photography to re-examine notions of obscenity, race, and aesthetics that Mapplethorpe himself challenged…
New leadership at Stanford’s Institute for Diversity in the Arts
Adam Banks, professor of education in Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, is the new faculty director of the Institute for Diversity in the Arts (IDA). A-lan Holt, formerly the associate and then interim director of IDA, is the new director. Both appointments were made at the end of academic year 2018-19 and they are already…
Psychology graduate student Natalia Vélez is ‘The Science Sketcher’
In high school, Natalia Vélez got in trouble for doodling during French class, even though she was drawing tiny characters speaking French – accent marks included – in miniature comic strips, using the phrases her teacher was presenting. Vélez, who is now a PhD student in psychology in the School of Humanities and Sciences, said…
New Stanford mural connects campus to local nature, diversity and history
In the waning days of spring quarter, Mother Earth appeared on campus. She arrived without fanfare, although there was music and spontaneous dancing as artist Jess X. Snow painted a Mother Earth figure – made of branches and native California poppies – on an exterior wall of Harmony House, a community center for undergraduate artists. In the…
At new hospital, art and nature aim to benefit healing
In the early 1980s, a group of volunteers formed to acquire and hang art on the then-empty walls of Stanford Hospital. What this group sensed about the power of art — that it could help improve healing — was proven later that same decade in multiple studies by environmental psychologist Roger Ulrich, PhD, and others….
Q&A with curator Elizabeth Mitchell on gifts to the Cantor
Elizabeth Mitchell, Burton and Deedee McMurtry Curator and director of the Curatorial Fellowship Program at the Cantor Arts Center, discusses the Capital Group Foundation’s gift of 1,000 photographs and the 12 prints, drawings, and photographs given by Stanford alumna Marilyn F. Symmes (BA, ’71). Q: Can you talk about the importance of gifts like…
Stanford alumna Marilyn F. Symmes (BA, ’71) gives prints, drawings, and photographs to the Cantor
The Cantor Arts Center recently acquired 12 prints, drawings, and photographs given by Stanford alumna Marilyn F. Symmes (BA, ’71). The New York–based curator and art historian is honoring her Stanford roots while recognizing the importance of student interactions with objects. The gift features an eclectic selection of works ranging from an Italian Renaissance portrait…
Reflection on Stephanie Syjuco’s I Am An . . .
Stephanie Syjuco’s I Am An . . . is a 20-foot-long black banner that is suspended from the ceiling of the Cantor’s marbled gray entry hall, announcing in block letters: I AM AN AMERICAN. The banner is displayed partially closed to intentionally distort the white letters that read “AMERICAN,” suggesting a garbled reading of the…
The Medium Is the Message: Art since 1950
“It is the medium that shapes and controls the scale and form of human association and action,” wrote Marshall McLuhan. Using works created since 1950, this reinstallation of the Cantor’s permanent collection of contemporary art explores the relationship between subject, content, and the materials that informed each object’s production. In 1964, Canadian media theorist Marshall…
Anne Shulock named assistant vice president for the arts
Anne Shulock, chief of staff in the Office of the President of the San Francisco Art Institute, has been appointed the assistant vice president for the arts at Stanford University. As the assistant vice president for the arts, Shulock will help to further implement a cohesive 21st-century vision for the arts at Stanford. Reporting to…
New art project brings Stanford students and incarcerated artists together
A sculpture of a surfer riding a rainbow wave, a black-and-white comic strip about friendship and paintings of children’s toys are some of the artworks created as part of a new collaboration between Stanford students and incarcerated artists as a way of connecting the public and people in prison together through art. Stanford seniors Michelle…
artsCatalyst Grants 2018-19
This past academic year, the Office of the Vice President for the Arts awarded 27 artsCatalyst Grants to faculty members from across the University. These grants foster arts experiences that enhance classroom experiences for undergraduate students. Activities included field trips to Bay Area cultural organizations, workshops with visiting artists, and attending performances. 2018-19 artsCatalyst Grant Recipients Interpreting Art (ITALIC 92), Karla…
Stanford students help each other prepare for a career in the art world
After recognizing that there was not anything like it on campus, two Stanford students have founded a student arts organization with a dual mission: to strengthen the arts community on campus and to provide students potential career pathways in the arts. Established in 2017 by art history coterms Reilly Clark and Reily Haag, the Professional…
Measurements: Similar, accurate, truthful
May 20 also marks the debut of a new book on the history of measurement by Emanuele Lugli, assistant professor of art and art history at the School of Humanities and Sciences. The Making of Measure and the Promise of Sameness (University of Chicago Press) is a quest for the foundations of objectivity through an analysis of the…
