Happy Break! Some News and Updates from AHTR

With the last gasps of the Fall semester,  we all may be feeling a bit overwhelmed with year-end obligations. Rather than our usual post, we thought it would be a good moment to take a breath and tell you about some of the exciting things on the horizon for AHTR in the Spring. We begin by thanking all of you for following us on social media and contributing to a productive crowd-sourced dialogue. It is daily that we add people to the private Facebook group and note new followers of the public site. Both pages have seen lively exchanges on pedagogy and other issues, and allowed us to interact with colleagues at Appreciating Art Appreciation, Material Collective, and Art History That. Together, we are creating a great collective of shared resources and support within academia and museum education communities.

Seeking feedback

As AHTR continues to grow, we want to learn more about how resources on the website are being used and adapted by different members of the teaching community.  We would appreciate your time in participating in this very brief survey! 

Coming in 2016

At AHTR, we would not be what we are without the contribution of scholars who populate the site’s growing resources.  The popularity and success of the AHTR Weekly has given rise to the Art History Pedagogy and Practice initiative, which is moving forward in anticipation of the first issue’s publication in Fall 2016. (Be on the lookout for a CFP and guidelines for submission in the Spring!) Likewise, we have almost completed the lesson plans for the chronological art history survey–the last few will be uploaded during semester break. We are also pleased to have so many great thematic lessons. In the next few months, we will be adding new lectures that provide ways to expand traditional lecture content by incorporating poster art, magazine and book illustration, modernist and postmodern graphic design, countercultural and subcultural graphics, and comics.  Plans are also underway to greatly expand AHTR’s resources on writing about art.  AHTR’s newest Contributing Editor, Naraelle Hohensee, will launch this initiative with a series of posts from a diverse range of authors, including some from Centers for Teaching and Learning and University Writing Centers.

Getting involved

            

[The next big thing will be a lot of small things, Thomas Lommée (2015).  Lommée’s piece was part of an initiative held at the University of Ghent in solidarity with the Climate Summit in Paris, December 21015.  The climate trail included 14 works, called points.  Lommée’s work was Point 7 at the Universiteitsforum (student building) St. Pietersnieuwstraat 33]

If you are interested in contributing thematic lessons or posts on pedagogical topics for the AHTR Weekly, please contact us via Facebook message or email at teachingarthistorysurvey@gmail.com.  We continue to ask you to comment on the published content on the AHTR site. Your observations and remarks on the AHTR Weekly posts, lesson plans, and other parts of the site help strengthen it by adding new voices and ideas.  To that end, we are looking more to Twitter to further interactive dialogue and the on-going exchange of ideas. We plan to host more Twitter chats using the hashtag #ATHRchat, and we encourage you to use the hashtag #TeachArtHistory to tag your pedagogically-inspired tweets to share with the AHTR community, and to find out what’s going on with AHTR and the  Art History Pedagogy and Practice initiative. Another way to stay up to date is to follow AHTR by clicking on the WordPress icon in the top right corner of the webpage.  This will ensure you receive emails about content added to the site, and will foster discussion by alerting you to new comments from peers.

AHTR at CAA

Although on-line communities are awesome, it’s always nice to talk face to face!  If you’re planning to attend CAA in Washington, D.C. this February, be sure to look for details about the informational meet-ups AHTR will be hosting at the conference.  These will be opportunities to talk with AHTR team and other community members, learn more about current and upcoming projects, and offer feedback on the site.   AHTR will also participate in two CAA sessions.  On Thursday 4 February (2:30pm), AHTR Advisory Board member Renee McGarry will speak on “Crowdsourcing the Art History Survey: How Communities and Conversations Might Help Shape the Global Survey 3.0,” in the session Re-Examining the Art History Survey: What do we Retain; What do we Transform? chaired by Anne R. Norcross and Suzanne M. Eberle, both of Kendall College of Art and Design, and on Saturday 6 February (9:30am), AHTR Contributing Editors, Parme Giuntini and Virginia B. Spivey will present “Closing the Loop with ArtHistoryTeachingResources.org,” as part of a  Forum Discussion: Rethinking Online Pedagogies for Art History chaired by Anne L. McClanan, Portland State University and Virginia G. Hall, Johns Hopkins University.

We look forward to more great collaborations in 2016!