2024

Winter Quarter

122E : Art and Propaganda in China

This course on art and propaganda in China examines painting, photography, sculpture, film, mixed-media works, propaganda posters, and performance art from the mid-19th century to the contemporary period. We will unpack how transcultural exchanges shaped the trajectory of Chinese arts; the roles new mediums played in changing Chinese art and national identity; the impact of politics on the development of visual culture; and the varied styles and movements that burgeoned since the post-Mao period. This course provides students with a firm understanding of the development of modern and contemporary Chinese art and visual culture within social, political, and historical contexts.

2023

Fall

Joined the History of Arts and Visual Culture Department at University of California, Santa Cruz.

Spring - Sabbatical

2022

Fall - Sabbatical

Spring

ART 102 : Survey of Asian Arts

Introducing students to an overview of the arts of East, South, and Southeast Asia, this course will concentrate on the materials of objects and the cultural, religious, and political context of arts production and consumption. We will explore early cultural artifacts, burial tombs and temple architecture, transcultural exchanges of sacred images, works of court artists from various imperial workshops, and art related to popular cultures.

ART 348 : Buying and Collecting Art

This seminar focuses on art collection practices of different public and private art institutions in the United States and other countries to unpack how museum collections' motives, methodologies, and systems of categorization stem from colonialist modes of oppression relying heavily on biases in gender, race, and socioeconomic status. Though recently we have strived to rectify similar biases manifest in the college's own art collection, with the addition of many works by artists of different racial, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic backgrounds, there is still work to be done!
One way to correct course is to let students select. The students in this seminar have the unique opportunity to contribute to building the college's art collection. After students become familiar with the problematics of the traditional museum collection and exhibition practices, as a group we will analyze Davidson's art collection to see what steps we can take to further rectify inequities and biases in collection practices stemming from cultural, racial, and/or gender bias. Students will work together with instructors to investigate potential artworks to add to the Davidson collection, make their case regarding their choices for purchase, meet with gallery owners and curators and, as a group, arrive at a consensus as to which artwork(s) should be purchased to help rectify the imbalances found in the current collection. The seminar will culminate in students showing their video logs (vlogs) of the progress throughout the semester at the Verna Miller Case Symposium, as well as unveiling the new work(s) purchased by the collective group.
Readings for this course includes excerpts from publications focused on understanding previous practices and rectifying past collection and exhibition practices written by a variety of authors with contrasting viewpoints. Excerpts from recent publications will be taken from Alice Procter's The Whole Story (2020) and Mike Murkawski's Museums as Agents of Change (2021). More historical scholarship will be taken from edited volumes, including Gail Anderson's edited volume, Reinventing the Museum (2012). We will also delve into examples from recent events that have raised the public's awareness of the problematics within the field of museology. 

CHI 122: Introduction to Chinese Visual Culture

This course introduces students to different aspects of Chinese visual culture including traditional ink paintings, popular publications, propaganda posters, performance art, as well as cinema. We will explore broader themes, such as the representation of the natural world and its relationship to people; women, gender, and ethnicity in visual arts; and the formation of Chinese identity at home an abroad in the diaspora community. This course is taught in English.

2021

Fall

ART 128 : Modern and Contemporary Asian Art

This course provides students with a general introduction to the arts of Asia from the 19th century to the present, with a special focus on China, India, Japan and Korea. We will consider such topics as the conceptual development of an “Asian modern” in a colonial context, the problem of an “authentic” modern and contemporary Asian art, the politics of identity and nationalism as reflected in representations, environmental justice enacted through the arts, and narratives of the transnational contemporary artist in the global context. 

ART 320 : Photographies in Asia

This seminar will examine various forms of photography from the mid-19th century to the contemporary period. We will begin by examining how photography played a key role in colonial constructions of racial, ethnic, and gender stereotypes of Asian people (stereotypes that persist to this day), then move on to examine how Asian artists have appropriated these constructions and the medium itself. The course asks these main questions: in what ways did local inventors and photographers create mechanisms and genres of photography different from the colonial framework? How was photography used to envision nationalist or revolutionary identities in the mid-20th century? And how do contemporary Asian artists use photography to document installations, performances, and site-specific works? The course will examine works from Korea, India, Pakistan, China, Japan, Indonesia, and Burma, as well as images of Asian people in the United States during the Gold Rush Era. 

Spring

ART 102 : Survey of Asian Arts

Introducing students to an overview of the arts of East, South, and Southeast Asia, this course will concentrate on the materials of objects and the cultural, religious, and political context of arts production and consumption. We will explore early cultural artifacts, burial tombs and temple architecture, transcultural exchanges of sacred images, works of court artists from various imperial workshops, and art related to popular cultures.

ART 224 : Modern and Contemporary Chinese Art

This course focuses on modern and contemporary Chinese art, including painting, photography, sculpture, film, mixed-media works, and performance art from the mid-19th century to the contemporary period. Some key questions we will pursue include: How did commercial and political exchanges with Europe, the United States, and Japan shape the trajectory of Chinese arts? What roles did new mediums-such as photography and film-play in shaping Chinese art and national identity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries? In what ways did politics impact the development of visual representation in the socialist era? And, how are we to understand the varied styles and movements that brought contemporary Chinese art immense international critical acclaim and market success in the last decades of the 20th century? This course provides students with a firm understanding of the development of modern and contemporary Chinese art within social, political, and historical contexts. 

CHI 122: Introduction to Chinese Visual Culture

This course introduces students to different aspects of Chinese visual culture including traditional ink paintings, popular publications, propaganda posters, performance art, as well as cinema. We will explore broader themes, such as the representation of the natural world and its relationship to people; women, gender, and ethnicity in visual arts; and the formation of Chinese identity at home an abroad in the diaspora community. This course is taught in English.

2020

Fall

ART 128 : Modern and Contemporary Asian Art

This course provides students with a general introduction to the arts of Asia from the 19th century to the present, with a special focus on China, India, Japan and Korea. We will consider such topics as the conceptual development of an “Asian modern” in a colonial context, the problem of an “authentic” modern and contemporary Asian art, the politics of identity and nationalism as reflected in representations, environmental justice enacted through the arts, and narratives of the transnational contemporary artist in the global context. 

ART 334 : Art, Migration & Human Rights

This seminar examines topics related to human rights-including migration and displacement, labor and the body, gender and sexuality, racial and ethnic segregation-as reflected in artworks dating from the post-WWII period to the contemporary period. We will conduct close analyses of artworks in various mediums, including painting, sculpture, installation, performance, and film.

Spring

ART 102 : Survey of Asian Arts

Introducing students to an overview of the arts of East, South, and Southeast Asia, this course will concentrate on the materials of objects and the cultural, religious, and political context of arts production and consumption. We will explore early cultural artifacts, burial tombs and temple architecture, transcultural exchanges of sacred images, works of court artists from various imperial workshops, and art related to popular cultures.

ART 224 : Modern and Contemporary Chinese Art

This course focuses on modern and contemporary Chinese art, including painting, photography, sculpture, film, mixed-media works, and performance art from the mid-19th century to the contemporary period. Some key questions we will pursue include: How did commercial and political exchanges with Europe, the United States, and Japan shape the trajectory of Chinese arts? What roles did new mediums-such as photography and film-play in shaping Chinese art and national identity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries? In what ways did politics impact the development of visual representation in the socialist era? And, how are we to understand the varied styles and movements that brought contemporary Chinese art immense international critical acclaim and market success in the last decades of the 20th century? This course provides students with a firm understanding of the development of modern and contemporary Chinese art within social, political, and historical contexts. 

CHI 122: Introduction to Chinese Visual Culture

This course introduces students to different aspects of Chinese visual culture including traditional ink paintings, popular publications, propaganda posters, performance art, as well as cinema. We will explore broader themes, such as the representation of the natural world and its relationship to people; women, gender, and ethnicity in visual arts; and the formation of Chinese identity at home an abroad in the diaspora community. This course is taught in English.

2019

Fall

ART 102 : Survey of Asian Arts

Introducing students to an overview of the arts of East, South, and Southeast Asia, this course will concentrate on the materials of objects and the cultural, religious, and political context of arts production and consumption. We will explore early cultural artifacts, burial tombs and temple architecture, transcultural exchanges of sacred images, works of court artists from various imperial workshops, and art related to popular cultures.

ART 128 : Modern and Contemporary Asian Art

This course provides students with a general introduction to the arts of Asia from the 19th century to the present, with a special focus on China, India, Japan and Korea. We will consider such topics as the conceptual development of an “Asian modern” in a colonial context, the problem of an “authentic” modern and contemporary Asian art, the politics of identity and nationalism as reflected in representations, environmental justice enacted through the arts, and narratives of the transnational contemporary artist in the global context. 

Spring

ART 102 : Survey of Asian Arts

Introducing students to an overview of the arts of East, South, and Southeast Asia, this course will concentrate on the materials of objects and the cultural, religious, and political context of arts production and consumption. We will explore early cultural artifacts, burial tombs and temple architecture, transcultural exchanges of sacred images, works of court artists from various imperial workshops, and art related to popular cultures.

CHI 224: Introduction to Chinese Visual Culture

This course introduces students to different aspects of Chinese visual culture including traditional ink paintings, popular publications, propaganda posters, performance art, as well as cinema.  We will explore broader themes, such as the representation of the natural world and its relationship to people; women, gender, and ethnicity in visual arts; and the formation of Chinese identity at home an abroad in the diaspora community.

2018

Fall

ART 102 : Survey of Asian Arts

Introducing students to an overview of the arts of East, South, and Southeast Asia, this course will concentrate on the materials of objects and the cultural, religious, and political context of arts production and consumption. We will explore early cultural artifacts, burial tombs and temple architecture, transcultural exchanges of sacred images, works of court artists from various imperial workshops, and art related to popular cultures.

ART 224: The opium wars & beyond: the arts in China since 1842

This course focuses on modern and contemporary Chinese art, including painting, photography, sculpture, film, mixed-media works, and performance art from the mid-19th century to the contemporary period.  Some key questions we will pursue include: How did commercial and political exchanges with Europe, the United States, and Japan shape the trajectory of Chinese arts? What roles did new mediums-such as photography and film-play in shaping Chinese art and national identity in the late 19th and early 20th centuries? In what ways did politics impact the development of visual representation in the socialist era? And, how are we to understand the varied styles and movements that brought contemporary Chinese art immense international critical acclaim and market success in the last decades of the 20th century? This course provides students with a firm understanding of the development of modern and contemporary Chinese art within social, political, and historical contexts.