• Arts & Sciences
• Art & Art History
• Alumni and Friends
• Newsletter
• 2023 Newsletter

Dear Alumni and Friends,

Greetings from the Department of Art & Art History at William & Mary!

Is it already October?!? The Fall semester of 2024 is well under way and the department is buzzing with activity as the students, faculty, and visitors participate in a variety of courses, events, and exhibitions.

On September 29, the largest group of William & Mary students and faculty ever to participate in a department-sponsored field trip visited the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Nearly 150 people in three buses traveled to the nation's capital to see the gallery's superb permanent collection as well as the current exhibitions Spirit & Strength: Modern Art from Haiti and 1874: The Impressionist Moment.

On September 12th, our first Andrews Gallery exhibition of the academic year, Vera Iliatova: Oblivion Revisited, opened with an online talk by the artist. The work of Iliatova, an internationally renowned painter and professor at New York’s Sarah Lawrence College, explores the inner world of women, cinema, and personal memories of growing up in St. Petersburg, Russia.

On Saturday, October 19, from 10:00am to 12:00pm, the department hosts its annual Homecoming Reception in the Andrews Hall foyer. All are welcome, so please drop by for conversation and light refreshments!

To celebrate Professor Catherine Levesque's publication of a new book titled Jacob van Ruisdael's Ecological Landscapes (Amsterdam University Press, 2024), we will hold a reception in the Andrews Gallery on Thursday, October 24, from 5:00 to 6:00pm.

The annual Distinguished Lecture event will feature an exhibition, lecture, and workshop by the eminent artist Andrew Raftery, Professor of Printmaking at the Rhode Island School of Design, who works in the traditional medium of copperplate engraving to address contemporary issues and autobiographical concerns. An exhibition of Raftery's work, titled Monogrammist ASR: Historical Interpretations by Andrew Stein Raftery, opened in the Andrews Gallery on October 9 and runs through November 1. The Distinguished Lecture by Raftery will be held on Thursday, October 31, in Andrews 101, at 4:30pm, followed by a reception. On Friday, November 1, Raftery will give an Engraving Demo & Workshop, 10:00-11:30am and 1:00-4:00pm, for which reservations are required (to RSVP, Please email bskrey@wm.edu to reserve your space).

Looking ahead to November, Art History majors in Professor Sibel Zandi-Sayek's course The Curatorial Project (ARTH 331) will curate and present an exhibition titled "Haiti to Harlem: Jacob Lawrence and Toussaint l'Ouverture," in the Andrews Gallery.

Faculty News

Liz Moran Taught Sacred Landscapes: A View from the Americas, and led students on the Camino, Santiago de Compostela Program, Summer 2024 (walked from Leon to Santiago - 198 miles). She also again took students to the Tucson/Mexico Border in January as part of the Latin American Studies program and university domestic study abroad.

Brian Kreydatus participated in several shows over the last year including the following juried exhibitions: Being Human, Painting Center, New York, NY, 2024 Winter Exhibition, Blue Mountain Gallery, New York, NY and Surface Impressions, LUX Center for the Arts, Lincoln, NE.

Xin Conan-Wu published in the spring her third monograph in English, Lure of the Supreme Joy: Pedagogy and Environment in the Neo-Confucian Academies of Zhu Xi (Brill, 2024). The book is no.164 in the renowned series Sinica Leidensia. She is on leave in academic year 2024-2025, focusing on new comparative research between Asia and Europe, turning her attention from the Middle Period China to the Age of Exploration and the Enlightenment.

Sibel Zandi-Sayek is currently busy editing a volume titled Ottoman Mobilities: Things and Subjectivities in the Global Nineteenth Century, to which she is also contributing a chapter, “Entangled Artefacts: Ottoman Industries and the 1851 Great Exhibition in London.”  In January, she published the Turkish edition of her book Ottoman Izmir through İletişim, one of Turkey’s leading publishers, specializing in literature, human studies, history, politics, and social studies. In November, she will also present a paper on “Empire to Cold War: The Enduring Legacy of The International College of Smyrna” at the Middle East Studies Association 58th Annual Conference.

During his 2023-24 sabbatical, Mike Jabbur’s work was included in 11 exhibitions, including Teapots X at Baltimore Clayworks (Baltimore, MD)—he was also the juror—and International Coffee Cup Competition at the New Taipei City Yingge Ceramics Museum (New Taipei City, Taiwan).  He had a solo show titled Bijoux at Quirk Gallery (Richmond, VA) and was a Featured Artist at Northern Clay Center (Minneapolis, MN). Jabbur has a solo exhibition at Schaller Gallery (Baroda, MI) opening November 19. 

More Highlights of the Past Year

On Saturday morning, May 18, we held our departmental Graduation Ceremony, a truly joyous event celebrating our majors in the Class of 2024 with their families and friends.  Our students graduated with a variety of noteworthy student accomplishments including departmental and Latin honors, numerous scholarships and awards, and Phi Beta Kappa Society inductions.  We wish our alumni continued success as they pursue graduate studies and begin exciting new careers.  Way to go Art & Art History!

Leading up to Commencement, the department sponsored a number of important exhibitions and other events, including a solo show in the Andrews Gallery by Xico Greenwald, an unprecedented exhibition titled CHANNEL featuring contemporary videos and short films, the Distinguished Lecture in Art History by Dr. Suzanne Preston Blier of Harvard University, the Non-Majors Show, the Catron Scholars Exhibition, the Honors Exhibition, and the Senior Show.

Looking Ahead to Spring 2025

Please watch for more announcements as we prepare for spring semester.  We eagerly anticipate annual events including the Studio Art Senior Capstone Exhibition, the Art History Senior Research Colloquium, and more.

Please stay in touch and continue to send us your latest news and whereabouts. Alumni, if you haven’t already, please connect with us on LinkedIn (Art History alumni & Studio Art alumni have their own LinkedIn group accounts). Also, see some of the incredible achievements of our alumni. We are always delighted to hear from our community of alumni and friends. Our current and prospective students are especially eager to learn about your stories and the variety of careers many of you have embarked on, continued with, or retired from. Your enthusiasm and support are part of what makes this an exciting department for our faculty and students.

With all best wishes,

Alan C. Braddock
Chair, Department of Art & Art History