Rethinking Regionalism:
20th-Century Art and Visual Culture
in the American West SYMPOSIUM
Dec. 6–7, 2019
Timed to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Broadmoor Art Academy (the precursor to the current Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center), this two day symposium will provide a forum for new inquiries, challenges, and reassessments of 20th-century art and visual culture in the American West. The Academy’s founders and early leaders created a vibrant center for Regionalist art in a part of the West known for its natural beauty. In the 1930s and 40s, teachers from Europe and the East flocked to Colorado to provide instruction for students from across the country. The students and teachers of the Broadmoor Art Academy were admired practitioners of preeminent art movements of the first half of the 20th century.
Free and open to the public by reservation (general seating; space is limited)
Symposium events will take place at the Fine Arts Center — 30 W. Dale Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80903
and Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center — 825 N Cascade Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80903
This symposium addressed some of the following questions:
What marks the various stages and styles of art in the West?
What alternative stories might a renewed look at the artists, teachers, and students produce?
In what ways would a reexamination of early instructional practices change existing narratives?
How do contemporary issues alter our understanding of art in the West?
How might critiquing, revising, or updating our understanding of 20th-century Western art help us envision new histories and futures?
Schedule of Events
Friday, December 6
5:30 – 6:30 p.m. Keynote Presentation
Anne Hyde, Ph.D., University of Oklahoma
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College Music Room
6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Welcome Reception
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College Smith Family Gallery
Saturday, December 7
8:30 – 9:15 a.m. Registration & Breakfast
Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center Main Space
9:15 – 9:30 a.m. Welcome & Introduction
Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center Screening Room
9:30 – 11:00 a.m. Session I: The Broadmoor Art Academy
Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center Screening Room
“Entertaining to the Eye:” Behind the Scenes of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center Theater Lounge Murals
Jonathan Frederick Walz, Ph.D., The Columbus Museum
“It Does Need a Photographic Department”: Laura Gilpin at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
Louise Siddons, Ph.D., Oklahoma State University
Teaching Lithography through the Colorado Landscape
Olivia Armandroff, University of Delaware
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Lunch Break
12:45 – 2:15 p.m. Session II: Beyond the Broadmoor Art Academy
Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center Screening Room
O’Keeffe in Colorado: A Contemplation of a Continuous Narrative
Andrew Jay Svedlow, Ph.D., University of Northern Colorado
But What Did She Really Look Like?: 20th Century Cover Art for Helen Hunt Jackson’s Ramona
Jessy Randall, Colorado College
Touching Nether-Regionalisms: White Male Heteronormativity in Kenneth Adams’ The Three Peoples Mural
Maxine Marks, University of New Mexico
2:15 – 2:30 p.m. Refreshments & Break
Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center
2:30 – 4:00 p.m. Session III: Institutions & Influences
Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center Screening Room
Circulating and Cultivating Modern Art in the West
Berit Potter, Ph.D., California State University, Humboldt
Modernist Art Pedagogy in the Middle West
Barbara Jaffee, Ph.D., Northern Illinois University
Reimagining End of the Trail
Melynda Seaton, Ph.D., Texas A&M University-Commerce
4:00 – 4:15 p.m. Closing Remarks
Edith Kinney Gaylord Cornerstone Arts Center Screening Room
4:15 – 5:30 p.m. Reception
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College Smith Family Gallery
Organized by Rebecca Tucker, Ph.D. and Julianne Gavino, Ph.D.
Questions: facsymposium@coloradocollege.edu
Frank A. Mechau, Wild Horses (detail), fresco, 1935, commissioned by the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center
Sponsors
