The Mind’s Eye

The Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery presents "Skyscraper Gothic," a close, interdisciplinary look at the stylistic development of the tall office building, Feb. 14 through May 22. Read More

The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries have acquired a collection of rare photographs of, and by, the Rev. James M. Lawson Jr., ’71—a pivotal figure in the history of the civil rights movement and Vanderbilt University. Read More

Ediciones Vigía, a publishing house in the town of Matanzas, Cuba, began to create handbills and invitations in 1985 for local cultural events. Displayed through March of this year, these works now can be enjoyed again in the online exhibit Found in Cuba: The Ingenuity and Creativity of Ediciones Vigía. Read More

The symbolism of frayed, worn flags in "Flag Exchange" by Mel Ziegler, Paul E. Schwab Professor of Fine Arts, raises questions about the capacity of the American experiment to be sustained through national triumphs and shortcomings, including our own time of divisiveness. Read More

Clara Morera, The Preboste Juan (King Juan), 2017, mixed media on canvas, 72 x 48 inches (courtesy of the artist and Dorfsman Fine Arts, Miami) Artists from the United States, Cuba and Haiti envision social change through reinterpretation of a lost work Visionary Aponte: Art and Black Freedom brings together… Read More

This tall, earth-tone glazed vase is one of Susan DeMay’s classroom demonstration pieces, 17x8x8 inches, completed in stages throughout a semester for an assignment involving numerous objectives for honing pottery wheelwork techniques. Photo by Bill Luton Clay artist Susan DeMay’s retirement exhibit showcases a three-pronged approach to ceramic art From… Read More

“Untitled” by Alicia Henry, mixed media, 2 feet by 3 feet Paper dolls have long been used to emphasize cultural norms regarding femininity and beauty. As often happens, childhood play subtly reinforces society’s notions of the “ideal.” Once these playthings are cast off and one enters adulthood, these romanticized… Read More

Seasonal Cycles mural by Polly Cook Come sun, rain or snow, one of the best places on Vanderbilt’s campus to find shelter is under Calhoun Hall’s stone portico, facing out toward the law and business schools. This refuge is also home to a mural of campus life, Seasonal Cycles,… Read More

Tom Wolfe by Everett Raymond Kinstler Successful portraiture is all about conveying the personality of the sitter. It sounds easy, but it’s not, because those character traits that make up a person’s true self have little to do with actual physical appearance. To successfully capture the sitter, portraiture requires… Read More

The power of hope—and a dark history—come to life through violin project Some say the violin is the instrument that most closely imitates the human voice. In March, 22 violins, most of which were played by Jewish musicians interned in concentration camps during the Holocaust, will arrive in… Read More

Alphabet card, France, early 19th century; from the George Clulow–U.S. Playing Card Co. Gaming Collection, Vanderbilt University Special Collections The George Clulow and United States Playing Card Co. Gaming Collection—one of the world’s premier collections of books about card games, games of chance, playing cards and chess—has been acquired… Read More

It has been 47 years since Ben Shahn’s mosaic Peabody—1968 was dedicated in the Hobbs Human Development Laboratory on what was then the campus of George Peabody College for Teachers. The effort to commission Shahn, an artist well known for his advocacy for the poor, was spearheaded by Susan Gray, professor of psychology, emerita, and an advocate for children, particularly those held back developmentally by poverty. Read More

Santisteban in his Franklin, Tenn., studio Jose Santisteban—beads of perspiration glistening on his brow—rotates a long, thin metal tube tipped with a bubble of honey-colored molten glass inside a furnace that’s been heated to 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit. As African jazz plays in the background, Santisteban removes the pipe from the… Read More

The year 2011 was a very good one for writer Kevin Wilson, BA’00. His first novel, The Family Fang, was published by Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollins, in August to glowing reviews, and he was the subject of an admiring profile in The New York Times. He did a 12-city… Read More

Not Here, Not Now, Not That! Protest over Art and Culture in America by Steven Tepper, associate professor of sociology and associate director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise and Public Policy (2011, University of Chicago Press) Tepper’s book suggests that artists who simply cite the First Amendment,… Read More

Singer Chris Mann is a finalist on NBC's The Voice. Singer Chris Mann, BMus’04, knows what it’s like to have the rug pulled out from under him. Just six weeks before his first album was scheduled to come out, the record company canceled the project. “I had already recorded the… Read More

Autumn Reading List As summer turns to fall, even those of us long out of school seem to feel a familiar urge to hit the books. The promise of cooler days makes us want to curl up with a good read, and Vanderbilt alumni and faculty offer up several possibilities… Read More

PavlovićThe explorations of Vesna Pavlović into our motivations for taking photographs and how we experience them are showcased in a major exhibit that opened in June at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville. The exhibit, Projected Histories, ran through Sept. 11. Pavlović, assistant professor of art at… Read More

Richards In The Seawall, a short film that debuted at the Cannes Film Festival this year, a young boy begins an emotional journey from his home in Guyana, South America, to a new life in Brooklyn. It’s a journey that filmmaker Mason Richards himself made when he was 7 years… Read More

Evan Mack’s opera, Angel of the Amazon, was given its world premiere by Encompass New Opera Theatre in May at the Jerome Robbins Theater of Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York City. With serendipitous timing, two Blair alumni are making their marks on the Boston opera scene this year. Heidi… Read More