Over the summer, Cynthia Bandish, the English and language department chair, had the opportunity to participate in a week-long seminar at the Yale Center for British Art called “Art and Society in Britain, Hogarth to Turner (1730 to 1851).”
Bandish presents her experience at Colloquium. Photo by Aubrey Bartel
“It’s designed for non-art people, so for people who are not specialists in art and art history, to come in and to learn ways that they might be able to integrate the information into courses that they already teach,” Bandish said. “Presumably they didn’t’ get a Ph.D. in art, so they don’t have the full background.”
To be chosen for this experience, Bandish had to go through a competitive application process.
“You have to apply for it and create a statement about what benefits you would get out of it,” said Bandish. “Then your chief academic officer, which is the dean of academic affairs, has to write a letter in support of that. It’s open nationally, and they only choose 20-some people to participate.”
While she was there, each day had a different focus. The five main topics were Portraiture and Social status, Hogarth and London, Taste and the Grand Tour, Art and Empire, and The Industrial Revolution, Romanticism and Nature. Each day followed a similar routine.
“We would go to the classroom and have about an hour lecture there, and then get another hour of a guided tour/lecture in the art gallery before lunch,” Bandish said. “After lunch, it was either traveling to another museum as a field trip or it was working in the rare manuscripts and prints classroom and getting to look at more artwork.”
Back at Bluffton, Bandish is finding ways to bring her new knowledge into the classroom.
“I could use this in a humanities course or I could use it in my Survey of English Literature, where we do the chronological survey,” Bandish said. “We could look at the artwork in conjunction with the texts that we’re looking at.”
Lamar Nisly, vice president and dean of academic affairs, wrote the supporting letter for Bandish. He can see how this seminar is beneficial beyond the classroom setting.
Vice President and Dean of Academic Affairs, Lamar Nisly. Photo credit Aubrey Bartel
“There are also significant intangible benefits as well, including new connections with colleagues around the country and potential opportunities for other projects that can grow out of such a seminar,” Nisly said. “I’m so pleased that Dr. Bandish had a chance to participate in this significant experience.”
Getting to see all of the artwork in person was one aspect that made the seminar a special experience.
“Everybody I know knows that I’m an anglophile, which means that I love all of these English and British things, so just to see the paintings in person, things that I’ve read about and maybe had seen a slide of before, but to be able to stand in front of them and soak it all in, that was the best part,” Bandish said.
Being on the campus of Yale also stuck out to Bandish.
“I kept trying to remember who of the famous people had gone to Yale,” Bandish said. “I was trying to imagine them walking the streets of Yale and being at these buildings. I didn’t get to see as much of the campus as I would have liked to, but it was so different than Bluffton because you’re in a big college town with lots of shops and bookstores and restaurants all close together.”
Overall, Banish said she feels as though there was a lot she was able to take away from the seminar.
“I learned an interesting way to frame the whole time period through the lens of empire and thinking about how empire was touching a lot of different subjects, even when it wasn’t directly a painting of a colony or someone in a colony,” Bandish said.
