Dean Osborne & Nancy Broden.

When Nancy Broden completed her art history degree at Carleton University in 1991, she had no idea she would become the design lead on the revenue team at Twitter. On Friday, Sept. 20, she shared her story with Carleton alumni, staff and faculty as part of the event My job at Twitter: #TheBAatWork – hosted by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS)…Read more

McCarthy poses by Castle Rising.

In completing a Master’s degree, research work often culminates as a very personal endeavour.

After all, graduate students dedicate a significant portion of their lives towards one specific area of focus. Subsequently, many grad students begin viewing their research as an extension of themselves. It is very likely that this phase of a student’s academic journey will have a lifelong imprint.

For Master of Art History student, Meghan McCarthy, her research site holds an added bit of sentimental value. This past spring, McCarthy’s boyfriend proposed to her on their visit to the subject of her Research Essay – Hedingham Castle. 

Fast-forward a few months and McCarthy is now an engaged graduate of Carleton’s Master’s in Art History.

All of this began in 2010 when McCarthy made the decision to return to University after a self-imposed two-year hiatus from academics. Upon completion of her undergrad degree from Western (a Double Honours Major in Art History and Psychology), McCarthy began working as a bartender. It was a nice position for a time; however, after a couple of years, she missed the rigors and trials of life as a university student.  

“I missed using my brain and I missed art history,” said McCarthy. “So, I applied to Carleton’s Masters of Art History program and enrolled in a few courses at Western to boost my average and get recent references. One of those courses was a Romanesque and Gothic course. This is when I fell in love with the Middle Ages.”

Soon after, McCarthy entered the MA Art History program at Carleton.

In her second year enrolled in a Directed Reading with Professor Peter Coffman, McCarthy discovered which subject she wanted to research – English medieval castles. This was one of the many decisions Coffman helped McCarthy make.  Through her entire MA, Coffman functioned as a steadying force for McCarthy.

“Professor Coffman really made my MA experience the amazing journey that it was. He is a perfect example of how a supervisor can help facilitate a positive and rewarding student experience. Professor Coffman is one of the major reasons I chose Carleton based on his expertise in medieval architecture in the first place, and played a tremendous role in my success. The entire department was always so helpful and supportive.”

Coffman introduced McCarthy to distinguished Art History scholar and Anglo-Norman castle expertMalcolm Thurlby. Thurlby teaches at Toronto’s York University, but in a fortunate turn of events for McCarthy’s research, Thurlby accepted a position as Adjunct Professor at Carleton University in 2012.

McCarthy knew she wanted to learn more about the architecture of English medieval castles, but was uncertain about the specific site she should study. After much contemplation, McCarthy made the decision to explore one of Thurlby’s suggestions – the well-preserved, largely unstudied Hedingham Castle of Essex, England. Having Thurlby as a newfound and proximal resource helped her decide to focus her directed reading paper on the protuberant Anglo-Norman great tower, built in approximately 1140.

Hedingham Castle.

In one of the many meetings between Thurlby and McCarthy, Thurlby recommended that she take a visit to Essex to view and study Hedingham in person. As odd as it might sound, this concept had never occurred to McCarthy. Although it seemed like a fantastic opportunity, McCarthy was initially unsure of how she could budget this sort of ambitious peregrination. Thankfully, she had a great team in her corner.

“Malcolm and Peter were my best possible cheerleaders,” explains McCarthy. “Malcolm talked to Dean Osborne (a fellow medievalist) about the potential funding situation, and talked to Peter about switching from the Course Work masters stream to the Research Essay stream so that I could apply for funding and continue my research in the winter term.”

In her Directed Reading paper, McCarthy had been asking important questions about Hedingham, and had already proven her contributions to an unjustifiably parched area of study. There had also been a recently released scholarly article on Hedingham with which she disagreed. With all this in mind, Coffman and the department approved her stream switch.

Soon after, McCarthy applied for funding to go to England, and was successful.

“I was very lucky with how much funding I got – nearly my entire trip was covered! Incredible!”

McCarthy asked her boyfriend, Andrew Paterson, if he wanted to accompany her across the pond, to which she received an enthusiastic, “Yes!”

Paterson is a captain in the military. He served as a platoon commander in Afghanistan, has received a Mention in Dispatches for his work there, and has been working in a reserve unit since returning to Canada. He has recently made the decision to leave the military to begin law school in the fall. 

Paterson had heard so much about Hedingham Castle, and was excited to see it. But more than that, the trip offered him the sublime opportunity to ask the most important question of his life. 

Without realizing the impact her research trip would have on her, McCarthy, along with Paterson, packed their bags and left for England in March of 2013.

McCarthy organized her trip so she could study a variety of Anglo-Norman castles other than Hedingham, including Colchester, Framlingham, Orford, Rochester, Castle Rising, and Norwich.

When they first arrived at Hedingham, McCarthy was relieved to learn how supportive and facilitating the castle’s staff was. She didn’t know it at the time, but this was an even greater relief to Paterson! 

The couple spent two days scrutinizing and photographing as much of Hedingham as possible; a dream come true for McCarthy.

Inside the castle.

A considerable portion of McCarthy’s research revolved around trying to interpret Hedingham’s original interior layout/function. To do this, McCarthy knew that it was necessary to scale the castle’s very high roof; one that is not open to tourists and has no railing to keep you from falling off the edge.

The roof of Hedingham Castle.

The prospect of walking on the roof was frightening, but was a task McCarthy deemed compulsory. On their own, McCarthy and Andrew gained permission and access to the roof through one of the remaining corner turrets.

The risk was one that paid instant dividends. The high vantage point gave the couple a gorgeous view of the English countryside in every direction.  Naturally, McCarthy vigorously began snapping photos. With her face glued to her camera as she staggered haphazardly to capture as many images as she could, McCarthy asked Paterson if they could get a photo of the two of them on the rooftop. The moment that McCarthy turned around, she realized her life was about to change.

“He got down on one knee and said something akin to (I can’t remember the words exactly), ‘for sure we can, but first: Meg, will you marry me?’ As he said it, Paterson had taken a small black box out of his pocket. And as he kneeled, he opened the box…to show me a beautiful diamond ring. The ring that he proposed with was the ring that his grandfather proposed to his grandmother with 70 years ago exactly, in England.”

Having been so submerged in her research trip, McCarthy was completely surprised by the proposal. It was not until Andrew was down on one knee that it hit her that they could not have been placed in a more romantic setting.  

“I was overwhelmed and so thrilled! I had known I wanted to marry him for a while. I said yes instantly. It was the happiest, most perfect moment of my life.”

Having now graduated, and months into her engagement, McCarthy looks back on her previous year with absolute astonishment.

“At the beginning of the school year in September 2012, I would never have dreamed that I would be going to England to study a medieval castle – let alone come back engaged.”

McCarthy & Paterson

What’s next for McCarthy? Based on her love of teaching and TAing, she is currently contemplating a PhD in Art History. In the meantime, she has just accepted a position in the Senate of Canada to work with a team to research and catalogue the art and artifacts of Canada’s Gothic Parliament Buildings.

McCarthy, surrounded by the remains of Framlingham Castle in Suffolk, England.

Nancy Broden

Nancy Broden, Honours B.A. Art History, 1991, is the Design Lead on the Revenue Team at Twitter. Drawing on her extensive professional experience, Broden will discuss the role that her Carleton B.A. degree has played in her outstanding career, and how she has put her stamp on our ever-changing world. FASS and FPA welcome all alumni, faculty, staff, and students to celebrate the power of the arts degree along with Nancy Broden.

“Curiosity and persistence got me pretty far, but I got much farther with the critical thinking skills I honed at Carleton.”

Friday, September 20, 2013
River Building Theatre, River Building
7:30 pm Presentation, featuring Nancy Broden
8:40 pm Reception, River Building Atrium
Seating is limited. Advanced registration is recommended. Please register here.

Dean Osborne receiving his medals at the Italian Embassy.

Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and Professor of Art History and Humanities, John Osborne has been invested as a Cavaliere of the Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana by the Italian Ambassador for his exceptional research contributions to the study of Italian medieval material culture.

Dean Osborne’s award of Cavaliere of the Ordine al Merito, which roughly translates to “Knight of the Order  of  Merit of Italy,” is among that country’s  most prestigious honours – a nomination akin to being knighted by the Queen in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.

“I am very deeply honoured,” said Osborne. “Italy has played a huge role in my life since I first discovered it at age 18, on a Canadian university course held in Venice.”

Evidently, Osborne’s first trip to Italy had a profound impact on him. After returning from his trip to Venice in 1970, he began his academic and professional journey by switching his B.A. major at Carleton to Art History. To this day, and to the great benefit of FASS students, Osborne remains a champion of studying abroad.

“That (summer in Venice) is one of the reasons why I now encourage Carleton programs to offer courses taught elsewhere in the spring session. Students return from such experiences with greater energy and greater focus. These are indeed life-changing moments.”

After graduating from Carleton, Osborne attended the University of Toronto where he completed an interdisciplinary Master’s degree in Medieval Studies. He followed this with a doctoral thesis at the University of London (Courtauld Institute of Art).

Dean Osborne has focused his research on the art and archaeology of Italy between the sixth and twelfth centuries, with a particular emphasis on the cities of Venice and Rome. His publications cover such diverse topics as the Roman catacombs, the topography of medieval Rome, saints’ cults, the fragmentary mural paintings from excavated churches such as San Clemente and S. Maria Antiqua, Venetian mosaics and sculpture, and the seventeenth-century antiquarian drawings of medieval monuments now preserved in the Royal Library at Windsor. Osborne has also published his work on the medieval understanding and use of Rome’s heritage of ancient buildings and statuary, as well as cultural ties between Italy and Byzantium.

Dean Osborne at the ceremony of conferral of his decoration of Knight of the Order to the Merit of the Republic of Italy. Seen here with Ambassador Gian Lorenzo Cornado.

Since graduating from Carleton in 1973, Dean Osborne has spent part of every year in Rome. In 2006, the British School – where his research is based – appointed him as a Honourary Fellow. When asked for his sentiments on his exceptional achievement, Osborne said he preferred to let the words of the great English poet Robert Browning speak for him:

“Open my heart and you will see
Graved inside of it, ‘Italy’.
Such lovers old are I and she,
So it always was, so shall ever be.”

Watch Tiampo discuss the children experience of the Gutai exhibition.     

Michael Windover is the newest faculty addition to the History and Theory of Architecture Program.

Windover, who arrived at Carleton in the fall of 2012, is a historian of modern architecture, design and material culture.  His research focuses on the cultural production referred to as ‘Art Deco’ during the years between the First and Second World Wars.  Though the dissemination of interwar architectural ideas is the hub of his study, Windover has analyzed the social and political consequences of everything from NHL hockey arenas, to the impact and implications of the cosmopolitan design of super cinemas.  He has a special interest in the intersection of media and architecture – two subjects, as Windover explains, that are deeply intertwined.

“Architecture is not only a mass medium in itself but inherently a multi-mediated practice; any study of architecture involves a consideration of representations of architecture in different media forms. In the past I have looked at how architectural and design ideas were disseminated through film or print media and have looked at how architecture as a mass medium framed the experience of other media, as in the case of cinema design.”

Windover is currently engaged in a project which investigates the visual and material culture of radio systems in Canada from 1920 to the 1950’s, and how the materiality of this medium affected, and created publics – communities of people who have an indirect or direct relationship and association with an external outlet (in this case, media).  Specifically, he is examining some of the visual and material aspects of radio culture, and the place of archietecture in the creation of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

From Canada to India, from 1400 to the present, Windover’s expertise covers an enormous amount of ground.  He believes that by understanding the past and the present of Art Deco, we call attain a better understanding of ourselves.

“Art Deco burgeoned in the context of consumer culture of the 1920s and 1930s. And for some later cultural critics, like Baudrillard and Debord, our current cultural formation was predicated on this moment. If consumerism can survive the Great Depression, so the logic goes, it is truly a deeply engrained belief system. So Art Deco, this popular, user-friendly modern production continues to have some resonance today (and indeed it was on the catwalks of New York earlier this year).What I’ve tried to show in my work on Art Deco is that this style – for it is about the self-conscious presentation of modernity, or modern style – can be envisaged as a kind of crossroads: a site of cosmopolitan cultural and economic flow and mixture that indicates fashionableness yet, ultimately, social conservatism. In terms of Canada, Art Deco marked the everyday landscape from local cinemas and gas stations, for instance, to high-end department stores. Spaces like the 9^th floor restaurant or 7^th floor tea room and auditorium in Eaton’s department stores in Montreal and Toronto respectively are illustrative of imaginative potential of Art Deco, framing the experience of shopping as a cosmopolitan adventure, allowing a chance for Depression-weary Canadians to perform a glamorous lifestyle as seen in Hollywood movies or experienced by the elites travelling on luxurious French ocean liners. These spaces not only reinforced notions of modern design in an experiential manner, incorporating a synthesis of European and North American influences into an everyday Canadian urban context, but reinforced the tenets and values of consumer culture rather than, say, the social democratic values held by some proponents of the Modern Movement.”

An understanding of how influential and telling our manufactured and designed surroundings can be is a comprehension that Windover hopes to relay to his students.

“I hope my students come away from my classes with a strong sense of how the designed environment affects us in our everyday life. I hope they learn to be critical of the places they encounter and develop a stronger sense of awareness and attentiveness, which is no small feat these days! I also hope that students become inspired to learn more about how ideas develop and to be aware of how significant a historical understanding of cultural production continues to be today.”

For now, Windover is enjoying the moment.  Energized to be a faculty member at Carleton University, he sees the HTA program as an ideal setting for his research.  More importantly, he has the sense that Ottawa will be a wonderful setting for his family.

“This position offers an incredible opportunity to work in a dynamic yet supportive scholarly community. I’m particularly excited about the opportunity to contribute to the unique History and Theory of Architecture program in the School for Studies in Art and Culture. I am delighted to have a space to develop new research and share ideas in such a collegial environment. And Ottawa seems like a pretty great place for my daughter, Audrey, to grow up, too!”

The discussion will begin with an informal walk-through of the exhibition. Moderator Diana Nemiroff will then pose questions to the panelists on such topics as the emergence of photomontage as an artistic medium, the importance of photomontage in politics, social protest, advertising, and the marketplace, and the intersection of photomontage and film.

Photomontage Between the Wars (1918-1939) surveys the birth of the photomontage process as it developed in Germany and the Soviet Union in the 1920s. The exhibition is drawn from the Merrill C. Berman Collection in the United States, and features over 100 posters, books, magazines, and postcards by artists and graphic designers from 13 countries. The exhibition features the work of such iconic artists and designers as John Heartfield, El Lissitzky, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Jan Tschichold, Kurt Schwitters, Hannah Höch, Paul Schuitema, and George Grosz. Berman’s world-class collection of graphic design and modernist art is considered equal to that of the Museum of Modern Art’s in New York.

Adrian Sudhalter is an art historian and curator with expertise in German art of the early twentieth century. Sudhalter was a member of the curatorial team for the exhibition Bauhaus 1919-1933: Workshops for Modernity, presented at MoMA in New York (2009), and contributed numerous essays to the accompanying catalogue. She also curated Dada: Zurich, Berlin, Hanover, Cologne, New York, Paris, presented at MoMA in 2006, and Before Expressionism: Art in Germany circa 1903, presented at the Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard University (2003). Dr. Sudhalter is co-editor of and contributor to Dada in the Collection of the Museum of Modern Art, published by MoMA in 2008.

Jennifer Evans is Associate Professor of German History at Carleton University with interests in the history of sexuality and visual culture. She has written about queer history and photography, and has recently published Life Among the Ruins: Cityscape and Sexuality in Cold War Berlin (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011). She is the primary investigator on the Hate 2.0 project, which explores social media as a form of digital activism, and is co-editing Queer Cities, Queer Cultures: Europe Since 1945 due out with Continuum UK in 2013. She is developing a new project that examines the role of erotic photography as a claim to desire, personhood, and sexual freedom during the Sexual Revolution.

This event is supported in part by the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa.

Ruth Phillips

Professor of Art History, Ruth Phillips, has been nominated for a 2012 Ottawa Book Award in the non-fiction category for her book Museum Pieces.

Phillips, who is also the Canada Research Chair in Modern Culture, was honoured to receive the prestigious nomination.

“It was an unexpected and welcomed nomination,” explains Phillips.  “For me, the nomination is evidence that the book’s impact goes beyond the academic and museum audience.”

Museum Pieces is the culmination of years of research.  About half of the essays included in the book were published at different moments in Phillips’ career, and many were written in response to specific controversies.  The other half of the essays function as an assessment of the 21st century landscape of Indigenous representation in Canadian museums.  In Museum Pieces, Phillips reviews the development of collaborative models for work with Aboriginal people over the last three decades to provide a more accurate reflection of Indigenous culture.

“There has been significant progress in the ways Aboriginal people and museums have worked together.  The models that we have developed now extend beyond the Indigenous population to representations of other cultures.  Museums are now better equipped to handle our diversity,” says Phillips.

Fundamentally, Museum Pieces challenges readers to think about museum politics and the role they play in Canadian society.  Concurrently, the book highlights Canada’s achievement in making modern museums a more powerful and authentic place.

Phillips believes that working at Carleton University has played a major role in facilitating her many research successes.

“Carleton is ideally situated to address national concerns and museum issues.  The recent recognitions received by members of the Carleton arts community confirm that Carleton’s role in training students in museology is becoming more prominent and professionalized.”

Currently, Phillips is working on a book on visual culture in the Great Lakes across the four centuries of contact and is developing a new project that places modern First Nations and Inuit arts in comparative global perspective. Museum Pieces also recently made the shortlist for the 2012 Donner Prize, which has been awarded annually since 1998 to recognize excellence and innovation in public policy writing in Canada.

More on the Ottawa Book Awards, and Museum Pieces here.