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Elizabeth and Irwin Warren Folk Art Symposium | Points of Interest: New Approaches to American Weathervanes

Type: Conferences & Symposia [View all]
Posted by: American Folk Art Museum
Deadline: Sun, October 24th, 2021

Join us on October 24th for the inaugural Elizabeth and Irwin Folk Art Symposium, which will be held online and will showcase new research on the rich and complex layers of meaning found within American weathervanes.

Weathervanes have historically served as both tools for farmers, sailors, and others to predict the wind’s direction, and fanciful, imaginative forms designed to captivate and delight viewers from below. Over time, these works have also become ritual objects imbued with stories, as well as signifiers of communal importance, individual identity, patriotism, status, and romanticized, bygone eras. Learn more about the materiality of early American vanes, ecological spectacle in August Saint-Gaudens’ weathervane for Madison Square Garden, and Isamu Noguchi’s vane designs inspired by nature, among other topics.

Points of Interest: New Approaches to American Weathervanes is a symposium organized in conjunction with the Museum’s current exhibition American Weathervanes: The Art of the Winds and in honor of Elizabeth and Irwin Warren, dedicated advocates of the American Folk Art Museum. The American Weathervanes exhibition is curated by Robert Shaw and coordinated by Emelie Gevalt with additional interpretation by consulting scholar Joseph Zordan. 

Read speakers’ abstracts and bios, and register for this free program online here. Instructions for joining with a Zoom link and password will be provided by email upon registration. Closed captioning will be provided in English. For questions or to request accessibility accommodations, please email publicprograms@folkartmuseum.org.

 

Schedule 

1:00–3:00 p.m. ET | Session 1 Papers and Q&A

Welcome Remarks

Jason T. Busch, Director and CEO, American Folk Art Museum

Elizabeth Warren, President, American Folk Art Museum

Robert Shaw, guest curator and author of American Weathervanes: The Art of the Winds, Editor, Americana Insights

 

Weathered Wood: The Materiality of Early American Weathervanes 

Laura Turner Igoe, Ph.D., Chief Curator, James A. Michener Art Museum

 

The Ecological Spectacle of Madison Square Garden’s Diana

Katherine Fein, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University

 

George Washington’s Dove of Peace: An Iconic Vane from a Moment of Change

Susan P. Schoelwer, Ph.D., Executive Director, Historic Preservation and Collections and Robert H. Smith Senior Curator, George Washington’s Mount Vernon

 

3:00 p.m. ET | Break (15 minutes)

 

3:15–5:00 p.m. ET | Session 2 Papers and Q&A

 

Winds of Change in the 1930s: Weathervanes, the Index of American Design, and Questioning Artistic Canon Formation

Elizabeth McGoey, Ph.D., Ann S. and Samuel M. Mencoff Associate Curator,  Arts of the Americas, The Art Institute of Chicago

 

Isamu Noguchi’s Weathervanes: An Artist Animates the Wind

Olivia Armandroff, Ph.D. Student, Art History, University of Southern California

 

Weathervanes and Double Consciousness: History, Provenance, & the Folk Art Canon

William D. Moore, Ph.D., Director, American & New England Studies Program and Associate Professor of American Material Culture, History of Art & Architecture, Boston University

 

Closing Remarks 

Emelie Gevalt, Curatorial Chair for Collections and Curator of Folk Art, American Folk Art Museum

 

5:00 p.m. ET | Symposium concludes

Posted on Fri, September 24th, 2021
Expires on Sun, October 24th, 2021

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