UC Davis experts: Art and design
The following UC Davis faculty members are available to speak on topics related to art.
How artists respond to world events
Art historian Blake Stimson can talk about significant changes to visual art following historic political traumas such as World War I, the Holocaust, the Vietnam War, and Sept. 11, 2001. Stimson, a professor in the Art History Program, writes and teaches about how political events of the 1960s transformed the social role of art. He also studies contemporary art and new media and the history of photography. He is editor of "Conceptual Art: A Critical Anthology" (1999). Contact: Blake Stimson, Art History Program, (530) 746-8774, bstimson@ucdavis.edu.
Toys, Christmas, world design
UC Davis environmental design professor emeritus Dolph Gotelli collects toys and Christmas memorabilia as part of his a lifelong visual design scholarship. He has mounted a number of museum exhibitions using toys from his collections. Gotelli can talk about Christmas rituals, Santa Claus and design in cultures around the world. He also boasts one of the largest shopping bag collections in the world. Gotelli can articulate the importance of imagination and why today's material culture—toys, movies, etc., are devoid of stimulation. Contact: Dolph Gotelli, Environmental Design, (916) 456-9734, degotelli@ucdavis.edu.
Middle Eastern classics
Lynn Roller, professor of classics and art history, is knowledgeable about historic monuments and urban centers in what was once Mesopotamia and is now in Iraq and southeastern Turkey. Roller can also talk about the art and archaeological monuments of the ancient Near East, Egypt, Greece and Rome. An archaeologist with many years of research experience in Turkey, Roller won the Wiseman Prize, given by the Archaeological Institute of America, for the outstanding book of the year in classical archaeology for her book In Search of God the Mother: The Cult of Anatolian Cybele (1999). Contact: Lynn Roller, Classics, (530) 752-0105, leroller@ucdavis.edu.
- Karen Nikos at the UC Davis News Service, (530) 752-6101, kmnikos@ucdavis.edu
Last updated July 27, 2011
