Lecture series to precede exhibition on arts, science, tech

Anthropology Professor Heather Hurst, a 1997 Skidmore graduate, will present the first of four lectures in conjunction with the upcoming exhibit, A Resolution of the Arts & Sciences,which will be at the Schick Art Gallery from Oct. 28 to Dec. 4, 2011. 

A student curatorial team is working with the Schick to present the exhibition and the series of talks preceding the show, which will feature work by Skidmore students, faculty, and alumni that explore connections among art, science, and technology.

At 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 27, in Davis Auditorium of Palamountain Hall, Hurst will give a talk titled"You Are What You Paint, Identifying Ancient Maya Artists Through X-ray Fluorescence of Materials."

The ancient Maya had a vibrant tradition of painting murals on public walls, within private palaces, and in ritual buildings. The imagery, iconography, and rare painted texts of these artworks tell us about the lives of Maya peoples. Yet the story is not all on the surface. Hidden beneath and within the layers of paint resides a narrative of the artists themselves. Portable X-ray fluorescence has helped to show the range and variation of materials used in painting. Materials science provides new data regarding the individual artists who painted murals of 2,000 years ago and informs our future investigation of these artworks.

Hurst, an assistant professor of anthropology at Skidmore, specializes in Mesoamerican archaeology. She worked as an archaeological illustrator on several field projects, including excavations in Honduras, Mexico, and Guatemala. Between 1999 and 2002, she and co-artist Leonard Ashby painted a half-size watercolor reproduction of the famous Bonampak murals from Chiapas, Mexico. Hurst received a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship in 2004; her work has been published in National Geographic, Arqueolog a Mexicana, and The New York Times, and has been included in numerous exhibitions at venues such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art, and is held in the permanent collection of the Yale University Art Gallery and the Museo Nacional de Guatemala. During 2008-09, she had an exhibition at Skidmore's Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery.

Upcoming lectures in the series include the following:

-Tuesday, Oct. 4, 5 p.m., Skidmore Psychology Professor Flip Phillips will speak about experiments studying human perception of three-dimensional forms.

-Tuesday, Oct. 11, 7 p.m., SUNY Potsdam Art Professorand 1992 Skidmore alumnus Doug Schatz, a double major in art and geology, discusses his artwork.

-Tuesday, Oct. 18, 5 p.m., Skidmore Art Professor John Galt speaks about iron casting and melting iron in Skidmore's cupola furnace.

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