Icy Art History in Vermont and Beyond

In this course we will consider the intersection of art history and environmental humanities through the lens of snowscapes, polar landscapes, and ice/snow as both subject matter and materiality of art practice. This course will explore the developing field of “icy art history” as well as more widely consider environmental approaches to art history as a discipline. The content of the course will follow a survey of global art, exploring the ways communities and artists have depicted and adapted to icy environments over time. This theoretical grounding will be combined with weekly nature walks, where students will experiment with snow as a medium for ephemeral sculpture, as well as observe and record environmental changes over the month of class through photography, sketching, and descriptive writing exercises. Finally, students will collaborate on a final project that centers icy art history as an approach, while developing skills in exhibition design and museum-style interpretation. (Satisfies art post-1750)