Faculty Seminar in Russia:
The Arts in Russia's Changing Economy and Society
Summer 2004

Participants

Alexis Boylan is Assistant Professor of Art History at Lawrence University. Her area of specialty is Modern and Contemporary Art, with particular emphasis in American Art. Her interest in this seminar stems from a desire to rethink and rework the way that she teaches twentieth-century art historical narratives to her students.

David Caplan is assistant professor of English at Ohio Wesleyan University, a scholar of modern and contemporary poetry and a poet. He wanted to learn about the various roles that the arts plays in Russia, especially how artists and organizations contend with issues regarding funding, literacy, and governmental intervention.

Tom Denlinger teaches photography and videography in the Art Department at Lake Forest College. He is interested in the intersections between art forms, particularly between architecture, painting and photography: between represented space and the development and realization of actual space.

Ruthann Godollei is an artist living and working in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she teaches printmaking, design and art theory as a Professor of Art at Macalester College. A specialist in print media, her works deal with the human situation and concerns about social justice. She was looking forward to the opportunity to compare how changes in the economics and tactics of art making and presentation in Russia have evolved in contemporary society.

Robert Grey is a political scientist at Grinnell College, where he has taught courses on Russian politics for over thirty years. He wants to develop a freshman seminar on Russian history and culture.

Margaret McLaren teaches philosophy at Rollins College, and is interested in the relationship among culture, politics and the economy. She believed that studying these issues in Russia post-Soviet Union would provide unique insights not only into the relationship between society and the arts, but also the relationship between nation-state and society and the role of the arts in fostering cultural/national identity.

Nevin Mercede is a visual artist teaching at Antioch College. She has a long-standing interest in working across disciplines toward enlarging cultural understandings, both within contemporary North American culture and beyond our borders with other nations.

Martha Paas teaches in the Department of Economics at Carleton College, and is interested in the economics of the arts. Her participation in the seminar strengthened her participation in a future class on the economic history of Europe.

Nancy Paddleford is a professor of music at St. Olaf College, where she teaches piano performance. She hoped to be better able to teach the works of Russian composers based on a deeper understanding of the culture and the way of life.

Thomas Sienkewicz is a professor of classics at Monmouth College. As a Classicist, he was especially interested in looking at contemporary Russian culture/art in the context of the Greek Byzantine tradition from which it evolves. He wanted to know in what ways ancient Greek (and Roman) culture is still part of the fiber of modern Russian society.

Erling Sjovold teaches Studio Art as an Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Richmond in Virginia. His primary research and teaching areas are in painting and drawing with secondary emphasis in photography and design. He wanted to advance his insights into Russian art/culture beyond mere speculation and assert his reflections with greater clarity in both the classroom and his studio. He drew/sketched frequently throughout the seminar.

Sarah Stoycos is a music historian at Centre College, with primary research areas in Renaissance music, particularly the music of 16th century Italy and England and a secondary research area that focuses on the interaction of music and politics in the twentieth century. She wanted her participation in the seminar to provide a comparative approach, benefiting most clearly her work that focuses on the interaction of music and politics.

Dirk van Raemdonck is assistant professor of political science at Centenary College of Louisiana. As a student of international relations and comparative politics, his interest in the arts focuses on how the arts connect, reflect, and interrelate with society and politics.

Daryl White is professor of sociology and anthropology at Spelman College. His research focuses on culture as processes of meaning-making, including religious activity, especially issues of race, gender and sexuality in U.S. Southern Protestantism and Mormonism. In Russia he was interested in how the arts are part of broader social and historical contexts.