Student compete for art lecture scholarship

With a $600 scholarship on the line, four graduate students presented research lectures Sunday in front of an intimate crowd and a four-judge panel for the biennial Evan F. Lilly Memorial Lecture Competition.

Cosponsored by the IU Art Museum and Henry Radford Hope School of Fine Arts, the lecture series gives students from any department a chance to present research based on artwork specifically from the IU Art Museum’s collection. 

Teresa Wilkins, a second-year doctorate student in the School of Fine Arts, volunteered to help coordinate for the competition and said every other year, candidates are selected in spring based on written proposals submitted to a panel of judges. After reviewing the proposals, up to six finalists can be chosen, but only four made the cut this year.

“We’re looking for original research, preferably things that have never been written before,” Wilkins said.

Diane Pelrine, associate director of curatorial services for the IU Art Museum, said the panel comprised of two representatives from the IU Art Museum and two professors from the School of Fine Arts will meet this week to decide on the best lecture and will announce the winner Wednesday.

Of the four lectures, Wilkins said two focused on pieces of the museum’s modern collection, while the other two were about the museum’s ancient works collection.
One of the two lectures about modern art was given by art history graduate student Anna Simon and titled “Flights of Mythic Fancy: Critiquing French Symbolist Ideology.”

The lecture focused on the “Poster for the first Salon de la Rose+Croix,” by artist Carlos Schwabe. The poster, Simon said, reveals much about sexuality and culture in France during the 1890s.

Despite being nervous, Simon said presenting her research was a great experience.
“This is a good chance to practice presenting research,” Simon said. “The scholarship is an added bonus.”