Fall Semester 2008 Courses

The following courses are taught by members of the Emory faculty and Carlos Museum curatorial and conservation staff and incorporate the collections and exhibitions of the Museum in innovative ways.

Courses held in conjunction with the exhibitions Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs and Wonderful Things: The Harry Burton Photographs and the Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun:

Freshman Seminar - The Treasures of Tutankhamun
ARTHIST 190
Tuesday/Thursday, 2:30 - 3:45 PM

Instructor: Dr. Gay Robins, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Art History

When the tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered in 1922, it contained one of the few royal burials from ancient Egypt to have been preserved with all its funerary equipment virtually intact. The course will be presented around this material in order to examine who Tutankhamun was; the religious and political background to his reign; the return to traditional forms in art after the unorthodox Amarna period; what it meant to be king in ancient Egypt and how this was expressed in royal iconography; and the funerary beliefs of the ancient Egyptians and how they were depicted visually. Freshmen only.

Courses incorporating the permanent collections of the Carlos Museum:

Issues in the Conservation of Art and Cultural Property
ARTHIST 387 and 592
Tuesday/Thursday, 2:30 - 3:45

Instructor: Renee Stein, Carlos Museum Conservator

Content: This course will provide an introduction to the field of Art Conservation as well as an overview of the principle issues surrounding the care and preservation of cultural properties. Lecture and discussion will address historic materials and technologies, as well as aging properties, deterioration, and conservation treatment. Examples will be drawn from a wide variety of cultures and will represent diverse media, including paper, paintings, stone, metals, ceramics, archaeological remains, and historic monuments. We will examine the use of science to recognize fakes or forgeries, document artists' working methods, and identify historic materials. We will also review seminal debates in the recent history of conservation. Discussions will consider issues of aesthetics, artist’s intent, change over time, and compensation for loss or damage.

Shamanism and Art of the Americas
ARTHIS 393 and 592, crosslisted with LACS 385
Tuesday/Thursday, 1:00 - 2:15; MCCM Tate Room

Instructor: Dr. Rebecca Stone, Associate Professor of Art History, Faculty Curator of Art of the Ancient Americas

Content: The world's oldest continuing religious complex, shamanism, plays a prominent role in traditional Latin America from ancient times to the present and effects the artistic production of a wide array of cultures. This seminar will explore the perceptual characteristics of shamanic visions as they are directly depicted and influence imagery of humans, animals, and plants of Mesoamerica, Central and South America. Effigies of shamans in trance, including those with anomalous bodily conditions, will be featured. Works of art from the Carlos Museum collections are focus objects for discussion and research.

Through the Museum with the Bible: Biblical Text and Material Culture
OT 698
Wednesday/Friday, 9:30 AM - 10:50 AM; Candler School of Theology, CST 322

Instructor: Dr. Joel LeMon

Content: In the collections of the Michael C. Carlos Museum, the Candler School of Theology and Emory University have a tremendous resource for helping students explore the relationships between ancient artifacts and biblical texts. In the course, students will encounter artifacts within the Carlos Museum and explore how they affect the interpretation of biblical texts and the understanding of the socio-cultural milieu from which the Bible arose. The ultimate goal of the course is to equip students with the savvy needed to address the intersection of archaeology and the Bible. In an age of fake ossuaries, newly discovered Hebrew inscriptions, and weekly History Channel specials on “biblical” archaeology, critical thinking about archaeology and the Bible has never been more necessary.

At the conclusion of the course, the students will have 1) attained a level of fluency in the history of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean world, 2) identified the background and significance of selected objects within the Carlos collections, and 3) practiced methods for relating material culture and biblical texts.

Internships

Andrew W. Mellon Summer Internship

The Carlos Museum offers paid summer internships for Emory University students. Graduate and undergraduate students with strong interest in and aptitude for museum work may gain experience during the summer term to augment their academic program. Three interns will be selected by a committee of Museum staff and faculty advisors. The internships are ten weeks in length, and students are paid $5,000. The internships will begin Monday, June 4 and conclude on August 10, though some flexibility in scheduling is possible.

During the summer of 2008 possible projects include:

• Assisting Margaret Shufeldt, Curator of Works on Paper, with research and planning for two exhibitions. The first will feature American prints from the 1960s-80s by Jasper Johns, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Vija Celmins and others. The other will showcase the work of 20th-century photographers in such as Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Harry Callahan, Aaron Siskind, and Mike Disfarmer.

• Working with the Museums's Office of Educational Programs on the development of educational materials and an interactive web site about ancient Egypt and the Museum's Egyptian collections.

• Working with Curator of Greek and Roman Art Dr. Jasper Gaunt on research and writing label copy for Greek and Roman objects in the Carlos Collection of Ancient Art.

• Working with Dr. Jessica Stepenson, Associate Curator of African Art on projects related to the prioritization and re-organization of stored African objects.

Download an application for the Andrew W. Mellon Summer Internship, or pick one up in the Museum's Office of Educational Programs.

The Carlos Museum also offers unpaid internships and other opportunities for working and learning in a museum environment for Emory students. For more information about internships, contact Elizabeth Hornor by phone at 404-727-6118, or by email at ehornor@emory.edu.

Internships for Credit

Volunteer or academic internships are available to Emory University students. Please contact Elizabeth Hornor, Director of Education for information. 

Student Docent Program

Undergraduate and graduate students are invited to join the Museum's Docent Guild to give tours to K-12 groups, students, and the general public. Each fall new student docents are recruited and receive training on the collections. They begin touring in the spring. This provides students an excellent opportunity to develop research and presenation skills. For information, please contact Julie Green at jgree09@emory.edu.

Public Programs of Interest to Students

The Carlos Museum offers a wide variety of public programs of interest to Emory students. For a complete listing of these programs, please see the Calendar.

Discounted Tickets for Students to Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs

There are several opportunities for students to see Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs at a discounted student ticket price. On selected Thursday nights (dates to be announced) college students with a valid ID can purchase tickets for $15 (a $13.50 savings) as part of the Tut After Dark promotion for college and university students.

Student groups may also apply to the Out There Arts Initiative of Emory's Center for Creativity and the Arts for funding to purchase tickets. Visit the Out There Arts section of the Creativity and the Arts web site for an application.