Spring 2025 (tentative)

HART 2155W Healing and Art in China

In this course we examine the interconnection of “human” and “natural” environments in premodern China, with a focus on early healing practices and the development of the arts. Topics to be examined include the materiality and technology of individual craft traditions, especially as they relate to the human body; magical healing texts, talismans, and dharanis; the art of the Buddha of Medicine; the growing of transformative herbs and the development of the aesthetic garden; and tea consumption as medicine and art.

HART 3164W Art of the Buddhist Relic and Reliquary

What do bones, mummies, gems, and blood writing all have in common? Why craft an exquisite vessel of the most precious materials just to bury or hide it? Throughout this course, we will discover answers to these questions and other intriguing paradoxes. Revealing the subject to be trans-historical and trans-cultural, this course analyzes the veneration of Buddhist relics and the construction of reliquaries from a visual perspective by focusing on their art, ritual, and devotion as manifested in the material and visual cultures of China, Korea, Japan, and South Asia. As a seminar course, the first part of each class will be lectures where I draw out certain points from the required readings, provide visual accompaniment, and present additional information to augment the week’s theme. The second half of the class will be student-led open discussions of the readings and topic.

Fall 2024

Hart 1200 Arts of East Asia

This course is an exploration of the cultural traditions of East Asia from the 2nd millennium BCE to the 19th century through the visual arts. Architecture, painting, ceramics, and sculpture will be examined both as works collected and admired for their aesthetic qualities as well as examples of the culture in which they were produced. Considerations of style will be used to aid in answering questions regarding a work’s commission, production, and social significance.

HART 2815W Digital Humanities: The Chinese Temple

A project-based course on digital documentation and the development of computer-based research tools for the study of architecture and cultural heritage in China, in 2815W we focus on digital approaches to artwork, architecture and built assemblages (monasteries and temple complexes), and the spiritual landscapes of premodern China. Class time will be divided between substance and practice. Thus, we will study the history of the architecture, setting, and decoration of temple buildings in China; learn about the underlying theory of heritage studies and international translation practices for technical terminology; and gain practical experience in data curation for cultural heritage sites.

As a writing course (W), we learn to modify our writing for different audiences and purposes. We will write, review, and edit short descriptions of technical terms, and then use those terms to write about individual buildings and temple sites. Through methods of visual analysis, we create precise descriptions of structural and stylistic forms and learn how these forms are translated and interpreted for different cultural environments–highly desirable skills in current art and architectural history, museum work, and heritage studies. Final projects will focus on incorporating primary and secondary sources in studies of form, subject, iconography, and the cultural and religious contexts of timber frame architecture, architectural ceramics, and the materiality of temples in the Chinese context.

Spring 2024

HART 2151 Architecture and Gardens in Imperial China

This course is an introduction to the rich and complex architectural tradition of China during its imperial period (221 BCE – 1911 CE). We will be exploring changes in the society, imperial institutions, and intellectual traditions of China through its built environment. Topics to be discussed include: theories behind building and fengshui, imperial city planning, the creation of imperial temples to control the forces of nature, the impact of Buddhism on ritual architecture, the monastic and temple complexes of religious Daoism and Confucianism, the development of landscape art and its manifestation in Imperial and private contexts, and the encoding of patriarchy in the vernacular architecture of both north and south China. The course is structured chronologically, but within each time period emphasis will be placed on the cultural context of the works discussed, be it practical, political, or spiritual.

HART 3140 Healing and Art in East Asia

Because the physical environments of healing (including the built environment as well as the appearance of healing specialists, medicines, and the tools to consume them) impact the effectiveness of healing practice, much about a society’s conceptions of health and beauty can be explored through examining objects of intended to cure illness and heal the sick. In this course we will look at the influence of early healing practices on the development of the arts of China and their legacy in Japan. Topics to be examined include: magical healing texts and talismans; the art of the Buddha of Medicine, gardens and growing transformative herbs, and tea as medicine and art.