Laurie Milner, PhD, MA, BA

Laurie Milner holds a PhD in Modern and Contemporary Art History and Theory from Northwestern University. Her research has been funded by the SSHRC, the Government of France, Northwestern University, Concordia University Part-Time Faculty Association and Bishop's University. Prior to coming to Concordia, she held positions as Associate Professor and Head of Critical Studies at Emily Carr Institute (now University) of Art and Design, Acting Chair of the Art History Program at Bishop's University, and Director/Curator at Glendon Gallery, York University. Laurie teaches seminars on contemporary art, theory and writing in the MFA Studio Arts Program, modern and contemporary art history in the Art History Department, critical issues in art practice in the BFA Studio Arts Department, and the history of art in the Liberal Arts College at Concordia University. She has an active writing practice focused on the works of contemporary Canadian artists. She also runs Laurie Milner Editorial Services (www.lauriemilner.com), which specializes in writing in the arts, humanities and literature. She has been an active contributor to curriculum development in institutions of higher education and received an outstanding teaching commendation from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design. 

Education

BA            University of Guelph
MA           Northwestern University
PhD          Northwestern University

Areas of expertise

Art writing, contemporary art and theory, modern art history, continental philosophy, critical theory.

Research interests

Emerging modes of writing on art, contemporary Canadian art, photography, painting.

CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY MFA STUDIO ARTS GRADUATE SEMINARS:
Topics in Art and Culture: "Writing Projects"
Topics in Art and Culture: "Making Writing"
Topics in Art and Culture: "bittersweet unmanageable (art and writing)"
Topics in Art and Culture: "fragile compositions, uncertain enunciations (art and nature)"
Topics in Art and Culture: "Laboratories of Curiosity and Design: Art and Science"
Art: Ideas and Practices: "Writing: Critical Methods and Practices"
Art: Ideas and Practices: "Artist's Voice"
Art: Ideas and Practices: "Vivid (art and writing)"
Art: Ideas and Practices:"Appearances and Potentials (art, philosophy, science)"
Art: Ideas and Practices: "Interdisciplinarity"
Art: Ideas and Practices: "Diagrams in Art, Science and Philosophy"
Topics in Media Art: "What Does What's New in New Media Do?"

CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY ART HISTORY COURSES:
Studies in the History of Sculpture:"Animals in Contemporary Sculpture"
Narration and Art: "Thinking with Mieke Bal"
Studies in 17th and 18th Century Art and Architecture: "Art and Decoration in France and England during the Long Eighteenth Century: Enlightenment and Globalization"
Studies in 19th Century Art and Architecture: "Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau"
Studies in Contemporary Art and Architecture: "Artist Collaborations Since the 1960s"

CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY STUDIO ARTS THEORY COURSES:
Critical Issues for Painters
Art and the Ordinary

CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE COURSES:
The History of Art

BISHOPS UNIVERSITY ART HISTORY COURSES:
Current Writing about Art: "Mieke Bal"
Seminar in Twentieth-Century Art: "Canadian Women Artists"
Seminar in Nineteenth-Century Art: "Decorative Arts at the Fin-de-Siècle"
Philosophy and Criticism of Art: "Wonders in Art, Science and Philosophy"
Current Issues in the Theory and Criticism of Art: "Body Knowledge: Art and Science"
Women in Art
Museology
Neo-Classicism and Romanticism
Realism through Post-Impressionism
Twentieth-Century Art to the Sixties
Art Since the Sixties
Survey of Western Art I: Prehistory to Medieval
Survey of Western Art II: Renaissance to Modern

EMILY CARR INSTITUTE OF ART AND DESIGN CRITICAL STUDIES COURSES:
Introduction to Visual Culture I
Introduction to Visual Culture II
Seminar in Modern Art: "Speaking in Tongues: Beyond a Politics of Identity"
Seminar in Modern Art: "Poststructuralism and Art Practice"
Seminar in Modern Art: "Art and the 'Public Sphere'"
Western Art and Design Survey I
Western Art and Design Survey II

NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY ART HISTORY COURSES:
European Art, 1785-1848
Western Art Survey II

THE LACOSTE SCHOOL OF ART, LACOSTE, FRANCE
"French Landscape Painting"

"The Shabbiness of Beauty by Moyra Davey," Ciel Variable, Feb. 20, 2024.

"Vast Still Tender: Geneviève Cadieux's Ghost Ranch", Ciel Variable 114, Winter 2020, pp. 62-69.

"Kinship as a Practice: In the Studio with Notman", Ciel Variable 111, Winter 2019, pp. 46-55.

“Religious Speech Acts in Contemporary Art,” paper presented at Sacred Literature/Secular Religion: A Conference on Cultural Practices, Le Moyne College, NY., 2015.

“Art Writing”, Afternoons at the Institute, Jarislowsky Institute, Concordia University.“Art Writing,” Afternoons at the Institute, Jarislowsky Institute, Concordia University, 2015.

"Pollock, Cage, Cunningham, and Dean: Reflections on Art, Religion and Performance," paper presented at Religion, Art and Performance and the Cutting Edge conference, British Association for the Study of Religion, Open University, Milton Keynes, England, 2014.

“Three Iterations of 4’33”,” presentation at CUPFA MicroTalks: Light and Landscape, Concordia University, 2014.