ABOUT US
Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
WHAT IS ART HISTORY?
The field of Art History has changed tremendously in recent years, and our Department is at the forefront of those changes. The European legacy of art is now taught within a cross-cultural perspective, while Indigenous Art has become integral to how we teach and understand Canadian Art History.
We continue to study traditional art forms such as painting and sculpture, but art history at Concordia now encompasses many more kinds of images and objects, including
- photography
- craft objects
- interior design
- public art
- fashion
- architecture
- urban space
Equally important are the ideas, theories, and present-day concerns that both professors and students bring into the classroom: concerns related to social justice, decolonization, environmental politics, race and ethnicity, and feminism and queer theory, to name just a few.
WHO WE ARE
Meet the Chair
Dr. Nicola Pezolet
It is a great honour and privilege to be the new Art History Department Chair here at Concordia. I have been a full-time faculty member in the Faculty of Fine Arts since 2013. My research is focused generally on the history, theory and criticism of art and architecture, with a special interest in the various intersections of the secular and the religious. In my time at Concordia, I’ve had the chance to teach many courses on art and architecture history, and to work as our Undergraduate Program Director and then as our Graduate Program Director. I’ve also served on several faculty and university-wide committees. I’ve thus collaborated with students, faculty members, administrators and stakeholders, and I feel like I’ve developed a good sense of the inner workings of our unit within the larger academic milieu in Montreal and beyond.
For decades, Concordia’s Art History undergraduate and graduate programs have been recognized for fostering innovative research on historical and contemporary art objects and practices, as well as the critical study of visual and material culture more broadly (including print culture, photography, interior design, craft, and fashion). While our focus has historically been on Canada and North America, we are continuing to expand to include more global perspectives. Our Department takes pride in fostering a mutually supportive, inclusive and collegial environment in which our students can improve their research skills, fine tune their writing, gain confidence at speaking in public, as well as get involved in various group activities, on campus and beyond.
As our academic unit head, my primary focus remains the same as it’s always been since I became a professor: to support and help others achieve their various academic and personal goals. My aim is also to ensure that decisions are made as closely as possible to the individuals and groups affected by them, in order to promote autonomy, transparency, and responsiveness in governance structures. I sincerely hope to foster a strong sense of belonging and collaboration within our team, as well as to foster respect.
I’d be happy to answer your email or to discuss with you via phone or Zoom (by appointment). You may also come during office hours. If you are already in the program and you are considering further studies, I’d love to discuss your future plans and offer some general guidance about your academic and professional development. You may wish to contact our wonderful Department assistant, Danielle Aimée Miles, for various administrative questions.
My colleagues and I look forward to being in touch with you and I wish you all much success in your studies and your careers! Il me fera grand plaisir de vous répondre en français si vous préférez.
Graduate Program Director
Dr. Alice Ming Wai Jim
As Graduate Program Director, I am grateful for our students who bring boundless curiosity, purposeful intention and the joy of learning to each day. I am also thankful to be working with an amazing administrative team as well as my doc-inter colleagues from UQAM and UdM. As an alum of Concordia's MA program two decades ago, I have seen several watershed moments in our graduate program. Born and raised in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal on unceded Kanien'kehá:ka traditional territory, I am a racialized arrivant-settler scholar (she/her) , specializing in ethnocultural and global art histories. I am currently completing a SSHRC-funded oral histories project on Afrofuturism and Black Lives Matter. This year, I am also ecstatic to start my Concordia University Research Chair in Critical Curatorial Studies & Decolonizing Art Institutions and to work with so many brilliant folks across the university and the city, including my new colleague in our department, Dr Balbir Singh, Canada Research Chair in Art and Racial Justice. There are more research synergies and opportunities for research positions in the humanities at Concordia related to critical race art history and museology then there ever was before, and I love how art history is part of the Faculty of Fine Arts, this creative hub in downtown Montreal. Here I have been able to do the work that we do in community in ways that we could not before. I welcome you to be part of this historic movement. To our prospective, new, and returning students, I am as always happy to meet with you to talk about our graduate programs, research assistantships, and experiential learning opportunities.
Undergraduate Program Director
Dr. Steven Stowell
I am Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Programs in the Department of Art History. As the academic advisor to students enrolled in our Major and Minor programs, I am happy to discuss any academic questions you may have regarding undergraduate courses in Art History. You can feel free to visit me during my office hours, or contact me by email if you have any questions about degree requirements, which courses might best enrich your studies, professional development, and academic standing, among other things. I also supervise the undergraduate internship program, and am happy to meet with students wanting to take advantage of this opportunity. Whether you are a prospective or current student, I look forward to meeting with you in the coming months if you have any questions about our undergraduate programs and courses. On behalf of the Department, I wish you a very successful and productive academic year!
