Beard Conference Travel Grants for Phd Candidates Wolff & Lescher
Two Art History PhD candidates shared their research at multidisciplinary conferences this year with the support of the departmental Helen J. Beard Conference Travel Grant.
In March, Mery-et Lescher attended the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA) 2016 National Conference in Seattle, WA. She presented her paper, “The Move from Mechanization to Computerization: The Debut of CAPS in Walt Disney Feature Animation,” during the Production and Practice session of the Animation division. Her talk generated discussion about developments in production practices following the movement from handcrafted artwork to entirely computer-generated films. The animation sessions provided a forum for fellow animation historians to meet and engage in timely discussion about the issues affecting the history and theory of the subject matter, extending the discourse by examining animation’s impact on popular social media today.
Lesley Wolff will present her paper, “¡Muele, Muele! The Visuality of Mole Poblano as Heritage Process,” at the Joint Annual Meeting and Conference of the Association for the Study of Food and Society; the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society; and the Canadian Association for Food Studies, which will take place June 22 – 25, 2016, at the University of Toronto, Scarborough. This conference seeks to promote interdisciplinary approaches to food, society, and culture. Wolff’s paper, which is part of her dissertation research, examines “The Creation of Mole” (1946), a large-scale painting commissioned for a cafe in the heart of Mexico City’s historic district. The painting depicts the mythic colonial invention of one of Mexico’s most popular foodstuffs, mole poblano. Wolff argues for the complex sensory relationships this painting engenders, which ultimately participate in a negotiation of nationalist attitudes based on consumer behavior. Wolff is honored to present this paper alongside Dr. Jeffrey Pilcher, Dr. Sandra Aguilar-Rodríguez, and Dr. Jennifer Berg, three scholars whose work on Mexican food history and food studies at large has been essential to the formation of Wolff’s dissertation.