Teaching the History of Modern Design: The Canon and Beyond (July 2015, Philadelphia USA)

Dates: 6-31 July 2015
Location: Drexel University, Philadelphia USA
Website: http://drexel.edu/westphal/undergraduate/ARTH/historyofmoderndesign/
Deadline for application: 2 March 2015

This exciting four–week NEH summer teaching institute will prepare twenty-five college faculty from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to meet the increasing demand for as well as interest in courses on modern design history. In-depth seminars will focus upon three interdependent thematic units:

• taste and popular culture
• political and global interpretations of design after world war II
• women as consumers and producers of design

The director’s and visiting scholars’ complementary approaches to “The Canon and Beyond” will build upon and reinforce participants’ familiarity with standard material, while simultaneously introducing new material and critical perspectives. Field trips to regional museums and collections such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Hagley Museum in Delaware will provide participants direct experience with objects, and suggest ways to use local collections in their own teaching. Group presentations by our participants will take place during the final week of the Institute.

Content is in development, for more information please contact nehmoderndesign@drexel.edu.