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  • Design Dawgs: BFA Alumni Clay McLaurin and Jenny Vorhoff in Georgia Magazine.

  • MFA Candidate Zahria Cook receives the 2022-2023 George Hugh Boyd Memorial Scholarship!

  • Professors Jun, Harshman and Thomloudis all receive Arts Lab Faculty Fellowships for 2022-2023!

  • Interior Design major, Abbie Alf wins first place during Idea Accelerator Demo Day

  • Professor Joe Norman receives grant from CDC to boost vaccine confidence.

  • Reserve Space with Sign-Up Genius 

  • Professors Jun, Harshman and Thomloudis all receive Arts Lab Faculty Fellowships for 2022-2023!

  • Design Dawgs: BFA Alumni Clay McLaurin and Jenny Vorhoff in Georgia Magazine.

  • MFA Candidate Zahria Cook receives the 2022-2023 George Hugh Boyd Memorial Scholarship!

  • Professor Joe Norman receives grant from CDC to boost vaccine confidence.

  • Reserve Space with Sign-Up Genius 

  • Interior Design major, Abbie Alf wins first place during Idea Accelerator Demo Day

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Curatorial Work of Dodd Professor Profiled in Georgia Magazine

The summer 2017 edition of Georgia Magazine features a story about the recent work of Professor Asen Kirin at the Georgia Museum of Art. The article highlights Kirin’s process of authenticating an Alexey Venetsianov painting from 1827 in which he collaborated with UGA's Veterinary School to have the painting x-rayed for traces of forgery. The article, written by Georgia Magazine's Allyson Mann, is reprinted here:

"Work with a veterinarian, and ask for the bird setting.” 

The advice was unusual, but it turned out to be exactly what Asen Kirin needed. The UGA professor of art history was curating a show for the Georgia Museum of Art and needed to investigate the authenticity of a portrait whose history was largely unknown. He consulted a local conservator, who mentioned that colleagues elsewhere had worked successfully with veterinarians to X-ray works of art. 

Fortunately, the museum and the College of Veterinary Medicine have strong ties—three faculty members at the college serve on the museum’s membership board. Dr. K. Paige Carmichael PhD ’94 was instrumental in connecting Kirin with the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, where technicians including Charleen Romine documented the painting during several X-ray sessions. 

“I’ve imaged all sorts of animals and other things—dogs, cats, horses, cattle, goats, pigs, elephants, poison arrow frogs, bow-mouthed guitar fish, manatees, watermelons, and stained glass,” says Romine, veterinary technician supervisor. “This was the first painting.” 

The experience was novel for Romine, but it was crucial to Kirin’s work. 

“Portrait of a Youth,” dated 1827 and signed by Alexey Venetsianov, is part of a private collection of Russian art that is on long-term loan, and is a promised gift, to the museum. Kirin began examining the collection—virtually unknown for decades—in January 2013, eventually selecting nearly 200 pieces to display last fall during the exhibition “Gifts and Prayers: The Romanovs and Their Subjects.” 

But before “Portrait of a Youth” could be displayed, Kirin had to verify that it was the work of Venetsianov, one of the most significant Russian painters of the early 19th century. It’s rare for a well-known artist to leave an unknown work, but the painting’s provenance, or chain of ownership, couldn’t be traced before 1974. 

Kirin first sought X-rays to confirm that the canvas had not been scraped and reused, a common method of forgery. This confirmation was a significant first step in authentication, and working with the College of Veterinary Medicine meant that the portrait didn’t have to travel far. It also allowed Kirin to more thoroughly (and affordably) document the painting. 

“Without their help, getting this far in the authentication process would have been a major monetary expense— and not easy,” says Kirin, a professor at the Lamar Dodd School of Art. “The museum’s standards for documentation are high, and this painting has been thoroughly documented and studied through different methods of scientific imaging.” 

For Carmichael, professor of veterinary medicine, the project was a welcome opportunity to foster interaction between art and science. 

X-ray can be used to authenticate paintings but also can reveal other elements like materials used and an artist’s technique.

“I’m a big fan of getting rid of silos. These kinds of partnerships open people’s eyes to possibilities that they may not have considered. If they learn that connections can be made between fields that don’t seem connected on the surface, then hopefully in the future they’ll reach out and try to answer questions in a more complete manner,” she says. 

“These kinds of connections are important in fostering lifelong learning. I really hope that in the future we’ll have more outside-the-box thinking.” 

The “Portrait of a Youth” sessions seem to have sparked additional cross-campus collaboration. Veterinary technicians have since examined objects for research projects in other disciplines, including Antartic scallop shells for geology and soil samples for geography. 

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More Dodd News

Jul 29, 2022
Image of artworks suspended inside gallery space.

Demi Thomloudis featured in exhibition "LOCATION SERVICES: JEWELRY PERSPECTIVES ON TIME & PLACE"

Jul 29, 2022
Horizontal Movie Poster for Unspoken Film. Text overlaid on image of an afternoon scene with a monument and historic building with a clocktower.

Alum Stephanie Calabrese Premieres Documentary Feature Film UNSPOKEN at 17th Annual Macon Film Festival

Jul 22, 2022
Banner promoting Federal Work Study positions at the Lamar Dodd School of Art. Two individuals with their hair tied up are looking down at a table in an art studio space. The photo is overlaid on an off-center rose pink stripe and white background with black text.

Federal Work Study Positions Open for the 2022-2023 Academic Year

Jul 18, 2022
Metal flower sculptures arranged in a tight assemblage. Work by Mary Hallam Pearse.

Mary Hallam Pearse Featured in Solo Exhibition "Matters at Hand" at Stove Works

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