Julia Troche Archives - Reynolds College Blog

MSU art and design students assist with new exhibition

April 20, 2024 by Reynolds College

Several students from Missouri State University’s Department of Art and Design assisted with the Springfield Art Museum’s special exhibition, “Renaissance Works on Parchment and Paper.”

The students conducted research and developed written descriptions to focus on individual objects or thematic elements.

Professor of art history Dr. Mitzi Kirkland-Ives will discuss the exhibit June 6, 2024, from 6-7 p.m. at the museum.

The exhibit is on view April 20-Sept. 1. It is free and open to the public.

Exhibit highlights historical “information-technology” shifts

Kirkland-Ives guest-curated the exhibit, selecting items from the museum’s collection to document the transition from manuscript production to the dawn of printing press technology.

“The exhibit focuses on an information-technology shift and some aspects of how both script/typography and visual imagery adapted to the new formats possible during the advent of mass reproduction,” Kirkland-Ives said.

Exhibit visitors will encounter visual elements of fifteen printed images—woodblock prints, engravings, and one etching—by German masters of the sixteenth century, including several works by Albrecht Dürer and Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Renaissance print artwork — Detail: Saint Jerome in His Study, Albrecht Dürer, 1514.

The exhibition provides a historical overview of how these works were produced—tools, equipment, and style—and covers a range of other subject matter.

“A half dozen examples of texts produced using the early printing press in several languages and typefaces are also included—early Bibles and other texts—and a number of leaves from medieval manuscripts on parchment as examples of the range of scripts and approaches to ornamentation seen in the unique hand-produced works of earlier centuries,” Kirkland–Ives said.

Kirkland-Ives wants viewers to consider contemporary issues in parallel with the development of print in Renaissance times, especially major changes in information technology, such as the internet and artificial intelligence (AI).

She hopes the exhibit encourages visitors to think about “big fundamental changes in how we get our information, whose voices can be heard, and how we negotiate, basically, questions of media literacy, legitimacy and authority.”

MSU faculty get creative with Public Affairs mission

October 17, 2023 by Lynn M. Lansdown

Missouri State University associate professor of history Dr. Julia Troche admits it. She is fascinated by the history of beer.

“I have always held an academic interest in the role of feasting (and drinking) in ritual and history,” said Troche, a specialist in Egypt as well as ancient history.

When she and her colleague, assistant professor of classics and global studies Dr. Bryan Brinkman, attended a local beer festival, they enjoyed visiting with brewery employees who thought their academic specialties were interesting.

From those conversations, Troche and Brinkman decided to coordinate a community-facing event about the history of beer that would align with MSU’s public affairs mission while using an interdisciplinary approach.

This would allow MSU faculty to share their expertise “in fun, accessible ways,” Troche said.

Faculty forum series highlights ancient Mediterranean world scholarship

September 5, 2023 by Lynn M. Lansdown

Egyptologist Dr. Julia Troche and ancient history scholar Dr. Bryan Brinkman saw an opportunity to build scholarly community when the Reynolds College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (RCASH) and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences were recently formed.

The two RCASH faculty members have created Cultures and Religions of the Ancient Mediterranean (CRAM), a “brown bag” forum series highlighting research and scholarship conducted by Missouri State University faculty.