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| Tuesday, December 2nd |
10:00 a.m.
Room B-17
Smullin Hall |
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Mirrors, Tabletops, and Still Waters: Optical Reflections and Philosophical Reflection in Western Art
In this talk, Roger Hull will discuss the recurring motif of the reflective surface in Western European and American painting from the early fifteenth century to the late twentieth. Whether observed in mirrors, polished tabletops and metallic objects, or the placid surfaces of lakes or ponds, reflections have been a matter of fascination for artists for centuries—for reasons both optical and philosophical.
Roger Hull, Professor of Art History, has made multiple presentations to ICL, and has won numerous awards for excellence in teaching, including the Oregon Governor’s Arts Award in 1999, and Oregon Professor of the Year in 1993.
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1:00 p.m.
Room B-17
Smullin Hall
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Children of Africa
Children of Africa will provide a brief overview of the considerable issues affecting children on that challenged continent. We will be considering war (including child soldiers), sexism (including female genital mutilation), lack of education resources, poverty, famine, corruption, refugee migration, AIDS and other health issues. We will review some of the regional and international treaties ratified by African countries to support children’s rights and analyze how those treaties operate. We also will learn about some of the efforts that NGOs and the international community are making to support the region, and recognize successes and failures. Finally, we will ask if there is anything that we can do here in Salem to support the survival and development of the children of Africa.
Our presenter, Professor Warren Binford joined Willamette’s law faculty and became director of the school’s Clinical Law Program in 2005. Binford has actively worked throughout her career as a child advocate. She has served as a Court-Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for abused and neglected children in the U.S. since 1999, and is a former foster parent. Internationally, Professor Binford has worked with the International Red Cross in Switzerland, the Croatian Red Cross and the Japan Red Cross on numerous issues relating to child soldiers and other child victims of war. In addition, she toured Asia to research the role of child labor in the development of the Pacific Rim.
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| Thursday, December 4th |
10:00 a.m.
Room B-17
Smullin Hall
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The Controversy over the Amber Room and the Restitution of Cultural Artifacts Displaced in WW II
The Amber Room, close to St. Petersburg, is a world-renowned masterpiece of Baroque art, and may be the most famous cultural artifact looted in World War II. Given by the King of Prussia to Tsar Peter the Great in 1716, the Amber Room became the most splendid room in Catherine the Great’s palace in Tsarskoye Selo, outside St. Petersburg. German troops dismantled it in 1941 and brought it to Königsberg in East Prussia (renamed Kaliningrad), whence it mysteriously vanished in the chaos of bombing and hurried evacuations at the end of the Second World War. The talk will discuss the history and artistry of the Amber Room, its recent reconstruction, and its significance in the continuing debate over the return of artifacts displaced in World War II.
Our presenter is Ortwin Knorr, Associate Professor of Classics at Willamette University.
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11:00 a.m.
Room B-17
Smullin Hall
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Beyond the Amber Room: Other Cultural Treasures of St. Petersburg
Founded in 1703 by Peter the Great as a “Window on the West,” St. Petersburg’s center is itself a cultural treasure. In no other European city of its size (population 5 million), can visitors with centrally located lodgings reach virtually all of the numerous attractions on foot. The city center offers a harmonious blend of Baroque, Neoclassical, Russian Revival, and Art Nouveau architecture, interlaced with elegant canals and decorative bridges. St. Petersburg’s museums include both the Russian Museum, which contains the world’s second largest collection of Russian Art, and the incomparable Hermitage, probably the world’s largest art museum. This resplendent city is further enhanced by a necklace of sparkling Imperial Palaces, of which the Catherine Palace (which contains the reconstructed Amber Room) and the Peterhof Palace will be illustrated.
Our presenters, ICL Members Derek and Anita Stables, visited St. Petersburg for 10 days in 2006.
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12:00 noon
Montag
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End of Semester Session and Luncheon
Our concluding session of the semester is coordinated by Directors of Social Services, Margaret and Harlan Heyden.
Luncheon is by pre-registration only. Details for pre-registration will be announced in class.
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