When Professor of Classical Studies Joseph Garnjobst, a small group of students, and other faculty gather to eat gelato, sip espresso, and look at great Renaissance art, they imagine they are in Italy in the summer.
Actually, they gather in the Classics Reading Room of Kendall Hall, during a wet and windy Michigan March, celebrating Renaissance Friday.
“It’s not a class,” Garnjobst said. “It’s just a bunch of people talking about Renaissance art, architecture, and culture.”
“Fresh fruit, gelato and espresso,” Associate Professor of Art Barbara Bushey, who co-leads and participates in the group, said. “What more do you want?”
Every Friday at 4 p.m. Garnjobst, Bushey, and a small group of students and other faculty, gather for the event to discuss Renaissance and ancient art, architecture, and culture.
Garnjobst initiated the gathering after his return from leading the High School Summer Study and Travel Program to Italy with Hillsdale College in 2015. He guides the trip every two years, alternating with Professor of Classics David Jones. Garnjobst said he wanted to continue learning about the art and culture in order to guide the Italy trips more knowledgeably in the future.
“I didn’t want the conversation about the art and the culture to end because I enjoyed the trip so much,” he said. “As an extra incentive, I threw in gelato and espresso, two things that we had a lot of on the trip.”
He invited Bushey and other faculty who have interest in the Renaissance to join him for the conversation.
“We had gotten together to talk about how to talk about art and how to best engage people to teach them to understand works of art as primary documents by teaching them to look and gather visual information from works of art,” Bushey said.
The group, which began in September of 2015, is open to anyone who has interest in art. It has attracted students of various disciplines and several professors, Bushey said.
“Some weeks the Mongol hoards descend and some weeks not,” she said.
Garnjobst said the size ranges from four to 15 people.
Every week, the group looks at different works of art — usually following some sort of theme, such as images of Hercules or Moses — from the Greek and Roman world to the Renaissance era and beyond.
“We do try to look across time at images,” Bushey said. “It is increased collegiality, which is not to be discounted. Dr. Garnjobst and I am both very interested in hearing other people talk about art, to develop a deeper understanding of what people do and don’t see.”
Garnjobst said he tries to pick themes and works of art that students on the high school trip encounter in Rome, Florence, and Venice — such as “Madonna and Child” art, crucifixion scenes, or comparisons between Christ and Moses in paintings.
Senior Katherine Sinkovitz, who has attended, said she enjoys the dynamic between Bushey and Garnjobst and their knowledge of art.
“It is a great end to the week, and it is great to have those images in your brain through the weekend” she said. “It is nice to have funny and light-hearted academic conversation without worrying if it will be on your next essay. Who doesn’t want more art in their lives?”
Bushey said these casual conversations and observations about art help the professors learn and develop their teaching based on how and what individual students observe about art.
“People have different points of view and areas of interests, so they bring up different things,” she said. “Sometimes we are completely ridiculous. It is Friday afternoon, and we’ve had too much sugar and caffeine, and that’s what you get. It’s developed into a very interesting social interaction.”
Garnjobst agreed that the valuable insights of students and other faculty have helped him prepare for future Italy trip.
“It’s a way of doing my job better,” he said. “It is very much going to benefit the next trip for 2017, and the trips beyond that.”
