APRIL 27, 2020 — Two UTSA faculty will be recipients of National Endowment for the Humanities awards, part of $30.9 million in grants to support 188 humanities projects in 45 states and the District of Columbia.
Julie Johnson, associate professor of art history, was awarded $60,000 for her project “Hiding in Plain Sight: Maria van Oosterwyck in the Habsburg Collections,” research and writing that will lead to a book about Dutch Golden Age painter Maria van Oosterwyck (1630–1693).
Juliet Wiersema, associate professor of art history, was awarded a $60,000 fellowship to pursue her research project “Spanish Colonial Cartography from Colombia’s Pacific Lowlands, 1710–1810,” which will lead to a book of unpublished maps depicting the economic life of free and enslaved Africans in Nueva Granada (modern-day Colombia) during the 18th century.
“These two faculty members are breaking new ground through their research and telling the stories of people that might otherwise be lost,” said Rhonda M. Gonzales, interim dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts. “We’re so proud of all of their achievements, but an NEH grant really signifies what a high level of scholarship these two women have achieved. They bring a lot to their students and the College of Liberal and Fine Arts.”
“Congratulations to Drs. Johnson and Wiersema!” said Kimberly Andrews Espy, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “The NEH awards are among the most competitive in the U.S. Having our UTSA faculty competing with the best—and winning these awards—is a great marker of excellence for the university and benchmark goal for the National Research University Fund.”
Johnson’s grant was one of 15 totaling $790,000 that was given in support of advanced research in humanities by those working at historically black colleges, Hispanic serving institutions and tribal colleges and universities. Her teaching addresses the history of art and architecture in Vienna 1900, women artists and modern and contemporary art. She is the author of The Memory Factory: The Forgotten Women Artists of Vienna 1900 (Purdue University Press, 2012).
Johnson said her research into Van Oosterwyck, who was once more famous than her contemporary Jan Vermeer, is meant to address the lingering problem of women artists and cultural memory.
Her work focuses on the lives and afterlives of Van Oosterwyck’s signature painting of 1668, in which the artist represents herself at work in a reflection in a bottle of red liquid.
“My project addresses topics related to memory, framing and display in museum studies and media theory,” Johnson said. “It focuses very tightly on the dramatic narrative story of Van Oosterwyck and her key work, the 1668 Vanitas Still Life, now hanging adjacent to Jan Vermeer’s The Art of Painting in Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum.”
Wiersema’s fellowship grant was one of 81 totaling $4.4 million given by the NEH to support advanced research by college and university teachers and independent scholars, according to a press release from the endowment. Her expertise is in the visual and material culture of the pre-Hispanic and late Spanish Colonial Andes, specifically Peru and Colombia. Her first book, Architectural Vessels of the Moche: Ceramic Diagrams of Sacred Space in Ancient Peru (University of Texas Press, 2015) investigates questions of scale, modes of visuality and monumental architectural remains attributed to the Moche, one of the most powerful groups living in South America before the formation of the Inca empire.
Wiersema’s research examines the critical economic and social role that Africans played in the early modern history of the Pacific lowlands. However, their stories are largely obscured in colonial documents from Nueva Granada.
“My project, which works from manuscript maps and archival repositories, brings these buried stories to light and argues that Africans skillfully adapted to local conditions and carved out opportunities for themselves,” she said. “A critical examination of these maps highlights the pivotal place that Africa—as miners, overland porters and canoe polers—held in the local, regional and global economy. Furthermore, these cartographic works—studied in conjunction with 18th century archival documents, 19th century explorers’ accounts and surviving historical maps—enable us to reconstruct the history of this isolated and marginalized colonial frontier during the final century of Spanish rule.”
NEH chairman Jon Parrish Peede told recipients that in more than 50 years the federal agency has underwritten hundreds of the nation’s most significant humanities projects through its fellowship programs. Applications were selected for support after completing a rigorous three-step review process.
“These new NEH grants will expand access to the country’s wealth of historical, literary and artistic resources by helping archivists and curators care for important heritage collections and using new media to inspire examination of significant texts and ideas,” Peede said. “In keeping with NEH’s A More Perfect Union initiative, these projects will open pathways for students to engage meaningfully with the humanities and focus public attention on the history, culture and political thought of the United States’ first 250 years as a nation.”
UTSA Today is produced by University Communications and Marketing, the official news source of The University of Texas at San Antonio. Send your feedback to news@utsa.edu. Keep up-to-date on UTSA news by visiting UTSA Today. Connect with UTSA online at Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Instagram.
This academically rigorous mathematics-based summer enrichment program prepares middle and high school students for advanced studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Participants learn about problem-solving systems, develop greater awareness of STEM careers and strengthen their research skills.
UTSA Main CampusArchaeology 101 will introduce campers to archaeology and build on learned skills through experimental activities (like cave painting, weaving, and garbology).
Center for Archaeological Research, UTSA Main CampusThe camp exposes rising high school juniors, rising seniors and incoming college freshman to the many facets of the criminal justice system. Students will have opportunities to learn the functions of police in society and apply scientific theories to criminal investigations by examining a mock crime scene.
UTSA Main CampusThe Academy for Teacher Excellence Research Center invites you to join us for the Summer Bridging Institute. This institute will focus on being lifelong growers and continually seeking to increase our skills as educators.
UTSA Downtown CampusArchaeology 201 will briefly go over the foundations of archaeology and related skills, followed by a different topic over the course of this week (like skeletal analysis, global cultures, and more).
Center for Archaeological Research, UTSA Main CampusCraft a comic to create your own narrative and find your voice through storytelling. Participants will learn to create characters that are self-reflective and through a community lens.
REGSS Community Room (DB 3.202,) UTSA Downtown CampusCome enjoy a discussion on art as a self expression in the age of moving technology and telling your story with a community.
REGSS Community Room (DB 3.202,) UTSA Downtown CampusThe University of Texas at San Antonio is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge through research and discovery, teaching and learning, community engagement and public service. As an institution of access and excellence, UTSA embraces multicultural traditions and serves as a center for intellectual and creative resources as well as a catalyst for socioeconomic development and the commercialization of intellectual property - for Texas, the nation and the world.
To be a premier public research university, providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.
We encourage an environment of dialogue and discovery, where integrity, excellence, inclusiveness, respect, collaboration and innovation are fostered.
UTSA is a proud Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) as designated by the U.S. Department of Education .
The University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution situated in a global city that has been a crossroads of peoples and cultures for centuries, values diversity and inclusion in all aspects of university life. As an institution expressly founded to advance the education of Mexican Americans and other underserved communities, our university is committed to promoting access for all. UTSA, a premier public research university, fosters academic excellence through a community of dialogue, discovery and innovation that embraces the uniqueness of each voice.