Around the World Art History

   
​   Travel around the world, examining the incredible beauty within diverse cultures, linguistics, and belief systems through the profundity of art. From ancient objects associated with ancestor worship in China to magnificent hand-carved reliquaries enabling access to sacred ceremonies in the Caribbean, we will expand our horizons by taking in a deep past as we consider its impact on our present. While marveling at humanity’s dynamic complexity, we travel along the songlines in the ancestral lands of the aboriginal people of Australia. Along our journey, we will make our way through West Africa, Colonial Latin America, and Ancient Rome before finding the dawn of globalization and echoes of modernity in the 17th-century Dutch Masters.
Aboriginal Art and the Dreamtime
Together we will track the sounds of the Songlines to the beginning of time. On a journey through Dreamtime, we will encounter a rainbow serpent, origin myths, and an incredible myriad of linguistics. Explore the profound through an aboriginal entheogen as a way of communal education and creation. We will see bark paintings, rock paintings, and spiritual body paintings as an opportunity to begin to understand the oldest living culture in the world.
Exploring the Art of West Africa
Secret societies, storytellers, and sculptures will amplify our horizons as we contemplate masks that introduce an incredible constellation of West African cultures. Transformative visual art with magic powers produces profound expressions of sacred social structures. Join us as we encounter beauty, beliefs, and controversial cures along Africa’s west coast.
Introducing Chinese Art
The art of ancestor worship and offerings pull us into ancient tombs, where we will examine sacred bones and divinations that changed the direction of civilization. Goddesses spread tradition across ancient trade routes, as queens of ancient China give way to mandates from heaven and military conquerors in search of eternal life. As one dynasty falls, it gives way to another, bringing the great thinkers, philosophies, and strategies to the confluence of cultures in ancient China.
​Buddhist Art in China Along the Silk Road
Deep in caves at the edge of the desert, witness Buddhism blend with pre-existing beliefs along the Silk Road. Reincarnation, tombs, and ancestor worship come together in ancient faiths remade in the minds of the masses. While the Silk Road connects economies once separated by vast distances, new forms of art will emerge in ways that continue to exert force on our world today.
Gold and Grandeur in Ancient Egypt’s New Kingdom
​Travel more than 3000 years back in time as we explore ancient Egypt through the power, grandeur, and gold of the great Pharaoh Ramses II. We will examine the afterlife, magic spells, and temples made to honor the incredible women who influenced his kingdom. From his epic battles to the world’s first recorded peace treaty, discover the power of art and architecture under the sacred desert sun as seen through the eyes of Ramses the Great.
Ancient Rome’s Judeo-Christian Connection to Today 
Beneath Rome’s soil lies the secret that accelerated the rise of a republic transformed through art that masked reality with the godly ambition of Emperors. A new religion will arise atop the eternal city’s ancient foundations built on the back of a fallen kingdom. In art and architecture at the confluence of myth and history, we rediscover Rome through the stories deep within our western world today. ​​
Introducing The Superstars of the Renaissance
Explore Renaissance masters Giotto, Raphael, and Michelangelo's masterpieces set amidst the profound impact of the printing press as ancient ideas make their way to the masses. From the halls to the walls, we wander the house of God and examine how the divine manifest in compositions of this incredible era. As we investigate the heights of the Renaissance, we examine the dynamic web of exploration, innovation, and globalization. ​
Intrducing the Colonial Art of Latin America 
​We will explore the idea of Europe’s accidental “discovery“ of the Americas through syncretism in art, beliefs, and linguistics that continue being a part of our world today. Pangea reunites, influencing all facets of European culture, creating a romantic vision of a “New World.” Misinterpretations and misunderstandings abound as our collective past is built atop the foundations of preexisting belief systems. As Europe and America meet, a global exchange begins.


​Beneath the Beauty and Banality of 17th-Century Dutch Masters
​From within the structured still-lifes and group portraits of the world's second superpower, shadows of darkness and reflections of light will form a new reality. We will examine symbolism, realism, and the backstory that gave birth to globalization. Traders, boat builders, and risk-takers wander across the canvas as we see desired autonomy influence resistance to the world's first superpower.
​Communism, Censorship, and the Birth of a New Narrative 
After the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920), throughout the Americas, a new narrative was being woven through the hands of Mexican artists who would hybridize local lore and Mexican mythology. Los Tres Grandes or The Three Greats, Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, and David Alfonso Siqueiros would weave a visual narrative of the nation's new direction, bringing them international fame. This new narrative would intersect massive murals with leftist politics and the printing press, leading to empowering ideals, questionable ethics, and communist controversy for these Mexican artists in the United States. ​
The Hybridization of Culture in the former Inca Empire
Travel to the Andes Mountains through the incredible artwork and architecture made by indigenous artists during the colonial era. Beyond the facade of beautiful Baroque churches, examine paintings of the Cusco School, filled with multiple meanings and tones of resistance. As the traditions of the ancient Americas come to a confluence with Europe, a complex tapestry of interpretations, imagery, and ideals manifests in the sacred mountains of the former Inca Empire.
Contemporary Art, Pulling the Past into the Present
Discover the confluence of art and history via contemporary masters. The past will meet the present leaving us in awe of the creative genius inspired by previous centuries' aesthetics manifesting in today's brightest stars. See art through a new lens as we explore creative inspiration, controversy, and social commentary from Alexander McQueen's fashion masterpieces to Kehinde Wiley's portraiture and beyond.