Are you an art history enthusiast, interested in ancient Chinese culture, or curious about the creative applications of 3D imaging? Then you do not want to miss guest lecturer Sarah Laursen’s art history presentation, “Chinese Gold: On the Bench, Under the Microscope, and in 3D” on Thursday, October 17! 

Sarah Laursen’s presentation at Southwestern will examine early Chinese gold from the perspectives of craftsman and conservator, while also exploring the possibilities and limitations of virtual objects generated using 3D imaging. An amateur metalsmith, Dr. Laursen’s research on early medieval Chinese art incorporates elements of technical art history, the study of an object through technical examination and an understanding of artists’ materials and techniques.  

Dr. Laursen is an assistant professor of History of Art and Architecture at Middlebury College in Vermont, and the curator of Asian art at the Middlebury College Museum of Art. She received her BA in Art History and East Asian Studies from New York University and her MA and PhD from the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania. 

Dr. Laursen’s most recent publication is a chapter entitled “Dressing the Dead in Jin China” in the Routledge edited volume, The Art and Archaeology of Bodily Adornment. She is currently working on three exhibitions slated for 2020 at Middlebury: “Lost Luxuries: Ancient Chinese Gold,” “Into the Screen: Digital Works from teamLab,” and “Hair Story: Ink and Charcoal by Hong Chun Zhang.” In addition, she will contribute to an exhibition of artifacts from Inner Mongolia at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World in 2020–21. 

Join us for this compelling lecture in the F.W. Olin Building, room 105, at 4:00pm on October 17, 2019. This presentation is free and open to the public.

This talk is sponsored by the Fine Arts’ Visiting Lecturer Fund and the Department of Art History.