MACON – Mercer University will welcome noted Chinese art historian Stanley Murashige to deliver the second biennial Frances Sewell Plunkett Lecture Series in the Decorative Arts, Feb. 18-19, on the Macon campus.
The series begins with “Chinese Calligraphy: The Authority of Culture” on Feb. 18 at 7 p.m., and continues with “Mountains, Streams, and 'Strange Rocks': The Authority of Nature” on Feb. 19 at 11 a.m. and “The Literary Garden: The Authority of Poetic Wandering” on Feb. 19 at 7 p.m.
All lectures are free and open to the public and will take place in the Presidents Dining Room in the University Center.
Murashige is professor emeritus of art history, theory, and criticism in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SIAC). He received SIAC's Outstanding Faculty of the Year Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2005-2006.
His research and teaching focus on philosophical aspects of Chinese and Japanese art in a quest for resources of the past that offer interesting answers to questions of today.
He has contributed an essay, “Philosophy and the Arts in China,” to the Encyclopedia of Chinese Philosophy, as well as an article, “Rhythm, Order, Change and Nature in Guo Xi's Early Spring,” to the international academic journal Monumenta Serica.
Murashige is regularly involved with the East-West Center's Asian Studies Development Program (ASDP) in Manoa, Hawaii. The ASDP was launched in 1991 to enhance teaching about Asia at American two- and four-year colleges and universities at the undergraduate level.
He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. from the University of Chicago and his B.A. from Stanford University.
The Frances Sewell Plunkett Lecture Series is organized by the Art Department in the College of Liberal Arts and funded by an endowment from the Plunkett Family in memory of Frances Sewell Plunkett, who had a strong interest in the decorative arts.
The inaugural lecture series in 2013 featured Robert A. Leath, chief curator and vice president of collections and research at Old Salem Museums and Gardens.
