Contributing Courses

Courses that use the Clothing and Textiles Collections to produce an exhibition

HECOL 668: Material Culture and Curatorship (3 credits) – GRADUATE COURSE

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Anne Bissonnette, Associate Professor, Material Culture & Curatorship, and Curator of the Clothing and Textiles Collection

WHEN IS THE COURSE OFFERED? Every other year on odd years during the winter semester – Winter 2017 is the next time it is offered

DAY & TIME: Tuesdays & Thursdays 11:00 am-12:20 pm

CLASSROOM: 104 Human Ecology Building, University of Alberta

***Open to all University of Alberta Graduate Students from any Department and Faculty

________

SUMMARY: The course examines the different ways in which artifacts are understood, interpreted and used for exhibitions. While different types of artifacts will be addressed, pieces from the Human Ecology’s Clothing and Textiles Collection will serve as preferred artifacts for assignments and teaching. Material culture will nonetheless be viewed very broadly: from the body to the built environment, the course will aim to observe artifacts and their contexts. The course is designed to include a variety of student interests and allows them to seek scholarly material they find most interesting on a given theme. The course will include experiential learning components, guest lecturers and site visits to address museum practices including handling and mounting, collection storage, registration processes, documentation, research and exhibition design. The instructor and students will co-curate an exhibition in the second half of the semester.


HECOL 460: Nineteenth, Twentieth and Twenty-first Century Dress in the Western World (3 credits) – UNDERGRADUATE COURSE

INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Anne Bissonnette, Associate Professor, Material Culture & Curatorship, and Curator of the Clothing and Textiles Collection

WHEN IS THE COURSE OFFERED? Every other year on odd years during the winter semester – Fall 2018 is the next time it is offered

DAY & TIME: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: 10 a.m. to 11:50 a.m.

CLASSROOM: 104 Human Ecology Building, University of Alberta

Course Prerequisite: Survey of Dress in the Western World — HECOL 268

________

SUMMARY: This course aims to provide a deeper understanding of dress from the nineteenth century to the present day. A combination of lectures and labs are used to explore over two decades of dress history and address the handling, storage, examination, documentation and exhibition of artifacts. The course includes the co-curation of an exhibition for the Human Ecology Gallery by the learners and instructor. Resources include fashion plates, photographic archives and artifacts from the University of Alberta’s Clothing and Textiles Collection.