Dr. Lisa M. Kirch
FLORENCE – Dr. Lisa M. Kirch, a professor in the Visual Arts and Design Department at the University of North Alabama’s School of the Arts, has received a $3,000 grant from the Kress Foundation that will be used for her project, “Toward the Kunst – und Wunderkammer.”
“This grant will help an international project that I’ve worked on with a German colleague for years,” Dr. Kirch said. “UNA and the Fulbright Commission supported an earlier stage of the project.”
Further, the grant will allow American students to take part in an international conference in Germany. UNA students will be the first to use the project research as part of future coursework.
As part of her work, Dr. Kirch and her colleague have transcribed inventory documents from an historic 16th-century German room from German to English. While the room is extant, researchers know that it once contained art, scientific instruments, and curiosities. It also functioned as an early museum and is the earliest to have a detailed record of its contents.
Among the relics are a glass portrait of Henry VIII, ancient Roman sculptures, an automation wind-up toy, dried tree frogs, a fossil of a plant, taxidermy fish, clocks, and a painting titled “Temple of Solomon.”
Media Release/Michelle Eubanks
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