Material Literacy & Object-Based Inquiry
A week in the Yale Summer Session Seminar in Art History offers a dynamic blend of art-historical insight, close looking, and hands-on creative practice. Guided by Yale Professor Edward S. Cooke, Jr., participants explore how materials, techniques, and making shape artistic meaning—while engaging directly with objects in Yale’s exceptional art collections.
Monday — Connoisseurship, “Gentleman’s Knowledge,” and First Encounters with Objects
Morning:
• Welcome lecture: Why material literacy matters today, when so much of our world is mediated through screens and digital images.
• Introduction to connoisseurship and the legacy of “gentleman’s knowledge”—and how relying on the eye alone narrows our understanding.
• Seminar conversation on the limits of surface appearance and what we miss when we do not look into objects.
Afternoon:
• Behind-the-scenes visit to the Yale Collections Study Center at West Campus.
• Guided, hands-on session examining objects up close to connect visual, tactile, and structural insights.
• Discussion on how interiors, materials, and construction techniques reveal stories absent from labels and catalog entries.
Tuesday — Embodied Artisanal Knowledge
Morning:
• Lecture and seminar on artisanal intelligence—what makers learn through touch, repetition, and tacit knowledge.
• Exploration of material origins, behaviors, and the processes that shape form.
• Group discussion of how making deepens interpretation.
Afternoon:
• Field trip to the Brookfield Craft Center.
• Studio workshop time: students work directly with materials under the guidance of practicing artisans.
• Reflection session on how hands-on making reshapes the way we encounter historical objects.
Wednesday — Collecting, Display, and the Shaping of Value
Morning:
• Lecture on the history of collecting and display within decorative arts and material culture.
• Examination of how style, attribution, and value have been constructed—particularly within colonial and imperial contexts.
• Discussion on how these systems elevate certain narratives while sidelining makers outside the metropole.
Afternoon:
• Visit to the Yale University Art Gallery collections.
• Object study focused on structural logic, materials, and systems of classification.
• Group analysis of how curatorial choices influence interpretation and meaning.
Thursday — Object-Driven Inquiry in Practice
Morning:
• Practical workshop introducing methods for object-driven inquiry.
• Step-by-step strategies for approaching objects from the inside out—beginning with materials, construction, and physical logic before considering style or iconography.
Afternoon:
• Students venture across campus collections in pairs to investigate a chosen medium or object type.
• Independent and collaborative research using skills developed earlier in the week.
• Preparation for Friday’s presentations.
Evening:
• Celebratory dinner with faculty, visiting guests, and participants.
Friday — Sharing Insights & Closing Reflections
Morning:
• Team presentations: Each pair shares their object study, discoveries, and evolving understandings of material literacy.
• Group conversation drawing together themes from across the week.
Midday:
• Wrap-up lunch with reflections, questions, and next steps.
• Closing discussion on how to continue cultivating material awareness beyond the program.