March 2020 Newsletter

Dear colleagues,

I write to share news and updates about the Renaissance Conference of Southern California. During my tenure as an Officer and RCSC Executive Committee member for the past four years, I have seen the RCSC develop in new and exciting ways. We have reinvigorated our Membership program with new opportunities and events, sponsored stimulating interdisciplinary conferences, addressed important topics including pedagogy, race, and interdisciplinary study through our Plenary Roundtables, and revived our relationship with the Renaissance Society of America. I look forward to seeing the RCSC continue to grow and serve as a valuable scholarly association for Southern California scholars and beyond. This is my final year with the RCSC, and we are actively seeking a new board member. I encourage you to consider serving as an RCSC officer (see below).

64th Annual RCSC Conference: March 21, 2020
We hope that you will be able to join us at our 64th Annual Conference at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA on March 21, 2020. The program includes eleven fascinating panels, a presentation by Steve Hindle (W.M. Keck Foundation Director of Research at the Huntington Library), as well as a Plenary Roundtable: “Interdisciplinary Research and the Renaissance: How to Do It.” Our roundtable participants include leading local early modern scholars, Amy Buono (Art History, Chapman University) and Martine van Elk (English, CSU, Long Beach). Registration for the event may be found on our website, or you may register here.

RCSC Sponsored Panels at RSA 2020
The RCSC is proud to be sponsoring a five-panel series, “Reconsidering Raphael,” at the upcoming Renaissance Society of America Conference in Philadelphia during April 2-4, 2020. April 6, 2020 will mark the quincentenary of the death of Raffaello Sanzio (1483-1520), one of the most brilliant and consequential artists in the western tradition. Praised during his lifetime as “Prince of Painters (pictorum princeps),” a description rendered indelible by Giorgio Vasari, this characterization has long served to obscure Raphael’s artistic achievements in other modes. He was in reality an impresario in many media: revered in his own day as Rome’s chief architect, Raphael was also an urbanist and a designer of sculpture, silver, prints, tapestries, and landscapes. These sessions dedicated to Raphael bring together established and emerging scholars to assess current approaches to his astonishingly innovative and influential works, to present new research, and to chart directions for further study.

The RCSC welcomes our members to propose panels for sponsorship at the 2021 RSA conference, to be held in Dublin, Ireland 7-10 April, 2021. Our call will go out in late May with a deadline of July 1, 2020.

Member Events
On February 7, 2020 RCSC Members enjoyed a Special Collections Curatorial Tour and discussion of print history, art history, and the strengths of the Getty Research Institute’s Prints and Drawings Collection led by curator, Naoko Takahatake.

Membership
Membership not only helps to ensure the fiscal health of the RCSC, enabling us to continue to host the Annual Conference at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens while keeping registration fees affordable for all, it also comes with added benefits.

Members are able to:

  • Submit short texts for publication in our twice-yearly Newsletter
  • Participate in the Annual Conference as session Chairs and/or respondents
  • Propose panels for RCSC Sponsorship at the Renaissance Society of America’s Annual Conference
  • Participate in Members Only events

Membership is just a minimal fee, 15$ (Regular) 10$ (Student), and rolls over on January 1st each year. Please consider supporting our scholarly community by joining today

Opportunity to Serve: RCSC Officer Needed
Please consider serving as an Officer and Executive Committee member of the RCSC. Members of the RCSC Executive Committee serve for four years, rotating through the various offices from Treasurer to President.

All officers are responsible for the following:

  • Meeting (online or in-person) at least twice a year
  • Reading and voting on all submissions for the annual conference
  • Helping to form cohesive panels for the annual conference
  • Attending the annual conference and chairing panels as needed

For additional information on officer duties, please see our website.

If you would like to be considered as an RCSC officer, term beginning Spring 2020-Spring 2024, please submit the following to the in-coming 2020-2021 RCSC President, Barbara Mello, by April 30, 2020 at: [email protected]:

  • Short Statement of Interest
  • Current CV

Many thanks,
Heather Graham
RCSC President, 2019-2020