[Personal_archives] FW: [Arcan-l] Amy Furrness successfully defends her doctoral dissertaion in Archives

[Hobbs, Catherine]

Bravo Amy, 

Congratulations.  I'm really pleased for you.  Well done.  I'm definitely one of those raring to read your thesis.  I hope you'll be looking to do some teaching in this area in future.

As well, there are definitely some other readers in SISPA.  I hope you'll think of posting a PDF to the SISPA space on the ACA site?  I know there are deep considerations of how personal archives of artistic producers function that could be of great use to other members.

Once again, congratulations!
Much admiration,
Catherine

-----Original Message-----
From: arcan-l-bounces at mailman.srv.ualberta.ca [mailto:arcan-l-bounces at mailman.srv.ualberta.ca] On Behalf Of Barbara Craig
Sent: June-15-12 11:41 AM
To: arcan-l at mailman.srv.ualberta.ca
Subject: [Arcan-l] Amy Furrness successfully defends her doctoral dissertaion in Archives

Dear all;

I would like to pass along the happy news that Amy Furness will receive her doctoral degree in archives at the University of Toronto Convocation this afternoon, Friday June 15!
Amy 's thesis "Towards a Definition of Visual Artists' Archives: Vera Frenkel's Archives as a Case Study." was successfully defended in March and today is the formal celebration of her achievement.

I hope that many of you will read her engaging and ground-breaking work. 
Although I am somewhat biased, I can say without hesitation that the thesis is a wonderful read!

I take this opportunity to provide an abbreviated abstract: i hope you will read this work..

"This dissertation is an exploratory study of the archives of Canadian artist Vera Frenkel and their acquisition by Queen's University Archives in Kingston, Ontario. The research seeks to understand, through empirical investigation, the many factors that shape the artist's recordkeeping and archives in the personal sphere and contribute to the nature of the eventual archival fonds in the institution. The foundation for the research includes the literature of archival studies, life narrative, and art.

Vera Frenkel's interdisciplinary art work reflects deep engagement with questions of truth and fiction. As an aspect of this theme, records and archives play a role in several of her works, often being revealed as problematic sources of evidence. ....

In a series of in-situ interviews with the artist in her studio, the author investigated Frenkel's recordkeeping habits and their relationship to her creative practice. ...these interviews were supplemented by the artist's photographs and hand-drawn maps of the studio.

The author also investigated the process entailed by archival transfer, examining the extant Vera Frenkel fonds at Queen's University Archives and interviewing ... the archivist responsible for the acquisition. Both the personal and institutional spheres were taken into consideration as essential contributors to the nature of Frenkel's archives as a complex cultural artifact.

The research argues for the central role of archives in the acquisition and preservation of contemporary art. It contributes a foundation for understanding the nature of visual artists' archives."


--
Barbara L. Craig
Professor
Faculty of Information
45 Willcocks Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5S 1C7
Canada
Tel: 416-978-7093
Fax: 416-978-8942 (not private)
E-Mail: Barbara.Craig at utoronto.ca

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