Professor Monica Bravo participated in and graduate student Sharifa Lookman helped facilitate the inaugural Materials and Art Faculty Salon on September 18, centered on the theme of glass.  An outgrowth of a collaborative working group between the Council on Science and Technology (CST), the Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM), and the Princeton Materials Institute (PMI), this discussion series features lightning talks from faculty and scholars across campus centered on one material theme per semester.  “The goal is to convene a broad group of scholars with shared interests in art and materials to exchange ideas across specialties and identify new approaches for research and teaching,” said Lookman. 

Bravo spoke about the use of glass in 19th-century photography, expanding on the question central to her research: where did raw material for photography come from? Bravo investigated glass as subject, as in the view through the window in early photography, as photographic surface, exemplified by the ambrotype she passed around, as the lens, and as the protective surface. Joining Bravo in this first salon were Vivian Feng (CST), who presented alternative synthesis routes of glass at low temperature, Elena Torok (PUAM), who described the conservation, preparation, and installation techniques for glass objects in a museum setting, and Adam Finklestein (COS), who demonstrated the evolution of computer-generated art glass renderings inspired by the artist Dale Chihuly.

“The Faculty Salon was a wonderful opportunity to hear from colleagues across campus about their research on and with glass,” said Bravo. “Although I felt like something of an interloper in the laboratory, the program was an amazing model of interdisciplinary inquiry. I learned about modifiers that can be added to the crystalline network formerly comprised of silica and oxygen; about archaeological weathering and preparing nearly invisible mounts for display in the new building; and about early graphic modeling of glass's reflective properties and how this technology has evolved. Of course, the study of visual properties and specific materialities of each of these endeavors are the province of art history, and might stand to learn from our discipline in turn.”

Lookman became involved in the Materials Salon Series in spring 2024 as a University Administrative Fellow funded by the CST through the GradFutures program. “My own research has always been driven by an interest in the materials and techniques of art,” said Lookman.  “I came to art history by way of studio art and have held a keen interest in the field of conservation for some time; in my experience, a history of materials can’t be told without interdisciplinary engagement. The Materials Salon is particularly exciting to me in this regard, not only for its interdisciplinarity, but also as a place for collaboration. In the humanities we don’t coauthor or co-work to the same extent as the sciences, so it’s been really thrilling to meet each other halfway through the Salon.” 

A second session on glass will take place on November 8 from 12-1:30 PM (location TBA) with speakers from PMI, PUAM, and A&A.