This summer marks a very special anniversary for me. Would you believe that five years ago I gave my very first lectures as The Wandering Art Historian???

In the spring of 2016, the Winter Garden Art Association put out a call for creative workshops and classes. As a member, I noticed that the art association already offered an assortment of art instruction classes and life drawing sessions, but no lectures on art historical topics. Personally, this felt like a missed opportunity.

Despite the fact that I had worked as an artist for a number of years, I still saw myself as an art historian first. My degree is in art history and academia is where I felt (and still feel) most comfortable. Pondering this idea, it dawned on me that there had to be others out there who were like me and who might benefit from some sort of art historical instruction.

If you think about it, not everyone who enjoys art considers themselves an artist and some art enthusiasts have never picked up a paint brush or a colored pencil. I honestly believe that people generally want to learn more about art, but don’t know where to start. Who was creating learning opportunities for these people?

Well, I decided that that person was me and thus, The Wandering Art Historian was born!

I proposed a three-session class titled #ArtHistoryTrending that would explore the connections between pop culture and art history. It was meant to be a fun and relaxed way of looking at art history as a projection or continuation of current pop culture trends. We discussed self-portraits and selfies, group portraiture and #squadgoals, and landscapes and Instagram.

The WGAA would be hosting this class and they definitely had concerns.

What would the format be? How long would people sit for a lecture? Would anyone even be interested in a multi-session class? What if no one shows up?

The biggest concern was one that truly surprised me. I was warned not to make the lecture “too academic” because it might scare people off.

Thankfully, that proved not to be the case at all. Since that very first class, I have taught classes on Frida Kahlo, Vincent van Gogh, Modern Art, women artists and more. In fact, the last in-person lecture I gave before lockdown in 2020 was hosted by the WGAA and the topic was the Russian Avant-Garde art of the early 20th century. This lecture was so well-attended that we had to turn people away because we ran out of chairs!

I am forever grateful to the Winter Garden Art Association for allowing me this unique and wildly gratifying opportunity of making art history more accessible to those in our Central Florida community. Perhaps the fall of 2021 will see a return to in-person lecturing, but that remains to be seen.

In the meantime, know that this very blog will continue, as will The Wandering Art Historian YouTube channel, book club and Zoom classes. I am thrilled that my online presence allows me to wander throughout art history with people from around the globe. THANK YOU for wandering with me for all these years. I can’t wait for our next art historical adventure!