In advance of our annual meeting and events at the ICMS in Kalamazoo, here are some updates on AVISTA events to attend and upcoming business. We hope to see you at ICMS! If you are not planning to attend, we still hope to hear from you about session proposals and nominations (see below):
AVISTA Events to Attend at ICMS
We have a full slate of paper sessions, social events, and business meetings planned for Kalamazoo. All sessions and the business meeting are in Bernhard 209. On Thursday at 10AM, Vibeke Olson will be presiding over the session “New Approaches to Old Problems: Using Modern Technology to Investigate Medieval Material Culture.” On Thursday at 1:30, Maile Hutterer will preside over “Buildings that Aren’t Churches: The Wider Field of Medieval Architecture.” The Villard Prize winner, Hannah Thomson, will present her paper “History in Stone: Visual Biography and Mythmaking in Ávila’s Medieval Walls” as part of that session. At 3:30 on Thursday, AVISTA is cosponsoring the session “Medieval Ales Revisted: The Continuing Debate about Hops and Gruit” with the Medieval Brewers Guild. Saturday at 10AM, we’re cosponsoring the session “Archaeology and Experiment: Moving Beyond the Artifacts” with EXARC. Finally, our annual business meeting is Saturday at noon.
Our reception this year is combined with our sponsorship of the Mead and Ale Tasting! Please come out and catch up with AVISTAns (and others) while sampling some fine brews. That’s Friday from 5-6:30 in Valley 3/Harrison 302. If you have students or colleagues interested in AVISTA’s mission, please bring them along—all are welcome. We have much to celebrate, including the release of the latest volume in the AVISTA series, The Long Lives of Medieval Art and Architecture, now out with Routledge Press.
Call for Session Proposals for 2020
AVISTA has historically sponsored 3-5 sessions at the ICMS at Kalamazoo, with 3-4 20-minute papers each. All members are welcome and encouraged to propose session ideas. If you wish to make a proposal, please prepare a brief description and an intellectual justification of the topic (250 words or so), making sure to indicate whether your idea is for a traditional session or a roundtable, panel discussion, workshop, etc. If you already have potential contributors in mind, please let us know, and specify whether you would be available to organize or preside over the session. Topics allowing for interdisciplinary participation are especially welcome.
Examples of recent topics include Buildings, Planning, and Networks of Medieval Cities; The Long Lives of Medieval Art and Architecture; Art and Technology in the Cloister and Castle; sessions dedicated to the memory of Carl F. Barnes, Jr.; Stone: New Research Concerning Masons and Sculptors; New Studies of the North Transept of Reims; Metals in Architecture; New Approaches to Chartres; and Technologies of the Book.
Proposal ideas will be discussed at the AVISTA annual meeting, but you do not have to be present to make a proposal. If you will not be present at the meeting, please send your proposal to AVISTA President George Brooks (gbrooks@valenciacollege.edu) by May 4th, 2019.
AVISTA typically offers a prize for the most promising paper submission from a graduate student and between one and three travel grants to support students, independent scholars, and international speakers, so session proposals that may highlight work by those individuals are particularly welcome.
Remember that you may seek AVISTA sponsorship for panels at other conferences with themes related to our mission. We have regularly held sessions at the IMC at Leeds, for example, and we put together a session for the MAA annual meeting last year. The Medieval Association of the Pacific annual conference and Southeastern Medieval Association annual conference could be other opportunities. If you have an idea, please share!
Nominations and Elections
Elections are coming up. Any AVISTA member may self-nominate or nominate another member (with that member’s consent) to run for elected positions. Executive offices (President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, Publications Director) have a one-year term, but there are no term limits. Members of the Board of Directors serve three-year terms, again with no term limits. The Board of Directors votes for executives; membership votes for candidates for the board at the annual business meeting. If you wish to make a nomination, please email AVISTA Vice President Maile Hutterer at msh@uoregon.edu.
Dues and Membership
If you have yet to pay your 2019 dues, you may of course do so by mail or through PayPal; see http://www.avista.org/society/ – mem for details. You may also renew in person at ICMS with cash or check. The cost is $20. Dues help us to support session sponsorship, travel grants, sponsorship of special events, and publication subventions for the AVISTA book series. We rely on your support and are grateful to have it.
Hoping to see you at the Congress!