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2020-2021 SYLLABUS

Theme

In a world in the midst of an environmental crisis and an unprecedented need for quarantine, the story of Noah provides a window through which to consider current realities. Where do the floodwaters reach first? What do we choose to preserve? What does it mean to be enclosed in our homes, as Noah’s family was sealed in the ark, a boat with neither rudder nor sail? Is there any longer a high ground to which we can escape? Through art, performance, poetry, and music we will explore the role of the artist in response to calamity. This seminar will compare the biblical flood story to the flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh. 

Faculty

  • Adriana Contino, Cellist and Educator

  • Dr. Andy Findley, Adjunct Instructor  in the Herron School of Art and Design at IUPUI

  • Dr. Jason M. Kelly, Professor of History in the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI

  • Dr. Michael Messina, Director of Music, Trinity Episcopal Church, Indianapolis

  • Julia Muney Moore, Director of Public Art for the Arts Council of Indianapolis

  • Stefan Petranek, Associate Professor of Photography in the Herron School of Art and Design at IUPUI

  • Dr. Sandy Sasso, Rabbi Emerita of Congregation Beth-El Zedeck

  • Dr. Carmen-Helena Téllez, Professor of Conducting, University of Notre Dame

  • Dr. Joseph Tucker Edmonds, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies and Religious Studies at IUPUI

  • Shari Wagner, Author and Indiana Poet Laureate (2016-2017)

  • Maria Whiteman, Research Scholar, Environmental Resilience Institute at IU Bloomington

Schedule

Sessions will be held for 2 1/2 hours weekly for a total of eight weeks and will meet evenings from 6:00–8:30 p.m. on Sept. 24; Oct. 1; Oct. 8; Oct. 15; Nov. 12; Dec. 3; Jan. 14; Feb. 4. Because of Covid-19, seminars will be held online through via Zoom.

Session 1
September 24
Introduction: Many Waters, Many Stories

Presenters: 

Jason M. Kelly, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, Joseph Tucker Edmonds, Andy Findley

Readings:

  • Alter, Robert. “Genesis 6-9,” in The Five Books of Moses, Translation with Commentary. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004.

  • Lombardo, Stanley. Gilgamesh, translated by Stanley Lombardo. Cambridge, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2019. Selected Readings.

  • Ostriker, Alicia. "White Fire: The Art of Writing Midrash." Reform Judaism Magazine 58 (1999).

  • Midrash Handout, prepared by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso.

  • Spar, Ira. “Flood Stories.” Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009). 

  • “Documentary Hypothesis” handout, prepared by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso. 

Additional Resources:


Session 2
October 1
What Caused the Flood: Who was Saved and why?

Presenters:

Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, Jason M. Kelly, Andy Findley, Shari Wagner, Michael Messina, Maria Whiteman

Readings: 

Additional Resources: 

  • Lee, Spike. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts. HBO 2007.

  • Wilson, Matthew. "J.M.W. Turner, Snow Storm," in Smarthistory, May 23, 2020.


Session 3
October 8
Inside the Ark: Quarantine and Safe Spaces

Presenters:

Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, Shari Wagner, Andy Findley

Readings:

Additional Resources:  

  • Mansell, Chris. Noah, soundtrack for the motion picture, 2005.


Session 4
October 15
After the Flood: Immortality and Cultivation

Presenters: 

Maria Whiteman, Andy Findley, Shari Wagner, Michael Messina, Joseph Tucker Edmonds, Stefan Petranek, Adriana Contino

Readings: 

Additional Resources:  

  • Verdi, Richard. “Poussin's 'Deluge': The Aftermath.” The Burlington Magazine 123 (1981). 


Session 5
November 12
Art and the Environment Artist Panel

Presenters: 

Maria Whiteman, Joseph Tucker Edmonds, Stefan Petranek, Jason M. Kelly

Readings: 

Additional Resources:

  • Kelly, Jason. “Anthropocenes: A Fractured Picture” in Rivers of the Anthropocene (Oakland: University of California Press, 2017): 1-18.

  • Spears, Gregory. “The Tower and the Garden”, a music oratorio about our ongoing destruction of the Garden from the perspective of Catholic poets; conducted by Carmen-Helena Téllez, 2019.


Session 6
December 3
Group Critique and Consultation session 1

Presenters: 

Stefan Petranek, Shari Wagner, Andy Findley


Session 7
January 14
Group Critique and Consultation session 2

Presenters:

Maria Whiteman, Carmen-Helena Tellez, Shari Wagner, Andy Findley, Michael Messina


Session 8
February 4
Storytelling and Rehearsals

Presenters:

Jason Kelly, Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, Andy Findley, Dan Cooper