Dr. Elissa Auther
Associate Professor of Contemporary Art and Theory
Program Director, Art History
Department of Visual and Performing Arts

Elissa Auther is an associate professor of contemporary art in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. Her book, String, Felt, Thread: The Hierarchy of Art and Craft in American Art (University of Minnesota Press, 2009), examines the innovative use of fiber in American art and the impact of its elevation on the conceptual boundaries distinguishing "art" from "craft" in the post-war era. Auther has also written about and published on, among other topics, the criticism of Clement Greenberg, the history of decorative, artist produced wallpapers, and the film installations of Isaac Julien. She is the co-editor of the April 2007 special issue on feminist activist art for the National Women's Studies Association Journal. Her scholarly work has been supported by major research grants from the J. Paul Getty Foundation, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and Research Center, among others. In 2009 she was awarded the University of Colorado's President's Diversity Award for a multi-year series of lectures and workshops for undergraduate students that highlighted the work of underrepresented minorities in the areas of contemporary experimental music, visual art, performance, and curatorial practices. This project was co-organized with her colleague in the Department of Visual and Performing Arts, Valerie Brodar. In addition, she co-directs "Feminism & Co.: Art, Sex, Politics," a public program at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver designed to explore feminist issues in popular culture, social policy, and art through creative forms of pedagogy. Her new book, The Countercultural Object: Consciousness and Encounters at the Edge of Art, 1965-1975 is co-edited with Adam Lerner and focuses on the diverse visual expression of the American counterculture.

Helpful Links for Students in My Courses:

General/Career Advice
Christina Maranci A Survival Guide for Art History Students (Prentice Hall, 2005).
N. Elizabeth Schlatter Museum Careers: A Practical Guide for Students and Novices (Left Coast Press, 2009).
Robert Peters Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student's Guide to Earning an M.A. or Ph.D (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1992).
"Career Alternatives for Art Historians"
Art French Magazine
"Art History in Just a Minute" and available through iTunes.

Art History Club
Join the Art History Club by registering on Facebook.

Lower Division
Art History Resources on the Web
Mother of All Art History Links Pages
Museum of Modern Art
(click on Exhibitions Schedule, then Online Projects. See Les Demoiselles d’Avignon project and the Artists of Die Brücke project. Also see, What is a Print?)

Upper Division
Voice of the Shuttle
Theory.org
Postmodern Thought
n.paradoxa
Feminist Theory on the Web
PBS Art21
John Cage Homepage
DIA Chelsea
The NAMES Aids Quilt
The Varo Registry
The Guerilla Girls
Donald Judd’s Marfa Compound
Documenta
Art in Context
Contemporary African Artists
Links to Film Theory Sites