Anne Balsamo, Professor of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication Arts and Humanities Distinguished Chair, founding dean of the School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication from 2016-2021, UT Dallas

Dr. Anne Balsamo's research investigates the cultural implications of emergent technologies. Her recent work on the design of public interactives has been supported by grants from the Office of Digital Humanities at the National Endowment for the Humanities, specifically focused on the creation of interactive experiences for the AIDS Memorial Quilt. This workshop talk introduces her many technology-driven projects and discusses the meaning of digital cultural heritage.

Norman Tennent, Distinguished Visiting Research Scholar at UT Dallas and Professor Emeritus at the University of Amsterdam

Dr. Norman Tennent, one of the founders of EODIAH's Conservation Science Program, gives a seminar outlining the present day terminology and areas of study within the field of Heritage Science, describes the role of a Conservation Scientist and the institutions in which Conservation Science is practiced in, and shares details of his ongoing research projects.

Sharmeen Sidiki, Artist, Dallas

Geometric patterns are a key characteristic of Islamic art and ornamentation. For centuries, artists in the Muslim world have used age-old principles of geometry and mathematics to create visually stimulating patterns to ornament architecture, manuscripts, ceramics, decorative objects, and other works of art. These complex designs consist of combinations of repeating units of interlacing circles, squares, star patterns, and multisided polygons.

How are these designs created? Where does one begin to create such intricate patterns? The Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History welcomes Dallas artist Sharmeen Sidiki to lead you through a hands-on workshop aimed that teaches the basics of creating Islamic geometric art patterns.

Anthony Tuck, Professor of Mediterranean Archeology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst

Whether spinning yarns or weaving stories, the idiomatic relationship between textile production and storytelling is a feature common to many Indo-European languages. But closer examination of traditional textile production demonstrates that that for millennia, mnemonic devices encoded in song have been used to reproduce textile patterns. Moreover, these mnemonics informed and influenced the development and emergence of metrical forms essential to poetic performance throughout Central Asia and Europe.