Caine College of the Arts Professor Publishes Book
Utah State University associate professor Alexa Sand from the Department of Art and Design in the Caine College of the Arts is the author of the recently published book Vision, Devotion, and Self-Representation in Late Medieval Art. The book investigates the “owner portrait” in the context of late-medieval devotional books primarily from France and England. “Owner portraits” are mirror-like representations of the prayer book’s owner.
“I started working on this book when I got to USU in 2004,” said Sand. “I had written my doctoral dissertation five years earlier and I didn’t want to just turn that into a book as most people do. Instead, I wanted to focus on the questions I hadn’t been able to answer.”
Sand said the biggest question that still bothered her five years down the line was why there were suddenly owner portraits in late-medieval devotional books and why people wanted them.
“These books aren’t Bibles or service books that would be used in a church for everyone to see,” said Sand. “They are for private prayer and study. I explore how these images developed and what the conditions were.”
Sand researched at the British Library in London, the Bodleian Library at Oxford, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal in Paris and many more libraries in Europe and the United States.
“My field of expertise is the 13th and 14th centuries, but I ended up researching all the way back to the 11th century,” said Sand. “I got to learn a whole new body of material.”
Since working on her book, Sand has introduced many research elements to her own curriculum so even at the beginning she encourages students to crunch data and find things that are new instead of repeating the same exercises.
“When I first worked on the book I had an undergraduate research fellow who helped me with ideas about incorporating the materials into my classes and organizing the research,” said Sand. “Through working with that student, I learned undergraduate research is really a possibility in my field. I became very involved with that and I’m now a part of the national organization for advocacy for undergraduate research.”
Sand has also had a number of colleagues tell her they are going to assign her book in their graduate-level classes.
“I feel incredibly fortunate to have been at USU where my teaching schedule has allowed me to do research and I’ve been able to integrate my research into my teaching in several ways,” said Sand. “I have great, supportive colleagues. Even though we are in the Mountain West I’ve still been able to get to the resources and archives I need. The library has been great in helping me get access to materials I need.”
Copies of Vision, Devotion, and Self-Representation in Late Medieval Art are available at Amazon.com.
Related links:
USU Department of Art and Design
Writer: Writer: Whitney Schulte, 435-797-9203, whitney.schulte@usu.edu
Contact: Denise Albiston, 435-797-1500, denise.albiston@usu.edu
USU Department of Art and Design faculty member Alexa Sand is the author of the recently published 'Vision, Devotion, and Self-Representation in Late Medieval Art."
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