Vita

Robin Veder teaches courses in art history, visual culture, cultural history, interdisciplinary humanities, and American studies. Prior to joining the Penn State Harrisburg faculty in 2004, she taught at CSU, Sacramento and University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She has conducted collections research and curated exhibits for the National Park Service’s Historic American Landscape Survey, the Smithsonian Institution’s Horticulture Services Division, Montpelier, the Stonewall Jackson House, and the Virginia Historical Society. She earned her Ph.D. and M.A. from the American Studies Program at The College of William and Mary, and her B.A. in Inter[disciplinary]-Arts is from San Francisco State University. She grew up in San Jose, California.

Education

• Ph.D., College of William and Mary
• M.A., College of William and Mary
• B.A., San Francisco State University

Research Areas

Dr. Veder’s teaching and research share two main concerns: 1) the production, perception, and interpretation of the arts and other visually communicative objects, as well as image-making techniques, and culturally learned ways of processing and interpreting visual information; and 2) how Americans and Europeans employ the idea of "nature" for cultural (ideological, economic, social, political) ends. Her research focuses on transatlantic culture, with emphasis on the period of 1780-1940.

She has published articles and curated exhibits on a wide range of topics including garden history, picturebook illustrator Brian Selznick, Southern "Lost Cause" memorials, tableaux vivants, and neoclassical mourning iconography. Dr. Veder is currently investigating how exercise and dance contributed to the aesthetics of modern art.

Selected Publications and Creative Projects

• Flowers in the Slums: Weavers’ Floristry in the Age of Spitalfields’ Decline, Journal of Victorian Culture 14 (forthcoming Autumn 2009).
• Breathing Motions: Figure Studies by Arthur B. Davies, Palmer Museum of Art, Penn State University, University Park, February 2 - May 2, 2009
• Arthur B. Davies’ Inhalation Theory of Art, American Art 23 (forthcoming Spring 2009).
• "Pestalozzi and the Picturebook: Visual Pedagogy in The Dinosaurs of Waterhouse Hawkins." Visual Resources: An International Journal of Documentation, forthcoming December 2008.
• The Gardener’s Exercise: Rational Recreation in Early–Nineteenth–Century Britain,Sports, Exercise, and Recreation. Special issue of Proteus: A Journal of Ideas 25 (Oct. 2008): 53 – 59.
• "Mother–Love for Plant–Children: Sentimental Pastoralism and Nineteenth-Century Parlor Gardening." Australasian Journal of American Studies 26 (December 2007): 20-–34
• Brian Selznick: The Art of the Picture Book, Morrison Gallery, Penn State Harrisburg, March 16 - May 12, 2006.
• Couplings: Paintings and Prints by Matthew Reynolds and Catherine Zweig, Morrison Gallery, Penn State Harrisburg, August 8 - September 30, 2005.
• "Color Gardens before Color Photography." Cabinet 2(spring 2002): 72 – 75.
• "Yesterday's Forecast." (Interview with meteorological and climatological historian James Fleming) Cabinet 1 (summer 2001): 68 – 70.
• Exploring Garden Transformations, 1900 – 2000, American Garden Legacy Series, Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. 19 U.S. venues, September 30, 2000 – March 13, 2005.
• "Working the Techno–Lawn." Review of The American Lawn: Surface of Everyday Life, exhibition catalog by Georges Teyssot, editor, and exhibition by the Canadian Centre for Architecture. American Quarterly 52 (June 2000): 344 - 63.
• "Julia, Daughter of Stonewall." Virginia Cavalcade 46 (summer 1996): 2 – 19.
• "Tableaux Vivants: Performing Art, Purchasing Status." Theatre Annual: A Journal of Performance Studies 48 (1995): 14 – 29.

Professional Affiliations

• American Studies Association
• College Art Association
• American Historical Association
• College Art Association

Course offerings include

• ART H 100 Introduction to Art
• ART H 307 American Art
• IHUM 300W Interpretations in the Humanities: Nature vs. Culture
• AMST 461 American Art and Architecture of the 19th Century
• AMST 462 American Art and Architecture of the 20th Century
• AMST 570 Topics in American Art: Race and Visual Culture
• AMST 570 Topics in American Art: Approaches to Visual Culture
• AMST 570 Topics in American Art: History of American Art History
• HUM 535 Topics in Cultural and Intellectual History: Visual Culture of the American Diaspora
• HUM 535 Topics in Cultural and Intellectual History: Introduction to Critical Theory