Hollis

Dr. Sara Hollis

Doctor of Arts, Director/Professor

Park Campus

Administration 307
(504) 284-5511

 

Dr. Hollis specializes in Contemporary and Traditional African Art and Culture and African American Art and Humanities.  She received her Bachelor of Art in Fine Arts from California State University at Long Beach; her Master of Arts in Cultural Anthropology and African Studies at Indiana University; and her Doctor of Arts in Humanities and African American Studies from Atlanta University (now Clark Atlanta). 

 

Dr. Hollis began her teaching career at Government Teacher Training College, Abraka, Nigeria as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  She taught briefly at Good Hope Elementary in Perris, California.  After her graduate work at I.U. she taught for three years at Bishop College in Dallas, Texas.  Dr. Hollis joined the faculty at SUNO in 1973.  Having advanced through all the ranks, she is now a Tenured Full Professor.  At SUNO she has served as Chairman of the Department of Fine Arts and Philosophy, Dean of the Graduate School, and both Interim Director and Director of the Master of Arts in Museum Studies Program.  While best known as an educator, Dr. Hollis is also an artist.  She has shown watercolors, photographs, and for over forty years has “created beauty with fabrics”.  She has curated numerous exhibitions and has received many honors in the arts community.

 

Ongoing Research: Dr. Hollis works closely with a number of museums and arts institutions in New Orleans (and other cities where online MUSE students live) to insure internships and sites for Masters Project exhibitions for graduating M.A. Museum Studies Students.  She writes about artists and musicians.  She has curated a number of art exhibitions during her career.  As an artist she is exploring art quilting.  Her fabric work has been shown in recent years at Stella Jones Gallery, Beecher Memorial Church, the J.W. Marriott, the New Orleans African American Museum, and Le Boulevard Marketplace.   She belongs to many professional organizations and museums.  She is currently serving as Co-Curator with Beryl Johns, for the Mahalia Jackson Exhibition of New Orleans Artists, and at Stella Jones Gallery October through December, 2011. 

Jiang

Yu Jiang, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Park Campus

Administration 307    

(504) 286-5011

 

Dr. Jiang specializes in ancient Chinese art.  He received his B.A. in Chinese archaeology from Beijing University in 1997, and an MA (1999) and PhD (2004) in art history from the University of Pittsburgh. Between 2002 and 2005, he held a number of fellowship positions at the Center for Advanced Study in Visual Arts, National Gallery of Art (Washington D.C.). From 2005-2010 He was a tenure-track assistant professor of art history in the Wilkes Honors College, Florida Atlantic University (on-leave 2008-2010) prior to joining Southern University at New Orleans. 

 

Dr. Jiang’s research investigates bronze and jade art of early dynastic China, particularly the Western Zhou from the 11th to 8th centuries BCE, with focus on material culture, identity, and socio-political discourse. Dr. Jiang’s publications cover much later periods as well, including the casting technology of bronze drums from Southeast Asia.

 

Ongoing Research: Dr. Jiang is preparing a paper, tentatively entitled “Inferring Sociopolitical and Cultural Identities from  Archaeological Materials.”  He is also revising the following papers: 1. “Ritual art and agency: The bronze ding and minority groups during the Western Zhou,”  2. “Some Pre-Tang and Tang Ceramic Ewers: Roosters or Phoenixes,” 3. “xiao in Western Zhou Bronze Inscriptions and Filial Piety in Eastern Zhou Confucianism,” 4. “Ritual in Afterlife: Tomb Space and Burial Goods in the Western-Zhou Date Yu Cemetery.”  He plans to submit these papers to English or Chinese journals and/or books for publication.    

Riep

Dr. David M. M. Riep

Assistant Professor

Park Campus

Administration 307

(504) 286-5010

 

Dr. Riep specializes in the arts of Africa. He received his B.A. in Applied Communications from Asbury University (1998), an M.A. in Art History from the University of Kentucky (2005), and a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Iowa (2011). He also earned a Certificate in Museum Studies at the University of Iowa. In 2000, after working for several years in the publishing industry, he relocated to South Africa where he developed and implemented community outreach programming for an NGO based in the Free State province.  It was from this experience that his interest in South Sotho cultures grew, which eventually became the focus of his M.A. and Ph.D. research.  

 

Since 2000, he resided in South Africa for a total of 5 years, during which time he conducted extensive fieldwork among South Sotho populations and researched the holdings of numerous collecting institutions. He was awarded a Fulbright grant for his most recent term abroad, during which time he took part in a multi-disciplinary research project entitled "Africa Meets Africa." In addition, Dr. Riep has a great interest in film studies, and has produced numerous documentaries on South Sotho visual arts.

 

Ongoing Research: Dr. Riep has recently completed papers entitled “Hot Women! South Sotho Feminine Arts in Context," and "Earth, Art, and the Ancestors," which are presently in the review process for publication.  He is also preparing a manuscript for publication based on his PhD dissertation research on South Sotho art and history.  In addition, Dr. Riep is in the process of producing three documentary films on South Sotho arts, based on the film footage he shot in southern Africa between 2008 and 2011.