Dr. Alison Fields
2013 Visiting Scholar
Following a national search, Professor Alison Fields has been selected as the first
Jim & Linda Burke Visiting Scholar in Literature at the Doel Reed Center for the Arts.
Dr. Fields is the Mary Lou Milner Carver Professor of Art of the American West, Assistant
Professor of Art History and Affiliate Faculty in Film and Media Studies at the University
of Oklahoma. In 2009, she received her Ph.D. in American Studies from the University
of New Mexico after completing her dissertation, "False Closure: Narratives of Trauma,
Healing, and American Nationhood." She has published articles in Public History and American
Indian Quarterly, and is developing a book manuscript on cultural memory of the atomic
bomb. At OU, she teaches courses in visual culture, western cinema, public memory,
museology, and cultural tourism. Professor Fields interacted with undergraduate and
graduate students enrolled in our June class on "The Nuclear Bomb and the Land of
Enchantment." On Sunday, June 16, 2013 at 2 p. m., she gave a talk titled "Narratives
of Peace and Progress: Atomic Museums in New Mexico and Japan." This presentation
was free to the general public and took place in the Nicolai Fechin Studio of the Taos
Art Museum.
Sonya Terpening
2013 Visiting Artist
Sonya Terpening, the Doel Reed Center's first-ever Smelser Vallion Visiting Artist, returned in that capacity for the summer of 2013. The Oklahoma State University alumna and award-winning painter resided in Oklahoma for many years before relocating to Grapevine, Texas. She has studied with many renowned American artists and has been practicing her craft professionally for almost thirty years. Her paintings are contained in the permanent collections of a number of museums across the country and may be seen as well in the State of Oklahoma Capitol Building and in OSU's Edmon Low Library. This past July, she worked alongside the students enrolled in Professor Angela Piehl's digital art class. Ms. Terpening also gave a talk about and demonstration of her work on Sunday, July 14 in the Nicolai Fechin Studio of the Taos Art Museum. Titled "Stories without Words," the well-attended presentation was free to the general public.
More information about Sonya Terpening: