Meridith De Avila Khan took this photo of Spencer Beall ’14 working on her Honors Summer Research for the fall issue of the Sweet Briar Magazine.

Beall and her mentor, Sweet Briar Professor Marie-Thérèse Killiam, have compiled the translations, paired with images of the referenced artwork, into a 353-page Apple iBook, “Painting With Words: Writers’ Transpositions of Masterpieces into Art,” released in March. The commentaries reveal how modern culture has evolved and how social norms, perspectives and tastes have been shaped by famous artworks and by reactions to them. The compilation shows how art has inspired writers to “paint with words.”

Killiam conceived the idea long ago as a catalogue raisonné of commentaries by famous authors. The research was stalled when Beall, then a first-year at the College, took Killiam’s honors course in literary art criticism. Killiam found in her an able finisher for the work she had begun, particularly translating writings in the public domain.

“Spencer’s choice of texts brought a new, fresher perspective to my project,” Killiam said. “We decided to make those insightful texts available to anyone who might be interested, through online publishing; it was to be a nice journey into the art world seen through the eyes of some of the most eloquent critics and writers.”

Indeed. Beall embarked on it in the summer of 2011 and estimates she has spent more than 500 hours on the project. That includes her time last year as an Honors Summer Research scholar, a paid 40-hour position.

“It was monumental,” she wrote in an email from Paris, where she is studying at the Sorbonne.

The pull was strong, though. After two classes with Killiam, she says, French, art history and history became her passions, along with love for the written word. She is majoring in all three subjects, with a minor in medieval and Renaissance studies. The art commentaries Killiam brought to class, both translated and in French, had fascinated her.

“I remember thumbing through the seemingly endless pages of Eugène Fromentin’s scathing comments on Rembrandt’s most controversial masterpiece, “The Night Watch,” wondering how the simplest elements of a painting — light, color, composition, etc. — could have created such a heated debate among so many viewers, garnering a reputation for the painting as one of the most controversial works in all of art history,” Beall said.

Her interest peaked with James McNeill Whistler’s “Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket,” which precipitated a libel suit when the critic John Ruskin accused the artist of “throwing a pot of paint” in the public’s face.

“Clearly, art has been able to exert an immensely powerful influence on society over the years, and I was eager to learn more,” she said.

That episode also is behind her wish to study and practice art law after she graduates.

How paintings both capture and drive society’s cultural mood was one takeaway from her work. The critics’ commentaries, Beall says, help us understand the “thousand words” each one conveys.

“Every artwork is one of the most important historic artifacts that we have from its time period,” Beall said. “Not only does the work itself provide a visual representation of what life was once like, the comments and criticisms that the artwork has generated present an even richer description of our past.”

She also discovered there’s nothing simple or “mechanical” about translation.

“Writing is never exactly the same once translated into another language,” she said. “It is your obligation to find the very best way to preserve as much of writing’s unique character as possible.”

She says poetry was the most difficult work to translate but, “by far,” they were her favorites. Beall never wavered, according to her professor.

“The translation of those texts was often tricky since it necessitated a thorough knowledge of art and of the writer’s style in order to render it as faithfully as possible,” Killiam says.

“Spencer never lost heart and did not hesitate translating anything beautiful and pertinent, even in the form of poems or philosophical essays. It was a long process, and a difficult one at times, but it was well worth it in the end.”

— Jennifer McManamay

Amanda Strickland ’09 at the U.S. Army Women’s Museum, where she is an archivist.

It’s only been four years since Amanda Strickland graduated from Sweet Briar — thanks in part to scholarships made possible by alumnae donations. Now, the Class of 2009 grad is doing her part to ensure future Sweet Briar women can enjoy the same opportunities.

“I give to SBC because if an alumna hadn’t given when she could, my experiences and degrees would not be possible,” says Strickland, who double-majored in archaeology and history with a minor in anthropology.

“My mother — being a single mom at the time — and I were so very thankful for the donations of alumnae, and I wanted to be able to give another deserving applicant a chance to learn at Sweet Briar.”

Born in Louisiana, Strickland grew up as a Navy “brat” in Virginia, Missouri, California and Italy, but lately, Virginia has become her home base. The Chester resident now works as an archivist at the U.S. Army Women’s Museum at Fort Lee, where she is in charge of 1.5 million primary documents pertaining to women in the military from World War I to the present.

“I complete research requests, accession new collections into the archives, participate in women’s history events, conserve documentation, and collect historical documentation as it is happening,” she says.

Amanda Strickland shows a visitor the museum’s archives during Black History Month.

“It is a great time to be in [this] field with the rescinding of the combat exclusion policy and all fields now being open to women in the Army.”

Museums have always fascinated Strickland, who worked at the Sweet Briar Museum for four years and completed an archaeology internship at Poplar Forest while at Sweet Briar.

“I graduated and immediately began volunteering at multiple historic homes and museums,” she remembers.

To gain experience, Strickland even took a job as a security guard in a museum and eventually became an Army contractor at the Casemate Museum at Fort Monroe, where she worked as an assistant collections manager.

“When the museum’s holdings moved because the Army left, I found a new home at the U.S. Army Women’s Museum.”

Living in Virginia allows Strickland to keep in touch with alumnae in the region, and she returns to campus often.

“Whenever I am anywhere near the area I at least do a drive-by; my boyfriend even jokes about it,” she says. “My next planned drive-by is this spring when my friends and I do the brew trail.”

Strickland treasures many things about her time at Sweet Briar — from lunch picnics in the dell to all-nighters in Benedict lab to the joy she shares with fellow alumnae when they come back to campus. She also has fond memories of professors — especially of John Ashbrook and Kate Chavigny, who teach history at Sweet Briar.

“Professor Ashbrook taught me that I cannot write a paper,” she jokes. “But he always pushed his students to become better historians.”

Chavigny, she adds, “was a joy to learn from and the topics she taught fascinated me.”

While at Sweet Briar, Strickland was a member of Chung Mungs, Taps ‘n’ Toes and Sweet Tones and served as InterClub Council tap club chair. She also worked in the alumnae office all four years, a job that attuned her to the special ties many alumnae develop with their alma mater. Giving back is one way to strengthen that bond, says Strickland, who was a Bell Tower Society donor in 2011 and continues to give what she can.

“I try to tell [other alumnae] how important it is for the future of Sweet Briar,” she explains. “Also, it is reassuring at times like these to know that you can designate where you want your money to go and know that it is going to a good place.”

Still a young professional in her field, Strickland has big career plans.

“I would like to get into the government system at an Army museum, complete my master’s, and eventually become a director of a museum,” she says. “My dream since I was a little girl was to work for the Smithsonian.”

In the meantime, Strickland is taking baby steps: She continues to volunteer at the Casemate Museum and tries to visit every museum in the area.

“There are so many in Richmond, but I am slowly ticking them off my list,” she says. “I love learning new things about women’s history, too. Few know the history, so I am full of ‘fun facts’ for anyone who wants to listen.”

— Janika Carey

Tearrance A. Chisholm visits the slave cemetery during his stay at Sweet Briar.

Endstation Theatre Company and Sweet Briar College will host a reading of “In Sweet Remembrance” by playwright Tearrance A. Chisholm at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 27, in Pannell Gallery. A reception follows the event, which is free and open to the public.

Commissioned by Endstation, Sweet Briar and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, “In Sweet Remembrance” is a tribute to the significant role of the black community throughout the College’s history. Chisholm, who lives in Washington, D.C., has spent the past four summers researching Sweet Briar’s cultural and historical importance, resulting in an original play that, according to Endstation, “explores the landscape of its past, discovers the contours of its present and realizes its future.”

A cast of actors, including Sweet Briar students and hired professionals, will perform the manuscript in its entirety for the first time on March 27. Michael Stablein Jr., who heads the company’s Playwrights Initiative, will direct the reading and also play a small role. Beginning March 10 until the end of the month, Chisholm will be in residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts to revise and complete the play. His visit will also include on-campus workshops for students at Sweet Briar.

In his writing, Chisholm explores the many faces of the African-American experience. The theme of race as a double-edged sword of advantages and shortcomings permeates all of his works, including “Burning Books” (MU New Play Series), “Liddy’s Sammiches, Potions & Baths” (Arkansas Rep; Voices on the River), “Vulpicide” (MU New Play Series) and “A Month of Sundays” (Midwinter Madness Short Play Festival; NYC). Chisholm has also been published in interJACtions: 75 Monologues by some of America’s Finest Playwrights and Arcadia Magazine.

You can learn more about the Playwrights Initiative and “In Sweet Remembrance” on Tumblr.

— Janika Carey

Sarah O’Brien ’13 catalogs old farm tools from the plantation and dairy.

Sweet Briar College’s agrarian past is the focus of the upcoming exhibition “ ‘I have lately bought me a Plantation’: A Brief Survey of Farming and Land Use at Sweet Briar,” which opens at 1 p.m. Thursday, March 21, in Whitley Gallery at Sweet Briar Museum. It will be on view through March 2014.

The result of a practicum project undertaken by senior Sarah O’Brien, the exhibition provides a brief overview of Sweet Briar’s farming history, from the days of the Fletchers, who founded the College, to the later 20th century, when the dairy was still in operation. O’Brien, a history major, says her interest in the subject was not just academic.

A milk bottle from the old dairy farm at Sweet Briar.

“I was born and raised on a farm, so I wanted to know the history of farming at Sweet Briar before it became a college,” she said, adding that it was her intention to create a narrative through which visitors can access the College’s past. The hardest part, she said, was deciding which items to include.

The final selection features an eclectic mix of artifacts, such as early 19th-century letters in which Elijah Fletcher wrote to his brother about farming; ceramic drainage tiles from the old tilled fields (courtesy of the archaeology lab); old farm tools; documents and photos related to the College’s early days farming for profit; and milk bottles, milk cans and signage from the era of the dairy.

Museum hours during the academic year are 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. For more information, contact Karol Lawson at klawson@sbc.edu or (434) 381-6248.

The series, which begins Feb. 18 and airs every Monday night at 9 p.m. on C-SPAN, serves as a comprehensive biography of the women closest to each of the 44 presidents. From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama, it will offer a closer look at the lives and legacies of the first ladies.

In its 20th year on the road, the C-SPAN Bus will stop at key historic places in the first ladies’ lives, from hometowns to universities to presidential libraries, promoting C-SPAN’s educational and political resources for students, teachers and community members along the way. The Sweet Briar visit will be followed by stops at Montpelier and Monticello in Charlottesville.

Aboard the C-SPAN Bus, visitors will learn about the services C-SPAN offers, such as its public affairs event coverage and online resources, including archived video footage going back to 1987. They will also be introduced to the many ways in which they can connect with C-SPAN, including Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, YouTube, XM Radio and mobile apps.

After a special introduction program on Feb. 18, C-SPAN will showcase the first ladies’ lives in subsequent weeks’ episodes as part of the first-ever television series to feature all of the American first ladies. For more information on the series, visit c-span.org/firstladies.

You can follow the Road to the White House with C-SPAN’s political coverage on the C-SPAN networks, C-SPAN Radio and at www.c-span.org.

At Sweet Briar, C-SPAN can be viewed on channel 18, C-SPAN 2 on channel 104 and C-SPAN 3 on channel 105.

Highlights include:

• Tuesday, Feb. 5, 7:30 p.m., Memorial Chapel — Global Café: “A Conversation about Race, Class and Sexual Orientation on Campus.” For more information, contact Amy Payne at (434) 381-6103 or apayne@sbc.edu.

• Sunday, Feb. 10, 6:30 p.m., Memorial Chapel — Open Door Worship: “Maya Angelou as a Soul Shaper.”  For more information, contact Amy Payne at (434) 381-6103 or apayne@sbc.edu.

• Tuesday, Feb. 12, 4 p.m., Florence Elston Inn and Conference Center, Wailes Lounge — Noted author Henry Wiencek will discuss his latest book, “Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves.” For more information, contact Lynn Rainville at (434) 381-6432 or lrainville@sbc.edu.

• Sunday, Feb. 17, 6:30 p.m., Memorial Chapel — Open Door Worship with special guest speaker Rev. Kelvin Brown.  For more information, contact Amy Payne at (434) 381-6103 or apayne@sbc.edu.

• Sunday, Feb. 24, 5 p.m., Memorial Chapel — Gospel Fest, featuring the Sweet Briar College Choir and Drums and other local choirs. For more information, contact Amy Payne at (434) 381-6103 or apayne@sbc.edu.

• Throughout February, Tuesdays 8:30-10 a.m., Thursdays noon-1 p.m., and Sundays 1-3:30 p.m. — Self-guided tours of Sweet Briar’s historic 19th-century slave cabin. Note: A student will be available to answer questions. For more information, contact Lynn Rainville at (434) 381-6432 or lrainville@sbc.edu.

Author Henry Wiencek is coming to Sweet Briar. Photo by Tom Cogill.

Noted author and historian Henry Wiencek will discuss his latest book, “Master of the Mountain: Thomas Jefferson and His Slaves,” at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Feb 12, in the Wailes Lounge at the Elston Inn Conference Center at Sweet Briar College. A reception and book signing will follow the event, which is free and open to the public.

Drawing on evidence from archival documents at Monticello, Wiencek reveals a Thomas Jefferson most readers won’t be familiar with — one who, despite calling slavery an “abomination,” began considering slaves an excellent investment after the nation was founded. Wiencek shows that Jefferson, while continuing to speak out against it, in fact helped to modernize and expand slavery after the 1780s.

Published in October 2012, “Master of the Mountain” was featured on the covers of Smithsonian and American History magazines and has been widely acclaimed. The Washington Post deemed it a “brilliant examination of the dark side of the man who gave the world the most ringing declarations about human liberty, yet in his own life repeatedly violated the principles they expressed … Now the record has been corrected, to devastating effect.”

In her review during a recent “Fresh Air” episode on National Public Radio, Georgetown University professor Maureen Corrigan predicted that “political pundits and Jeffersonians [would] be wrestling over Wiencek’s explosive interpretations of the historical evidence … for years to come.”

Wiencek has been studying plantation families for more than two decades. He is the author of several award-winning books, including 1999’s “The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White” and 2003’s “An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America.” He holds a fellowship at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and has been awarded residential fellowships at the International Center for Jefferson Studies and the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience at Washington College, where he was the inaugural Patrick Henry Writing Fellow. He lives in Charlottesville. To learn more, visit henrywiencek.wordpress.com.

The event is sponsored by the Tusculum Institute and by Sweet Briar College’s Lectures and Events Committee. For more information, contact Lynn Rainville at (434) 381-6432 or lrainville@sbc.edu.

The conference is intended for K-12 teachers and other educators, including curators and interpreters from historical societies or museums. It is co-sponsored by the Tusculum Institute, an educational center that promotes environmentally sustainable preservation of historic buildings and places, and the Virginia Department of Historic Resources.

Workshop sessions are led by historians, K-12 teachers, curators and museum guides and will focus on the War of 1812 and the socio-historic context of James Madison and James Monroe’s presidencies. Referred to as “America’s second war of independence,” the War of 1812 pitted the newly founded United States against one of the world’s biggest navies, Great Britain. Speakers include historian and author Don Hickey, museum educator Sterling Howell, K-12 teacher Rita Bradunas, Monroe interpreter Dennis Bigelow, military historian Stuart Butler, and Jarod Kearney, curator at the James Monroe Museum.

All sessions will be held in Josey Dining Room (in Prothro Hall) on the campus of Sweet Briar College in Amherst County, Va. Attendance is free for certified K-12 teachers and Sweet Briar students and $20 for all others. Coffee breaks and lunch are included. Qualified teachers will receive a stipend of $40 for participating, as well as continuing education unit credits. Participants must register by June 5 at tusculum.sbc.edu/TeachingHistoricPlaces_2012.

For more information, contact Lynn Rainville, director of the Tusculum Institute, at lrainville@sbc.edu or call (434) 381-6432 and leave a message.

When Tusculum’s owner sold the property in 2006, Sweet Briar obtained funding to deconstruct and inventory the timber-frame house to preserve the materials. The house is seen here circa 1960s.

Cynthia Wilson Ottaway ’57 has committed $500,000, to be apportioned over the next decade, to establish the Ottaway Endowed Fund in support of the Tusculum Institute. Annual contributions will be split between programming costs and building an endowment to fund Tusculum’s core mission of environmentally sustainable historic preservation and education over the long term.

Ottaway, who has previously made donations to the College for historical preservation, says she is motivated by her love for history and the heritage that old buildings represent.

The Tusculum Institute is named for the childhood home of Maria Crawford Fletcher, mother of Sweet Briar founder Indiana Fletcher Williams. The institute’s mission — and the fact that many of the 18th-century home’s architectural elements are being preserved — is deeply appealing to Ottaway. If she could rebuild the house to its original form, she would, she says.

The house stood on the site of the former Tusculum Plantation, just north of Sweet Briar. When the owner sold the property in 2006, Sweet Briar obtained funding to deconstruct and inventory the timber-frame house to preserve the materials. Although plans for the institute originally included reconstruction of the building, its focus has shifted to academic and educational programming; reconstruction has been indefinitely postponed.

Ottaway’s father was from Virginia and growing up, she spent a lot of time in the state. She remembers visiting Williamsburg and watching the archaeologists dig. Later, she took her own children there and to the homes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and others.

“If I can find a project that replicates that, I’m all for it,” she says. “I have an imagination. I can go through those houses in Williamsburg and just feel like I’m back in the seventeen hundreds.”

Ottaway recognizes the College has many needs, but she’s long appreciated its efforts to preserve its heritage by maintaining Sweet Briar House, the slave cabin and other structures, or reusing buildings such as the train station.

“I think alumnae tend to want to support, and rightfully so, professors and classes. But somebody has to support the history of the College and that’s where I come in.”

Ottaway views the Tusculum Institute as an “excellent instrument” to pass on to younger generations the value of preserving historical buildings and places in an environmentally sustainable way. The institute is committed to the idea that old can be made new again, saving resources and honoring the rich historical legacy of the region.

“I have great confidence in the fact that the institute is in good hands,” Ottaway said.

Two of those hands belong to Lynn Rainville, the founding director of the institute. Rainville, who has a doctorate in anthropology and archaeology, has done extensive research on the history of Sweet Briar Plantation, especially its enslaved families and their descendents.

As director, she works closely with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, architectural historians, preservationists and other professionals on community outreach to those interested in saving historical structures, as well as teacher development and school programs.

“The Tusculum Institute is very fortunate to receive Ms. Ottaway’s support,” Rainville said. “Her generous gift will enable us to host years of programming to support the College’s mission while researching and preserving historic places on the Sweet Briar campus and beyond.”

Contact: Jennifer McManamay

The competitive eight-week program brings together students and faculty from all disciplines to create an intense academic experience for participants. Student researchers work one-on-one with a faculty mentor, in addition to meeting weekly for presentations given by faculty and students highlighting their ongoing research. The program begins on May 21, and continues through July 13.

The following students were awarded fellowships:

Spencer Beall ’14
Faculty sponsor: Marie-Thérèse Killiam, professor of French

CJ Campbell ’13
Faculty sponsor: Tony Lilly, assistant professor of English

Lydia Ethridge ’15
Faculty sponsor: Lynn Laufenberg, associate professor of history

Phoebe Jiang ’14
Faculty sponsor: Cammie Smith Barnes, assistant professor of mathematical sciences

A-Joo Kim ’13
Faculty sponsor: Padmini Coopamah, assistant professor of international affairs

Hannah Male ’13
Faculty sponsor: Kate Chavigny, associate professor of history

Caitlin Playle ’13
Faculty sponsor: Lynn Laufenberg, associate professor of history

Ellen Reid ’12
Faculty sponsor: Paige Critcher, assistant professor of studio art

Rachael Stein ’13
Faculty sponsor: Padmini Coopamah, assistant professor of international affairs

Weekly presentations begin  Thursday, May 24 and are open to the entire campus community. Faculty presentations through May and June will be in Guion A03. Student presentations in July will be held in the 1948 Theater. Abstracts of the students’ summer projects are posted on the Honors website.