Philosophy

Art History is interdisciplinary by nature, and in my practice as a professor, I use the field to encourage students to reconsider the world they know visually, with the power to make change. I push students to view art history critically, inspiring them to question their preconceptions and notions about an area that is at once the same as it was 500 years ago and is also constantly changing due to technology and the increasing acceptance of visual culture. By the end of each term, I want my students to examine the world in a new light, questioning what art can be and realizing the value that art can bring to society. 

My teaching style fluctuates weekly, as I have found that students respond to a number of different methods and styles. Each class will be filled with lectures, discussions, group activities, films, presentations or museum trips. Above all, I want to maintain an active, participatory classroom environment, where students feel willing to contribute and share. I strive to create an open, welcoming, and comfortable experience, so that my students can be involved in the presentation, even if it is a lecture. I frequently return to works from previous classes to make comparisons, thereby allowing the students and the class to make connections themselves. Additionally, I encourage debate between my students. For example, each time I teach Kara Walker and her use of stereotypes, I find the students swaying me either in favor of her use for or against them. 

Besides exposing students to art that they have not necessarily seen or explored before, I’m interested in challenging their expectations. Drawing from my feminist background, I ask my students to question the canon as we discuss what makes a work of art important and challenging. If they have a negative reaction to a piece (as many inevitably do to Duchamp’s Fountain, 1917, for example), as a class we question why they respond that way and what preconceptions they may have about a piece. My hope is that they begin to develop critical thinking skills necessary to be dissatisfied with the status quo.  

In that vein, I often strive to connect art and art history to everyday life. Making connections to current events and popular culture throughout my teaching, I ask students to do the same. We discuss what it means that a popular soap company can use J.A.D. Ingres’ Grand Odalisque (1815) to promote their products. Furthermore, I encourage them to go out and see art in the flesh, which is why one of my favorite assignments for introductory students is to write a formal analysis of any artwork they choose – from a work in the Dallas Museum of Art, a subway mural they pass every day, or a sculpture in their neighborhood park. This encourages them to look at things in a different light, and it never fails that by the end of the semester, students are discussing artworks they have seen on their own and are starting to make their connections and comparisons.

But further, in a tumultuous American society, I think art and visual culture has the potential to open students’ minds further. Teaching Identity Politics today, in light of Black Lives Matter and various protests across the country, takes on a new weight. As my students are increasingly born in the 2000s, I work to teach them the art and history of the more recent past (that they are often unaware of) with the hopes of creating better, more socially conscious students. Social justice and human rights concerns are core components of my belief system, and I work to integrate these practices in the classroom. I have been particularly influenced in this area by the writings of bell hooks and Kevin M. Gannon’s Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto (2020).

In upper-level courses, I encourage my students to develop their research and writing skills through library workshops, peer review, library and writing center consultations, annotated bibliographies and combinations of both short and long papers. I have devised projects that include research, but also might include a creative project like writing a blog, curating an exhibition, recreating a particular type of printmaking, ceramics or bookbinding, designing and making a zine, and even reviewing contemporary movies on artists. Upper level classes allow students to tackle more sophisticated readings and create an elevated level of discussion, appropriate for advanced students. Additionally, I have worked with honors students on their theses (including creating a number of unconventional projects like exhibition and website design), as well as MA, MFA, and PhD students at all level of their studies. I embrace the opportunities that these projects provide to work with students one-on-one and develop a project in depth.  

For me, teaching can be rewarding. Getting the stray email about David Beckham’s Michelangelo-esque abs or having a student come up to me and saying that they finally understand how Fountain can be considered an artwork encourages me to keep developing my teaching. At the same time, the students who have never seen a work of art can ask questions that I might not have thought of before, thereby encouraging me to reconsider an artwork I have been looking at for years. The students’ fresh approach rejuvenates me, pushing me to continue to challenge myself and my own research. I am so lucky to work with students, and together, I think we can actually learn and put into practice ideas that can actually begin to make the world a better place.

For more information on the class and to see the syllabus, click the course title (unless specified courses below are face to face):

Contemporary Art

Gender and visual Representation (Taylor’s version)

AIDS AND VISUAL CULTURE

THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT AND VISUAL CULTURE

RESEARCH AND METHODS IN ART AND ART HISTORY (ALSO ONLINE)

Liberal studies senior seminar on research (Online)

Fashion History in the 20th and 21st centuries

SPIRITUALITY AND CONTEMPORARY ART (GRADUATE)

MOVEMENT IN VISUAL CULTURE (GRADUATE, ONLINE)

THE EXHIBITION IN GLOBAL CONTEMPORARY ART (GRADUATE)

The Body in Art (GRADUATE)

ART WRITING ON GENDER AND IDENTITY ISSUES (ONLINE)

gender and visual culture

Women and Art

History of Photography (Also Online)

Gender, Art, and Popular Culture (GRADUATE, ONLINE)

20th Century Architecture

History of Architecture

Public Art (GRADUATE, HYBRID ONLINE)

History of Modern Art

Non-Western Art (also online)

19th Century European Art

North American Art

History of Ancient Art

History of Medieval Art

History of Art I (ALSO ONLINE)

History of Art II (Also ONline)

Art Appreciation (ALSO ONLINE)

Sample Assignments:

• AIDS QUILT PROJECT - AIDS Quilt Zine AIDS QUIT ZINE

• Building Stories Graphic novel review and creative project

• Exhibition design project

• Artist branding and marketing strategy project

• Contemporary art in the global realm presentation project

• Architectural elements assignment

• Lewis Hine paper and collage project

• Fashion Designer Research Project

• Native American group presentation project

• Women in Art biography research paper

• Palmyra project/Paper

• CIVIL RIGHTS PODCAST ASSIGNMENT

• LIBERAL STUDIES SEMINAR RESEARCH ASSIGNMENT

• PUBLIC ART PROPOSPAL ASSIGNMENT

*These syllabi AND ASSIGNMENTS are the design and property of Emily L. Newman, and should be credited as such.

If you would like more information on any of the classes above please contact me.*

 SERVICE

Global Human Rights Initiative (2022-2024)

Worked with the Dean of the College of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Art, I was coordinator for the Global Human Rights Initiative. I worked to fund research projects for faculty members and developed new interdisciplinary teaching fellowships. Unfortunately, a leadership change saw this program lose support at the university.

Period Products on Campus (2022)

Working with the Dean of the College of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Art, I successfully proposed funding for tampons/pads for all women’s and unisex bathrooms, as well as selected men’s bathrooms. 2022-2023 will be a year where the program is installed in selected buildings, while all bathrooms should have them by 2023-2024. To see the proposal, go here.

Statement of Support for Trans and LGBTQIA+ Community

For the first time, Texas A&M University-Commerce released a statement of support emphasizing inclusivity, by drawing upon its vision and foundational principles, focusing particularly on the trans and LGBTQIA+ Community. I proposed this statement with Faculty Senate, and then collaborated with the Staff Council and the Student Government Association to see it through. See the statement here.

MA/MFA Graduate Handbook

In 2017, I completed the Department of Art’s first graduate handbook for the MA/MFA students. Since this had not been done before, the forty page document contained schedules for completion of the degree for various types of students (part-time/full-time, year-round or summer only, etc.). The handbook also explained in detail the candidacy and exhibition process, while providing written guidelines and forms to create order for the program as well as provide student with a better way to succeed in the program.

UNIVERSITY SERVICE

2020-2022 Successfully advocated for and helping implement the installation of menstrual products across campus

2021-2023 Faculty Senate, Texas A&M-Commerce

2012-present Gender Studies Advisory Committee, Texas A&M-Commerce

2020-2021 Career Coach, Hiring Committee Review, College of Humanities, Art, and Social Sciences

2018- 2019 Tenure and Promotion Committee, College of Humanities, Art, and Social Sciences

2015-2018 Liberal Studies Advisory Committee, Texas A&M-Commerce

2011-2018 Visual Arts Committee, Texas A&M-Commerce

2012-2016 Faculty Adviser to the Women in Leadership Learning Community, Texas A&M-Commerce

2011-2015 Faculty Development Grants Committee, Texas A&M-Commerce

2012-2013 Faculty Senate, Texas A&M-Commerce

2009-2011 Women Studies Advisory Board, St. Cloud State

DEPARTMENT SERVICE

2018-2019 Department of Art Library Liaison, Texas A&M-Commerce

2017-2019 Curriculum Committee, Texas A&M-Commerce

2014- 2019 QEP Mentor, Texas A&M-Commerce

2014-2018 Gallery Committee, Texas A&M-Commerce

2017 Created MFA/MA Studio Art Handbook and Guidelines, Texas A&M-Commerce

2012-2015 Promotion/Tenure Development Committee, Texas A&M-Commerce

2012-2015 Curriculum Committee, Texas A&M-Commerce

2012-2013 Development of the Art History Major, Texas A&M-Commerce

2009-2011 Gallery Committee, St. Cloud State

2009-2011 Library Resources Committee, St. Cloud State

2009-2011 Modernized the Art History Major, St. Cloud State

ACADEMIC SERVICE

2018, 2022 Outside Referee in Tenure and Promotion Cases: Missouri Western State University, Indiana University Southwest

2018- Peer Reviewer/Advisory Board, Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture, 1900 to Present

2016- Peer Reviewer, Art History Pedagogy and Practice

2013- Contributor, ArtFocus Oklahoma

2019- Editorial Board, Palgrave Studies in (Re)Presenting Gender

2020 Conference Submission Reviewer, Fourth Annual Missouri-Western State University and Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art Undergraduate Art History Symposium

2019 External Reviewer for the Art History Program, Kansas City Art Institute, February 2019

2016 AP Art History Exam Reader, CollegeBoard and Educational Testing Services, 2016.

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

College Art Association 

American Association of Museums 

International Council on Museums

Popular Culture Association 

Women’s Art Caucus 

Southeastern College Art Conference 

American Culture Association