Four University of Arkansas at Little Rock students will be among the presenters at the 29th annual Arkansas College Art History Symposium on Thursday, March 7, and Friday, March 8, at the Windgate Center of Art and Design Room 101.

UA Little Rock art history students who will be presenting include:

•      Shayla Grimmett, “George Catlin’s Effect on Manifest Destiny,” 9:15 a.m. March 8
•      Cassandra Christ, “A Century of Violence: William Hogarth’s ‘The Four Stages of Cruelty’ and the Cyclical Nature of Violence in 18th Century London,” 11 a.m. March 8
•      Kennedy Butler, “The Influence of JC Leyendecker’s Sexuality in Early 20th Century American Illustration,” 11 a.m. March 8
•      Grace Lytle, “Images of Empathy: Käthe Kollwitz’s ‘Krieg’ Series,” 1:40 p.m. March 8

Students from Henderson State University, University of Central Arkansas, and University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, will also be presenting at the symposium.

Dr. Debra Murphy, professor of art history and the inaugural chair of the Department of Art and Design at the University of North Florida, will give the keynote lecture, “Rendering Rome,” at 6 p.m. March 7. Murphy will discuss how artists have visualized the city of Rome in art from antiquity through the 19th century.

Murphy earned her Ph.D. in art history from Boston University, where she studied the history of Italian Renaissance art. Her scholarly agenda includes 16th century Italian art and contemporary art, patronage, and collections in Florida. She has been recognized twice by UNF for outstanding undergraduate teaching and founded the University of North Florida summer Italy Program in 2009.

The Arkansas College Art History Symposium was born through friendship and an awareness that undergraduate students in the state of Arkansas did not have an opportunity to present their research — an important experience for future art historians.

Dr. Floyd Martin, professor of art history at UA Little Rock, and Dr. Gayle Seymour, associate dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication at the University of Central Arkansas, are the symposium founders and visionaries. The 30-year friends saw a need and established the Arkansas College Art History Symposium in 1991.

The symposium experience echoes the expectations given to professional historians. Students have the opportunity to formally present their work, network with students in the state with similar interests and give greater attention to the discipline. The symposium also provides a unique opportunity for art history faculty from colleges and universities across the state to interact.