The Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum is ready to begin its next Virtual Lecture Series, bringing together a unique offering of specialists, storytellers, hobbyists and lovers of history. The lectures are offered weekly, via Zoom, on Wednesday mornings at 11 a.m., beginning today, Jan. 24 and running until Feb. 28.
The first of the series, on Jan. 24, is The Art of Portraiture, presented by Dr. Debra Antoncic, director and curator for RiverBrink Art Museum. An art historian, Antoncic will illustrate how the impulse to capture a likeness of an individual has a long history, one that dates back thousands of years. Portraits, however, conveyed much more than just a likeness. “Your portrait told the world all about you,” says Antoncic. “It showed your status, wealth, personality and a host of other details.” This presentation, says a museum news release, “is a perfect complement to the NOTL Museum’s current exhibition, Strike a Pose, which looks at how we have recorded our likeness for centuries.”
Next, Our Best Face Forward: The Selfie in Visual Culture, on Jan 31, is another complement to the museum’s exhibit, the news release says. Sonia de Lazzer, professor in art history, visual culture and curatorial studies at Brock University, will look at the selfie obsession in contemporary culture, and the intersections of technology, psychology and society, from capturing our image on earth-orbiting spacewalks, to the massive self-documentation on social media.
The North Star: Canada and the Civil War Plots Against Lincoln, on Feb. 7, introduces Julian Sher to the NOTL Museum. An award-winning journalist and author, Sher has created a sweeping novel that tells the story of the Canadians and a handful of Confederate agents who played a much darker role in supporting the enslaved South than our history books tell us, and their participation in the formation of plots against Lincoln. As an investigative reporter, Sher worked for the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, and was a senior producer for CBC’s The Fifth Estate.
Stay tuned for more information on the final three of the Virtual Lecture Series: Ordnance Boundary Stones: Updates and Restoration (Feb 14); The Borderland: Black Agency and Resistance Between Two Nations (Feb 21); and Historically Hysterical (Feb 28).
Registration is required to receive a Zoom link to attend the virtual series. Visit notlmuseum.ca or call 905-468-39for
