Patricia Johnston studies how early American arts were influenced by global trade, especially trade with Asia. She is the Rev. J. Gerard Mears, S.J., Chair in Fine Arts and Chair of the Visual Arts Department at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester MA, and a nationally recognized scholar of American art and its wider visual culture. Her edited volume, Seeing High and Low: Representing Social Conflict in American Visual Culture (University of California, 2006), examines how concepts of high and low art changed from the 18th to the 20th centuries, and how this evolution influenced representations of social conditions.
The Hixson-Lied Visiting Artist & Scholar Lecture Series is underwritten by the Hixson-Lied Endowment, with additional support from other sources. The program brings notable artists, scholars and designers to the University of Nebraska; enhancing the education of our students and enriching the culture of the state by providing a way for the public to interact with luminaries in the fields of art, art history and design. All lectures in the series are free and open to the public.