Panel Discussion: Doing Justice to Gender Particularities

Thursday, June 29, 2017
7-8 p.m.
$5 Voluntary Admission
Free for Intuit Members

Famed self-taught artist Henry Darger created a fantasy world of vivid imagery and mystery exploring a range of themes including gender, childhood, and sexuality. While Darger did not show his work to anyone before he died, insights can be drawn from the work and manuscripts he left behind. What are the possibilities and social nuances of reading Darger’s work? How can analyzing his work bring justice to a marginalized voice in gender re-construction? Panelists will discuss a variety of approaches to engaging Darger’s work as it addresses gender, childhood, and sexuality. Panelists include Leisa Rundquist, curator of Betwixt and Between: Henry Darger’s Vivian Girls, Adam Greteman, director of the Master of Arts in Teaching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Rev. M Barclay, provisional deacon and Director of Communications at Reconciling Ministries Network.

PANELISTS
Leisa Rundquist, an Associate Professor of Art History at the University of North Carolina Asheville, received her Ph.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2007.  Rundquist’s research is primarily concerned with the intersections of childhood, religious piety, gender, and race in the art of Henry Darger. 

Adam J. Greteman, Ph.D., is Director of the Master of Arts in Teaching program and adjunct assistant professor of Art Education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. His scholarship explores the historical, philosophical, and educational implications of sexuality and gender in education.

Rev. M Barclay is a provisional deacon appointed as Director of Communications at Reconciling Ministries Network where they advocate for an end to discrimination against LGBTQ persons in The United Methodist Church. Rev. Barclay received a BA in Communications in Florida before moving to Austin, Texas where they attended grad school for a Master of Divinity. M does extensive speaking, writing, preaching, and teaching on the intersections of faith and social justice. M is pansexual and a non-binary trans person who uses singular they/them pronouns. Read more about M here.