Name: Kyle G. Sweeney
Title: Assistant Professor of Art History
Education: Ph.D., Art and Architectural History, Rice University
B.A., Purdue University
Office: 102 McLaurin
Phone: 803/323-3016
E-mail: sweeneyk@winthrop.edu
Area(s): Art and architecture of late medieval Europe (c. 1300-c. 1550); medieval cities and
social production of space; Christian-Muslim cross- and intercultural interaction;
historical visualization, diachronic mapping, and spatial humanities
Kyle G. Sweeney's research focuses on the relationships between Late Gothic architecture, urban space and ceremonial, and shifting social constructs in northern Europe at the turn of the sixteenth century. His recent research projects have focused on the social, spatial, and ritual fabric of late medieval cities in France. His first book project on Late Gothic architecture and society in Normandy examines how churches, chapels, and châteaux shaped the experience of urban space, rituals, and class interactions in the early sixteenth century. He is also co-editing a volume on issues surrounding constructs of modernity and lateness in medieval architecture for the new AVISTA Studies in Medieval Technology, Science and Art series published by Brill. He has held multiple fellowships at the Humanities Research Center (HRC) at Rice University as a member of the Mellon-funded Spatial Humanities Initiative and in the Art of the Islamic Worlds department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Professor Sweeney currently serves on the AVISTA Board of Directors. For more on Dr. Sweeney’s recent projects, see his profile on Academia.edu.
At Winthrop, he teaches a variety of courses on medieval and Islamic art and architectural
history as well as special topics courses related to museums and cultural heritage
and spatial humanities. Drawing on both his current interest in historical visualization
and past experience hiking along the medieval pilgrimage trail known today as the
Chemin de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle (Way of Saint James), students in his upper-level seminar on the visual culture of
medieval pilgrimage recently undertook a series of creative digital research projects
that culminated in the design of historically authentic—yet totally imagined—Romanesque
church sculpture programs and medieval pilgrimage badges.
Prof. Sweeney is planning a study abroad excursion to Paris, Avignon, and Nice (tentatively scheduled for May 2022) and enjoys working with students in the University Honors Program.
Profile photo courtesy of H. Bergeman
Review of Maile S. Hutterer, Framing the Church: The Social and Artistic Power of Buttresses in French Gothic Architecture. Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Architecture 7/3 (2021): 245-251.
"Picturing the Long Life of Notre-Dame de Louviers." In The Long Lives of Medieval Art and Architecture, edited by Jennifer M. Feltman and Sarah Thompson, 97-113. London: Routledge, 2019.
2021: Kress Foundation Research and Publication Grant, International Center of Medieval Art
2020: Opler Membership Grant for Emerging Scholars, Society of Architectural Historians
ARTH 175: Introduction to Art History from Prehistory through the Middle Ages
ARTH 341: Ancient Greek and Roman Art
ARTH 342: Medieval European Art and Architecture
ARTH 343: High and Late Medieval Art and Architecture
ARTH 421: Visual Culture of Medieval Pilgrimage
ARTH 422: Medieval Cities
ARTH 455: Museums, Monuments, and Cultural Heritage
Last updated by rayj 12/08/2021