Name: Kyle G. Sweeney
Title: Assistant Professor of Art History
Education: Ph.D., Art and Architectural History, Rice University
M.A., Rice University
M.A., Indiana University - Bloomington
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 and teaching expertise include both the history of medieval European and Islamic architecture and urbanism. 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. Professor Sweeney 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. 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
"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.
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 455: Museums, Monuments, and Cultural Heritage
Last updated by houghw 02/04/2021