5 Week Online Course taught via Zoom by Art Historian Liz Andres

Wednesdays, April 5, 12, 19, 26, May 3
7-8:30pm EST (NYC Time) / 4-5:30pm PST (LA Time)
$100 (Patreon member) / $125 (Regular admission)

Please note: Classes will be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time

Medusa has been revered as both monster and goddess, protector and destroyer for over two thousand years, but what does she mean to us today? That sensuous snaky hair, that grimacing mouth, and that stone-cold stare still hold power and continue to be reinterpreted for purposes both good and ill. This 5-week Medusa Manifesting workshop will provide an opportunity for deep exploration of Medusa and her Gorgon sisters, bringing her to life and highlighting her insistent and persistent relevance across the millennia.

Each session will begin by calling in Medusa through reflection and conversation around key artworks from antiquity through the 21^st century. Resident mythologist Liz Andres will guide participants through richly illustrated lectures and discussions delving into different aspects of Medusa and her Gorgon sisters, providing suggested readings and additional resources for those who want to dive even deeper. Participants will have the opportunity to explore their personal relationship with Medusa and/or consider their relationship with other mythological hybrid creatures who speak to them. For a final project, participants will be invited to create artwork, poetry, or a mini-research project inspired by Medusa or another mythological hybrid creature to share with the class.

CLASS STRUCTURE (order of topics subject to change)

Week One: Monster

• Mythological hybrid creatures

• Gorgons around the world

• The grimace and the mask of death

• Snakes and the phallic threat

• Decapitation and the cult of the severed head

Week Two: Goddess

• Artemis and Athena

• Triple goddesses and sisterhood

• Medusa and the Sea

• Medusa and the Underworld

• Ancient queen

Week Three: Protector

• The evil eye

• Battlefield and household

• Grave monuments

• Snakes and healing

• Feminist icon

Week Four: Destroyer

• The power of the gaze

• Turned to stone

• Death spirits

• Silencing women

• Petrify the patriarchy

Week Five: Presentations

Liz Andres is a museum professional and scholar based in Los Angeles. She holds degrees in Art History, Classical Archaeology, and Museum Studies from U.C. Berkeley and the University of Leicester and specializes in museum education and exhibitions. Her current research focuses on hybrid and liminal creatures in ancient Greek art and mythology, museum taxidermy, and representations of death and nature in western art. Follow her on Instagram!

IMAGES

1. 1. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Medusa, 1595 (Uffizi Gallery, Florence)

   2. Bronze Mirror, Greek, 500-480 BCE (J. Paul Getty Museum)

   3. Vincenzo Gemito, Medusa, 1911 (J. Paul Getty Museum)

   4. Medusa mosaic, 2nd century CE (Archaeological Museum of Palencia)

   5. Antefix, Greek, 500 BCE (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

   6. Coffin fitting, Ptolemaic, 332-250 BCE (British Museum)

   7. Temple of Artemis, Corfu, 6^th century BCE

   8. Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Medusa, 1640 (Capitoline Museum, Rome)

   9. Harriet Hosmer, Medusa, 1854 (Detroit Institute of Arts)

   10. Luciano Garbati, Medusa with the Head of Perseus, 2008

   11. Damien Hirst, Medusa, from Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, 2017

   12. Aryballos, Greek, 600-570 BCE (MFA Boston)

   13. The Rescue of Andromeda, early 20^th century

   14. Salvador Dali, La Meduse, 1963

   15. Gustav Klimt, Pallas Athena, 1898 (Vienna Historisches Museum)

   16. Jean Delville, La Meduse, 1893 (Chicago Art Institute)