Queer art course offered for 1st time

After 25 years on the Cornell faculty, Professor of Art History Christina Penn-Goetsch offered a new course in fall 2021 on a topic she has wanted to teach since taking the job.

It took this long for her to feel secure enough in her position to teach Queer Eye for Art History. 

“For an openly bisexual or gay professor to teach this topic requires exposure and risk,” said Penn-Goetsch, who received Cornell’s Exemplary Teacher Award in 2018. “There was never any problem with my teaching American Indian art or African art, but the LGBTQ+ or queer art was a different animal. This is not a course typical to most major research institutions, because there are too many restrictions put on information shared. Fear of losing a job is still a concern at some colleges and most high schools.”

This unusual course explored art through a queer lens from antiquity to the modern era. 

“We looked at artwork spanning centuries and mediums and practiced queering, which is the act of looking at things through a queer lens. In doing so, we learned about the often unspoken backstories of many famous artists and artworks,” explained student Emma Burnett ’23, a studio art and psychology major.

“This course provided me with an entirely new perspective when viewing and studying artwork. It taught me to stop taking artwork simply at face value and instead examine subtle aspects in order to realize possible deeper meanings.” 

Penn-Goetsch said the class size of 15 was ideal for conversation, and they had a lot of rich discussions about topics most of them had never talked about. “Students came from the full gamut of identifications. They were very kind to each other. They were the best of Cornell in their extraordinary patience with each other,” she said.

Will Alvey ’22 said he most enjoyed the comfortable environment Penn-Goetsch created for her students. 

“It was such a new and refreshing experience to be taught by a very openly queer person, and especially with this specific subject matter as our focus,” said Alvey, who is majoring in Spanish and English. “Although I may not be an active participant in the subcultures that I studied, my ethnographic focus really allowed me to respect such subcultures and become a more open-minded individual along the way.

“I am going to be able to take skills I learned—notably reception of art, art analysis, and a strengthened feminist lens—and apply them to other classes that I take.”