History of Pornography

by Jessica Eastman

“Which of the following represents the greatest threat to society?”

A. Larry Flint – the publisher of the adult magazine Hustler
B. Clarence Thomas – a Supreme Court justice accused of sexual harassment with an alleged pornographic movie viewing habit
C. Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU)

The answer, as Dr. Nanette Thrush presents, is Law and Order: SVU. Its consistent themes of sexual deviance and pedophilia numb audiences to the true impact of the situations. This is just one of the ideas she presents within “a class that raises eyebrows.” For, as Thrush says, “Traditionally my job would be to uphold the canon and teach standards, but now my job is to pull the rug out from underneath.” It’s all about the “'and maybe we should' factor.” Maybe we should go there. Maybe we should take it to the next level.

This semester is the second run of the course at Chester College of New England. Last year, when the class first ran, the Board of Trustee’s required students to sign content waiver forms to participate. Since then, many have felt the positive impact of such a course on campus. Raising questions such as “What makes an image pornographic,” and “How do society’s morals influence these definitions,” the course contributes to students’ understanding of their own artwork. Like Dr. Thrush asks, “What does it mean politically and socially to do a figure drawing? For a writer to write porn?” It is always important to discuss the censorship of artwork. How else would artistic styles grow?

As for the content covered within the class, it is never the same twice. Since last year, Thrush has “telescoped down coverage of the ancients to include more contemporary pieces.” She has also added a film section this time to discuss pornographic videos and what they mean within the grand scheme of things. As Thrush explains, “It’s partially reactionary.” She always feels the need to build material into the curriculum to “challenge generational taboos or dislikes.” Thrush not only questions the current taboos herself, but really challenges students to think about them in relation to their own ideas and artwork.

Needless to say, Dr. Thrush’s History of Pornography course raises eyebrows for all the right reasons. Even when asked to pick an image to represent the course, she picked two images that many may consider unsuitable to be published with such an article as this. However, for the sake of art and its argument, the images are presented below, edit free.



"The Origin of the World"
Gustave Corbet, 1866



"The Negation of the Universe"
Richard Phillips, 2001

Professor Diessner's Work in Northampton, MA exhibit

Work by Nancy Diessner, associate professor of interdisciplinary studies, is part of "Touching Space (flow)," an exhibition of 40 prints curated from the Flat Files Project by guest artist/curator Karen Dolmanisth at the Gallery at Zea Mays Printmaking in Northampton, MA. Dolmanisth selected work based on an intuitive response and perceived relationships between the pieces, and the non-traditional installation of the work extends her vision of how the works “touch space and flow” into the physical space of the gallery.

"Touching Space (flow)," which opened on January 27, will close Friday, February 27, with a reception and a gallery talk/performance by Dolmanisth from 6-8 p.m.

Alexandria Peary reading March 4th

Chester College of New England’s Visiting Writers Series will host a reading by Alexandria Peary at 6 p.m., Wednesday, March 4 in Powers 29. Admission is free for students with ID and a $5 suggested donation for all others.

Peary writes and publishes in a range of genre including poetry, magazine writing/ creative nonfiction, and scholarly writing. Her first book of poems, Fall Foliage Called Bathers & Dancers, was published in September 2008. Her poems have appeared in journals including The Gettysburg Review, The Massachusetts Review, jubilat, Poetry Northwest, Verse, and Crazyhorse, has received the Joseph Langland Award from the Academy of American Poets and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her most recent magazine article was published in late 2008 in the parenting magazine Brain, Child.

Junior Matt Williams and sophomore Ashley Kreutter will be opening for Peary.

excerpt from "i beg for rationalization"
by Matt Williams

san francisco. i have pieced this memory together
from the shreds of old photographs i found in carpet
strands in my room. this was before his mouth could
learn syllables and we understood each other, mystic
symbiosis – varied synaptic impulses charted us
guidelines to understand simply, we were brothers.
there was a spill of translucence on his brow,
and on mine, like a halo? like a white golden swathe.

Student Work Featured in Wadleigh Gallery

This semester, Chester College of New England's Wadleigh Gallery will feature a variety of student work from March through May.

Kicking off the exhibitions will be the student Graphic/Photo/Printmaking show, March 2-13. It will open with a reception on March 4 at 6 p.m. After spring break, the gallery will host a student video installation March 23-27, which will open with a reception on March 25 at 6 p.m. Rounding out the schedule will be five weeks of senior shows, from March 30 through May 4. These shows will feature the best work of Chester College's class of 2009. Openings are Wednesdays at 7 p.m., and will feature readings by graduating seniors from the Writing and Literature department.

For more information about the exhibitions, contact Megan McNaught, visiting assistant professor of fine arts; for information about the readings, contact Monica O'Brien, chair of the Department of Writing and Literature.

Professor Matsumoto Included in National Juried Exhibit

Darrell Matsumoto, associate professor and chair of the Department of Photography/Media Arts & Design at Chester College of New England, is included in The 6th Photographic Image Biennial Exhibition at East Carolina University.

Jurors Robert and Shana Parke Harrison selected Matsumoto's Untitled (container), from the series White. The exhibition will be on view in the Wellington B. Gray Gallery through February 18.

Faculty Member's Work Featured in Turbulence Spotlight

MrsCoryArcangel.com, by Scarlet Electric (the work of Chester College of New England faculty member Rachelle Beaudoin and Jeanne Jo) was featured in a recent Turbulence Spotlight.

Turbulence is a project of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. Now celebrating 12 years, Turbulence has commissioned over 150 works ($600,000) and exhibited and promoted artists' work through its Artists Studios, Guest Curator, and Spotlight sections. As networking technologies have developed wireless capabilities and become mobile, Turbulence has remained at the forefront of the field by commissioning, exhibiting, and archiving the new hybrid networked art forms that have emerged. Turbulence works have been included in the Whitney Museum of American Art's Biennial ('00, '02, '04), and its Bit Streams and Data Dynamics exhibitions; Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea; C-Theory, Cornell University; Ars Electronica, Austria; International Festival of New Cinema and New Media, Montreal; European Media Arts Festival, Germany; and the Sundance Film Festival, among others.

Of Beaudoin and Jo's project Turbulence said: "Part fansite, part cultural critique, part exercise in stalking, 'MrsCoryArcangel.com' is a website devoted to Cory Arcangel. Featuring animated gifs, collage, and textured backgrounds, "MrsCoryArcangel.com"embraces an aesthetic deemed by Arcangel as 'dirt style.' Dirt style, as Arcangel defines it, is the 'true spirit of the web.' The site includes interpretations of Arcangel's projects-instead of endless SuperMario clouds, Princess Toadstool endlessly waiting for Mario. Instead of Number of the Beast compressed 666, the song 500 Miles by the Proclaimers compressed 500 times."

Faculty Member Awarded Humanities Grant

Christopher Volpe, a faculty member in the Integrated Liberal Studies department at Chester College of New England, has been named the humanist in a grant by the New Hampshire Humanities Council to extend the N.H. Seacoast's annual "Jazzmouth" poetry and music event to the greater Portsmouth area.

Volpe will lead a public book-discussion at the Portsmouth Senior Center on Carolyn Cassady's "Off the Road," a memoir by the wife of the real-life protagonist of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." The discussion will center on the women of the Beat Generation: who were they and in what ways did they contribute to the body of work that has come down to us? Topics may also include the position that women generally occupy in the canonical works of the Beat Generation, the contribution that reclaimed narratives such as Carolyn Cassady's make to our understanding of the blurred line between life and art, and the uses and misuses of memoir, fact, and fiction in general in historical and contemporary letters.

Volpe also will lead a session for children and their parents on "Jazz ABZ," an alphabet primer by contemporary jazz legend Wynton Marsalis which teaches fundamentals of reading through the marriage of music and poetry. For the latter event, Professor Volpe will be joined by music expert Bruce Pingree and several musicians for a demonstration of musical instruments, group singing, and first-hand proof that learning and creativity need not be confined within the borders of any given genre. At the heart of this event will be an introduction to the sheer freedom and joy of language, music, and improvisation, as well as the importance of passing down to children an appreciation for the American art forms of jazz and poetry that predate them.