The Oberlin Review
<< Front page Arts September 30, 2005

Finn connects dirts to arts
 
Finn: Archeologist and journalist acted as the Baldwin lecturer.
 

The work of archeologist and journalist Christine Finn is all about pushing boundaries, an impulse which she feels is more than welcome in Oberlin’s interdisciplinary environment.

Teaching a seminar series about archeology and the arts and holding two public lectures, Finn is serving as a Baldwin lecturer at the College. Most interested in archeology’s relationship to arts such as poetry, sculpture and film, she brings together various mediums and interests to forge a centralized study.

“I wanted to go beyond boundaries and work with other artists,” she said.

This interest in linking various arts to archeology and anthropology may seem extraordinary to some, but is logical for Finn.

“I found that when I was doing archeology, I was writing as I hadn’t before,” said Finn. “This phenomenon made me so excited, and so I did my dissertation on this. The themes all work together.”

Through her studies and experiences, Finn has found that both archeology and anthropology are ideal ways to explore the arts.

“It’s not just digging holes,” she said. “They offer different ways of thinking about the past. They offer possibilities of [study in] different directions.”

Though Finn is the writer-in-residence and honorary research fellow in archaeological sciences at the University of Bradford in the UK, she does not limit herself to one location for living or studying. Primarily residing in Rome, Italy and traveling throughout the world, Finn gives depth to her research through travel. Oberlin became a logical place for her to spend time because of the College’s appreciation for the arts.

“I’m enjoying my time here,” she said. “Students are very open and responsive to the material. The non-archeologists now have the chance to see archeological material, and Oberlin is the perfect place for this, because it is not bounded in terms of aesthetic appreciation. The students seem to be excited by the different media.”

The course, which views the arts in a very broad sense, considers the way in which archeology provides inspiration for artists, filmmakers, writers, poets and other creative minds. In her multimedia lectures, Finn uses both fine and applied arts, film, digital storytelling, television, music and photography.

Oberlin provides the type of environment that is necessary for this novel approach to archeology to flourish.

“It’s nice to be around kindred spirits. Not every institution appreciates the interdisciplinary approach. In that sense, the study can be either invigorating or frustrating,” said Finn.

Her first public lecture on Sept. 20, titled, “Carving the Past: Relating Archeology to Sculpture,” discussed ways in which ancient sculpture became an art form. Her second public lecture on Sept. 29, titled “Rhythm and Time: Relating Archeology to Poetry,” showed how poets have drawn from archeological images and artifacts to produce works that are both metaphorical and informed by the reality of excavation.

Finn is author of the three following books: Past Poetic: Archeology in the poetry of WB Yeats and Seamus Heary; Artifacts: An Archeologist’s year in Silicon Valley; and Ancient Muses: Archeology and the arts. She is working on a new book, titled Techxistence: Travels in America’s Technologies.

To contact Finn, e-mail her at Christine.Finn@gmail.com
 
 

   


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