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Lara Allison

Assistant Professor, Adjunct

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Bio

Assistant Professor, Adjunct, Design History, SAIC (2014–present). Editor in chief, Chicago Art Deco Magazine (2017–present). Board member and chair of education, Chicago Design Archive (2023–present). Education: BA, 1994, Northern Illinois University, Philosophy and Art History, studied under Theodore Kisiel; Ph.D., 2009, Columbia University with primary field in Modern Architecture and secondary field in tradition based African Art. Awards: Research Fellowship, Department of African Art, Art Institute of Chicago (2013–2016). Publications: Jack Weiss, Artist, Designer, Photographer (2021); Into the City: A History of Chicago Art (2018); Chicago Art Deco: Designing Modern America (2019). Corporate Citizenship: Design, Advertising, Ideas and Selling Freedom During the Cold War (anticipated 2025); Blanche Gildin, Experiments in Art and Life, from the New Bauhaus to the Present (anticipated 2024).

Personal Statement

My research focuses on twentieth-century American design, particularly during the interwar and postwar periods. My current project centers on the corporate graphics of the Cold War and explores the intersection of European avant-garde design with American corporate communications and advertising. In addition to my extensive teaching history, I serve as the editor in chief of the Chicago Art Deco Magazine and contribute regularly as a writer. I am also the chair of education on the board of the Chicago Design Archive.

I teach undergraduate and graduate surveys of modern and contemporary design, a history of designed objects course, and a course on design during the interwar period (c. 1920–1940). In my teaching practice, I engage students in understanding historical discussions surrounding industry, politics, and art, and how these elements shape the concept of design and the role of the designer in society. I strive to create dynamic learning experiences by facilitating regular encounters with museum objects and organizing field trips beyond the immediate neighborhood of SAIC.

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

This lecture course grounds students in basic critical themes in the history of design and design objects. Through lectures, demonstrations, and readings students study the material and discursive conditions of the history of design.

Through lecture, readings, discussions, and museum visits, the class highlights a broad range of objects and formats in graphic design, object design, fashion design, and architectural design.

Course works includes object analysis assignments, short research paper, and mid-term and final exams.

Class Number

1133

Credits

3

Description

The course examines the history of designed objects and their place in a variety of material contexts. Even within our increasingly digitalized existences today, physical objects continue to play a key role in determining our experiences as humans. Our objects are designed by us and at the same time design us by extending the possibilities of what it means to be human and exist in a world.

The designed object will be considered under the conditions of global exchange, in relation to questions of health, disease, and the body, as well as urbanism. We will also reflect on the designed object through the lenses of craftsmanship, technology, materials, activism, identity, and cultural heritage.

Course participants will read texts relevant to the theoretical and historical aspects of the designed object and its representations, contribute to weekly discussions, conduct object-based analyses, and engage in a series of team and individually written critical writing assignments.

Class Number

1032

Credits

3

Description

This course surveys decorative and industrial arts and design in Europe and America from 1920 to 1949, in cities including Paris, London, Berlin, Munich, Prague, Budapest, Milan, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Styles ranging from Art Deco to Art Moderne are covered, with special focus on the impact of the Bauhaus and Cranbrook, as well as on the contributions of Mies van der Rohe, Gropius, Saarinen, Wright, and Loewy, et al. Textiles, furniture, ceramics, glass, interiors, and automobiles are among the topics discussed.

Class Number

1158

Credits

3

Description

This lecture course surveys design history, from 1750 to the present day. It introduces the ideas that have driven design in the modern era. Critical and interdisciplinary investigations of artifacts, built environments, and texts throughout the course seek to establish essential links between designers, objects, and users in the history and culture industry of design.

Representative texts of design criticism, design theory, and design history supplement lectures, and are starting points for material analysis. The course emphasizes creative ways of probing material sources to introduce the relationship between design history and current design practices.

Students spend one hour participating in discussion labs that investigate and elaborate on use and function in relation to an object introduced by a student in the group. Students Are asked to develop 'scripts' for interpreting meaning from design examples discussed in group. In addition to in class assignments, students are required to write a graduate level research paper.

Class Number

1119

Credits

3