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Pamela Barrie

Associate Professor, Adjunct

Contact

Bio

A medievalist by training, Pamela Barrie (she/her) has been teaching First Year Seminar and literature courses at the School of the Art Institute for over 40 years. She has also been involved with the Chicago book arts community as a teacher, researcher and maker. As a member of the Green Window Printers she produced limited edition broadsides for the Poetry Center of Chicago, as well as artists’ books and ephemera under her own imprints, Green Window Press and Hellbach’s Press. Examples of her letterpress chapbooks are included in the Joan Flasch collection, the rare book collection of the New York Public Library, and the Wing collection on the history of the book at The Newberry Library.

Publications: “George Clymer’s Philadelphia Eagle: The Political Emblematics of the Columbian Press and Alexander Hamilton’s First Bank,” American Printing History Journal, vol. 35, no. 1 (winter 2025) (cover article); For the Love of Letterpress: A Printing Handbook for Instructors and Students, Cathie Ruggie Saunders and Martha Chipless, 2nd edition, London: Bloomsbury 2019., [Work included]; A Portrait of Ox-bow: Architecture—Art—Artists. Douglas, MI: Judy Bowman Anthrop, 2009. [Work included]; Exquisite Corpse. [Catalogue of group show], essay by Mark Pascale, Chicago: Printworks Gallery, 2000; Artists’ Books Illinois, catalogue of a traveling group show, essay by Barbara Tannenbaum, Chicago: Artists’ Book Works, 1987. Exhibitions: A Bigger Table: 50 Years of the Chicago Poetry Center Thursday, 2024, group show of broadsides made for the Poetry Center from the 1990s to present; Then as Now: Woodland Pattern Anniversary Show, 1980–2022, Frederick Layton Gallery, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, 2022; Retrospective of exhibit of letterpress work with artwork by Diana Barrie, Woodland Pattern Book Center and Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, 2022, in conjunction with re-installation of collaborative 1984 mural. 

Personal Statement

From my many years teaching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I am familiar with the shifting artistic and academic currents that have shaped both our institutional history and our current moment. Whatever the subject (SF and Fantasy, Norse Eddas and Sagas, Medieval Journeys), my courses include a strong visual component, and I encourage a cross-disciplinary approach to students' research and writing.  

Portfolio

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

From hieroglyphs to haiku?when do images function as words, words as images? Where do word, image and idea meet, and what are the potentials for communication and artistic expression? From the Renaissance fad for emblem poems, to the Asian-inspired poetics of the 20 th century Imagists, these questions have arisen a number of times in the history of the alphabetic cultures, as well as those employing other forms of graphic notation. In this course, we study a diverse range of verbal/visual traditions and movements, the philosophies and theories behind them, and their cultural and aesthetic aims and achievements. Students write a series of short essays in response to the course materials, and also do independent research for a presentation and paper on a particular aspect of the topic.

Class Number

1475

Credits

3

Description

'Far from being a monoculture, the middle ages were shaped by cross-cultural contacts?from the monks who assimilated the mythologies of their pagan converts into Christian culture, to the merchants who carried new ideas along with their trade goods across vast stretches of central Asia. This course explores a variety of medieval texts that
share the element of movement across borders: adventures in otherworldly realms, missions to distant corners of the globe, and mystical journeys that share remarkably similar experiences of the divine, though from faiths supposedly in conflict. Readings are across ethnicities, religions, and genders, including the lays of Marie de France, the travel memoirs of Arab diplomat Ibn Fadlan, and the visionary writings of English anchoress Julian of Norwich and Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar. In addition to two shorter essays on the readings, students do independent research of an in-depth paper on an aspect of medieval culture and literature reflecting the focus of the course.'

Class Number

1542

Credits

3