Anatomy of a Course Design: Linda Benguigui
by Imogen Brian, February 2025
Passionate about art and art history, Linda pursued a BA and an MA in art history. Her graduate studies led her to discover that, as much as she still loved art, the academic side of the subject wasn’t where she wanted to devote her energies. TMI has been the lucky beneficiary of Linda’s decision.
Since becoming involved with the Institute, she has designed three wonderfully imaginative, and very different, courses that make use of her knowledge of art, but present it to TMI classes in an inventive and appealing way.
Looking at Art Through the Kaleidoscope of Colours
Feeling that fact-based courses don’t lend themselves well to the TMI discussion method, Linda didn’t want to design a straightforward art history course. She started thinking that she’d like to design a course on colour. James Fox’s book The World According to Color: A Cultural History became the anchor for her thinking about the role of colour(s) in art, religion, and rituals.
She knew right away that she wanted to show videos of artworks. She also wanted to include fiction, specifically short stories, that focused on colours (two she chose were Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper” and Poe’s “Black Cat”).
The result of Linda’s vision and hard work was a course that appealed to different learners; those who were interested in the history and sociological and cultural meanings of colour, as well as those who just wanted to look at art, and colour.
A Stitch in Time
Keen to forge a relationship between TMI and the Visual Arts Centre, Joseph Vietri asked Linda if she’d be interested in collaborating with them on a course. Looking at their course catalogue, Linda decided to design a course to pair with theirs on weaving.
As in her course on Colour, Linda chose a core book that was thematic rather than chronological. She supplemented the text, Kassia St Clair’s The Golden Thread: How Fabric Changed History, with fiction; excerpts from novels as well as a short story.
The final two weeks of the course took the form of weaving sessions at the Visual Arts Centre where class participants wove on looms.
Image above: Participant weaving projects from their sessions at the Visual Arts Centre
Repatriation of Cultural Artefacts: Ethical and Practical Considerations
Linda’s third course, on the repatriation of cultural artefacts, is being offered this spring (Tuesdays, 1:30-3:30, Atwater, starting April 15 for six weeks).
The core book for this course takes a conservative stance on the controversial issue. It focuses on (Western) museums, and on how they only sporadically return artefacts, arguing that the museums should keep them. The supplementary readings offer opposing viewpoints.
The course will discuss well-known artefacts in the repatriation debate such as the Benin Bronzes and the Parthenon (or “Elgin”) Marbles. The Canadian situation, which is quite unique, will also be covered, since Indigenous peoples in Canada want to get their artefacts back in order to use them in ceremonies.
