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- Detailed Information
Jennifer L. Ball
Professor
Art
Location: 5111 Boylan Hall
Phone: 718.951.5181
Fax: 718.951.4728
Email:
Jennifer L. Ball teaches Byzantine, medieval, and Islamic art. She is currently writing a book, Byzantine Silk in the World, and also editing a volume on Byzantine dress. In 2019, with a team of textile historians and conservators, she completed a catalogue raisonne of The Dumbarton Oaks Textile Collection. Her work has also appeared in Dumbarton Oaks Papers, The Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies, and several exhibition catalogues, among other places. She is the 2016 recipient of the Claire Tow Distinguished Teacher award. Her research interests include portraits, dress, and textiles, especially her 2006 book, Byzantine Dress: Representations of Secular Dress in Eighth- to Twelfth-century Painting (Palgrave).
Education:
Ph.D., New York University - 2001 (Art History)
M.A., New York University - 1996 (Art History)
B.A., The Colorado College - 1991 (Art History)
Areas of Expertise:
Byzantine, western medieval, and early Islamic art; the Silk Road; textiles and fashion theory; the study of portraiture.
Books and Publications
Editor, Byzantine Dress: A Handbook, Routledge (in contract, due 2024) (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2022
Jennifer Ball and Thelma K. Thomas, Byzantine Silk in the World, ARC Humanities Press, (in contract, expected 2024) (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2022
"Rich Interiors: The Remnant of a Hanging from Late Antique Egypt in the Collection of Dumbarton Oaks" DUMBARTON OAKS PAPERS, 73 (2019), 215-251. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2019
Contributing author, Byzantine and Early Islamic Textiles: An Online Scholarly Publication of the Dumbarton Oaks Textile Holdings. Gudrun Bühl and Elizabeth Dospĕl Williams, Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 2019. https://www.doaks.org/resources/textiles/ (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2019
Natalia B. Teteriatnikov. 2017. The Justinianic Mosaics of Hagia Sophia and their Aftermath. Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection in Speculum (April 2019). (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2019
Review: Helen C. Evans, ed., Armenia: Art, Religion, and Trade in the Middle Ages. New Haven and London: Yale University Press for The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2018 in Speculum (2019). (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2019
"Died in the Wool, Buried in the Linen: Textiles from the Graves of Late Antique Egypt" in From the Desert to the City: Textiles of Late Ancient Egypt, Warren Woodfin ed., 2018. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2018
"Textiles: The Emergence of a Christian Identity in Cloth," in The Routledge Handbook of Early Christian Art, Robin Jensen and Mark Ellison eds., London: Routledge, 2018. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2018
"Charms: Protective and Auspicious Motifs,? in Designing Identities: Gender and Power in Late Antique Textiles, New York: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, NYU, February 2016. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2016
"Saint Sabas and the Monks of the Holy Land" and catalogue entries in Jerusalem in the Middle Ages, Barbara Drake Boehm and Melanie Holcomb eds. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Winner of the 2018 Alfred H. Barr Jr. Award for Excellence in Museum Scholarship. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2016
"The Lincoln Typikon: Group Identity and Social Structure in a Fourteenth-Century Convent." The Journal of Medieval Monastic Studies 5. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2016
"The Hunt of the Unicorn," (Catalogue essay for the exhibition), December 12, 2015-January 23, 2016, Gitler&_______ Gallery, New York (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2015
Ball, Jennifer and Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank. "Team-based Learning for Art Historians." Art History Teaching Resources website. http://arthistoryteachingresources.org/2014/04/07/team-based-learning-for-art-historians/ (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
Ball, Jennifer et al. "Teaching Outside of Your Subject Area." Art History Teaching Resources website.
http://arthistoryteachingresources.org/2014/05/07/teaching-outside-of-your-subject-area/ (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2014
Contributor, Byzantium and Islam: Age of Transition. Ed. Helen C. Evans, with Brandie Ratliffe. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Books and Publications: Book (Edited)) 2012
Review of: Woodfin, Warren T. The embodied icon: liturgical vestments and sacramental power in Byzantium. Oxford studies in Byzantium. (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2012) in The Bryn Mawr Classical Review http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/ 2012.11.10 (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2012
Review of Intelligible Beauty: Recent Research on Byzantine Jewellery. Eds. Chris Entwistle and Noel Adams. British Museum Research Publication, no. 178. Medieval Clothing and Textiles vol. 7. Eds. Robin Netherton and Gale R. Owen-Crocker. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2011
"Decoding the Habit of the Byzantine Nun." Journal of Modern Hellenism 27, 2009-10: 25-52. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2010
"Medieval Pit-Looms: Filling the Evolutionary Gap." Anayemata Evrtika: Early Christian, Byzantine and Armenian Studies in Honor of Thomas F. Mathews. Mainz, Germany: Philipp von Zabern GmBH. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2009
"Byzantine Dress." Clothing in World History. Ed. Jill Condra. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Publishers. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2008
"Des Kaisers teure Kleider: Staatsornat und Alltagstracht der byzantinischen Herrscher." Pax Geschichte 5, October-November: 56-61. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2007
"A Double-Headed Eagle Embroidery: From Battlefield to Altar." Metropolitan Museum Journal 41: 59-64. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2006
"A Syrian Liturgical Stole." Hugoye: The Journal of Syriac Studies 9.1, January. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2006
Byzantine Dress: Representations of Secular Dress in Eighth- to Twelfth-century Painting. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2005
Contributor, Byzantium: Faith and Power. Ed. Helen C. Evans. Metropolitan Museum of Art, March 18-July 4 (New York: Metropolitan Museum/Abrams). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2004
Contributor, reprinted from Byzantium: Faith and Power. Pilgrimage to Sinai: Treasures from the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine. Ed. Anastasia Drandaki. Benaki Museum, July 20-September 26. (Athens: Benaki Museum). (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2004
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
CUNY Book Completion Award, 2020-21 for Byzantine Silk in the World (Grants and Fellowships) 2020
PSC-CUNY grant, 2020-21, for Byzantine Silk in the World (Grants and Fellowships) 2020
Claire and Leonard Tow Faculty Travel Fellowship, 2019, to France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany for Byzantine Silk in the World (Grants and Fellowships) 2019
PSC-CUNY grant for Byzantine Silks project, 2018-19 (Grants and Fellowships) 2018
Claire Tow Distinguished Teaching Award, Brooklyn College. (Awards and Honors) 2016
PSC-CUNY Grant, for travel for "Dumbarton Oaks Architectural Textiles Project." (Grants and Fellowships) 2014
The 2014-15 Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for "Habit Forming: Representations of Byzantine Monastics 9th-15th centuries." (Grants and Fellowships) 2014
Claire and Leonard Tow Faculty Travel Fellowship, to Oxford and Athens for "Habit Formation." (Grants and Fellowships) 2011
The Wolfe Institute Faculty Fellowship, for "Habit Formation: The History and Meaning of Byzantine Dress." 2010-11. (Grants and Fellowships) 2010
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
"Moving Curtains: Optical Effects in Byzantine Weaving" International Congress of Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, MI, May 10-13, 2023 (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2023
"Collaborative Research on Byzantine Silk: Two Case-Studies from Aachen," with Thelma Thomas, The Robert Branner Forum for Medieval Art, Columbia University, March 11, 2021 (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2021
"Byzantine Monumentality: The Case for Textiles" Byzantine Studies Conference, (ONLINE due to COVID but sponsored by Case-Western University) October, 2020 (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2020
"The Evidence for Textiles in Church Treasuries" New Threads: Recent Research on Egyptian Textiles, November 9, 2019, The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
"A Silk within a Silk: The Bamberg Tapestry" Byzantine Studies Conference, October 4-7, 2018, San Antonio, TX (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2018
Plenary Address, "Habit Forming: Dress and the Monastic Ideal in Byzantine Society," Inside Out: Dress and Identity in the Middle Ages, 38th Annual Conference, Center for Medieval Studies, Fordham University, March 17-18, 2018 (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2018
"Coptic Textiles Donated by the Estate of Rose Choron," Godwin-Ternbach Museum, May 15, 2017 (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2017
"Monastic Dress Codes and the Secular World" in Material Histories of Exchange I, The 52nd International Congress of Medieval Studies, sponsored by the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture. May 11-14. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2017
"Textiles as Magic Charms in Late Antiquity," Harold E. Berg Endowed Lecture, The Colorado College, April 27, 2016 (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
Panelist, Lunch and Learn for Graduate Students, Byzantine Studies Conference, Cornell University, October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
"An Abundance of Meaning: Curtains of Riches in Byzantine and Islamic Egypt" in LIMINAL FABRIC: Furnishing Textiles in Byzantium and Early Islam, Dumbarton Oaks, March 26-27, 2015 (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
"Fashion from Scraps: Seeing the History of Byzantine Dress in Fragments," in Primary Sources in Costume/Textile History Series, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, November 5, 2015 (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
"Our Bodies, Ourselves: Self-Representation in Monastic Images" in Transforming the Body Images of the Human and the Divine of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Fellows Colloquia, March 6, 2015 (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
Co-organized the "Objects in Context: Material Spatiality and Byzantine Textiles" session for the Byzantine Studies Conference (Vancouver, November). Panel was awarded sponsorship by the Mary Jaharis Center for Byzantine Art and Culture. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2014
"Breaking the Habit: Uniformity in Byzantine Monastic Dress." Colloquium of the Inter-University Doctoral Consortium in Medieval Studies. Princeton University. Princeton, N.J., April. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2012
"Breaking the Habit: Intrusions of Secular Dress on the Byzantine Monastic Habit." The Byzantine Studies Conference. Chicago, October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
Chairwoman, "Monastic Inc.: Expressions of Group Identity in Medieval Monasteries." 46th International Congress of Medieval Studies. Sponsored by the Medieval Studies Certificate Program, CUNY Graduate Center. May 12-15. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2011
"Expressions of Class in the Byzantine Monastic Habit." The Byzantine Studies Conference. Philadelphia, October. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2010
Professional Leadership
Textile Workshop Mentor-leader, Medieval Academy of America and The Textile Museum, Washington, D.C. Feb. 18, 2023. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2023
Reviews Editor (until 2019) for "Speculum," the journal of the Medieval Academy of America (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2015
Vice President (2016-18) and board member (2015-2019), Byzantine Studies Association of North America (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2015
Other Professional Activities
"Byzantine dress and fashion" with Elizabeth Dospel Williams, Byzantium and Friends podcast (Episode 62, January 6, 2022). 2022