Prof. Spriggs takes architecture from theoretical to the real
Prof. Megan Spriggs with students Cassian Bopp and Elizabeth Vescio in New York, during the annual Arts Trip. (Michael Sendbuehler)
Thanks to her job at Marianopolis College, Liberal and Creative Arts Professor Megan Spriggs does as an adult what she did as a child: walk the world’s capitals gazing at the art and architecture.
Growing up, Professor Spriggs lived and travelled throughout the world thanks to her engineer father’s work. She says, “I lived in Iran from ages 5 to 9, and traveled with my family a lot in those years.” She now shares with her Marianopolis students her lasting fascination with art history, architecture and travel.
In addition to teaching Art History (from the 12th century to the present), two Humanities courses about architecture (around the world and in Montreal) and Perspectives in Arts and Letters, required for all students in the CALL program, she helps organize the College’s annual arts trip, which takes students from all programs on a weekend visit to a North American arts mecca.
“I’m a walker and I'm thrilled by the energy of big cities,” she says. “If I’m visiting somewhere, you’ll find me wearing out the soles of my shoes to get a sense of the place.”
The next trip will be to Boston and Cambridge during Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, October 9-11. She is busy planning an itinerary with Professors Elena Cerrolaza and Selena Liss that’s packed with art, culture and architecture.
“I love this stuff and I remember what it’s like to be a CEGEP student and just devour all the art I could,” she says. “I studied Creative Arts at John Abbott College and I concentrated on Art History, Philosophy, Music History and Theatre. After that, I did a combined B.Hons at Carleton University in Art History and Architecture and an M.Arch at McGill University in the History and Theory of Architecture. My thesis was on the early 17th century architect and engineer Salomon de Caus, and I traveled to Valenciennes, France, to study a manuscript he wrote and illustrated, and to London to work with rare books in the British Library.”
She joined Marianopolis’ Department of Liberal and Creative Arts in the fall of 2003, after working at the Canadian Centre for Architecture. “Some of my work was in the archives and that was particularly important in learning about architectural records and the history of architecture in Canada, especially in Montreal. I thought that my calling was museum work until I lost my job in big cuts in the 2002-2003 recession but it turned out to be a blessing because here I am at Marianopolis.”
She is developing for the fall a Humanities course on Montreal’s architecture. “I’m excited about the learning opportunities the city itself offers for those who are willing to look carefully. Introducing students to the visual arts and getting them thinking about the buildings around them is incredibly rewarding.
“Art and architecture are in the real world and need to be experienced in person and in context to be fully appreciated and understood. I try to get my students out of the classroom and into the city as often as possible. Once you’re inside a building or in front of a work of art, what you learned about it is no longer theoretical, it’s real and very cool."
Bring your shoes and come along!
