Staff Profiles

Education

PhD (Art History) , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign , .
MA (Art History) , University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA , .
BEd (Art) , Alexander Mackie College of Advanced Education, Sydney, Australia , .
GradDip (Gallery Management) , City Art Institute, Sydney, Australia , .

Areas of Expertise

History and philosophy of museums; aesthetics and education; art history and art education; the museum and art education; the educational application of art history and theory.

Teaching Areas

Art and Design History in Education, Aesthetics in Art, Design and Education; Practices of Art and Design History in Education; The Art Museum and Education.

Current Research Activity

Gay McDonald's current research project is titled MoMA's European Promotion of American Design, 1951-1955: Formulating American Design and Advancing Foreign Policy.

This study challenges the orthodox view that MoMA (New York) promoted only American abstraction in Europe during the Cold War to achieve socio-political ends. Using key but under-investigated international exhibitions of American domestic design as case studies, the project will demonstrate that the exhibition organisers circulated American design to construct a place for American design within design history while seeking to advance US foreign policy objectives in a recovering postwar Europe.

Publications

Refereed Journal Articles

McDonald, G.. (2007). The Advance of American Postwar Design in Europe: MoMA, the U.S. Government, and the "Design for Use, USA" Exhibition, 1951-1953. Design Issues, (forthcoming). ( - ).

McDonald, G. (2004). Selling the American Dream: MoMA, Industrial Design & Postwar France. Journal of Design History, (Vol. 17:4). (397 - 412).

McDonald, G. (1999). The Launching of American Art in Postwar France: Jean Cassou and the Musee National d'Art Moderne. American Art, (Vol. 13:1 (Spring)). (40 - 61).

Refereed Conference Papers

McDonald, G.. (2007). Homemakers, Domestic Wares and the Cold War: Exhibitions of US Design & the Construction of the Domesticated Consumer Body. International Association of Societies of Design Research 2007, (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design, Hong Kong.

McDonald, G. (2006). Connecting/ Reconnecting: Cultural Dialogues in Finnish and US Design. Connecting: A Conference on the Multivocality of Design History and Design Studies., (International Committee of Design History and Studies Conference, University of Art and Design Helsinki, Helsinki).

McDonald, G. (2006). The 'Advance' of American Post- war Design in Europe: A New Model of Design Practice. Design and Evolution, (Design History Society, Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands).

Snepvangers, K & G. McDonald, . (2006). Contemporary Art Practice & The Public Domain. Thinking the Future: Art, Design & Creativity, (Australian Council of University Art & Design Schools National Conference 2006, Monash University, Monash).

McDonald, G. (2005). Marketing American High Design to Europe: MoMA’s “Design for Use, USA’, 1951-1952. International Design Congress, (International Association of Societies of Design, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan).

McDonald, G. (2003). High Art & Industrial Design: MoMA and the Politics of Marketing the US in France. Survey: Current Art and Design Research and Practice Within Australian Tertiary Art & Design Schools, (Australian Council of University Art and Design Schools Conference, Hobart, Tasmania).

McDonald, G. (2002). Paintings, Prints & Shrimp-Cleaners: MoMA and the Americanization of France (abstract published). Annual Conference of the College Art Association, (College Art Association, Philadelphia).

Conference Papers

McDonald, G.. (2006). The Place of Scandinavian Design in MoMA's Postwar Promotion of American Design. Connecting: A Conference on the Multivocality of Design History & Design Studies, (International Committee of Design History and Studies Conference/Nordic Forum for Design History, Helsinki.

Grants

Faculty Research Grant, Cultural Dialogues in Scandinavian and US Design. (2007),

COFA Grant, . (2006), .

Faculty Research Grant, MoMA's Promotion of American Design in Continental Europe 1951-1955 as a Case History in the Advancement of Foreign Policy. (2005),

Professional Associations

Association of Art Historians (Britain)

Design History Society (Britain)

College Art Association (USA)

International Association of Art Critics

Public Programs at the Historic Houses Trust

Art Gallery of New South Wales

Museum of Sydney

Museum of Contemporary Art

Board of Studies NSW