Rebecca Houze, Ph.D.
| Title: | Professor |
| Department: | Art History |
| Office Location: | Art Building, 203J |
| Office Phone: | 815-753-1473 |
| Office Fax: | 815-753-7701 |
| Email: | rhouze@niu.edu |
Educational Background
- Ph.D., University of Chicago
- M.A., University of Chicago
- B.A., University of Washington
Emphasis
- Global design history, theory and criticism
- Textiles and fashion
- Architecture, landscape and the built environment
- Graphic visual communication
- Histories of sustainability
- Heritage studies
Courses Taught
- ARTH 292 - Art and Design Since 1900
- ARTH 360/560 - Studies in Design
- ARTH 361 - History of Sustainable Design
- ARTH 362 - History of Visual Communication
- ARTH 456/656 - Topics in Design History
- ARTH 485 - Topics in Art History
- ARTH 701 - Graduate Seminar in Art History
Current Research
- Exploring how cultural identity is designed into the built environment in architecture, landscape, and the visual and material culture of travel
- International exhibitions and world's fairs influence on the development of open-air museums of cultural heritage and national parks in Europe and North America in the early twentieth century
- Women's contributions to modern design in Vienna and Budapest, twin capitals of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, where cultural conversations about textiles and dress were at the center of new schools and museums of design
- Ubiquitous signs and symbols of the designed visual landscape
- Hidden meanings behind familiar objects and icons as the Apple iPhone and the Nike swoosh
Major Publications
Books
- New Mythologies in Design and Culture: Reading Signs and Symbols in the Visual Landscape. London: Bloomsbury, 2016.
- Textiles, Fashion, and Design Reform Before the First World War: Principles of Dress. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2015.
- Grace Lees-Maffei and Rebecca Houze, ed., The Design History Reader. Oxford: Berg, 2010.
Edited Volumes
- Grace Lees-Maffei and Rebecca Houze, ed., The Design History Reader. Oxford: Berg, 2010.
Articles and Book Chapters
- "Whose Heritage? Representing an Indigenous Past and Present: Mary Colter's Hopi House at the Grand Canyon." International Journal of Heritage Studies. Special Issue: Design History/ Design Heritage. Edited by Grace Lees-Maffei and Rebecca Houze. 2019.
- "Emilie Bach (1840-1890): Education Reformer, Critic, and Art Embroiderer in the Era of Franz Joseph I." In Design Dialog: Der jüdische Beitrag zur Wiener Moderne/ Design Dialogue: Jews, Culture and Viennese Modernism. Edited by Elana Shapira. Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2018.
- "A Revelation of Grace and Pride": Cultural Memory and International Aspiration in
- Early Twentieth-Century Hungarian Design." In Expanding Nationalisms At World Fairs: Identity, Diversity And Exchange, 1851-1915. Edited by David Raizman and Ethan Robey. London: Routledge, 2017.
