Assistant Professor of Art History
Contact Information:
fowlerma@etsu.edu
423-439-5297
309 Ball Hall
Education:
PhD, Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University, 2019
MPhil, Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University, 2013
MA, Art History and Archaeology, Columbia University, 2012
MA, Classical Archaeology, Tufts University, 2010
MTS, Religions of the World, Harvard University, 2008
BA, Philosophy and Sociology, The Colorado College, 2006
Biography:
Dr. Michael Anthony Fowler is Assistant Professor of Art History in the Department of Art and Design; he also serves as affiliate faculty in the Classical and Medieval Studies, Religious Studies, and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies programs.
An art historian and classical archaeologist, Dr. Fowler specializes in the art and
material culture of the ancient Mediterranean and West Asia. His dissertation, “Human
Sacrifice in Greek Antiquity: Between Myth, Image, and Reality” (2019), offers an
archaeologically and art historically grounded inquiry into the historicity, forms,
and meanings of human sacrifice. The project combined several of Dr. Fowler’s research
interests, particularly the iconography and archaeology of ritual, gender, and violence
in the artistic imagination.
Dr. Fowler previously served as Visiting Assistant Professor of Art History (2018-2019)
at ETSU. Before moving to Johnson City, he also taught as Visiting Lecturer at the
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen’s Institute for Classical Archaeology (2014)
and as Art Humanities Instructor at Columbia University (2013-2014; 2016-2017), where
he earned the Preceptor Award for Excellence in Teaching for the Core Curriculum in 2014.
In his teaching, which ranges widely across the history of art, Dr. Fowler is interested
in introducing students to the diversity of visual cultures around the globe and to
the critical role that the arts continue to play in expressing, shaping, and responding
to peoples’ ideals and realities. He enjoys working with art historians and artists
alike and is always looking for innovative ways to transform coursework into important
opportunities for practical training and professional growth. For example, in September
2021 he mounted an exhibition of students' artwork at the William King Museum of Art
in Abingdon, Virginia. These works, which represented a diversity of responses to
the challenging question "What Is Appalachia?", were produced in the context of Dr.
Fowler's spring 2021 seminar Art and Appalachia. In summer 2022 and 2024, he co-designed
and co-taught an experiential learning-based study abroad course in Greece with Prof.
Kelly Porter (Graphic Design). The course – Designing Cultural Heritage – placed students
at the dynamic disciplinary intersection of art history, design, cultural heritage
management, and tourism. Students work in multidisciplinary teams to conduct user-centered,
on-site research at museums and historical sites in order to develop art historically
informed solutions to real-world design problems. Each team is assigned a pair of
lenses through which to view and approach their problem (storytelling, wayfinding,
accessibility, technology, and gamifying). Dr. Fowler and Prof. Porter will be presenting
the results of this four-year teaching partnership at the 2024 SECAC annual meeting
in Atlanta.
Dr. Fowler is an active collaborator on several international archaeological projects.
Since 2015, he has been a member of the team excavating the sanctuary of Poseidon
at Onchestos (Boeotia, Greece), and serves on the excavation’s senior staff as Supervisor
of Site B (the administrative center). In summer 2018, he joined the excavation and
scientific team working at the sanctuary of Apollo on the Cycladic islet of Despotiko.
For a decade, Dr. Fowler served as co-author of the "Chronique Archéologique de la
Religion Grecque" (Kernos), responsible for Central Greece.
In addition to developing his dissertation into a book for Cambridge University Press,
Dr. Fowler is currently co-editing two international volumes (archaeology of ritual
in the ancient Mediterranean; and the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem) and
preparing studies on violence against the elderly in Greek art, man-eating myth in
the Greek artistic imagination, and the aesthetics of apotropaic images. Beyond these
projects, Dr. Fowler is an enthusiastic contributor to Smarthistory, which is working
to democratize access to high-quality, expert-written art history learning resources.
As a commissioned member and chair of Johnson City's Public Art Committee (JCPA),
Dr. Fowler enjoys assisting with various projects aimed at integrating art into the
everyday lives of people in this region, beautifying ETSU's hometown, and building
community through collaboration.
In recognition of “superior all-around performance” in teaching, research, and service
over his first four years at ETSU, in 2023 Dr. Fowler was named the recipient of the
College of Arts and Sciences’ Distinguished New Faculty Award.
Current Courses:
Fall 2024
Classical Art (ARTH 4017/5017)
Art History Seminar: Collecting (ARTH 4907/5907)
Art History Capstone (ARTH 4710)
Spring 2025
Baroque Art (4047/5047)
Art and Appalachia/Seminar in Art and Appalachia (ARTH 4012/ARTH 5180)
Research:
Full-text access to his scholarship is provided on his Academia page.