Dustin Aaron

Dustin Aaron studies and teaches the art and architecture of the European Middle Ages. Topics of recently published and forthcoming essays include: art and medieval colonization (The Art Bulletin), eremitism and wilderness (Different Visions), and memory and landscape (British Archaeological Association). These themes coalesce in his current book project, Crafting Wilderness: The Art of Medieval Colonization, which traces the proliferation of artistic motifs and a “rough” style utilized by 12th-century Bavarian settlers to imagine a frontier wilderness that racialized and displaced their colonial subjects. Additional research interests include the status of craft in relation to shifting perceptions of the natural world, the transmission of sculptural and architectural forms, and numismatics.

Aaron’s research has been supported by the Medieval Academy of America, the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Central European History Society, and the Remarque Institute, among other organizations. Lecture and seminar topics include: medieval art, architecture, illuminated manuscripts, environmental art history, and the history of the artist.