Herbert Cole, professor emeritus from the University of California, Santa Barbara, will lecture on “Perspectives on African Art and Life” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 10, in Room 240 of Art Building West at the University of Iowa. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The lecture, sponsored by the UI Museum of Art (UIMA), will feature a slide-illustrated trip through African arts fieldwork along with what the speaker calls “some other adventures, pitfalls, fun, students and follies along the way.”

Cole is professor emeritus of the UC Santa Barbara Department of the History of Art and Architecture. He received his bachelor’s degree from Williams College and his master’s and doctoral degrees from Columbia University.

His specialty is Africa, but his teaching areas and subjects include African American, Native American, Oceanic and Indonesian art in festivals, shrines, architecture, and performance. He has held fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Smithsonian Institution and the Ford Foundation, and he received a 2001 Leadership Award from the Arts Council of the African Studies Association. His major publications include Icons: Ideals and Power in the Art of Africa (1989), Igbo Arts: Community and Cosmos (with C.C. Aniakor, 1984) and The Arts of Ghana (D.H. Ross, 1977).

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, contact the UIMA in advance at 319-335-1727.