Heather McCune Bruhn
- Associate Teaching Professor of Art History
-
Western Medieval Art and Architecture
231 Borland
- Email hcm1@psu.edu
Biography
An artist and teacher from a family of artists and teachers, Dr. Heather McCune Bruhn started her academic career intending to become a painter. After receiving undergraduate degrees in Art History and Silkscreen Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University, she came to Penn State for her MA and PhD (2006) in Art History.
Her specialty is late Medieval goldsmithwork from Germany, a topic that she researched as a Fulbright grantee for one year in Cologne, Germany. This research helped to spark her interest in artistic technique, the meaning and function of works of art, the economics of art, and broader issues of historical and cultural context. Her most recent publications address the sources and documents for late Medieval goldsmithwork and the commissioning and making of lower cost monstrances in the Rhineland. She also has several publications on pedagogy.
Working with the Office of Digital Learning in Penn State’s College of Arts and Architecture, she debuted her first online course (the original Art H. 111 online) in 2009, and her second online course (Art H. 112) in 2011. Since that time she has revised and updated both online courses and added two more: Art H. 107/Geosci 107, Rocks, Minerals, and the History of Art, co-developed with Dr. Maureen Feineman in Geosciences; and Art H. 101N, An Introduction to Global Art History.
In addition to these online courses, Dr. McCune Bruhn regularly teaches in-person courses, including Art H 111 in a lecture hall format, Art H. 001S (First-Year Seminar), and sometimes 300- and 400-level courses in Medieval art and architecture, her area of expertise.
In 2022, Dr. McCune Bruhn received an Atherton Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching from Penn State, after being nominated by her students.