Anne McClanan teaches art history classes, including Medieval Monsters and Medieval Medicine and Magic in Art, as well as seminars on topics such as Art History Methodology and Research Skills. She brings first-hand study of artworks to her teaching whenever possible, mentoring her students in original research showcased in an ongoing web-based database of medieval objects in Portland-area collections. She further participates in public humanities by partnering with Wikipedia and WikiEducation, generating Open Educational Resources (OERs) for YouTube, and, in a recent collaboration with Smarthistory, co-edited a freely accessible digital textbook, a Guide to Byzantine Art History.
In 2024, Professor McClanan's book, Griffinology: The Griffin's Place in Myth, History, and Art, was published, aided by a generous grant from Furthermore (a J.M. Kaplan Fund program). See this review and the publisher's overview for more info. Her next book explores the art history of dragons, and she looks forward to teaching a class on this topic in Spring 2026.
Her earlier books include a monograph analyzing images of early Byzantine empresses, a co-edited anthology on Iconoclasm (also published in Mandarin Chinese translation), and another anthology on the material culture of sex, procreation, and marriage in the premodern era.
She studied at Harvard (Ph.D.), Johns Hopkins, and Columbia Universities and has excavated at archeological sites in Turkey, Jordan, and Israel. Professor McClanan developed and coordinates the Postbaccalaureate Certificate in Art History and the Cultural History of the Arts BA/BS. Please reach out with any questions regarding either program.