UNH Manchester will offer a free illustrated slide lecture, “Medusa and her ‘Bad Hair Day’ in the History of Art” on Thursday, Feb. 7, from noon-1 p.m. in the third floor auditorium at 400 Commercial Street. The lecture, free, open to the public, will be presented by Andrew Laurie Stangel, adjunct professor of art history at UNH Manchester. 

Medusa was once very lovely, the hope of many suitors -- and of all her beauties, her hair was most so. But one day she allowed herself to be seduced by Neptune in Minerva's temple. The goddess, punishing the outrage as it deserved, changed Medusa's lovely hair to serpents. Ever since, her terrible visage has turned to stone all who look upon her.   

Join us for this richly illustrated slide show lecture which will present a very careful and cautious "look" at Medusa's appearances in the history of art from antiquity to the present day. 

Stangel teaches art history at UNH Manchester and the Currier Museum of Art. He is a recipient of numerous academic honors and distinguished teaching awards, and has lectured at colleges and universities and at art museums and galleries in the United States and Europe.  

He also created and directed the Art History Tours program for the United States Armed Forces in Europe. While living abroad, Stangel photographed the collections of every major art museum and gallery, public and private, in Europe, as well as at historical sites and archaeological zones throughout Europe and the Near East. He has also photographed the great collections on exhibition in the United States, and has a comprehensive resource collection of more than 100,000 art-historical slides, which he uses to illustrate his lectures.

Call 603-641-4167 at least three weeks prior to the event if you need special accommodations. The event will be cancelled if the college is closed due to inclement weather. More information is available on UNH Manchester’s website, www.manchester.unh.edu/events.