Dr. Joan Brix Carter, Dean of Olivet University’s College of Art and Design, has just completed a biography of Italian artist Giotto de Bondone for the International Encyclopedia for Scholars and University Resources. Giotto was the first artist to make a break from the two dimensional idealized figures of the Byzantine school. He is credited with leading the way into the Italian Renaissance and is often referred to as the "father of western painting."
Dr. Carter’s doctoral dissertation on Giotto’s work in the Arena Chapel in Padua, Italy and its connection to the medieval liturgical drama of the late 14th century, has been noted in several recent publications including the “The Cambridge Companion to Giotto” published by Cambridge University.