Heather J. Lindstedt and Brian A. Pollick Fellowship
Brian A. Pollick has loved the Middle Ages since he was a student at York University. For over 35 years, he worked in the Justice and Information Technology fields and was a senior manager for both the Federal and British Columbia governments, as well as in the non-profit and profit sectors. In 1987 he co-founded his own company and was the CEO/managing director until his retirement in 2007, when he rediscovered his interest in the Middle Ages.
In 2008/09 Brian, along with his wife, Heather Lindstedt, spent a year in Italy to study the Italian language and Italian cuisine where they were able to travel around on the weekends to see the wealth of art and artchitecture in Central and Northern Italy.
His experiences in Italy inspired him to pursue graduate studies in art history at the University of Victoria. After being out of school for almost 40 years, he completed his MA in November 2011. In January 2012 Brian started his PhD in the Department of Art History and Visual Studies. His particular area of interest is in how the art commissioned by wealthy Italian merchants in Trecento, Italy used the images they commissioned to affirm and broadcast their moral identity.
Heather J. Lindstedt has been playing piano since the age of five and is an accomplished recital pianist and teacher. She completed her Master’s in 1970 at the University of Oregon and taught at the University of Victoria in the Department of Music Education in the Faculty of Education. She was ordained into the United Church of Canada in 1979 and actively practiced as a congregational minister until 1994, when she returned to her first love – music. Heather is still an active performer both individually and with a group of four other pianists.
Brian had heard a lot of about the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society from fellow students and had attended the centre’s lectures before applying for a fellowship there. He was inspired by the range of topics, methods and disciplines in this unique research centre where academics, non-academics, artists and musicians of all ages and at various stages of their careers are able to meet regularly for a rich cross-fertilization of interests. Brian became a Doctoral Fellow at the Centre in 2016.
In 2017, Brian and Heather wished to show their support for the centre and its community and established the Heather J. Lindstedt and Brian A. Pollick Fellowship for art history graduate students, a five-year commitment for one $5000 fellowship annually at the CSRS.