Graduate Student – In Context
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Graduate Student

Faculty, Graduate Student, Museum Studies, Research, Research Travel

Research at the Rijksmuseum

In the summer 2023, Dr. Amy Nygaard and graduate students Michaela Peine and Madeleine DeGrace travelled to Amsterdam with the support of a Graduate Research Team Grant from the Center for Faculty Development at UST. Their research project titled, Decoloniality, Decentering, and Didactics: Close Analysis of Antiracism Methodologies in the Rijksmuseum, closely examined 77 gallery labels that were written to highlight each object’s connection to the human slavery for the museum’s 2021exhibition “Rijksmuseum & Slavery”. These 77 labels were juxtaposed with the existing object labels for that exhibition. When the research team visited the Rijksmuseum in 2023, many objects included in the “Rijksmuseum & Slavery” had new, what the team called “third label or reconciled” label that synthesized information from the previous two labels. With all of this text in hand, the research team set out to do a careful rhetorical analysis of labels.

Photo from interview of Rijksmuseum’s curators taken in August 2023 by Dr. Amy Nygaard, Assistant Professor of Art History and Director of Museum Studies.  From Left to Right: Michaela Peine, Graduate Student in Art History and Museum Studies Certificate; Eveline Sint Nicolaas, Senior Curator of History at the Rijksmuseum; Maria Holtrop, Curator of History at the Rijksmuseum; Madeleine DeGrace, Graduate Student in Art History and Museum Studies Certificate

Conference Presentations, Graduate Student, Presentations

2024 Travel Highlights: Emily Ross in Chicago

Emily Ross (she/her) is a graduate student in the Art History department. She works at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and her focus of studies is on the reinterpretation of medieval art in later revival eras. 

In April of 2024, she presented her paper, “Adorning Mary: The Brooch in Latter Quattrocento Florence,” to the Midwest Art History Society (MAHS) annual conference in Chicago. The paper focused on the presence of brooches in Madonna and Child paintings in Florence, and their relative boom in the 1460s and 1470s, corresponding to the height of productivity for goldsmith-painters and sumptuary law prescribing and limiting the wearing of brooches for women at the time. Other papers in the panel discussed violence and sensuality in Florentine mannerist sculpture and the continuous motif of Mary revealing Christ from under a blanket in Paduan art. 

The conference was held at the Art Institute of Chicago, and at the various buildings that the School of the Art Institute owns, with keynote addresses surrounding the opening of the exhibition “Picasso: Drawing from Life.” There were also tours of the prints and drawings study room and of the Smart Museum’s Modern Meiji exhibition.

Emily’s talk was very well received, garnering compliments from those who had not even been in attendance but heard it was a highlight from those who did attend. 

Graduate Qualifying Paper, Graduate Student, Research Travel, Uncategorized

Renaissance Florence: Ghirlandaio’s quattrocento goldsmith promotional frescoes

In a seminar on early Renaissance Florentine art with Dr. Lois Eliason, Ingrid became interested in the frescoes of Domenico Ghirandaio (1448-94), one of the most celebrated artists of the late 15th century in Florence. Her research on his Birth of the Virgin (1485-90) fresco in the Tornabuoni Chapel at Santa Maria Novella became the foundation for her Qualifying Paper topic, and draws on a variety of methodologies – including stylistic, feminist, materialistic, and theories about sensory experience in art – to better understand the artist’s work and contributions.

Ingrid at the Tornabuoni Chapel of Santa Maria Novella, Florence

Ingrid had two hypotheses that were crucial to investigate in-person: Firstly, how did Ghirlandaio intentionally introduce sound into his frescoes, creating a multi-sensory experience? Secondly, how did Ghirlandaio’s involvement in his family’s goldsmith business influence his art in comparison with his contemporaries?

Through a travel grant awarded by the Art History department, Ingrid was able to explore these questions onsite in Florence, providing her with an a wealth of contextual information that simply would not have been possible through digital or library research alone. Some particularly valuable scholarly experiences including attending a mass a Santa Maria Novella to experience the acoustics Ghirlandaio would have been working with, and the discovery of a golden plate at the Bargello Museum that was nearly identical to one depicted in Ghirlandaio’s Santa Fina fresco (1477-78). These will be important contributions to her qualifying paper.

Graduate Qualifying Paper, Graduate Student, Research, Research Travel, Students

2023 Travel Highlights: Michaela Peine in Boston

Michaela Peine (she/her) is a graduate student in the department of Art History. She is in her 4th semester at St. Thomas, and plans to finish the program in 5 semesters. Michaela’s area of interest is in the relationship between tangible/sensory qualities and psychological narratives in Italian Renaissance art. When she is not attending classes, Michaela works as a gallery guard at the AMAA, as well as with UST Campus Life. Off campus, Michaela holds an internship with the Cathedral of St. Paul, where she is working with their archives – developing an exhibit connecting their art and architecture to the frescoes in the Sistine Chapel.  

Michaela in Boston!

In 2023, Michaela conducted research in Boston from November 9-14th . With Dr. Lois Eliason as her faculty advisor, Michaela connected with Frederick Ilchman, the chair of European Art at the Museum of Fine Arts. Here are some questions we asked Michaela regarding her research and her time at the Boston MFA: 

Q: What was the purpose of this project? What was the content of your research?
MP: The panel that I’m writing my QP on (here) (Virgin Enthroned by Fra Angelico) is in the MFA collection, and I was able to meet with Mr. Ilchman to examine the panel, dig through their curation files, learn about the provenance, curation, and conservation of the piece. In particular, a lot of my theories about this panel were founded on the question of if it was double-sided. Mr. Ilchman confirmed that the panel was double sided, and I was able to read through the MFA’s documentation of everything that is known about the panel’s reverse. 

Q: How were your days structured?
MP: I spent most of my time at the MFA. I first took a day to visit their collections and my panel again – while I was there, they had an amazing exhibit on that related to many of my research questions. I went back another day to meet with the European Art department and the conservation staff who had worked with my piece. Another day I spent in the Massachusetts Historical Society, where I looked through journals, photographs, and materials relating to the provenance of the panel. 

Q: What was your favorite part of the findings/research results?
MP: In the curation materials about my panel was an old slide with a color photograph of the back side of my panel! The reverse of the panel was split from the painting, and is now separate from the work on display in the MFA, in a (very secret) private collection. This was the first time I saw any image of reverse, and it was incredible to have so many of my hypotheses supported!! I think I sent Lois an email entirely in capslock, out of excitement.  

Q: Anything else notable about the trip/the work you did?
After I finished my work in the MFA, Mr. Ilchman brought me down (through many many levels of security) to the MFA’s collections to show me paintings and works not on display.  At one point he pulled out a rack that had three paintings by Monet. 

Graduate Student, Research, Research Travel

Summer 2023 Travel Highlights: Etruscan black-glaze pottery with Ingrid Cologne

Ingrid Cologne (she/her) is an Art History/Archaeology Graduate student at the University of St. Thomas. As a Graduate Student Assistant, she works in supporting the development of a South Italian pottery database with Professor Mark Stansbury O’Donnell. Ingrid’s academic interest is in Early Renaissance Florence, South Italian and Attic Pottery. Her favorite art historical activity is getting down in the dirt to excavate!

The final result of sorting and analyzing all the pottery shards.

 

Over the summer, Ingrid worked with Dr. Francesca Silvestrelli, an expert in Etruscan, Attic, and South Italian pottery and professor of archaeology at the University of Salento in Lecce, Italy. Onsite in the University’s archaeological laboratory, they processed a large amount of high-quality black-glaze pottery that has been recovered over the last 20 years from the Campo della Fiera site in Orvieto – an extremely significant area that is hypothesized to have been the seat of the Etruscan Fanum Volumnae: the elusive, all-important federal sanctuary where delegates of the 12 Etruscan regions would gather. Rich in material culture, the site was the last to fall to the Romans in the 3rd century BCE.

The project began with sorting thousands of pottery shards based on intensive stylistic analysis – examining each piece based on the quality of its glaze, thickness, rim-style, and diameter – which then allowed the team to categorize the shape the sherd likely came from. From there, the pair worked to identify joins: sherds that fit together to form a single vessel. Once the joins were established, Ingrid was tasked with restoring the pottery and creating archaeological profile drawings to document the vessels found for future research. Once this was completed, she analyzed the clay composition using the Munsell Color System, which involved close examination of the clay fabric to document color and texture, which then give important information on the mineral content and density of the clay that was used. Much of Dr. Silvestrelli’s recent scholarship has focused on kilns used to fire black-glaze pottery; so, she also taught Ingrid how to identify the visual markers that provide clues into the firing process. For example: a well-fired cup presents a luminous, even black gloss on both the inner and outer surface, but fragments with red or brown discolorations indicate problems during the final oxidized phase of firing, and grey fragments demonstrate incorrect temperature control during the second phase. When put together, all of this information provided valuable insight into the context of the massive amount of pottery sherds that were found at this site. A crash course in an archaeological lab, this opportunity provided Ingrid with invaluable hands-on experience that will be crucial to her success and competitiveness in the field after graduation. 

Graduate Student

Meet Our Graduate Students: Abby Slawik

Abby Slawik is currently in her first semester in the Non-Degree Program in Art History. She is enrolled in Imaging the Other: Representation of/in Pre-Columbian and Early Colonial Mexico and Peru.

Where did you go as an undergrad and what did you study?

I went to NYU for studio art.

What was your career prior to your decision to enter the Non-Degree program in Art History?

I was a picture framer (design and production), as well as an art installer, for several years after graduation. I am also interning with a couple of conservation labs in the Twin Cities. These experiences have helped me understand some of the material language in the class.

What drew you to the University of St. Thomas?

Their course offerings are innovative, not overly generalized, and all have the potential for primary source study here in the Twin Cities. Also, they offer courses at night. I have a busy schedule during regular business hours with jobs and internships, so the class schedule really helps me out.

What advice would you give someone considering graduate study in art history at the University of St. Thomas?

Take advantage of all of the networking and professional development opportunities! The Twin Cities have a world-class, but accessible, arts community, and you WILL meet people who will help you out professionally. The arts/museum field is very competitive and sometimes you have to make it up as you go along. Don’t forget to stay flexible, stay interested, and have a plan B, and maybe a plan C too, just in case.

What are you currently interested in?

I recently helped with a conservation treatment on an artwork by Simon Sparrow, a self-taught, or “outsider” artist. I am interested in studying the processes of this artist more in depth, and more broadly, how the “outsider” artist phenomenon caught on in the 20th century and sparked a cutthroat resale market.

How are your classes this semester?

I am enjoying the informal research we are doing in Dr. Barnes’s class about various rumors, scandals, or unproven theories. It is a real hands-on approach, and is helping hone my research skills.

What has been your biggest challenge?

Keeping up with the reading is keeping me on my toes. I haven’t had this much homework for a few years, so I’m out of practice! I am also behind some of my classmates, because I haven’t taken any of the foundational “Methods” courses.

Graduate Student

Meet Our Graduate Students: Ann Arntson

Ann Arntson recently completed her first semester in the Museum Studies Certificate program at the University of St. Thomas in fall 2019. 

Where did you go as an undergrad and what did you study?

I went to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and studied History. My emphasis was in Egyptian and Middle Eastern history.

Why did you want to continue your studies with the University St. Thomas?

I am currently enrolled in the Masters of Library and Information Science with an emphasis in Archives and Special Collections. A classmate told me about the Museums Studies program and I thought it would be an important complement to archives and libraries.

What advice would you give someone thinking of coming to St. Thomas for the Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies?

I would tell them that St. Thomas provides a supportive environment from both the Art History department and other students. I very much enjoy my time here because of this. Also, I would tell them to go to the department events! 

What are you currently interested in?

  1. Psychology of collecting, especially how it applies to museums, archives, and other related fields.
  2. Egyptian history (ancient to modern)
  3. Adding to my book list

How were your classes last semester?

The semester was good but very busy. I very much enjoyed Museum Studies II: Collections, Curation, and Controversy. I was also taking Archives and Mmetadata courses at St. Kate’s.

What has been your biggest challenge?

Balancing coursework, student groups, networking, internships/jobs and personal life.