A visual arts symposium celebrating the College’s Visual Arts and Art History programs is set for next week and features presentations and discussions with alumni working in the fields of art history, galleries, museums and historic preservation.
All events take place in the Feigenbaum Center for Visual Arts, Room 204, and are free and open to the public.
Monday, May 15, 5 p.m.:
“Cowboys and Dandies: French Masculinities and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West, 1889-1910,” a talk by Emily C. Burns ’03, assistant professor of art history, Auburn University
Burns studied art history at Union and holds a master’s degree and Ph.D. in art history from George Washington University. She recently published “’Of A Kind Hitherto Unknown: The American Art Association of Paris in 1908,” in Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide. She will present a talk based on research from her book, Transnational Frontiers: the Visual Culture of the American West in the French Imagination, 1880-1914 (forthcoming from the University of Oklahoma Press). The talk is a Katharine Van Meter Sadock Lecture on Women in the Arts, co-sponsored with the Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Program.
Thursday, May 18, 2-3:30 p.m.:
“Art and Commerce,” an open classroom session in which Professor Lorraine Cox discusses the current gallery world and its operations with alumni working in galleries in New York City
Friday, May 19, 2-5 p.m., reception to follow:
“Art Worlds Symposium,” moderated by Professor Sheri Lullo, featuring presentations by alumni:
Megan Hyde ’03, museum educator for College and Public Programs, Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum, Skidmore College. Hyde earned her bachelor’s degree in art history, summa cum laude, from Union and a master’s in art history, theory and criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2007. She also has worked as an independent curator and writer.
Christina Muir Vágvölgyi ’05, historic preservation technical specialist, New York State Department of Historic Preservation. Muir studied art history at Union and earned a master’s in historic preservation and conservation from Columbia University in 2008. She has worked as an architectural historian and preservation specialist for Louis Berger in Albany, N.Y., and Jan Hird Pokorny Associates in New York City.
Alexandra Dubodel ’09, vice president and specialist, Shapiro Auctions. Dubodel graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in art history and earned her master’s in art history, criticism and conservation from NYU. She co-founded Ascent Contemporary Projects, which brought together emerging artists and collectors.
Ellie Rines ’10, owner, 56 Henry Gallery, New York City. Rines studied art history and Chinese at Union and attended Fudan University in Shanghai in 2008. She has worked at Craig F. Starr Gallery and ran the groundbreaking storefront gallery 55 Gansevoort in the Meatpacking District for several years before opening her own gallery.
Kara Jefts ’12, independent curator, Chicago. Jefts graduated from Union with a double major in art history and Asian studies, having also worked as curatorial assistant and interim director of the Mandeville Gallery. She completed her master’s in contemporary art history, theory and criticism the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2015