I spent most of my childhood frequenting museums and heritage sites across the continental United States. My father climbed telecommunication towers for a living, which required a lot of traveling, and he brought me along when he could. My Aunt Julie was also instrumental in my unofficial childhood education in museology - she frequently brought me to Washington, D.C., a city that nearly satiates my boundless thirst for knowledge. These trips were intrinsic to my development as a small human and irrevocably changed my brain chemistry. I went from wanting to be a writer, to wanting to be an archaeologist, to wanting to be an artist, then finally settling on a compromise between the three: I chose to be an art curator.
I received my dual Bachelor’s degrees from the University of Southern Indiana in Art History, Studio Art, and World Languages and Cultures. While there, I was awarded the James A. Sanders Gallery Fellowship and I was able to spend a semester working with both the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art and the University of Southern Indiana Art Collection. I completed two museum internships at the Evansville Museum of Arts, History, and Science and the Evansville African-American Museum. In partnership with Susan Sauls and my FREN490x Creative Writing class, I was able to present twice at the 14th Annual Interdisciplinary Colloquium on Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Georges Perec. From 2019-2022, I worked with the university’s art collection through which I completed a DEI audit of the permanent collection. As an artist myself, I have won several awards at juried shows as well as contributed to a number of other exhibitions. Following graduation, I worked at the University of Evansville and completed a third curatorial internship with the Lamasco Microgallery. Much of my undergraduate research focused on printmaking, sexuality, and female artists. Movements of particular interest to me include the Renaissance, the Northern Baroque, German Expressionist printmaking, Surrealism, Dadaism, and Fauvism.
I didn’t last long in the real world after graduating, so I promptly decided (after a long and tedious month) that I was ready to pursue my Master’s degree. My Master’s research so far has been composed mostly of improving accessibility within the heritage and museology sectors. Museums have the potential to be one of the greatest markers of democracy, but historically that potential has been marred by exclusivity. I am interested in breaking down those barriers in order to provide everyone the same access to education while promoting and appreciating their respective identities. This zest for equity connects back to my background in, and research of, printmaking. The invention of the printing press allowed for mass dissemination of information and education, mitigating the requirement that you must be wealthy to be literate. In a similar sense, it made viewing and collecting art much more accessible because multiple prints (sometimes thousands) could be made from a single matrix. You wouldn’t have to travel across the world to see all of its beautiful art - you could view it at your local institution, or in a book. I come from a working class family that were not able to take advantage of the same opportunities afforded to their peers, so making education more accessible, equitable, and engaging for everyone is my main career goal.
As someone who spent much of their childhood here, to have this position now often feels like a dream that I don’t want to wake up from. I am unbelievably grateful to have this opportunity and I hope to serve the museum and its patrons well, providing the same experiences to others that inspired and influenced me as a young girl.
Thank you for reading! I hope to see you soon.
