Art History
The Art History program enables students to investigate painting, sculpture, and architecture in depth and to explore a broad range of questions about the making and meaning of art. Students acquire skills in visual analysis, familiarity with different approaches to the interpretation of works of art, and training in the techniques of research in the humanities.
Both the Art History and the Studio Art programs are supported by museum and gallery exhibitions, which bring contemporary art and historical objects to support the students’ educational experiences.
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Alumni/Student Achievements
Community Outreach
- Erin Mancini ’21 assisted with educational programs at the Richardson Family Art Museum, discussing Walnut Grove Plantation and Spartanburg’s history with children from the Upstate Boys and Girls Club (summer 2019).
Awards
- Lydia Estes ’20 was Wofford’s Presidential International Scholar for 2019 and traveled throughout Latin America studying the role of art in women's rights movements. She curated a gallery exhibition on the topic and has given numerous lectures on her work.
- MacKenna Smith ’20 is the Johnson Collection Curatorial Intern and will research and mount a show on conservation issues in the spring of 2020.
- Emma Fletcher ’19 received a full scholarship from Texas Christian University to pursue graduate work in museum studies.
- Sam Veremchuk ’18 has accepted a fellowship to pursue graduate school in art history at Syracuse University.
- Sara Sims Wilbanks ’19 was awarded a scholarship to pursue graduate work at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York City.
- Reagan Petty ’17 received a full scholarship from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill to pursue graduate work in visual/folk studies.
Internships
- Bill Stewart ’20 and Sara Sims Wilbanks ’19 interned at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., working both in the curatorial department and in the Research and Scholars Center (summer 2019). Michal Busbee ’18 served a yearlong internship there from 2018 to 2019.
- MacKenzie Eden ’20 interned at the Vatican Museums in Vatican City.
- MacKenna Smith ’20 worked with David Goist, Wofford’s contract conservator, to restore an original frame of a painting in the college’s art collection (Interim 2019). She also interned with a conservator in Greenville and was a grant-writing intern for the Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg.
- Molly Humphries ’19 is currently interning at the National World War I Museum and Memorial of the United States Kansas City, Missouri, in the archives/collections department.
- Emily Pinto ’20 was the HUB-BUB Creative Placemaking Intern during the fall of 2018. HUB-BUB is an artist-in-residence program hosted by the Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg.
Research
- Emma Fletcher ’19 presented the results from her senior capstone on interactive educational programming in museum settings at the annual conference of the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries in Minneapolis, Minnesota (summer 2019).
- Two students, Katie McCorkle ’19 and Lila Greer ’19, presented research at the annual South Carolina Upstate Undergraduate Symposium. McCorkle presented outcomes from her honors project on the production and international outlook of 20th century Cuban propaganda posters, and Greer presented research on a Japanese hanging scroll in a private collection on loan to the Richardson Family Art Museum (spring 2019).
Graduate Studies
- Sam Veremchuk ’18 has enrolled in the master’s program in art history at Syracuse University.
- Gabrielle Brizel ’16 has enrolled in law school at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.
- Molly Humphries ’19 is enrolled in a graduate program in museum studies at Johns Hopkins University.
- Emma Fletcher ’19 is enrolled in a graduate program in museum studies at Texas Christian University.
- Sara Sims Wilbanks ’19 is pursuing a master of arts degree in fine and decorative art at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in New York City.
- Jordan Wiseman ’17 completed an master of arts degree in museum administration at American University in Washington, D.C.
- Kendall Eoute ’17 is in law school at the University of South Carolina.
- Mills Brown ’15 completed an MFA in painting at American University in Washington, D.C.
Employment
- Duncan Weaver ’16, who completed a bachelor of science in interior design at Meredith College in 2018, now is working as a designer at Level 5 Designs.
- Laura Levy ’14 is the coordinator of family programs at the Denver (Colorado) Art Museum.
- Caroline Winn ’16 completed a degree in architecture at Catholic University and is now an architect at GTM Architects.
- Amy Chalmers ’11 recently accepted the position of art curator at the South Carolina State Museum.
- Sara Shealy ’13 is the assistant director of development at the University of South Carolina’s College of Engineering.
- Sarah Baldwin ’15 is instructor of visual arts and AP art history at Christ School in Asheville, North Carolina.