Graduate students are integral to the scholarly community within the Art History Department at Virginia Commonwealth University. As members of the Art History Graduate Student Association (AHGSA), they engage with visiting guest speakers, attend professional development workshops, and organize social events, like the annual trip to New York City. These events support the growth of professional relationships among graduate students, faculty, alumni, museum staff, and colleagues across different institutions and disciplines. Officers of the AHGSA are elected annually.

Second-Year MA Students

  • Research Interests: Contemporary Art of the African Diaspora
  • Education: BA Georgia State University, Art History
  • Indya’s research investigates contemporary artists who present water as a technology of survival in their work. Through a cross-disciplinary approach, she combines folk mythology, historical accounts, and speculative fiction to explore how water permeates artistic production as a symbol of renewal and rejuvenation. In her free time, she enjoys cooking, hiking, and exploring different artistic mediums.

  • Research Interests: Contemporary African Diasporic Art, African American Identity and Culture
  • Education: BA Virginia Commonwealth University, Art History
  • Sanija’s passion for storytelling has been a lifelong journey, beginning early on in life and evolving into a deeply rooted interest in curating art that reflects narratives of identity, culture, and heritage. Her research is primarily focused on contemporary African American and Afro-Caribbean art, which acts as a catalyst for her goal of amplifying underrepresented voices in the global art scene – a passion that continues to shape her curatorial aspirations.

  • Research Interests: Global Modernisms, Propaganda, Censorship, Advertisement
  • Education: BA Randolph-Macon College, Art History & Arts Management
  • After doing a brief stint studying Computer Science, Grace switched their undergraduate major to focus on their passion for art and history after waking up in a cold sweat about their life choices. Since then, they have been a recipient of the Schapiro Undergraduate Research Fellowship, the culmination of which was presented at SECAC 2022, and an educational programming intern at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Currently, Grace is interested in the visual construction of marginalized identities in fine art and media, particularly in the early to mid-20th century, and its socio-political potentialities. When not studying or working, Grace enjoys reading and writing, watching films, drawing, and crocheting ugly stuff.

  • Research Interests: Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, the long Nineteenth-Century in Europe
  • Education: BA Williams College, Art History and Anthropology
  • Charlotte’s research interests lie in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican art with a focus on the Maya cultures. Currently, her work attempts to track the movement of Maya objects and aesthetics into Europe and the United States during the long nineteenth-century as well as artistic responses to this newly introduced material culture. Charlotte had a four-year internship in the education department at the Clark Art Institute at Williams College that led to a desire to improve communication between academic communities and the public. She aims to carry this into a future in museum curation.

  • Research Interests: Fiber Arts and the Intersections between Arts and Craft
  • Education: BA Virginia Commonwealth University, Art History
  • Hayley Secrist’s (she/they) research interests focus on fiber-related mediums primarily involving art forms such as quilting, knitting, crochet, weaving, etc., and their development and categorization as both craft and art. She works to challenge these distinctions and their intersections particularly as they relate to gender, race, sexuality, and class. This involves a particular interest in the role of fiber arts and the study of it as a tool for political activism, and breaking down hierarchies in both art and society.

  • Research Interests: 20th & 21st Century Advertising, Visual and Print Culture
  • Education: BA Virginia Commonwealth University, Art History and English with a minor in
    History
  • While pursuing her undergraduate studies at VCU, Evelyn decided to continue her passion for museums through VCU’s 4+1 Accelerated Program in Art History. Her research centers around cosmetic advertising, paper crafts, and analyzing the relationship between art and print culture. After taking part in projects at the Chesterfield Historical Society and the Poe Museum, Evelyn aims to become further involved in collections management and increase the accessibility of historical research and artifacts. When she isn’t working or studying, Evelyn enjoys photography, writing, and playing the guitar.

 

  • Research Interests: Contemporary, Digital, and New Media Art and Online Visual Culture
  • Education: BFA, University of Florida, Art + Technology
  • John’s research looks at contemporary, digital, and new media art and online visual culture. His current research focuses on critiquing issues of technocapitalism, media ecosystems, and human-computer interactions. John has previously served as the Technical Director of the artist-run space, Moisturizer Gallery, where he helped support and exhibit contemporary artists working in experimental ideas and forms. Since then, he has continued pursuing independent curatorial projects across traditional and experimental exhibition sites. In addition to his academic and curatorial work, he is also a research-based artist whose work has been exhibited internationally across America and Asia.

First-Year MA Students

  • Research Interests: Contemporary art, the intersection of visual art and environmental sustainability, museums as community spaces
  • Education: B.A. Davidson College, Art History with honors, Communication Studies minor
  • Kate has always had an undying, meditative love for visual art and art museums. Her undergraduate thesis was a case study of the Environmental Council at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art and its potential relevance to art museums of all sizes. Her research focuses on expanding the definition and scope of museums for the 21st century, encouraging sustainability, accessibility, and decolonial action, which she hopes to carry into a career as a museum educator. She spends her free time embroidering, immersed in audiobooks, and petting as many dogs as possible.

  • Research Interests: 19th and 20th Century American Landscape Painting
  • Education: BA Virginia Commonwealth University, Art History
  • Nico DeBoeser’s (they/them) experience in undergraduate art history courses directed them to join the department’s 4+1 program to pursue their passion for research. Interested in the cross-section of cowboy art, nature, and culture, they enjoy following the long, multifaceted road of American myth and sublime landscapes. They have traveled West to Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Colorado to study cowboy art on several occasions. The insights of those journeys bore theoretical fruit in a presentation at the 2025 SUNY New Paltz Undergraduate Research Symposium. They are excited to continue developing ideas in the field. Outside of writing, Nico enjoys bird-watching, lounging with friends, and bingeing Godzilla movies.

  • Research Interests: Contemporary Art of the Asian Diaspora, Asian American Identity and Culture.
  • Education: BA Indiana University Indianapolis, Art History & Museums Studies Certificate
  • Min’s identity as an Asian American fuels her interest in art made by contemporary Asian American artists and how it relates to the Asian diaspora. Her research explores how Asian communities in the U.S. utilize art as a mode of cultural representation and a tool for advocacy. In her free time, she enjoys film photography, reading, and watching food documentaries.

  • Research Interests: Contemporary Intermedia and American Drag
  • Education: BFA High Point University, Studio Graphic Design
  • As a recent convert to art history, Noah is interested in drag’s potential for conceptual discourse and disruptive resistance. Primarily, this means theoretical investigation into the aesthetic philosophies of the contemporary, performance, and intermedia spaces, as well as analysis of attitudes toward traditions of art and beauty within these contexts.

  • Research interests: German Expressionism, Retrofuturism, accessibility in museums
  • Education: BA in art history with minor in English, Baccalaureate Certificate in Disability Studies
  • From a young age, Cal has been fascinated with Retrofuturism: the way the past has envisioned the future through art and literature. Their focus of study is post-World War II Americana, particularly the work of Walt Disney, including the design of the theme parks. They plan to work in a library, museum, or archive where they will be surrounded by history in paper, object, and digital form. In their free time, they enjoy reading science fiction and historical fantasy novels, as well as writing their own.