News from the Art History Department at Tyler School of Art and Architecture
Marion was co-chair of the panel “Havoc and Rebirth: Comparative Perspectives on Art and Earthquake”, where she presented the paper “Plaza and Church: Earthquake Baroque and the Philippines after 1645”. The panel covered artistic and architectural responses to earthquakes in the ancient, early modern, and modern world, from Pompeii to San Francisco.
Emma Holter (Ph.D. candidate) recently presented at the annual Renaissance Society of America conference in San Francisco. Her paper was titled “Isabella Piccini (1644-1734): A Cloistered Female Printmaker” and highlighted the work of an understudied nun-printmaker in seventeenth-century Venice. This paper stemmed from Emma’s Research Fellowship with Save Venice Inc. where she supported the Women Artists of Venice initiative, which seeks to recover the history of female artists in early modern Venice and the Veneto. She presented her research in a panel sponsored by Save Venice, alongside Temple professor Dr. Tracy Cooper, and their respondent was Dr. Peter Lukehart, Temple alumnus and Associate Dean of CASVA. Emma will be presenting a version of her paper on Isabella Piccini at the upcoming Association for Art History conference in Cambridge, UK.
Jessica let us know about a recent blog post about a workshop Meghan Kelly and she co-led at CAA: Grids Across Borders: Art, Craft, and the Global Context. The workshop extended, in part, from a section of her dissertation research, particularly her interest in reframing the grid not only as a formal device but as a cross-cultural and methodological framework. She tells us “It was rewarding to see those ideas translated into a collaborative, hands-on pedagogical setting.”
The blog is linked here: https://jeffersonaspire.com/grids-across-borders-workshop-at-caa-2026/
Ari’s will give his talk, “Imagination from the Rubble: Ruination, Reconstruction, and the Rise of Capriccio”, at the University of Illinois Graduate Student Symposium.
Emma’s paper will be presented at the Association for Art History (University of Cambridge): “Isabella Piccini: A Cloistered Venetian Printmaker”.
The Studio of the Corning Museum of Glass Announces 2026 Residencies as The Studio Celebrates 30 Years: https://press.cmog.org/2026/studio-announces-2026-residencies-studio-celebrates-30-years
Alpesh was one of the “18 outstanding artists and scholars from around the world…chosen for their skill, potential, and dedication to their work”. According to the Corning Museum, “The Studio residencies empower artists to explore new directions in their work, and research residencies have been awarded to artists and scholars to provide time and resources for in-depth, scholarly research using the vast collections of the Rakow Research Library and the Museum as well as access to expert Museum staff.”
The residency committee noted that, “Inspired by a series of exhibitions he organized while curator-at-large at UrbanGlass in New York City, Patel has undertaken a new project—his third major book—which will examine glass as both a material and a concept. During his residency, Patel will advance this project by drawing upon key works within the Museum’s collections and engaging with librarians, curators, other scholars, and artists—deepening his understanding and shaping his thinking. The residency will also provide him with dedicated time for writing his book.”
The article, “Celebrating 50 Years of the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation Oral History Project” (with Rebecca Rushfield) can be found in the Jan 2026 News in Conservation – with great photos of Molly in action: https://www.iiconservation.org/publications/nic/news-conservation-issue-111-december-january-2026
Jessica will present “Mapping the Hyperhorizon: Relational Visuality in Artistic Depictions of the Caribbean,” at FSU’s Department of Art History Annual Graduate Student Symposium.
And “What Remains Unsaid: Reading Kim Lim’s Words, Silences, and Afterlives of Artistic Speech,” at the In Her Words: Women Artists and Life Writing Symposium at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge University
Conversations at MOCA with exhibiting artist Hiba Schahbaz and curator Jasmine Wahi, moderated by Alpesh Kantilal Patel, PhD. Dive into Hiba Schahbaz: The Garden, her first major retrospective showcasing 15 years of lush paintings inspired by Sufi mysticism, global myths, the feminist gaze, and fantastical realms of sea, land, and sky. Framed as a jannat or Paradise Garden with Persian and Mughal char-bagh influences, the exhibition merges Indo-Persian miniature traditions with large-scale works evoking South Florida’s lush landscapes and themes of transformation, selfhood, and care.
Jessica’s review of Isamu Noguchi’s exhibit at the Clark Art Institute can be found here: https://www.bu.edu/sequitur/2026/01/14/isamu-noguchi-landscapes-of-time/
In a few weeks she will be presenting a paper at the 20206 CAA meetings: “Contextualizing Transnational Practices: Leveraging Art Historical and Digital Humanities Methodologies to Amplify Marginalized Narratives;” as part of the panel: Visibility as Resistance: Amplifying Marginalized Narratives.
Jessica will as well be co-chair for the session “Expanding Critical Frameworks: Unraveling Devaluation and Recontextualizing the Field of Fiber Art.” As part of this session, Liam Maher (PhD candidate) is presenting a paper titled “Conceptual Threads – Tina Girouard and Antoine Oleyant’s Drapo Vodou”.
and a Workshop Co-leader for: “Grids Across Borders: Art, Craft, and the Global Context.”
Her travel to CAA is funded by the Association of Print Scholars Travel Grant.
