Alumni

Just where ARE they now???

I recently received a great email from Art History graduate, Jennifer Davis, and want to share it with you.

She writes,

“It’s hard to believe it’s been three years since I graduated from Mary Washington.  After receiving my diploma in May 2008 I spent two months saying goodbye to family and friends before moving to Mali, West Africa in July 2008 to begin my two-year Peace Corps service as an environmental specialist.

Well, three years later I’m still in Mali and have just signed on for two more!  (though not all as Peace Corps). As a senior at UMW I conducted an individual study on the Malian photographer, Malick Sidibé, who won the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2007 Venice Biennale.  While collecting sources in September 2007 for my individual study I also had an interview with my Peace Corps recruiter who casually mentioned the next group leaving for Mali coincided with my graduation dates.  A few months later I learned I would leave for Mali for two years.  Interesting ways that life has of guiding us places.

After finishing my two years in a rural village in Mali with the Peace Corps I found a third-year position with an USAID funded education contract in Bamako.  I am a Communications and Outreach Specialist which means I take pictures, write success stories and have my hands on deck when they’re needed!  I am loving learning more about international education and also the complex relationships between USAID, contractors (like Education Development Center, EDC – based in Newton, MA) and the Ministry of Education here in Mali.

I was recently accepted to SIT Graduate Institute to pursue a Master of Arts in International Education (low-residency).  In January I will begin a two-year, online master’s degree which I will complete while continuing to work with USAID/PHARE in Mali.  I am also applying to receive a Fulbright fellowship to study a particular aspect of USAID/PHARE’s work in Mali – the single-teacher school – which could revolutionize the way Africa approaches education (think Little House on the Prairie in Africa   I’ll keep you posted on that development!

Whenever I reflect on where I am today and what led me here I am always surprised.  Wasn’t I supposed to pursue a career in art history? I ask myself.  Am I doing a disservice to the major by not continuing in art history?  What about all those people who asked me what I was going to do with a degree in art history?  However, I wouldn’t trade my experience at UMW for anything.  Majoring in art history at Mary Washington was one of the best decisions I’ve made since it was a stepping stone to where I am today and I continue to rely on the courses I took and skills I acquired (especially writing!) today.  I strongly believe majoring in art history made me a more competitive candidate for graduate school since I bring a different background to the table and, if it weren’t for art history at Mary Washington, I wouldn’t have done an individual study on Malick Sidibé and I wouldn’t be in Mali now and….well, you get the idea 

I also maintain a blog (address below) which I try to update as frequently as possible (at least weekly) with goings-on in Mali.  I can attest to Dr. Och’s encouragement to exploit blogs; I would never have felt as comfortable as I did starting – and maintaining – one if she hadn’t required it of all her students!”

Jennifer’s blog address is www.jenniferinmali.blogspot.com

Allison Stagg (Art History, ’02) was awarded a post-doc fellowship at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, where she is currently, and in September will be a senior fellow at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, in the department of Drawings of Prints. She will be working to turn her PhD: The Art of Wit: American Political Caricatures, 1780-1830 into a book manuscript.

Molly Sheldon and Molly Campbell (Studio Art, ’10) recently completed the post-graduate summer program in sculpture at VCU.

Glenna Barlow just completed her MA in Art History and has been awarded a Fulbright!  Previously, she had completed her BA in Art History and MS in Elementary Education at UMW.  Glenna will spend the next year studying the folk art of India.  By studying art which is made for temporary use in Hindu festivals independent of the art market and Western consumption, Glenna hopes to discover motifs that can be traced back to the historical roots of India and thus inform the way scholars consider Indian art at large.

Travis Head (Studio Art, ’02) went on to complete an MA and an MFA (Painting and Drawing) from the University of Iowa.  He’s currently teaching classes in drawing at SUNY New Paltz.  He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions nation wide.  Check out his web presence to see more of his work: www.travishead.com

Banner Year, 15 x 19.75", graphite on paper, 2010

Meredith Langer (Studio Art, ’10) just taught a workshop in Philadelphia on cyanotypes, an alternative photographic printing process! Check it out here: http://ebm.cheetahmail.com/c/tag/hBMpzQZB7RzQ8B8VBH5CTijuOH6/doc.html?&email=merelanger@yahoo.com

Since graduation, Kerry Gavaghan (Art History, ’08) has completed a Master’s degree in History of Art at the University of Oxford (2009). She is now now working on a PhD at Oxford; her thesis is on the subject of seventeenth-century Dutch family portraits.

Sarah Perry (Studio Art, ’06) is part of a circus troupe in France!  See what she’s doing here: compagnienomad.com/ and follow her on facebook: Peaches and the Great Tony Tonito

Sarah and Jennifer Davis (Art History, ’08) have also been in Mali!  Read more here: www.jenniferinmali.blogspot.com