EDUCATION
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Ph.D., 2001
Primary Concentration: African American Art
Dissertation: "The Crisis of Crossing: Race and Identity in the Work of
Archibald J. Motley, Jr."
Dissertation Advisor: Matthew Baigell
M.A. , summa cum laude, 1997
Thesis: "Seaside: A Postmodern Synthesis of Garden City Planning"
DePaul University, Chicago, IL
B.A., cum laude, 1992
Major: Art History with a minor in Italian language and literature
ACADEMIC AWARDS
-Terra Foundation Fellowship for Dissertations in American Art, 2000-2001
-College Arts Association Honorable Mention for the Terra Foundation Fellowship
for Professional Development, 2000
-Smithsonian Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, National Museum for American Art, 1999-2000
-Graduate School Fellowship, Rutgers University, 1999-2000
-Mitnik-Jacobs Grant for Dissertations in American Art, 1997-2000
-Walter C. Russell Scholarship, Rutgers University, 1994 and 1996-97
PUBLICATIONS
"Singularity, Chance and the Shuffle of Things," The Raw and the Cooked. (exh. cat.) Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 2001.
To the Observing Subject: The 2001 MFA Exhibition. (exh.cat.) Pullman: Washington State
University, 2001.
Catalogue entries on Aaron Douglas, Edwin A. Harleston, Sargent Claude Johnson, Jacob Lawrence,
Hughie Lee Smith, Archibald J. Motley, Jr., Dox Thrash, and James Lesesne Wells in The Walter
O. Evans Collection of African American Art, NC: Mattye Reed African Heritage Center and
the H.C. Taylor Art Gallery, 2000.
"Illustrating the Word: Works by Aaron Douglas & Jacob Lawrence"
Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art, Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press,
1999, pp. 42-53.
"Representing Race: Disjunctures in the Work of Archibald J. Motley, Jr.," Museum Studies,
Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, vol. 24, no. 2, 1999, pp. 162-179, 262-264.
[also published in African Americans in Art, Seattle, WA: University of Washington,
1999, pp. 23-40, [122-123].
"Winold Fritz Reiss," American National Biography, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999,
vol. 18, pp. 329-330.
"Kerry James Marshall-Mementos, "Nka: Journal Of Contemporary African Art,
Fall/Winter 1998, pp. 24-27.
PUBLIC LECTURES
"Literal or Metaphorical? Illustrating Harlem Renaissance Literature"
Tacoma Museum of Art, Tacoma, WA, Fall 2001
"Conflating Countenance with Class: Portraits by Archibald J. Motley, Jr."
Terra Museum of American Art, Chicago, IL, Summer 2001
"Passing By: Archibald J. Motley, Jr.'s Portrait Types"
American Studies Colloquium, Washington State University, Spring 2001
"Presenting the Self: Archibald J. Motley, Jr.'s Approach to Portraiture"
National Museum of American Art, Spring 2000
"Part of the Whole: The Role of the Part-Timer in Academe Today"
College Arts Association Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, Spring 1999
"Connections and Conjecture: Images of Africa & American Art at the Art Institute of
Chicago" Community College Humanities Association, Fall 1998
"Exhibiting Baule: Defining the Aesthetics and Context of African Masterpieces"
The Art Institute of Chicago, Spring 1998
"Archibald J. Motley, Jr.: Strategies of Being"
Evanston Art Center, Spring 1998
"The Crisis of Crossing: Memory or Amnesia in the Work of Archibald J, Motley, Jr.?"
College Arts Association Annual Meeting, New York City , Spring 1997
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Washington State University, Department of Fine Arts, Assistant Professor, 2000-present
Courses: African American Art, Confluence of American Art and Music, Graduate Seminar on
Contemporary Art and Theory, Landscape as Metaphor, Nineteenth Century Art, and Twentieth
Century Art
University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Art History, Adjunct Lecturer, 1997-99
Courses taught: Art History Survey, Introduction to Art and Art History, African and Oceanic Art
Barat College, Lake Forest, IL, Adjunct Lecturer, 1999
Course taught: African Art: From Ancient Origins to Contemporary Innovations
Columbia College, Department of Art, Chicago, IL, Adjunct Lecturer, 1997- 99
Courses taught: Art History I: Ancient to Pre-Renaissance, Art History II: Renaissance to Contemporary,
and African American Art: A Survey of the 19th & 20th Centuries
CURATORIAL AND RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
The Art Institute of Chicago, Department of African and Amerindian Art
Research Assistant and Adjunct Lecturer, 1998-1999
-Lectured on permanent collection and special exhibits including the recent Masterpieces
from Central Africa: Selections from the Tevuren Museum and Baule: African Art Western Eyes
exhibitions, researched and cataloged permanent collection, works considered for acquisition,
and responded to scholars inquiries on the permanent collection. Co-curated The Ordinary Made
Extraordinary, an exhibition of African decorative arts and textiles
The New Community Corporation, Newark NJ
Curator, 1997
-Responsible for selecting and hanging traveling exhibition of works by Haitian artists. Interviewed
artists and researched Haitian Diaspora for accompanying exhibition materials and education programs
The Newark Museum, Department of Painting and Sculpture, Newark, NJ
Cataloguer, 1996-97
-Cataloged and researched the Museum's collection of 2,000 WPA prints and created files
for each print and artist in ARGUS database, as well as conducting conservation condition
reports and responding to scholarly inquiries
The Saint Louis Art Museum, Department of African, Oceanic and Art of the Americas
Curatorial Intern, Summer 1993
-Researched and presented gallery lectures on "Primitivism" and African textiles. Catalogued and
photographed a collection of 500 paintings and drawings for an exhibition of Abraham Lincoln Walker,
a self-taught artist
Chicago Historical Society, Charles F. Murphy Architectural Study Center, Chicago, IL
Research Assistant, 1991-92
-Investigated the social, political and economic influences on the architectural history of
Chicago public housing. Assisted with the organization of an exhibition of the 1893 World's
Columbian Exposition. Catalogued Burnham and Root architectural drawings and archival materials
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