The University of Texas at Austin

Graduate Student, Art and Art History

PhD Candidate

College of Fine Arts

Thesis Title: Undercurrents of Urban Modernism: Water, Architecture, and Landscape in California and the American West

About

My dissertation, "Undercurrents of Modernism: Water, Architecture, and Landscape in California and the American West," in Art History at the University of Texas at Austin, nears completion. I am a modernist who studies ways in which art, architecture, and landscape reflect cultural values accompanying urban development in major metropoli throughout history. A keen interest is in infrastructure development, especially water systems, that site cities in the first place. I tease out undercurrents of modernism in art, photography, sculpture, architecture, and cultural institutions like museums and universities. In addition to the history of California and the West, I study ancient Rome and Precolumbian Mexico. A career educator, curator, and pedagogue, I have thrived in many settings, from publication venues to museums and classrooms. I have a varied and expanding publication, museum, teaching, and administrative resume. I have spent terms in residence as a Visiting Scholar at the American Academy in Rome, and as a Huntington Library Research Fellow in Southern California. I have received generous grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the University of Texas at Austin, and other funders. I cultivate professional associations with historians of art, architecture, engineering technology, and the hydraulic enviroment. I am an elected Executive Council member of the International Water History Association (IWHA), founded by UNESCO and an institutional collaborator in the World Congress of Environmental History. As a critic, I review major exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. I live and work in Napa, California with my husband and 4-year-old daughter.