Izabel G
- Research Program Mentor
PhD candidate at Yale University
Expertise
Art History, Architecture, Architectural History, Museum Studies
Bio
Izabel studied art history at Yale (M.A., M.Phil., A.B.D.), where she focused on European Romanticism, especially the work of the French artist Théodore Géricault. She augmented her academic research with curatorial work, including on the 2015 exhibition, The Critique of Reason: Romantic Art, 1760-1860. She is presently editing a collection of scholarly essays on the same theme. Prior to studying the humanities, Izabel majored in architecture at Rice University (B.A., B.Arch.), and spent a year working for the design firm Venturi, Scott Brown in Philadelphia. Given her curatorial and architectural background, Izabel is enthusiastic about projects that extend humanities research into practical or public applications. Outside of her academic work, Izabel frequently volunteers at a hospitality house and reads and writes poetry and creative nonfiction. She also enjoys classical ballet and growing tropical houseplants, despite being terrible at both. She currently lives in Portland, Oregon, with her dog, Chuck.Project ideas
Curate an Exhibition
This project will enable you to research a specific art historical topic while also learning the skills involved in curating a museum-based exhibition. We will attempt to simulate (within reason) the real process followed by curators when they research and develop exhibition ideas. You will begin by selecting a general topic in art history. This could be an artistic movement (e.g. Impressionism, Abstract Expressionism, or The Harlem Renaissance), a specific artist (e.g. Claude Monet, Helen Frankenthaler, or James Van Der Zee), or another theme of your choosing. You will then research your topic by generating a brief annotated bibliography on the subject –– a list of sources followed by short summaries of their content. Drawing on this research, you will decide on a title and thesis for your exhibition, then generate three “deliverables”: First, you will create a “checklist” of objects to include (10 to 15 artworks, drawn from any of the many digitized museum collections available to the public; I will point you to these). Second, you will research and write a “wall label” for each of these objects (a very short paragraph that explains the artwork to a viewer). Third and finally, you will write the text for a short brochure which introduces a museum-goer to your exhibition, addressing these questions: What is the thesis of this exhibition –– in other words, what story does your exhibition tell about its topic? How does this story differ from what has already been said about this topic? How do these particular artworks tell that story?