Join the 2023–2024 SAAM Fellows as they present new scholarship on a range of topics and time periods, media and messages. This multi-afternoon program will highlight a new generation of scholars who are engaging the Smithsonian’s collections and archives in order to tell new stories about American art. The lectures will be held in person and online.
Register for Wednesday, May 8 | Thursday, May 9 | Friday, May 10
Wednesday, May 8
Session I: 1–2:45 p.m. ET
Moderated by Robin Veder, executive editor of American Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Phillippa Pitts, Wyeth Foundation Predoctoral Fellow, Boston University
"Pharmacoepic Vision: Seeing and Unseeing in Frederic Edwin Church's The Heart of the Andes"
- Elizabeth Fair, Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley
“Drawing Out Ornament: Nanying Stella Wong and the San Francisco Chinatown YWCA"
- Natalie E. Wright, George Gurney Predoctoral Fellow, University of Wisconsin—Madison
"‘Clothing that Works’: Disability and Function in Postwar America"
Session II: 3:15–5 p.m. ET
Moderated by Eleanor Jones Harvey, senior curator, Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Cassandra Good, Smithsonian Institution Senior Fellow, Marymount University
"Remembering the Ladies in George Caleb Bingham's Election Series"
- Molly K. Eckel, Joe and Wanda Corn Predoctoral Fellow, Princeton University
“The Prophecy of Divine Justice in Robert S. Duncanson’s Robbing the Eagle’s Nest (1856)”
- Ashley Williams, William H. Truettner Predoctoral Fellow, Columbia University
"Marking Freedom: Wilson Pottery as Archive Within and Beyond Slavery"
Thursday, May 9
Session III: 1–2:45 p.m. ET
Moderated by Melissa Ho, curator of twentieth-century art, Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Kelly-Christina Grant, Terra Foundation Predoctoral Fellow in American Art, Paris Nanterre University
"Beyond the Picturesque: Connecting French Impressions in Loïs Mailou Jones’ Landscapes"
- Chaeeun Lee, SAAM Predoctoral Fellow in Asian American Art, City University of New York, The Graduate Center
"Haunted Landscapes: Race and Abstraction in Bernice Bing's Mayacamas Series (c. 1963)"
- Tyler Shine, Will Barnet Foundation Predoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania
"Infinite Radius: Alma Thomas's Homeplace and Garden"
Session IV: 3:15–5 p.m. ET
Moderated by Randall Griffey, head curator, Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Kéla B. Jackson, Terra Foundation Predoctoral Fellow in American Art, Harvard University
“‘All I Had to Do Was Fly’: Faith Ringgold’s Sutured Visions of Black Girlhood”
- Sonja Gandert, Smithsonian Institution Predoctoral Fellow, City University of New York, The Graduate Center
“Casting resolana: Glitter, Shine, and Luis Jiménez's West as Protest"
- Li Machado, SAAM Predoctoral Fellow in Latinx Art, Temple University
“The Portrait as Archive and Activism in Queer Chicanx Los Angeles”
Friday, May 10
Session V: 1–2:45 p.m. ET
Moderated by Saisha Grayson, curator of time-based media, Smithsonian American Art Museum
- Sadé Ayorinde, Terra Foundation Predoctoral Fellow in American Art, Cornell University
"You Might Wanna Get Ghost: Invisibility as Strategy in Glenn Ligon's To Disembark"
- Adela Kim, Douglass Foundation Predoctoral Fellow, Yale University
“In Appropriate Institutions: Andrea Fraser’s Tearing Critique, 1991–1993”
- Alex Dika Seggerman, Patricia and Phillip Frost Senior Fellow, Rutgers University-Newark
“Untangling Islam in American Art: Shirin Neshat, Ghada Amer, and Shahzia Sikander”
Session VI: 3:15–4:30 p.m. ET
Moderated by Mary Savig, Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft, Renwick Gallery
- Jenni Sorkin, SAAM Senior Fellow in American Craft, University of California, Santa Barbara
“The Metaphoric Textile: Regional Group Exhibitions of the 1990s"
- Namita Wiggers, Smithsonian Institution Senior Fellow, Critical Craft Forum
“Making Craft History: Exhibitions in U.S. Craft Museums, 2000–2020”
Click here to view the 2022-2023 recordings
Image/Credit: SAAM 2023–2024 Fellows, courtesy of subjects