I am from El Reno, Okla., where I attended Redlands Community College and earned an Associate of Arts degree in art. I continued my education at the University of Central Oklahoma, earning a minor in global arts and visual culture and a Bachelor of Arts in arts administration. After completing these degrees, I came to the University of New Mexico, where I completed a dual Master of Arts degree in art history and museum studies. My time at UNM began in the fall of 2023, which is also when I joined UNMAM as a student employee, serving as a visitors assistant. In spring 2024, I became a study room assistant and eventually served as a curatorial assistant.

Generally, I am pulling and putting away prints for study room visits from classes, researchers, and interested community members. This role has allowed me to gain knowledge about the museum’s collection and about object-based learning. As a curatorial assistant, I work alongside curators Dr. Angel Jiang and Dr. Mary Statzer, assisting with exhibition needs such as artist and object research, art handling, and exhibition preparation.

I entered UNM knowing that I wanted to pursue a career as a curator, initially enrolling in the museum studies program to build a foundation in collections care, exhibition development, and institutional practice. At that time, however, I did not yet fully understand the extent to which advanced training in art history is essential for curatorial work, particularly for specialized roles such as a curator of prints and drawings. After my first semester, and with guidance from UNMAM Curator of Prints and Drawings Dr. Angel Jiang, I came to recognize the importance of art historical study. This realization led me to pursue a dual master’s degree in art history alongside museum studies, aligning my academic training with my long-term goal of becoming a curator specializing in prints and drawings.

My research interests include modern and contemporary printmaking, specifically Tamarind Institute lithographic publications. This research interest evolved from an initial class I took in the spring of 2024 with Dr. Susanne Anderson-Riedel and Dr. Angel Jiang. The class focused on the history of printmaking and helped with the UNM Art Museum exhibition Print in Action (2024), with selected extended labels. At the end of the spring semester, I began an internship at Tamarind Institute, which ultimately cemented my interest in lithography and Tamarind publications. I have maintained my internship with Tamarind Institute for two academic years, allowing my research interests to be tackled within the institution’s walls with the staff’s guidance.  

It has provided extensive time with the museum’s collection, specifically the Tamarind Institute Collection, and consistent guidance from all staff members alongside the evolution of my final master’s theses. My work at UNMAM will inform my future work by providing real work experience in multiple positions in the museum and extensive experience learning about the largest collection in the state, many of them prints, leading to my interest in printmaking. The museum changed the trajectory of my career through extensive knowledge and time with works on paper.

My inspiration for the exhibition, much like the project itself, emerged through a collaborative process shaped by ongoing conversations with my co-curator, Dr. Angel Jiang, surrounding the focus of my museum studies thesis. During one of our many discussions, she shared her initial ideas for an exhibition centered on Tamarind’s international collaborations. Building on this foundation, the specific projects and partnerships highlighted in Tamarind Goes Global were selected through continued dialogue with Dr. Jiang, informed by my research of the Tamarind Annual Reports, an especially significant resource for the exhibition. Through this process of research and collaboration, the exhibition’s title and checklist were developed, reflecting both the depth of Tamarind’s global engagements and the curatorial framework we established together. 

My greatest takeaway from this experience was being involved in every stage of the exhibition planning process, from initial concept development to final implementation, while actively participating in key decision making and learning the workflows of collaborating with all museum staff. Serving as a curatorial assistant on this project has had a meaningful impact on my professional development by strengthening my curatorial strategies. In addition to gaining hands-on experience in co-curation, I am now able to carry this knowledge into future roles, building upon the skills I developed while also sharing the insights and practices I learned through my work at UNMAM. 

I would like to emphasize the importance of working in a supportive environment. Being part of UNMAM has been the most meaningful aspect of my graduate school experience. In addition to gaining valuable professional experience, I have built lasting relationships with the UNMAM staff and expanded my network beyond the university. Early professional experiences can significantly shape a student’s perspective on their chosen field, and my time at UNMAM has both deepened my commitment to museum work and strengthened my confidence in my abilities as I approach graduation. This sense of excitement and assurance is a direct result of the incredibly supportive and collaborative environment fostered by the UNMAM staff. 

I am from northern California. I initially went to the University of British Columbia, but ended up working and going to community college in California for financial reasons. I moved to New Mexico in 2022 to finish my bachelor’s degree and then continued straight to my master’s degree. Art history is my program and I have been at UNMAM as a collection assistant since the beginning of fall semester 2025.

I work with the collection on a daily basis. I have been the student lead on cataloging our new acquisitions and have also participated in rehousing of objects, condition reporting, and art handling.

I am interested in late 19th-century European and American painting and in how social and cultural shifts fueled a growing interest in mysticism. This evolved into an exploration of Symbolist painters and their participation in cultural appropriation as representative of the occult. My thesis title is Symbolists Beyond the Magic: Appropriation in the Art of Elihu Vedder and Gustave Moreau. 

Working at UNMAM has made me question how items gain importance in museums. Particularly with my research surrounding Elihu Vedder, I have been considering how artists become cast as “commercial” or “fine” artists and how that affects their display in museums. Working at UNMAM has completely changed how I interact with museums and has inspired me to consider pursuing museum work full time.

I have gained so many skills from my time at UNMAM and my perspective on how museums run has completely changed. It has made me both more appreciative and more critical when visiting museums and has inspired me to pursue a job in the field. Even if I end up working somewhere outside of a traditional museum space, I know the diverse skills I have learned at UNMAM are going to be assets.

UNMAM is a fabulous institution to work at and visit. For students, I really encourage them to engage more with the museum and take advantage of the collection! There are so many fabulous works in the archive that align with a diverse range of student interests.