Who is Smarthistory?

Smarthistory was founded by Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker as a blog in 2005. Since then, many people have contributed their content and skills to the project. Below you can find their biographies.We are actively seeking contributors. If you are interested in contributing, please email us at: Beth.harris[at]gmail[dot]com or drszucker[at]gmail[dot]com.

Executive Editors

Dr. Beth Harris is Director of DIgital Learning at a NYC museum. Before that, she was assistant professor of art history at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she taught both online and in the classroom. She also directed FIT's large distance learning program. She is a Victorian Studies specialist and edited and contributed to Famine and Fashion: Needlewomen in the Nineteenth Century (2005). She has presented papers on instructional technology at conferences across the country (including the College Art Association, New Media Consortium, Educause, Merlot, etc.). Dr. Harris has authored essays on teaching with image technology including “The Slide Library: A Posthumous Assessment in the Service of Our Digital Future,” Teaching Art History with Technology: Case Studies (2008). Her work has been cited twice in the New Media Consortium's Horizon Report and together with Steven Zucker, she organized two conferences on using technology to teach with images. She received her Master's degree from the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, and her Doctorate in Art History from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Follow Beth on Twitter.

Dr. Steven Zucker is a specialist in 20th-century art and theory and is chair of History of Art and Design at Pratt Institute. Previously, he was dean of the School of Graduate Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology, SUNY as well as chair of their art history department. He has also taught at The School of Visual Arts, Hunter College, and at The Museum of Modern Art. Dr. Zucker is a recipient of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. With Dr. Beth Harris, he created the FIT digital image library and organized two national conferences “Small Tools/Big Ideas: a conference on the discipline-specific technologies reshaping the practice of teaching art and art history,” and “Beyond the Slide Library: Digital Media in the Art and Art History Classroom.” Also with Dr. Harris, he wrote “The Image Library as Learning Environment” for CAA News and “The Slide Library: A Posthumous Assessment in the Service of Our Digital Future,” Teaching Art History with Technology: Case Studies (2008). He has published on Abstract Expressionism including his essay “Confrontations with Radical Evil: The Ambiguity of Myth and the Inadequacy of Representation,” in Art History. Dr. Zucker received his Ph.D. from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Follow Steven on Twitter.

Contributing Editors

Dr. Juliana Kreinik has taught the History of Photography at Pace University and at SUNY, New Paltz and lectured on German art of the Weimar era. In 2008, she received her Ph.D. from New York University's Institute of Fine Arts, where she wrote her dissertation on New Objectivity in German painting and photography of the 1920s. She is a Research Assistant for the Hans Hofmann Catalogue Raisonné Project, with interests in visual literacy and design, emerging imaging technologies, digital archives, and the intersecting histories of art, science and medicine. Follow Juliana on Twitter.

Lotte Meijer is the project manager and information architect for Smarthistory's redesign, as well as a sounding board in between developments. Lotte develops strategies and products to engage visitors with museums, both onsite and online. She combines her interests in art, education and new media in developing museum multimedia products, such as onsite kiosks and audiotours as well as online education strategies. With new media developments as inspiration, she designs innovative ways to engage audiences through experience and education. See her website www.lottemeijer.com and follow Lotte on Twitter.

Editorial Assistants

Chelsea Kelly will graduate from Vassar College in May 2009 with a B.A. in art history. She has worked in the education departments of a number ofmuseums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College, and founded the award-winning Art History Blog. She is particularly interested in the use of new technology to create exciting, accessible ways to interact with art, especially in the context of museums and institutions.

Rebecca Mir studies art history at the Robert E. Cook Honors College of Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She has also studied at the University of Delaware, University of Cambridge, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, and John Cabot University in Rome. She is especially interested in"barbarian" metalwork and aesthetic. Above all, she loves learning new things and challenging herself to understand other cultures, especially through their artwork. Her goal is to evoke this passion for learning in everyone she meets.

Contributors

Dr. Joseph Dauben is Distinguished Professor of History at Herbert H. Lehman College and the Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York. He has published widely on many subjects including the History of Science,  the History of Mathematics, the Scientific Revolution, Sociology of Science, and Intellectual History. He received his Ph.D. at Harvard University.

Dr. David Drogin has been a professor in the History of Art Department at SUNY's Fashion Institute of Technology since 2004 and has previously taught at Wesleyan University, Harvard and Yale. He currently serves as coordinator of the department's Visual Arts Management major. A specialist in Italian Renaissance art, he received his BA from Wesleyan University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has published numerous book reviews for "Renaissance Quarterly" and has contributed chapters on Bolognese art and patronage to several edited volumes. Dr. Drogin has presented papers on a variety of Italian Renaissance subjects at conferences of the Renaissance Society of America, as well as at symposia held at Johns Hopkins University, Cambridge University, and the Isabella Stewart Gardiner Museum, among others.

Dr. Allen Farber has taught at the State University of New York College at Oneonta since 1981. He has been responsible for teaching a range of courses including upper level courses in Ancient, Medieval, and Renaissance art. He received his PhD from Cornell University in 1980. His thesis focused on the study of the secondary decoration of early fifteenth century Parisian manuscripts.  An article entitled "Considering a Marginal Master" published in Gesta (32, 1993, pp. 21-39) presents some of the results of this research.  Since 1999, he has devoted his scholarly activity to developing web pages to support his course work.  These are accessible through the Art History course page.  He has also created a web site dedicated to his study of The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein. He is currently working on a site entitled "Marginal Matters" in which he presents his ongoing research in manuscript studies.

Meg Floryan is soon to earn her Masters in American Fine & Decorative Art from Sotheby's Institute of Art in New York. While her graduate research focuses on visual and thematic developments in mid twentieth-century children's book illustration, she has also studied ancient art and artifacts at Tulane University in New Orleans. Meg's other interests include contemporary art trends, specifically new developments in the ways in which technology and the Internet aid in spreading information, increasing arts participation, and creating an interactive forum.

Dr. Shana Gallagher-Lindsay has taught the history of Western art at the Fashion Institute of Technology, S.U.N.Y., since 1994. Her areas of specialization are modern and contemporary art, and photography. She completed her Ph.D. at the City University of New York Graduate Center in 2003, writing her dissertation on the installation artist, Marcel Broodthaers. More recently she has publicly lectured and published on the topic of sacrifice as it is treated in contemporary art.

Beth S. Gersh-Nesic is the director of the New York Arts Exchange, www.nyarts-exchange.com, an arts education service which offers tours, lectures and curatorial services. She earned her Ph.D. in art history from the City University of New York Graduate Center and currently teaches art history at Purchase College. She teaches French to English translation at Manhattanville College. Her specialty is Modern Art with an emphasis on Picasso and Cubism. Her dissertation was published as The Early Criticism of André Salmon: A Study of His Thoughts on Cubism (Garland Publishing, 1991), which was followed by André Salmon on French Modern Art (Cambridge University Press, 2005), a translation of Salmon’s first two books on art La jeune peinture française (1912) and La jeune sculpture française (1919) with annotations and an introduction. More information is available on the official André Salmon website: www.andresalmon.org which Beth founded with Professor Jacqueline Gojard, University of Paris, Sorbonne III, executor of Salmon’s literary estate. Beth also published numerous essays on Salmon including the catalogue essay on Picasso’s Demoiselles d’Avignon (named by André Salmon) for the exhibition The Demoiselles Revisited (Francis Naumann Fine Art, 2007). Beth is a Contributing Writer and Art Critic for About.com Art History and has partnered with Cultural Study Abroad to offer art tours in France. Come join us!

Monica Hahn has taught art history at the Community College of Philadelphia since 2006.  Prior to that, she taught at Philadelphia University.  A graduate of Vassar College, she completed her M.A. in art history at Syracuse University, and is pursuing a Ph.D. at Temple University. Monica enjoys incorporating new digital and web tools into her teaching, and has presented her experiences teaching art history in Second Life at conferences.  She has a blog at www.ArtHistoryinaHurry.com.

Chad Laird has taught in the History of Art Department at the Fashion Institute of Technology since 2005. He received his M.A. in Art History and Criticism form Stony Brook University in 2000, and now concentrates on filmmaking, music and sound art. His works range from sound and video collaborations with transmission artist Tianna Kennedy, soundtracks for experimental films, and his own short film productions with collaborator Jay Hufford.

Julia Langley, after receiving an M.A. in ancient Greek art history from the University of California, Los Angeles, began her career as the assistant director of the Stuart Collection of Sculpture at the University of California, San Diego.  There she also taught art history courses, published articles and produced programming for UCSD-TV.  In 1999, she authored the Public Art Plan for the City of San Diego. Upon moving to Maryland in 2005 Langley shifted her efforts to elementary education and began a Visual Literacy program to integrate art history with the K-5 curriculum while continuing her studies in public art. In 2010, Langley completed the graduate program in Museum Studies at the George Washington University with a study of the war memorials on the National Mall. In addition to her work in elementary education, Langley teaches at Montgomery College in Rockville.

Elizabeth Massa-MacLeod earned her BA in Fine Art from Lewis and Clark College and recently completed her MA in History of Art from the University of York in England. She has been involved in film and the arts in Oregon for several years, contributing to films as well as live performances, and is involved in cultural organizations including the Collaborative Arts of Portland, the Oregon Natural History Coalition, and the Portland Art Museum. Elizabeth currently works as a research assistant in Portland, Oregon.  

Jeremy Miller has taught art history at the Fashion Institute ofDesign and Merchandising in San Francisco since 2006.  He received hisMA in Art History from San Francisco State University in 2007, with anemphasis on Venetian Art.  His research focuses on the tradition offamily workshops, particularly in Venice, and how production methodsrelate to artistic identity.  Jeremy also earned a BFA in photographyfrom the San Francisco Art Institute, and is exploring the foundationsof fashion photography and its relationship to identity.   He has beenactive in curriculum development and bringing learner-centeredactivities to students both in and outside the classroom. 

Isaac Peterson is an artist, a writer, and a teacher. Born in Alaska, he now lives in New York City. His writing is published primarily in Flash Art magazine. He teaches full time in the graphic design department of Kingsborough Community College. In his studio work, he focuses on drawing and animation, but constantly returns to oil painting. He loves taking classes at the Art Student's League and loves riding his freewheel fixie through Prospect Park.

Dr. Matthew Postal is an historian of 20th-century architecture and urbanism. A graduate of Vassar College and New York University's Institute of Fine Arts, he earned his Ph.D. at the Graduate Center of City University in 1998, where his dissertation examined the relationship between Modernism, museums, and the media. He has taught at various colleges and is currently a professor at the New York School of Interior Design and a researcher at the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission where he edited and co-authored the Guide to New York City Landmarks, published in 2009. Matt leads frequent and popular walking tours throughout the city for such cultural organizations as the Municipal Art Society, the Center for the Urban Environment, and the Friends of the High Line. In 2009, he co-authored Ten Architectural Walking Tours in Manhattan.

Brian Seymour is an art historian of the people. He is an AssistantProfessor of Art History at the Community College of Philadelphia. Healso teaches Humanities and coordinates the Honors Curriculum. Brian hasworked in all areas of the art world from the auction house to themuseum to the classroom. He runs an art consulting business, workingwith viewers at all levels to help them to make sense of looking. Hehas his M.A. from Temple University and is currently studying Mandarinand writing about the Chinese Contemporary Art Market.

Valerie Spanswick earned her BA in art history from the University of Washington in Seattle, which included studying both Classic and Baroque art and architecture in Rome. She lived in Great Britain for 10 years, and while there earned her MA in the history of art from the University of York with a focus on 18th and 19th century British art and architecture. She has worked in publishing and video production and has written for Fine Art Connoisseur on the topic of the Victorian painter Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. She is currently a technical editor/administrator and lives in Eugene, Oregon. 

Richard Spanswick has an MA in Visual Arts in Contemporary Culture from Keele University, Great Britain.  For more than 25 years he has been a producer, director, writer, and cameraman with a focus on training/corporate video.  In addition he has produced documentaries about the Brontë sisters, and Buddhism. He lives in Eugene, Oregon.

Virginia B. Spivey is an art writer specializing in late 20th and 21st century art history and theory.  She holds degrees in art history from Duke University (B.A.) and Case Western Reserve University (M.A., Ph.D.).  After working as a museum educator in Northeastern Ohio, she served as Assistant Professor of Art History at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, where she received the 2004-2005 Distinguished Teaching Award for Non-tenured faculty.  Now based in Washington D.C., she develops art history educational materials in addition to her scholarly work, which is currently focused on the relationship of performance to contemporary craft production. 

Dr. Francesca Tronchin earned her Ph.D. in art history from Boston University in 2006, with specializations in Greek and Roman art and archaeology. She is currently the postdoctoral fellow at the Getty Villa in Los Angeles, where she is working on a book project about Roman domestic architecture and decor. Among Francesca’s other interests are classical sculpture (especially funerary art), Roman “museums,” and the reception of classical antiquity in the 18thth centuries. Francesca has excavated in Israel, Greece, and Pompeii; she will return to Italy in June 2009 to document the excavations of the Himera Necropolis in Sicily.

Victoria Valdes is currently undertaking Masters research in MedievalStudies in the Art and Art History at the University of Virginia.  Sheworks primarily with early medieval manuscripts, specializing in theOttonian period.  She has previously studied at the University of MaryWashington and worked on Northern Renaissance paintings at the ChryslerMuseum in Norfolk.  She takes great pleasure in her teachingassistanceships and enjoys both deceiphering medieval art and passingon what she's learned to the students at UVA.  Her current projectinvolves an examination of female makers in the Ottonian period andtheir objects.

Design and Development

Project management and Information Architecture
Lotte Meijer

Design
Mickey Mayo at Mayo Studios

Front-End Development
Matt Haenlin

Back-End Development
Dragan Nikolic

A special thank you to Dr. Joseph Ugoretz, Director of Technology and Learning at Macaulay Honors College, City University of New York. He has been responsible not only for the structure and technology behind the very successful first iterations of the smARThistory web-book, but he has kept a round-the-clock vigil since 2005 ensuring Smarthistory's avilability for our viewers.