Graduate Students

Abigail Beus graduated cum laude and with university honors from Brigham Young University with a BA in History and minors in Spanish and Art History. Her honors thesis examined art theft carried out by the Spanish Blue Division in the Soviet Union during World War II. She was awarded a curatorial fellowship at the BYU Museum of Art, where she contributed to the upcoming exhibition Earthbound and Heavenward on religious art from the Medieval period to the present. She also held a curatorial internship at the Church History Museum in Salt Lake City, working with American art and material culture collections to help curate an exhibit concerning historical LDS architecture. She has presented research at the SUNY New Paltz Undergraduate Art History Symposium on Spanish religious architecture and at the Fulton Conference on the Jewish scientists during the Manhattan Project, reflecting her broader interest in how cultural and religious identities shape intellectual and creative work from weaponry to art.

Kate graduated with high distinction from the University of British Columbia with a BA in Art History. While at UBC, she earned the Patsy and David Heffel Award in Art History and the Perry Barr Hall Scholarship, and she presented her research at the Art History Student Association’s Undergraduate Symposium. She also worked as a research assistant, working on a project surrounding exhibition culture, imperialism, and national identity in the early Third Republic of France. Kate is interested in French art, particularly of the nineteenth century, and the intersections of art and science, and she intends to continue exploring these topics while at Tufts.

Tatyana graduated from Yale University with a BA in History and received her MD from SUNY Stony Brook. After a career in healthcare strategy consulting she has pivoted to studying art history with a particular focus on provenance and the intersection of art and politics. At Tufts she is interested in studying the notion of shared cultural heritage among diverse societies, and the political narratives surrounding repatriation and restitution.

Minnie graduated with high distinction from the University of Toronto, where she studied art history. As an undergraduate student, she interned at Lio Projects, an art advisory firm, and Cowley Abbott Fine Art, an auction house specializing in Canadian art. She also served as the Co-Conference Chair for the University of Toronto's History of Art Students’ Association, organizing the department's annual undergraduate research symposium. After graduating, she spent a year working as a curatorial intern at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, where she conducted research for an exhibition of 1970s documentary photography. At Tufts, she looks forward to pursuing her interest in 20th-century American art, engaging with questions around identity, representation, and the construction of history.

Kristen graduated summa cum laude from William & Mary with a double major in Art History and Government. As an undergraduate, Kristen conducted research on American protest art in the 1960s and late-19^th century European painting, as well as assisting in the curation of an exhibition entitled "The Art of Well-Being," displayed at William & Mary's Muscarelle Museum of Art. Since graduating, she has worked as an Americorps member and a legal researcher in Washington, DC. At Tufts, Kristen intends to continue her research on 19^th century painting, with a focus on French artists and the dichotomy of the public and private display of art.

Aiden Levy graduated summa cum laude from Middlebury College with a BA in Art History and Political Science. At Middlebury, Aiden interned with the Shelburne Museum's Education and Curatorial Departments where he conducted archival and exhibition research. He also worked as an arts assistant for the Estate of Michael B. Platt in Washington, DC, spearheading an oral history project on the contemporary artist that later informed his undergraduate thesis. His thesis, which examined Platt's portrayal of the Black female body in post-Hurricane Katrina works through the lens of African diasporic spirituality and Southern African American experiences, received the Megan Battey Memorial Book Prize in the History of Art and Museum Studies. He further presented this thesis work at the Seventeenth Annual Visual Culture Consortium (VCC) Symposium held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Aiden’s academic interests center on modern and contemporary art, especially its intersections with sociopolitical realities, a trajectory he will continue to pursue at Tufts.

Anne graduated summa cum laude and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa from Middlebury College with a BA in Art History and English. As an undergraduate, she wrote a joint senior thesis on the reception of a 17^th century Dutch trompe l’oeil depicting an English poet. For her thesis, she was awarded funding to complete archival research in England and earned the Museum Thesis Prize. Additionally, she curated an exhibition on the history of pop-up books for Middlebury’s Special Collections as well as researched the artisans behind the 19^th century faux wood graining in the Historic Mitchell House as an intern at the Maria Mitchell Association.

Following her graduation, Anne worked as an Art Advisor at an art consulting firm and as a tour guide at the Nichols House Museum before pursuing graduate school. While at Tufts, she intends to expand on her previous research interests in 17^th century Dutch art, global Baroque art, and the role of art in colonial and diplomatic encounters.

My name is Ana Ionescu and I’m from Romania. I graduated with a dual degree in Art History and Psychological Science and a minor in Art and Design from John Cabot University in Rome, Italy. During my undergraduate I had the opportunity to explore the intersection between art, politics, and social sciences. My primary focus is on modern and contemporary art with an interest on national agendas explored through exhibition spaces and their implied narratives. At Tufts, I wish to explore the role museum and other exhibition spaces hold in forwarding change in response to today’s social issues. I would also like to continue my critical analysis on issues of “ Other” and “Othering” in modern and contemporary times.

Kendall graduated with highest honors from UC Santa Barbara, where she double majored in Global Studies and Art History with an emphasis on Museum Studies. During her time as an undergraduate she served as the Curatorial Intern at the Art, Design, and Architecture Museum as well as an intern in the Education Department at the de Young Museum. She spent a semester studying at Sotheby’s Art Institute in London where she earned a certificate in Museums, Galleries, and Curating. After graduation she worked in roles that allowed her to connect the public with new art, including a position as a sales consultant at CK Contemporary in San Francisco, and later as the Community Engagement Coordinator at the Minneapolis St Paul Film Society. At Tufts, she looks forward to furthering her knowledge of site-specific contemporary art so that she can curate exhibitions that have a connection to a particular place and add new perspectives to traditional narratives.

Hailey graduated from Washington and Lee University with a double major in Art History and Religion. While an undergraduate, Hailey worked at the Museums at W&L and at other museums and galleries in Virginia, co-curating Mohammad Omer Khalil: Musings, an exhibition displayed in the Watson Galleries at the Museums at W&L. Hailey completed both a Religion capstone project and an Art History thesis, receiving honors for her thesis entitled "Revolutionary Visions: Frida Kahlo, Active Political Resistance, and 'The Need for the Emancipation of Man.'” Hailey is interested in Latin American modern and contemporary art and hopes to continue examining the narratives surrounding Latinx artists like Frida Kahlo during her time at Tufts.

Anna received her BA in Art History with a minor in Latin from New College of Florida in 2024. She has worked in museums and galleries across southwest Florida, including the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, where she conducted research for the 2023 exhibition Working Conditions: Exploring Labor Through the Ringling’s Photography Collection. Anna has also held positions as an art conservation technician, and most recently as a gallery manager.

Anna’s professional experience has primarily been with modern and contemporary art. However, her research focuses on southern Baroque painting. Anna’s research is deeply informed by her work in the Classics, and she is particularly interested in the interpretation of ancient literature in early modern Europe. For the past two years, Anna has studied Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and ecstasy, as interpreted by Italian and Spanish artists of the Baroque period. At Tufts, she intends to continue studying the relationship between ancient mythology and early modern artwork.

Ayla graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in Art History and Political Science and a minor in Textual Studies and Digital Humanities. While at UW, she completed a thesis on transnational culture in German Contemporary Art as well as a capstone on accessibility in Special Collections Exhibitions. During this period she also interned at the Henry Art Gallery and worked at numerous food justice organizations. After leaving UW, she interned at the Seattle Art Museum, first as Betty Bowen Award Intern and then as Curatorial Intern. She also spent time at the Northwest Nikkei Museum, supporting collections and exhibitions. She is interested in topics of global contemporary and diasporic art, particularly in the context of cultural exchange between Europe and the Middle East.

Maria graduated from the University of Michigan, where she was a double major in the History of Art and Anthropology departments. While an undergraduate student, she worked as a Development Intern at the Academy Art Museum of Easton, Maryland over the summers of 2019 and 2020 and was awarded departmental funding to work as a Curatorial Intern at the Holburne Museum of Bath, England over the summer of 2021. She also served on the leadership board for the Helicon History of Art Undergraduate Society in her final year at Michigan. After graduating she worked as the Membership and Donor Services Manager at the Bucks County Historical Society of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Maria is passionate about a future in scholarship and museums, and looks forward to furthering her skills as an academic over the course of her time at Tufts.