Several art history and museum studies students from Missouri State University spent a busy Spring 2025 semester showcasing their research at several conferences.

The students appeared at the Missouri Archaeological Society, the Catherine Reed Jolivette Art History and Visual Cultural Symposium and the Missouri Academy of Science.

The art history and museum studies programs are part of the BA in Visual Art and Culture in the Department of Art and Design.

Missouri Archaeological Society encourages student research

In March, museum studies students presented posters on their research and conservation of art and artifacts at the Missouri Archaeological Society’s 90th annual meeting in Springfield, Missouri. Museum studies program coordinator Dr. Billie Follensbee organized and chaired the poster symposium.

McKenna O’Connor, Riley Blair and Madison Baker, along with alumnae Cassidy Hale and Melia Richardson, all participated in the conference.

“The students developed their poster presentations directly from their course projects in the Fall 2024 Basic Conservation of Art and Artifacts class,” Follensbee said. “Presenting at a conference is a great opportunity for the students to take their research beyond the classroom and raise it up to the next level, and they did a commendable job.”

Students participate in art history and visual culture symposium

Students also spoke at the 19th Annual Catherine Reed Jolivette Art History and Visual Cultural Symposium, held at the Carolla Arts Exhibition Center in April.

Madison Baker, Alexis Henson and Zane Wigton spoke on several topics. These included women artists and artistic genres in seventeenth-century Netherlands, Golden Age Dutch trade and the depiction of exotica and luxury items, and the development of the concept of the monster in early modern Europe.

Guest speaker Chaney Jewell (’17) presented on 1920s imagery of the “modern woman” in Japan. Jewel currently serves as Director of Development at the St. Louis Kaplan Feldman Holocaust Museum.

“This symposium has been a really important opportunity for our students to showcase their disciplinary research and share it with the public,” said Dr. Mitzi Kirkland-Ives, who organized this year’s event. “They’re able to take the results of their coursework and develop an idea more fully and polish some professional skills with a broader but supportive audience.”

Research merges science and art

Also in April, five museum studies students presented their research at the 62nd Missouri Academy of Science meeting in Warrensburg, Missouri.

McKenna O’Connor, Zane Wigton and Malena Hemenway presented in the social and behavioral sciences division of the conference. Riley Blair and Melia Richardson presented in the chemistry division.

Because this was a science conference, the students revised their Basic Conservation of Art and Artifacts research, Follensbee said. “The Missouri Academy of Science strongly encourages students to revise and redevelop previous research for presentation at this conference. [They expanded] on the more scientific aspects of the conservation processes in their poster presentations.”

Missouri State will host the Academy’s 2026 meeting.

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Photos provided by the art and design department.

News edited by the Reynolds College Communications Team.