Janice Kim ’26
I often am asked what I learn in the discipline of art history. My answer is always the same: it’s the study of lived experiences and how we continue to find meaning in the world. Growing up, my parents instilled the importance of art within our household, and I continued to nurture this curiosity with my coursework in college.
I’ve gained so much support and wisdom from department resources and faculty. I traveled to South Korea through the Rembrandt Prize during my junior year summer for research toward my senior thesis that will focus on the Seoul National Cemetery. I documented this landscape over the course of two weeks and spent my time collecting qualitative data by conversing with community members and watching memorial performances. I have received the Flintridge Fund multiple times to further support my research with the purchase of academic sources and support travel expenses to see exhibitions on arts of Korea. Thanks to support from the department and the opportunities it brings to my attention, I've worked as a Getty Marrow Curatorial Intern at the Academy Museum and as research assistants to several professors in the discipline, and I am a student liaison for the department.
With a discipline as full of as much breadth as art history, every person who walks through the doors is sure to find something that excites them. Art history asks us to consider what is art, and how do we define this slippery word that continues to shape how we engage with folks around us. I know I am not just studying images and objects, but also the stories, people and values that give them meaning—the manifestos, theories and histories that led to particular moments and beyond. In this way, my coursework in Islamic architecture, contemporary Asian American art, Modern Latin/x art and architecture, arts of China, and Greek archaeology all converge.
And most importantly, I’ve found how art history is deeply steeped in every discipline I come across. Art history encourages me to look for gesture, texture and even absence. It’s reshaped how I read literature, how I write and how I can take a moment to pause. It has made me realize that to study art history is not just to examine works of art in isolation, but to recognize how knowledge itself is formed across mediums, disciplines and lived experiences.
Sammy Riesgo-Zamudio ’26
I chose to major in art history because art is such a tangible tool for understanding culture. Through my art history courses, I have globalized my studies and learned about diverse perspectives. Simultaneously, the histories and repertoires presented in each of the courses I’ve taken are so rich that every research project provides opportunities to personalize my studies on the genres and topics that most interest me. Among my favorite courses have been Reclaiming Native American Art and Modern Latinx Art.
My art history courses at the 5Cs have provided me with so many unique and exciting learning opportunities, including field trips to a number of museums and working directly with the works stored at the Benton and Scripps’ Clark collections. Undoubtedly, my most impactful experience as an art history student has been studying abroad in Rome, where I was able to engage with the works I have studied for so long in person.