Research and Creative Activity
The opportunities for research and creative work are diverse, robust, and numerous.
Faculty Creative Works & Research
In addition to curriculum-based research, Art Department faculty pursue personal research and create personal work for exhibition, contributing to the broader field of art. Professors actively publish and develop work across diverse expertise and mediums.
Davidson Studio Art professors have been actively involved in the field, with recent opportunities to display their work in prestigious galleries such as The Shirley Project Space (Brooklyn, New York), Mint Museum of Art (Charlotte, North Carolina), Spark Gallery (Denver, Colorado), and Charles Danforth Gallery (Augusta, Maine).
Our Art History professors are similarly distinguished, with a range of advanced publications that are at the forefront of contemporary art discourse. This work includes research on the relationships between art, gender, and power in Tang China; examining the intertwining of material culture and envy from late antiquity to Islam; and an upcoming book delving into the complexities of pharmaceutical culture in contemporary art.
All Davidson Art Professors actively contribute to their fields through historical research and creative activity.
Luis Sahagun
"Along with being an interdisciplinary artist, scholar, and educator, I also practice Curanderismo. I'm Mexican-Indigenous, a former undocumented construction worker, a product designer, and, on top of all that, a comic book movie nerd. Each of these identities shapes how I see myself, how others see me, and the personal and professional communities I connect with. All these experiences have left their mark on me, and together, they form the foundation of my story. I have exhibited widely at venues including the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Latchkey Gallery NYC, Charlie James Gallery (Los Angeles), and The National Museum of Mexican Art (Chicago), among others."
Yukina Zhang
"My current research project examines the entanglement of art, gender, and power from the visual and material expressions in the husband-and-wife joint burials in 8th-century Chang’an—China’s medieval cosmopolitan metropolis. The research focuses on the diverse media of tomb furnishings, such as sculpture, mural painting, stone carving, and decorative art, to unravel how the living engaged in power negotiation by manipulating the art for the deceased in the name of the social institution of marriage."
Lyla Halsted
"My current research project explores medieval Islamic material culture as a nexus between practices of healing and protection rooted in magical and medical traditions. My research focuses on artifacts and images from the eastern Mediterranean and Near East, with a particular focus on Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Arabia. As amulets, talismans, or magic-medicinal vessels, these types of artifacts have traditionally been omitted from the canon of Islamic art, largely due to their esoteric imagery and inscriptions and their mass production outside of a courtly context."
Tyler Starr
"I am particularly interested in the ways printed information has been used from its very beginnings to map human endeavors. My artwork looks to the American development and techniques of yellow journalism as well as incorporating lessons from Japanese art traditions such as economy of information and sensitivity to materials."
Student Research & Creative Work
Students have access to a wide range of diverse opportunities through curriculum, personal interest, or assisting faculty in their research. Independent study courses offer students the opportunity to pursue individual research with a faculty member. The department’s thesis/capstone program encourages students to apply theory to a topic of their choice in the perspectives seminar, and then study a faculty-selected topic in the spring capstone course.
Studio Art majors follow a similar path, working on a solo exhibition of their primary medium that will be presented in the Smith Gallery. The exhibition provides students with an opportunity to demonstrate their artistic growth and conceptual development, receive feedback from peers and faculty, and gain valuable experience installing and presenting their art to the public.
Explore recent studio art and art history research and exhibitions:
Courtney Lassiter '27
With support from the Larry L.R. Ligo Art History Travel Fund and her advisor Professor Halsted, Lassiter spent a week in Bosnia and Herzegovina documenting understudied Ottoman architecture. She traveled the country to photograph and gather information on Ottoman sites, previously lacking English-language documentation, for a photographic and informational archive known as Ottoman in BiH.
Joe Claire '24
After being awarded the McAllen Scholarship, Claire used the funds to bypass traditional funding limits and explore the intersection of digital and physical materials. He took extensive risks for his Senior Art Exhibition, such as printing directly onto atypical surfaces, breaking the barriers of traditional digital imagery.
Brown Payne '24
Afer taking a post-modern art class with Prof. Corso-Esquivel, Payne followed his interest in postmodern art to a place much closer to home. He and Adam Saacke ’24 received an Artistic Independent Research (AIR) grant and spent months unraveling the rich history of art at Black Mountain College, a liberal arts school in the mountains of North Carolina that opened in 1933 and shut down in 1957. Despite its brief lifespan, the college attracted rising stars in the art world, including many German artists fleeing Europe during the rise of Hitler. Clashing ideas and backgrounds quickly transformed the college into a hub for avant-garde art, music and poetry.
Anna Murray '23
Combining her studies in art history and dance, Anna Murray's senior thesis focused on Simone Forti’s Huddle, one of five dance constructions performed in Yoko Ono’s loft in 1961. “That was a specific time in dance history and art history when the separate disciplines were starting to combine, and I wanted to study this. The ’60s were a period of radical change in the New York art scene as a collective mode of making developed, resulting in the Huddle being framed as a sculpture-dance.”
Student Funding Opportunities
In addition to curriculum-based research, students can initiate semester-long independent research or creative projects for credit, and many take advantage of grant-funded programs for summer research worldwide. Whether in the sciences, arts, or humanities, students take ownership over their research projects and in many cases serve as first or second authors on published work. Explore a handful of these funding opportunities for student research and creative work.
AIR Grants support artistic and creative projects based in academia. Air grants could also fund a project in a creative genre class. Air grants can be in any art genre including (but not limited to) theatre, film, music, dance, visual art, spoken word, and creative writing. Air grants are open to all majors. Applicants need to have an assigned faculty advisor that oversees the project and must meet with said professor before applying. Individual or group projects are accepted. Preference will be given to interdisciplinary projects. Awards will be made up to $500 per grant with a rolling deadline.
Established by Bryan Bayles '92 in loving memory of his mother Kathryn Grey Bayles upon her death in June 2001, this $500 travel grant is awarded each year to an art major planning travel to further explore the world of art.
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis with these deadlines:
- October 15 for travel research in the fall semester.
- February 25 for travel research in the spring semester or summer.
An option for summer research, the grant-funded Davidson Research Initiative (DRI) allows first-year, sophomore, and junior students to design research projects, engage with faculty mentors for guidance and collaboration, and present and publish their findings.
Some recent DRI projects in the art department have included studying Gothic Cathedral mosaics in France and researching Persian gardens in Iran.
Established in honor of the Fujita family, this grant enables a talented Davidson artist to pursue a high-quality, independent art project (visual art, music, dance or drama) outside of the United States. One grant of up to $7,000 is awarded annually by the Dean Rusk Program. Projects that do not receive Fujita funding will be considered for general Dean Rusk grant support. The grant is for independent projects and individual proposals, and can fund lessons or workshops abroad. Study abroad programs and group trips are not eligible for this grant. The project must involve at least seven weeks outside of the U.S. application deadline; early February.
Established by Elizabeth Kirkland Sickles '88, in honor of her father Bill Kirkland '62, the Kirkland Art Grant funds art majors and minors up to $5,000 to facilitate a summer focused on the creation of visual art exploring art's intersection with the topics of dementia, Alzheimer's, cognitive aging, or age-related brain impairments. Art students with a demonstrated passion in the sciences are especially encouraged to apply.
In honor of Professor Emeritus Larry L.R. Ligo’s exceptional dedication to teaching Art History at Davidson College, the Larry L.R. Ligo Art History Travel Fund is designed to foster early undergraduate engagement in art history, architectural history, and visual culture. Offering grants ranging from $1,000 to $5,000, the fund prioritizes first- and second-year students who have initiated their exploration in art history and wish to further their understanding through travel, research, and experiential learning. As a tribute to Professor Ligo’s advocacy for firsthand experiences of art, architecture, and visual culture, the fund seeks to spark a passion for art history among undeclared students, encouraging them to consider a major in the field.
Fund Details
All Davidson College students who have completed or are currently enrolled in at least one art history course may apply. First- and second-year students with a keen interest in deepening their understanding of art history through travel are particularly encouraged to apply and will receive preference.
The Larry Ligo Art History Travel Fund supports, in order of preference:
- Students who would like to travel independently for art historical research.
- Students who need assistance covering their personal costs for any class trips which focus on examining and analyzing artworks.
- Supplements for art department class trips in which students view original art and study its history.
Application Deadlines
Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis with these deadlines:
- October 15 for travel research in the fall semester.
- February 25 for travel research in the spring semester or summer.
By the end of the semester (December 15, May 15, August 15), individual fund recipients should submit documentation (ex. photos or video) and outcomes of their study/research experience. Award recipients are also required to share their experiences/outcomes publicly in the semester the travel research is conducted (ex. Verna Miller Case Symposium).
The Malú Alvarez Visual Arts Scholarship, established by Malú Alvarez, Class of 2002, is a need-based scholarship awarded annually to a first-year student who is passionate about and displays a strong interest in the visual arts.
While not required to major or minor in Studio Art or Art History, recipients are encouraged to actively participate in the life of the Art Department in a range of ways including course work, engagement in departmental events and programs, and engagement with the programs of the Van Every/Smith Galleries and the college's permanent art collection.
Spike! grants support student-driven, student-led, student-performed art on campus to help encourage extracurricular student art on campus. Spike grants can be in any art genre including (but not limited to) theatre, film, music, dance, visual art, spoken word, and creative writing. Awards will be made up to $1,500 per grant and the project will have to be completed before May 5.