Meet ARTSQ cofounder Heather!
Q: Introduce yourself!
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated by the world of pictures. Flat ones, moving ones, ones that hang on a wall, ones that cover a ceiling, ones you see on a coffee mug . . . seeing new worlds created in art has always filled me with “wow”! Lucky for me, I had the chance to take this love of pictures seriously (verryyyy seriously) and earn a PhD in the history of art. My name is Heather Graham, and I am an art historian. What does this mean? It means I get to study, write about, and teach about some of the things that thrill me the most—art, history, and people.
Andrea Mantegna, frescoes in the Camera Picta (also known as the Camera degli Sposi), 1465–74, Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, Italy
(Photo: Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
My love of pictures became a love of art more broadly by traveling. I love visiting new peoples and places and seeing the ways that they respond to their worlds in visual forms. Sculptures, buildings, paintings, textiles, even the objects people use in daily life, like dishes and furniture, can tell us interesting things. From them, we can learn about how people live, how they understand themselves and other people, and what their hopes and dreams are. I love the detective work that comes with art history: why does a work of art look the way it does? To try to answer this question, I have to learn something about the person or people who made and used the art. Art History forces me to think outside my own box and try to be sensitive to the worldviews of other people. Yup. I said it: Art History can make you a better person!
Guido Mazzoni, Adoration of the Child, 1485–89, painted terracotta, in the Duomo in Modena, Italy
(Photo: Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
My specialty as an art historian is the art of renaissance Italy. You know, the boot-shaped country in Europe that is the native homeland of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ namesakes: Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, and Leonardo. I love studying the way people in this time (about 1400–1600) understood the power of art as a way to communicate, celebrate, and experiment. The artists of this era made works of spectacular beauty as ways of exploring their own world. Thinking deeply about their process, they tried to understand the principles of nature by making art. Pretty cool if you ask me.
Q: Where is your favorite place to look at art?
My favorite place to see art is in person and in the original place it was made for, what art historians call the “original site.” Seeing an altarpiece in use in a church or a family portrait in the same room it was created for is a whole different experience from seeing those same images in a museum.
Giulio Romando, Palazzo del Te, 1524–34, Mantua, Italy
(Photo: Lauren Kilroy-Ewbank, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
Take me to the palace, kind sir, and show me your collection! Of course, this isn’t always possible. Art, especially art made 500 years ago, can move around a lot. Still, I like to get as close as I can to the original site because I believe that’s how we understand art best (which also makes a good excuse for me to travel to Italy as much as possible . . . just in case you need an excuse yourself!).
Q: Do you have advice for people who want to learn more about art but don’t know where to start?
Want to ignite a love for art for yourself or for your kids? Go see some art. Look closely. Think about it. Talk about it. It’s that simple. Art isn’t just in museums and galleries. It’s in the streets and on the walls of offices, it’s on TV and in the movies. Art belongs to all of us, no matter where the painting hangs or the statue sits. Art is also here, on ARTSQ, and we are thrilled to share it with you!
Q: Ok, just for fun—what is your superpower? 🦸🏼
If I have an art history superpower, it’s definitely my unfailing belief in art as evidence of humankind’s creative potential. We are not content merely to be, we have to make stuff—I believe it’s part of what makes us human.
