Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art recently celebrated the first graduating class of the University of Arkansas School of Art’s Master of Art History program. Six students completed the two-year program this May, which emphasizes inclusive and multivocal approaches to the arts of the Americas and is supported through a unique partnership with Crystal Bridges.
The program offers students a fully funded education thanks to a gift from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation and provides hands-on experience with institutions such as Crystal Bridges, the Momentary and Art Bridges. Students also benefit from mentorship with Tyson Scholars and local arts professionals.
“The M.A. program is designed to make use of the remarkable resources in Northwest Arkansas,” said Jennifer Greenhill, the program’s inaugural director. “Students are benefitting from a cross-institutional education and unparalleled access to a world-class collection of American art.”
Graduate Djamila Ricciardi highlighted a course in curatorial practice taught by Jen Padgett at Crystal Bridges as a key experience. Fellow graduate Alex Betz added that the program’s full financial support allowed him to fully pursue his research.
The class presented their capstone projects on May 8 at Crystal Bridges, with topics ranging from portrait pins of Black Arkansans to nuclear photography. The 2025 graduates are Alexander Betz, Raven Cook, Djamila Ricciardi, Ella Nowicki, Ibby Ouweleen and Larissa Randall.
The program, which welcomes its next class of 14 students this fall, is part of a larger arts ecosystem in Northwest Arkansas that includes research initiatives like “Animal Stories: Non-Human Animals in the Arts of the Americas.” This collaborative project explores how animals appear in and influence art and is led by 2024–2025 Tyson Scholar Dr. Jennifer Marshall. Kendra Greendeer, Kelsey Dayle John, Bart Pushaw, Annie Ronan, Xiao Situ and TK Smith will also join the collaboration.
Mindy Besaw, Crystal Bridges’ director of research, praised the partnership with the university: “It has been so generative to work with the University to reimagine how we write, think, and learn about art history.”
Applications for the next academic year open this fall.
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