Deanna Wright
The Art History and Museum Studies department prepares to launch their very first academic journal.
The Polk Museum of Art and Florida Southern College entered an affiliated agreement back in 2017 in order to advance both of their missions and serve the Lakeland community better. This has allowed students and faculty to experience masterwork exhibitions as well as giving students studying Art History and Museum Studies more internship opportunities.
This coming spring, Dr. Alexander Rich,Art History and Museum Studies Department Chair and departmental assistant Diane Baires, discussed the idea to create the Journal of Art History and Museum Studies (JAHMS) last spring and sat on the idea anxiously all summer long.
“The Journal of Art History and Museum Studies is a peer reviewed academic journal put together by undergraduate [students] for undergraduates,” junior editor Rachel DiPofi said.
The department finally announced the news to release the journal to their FSC major cohort at orientation.
“When we unveiled the idea at orientation [last] fall, the students were so keen and ready to move on with the idea, it thrilled us,” Rich said.
Rich reached out to four Art History and Museum studies students to have them help become founders and editors of the journal, Andrew den Boggende, Rachel DiPofi, Katie Poinsett, and Sera Shaw.
“I’ve always had a passion for historical scholarship and research,” freshman editor den Boggende said. “So when Dr. Rich reached out about being a founder and editor, I immediately wanted in.”
The department faculty and students are excited to be publishing work by undergraduate authors in the hope to set a foundation for enabling undergraduates from around the world to wade into the publication process.
“I’m most excited that this is a new opportunity for students to share their writing about art history, museums, and similar topics in a distinguished academic setting,” DiPofi said.
JAHMS is seeking papers exploring the theme of “Art and Resilience” applied over time, media, and geography. The first issue has a theme that is purposefully broad for artists to discuss the strength through obstacles that have been placed before them and their communities.
“For the first call, we knew we wanted to select a theme that was broad but also timely,”Rich said. “We all know that 2020 was a year like no other and that art over time has grappled with conflict, chaos, loss and fear as well [as] with hope and positivity in the midst of the worst.”
JAHMS is open to undergraduate student submissions from any institution including those who attend FSC.
“By the time I graduate, I hope the journal will become a primary publisher for undergraduate students everywhere who are interested in the arts and the role it plays in history,” den Boggende said. “The sky’s the limit with the journal and I can’t wait to see how this issue and [future] issues turn out throughout my time at FSC.”
All submissions for the journal are due by March 7, 2021 at 11:59 pm EST. The rest of the information for ideas and details for submissions can be found on https://polkmuseumofart.org/jahms-call.
