Curator Bios
The co-curators of The Eye of the Beholder are emerging scholars and created this exhibition during their second year of graduate study within the Costume Studies MA program at NYU Steinhardt. Their exhibition roles, decade specializations, and professional bios are listed below.
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Jessica Barker
Digital Media Manager and Gallery Liaison, 1950s and 2010s specialist Jessica is a Program Coordinator for NYU Costume Studies, Curatorial Assistant at 80WSE Gallery, and Graduate Costume Shop Assistant at Tisch School of the Arts. She is a teaching assistant for introductory courses on fashion history and costume design and serves as the Digital Media Manager for the Costume Society of America’s Mid-Atlantic Region. Jessica’s work has been published in The Fashion Studies Journal and will appear in the Bloomsbury Fashion Photography Archive in mid-2018. She recently presented her scholarship at a conference in Paris and continues to explore the representation of dress, cosmetics, and textiles in the press. Lizanne Brown Education Coordinator, 1930s and 2000s specialist Lizanne graduated with a BFA in Fashion Design from Pratt Institute and has interned for MILLY, Samuelle Couture, and Nautica. Her scholarly interests involve understanding the significant impact of historical dress on contemporary fashion design. She is currently working at NYU Tandon School of Engineering in the Office of Student Activities and Resource Center while completing her thesis. Laura Gust Project Manager, 1910s and 1940s specialist Laura graduated with a BA in Social History from Empire State College. She has experience as an archivist and curatorial assistant at the Clermont Historic Site, Germantown, NY, and has worked with the Richard Avedon Foundation archives. As the manager of the charming Tea Shop of Woodstock, Laura has developed a deep interest in tea culture and history, as well as an uncanny ability to drink massive volumes of tea per day. She is currently writing her master’s thesis on the semiotic function of the nightgown in nineteenth-century gothic literature. Adam Hayes Exhibition Designer, 1930s and 1970s specialist Adam works with personal couture collections as a Wardrobe Manager and Client Liason at Garde Robe Online, and he previously interned for designer archives, including those of Thom Browne and Bonnie Cashin. His scholarly interests lean towards investigating perceptions and representations of masculinity through the art of dress, as well as examining the utilization of costume design in film to convey and reinforce character and thematic narratives. |
Elena Kanagy-Loux
Graphic Designer, 1910s and 1960s specialist Elena was raised by Mennonites in Tokyo, where she was surrounded by traditional craft and DIY fashion. After receiving her BFA in Textile Design from FIT, she won a grant which funded her study of traditional lacemaking across Europe for four months. Upon her return to NYC, she founded the Brooklyn Lace Guild, an organization devoted to the preservation of lacemaking. Her work has been published in The Fashion Studies Journal, and she will be presenting at the upcoming Costume Society of America conference in March 2018. Currently, she interns at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she is focused on lace research. Lauren Richter-Suriñach Communications Coordinator, 1920s and 1990s specialist Lauren is currently the program assistant for the NYU Steinhardt Art + Education graduate department. She graduated with a BA in Art History from NYU. Having worked at Totokaelo and interning at the Museo de Arte de Ponce and David Zwirner gallery, she has experience in the fashion industry and the art world. Melding these two interests, she is currently writing her thesis and focusing on fashion illustrators. Stephanie Sporn Editor, 1920s and 1980s specialist Stephanie is a writer and producer at Sotheby’s, where she creates content about luxury lifestyle and fine art. She has written for DuJour, Refinery29, and Lucky, among other publications, and last spring, she assisted editor Booth Moore with research for her new book, American Runway: 75 Years of Fashion and the Front Row (CFDA & Abrams). Stephanie currently freelances for The Hollywood Reporter and is also helping private collector Jill Lasersohn archive her 3,000-piece textile collection. With a particular penchant for dress in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century society portraiture, Stephanie is passionate about the intersection of fashion and art. |
Acknowledgements
From NYU’s Steinhardt School we would like to thank Aanchal Bakshi, Tammy Lee Brown, Rachel Harrison, Vonetta Moses, and Erin Sircy. We are especially grateful to Nancy Deihl, Director of the M.A. program in Costume Studies, without whose dedication to the field this course and exhibition would not have been possible.
We thank the staff of 80WSE for their support, enthusiasm, and thoughtful advice, including Director Nicola Lees, Exhibition Coordinator Ben Hatcher, Gallery Manager Hugh O’Rourke, temporary Gallery Manager Lucas Quigley, and Curatorial Assistant Maral Babai.
For their generosity and confidence we would like to extend our gratitude to our lenders, as well as their invaluable liaisons: Bésame Cosmetics (Gabriela A. Hernandez), Coty Archives, Max Factor, and Cover Girl Collections (Hannah Adkins), Glossier (Bela Yousif), The Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library at the Costume Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art (Andrew Bolton, Julie Lê), Maybelline New York (Melissa Reidhead), The Makeup Museum (Hillary Belzer), and Tina Davies Professional.
Several individuals have lent their time and creative expertise towards realizing important elements of this project. We extend our sincerest thanks to Heidi Bohnenkamp, Mi-Anne Chan, Andrew Jacob Chavez, Monica J. Driscoll, Joyce Fung, Stephanie Kramer, Kathy Peiss, Sarah Scaturro, Leticia Valdez, Michael T. Villella, and Omer Ben Zvi.
Finally, a special thanks to our instructor, Mellissa Huber, for guiding us throughout this process and providing extensive support.
We thank the staff of 80WSE for their support, enthusiasm, and thoughtful advice, including Director Nicola Lees, Exhibition Coordinator Ben Hatcher, Gallery Manager Hugh O’Rourke, temporary Gallery Manager Lucas Quigley, and Curatorial Assistant Maral Babai.
For their generosity and confidence we would like to extend our gratitude to our lenders, as well as their invaluable liaisons: Bésame Cosmetics (Gabriela A. Hernandez), Coty Archives, Max Factor, and Cover Girl Collections (Hannah Adkins), Glossier (Bela Yousif), The Irene Lewisohn Costume Reference Library at the Costume Institute, Metropolitan Museum of Art (Andrew Bolton, Julie Lê), Maybelline New York (Melissa Reidhead), The Makeup Museum (Hillary Belzer), and Tina Davies Professional.
Several individuals have lent their time and creative expertise towards realizing important elements of this project. We extend our sincerest thanks to Heidi Bohnenkamp, Mi-Anne Chan, Andrew Jacob Chavez, Monica J. Driscoll, Joyce Fung, Stephanie Kramer, Kathy Peiss, Sarah Scaturro, Leticia Valdez, Michael T. Villella, and Omer Ben Zvi.
Finally, a special thanks to our instructor, Mellissa Huber, for guiding us throughout this process and providing extensive support.