Katie Parks, Class of '24
Katie Parks graduated from JMU in 2024 with a degree in Art History and Museum Studies. Currently, she is the registration assistant at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. She works closely with the registrars, art handlers, and collections managers to ensure the safekeeping of art as it moves into and out of the VMFA's care. Primary tasks include assisting with exhibition installations and de-installations, tracking and labelling incoming acquisitions, creating and editing TMS records, object handling, and record keeping. Her internship at the MAC, where she worked extensively on the Roman coin collection with Dr. Jason Forsyth, prepared her for entering the museum field and allowed her to put her best foot forward in a professional setting.
Julianne White, Class of '24
Julianne White (Art History and Anthropology, Class of 2024) is a graduate student of anthropology and archaeology at the University of Virginia. As a historical archaeologist, she works in the mid-Atlantic region. Her research project focuses on groups displaced from current-day Shenandoah National Park, using quotidian material evidence to deconstruct and disprove the narratives used to justify their displacement. All of her work is done with the goal of moving towards a more decolonized archaeology, untangling colonial perspectives in practice, research, and interpretation. At the Madison Art Collection, where she was was an intern and a student assistant, she worked on a number of projects, including researching and contextualising our archeological collection.
Abby Wiggins, Class of '24
From September 2024 to April 2025, Abby Wiggins (Art History, Class of '24) will be one of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Advanced-Level Interns. She works with the Curator of Time-Based Media and the Curator of Folk and Self-Taught Art, organizing curatorial files, creating a digital archive, and providing research and writing support. Abby's internship at the MAC was her first experience working with a museum collection, which taught her how to build research documents for objects, write concise narratives about artworks and collections, rethink cataloguing practices for our North American collection and navigate databases--all skills she uses very often at SAAM.
