Doctoral candidate Tess McCoy has been awarded several research grants to aid in the continuation of her dissertation. She was awarded the American Philosophical Society’s Phillips Fund for Native American Research. This fund provides grants to those whose projects focus on Native American history and work with Native communities within the U.S. and Canada. Tess was also awarded the FSU Department of Art History Mason Dissertation Research Award and the Helen J. Beard Conference Travel Grant.

Throughout the past summer and continuing this fall, Tess’s travels take her to Washington D.C., New York, and several cities in Alaska and Canada to pursue research for her dissertation, “The Art of Indigenous Storytelling: Abstract Counter-Narrations in the Installation Works of Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Hannah Claus, and Maureen Gruben.” This project engages these three Indigenous women artists’ practices and artworks through materiality, relationality, and experiential engagement. Utilizing the theoretical and methodological approaches of visual sovereignty and storywork, Tess reveals these pieces as storied objects.

Right: Credible, Idiot Strings, Sonya Kelliher-Combs (Iñupiaq, Athabascan, Irish, German), 2022, printed cotton fabric, nylon thread, wool, steel wire, monofilament. Above: Downtown Juneau, Alaska.

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A Florida State University doctoral candidate in art history is the recipient of a Fulbright Greece-Turkey Joint Research Award for the 2023-24 academic year. Caitlin Mims will conduct research at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens and at Marmara University in Istanbul.   The joint award is provided by the Greek and Turkish Fulbright Commissions and allows students to engage in comparative trans-regional research and study.

“I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to conduct dissertation research in Greece and Türkiye and to represent the United States as a Fulbright Research Award recipient,” said Mims. “Many thanks are due to my advisor Lynn Jones, the Department of Art History, and the Office of National Fellowships for their mentorship and support of my project.”

During her time abroad, Mims will examine a group of Byzantine amulets which depict “the wandering womb” and were used to treat gynecological issues in women. This group of artifacts is evidence of the intersection of magic, medicine and religion in the Middle Byzantine period.

She will also examine amulets in the collections of the Benaki Museum and the Athens Numismatic Museum while in Greece and the Haluk Perk Collection, the Rezan Has Museum and the Istanbul Archeological Museum in Türkiye.

“Earning a Fulbright scholarship is a rare honor,” said Lorenzo Pericolo, chair of the Department of Art History. “It requires a solid research project, carefully formulated and promising in its outcomes. Caitlin worked hard to succeed in this. She and students like her set the example for new generations of doctoral candidates.”

Related article: Nine FSU students earn Fulbright Scholarships

Administered by the U.S. Department of State, the Fulbright Student Awards program offers grants for recent college graduates, graduate students, and young professionals to study, research, and/or teach English in participating countries around the world for one year.

Caitlin is one of nine outstanding Florida State University graduate students and alumni who were awarded Fulbrights for the 2023–24 academic year.