Molly Mapstone is a PhD candidate studying American art. Her dissertation, “Mediating Vision and Negotiating Narratives: Contemporary U.S. Installation Art and Its Expanding Publics, 1966–2019,” investigates key works of installation art from a perspective that centers media created by the viewing public. She is also interested in unconventional materials new to the history of art, in particular, plastics.

Molly has held fellowships with the Getty Library, Harvard Art Museums, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her work is also supported by the Society of Winterthur Fellows and Tyler’s Marcia Hall Research Award. A presentation featuring research from a chapter of her dissertation garnered the runner-up for the John McNay American Paper Prize at the annual Barnes Club conference.

In addition to her research, Molly developed and taught Art After the Internet, a new course that explores post-internet art and the relationship between the digital and material world. Her master’s thesis at the Winterthur Program, “The Materiality and Art History of Glitter,” examined the material’s origins, social history and power to convey meaning. She received her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison while working at the Chazen Museum of Art as the Print Room Assistant where she curated exhibitions of works on paper. 

 

Primary Advisor: Erin Pauwels, PhD