What’s it like to STUDY ART HISTORY?

This week, as you can tell, this is going to be a very different episode of By Amara. I am going to talk with different accents the entire time. Just kidding.

I am going to shake things up with another art history-related video. All the way back in episode 41, I did a how to get a job in art history video. Oh, that was exactly 20 episodes ago.

Anyway, so this episode's off to a rocky start.

But this week on the podcast, we're actually going to be talking about what it's like studying art history. So we're going to look at all things grad school, undergrad, flip those, undergrad first, grad school, internships, and everything in between. So get ready, I'm already tongue-tied.

Hi, welcome back to the show. As you know, I am a simpleton and I just start talking and blah. So normally on the show, we talk about all things weird, strange, and downright odd that have happened in the art and history fields.

But I actually wanted to switch things up this episode.

I received a couple different questions shockingly on the other podcast episode that I was talking to you about. So if you're curious at all about how to get a job in art history, definitely check that out because I give you all the ins and outs and turmoils that I faced and all my various tips and tricks on how to actually successfully get a job, which is very fun because money is nice.

So I actually got a couple questions both on the video and just like in my DMs on Instagram and TikTok and everything about my actual experience. So like I go a little in depth, not too much, about what it was like to study art history,

Both levels of undergrad and grad school. So I figured this episode I'd actually just devote to what's it like to study art history. It is kind of this black box of what do you actually do, what do you learn, how difficult is it, is it easy, is it hard.

That's what she said. Sorry, okay, cut that part out. Anywho, I'm just going to get straight into it.

So I have two very different experiences for undergrad and grad school.

Undergrad, I went to a private four-year liberal arts college that had a major emphasis on actually creating the art. So it was basically art school, but you actually got a holistic, full, sorry, my bracelet keeps hitting the table and it's distracting. But I went to a private four-year liberal arts college, but most of the emphasis was on actually creating the art, so whether visual art, performative arts, cinematic arts, all the different arts.

And so that was my undergrad experience, so it was

Very different compared to my grad school experience where I went to a four-year, or four-year, a two-year public research institute university. It was a very, very polarizing, sort of, not polarizing, but two very different experiences because at my grad school, it was very much you had all the different majors. It was predominantly actually business or medical professionals that went to that school, but they did have do did have a good

Art history program as well, and it was just easier for me to commute, being honest, and it was very budget friendly. So anyways, let's just get straight into the episode. So first I want to start with undergrad.

What's it like to study art history as an undergrad? Your parents are probably very disappointed in you or probably not super happy that you're choosing to study this archaic-seeming profession. Right?

Wrong. Also, if you're a parent and you're actually supporting your kid in this, that is very sweet of you.

Just know that it's going to be very competitive going into it, just like I guess all creative sort of disciplines are, but art history is very, very, very competitive, shockingly. And okay, so how do I even want to start this? I guess, what is art history?

Like what is getting your bachelor's in art history? Essentially, the foundation of the program, which again, I should also offer, this is just my experience. If you have a totally different experience, that's awesome.

We're going to have different experiences just depending on where we're at in life and when we went to school and what school and all those various different things. So if you have a different experience, cool, don't be an asshole in the comments and we'll all get along just fine, or make your own fucking video. So anyways, I just I hate when it's like, "Well, that wasn't…" That's cool, Sandra, just have your own fucking video.

Okay, anyway, that's enough expletives for this episode. So, in your undergrad program, essentially

What you are doing is you are establishing your vocabulary and how to actually look at things. Cuz like right now I'm looking at you, I see you, I see you right now, put on some pants. No, just teasing.

You do you. But, or I hear you, cuz this is a podcast with a video component. Anyway.

So, what you're learning is all the vocabulary, so like chiaroscuro, what does that mean? And how to explain what it is that you're seeing in the

Vocabulary of various different professionals who you're going to be encountering in the field. You're also going to learn the ways of looking. So, in my education, it was formal analysis, contextual analysis, and interpretive analysis.

Interpretive meaning that you're reading critical theories and theoretical principles in a wide array of various different things and kind of like philosophy also. Art history's a very interesting intersection. Just like I guess most disciplines aren't just, "This is what you're doing," but art history really is

You dive into human psychology in a way, but also anthropology. You dive into many, many, many different areas and then you just kind of mush them together if that makes sense. So, sorry, I'm just looking at my notes just trying to make sure I'm keeping on track.

So basically, you are looking at how to look at things, cuz you can see something, but when you are actively looking at it, you're going to see a lot of different, various things. And tied to that, like I said, is contextual analysis, which is one of my

Favorite modes of looking just because you are providing exterior context to what it is that you're looking at. So, for instance, the Mona Lisa, well, you want to know, okay, who was it created by, when was it created, where, why, because that all helps you look at this in a very different light versus just being a portrait of a woman.

It is now the Mona Lisa, or La Gioconda, or whatever you want to term it as. Knowing who the sitter was, which we possibly do know,

That will provide even more context to this piece and why it is specific and unique to its time period and cultural place and various other different things, which is really fun and fascinating to know. So, interpretive also, you're going to read a lot of theory or at least get an introduction to it. A lot of the people that I went to school with were already very familiar with theory, which I was like, how in the fuck have you already been reading all of this?

I felt so stupid in my program. So, I had to try 10 times harder because it seemed like everybody had already engaged with this stuff, which I was just like, where the hell are you from? Like,

You must have gone to really good schools or something. So, in addition to learning these modes of looking, you're also going to learn how to write academically. Now, you may love writing, you may love creative writing, you may love various other types of writing.

I personally loved writing before I got into this program. I actually in high school, I was always editing my friends' papers just because I really loved it and I found that fun. Stupid, I know.

But I loved writing. It was one of my favorite things, just like actually writing like persuasive style things. So, that really came in handy when it came to writing academically.

It is a very different

Heady sort of type of writing. It's very specific, so now that I'm in a very different business, which I'll talk about a little bit later, it'll just inevitably come up, I've had to sort of reframe how I write from writing with as many words as possible to describe something to now trying to get to the very least amount of words possible with like fourth grade reading level.

So, it's been very different, both learning to do that and then trying to come

Off of it in a way. I very much appreciate academic writing. It is an art in and of itself, because you're trying to fit all these words, kind of like how comedians write jokes.

Like every single word should have a reason for being within your joke. So, again, academically it can get a little long-winded when you're reading things, and you might sort of phase out, but then to me that isn't really good academic writing, so anyway. TL;DR, you're going to learn how to write academically.

If writing isn't your thing, you should 100% not consider this profession to be fully honest with you.

Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of your time is going to be spent writing, no matter what profession you're in the art history field, in addition to research, which we're going to talk about in a second. So, I 100%, I don't like telling people not to do things, but if you don't like writing, you should not get into this major.

I'm sorry, but just to be fully honest with you so you save your time and money, probably don't do it. So, then that brings me to research. I love research.

Even before I knew what the fuck art history was as a major, I never thought about it as a major for myself,

So I loved doing research, though. I was always trying to find like, it was more music-related for me just because I like very weird, obscure '60s music. So, very specific.

But I love doing research, and that was one of the things that led me to be like, "Oh, I could actually do this for a living," which is pretty fucking sweet. So, that combined with the academic writing, those are two major parts of a program in art history. So, if you don't like doing research, if you don't like reading old texts and trying to figure out, essentially you're a problem solver and you're trying to figure out, "Okay, what

Do I need to do to, like where do I need to go to be able to find the information that I need to find?" Because it could be out there and it could be buried in an archival box that you may not, or like you or whoever, may not have ever seen it, opened it, found it, whatever. So, you need to be able to do that on your own and know kind of where to go and where to sort of follow the threads.

So, that is something else that you're going to learn. You are also going to spend a lot of time reading. This is a very, very solitary profession, even though you will sort of work with people a little bit

In real life depending on like what you're doing. Like if you're writing a journal article with different people, then obviously it's going to be much more interactive. But for the most part, you're going to be on your own.

Like you have to be very self-motivated and very diligent and very self-responsible and be okay with being by yourself a lot, for the majority of your time. And that isn't for everybody. Like, for me, I definitely felt very isolated and alone and I like having more people input.

Even in my profession now, I'm very much alone. So,

I guess it wasn't too bad, but anyway, TL;DR, it'll be very self-motivated and you're going to be by yourself a lot, so just get ready for that. In creative disciplines, a lot of times you'll have a little bit more interaction because then like you'll have your little cohort and everything that you could ask like, "Hey, does this suck?

What do you think about this? Blah." So, yes, so you are also going to do a lot of reading. You're going to do a lot of reading at a very heady level also.

Like I said, you're going to be learning theory.

Some of it may not even be in English, or it'll be a really rough translation. Side note, this is going to sound super pretentious, but I mean it with all sincerity. If you can, read theory or any sort of texts in their original language as much as you can.

So, again, I'm not saying you need to be fluent in 1600 different languages, that'd be fucking sweet, though. But you definitely should consider reading the texts in their original language because some things are actually lost in translation. Like, sometimes there will never be, it's like Schadenfreude.

Like, there is no, the German word, but there is no American, or American, English equivalent.

We have to have like, it's not as compact of a phrase, like we have to try to explain it. So, just try to read in the original language as much as you can if you can. So, like I said, you have a good amount of reading, but not intolerable.

Wait until I tell you about grad school. Holy fuck. So, in the undergrad art history program, again, depends on your program, blah, but essentially you're just learning kind of the basics, like the foundation of what you're going to use then for grad school and possibly PhD and then postdoc and so on and so forth for the rest of your cute little life.

You may also select an area of study within your program. This isn't typically the case. It depends again on your university or college or program or whatever.

I actually, did I have to select a specialization? Well, I did by proxy, just because of excuse me. Oo, excuse me.

I did by proxy because of my thesis at the end, which I'm also going to, this is leading me into that. So, you may have to declare a specialization, which you'll work with your advisor or your director of studies or whomever

About what that actually looks like for you. So, just keep that on your mind as you're selecting courses. That also brings me then to courses.

It's going to be a very broad sort of look at things, so you're going to get your introduction into art history. Predominantly, it's going to be European art history, just because that's what the predominant profession has, that's predominantly what the profession has been for a very long time. It's only been around like a hundred years as a profession.

Well, couple hundred, but whatever. So, it'll predominantly be European art history, but

Some colleges now are integrating way more various different types of art history, which is really cool. I love it. I wanted to take every single class.

I read the description and I was like, "Yeah, sign me up for all of them," and then it was like, "You have 400 classes." So, if you also see a course that is available in the semester and it's not a requirement of your program, you should take it immediately. They may not offer it next semester, next year, whatever, it might just be a one and done.

So, if you have any remote interest in it, you need to sign up. If you also have friends who may kind of be interested in taking it,

Convince them to take it, otherwise the program, or sorry, the class may not happen. That happened to me twice. I was so excited.

One was a Japanese art class. I don't remember exactly what it was, but it was a very specific, it was like the Edo period of art and the Meiji period, I believe. So, it was a very, very, very specific class, but I was so excited for it and it got cancelled because I was only one of three people that signed up for it, go figure.

And I wish I had asked people within my tiny little group, I was the only, I was one of the only art history majors in my undergrad,

So in the entire college, so shocking. And I wish I had convinced other people to sign up for it, because I would have loved to have taken that class, but I digress. So, your coursework will also, there are going to be specific courses that you absolutely have to take just because that's what your college is dictating, so just keep that in mind also.

Work very closely with your advisor for undergrad just to set you up for success, so then you also aren't wasting any of your tuition dollars. Even if it's on your parents' dime, still just keep that in mind, it is expensive, so don't don't take any longer than you absolutely need to.

So, let's see, where else was I? Oh, also, your program may end with a thesis or a capstone or some kind of ending project. I had a thesis and I had a whole presentation.

It was four of us in my cohort, but I was the only one who was actually or no, I think there were two of us in art history, I don't quite remember now. It feels like it was very recent, but it was also quite a long time ago. And we had a thesis presentation at the end, because they have a whole

Street art festival thing that's like the entire campus, which is across the city of Chicago. It was so fucking cool. It's still one of my favorite events to go to, Manifest, check it out at Columbia College Chicago.

It is really fun, I love it. But part of that is doing your thesis presentation. So, public speaking is my enemy, which that is also a skill that you learn, is how to speak publicly and voice your thoughts and opinions and back it up with data and things, which is very helpful.

So,

I had to do a presentation. They have an award and then they give you a monetary prize at my college where I went, and they actually just put it into my account. I did win, which was very exciting, and I honestly didn't think I was going to, so that was really cool.

So anyway, just think about that going through your program. You will have a thesis or a capstone at the very end. So, kind of try to figure out what you want that to be and figure that out with your advisor and even start kind of practicing

Your writing for writing this bigger thesis if you can. Not all programs are kind of going to point you that way, but just something to keep in mind that I wish I had kept in mind at the beginning. I didn't really think about the thesis as much.

I was more just like, "I want to take everything because I'm curious about every single thing." If you know me, I will ask you a million fucking questions whenever I see you, just because I'm very curious about everything. I think one or two more things to wrap up the undergrad section. Yes, so there will also be opportunities to travel abroad as an undergrad.

Do them immediately. As soon as you see the opportunity, sign up for it, get in there, because I messed that up. I, well, I didn't, it just wasn't offered the next year, unfortunately.

There was a summer abroad in Florence, Italy to study art history, which holy hell, that would have been absolutely amazing. I didn't have the funds though at the time, and I think I saw it maybe like a week after. There was some sort of timing thing that also didn't work out.

I really wish I had done that. And

Obviously now, as a grown-ass adult, I can go, but just having that experience would have been so cool, and just to be in the Uffizi and doing all these various different things and conservation work and just being amongst the art with people who love art as much as I do, that would have been really amazing. So, if you have any interest even remotely, do the travel abroad experience, because you get to go with some faculty members, you get to go with some of your classmates, and it can just be a really cool thing

To be able to participate in. You also then can get to know your faculty members and your colleagues a lot better. Art history's a very, very small field.

Shocking, I know. The people that you study with or go to like study under or study with, you're going to see them forever for the rest of your life. Like, that's just how it goes.

It's like very, any other small profession. Like then,

To provide more context, I was an archivist after studying art history at my grad school, as like a full-time person. Archiving is also a very small profession. So, three, like the people that you meet throughout your time, just don't burn bridges is what I'm trying to fucking dance around.

Just be very nice, be inquisitive and like thoughtful and kind, because also you will need letters of recommendation from your professors. So, the more interactive you can be with them and the more they can remember you, the better, just to put it

Point-blank. Final thing for undergrad, use your gen eds to your maximum potential. For instance, in grad school, most programs, so for my program specifically, which we're going to get to the grad school section in just a second, I had to furnish that I could speak a foreign language.

So, you go through this whole test, you need to show, "Hey, I can translate what this actually means." My language was French. Thankfully,

Without even meaning to, I was just curious to take the language, honestly, again, be curious, and I was able to use my French from my undergrad from my gen eds, and I took a couple semesters, I think like three or four. So, I have a pretty good grasp on French, so I was able to translate. It took me a little bit longer, just because I was a little rusty at that time, but just think ahead, use your gen eds to their full potential and take a foreign language.

Even if you don't know what your specialization's going to be in grad school, just take a foreign language that you think would be remotely close. French is actually very good, surprisingly, if you want to study like African art, if you want to do European, a wide variety, the French colonized the shit out of the world, so there's a lot of French that is spoken across the world.

Also, Spanish is very, very good to know too, so just, I don't know, I kind of recommend one of those two languages, so just FYI, something to keep in mind. Okay, now on to grad school. So,

Grad school was really getting into some shit. Just for me, in my personal life, I had a lot going on, so it was a very interesting sort of time. Prepare for a lot.

It is going to be way more difficult, in my experience, than undergrad, which people say typically the inverse for their grad school experience in a variety of different disciplines and majors and programs, that grad school was much more easy or much easier than their undergrad experience. Mine was the exact opposite.

There was so much reading that you had to do and I was taking a full course load. I was commuting every day, which I did get to read on the train, which was very helpful. I was working almost full-time and I was interning part-time.

So, I had a lot going on, so trying to find the time to do homework and read, I probably would have done things a little bit differently, but it worked out in the end and now I can prioritize a lot of various different things.

So, what you primarily need to be ready for is a lot, a lot of reading and it gets even headier the higher up you go in your education. So, again, I was surrounded by some of the most brilliant, smartest fucking people I've ever met, and I was like, I have no idea what you're saying. Like, can you just put it in dumb-dumb plain English for me because you're you're saying a lot of words and I have no idea what you're saying.

And this sounds really stupid, but it's true, and just to be fully honest, like I feel like I had to study eight times harder because everyone else seemed to already understand what they were talking about. So, then I had to read various other things to supplement what the actual homework was to understand what the fuck was going on in my courses.

So, just something to consider. It'll be a lot. It'll be very dense.

So, just try to make the time as best as you can for it. I was very honest with some of my professors like, "I didn't do the reading because I just didn't have time, so can you just give me a like Cliff Notes so I can participate in the discussions?"

That is also something that you need to get ready for. Grad school's a lot more discussion-based as well. There was discussion for undergrad, but grad school was very, very, again, just my own personal experience.

It was less, "Look at these images and this is what you should know," and it was more, "What do you think from your perspective or your thoughts and opinions or your interpretation of these readings?" So, it was much more on you to then also supplement what you were reading with external

Sources and theories and writers and various different things. I also talked about the foreign language requirement. Definitely, definitely, definitely know what your foreign language is going to be, because you will 99% certain you will have a test on it for like to prove that you can actually speak or at least translate or have some sort of fucking idea of a foreign language, so know that.

That will also be found with your coursework. Like I said, grad school, you're going to be much more specialized. Sorry, I keep looking down, my little thingy has like a low battery thing, so I might need to take a hiatus in a sec, or I'll just push through this quickly.

The foreign, or foreign language requirement, your coursework is going to be much more specialized.

It will be you will figure out what you want your area of specialization to be. For me, I danced around 80 different things, just because I was like, "Well, I want it all to be my specialization. I find everything interesting." At the end of the day, I did go for 18th century French specialization, specifically like this is so specific, but early modern French artwork.

So, like 17 maybe like 1720 to about 1780 or so, so it was mostly like the Rococo and different things like that.

And it was very specific. So, French happened to work out and it just worked out that way. Also, again, some courses might not be able be available every year, especially if your professors are going on a sabbatical or something like that, so just keep that in mind.

Also, keep that in mind when you're selecting a thesis advisor. I had a little bit of an issue trying to find an advisor and that was very difficult for me. I actually hated the advisor experience, to be fully honest.

It was not

Great for me. So, be very, very careful with who you're selecting as your advisor, if they can actually get back to you in a timely fashion. You will have to keep on them.

Again, no shade to my advisor. They did the best that they could, but it was just very complicated because the person I really wanted to work with was going on sabbatical and I was like, "Are you fucking kidding me? I have to graduate.

I'm not going to be stuck here all the time. I don't have money to waste and time to waste." So,

Make sure you are very, very, very diligent with choosing your advisor. Ask them if they're planning on going on sabbatical to write a book anytime soon, if they're planning on leaving the country for months at a time, if they're going to be responsive to your emails. I did have to get on my advisor multiple times because sometimes it would be a couple weeks, even a month at one time, before I heard back from them, and I emailed multiple times.

It was a whole fucking thing. So, I hated the experience, honestly, for my thesis advisor. It was not great.

So, just keep that in mind when you are selecting someone.

At the end of your program, 99% certain you will have to write a thesis. Some people, my program had you do a two-paper option if you didn't want to write a thesis, or you could do like a capstone project or something. It totally depends on your program.

I did a thesis, again, very long, tons of research, tons of rewriting, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing, writing. I never want to read that thesis ever again. Again, my grad school experience wasn't amazing, unfortunately, but I am glad I did it and I'm really glad I did it right after undergrad, because I honestly don't know if I would have gone back to go to grad school.

And most of the jobs, which, again, listen to episode 41 if you want to know more about getting a job,

The jobs required a master's level at least, at the very minimum. So, if I wanted to get any sort of work, I had to have a master's degree, so it just it worked out in the end. I also was able to get a tuition waiver because I worked on campus in the archives, which ended up working out for future jobs and things like that.

So, keep that in mind, definitely look for tuition waivers if you can, any sort of work-study kind of programs. They do have those for both undergrad and grad school, so definitely check those out. And then finally, just a quick note on internships.

Definitely do them. Do them, do them, do them, even if they're unpaid. I know they say don't do free labor.

Fuck that. You need to have experience, and if you can't get experience any other way, you need to get experience. Like I understand you need to get paid, and trust me, it fucking sucked when I was making $7 an hour and I was working my ass off and not making any fucking money.

So, doing free labor sucks, but it really helped get me ready for

Future opportunities and to have something on my resume, because it at least said, "Well, at least she's trying and she's not just working in fucking retail for the rest of her life." So, definitely do them. Try to keep, obviously, the unpaid labor to a minimum, but at least get something to start you off and don't just be like, "Oh, I can't do that because I'm not getting paid." That is complete and utter bullshit.

I'm sorry. I think that's stupid advice, honestly. I think you do need to be able to do some kind of something in your field to at least get your foot in the door.

I did two unpaid internships and they were some of the it was some of the best experience I've ever gotten. I also did unpaid docent work at a museum, also, which was very helpful. I volunteered for that, so it was a little bit different.

And just do as many and as varied of an experience as you can in your field, because who knows, you might think you want to be a curator, but then at the end of the day you're like, "I actually hate doing this amount of research and it's just a very high-stress job. I don't want to have any part of that. Instead, I want to be an archivist," which still has stress to it, but it's much more mellow.

Excuse me.

I just choked on my own spit. So, anyway, if you can, do as many different ones as possible. Try to get paid if you can, but at the end of the day you may not be able to, so yeah.

I'm already starting my outro music without even thinking about it, so I just want to keep everything pretty tight and clean and whatever. So, if you have any questions at all about school, work, whatever, anything art history-related, definitely reach out to me. If I didn't scare you off with all my F-bombs, sorry, I'm just very passionate about this.

And if you have any questions at all, leave them in the comments, I'll probably make an episode about it. Next week, we should be back to our regularly scheduled By Amara programming, and yeah, just let me know any questions you have. I'm totally here to help, and just don't be afraid.

So, thank you for all those who have reached out. I hope this helps if you are still having questions. So, yeah, good luck with everything.

Amara Andrew, never stop creating.