Julia Jessen

Julia Jessen will graduate in May 2020 from Syracuse University with dual master’s degrees in art history and museum studies. In her graduate studies, Julia focused on research and curatorial work in American and Native American art. She curated the exhibition Making History, Justifying Conquest: Depictions of Native Americans in American Book Company Textbooks at the SUArt galleries. The exhibition featured textbook illustrations of Native Americans from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Julia is particularly interested in curatorial projects that expand limited narratives and engage untold stories. After completing her degree this spring, she hopes to continue working in museums in a curatorial role.

Julia completed her bachelor’s at the University of Iowa, majoring in art history, studio art, and journalism, with a museum studies certificate. After graduating, she served as the education coordinator at the University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art for three years before beginning her graduate education. Julia has interned at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Project Art at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, University of Iowa Old Capitol Museum, and the Charles H. MacNider Art Museum. She currently works as a teaching assistant for the SU Department of Art and Music Histories.