The U-M Museum of Art and U-M Department of History of Art have selected PhD candidate Susan Dine as the 2017-18 UMMA-History of Art Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow, a position she will hold for the academic year.

Dine will pursue both scholarly work relevant to her specialization in Asian art and will develop digital and educational resources for college, K-12, and public audiences.

“This fellowship directly addresses key initiatives for UMMA in nurturing promising young scholars and exposing them to career paths in museum and curatorial work,” says Kathryn Huss, UMMA Interim Director. “Their work helps to ensure that UMMA’s exhibitions and collections are deeply relevant to teaching and learning across the University and beyond.” 

Prior to coming to Michigan, Dine earned her master of arts in Japanese art history at the University of Washington, and her undergraduate degree in art history and studio art at Oakland University in Michigan. She has written and taught about Asian art in many contexts, and has previously worked at the Freer Gallery of Art and the Seattle Asian Art Museum. 

At UMMA, she contributed to the exhibition Japanese Prints of Kabuki Theater from the UMMA Collections with Natsu Oyobe, Senior Curator for Asian Art.  As a Ph.D. candidate, Dine is writing a dissertation, "Seeing Speech, Reading Bodies: Materiality and Manifestations of Language in Japanese Buddhist Visual Culture of the Twelfth to Fourteenth Centuries." 

While at UMMA, Dine will work on a number of curatorial and education projects related to her interests in religious and ritual objects from Asia and their connection to the senses. 

“I am very excited about the opportunity to work with UMMA staff, and I hope to achieve a better understanding of the many aspects of Museum work,” says Dine. “I have completed the Museum Studies certificate program at U-M and am very interested in learning more about forms of display and various levels of access for visitors within museums during my fellowship year."

Grants from the Mellon Foundation have allowed UMMA to nurture exceptional Ph.D. candidates in U-M’s History of Art program through an in-depth curatorial experience at the Museum. Dine is the sixth UMMA/History of Art Fellow.

This article was originally published at umma.umich.edu.