The following alumni trace a path of curiosity and passion that began as students in Vanessa Walker-Oakes’ AP Art History class. They advance scholarship, manage exhibitions and objects, and use their knowledge to inspire students of all ages, fostering the infectious and enthusiastic passion for art they acquired at Flintridge Prep. At the core of all their work is an appreciation of art history as a way to interpret visual references in the modern world and a belief in the transformative potential of art to tell the story of humanity.

Nolan Jimbo ’11

Assistant curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, where his projects focus on Asian diasporic artists

BA • art history and French • Tufts / MA • art history • Williams College

“I use the basics of visual analysis [I learned from Vanessa Walker-Oakes] all the time. I think it’s a way not only to be a curator, but to be a person in the world. Images hold so much power. That’s why art history remains such a relevant discipline. It’s not just museums and connoisseurship. It’s about how you interrogate your own vision.

I’m currently preparing an exhibition dedicated to Kenzi Shiokava, a Japanese Brazilian artist who was born in São Paulo and lived in LA. His work has never been shown in a solo museum exhibition before.

My work has always been inextricably linked to questions around diversity and equity. When I arrived at MCA, I immediately did research on the collection. Of 3,000 works, 1.5% were made by Asian or Asian diasporic artists, which is out of sync with the demographics of the city.”

Mallory Cohen ’11

Curatorial assistant, Department of Architecture and Design, Museum of Modern Art, New York

BA • art history • Oberlin College / Fulbright Fellowship • Côte d’Ivoire / MA • art history • Williams College

“I’ve always been interested in how contemporary African artists, especially in West Africa, are responding to legacies of a modernity in the decades following independence. I’m interested in how artists use their work to respond to political history. One reason the region was so interesting to me is that there are comparatively fewer people who are writing on this work than they are about Western art history.

The single most important thing that a museum can do today is to bring forth art that does not have a wide history of being shown in museums. I think presenting work from Africa to an audience is of such critical importance.”

Isabella Lores-Chavez, PhD ’08

Associate curator of European paintings at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

BA • art history • Yale / PhD • art history • Columbia University

“Art is all about the human experience. Studying art history is about thinking about historical developments and personalizing them. It just puts you in the shoes of someone who you otherwise wouldn’t really have access to like nothing else can.

The responsibility of curators is to provide information in a way that makes anyone who comes through the door feel like they are equipped to be there. I’m a native Spanish speaker, and it’s not every day that a fluent Spanish speaker is a curator of European art. I’m working on providing Spanish-language programming at the Legion of Honor. I got into this in order to speak with people in front of works of art.”

Kate Bork Austin ’10

Rights and reproductions coordinator at the Norton Simon Museum

BA • art history • Pepperdine University / MA • art history • Academy of Art University / Certificate in digital asset management • Rutgers University School of Communication and Information

“In my role, I get a lot of direct access to art, which just fills my spirit with happiness. There’s such a beautiful intimacy in seeing a painting out of its frame.

I love data. Art history is so detail oriented. You need to have a mind for the visual and for metadata.

The CEO of the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, Sandra Jackson-Dumont, did a keynote at a recent conference in which she reflected on storytelling, connection, and the privilege museums hold as the nationally most trusted sources of truth. Her ending message was ‘speak the truth and point to hope.’ I think only good can come from filling the field with those trained by educators like Vanessa Walker-Oakes, who are taking a more empathetic mindset of art history filled with both truth and hope.”

 

Katie Leavens ’09

Associate registrar of loans and exhibitions at the Huntington

BA • art history • University of Redlands / MA • art and museum studies • Georgetown University / Certificate in art business • Sotheby’s Institute of Art

“The Huntington has historically had only two collecting departments, European and American works, and they are working to represent more people and places. I just finished a successful Sargeant Claude Johnson exhibit. He was a Black artist who worked on major WPA commissions, primarily in San Francisco. The show was the first retrospective of his work in 40 years.

Registration is not a well known part of museum culture, but it is integral. A registrar is a librarian for artwork. The curator has the idea for a show, and does the research, picks the objects. The registrar makes their ideas happen. I do a lot of educating people on what our procedures are and what we need to do to make artwork travel safely and be on view to the public.”

 

 

 

 

Raquel Olvera ’11

English and art history teacher at Roosevelt Senior High School in Los Angeles

BA • art history • Boston College / MEd • UCLA

“I teach at a Title 1 public school in a low-income setting. It’s also the community my parents and I grew up in.

I don’t think art history has ever been more essential and relevant. It is one of the only disciplines you can examine the human capacity to create. Flintridge Prep gave me that as my North Star.

You become a teacher because in some place in some classroom some teacher made you feel more human and lit you up. For me that was Vanessa Walker-Oakes and art history.

Students at Roosevelt haven’t been put in proximity of art. I ask my students, ‘when was the last time you went to the museum? When was the last time you saw something beautiful?’ They don’t raise their hand. The point of education is to explore ourselves, the world around us, and what makes us human. My promise to my students is that through art history they will find the history of humanity.

In the modern world, there is this idea that beauty is subjective. I think the study of art history goes against that idea. There is objective beauty, or, at the very least, something that ties us together.”

Claire Kinder ’08

8th grade earth and space science and geometry teacher at Flintridge Prep. She co-taught art history with Vanessa Walker-Oakes from 2021-2024.

BA • art history and criticism • UCSD / MA • history of art and architecture • Boston University

“Art history gives students access to a new layer of history. Instead of reading five primary sources, you can look at one painting and understand the mindset, the religious beliefs, literacy levels, socioeconomics.

We live in a visual world, so being able to digest it and comprehend it, find meaning in anything we see, is important.

I had thought about majoring in physics or cognitive science. Art history won the day, but the skills carry over to other fields. Majoring in art history does not close doors—it opens them.

In class, we grapple with the question ‘what does it mean for art to be art? Is it the skill of the person that made it, the beauty of the product, or the meaning conveyed? Is it that it is unique? Is it okay if there are copies?’”

Kristin Brisbois, PhD ’11

Learning coordinator at the Huntington

BA • art history and French • Pepperdine University / MA • curating the art museum • Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London / PhD • education, culture, communications, and media • University College London / board member • Flintridge Prep 7th grade Museum of Los Angeles Geography (LAMoG)

“I tell the Flintridge Prep 7th graders about curation, and about what a team looks like, because it really is a whole team process. I talk about how they can be creative storytellers—because curating really is just telling a story in a different way and to the largest audience possible.

Art history is an inquiry-based discipline. We ask, ‘what do you think the mood is,’ or ‘what do you see?’ ‘Why do you think the artists painted it this way?’ to get students to think in a different way.

My research got me interested in the idea of embodiment. Learning is not just a cognitive process. You don’t have to be in a museum and be quiet and stationary. You can dance, pose, draw, and talk at a normal level. You just can’t touch the art.”