The University of New Mexico’s Department of Art and Art History (AAH) believes in the importance of cross-disciplinary education. As a result, AAH graduate students grow through experimentation, interdisciplinary investigation, critical thinking, and engagement with history and tradition.

With nationally-ranked disciplines such as photography and printmaking, our graduate students follow in a long and stellar legacy of alumni. In addition to our programmatic strengths, UNM is located in the Nation’s Southwest, ideally situated to address Native American, Spanish Colonial, Latin American, land art, and ecological areas of study.

Katelyn Bladel, President

Katelyn Bladel is an MFA candidate in Printmaking at the University of New Mexico. Raised in the suburbs of southern Minnesota she moved up to the Minnesota/North Dakota border to attend Minnesota State University Moorhead where she received her BFA in Photography and Printmaking.  While there she began to take long road trips throughout the state of North Dakota, exhilarated by the search for her subject matter.  As a place based artist she explores and studies the rural environment around her, focusing on abandoned houses and the landscape that surrounds them.

Chloë Courtney, Secretary

Chloë Courtney is an MA student in Art History at the University of New Mexico, pursuing a concentration in the art of Contemporary and Modern Latin America. Originally from Dallas, Chloë received a BA in Art History and a BA in English Literature from Auburn University, where she pursued questions of social justice, race, and gender through her research and curatorial work. She is interested in exploring the possibility of art to be a vehicle for social change. Chloë has participated in numerous conferences and received several awards for her scholarship. She is the 2015-2016 Pictorial Collections fellow at UNM’s Center for Southwest Research.

Leslie Martin, Treasurer

Leslie Martin is a Master of Fine Arts Candidate at the University of New Mexico. She is a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art graduate from Oklahoma State University. Martin’s work has been juried into several exhibitions, including the 2013 Momentum OKC Annual Juried Exhibition and the Oklahoma State University 2013 Annual Student Juried Exhibition, where she was awarded Best in Show. She has also completed numerous commissions. Martin has received many awards, including the Sarah Clark Memorial Scholarship, the Carson Scott Scholarship, J. Jay McVicker Scholarship, and Smelser Vallion Endowed Scholarship. Prior to her artistic achievements, Martin earned her Bachelor Degree in Design, Housing and Merchandising at Oklahoma State University. She has worked as a junior designer for an architecture company that specializes in commercial buildings and healthcare, and has worked as a designer/project manager for a commercial furniture company. Martin is currently exploring weather phenomena in Oklahoma and its relation to the landscape and culture within the state.

Maxine Marks, Hemisphere Editor

Maxine Marks is a Ph.D. Art History student and instructor at the University of New Mexico where she also earned a B.A.F.A and M.A. in Art History. Her master’s thesis, Touching Nether- Regionalisms: Paul Cadmus as Exemplary Foil to a Homegrown American Art explores issues of gender, heteronormativity, and Americanness in the artworks of Paul Cadmus as related to Regionalism. Additionally, Marks investigates labor violence and anti-lynching efforts as articulated by U.S. artists. Her record of service includes broad community endeavors as well as academic service. She was recently a long-term appointee to the Albuquerque Arts Board where she served as Chairperson for two years. She is as an activist and ally for students of color.