Student Spotlight: Lauren Lovings-Gomez, PhD Candidate
2024-2025 Jameson Fellow for American Painting & Decorative Arts
As the recipient of the graduate Jameson Fellowship for American Painting and Decorative Arts, Lauren Lovings-Gomez will conduct research and work at the Bayou Bend Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston next academic year with a $15,000 stipend.
Lauren is a fourth-year grad student specializing in nineteenth-century transatlantic art and material culture.
“I am honored to be a 2024-2025 Jameson Fellow! For years I have been especially captivated by the Dining Room at Bayou Bend with Ima Hogg’s design in collaboration with William MacKay’s enchanting portrayal of white dogwoods and blush peonies against a resplendent golden scape. The contrasting mix of flora, reflective of what can and cannot grow in Houston, paired with the brilliant background reminiscent of the city’s sun and heat, is such a beautiful homage to the intersection of nature and culture, encapsulating the essence of Houston's vibrant spirit in a single breathtaking tableau. I am thrilled that I will be able to see this aspect and all of the inner workings of the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens every week.
My career goal is to become a curator in European and American Art and Decorative Arts. In my academic work, I strive towards an object-oriented methodology and often focus on material culture. I think that studying the social lives of objects has the potential to give us new insights to the social lives of people, so close attention to visual and material culture can teach us how these objects were thought of and how thinking can broaden our field of evidence. There’s no better place to do this than a place like Bayou Bend.”