Susan Ashbrook
Professional Title: Assistant Professor, Chair of Art History
Areas of Academic Focus and Expertise:
Art History: Modernism, 19th c., American Art
Area of Work and Concentration at Lesley: Art History and Critical Studies Department Chair
Representative List of Recent Courses Taught:
Art of the Western World 1 and 2, and Honors; Modernism; Women in Art; American Art
Education: PhD, Boston University, Art History (1991); MA, Boston University, Art History (1977); BA, Art History, University of Wisconsin – Madison (1972)
Representative List of Recent Publications / Exhibitions:
“Two Portraits of Cape Cod: Amelia Watson and Clare Leighton,” Printing History, July 2010
Fun Facts: I grew up in the UK, and still have family there so I visit twice a year; I have lived in Back Bay Boston for many years and am very active with a neighborhood townhouse museum, the Gibson House; My interest in art history and visual culture is wide-ranging but I am most knowledgeable in late 19th and early 20th century European and American painting and prints; I consider myself well informed about current cultural, political and social topics and am good at drawing connections between things.
Effective learning requires engagement with the material. By exploring the work of artists of the past and recent past I hope to bring their accomplishments to life for students in a meaningful way that can inform and enrich their own endeavors. In today’s world critical perspective is essential for success in the arts as it is in most careers.