Graduate Students
Sara Sumpter
East Asian Art and Archaeology
Among the remnants of past societies, the art object is uniquely positioned to reveal the ritual, sociological, and political currents of its period. Sumpter's work focuses on the art of Japan's volatile medieval period, and specifically on the development and evolving implementation of iconographical imagery through time, as well as how said iconography reveals the various trends of the society that produced it. Currently, Sumpter is working toward the completion of her MA thesis, which takes as its focal point the thirteenth-century handscroll set Kitano Tenjin Engi Emaki (Illustrated Legends of the Kitano Shrine), under the direction of Karen Gerhart.
Education
BA: Art History, East Asian Studies minor, University of California, Davis, highest honors, June 2006.
Publications
"From Scrolls to Prints to Moving Pictures: Iconographic Ghost Imagery from Pre-Modern Japan to the Contemporary Horror Film." Explorations: The UC Davis Undergraduate Research Journal 9 (2006): 5-24. Read online »
Presentations
UC Davis Art History Club 2006-2007 Lecture Series - Winter Panel Discussion, "Preparing for Graduate School," January 2007.
University of Oregon Art History Association - Rebels and Renegades Symposium, "Katsushika Hokusai’s Ghost of Kohada Koheiji: Image from a Falling Era," April 2006.
Grants & Awards
Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship, summer 2008.
University of Pittsburgh Arts & Sciences Fellowship, 2007-2008.
University of Pittsburgh Provost Humanities Fellowship Alternate, 2007.