Have an AAHVS story to share?
Please send all news releases, media inquiries, and requests to join our Newsbyte mailing list to:
Inspiration has a way of popping up in unexpected places. Sometimes, it begins by simply noticing something others have overlooked. For Lauren Puckett, manager for the Art, Art History and Visual Studies studios, inspiration came in the form of a broken and boarded-up stained-glass window in an aging Durham church. "I'm an artist trained in stained glass, so every time I drove past, that window was all I could see," she explains. What began as her altruistic desire to restore a piece of local history became… read more about A Window into Community »
This is a summary of an interview by Carol Bales on Duke Center for Documentary Studies.Duke MFA in Experimental and Documentary Arts alum Emma Geiger held onto an idea long before it fully took shape. The idea, first proposed in 2018, was to trace her family’s Icelandic roots. It has become Til Íslands (“To Iceland”), a new exhibition at the Duke Center for Documentary Studies (CDS). Visit the exhibition, on view through October 2. The Pitch: Holding on to a Good… read more about This Duke Alumna Traced Her Family History Back to Iceland »
Have you ever wondered how meaning is represented, organized and transformed within AI systems? It turns out the answer looks less like language as we know it and more like a shifting map of relationships between concepts.Before AI can process language, it converts words into numerical representations called “embeddings,” where words with similar meanings are positioned closer together. The Historical Shifts and Geographical Drifts: An Exploration of AI Embedding Space project team explored how these meanings – and their… read more about Trinity Students Reflect on AI-Focused Bass Connections Project »
The 2026 Senior Capstone Exhibition brought together graduating students from Duke's Visual Arts, Cinematic Arts and Documentary Studies programs for an evening celebrating their culminating creative work at the Rubenstein Arts Center on April 20.The exhibition opened with a reception and gallery showcase featuring senior thesis projects by Visual Arts students. Installed throughout the upstairs gallery and painting studio, the exhibition highlighted a diverse range of artistic approaches and served as the culmination of… read more about 2026 Senior Capstone Exhibition »
The Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) and Duke Arts celebrated the conclusion of their 2026 Arts+ and Doc+ summer programs on June 25 with a final showcase highlighting six weeks of collaborative, community-focused creative work by students.The event began with presentations in the CDS Auditorium, where students shared the goals, processes and outcomes of their projects. An open house followed across CDS buildings, featuring gallery exhibitions, interactive installations and other artistic displays. Attendees also… read more about Arts+ & Doc+ Final Showcase »
Consensus is a hard thing to come by these days, but if you ask anyone who was involved in the inaugural 2025-26 Mary Duke Biddle Duke Arts Fellows Program, they will say it has been a triumph.In 2024, then vice provost for the arts John Brown invited several Duke students to imagine a program connecting arts students at Duke with Durham Public Schools (DPS). Musicology Ph.D. student Devon Carter was a member of the 2024 Arts+ cohort, the first of three student teams convened by student engagement manager and program… read more about Creating Together: A New Arts Program Connects Duke and Durham »
Beverly McIver, an emerita professor of the practice in Duke’s Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies, has received The Order of the Long Leaf Pine award.It is the highest award for state service given by the office of the governor. McIver, an acclaimed contemporary artist, was one of a dozen recipients of the award from Gov. Josh Stein Tuesday afternoon.The award is given “to persons for exemplary service to the State of North Carolina and their communities that is above and beyond the call of duty and which has… read more about Duke Professor Receives Top State Honor »
A bronzed statue unveiled Saturday pays tribute to John Jasper White, an enslaved mariner and notable figure in North Carolina maritime history....The statue was made by sculptor Stephen Hayes, an art professor at Duke University.“It’s a life-sized statue of John Jasper White and it's bronzed,” Hayes said. “He’s holding a ship wheel and the spear that he would have used to escape with.” read more about Duke art professor Stephen Hayes unveils statue of Currituck Jack »
By the time Brooke Hira graduates, she will have built a Duke experience that stretches across disciplines and interests. Hira, an Art History and Visual Arts major with a minor in Medieval and Renaissance Studies and a certificate in Information Science and Studies, has spent the past four years exploring the intersections between technology, creativity and community, which often appeared in places she’d never expected when she first arrived on campus. Looking back, Hira says she wishes her 17-year-old self worried a… read more about The Art of Figuring it Out »
The Office for Faculty Advancement has awarded seed grants to seven new projects led by Duke faculty members. The theme for this grant cycle is “Building Community and Strengthening Networks to Improve the Faculty Experience.”Faculty were invited to propose innovative initiatives to build community, creative approaches to address specific mentorship needs, and novel approaches to improve the faculty experience.The seed grant program will provide financial support for these projects through April 2027. Project leaders… read more about Trinity Faculty Awarded Seed Grants by Duke Office of Faculty Advancement »
Master’s student Sarah Soucek (Experimental and Documentary Arts) is the winner of the 2026 Bass Connections Award for Outstanding Mentorship. This annual award recognizes the crucial leadership and mentorship roles that graduate/professional students and postdocs play on Bass Connections teams.About Sarah SoucekSoucek is a graduate student focusing on experimental and documentary arts. Her work explores how the relationship between interviewer and interviewee shapes the way stories are told. In her role as a team… read more about Trinity MFA Student Sarah Soucek Wins Award for Outstanding Mentorship »
Cassandra Klos grew up in a self-declared “Trekkie household,” where science fiction and outer space weren’t far-off frontiers but constant companions that flickered across her television, threaded through dinner-table conversations and took up permanent residence in her imagination. In elementary school, that fascination found a gravitational pull in Christa McAuliffe. Though Klos was born after the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, the legacy of the Concord teacher-astronaut remained deeply embedded in… read more about Framing the Cosmos Through Art and Imagination »
The Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies at Duke University, North Carolina, is seeking qualified candidates for a Studio Arts Instructor position for the Fall 2026/Spring 2027 academic year. The Instructor will teach four courses, two in drawing, and two in painting. They will also have an exhibition scheduled for their work during the Spring semester. Candidates must have graduated from an accredited institution with a terminal degree in a field related to the Studio Arts. Candidates with experience… read more about Open Position: Studio Arts Instructor »
The Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies is seeking two Post-MFA instructors in Cinematic and Visual Arts for a one-year teaching appointment. Eligible candidates must have graduated from the MFA|EDA program at Duke in 2024, 2025 or 2026, and have their degree in hand at the time they begin teaching at Duke. The total course load for each position is four courses during the 26/27 academic year. Among their assigned courses, the Post-MFA in Cinematic Arts will teach two sections of Moving Image Practice,… read more about Open Position: Post-MFA instructor in Cinematic and Visual Arts »
Duke University has awarded distinguished professorships to 38 faculty and will recognize them in a ceremony at the Washington Duke Inn on May 18.“I am delighted to recognize these faculty members with distinguished professorships,” said President Vincent E. Price. “Their work reflects a deep commitment to excellence in research and education, advancing new ideas and discoveries that benefit society and inspire future generations.”Distinguished professorships honor faculty who are well-established members of the Duke… read more about Seven Trinity Faculty Members Among Duke's New Distinguished Professors »
Beverly McIver, an emerita professor of the practice in Duke’s Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies, has received The Order of the Long Leaf Pine award.It is the highest award for state service given by the office of the governor. McIver, an acclaimed contemporary artist, was one of a dozen recipients of the award from Gov. Josh Stein Tuesday afternoon.The award is given “to persons for exemplary service to the State of North Carolina and their communities that is above and beyond the call of duty and which has… read more about Professor Beverly McIver Receives Top State Honor »
An exhibition at the Nasher Museum of Art showcases the experimental tapestries of artist and violinist Silvia Heyden, who made Durham her home for decades. The show brings her work back to campus more than 50 years after her first Duke exhibition and features pieces shaped by the music, landscapes and daily life that inspired her practice. Heyden died in 2015 at age 88.After settling in Durham in 1966, Heyden created tapestries reflecting inspiration from landscapes of the American Southeast, particularly the Eno… read more about Duke Students Curate an Exhibition of the Work of Durham Artist Silvia Heyden »
By his sophomore year of high school, Sam Stayn knew he wanted a career with purpose — he just didn’t know what form it would take. During the pandemic, Stayn enrolled in a virtual summer program at the Boston Architectural College. It was meant to be an exploratory, short introduction to design. Instead, it was transformative.“I realized that I needed a career path where creativity, analytical thinking and the act of making things are inseparable,” he says. That path widened his senior year, thanks to an environmental… read more about Designing with the Climate in Mind »
Art History Lecture"Thinking with Occupied Iraq, 1941-1945: On Forms and Freedom"Anneka LenssenAssociate Professor of Global Modern ArtUniversity of California, BerkeleyWednesday • March 18 • 4:30PMSmith Warehouse, Bay 10, Room A266What city will be the next center of advanced art? We’ve heard this question before. But circa 1941, with Paris occupied, the answer was undecided—and in Baghdad, artists, soldiers, and former prisoners of war (who were themselves also artists and soldiers),… read more about Art History Lecture: Lenssen »
A new exhibit at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Ackland Art Museum is something of a homecoming for documentary photographer Bill Bamberger.The UNC alumnus and Duke University professor spent the past two academic years photographing and working with more than 250 students at Durham School of the Arts for the newest iteration of his series "Boys Will Be Men." But, the story behind the project actually starts about 40 years ago. read more about "Bill Bamberger: Boys Will Be Men" Exhibit Is Investigating Manhood Through the Lens of Local High Schoolers »
Andrew Griebeler, Andrew W. Mellon Assistant Professor of Art, Art History & Visual Studies has been selected as the recipient of the 2025 ICMA Annual Book Prize for his book, Botanical Icons: Critical Practices of Illustration in the Premodern Mediterranean (The University of Chicago Press, 2024). read more about 2025 ICMA Annual Book Prize »
Augustus Wendell, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Art, Art History & Visual Studies has been awarded a grant from the Provost’s Office Undergraduate Program Enhancement Fund (UPEF) for his proposal, “The Digital Arts Performance Lab: Integrating Design, Production, and Performance at Duke”. read more about Undergraduate Program Enhancement Fund Grant Award »
Trinity students are encouraged to follow curiosity wherever it may take them. While some academic paths stay rooted in a single department, others emerge at an intersection of disciplines. For the latter journeys, Program II provides a space where undergraduates can design an intentional degree that reflects the full landscape of their curiosity, ambition and engagement beyond the classroom — connecting passions rather than choosing between them.“For students who haven’t quite found the one single major that truly… read more about Charting an Individualized Degree with Program II »
An interdisciplinary team of Duke faculty is among the international recipients of a new grant from the Schmidt Sciences Humanities and Artificial Intelligence Virtual Institute (HAVI), a program designed to bridge the gap between AI technology and humanistic inquiry. Led by Martin Fischer, Research Professor of Chemistry and Physics; Shira Faigenbaum-Golovin, Assistant Professor of Mathematics from Bar-Ilan University (formerly of Duke); and John K. Delaney, from the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the project… read more about Duke Researchers Awarded Grant to Reveal Hidden Histories of Artworks Through AI and Imaging »
Duke’s Trinity College of Arts & Sciences has invited its faculty to submit proposals for the creation of new research initiatives on campus.Following the successful launches of the SPACE Initiative and the Society-Centered AI Initiative, the Trinity Research Initiative will support new directions for interdisciplinary research through seed funding for nascent research collaborations, community-building, and complementary educational and outreach activities.Open to all areas of research and… read more about Trinity College of Arts & Sciences Invites Proposals for New Research Initiatives »
Gennifer Weisenfeld doesn’t just research — she excavates. "The Fine Art of Persuasion: Corporate Advertising Design, Nation, and Empire in Modern Japan" was released by Duke University Press in February 2025. Her latest book, “The Fine Art of Persuasion: Corporate Advertising Design, Nation, and Empire in Modern Japan,” is the result of a 20-year odyssey sifting through the glossy, persuasive and often underappreciated world of modern Japanese corporate advertising. From the… read more about Gennifer Weisenfeld Explores Corporate Advertising in Modern Japan »
On Friday, November 14, 2025, Richard J. Powell, John Spencer Bassett Distinguished Professor of Art & Art History at Duke University, was inducted into the American Philosophical Society. The American Philosophical Society (APS), the oldest learned society in the United States, was founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin for the purpose of “promoting useful knowledge.” The Society is unusual among learned societies because its membership is comprised of top scholars from a wide variety of academic disciplines. The roster… read more about Powell Inducted into American Philosophical Society »
The Music Graduate Student Association, in conjunction with Duke Music and Erich Barganier, presented an evening of world premieres written for the Abele Saxophone Quartet on November 22, 2025. This collaboration included selections from Terry Riley's saxophone quartet, Chanting the Light of Foresight (1987), in addition to three new pieces written for the quartet:Bill Seaman - The Quiet Momentum of Sadness and Silence Chris Williams - Saxophone Quartet No. 2 Erich Barganier - Wound Round The LightThe Abele… read more about Abele Saxophone Quartet performs music by AAHVS professor »
The UNC-Duke Critical Games symposium was held to bring together scholars and artists from UNC and Duke and beyond who engage with the critical study and practice of games, both as a medium of expression and as a cultural phenomenon. The emphasis of this gathering is on art, design, culture, pedagogy, and critique. The development and sustainability of game studies and game design within and across our campuses with leaders from our respective campuses, and beyond was discussed.More information here: https://cmac.duke.edu/… read more about Duke-UNC Critical Games Symposium 2025 »
The Anson African Burial Memorial (AABM) will commemorate the site of the reinterment of thirty-six (36) enslaved Africans/African Americans on George Street in Charleston. It will serve as a memorial for not only those Ancestors but also as a memorial to the thousands of enslaved African/African Americans buried in unmarked graves throughout Charleston. The memorial will recognize their contributions in building and supporting the economy of the City of Charleston.The AABM commissioned the noted sculptor Stephen Hayes to… read more about Anson African Burial Memorial Sculpture Commission »