Aleisha Barton Awarded 2023-24 Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship

The Department of Art History is pleased to announce that Aleisha Barton is the recipient of a 2023-2024 Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, which gives the University of Minnesota's most accomplished PhD candidates an opportunity to devote full-time effort to an outstanding research project by providing time to finalize and write a dissertation during the fellowship year. Barton's dissertation "'Your Eyes Are Limited': Psychedelic Aesthetics in the Post-War Age, 1966-1970" analyzes the expansive visual and material culture of San Francisco's psychedelic scene during the late 1960s, from professionally printed multi-color lithographs to black-and-white flyers created with donated ink. Over the course of three chapters, Barton examines the process of creating psychedelic ephemera from image curation, hand lettering, and color selection. Importantly, this project highlights the role of psychedelic print and aesthetics within the larger sociopolitical context of San Francisco to assert its role as not just a visual style, but a transformational social tool.