Aleisha Barton
271 19th Ave S
Minneapolis,
MN
55455
Aleisha Barton is a PhD candidate in the department of Art History at the University Minnesota, working under the supervision of Professor Jenn Marshall. Additionally, Barton holds a graduate minor in American Studies. Her work considers how visual and material culture facilitate connection and worldbuilding in North America and within related global exchanges. Barton's research unites technical processes of the art studio with art historical inquiry to advance a methodology rooted in embodied knowledge and praxis.
Her dissertation, "'Your Eyes Are Limited': Psychedelic Aesthetics in the Post-War Age, 1966-1970," analyzes the production of countercultural ephemera in San Francisco, California during the late 1960s. Barton's project deploys speculative histories and process-informed visual analysis in order to explore related themes of nostalgia, coalition building, and radical imagination within the Bay Area's cultural geography. This research has been supported by multiple institutions, including the Henry Luce Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies; the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation; Harvard University; and the University of Minnesota's Graduate School and College of Liberal Arts.
Barton has presented her research nationally, including at institutions such as SFMOMA (San Francisco, CA), the National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), and the Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minneapolis, MN).
Educational Background
- Master of Arts: Art History, University of Minnesota, 2019
- Bachelor of Arts: Art History, cum laude, Lawrence University, 2016
Specialties
- American Art
- Modern & Contemporary Art
- Visual & Material Culture
- Design History
- Technical Art History
- Print & Works on Paper