Meet our 2023-24 Souls Grown Deep Conservation Fellow. As part of our institutional values and commitment to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion, the Souls Grown Deep Fellow will work within our Conservation department assisting Phillips Collection conservators and collections managers in caring for works of art. Hannah Longbottom Estrada is studying Fine Arts and Emergency Health Services at George Washington University.

Hannah Longbottom Estrada

Why are you interested in working at a museum?

I worked for the Smithsonian American Art Museum for three years before entering healthcare. The pandemic brought me into healthcare, where for a while I planned to connect my art and medicine by doing biomedical illustration in graduate school. However, I quickly realized I missed the museum side of art and preferred creating art in my own time. This brought me where I am today, back in the museum setting. Conservation feels like medicine of the museum world, so in a way treating pieces reminds me of caring for patients and I’m thrilled to be caring for this museum’s collection.

What brought you to The Phillips Collection?

My interest in working with The Phillips Collection particularly stemmed from my previous visits during Third Thursdays, as I enjoyed myself and the environment at each event.

Please tell us about the projects that you will be working on during your fellowship. What do you hope to accomplish during your fellowship?

During my time as the Souls Grown Deep Conservation Fellow, I’ll be assisting Phillips Collection conservators and collections managers in caring for works of art and researching particular time-based media acquisitions. Currently, I am working with the Guerrilla Girls’ portfolio and preparing an artist interview to better understand their installation preferences. Additionally, I’ve helped with reframing works in the collection and have assisted in sculpture upkeep. As a fellow, I hope to strengthen my knowledge of the conservation field and get a better idea of my graduate program preferences.

What is your favorite painting/artist here?

My favorite artist in the collection is tied between the Guerrilla Girls and Philip Guston. My favorite exhibition was Guston’s at the National Gallery, and I was thrilled to examine our collection’s piece up close.

If you were to describe the Phillips in one word, what would that word be?

I’d describe The Phillips Collection as unexpected.

What is a fun fact about you?

In addition to my interest in studying artists’ works, I am a painter and printmaker myself. My primary job is in international emergency medicine, so I enjoy creating art about biopsychosocial aspects of health and illness and health equity. Subsequently, my undergraduate thesis was about queer erasure following Spanish colonization of present-day Guatemala, and I hope to exhibit some of it in our upcoming staff show!

Meet our 2023-24 Makeba Clay Diversity Fellow. As part of our institutional values and commitment to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion, the Makeba Clay Diversity Fellowship builds on and adds to the research and critical thinking about the museum’s history, including the philosophical underpinnings and aesthetic vision of Duncan and Marjorie Phillips. Sophie Bennett is enrolled at Georgetown University’s master’s program for Art and Museum Studies.

Sophie Bennett

Why are you interested in working at a museum?

I feel tremendously indebted to art museums for fostering my early interest in art history. I started to gravitate toward the arts in middle school. If it wasn’t for museums, I would not have been able to develop that interest or pursue a career in the arts. It is very easy to brush off a young person who doesn’t know much; and yet, throughout various moments in my life, people from all professions in the museum world—museum educators, curators, guards, conservators—have engaged me in conversations about their work and generously shared their perspectives. With art currently being such a massive part of my day-to-day experience, I would love to be one of those museum individuals who can lead others to a lifelong relationship with fine art.

What brought you to The Phillips Collection?

I am from the DC area and always loved visiting The Phillips Collection. I had kept an eye on opportunities within the institution for a few years, and this year the stars finally aligned in terms of where I was in my education, my interests in the art world, and what fellowships were available.

Please tell us about the projects that you will be working on during your fellowship. What do you hope to accomplish during your fellowship?

This year, I will be working with both Chief Curator Elsa Smithgall and the Horning Chair for Diversity, Equity, Access, and Inclusion Dr. Yuma Tomes. One of the primary projects I am focusing on is the Institutional History Project, wherein fellows research The Phillips Collection’s history through the lens of diversity, equity, access, and inclusion. Many primary sources discuss how Duncan Phillips’s vision for the museum was innovative and forward-thinking; I would like to go back and assess whether his innovation was limited to the realm of the arts, or if he was also ahead of his time in terms of how he approached issues of inclusion and equity.

What is your favorite painting/artist here?

I really love the work of Alma Thomas. Her use of color is so striking, and her work is a real testament to the existence of a rich art scene in DC, a city that so many reduce to government. Plus, as the daughter of a kindergarten teacher, I have a particular fondness for an artist who studied kindergarten education and taught K-12!

If you were to describe the Phillips in one word, what would that word be?

Intimate.

What is a fun fact about you?

I was obsessed with carnivorous plants between ages 7-9, and I think, as a result, some core part of my brain will always be devoted to facts about pitcher plants.

Meet our 2023-24 UVA Predoctoral Fellow in Modern and Contemporary Art History. As part of our institutional values and commitment to diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion, the art history and archeology fellow does independent scholarly work that broadens and diversifies their previous research. They will work at the Phillips, allowing them to fully utilize the museum’s resources. Meaghan M. Walsh is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Art at the University of Virginia, specializing in early 20th-century American art and visual culture. Her research examines the intersections of race, identity, and humor in turn-of-the-20th century American painting and illustration. 

Meaghan Walsh

Why are you interested in working at a museum?

My scholarship and teaching practice are object-based, so I find inspiration from working with art objects. The Phillips offers a unique opportunity for its fellows to view the works up close in both the galleries and storage and work with conservation to learn more about the objects beyond their visual elements. Plus, there is nothing better than being able to go see art in person when you feel stuck in your writing or just need a mental break.

What brought you to The Phillips Collection?

The Phillips Collection and the University of Virginia partnered to create a Predoctoral Fellowship in Modern and Contemporary Art History last year and I JUMPED at the opportunity to apply. Duncan Phillips was one of the individuals who led me to my dissertation topic. In his recollections of George Luks, Phillips commented that Luks had a “humorous understanding” of his subjects. As an Ashcan artist, Luks and his colleagues are often discussed in terms of representing the gritty realities of life in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. Reading Phillips’s musings and seeing the same evaluations of Luks from other contemporary critics, I found myself asking: How are these works, which have long been discussed as depictions of serious matters, “funny”? And who is laughing at these works? As Phillips was one of the individuals who helped frame my project, I thought that concluding my graduate career at his museum was the perfect full-circle moment.

Please tell us about the projects that you will be working on during your fellowship. What do you hope to accomplish during your fellowship?

The primary goal of my fellowship is to finish my dissertation, “Modern Masquerades: Realism, Humor, and Identity in the Works of George Luks.” Beyond my dissertation, I am hoping to collaborate with the other fellows and departments to reexamine the earliest collecting practices of the museum.

What is your favorite painting/artist here?

I am a sucker for Louis Michel Eilshemius’s works. His art is so weird and haunting, and I am delighted whenever I visit a museum and see his works on the wall. It is why I am very excited about the exhibition on his and Ugo Rondinone’s works at the Phillips this fall! 

If you were to describe the Phillips in one word, what would that word be?

Future Forward. I know that’s two words, but I think this embodies the Phillips’s goals in their collecting practices, exhibitions, and community engagement. The focus is looking toward the future and actively working to create a collection that represents the diversity of artists, media, and perspectives in modern and contemporary art today.

What is a fun fact about you?
I used to be a bus driver! In undergrad, I drove the transit buses at UVA, which was such a fun experience. I love working with students and the public, and that passion has driven (pun intended) my career choices ever since.