Meet Art History Major Megan May

Megan May is a senior art history major and history minor, focusing on 18th- and 19th-century American Art.

Under the direction of Dr. Alicia Volk, she is currently writing her honors thesis on images of black servants and slaves in 18th-century American portraits. Here is what she writes about her intership experiences this past summer:

Over the course of the summer I completed an internship at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. At my internship, I worked with the Teen Programs coordinator and helped run the teen programs offered during the summer. The two programs I worked with were IMAGINE=IMAGE, a week long photography workshop for 13-15 year olds, and Portraits Alive!, a six week program through the Marion Barry Summer Youth Employment Program for 16-17 year olds. The Portraits Alive! program allowed teens to research a sitter in the collection, write a monologue based on their sitter’s personality and values, and perform their monologues in costume in a series of theatrical tours.

My experiences and background in art history helped me immensely. Not only was I familiar with much of the Portrait Gallery’s collection and sitters as a result of my coursework, I was also able to help create teaching resources to help the participants in their research. In the program, we had discussions about the meaning of each sitter’s visual representation and how this was linked to each sitter’s personal story and political activism. The sitters that the participants chose all advocated for human rights and social justice in some capacity, underscoring art historical connections to these themes. I am incredibly grateful for my internship opportunity, which would not have been possible without the support of the UMD Art History Department!