Nan Darham has been awarded the Alumni Research Award, which enabled her to embark on an international research trip from Paris through the French countryside. Her journey also included visiting historically significant locations tied to the Holocaust, providing her with on-site insights into the lives of those who sought sanctuary during this period—a topic central to her thesis, which blends elements of art, literature, and personal history. Read her reflection essay here.
What program are you in?
I am in the Master of Arts Liberal Studies program.
What do you consider your hometown?
I have lived in Bozeman, Montana for thirty-six years.
Where did you earn your undergraduate degree?
I earned a Bachelor of Science degree at Boston University and a Master of Fine Arts Degree from CalArts (California Institute of the Arts).
Which faculty members are you collaborating with on your current projects?
Dr. Donald Pease, Professor Alan Lelchuk and Deborah Howe are my thesis committee readers and have supported my goals within and beyond the MALS program.
What concentration or primary area of interest do you have within your program?
My concentration is general liberal studies, which has enabled my progression into a broad spectrum of studies and delve deeply. I have been able to pursue courses at Oxford University in rare Jewish languages and creative writing, travel abroad for research, and share my artwork in numerous exhibitions in Dartmouth's galleries and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
What potential impact do you see your work having in your field or community?
I plan to exhibit my paintings and share my writing in galleries and within publications. My goal is to explore the theme of "Solace and Sanctuary," past and present, personal and cultural expressed through painting and creative writing. My large-scale models are stained glass windows, murals, and mosaic installations found in sanctuaries and public venues. I hope to continue this project's form and function in both architectural and multi-media settings.
How will you use the Alumni Research Award and/or what will it allow you to do?
The Alumni Research Award contributes significantly to my project, an international research trip taking me from Paris through the countryside of France with museums in Nice as destination. Viewing master story-telling artwork of Chagall, Picasso, and Matisse provides first-person investigation of technical and narrative style and device. Additionally, exploring areas of sanctuary, sought-after pathways and hiding places of the Holocaust supplies on-site historical and current experience. The lives of those who sheltered and were sheltered, of my personal history and those of many others figure integrally to this thesis as art and literature.
Why did you choose Dartmouth to pursue your degree?
The MALS program offered advanced studies in areas of creative writing, social research, cultural studies and general liberal arts studies. The array of courses appealed to my goals of studying creativity and performing as a creative artist. I also was drawn to the close small-town community and interaction with nature in a rural, mountainous geography.
What are your hobbies or interests outside of your studies?
I run on dirt trails with my posse of dogs, skate ski in alpine meadows and groomed trails and love listening to the surf at the beach.
What is your favorite place or most activity that you like best at Dartmouth or in the Upper Valley?
I enjoy running on scrunchy autumn leaves across the bridge between campus and Norwich, spreading out on the huge low-slung red couches in the Black Family Visual Arts Center under those tall frilly lamp fixtures, waiting in the kosher line in '53 Commons for challah and matzoh, and talking to Morphy, the corpse flower in the Greenhouse.
