Jessica Baran

Graduate Student, PhD
Lynne Cooper Harvey Fellow in American Culture Studies

Jessica Baran is pursuing a PhD in modern and contemporary art and American culture studies, with a focus on art’s relationship to place, politics, and identity. She is the author of three poetry collections, and her art reviews and essays have appeared regularly in publications such as Artforum and Art in America. In 2020, she was the recipient of an Andy Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant for short-form criticism. Alongside her freelance writing, she has spent over a decade organizing exhibitions and programming at a range of independent and community-focused art spaces in St. Louis. She is also an educator who has instructed and advised graduate students in the MFA program at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Art and taught writing in St. Louis University’s Prison Arts & Education program. Originally from Northwest Indiana, she holds a BA in visual art (Columbia University, NY), an MFA in poetry writing, and an MA in art history (both from Washington University). In 2022, she received a Divided City research fellowship in support of her work on the People’s Art Center of St. Louis. You can find more about her projects here.

contact info:

mailing address:

  • WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
  • CB 1189
  • ONE BROOKINGS DR.
  • ST. LOUIS, MO 63136-4899
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