The School of Art in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is proud to welcome four new faculty to the University of Arkansas. These individuals bring a range of experience and research to the School of Art in the areas of art history, graphic design and sculpture.

"We are very excited to welcome Fatemeh Abolbashari, John R. Blakinger, Jennifer Greenhill and Nicole Wilson to the School of Art and University of Arkansas," said Gerry Snyder, executive director of the School of Art. "Each individual joining us brings an extraordinary amount of expertise and diverse research that will provide new educational opportunities to our students and develop robust programming as we continue to build the School of Art."

The professional accomplishments of these faculty are inspiring and their passion for education will help prepare students for their future. The School of Art welcomes them and looks forward to being a part of their continued success.

Fatemeh Abolbashari is an instructor for the graphic design area teaching students design tools and concepts and technology in context. She completed her Master of Arts in graphic design at the University of Tehran, Iran, and received her Master of Fine Arts in graphic design from the School of Art, University of Arkansas. Abolbashari's design work focuses on interaction and bridging digital physical experiences in design. Her research is focused on preventing violence against women and girls and educating males on healthy masculinity. Learn more about Fatameh Abolbashari's work and teaching at art.uark.edu.

John R. Blakinger is an endowed associate professor of contemporary art for the art history program. He holds a doctorate in art history and a Master of Arts from Stanford University and his Bachelor of Arts in art history from Wesleyan University. Blakinger joins the School of Art from the University of Oxford, where he was departmental lecturer in the history of art and, before that, the 2018-2019 Terra Foundation visiting professor of American art. He studies contemporary art, with a special interest in aesthetics and politics. His book Gyorgy Kepes: Undreaming the Bauhaus explores the artist Gyorgy Kepes's interdisciplinary collaborations with science and technology during the Cold War. Blakinger is now working on a study of recent political controversies in contemporary art.

Jennifer Greenhill joins the art history program as an endowed professor of American Art. She is also the inaugural director of graduate studies and museum partnerships with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Greenhill earned her doctorate at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and her Master of Arts at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Before coming to the University of Arkansas, she was an associate professor of art history at the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on 19th and early 20th century American art and visual culture, although she regularly steps outside of that framework to explore topics such as the visuality of literary humor and the politics of racialized beauty in 1960s film. To read more about Jennifer Greenhill's research and teaching visit the art.uark.edu website.

Nicole Wilson is an assistant professor in studio art, sculptureX area. Wilson is a visual artist with a Master of Fine Arts in art theory and practice, as well as a certificate in gender and sexuality studies, from Northwestern University. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture from Tyler School of Art, Temple University. Prior to coming to the School of Art, she taught as a part-time professor at Parsons, The New School in New York, New York. Through mold-making, conceptual conceits, and long process-driven projects, Wilson makes objects that articulate and own absences and empty spaces. This coming year, her ongoing project Ötzi will be exhibited in Boston, Massachusetts and New York, New York alongside a forthcoming publication.