Cohort 1 – July and August 2020 - University of Nottingham

For the pilot cohort of the program, The Art Story partnered with the University of Nottingham and the Department of Culture, Media, and Visual Studies. Working with one university meant that students had an opportunity to work and learn in tandem with their peers, and The Art Story Student Ambassador Program team was able to connect with the course tutors, so that the learning resource could be shared.

	Polly Murgatroyd Hi! I’m Polly, a student at the University of Nottingham going into my final year of studying Art History. I love my subject and am frequently on social media, so I am really enjoying combining the two for this Student Ambassadorship with The Art Story. The ambassadorship has given me a chance to channel my creative side through my stories, while also educating my peers. Although it’s hard to pinpoint a favourite genre of art, Northern Renaissance is definitely at the top of the list. I like art which has hidden meanings and/or is puzzling to work out while also having refined and mastered technique. Right now I’m enjoying my studies, so I want to pursue a masters – going even deeper into my chosen areas. After that my path is uncertain, nevertheless I’m sure my passion will take me somewhere in the art world and I can’t wait to find out where!
	Becky Monkhouse I am a third year History of Art student at the University of Nottingham. My main interests lie in Feminist Art, with a fascination for the movement’s ambition to rewrite the male-dominated art history. I am intrigued by the often very unique approaches employed by feminist artists in order to transform longstanding stereotypes. My passion for travel has led me to visit museums, galleries and architecture across the world. For example, interrailing around Europe exposed me to the wonders of the Renaissance, particularly the astonishing art and architecture of Italy. The Student Ambassador Programme has given me the opportunity to research further into artists and movements that already intrigued me, and to present this new knowledge in innovative ways. It has enabled me to develop my skills in using social media creatively and as a marketing tool.
	Weronika Bargiel My name is Weronika. I have just graduated with a degree in History of Art from the University of Nottingham, and I plan on continuing my studies with a Masters degree in Arts Management after taking a gap year. While my interests in art are quite broad, I’m particularly interested in artists who focus on the representation of women and their bodies, although religious art and nature-related spaces, such as gardens or objects including herbals [books containing the names and descriptions of plants], are also among my favourites – so much so that I focused my undergraduate dissertation on a little-studied Renaissance garden in northern Italy.
	Hannah Kettles I am a recent graduate of Art History from the University of Nottingham. I have a keen interest in post-second-world-war modern art and wrote my dissertation on the striking similarities between 17th-century Romanticism and 20th-century Abstract Expressionism. I am excited to start my masters at UCL in 2021 in Publishing to gain further experience within the industry.
	Chrisa Roma I have just graduated from the University of Nottingham with a BA in International Media and Communications. I will continue my postgraduate studies in Marketing to learn more about consumer behavior. I have been passionate about the arts from as long as I can remember. From attending different art classes, to having my own exhibition, I am always eager to explore my creativity. I am particularly interested in Impressionism and Art Nouveau and how artists depict naturalistic portraits. Whether a painting is photorealistic or steeped with historical meaning, in my opinion, art is a form of self-expression.

Cohort 2 – August and September 2020

	Sarah Daniels I have recently graduated with a degree in Fine Art and Art History from Plymouth University. My main interests are writing about representations of the self, the reception of women artists, and depictions of the female form within 19th- and 20th-century art. Although I do not restrict myself to any one period, I have a particular interest in the Modernist movement. I plan to continue my education with a masters degree in Curating and Criticism after first gaining some experience in the museum/gallery industry.
	Constance Koh Hi there! I’m Constance, a penultimate year student studying History of Art (Asia, Africa, Europe) at SOAS and UCL. Joining The Art Story’s Student Ambassador Program felt like a natural choice as it was the perfect platform to share and explore the topics I love. Genre paintings (scenes of everyday life) and contemporary Asian art are areas which particularly appeal to me. I believe the former shows us the potential of the everyday by helping us discover and appreciate new insights about otherwise quotidian scenes. Some of my favourite genre paintings and contemporary works would have to be those of Vilhelm Hammershøi and Yamaguchi Akira.
	Katie Price Hi, my name is Katie and I’m currently a final-year student at the University of Birmingham studying a joint-honours in History and History of Art. I plan to continue my studies with a masters degree in Curating at Birmingham next year. Personally, I love the fact that art provides access to the past, and a way to understand it, through analysing the processes and products of human creativity from different periods. I have really enjoyed this Student Ambassador programme as it’s given me the opportunity to develop my writing skills and further my art-historical interpretations, but mostly it’s allowed me to learn about different and interesting areas of art and share these with others.

Cohort 3 – October and November 2020

	Lucy Green I am a history graduate from the University of Birmingham, where I specialised in 17-century Anglo-Ottoman relations and the European ‘age of discovery’. I have a passion for art and culture and am particularly interested in seeing how art speaks to historical themes. I loved contributing to The Art Story as I am fascinated by the ways in which the public interact with art and history. I look forward to studying this further through the MA Art Gallery and Museum Studies at the University of Manchester from September 2021, eventually pursuing a career in heritage.
	Isabella Hill I’m Isabella Hill and I’m part of the third cohort of students working on the Student Ambassador Project here at The Art Story! I’m an MA student studying Art History at the University of Birmingham, focusing my dissertation on the work of the Pre-Raphaelites, having written my undergraduate dissertation on the series Pygmalion and Galatea by Edward Burne-Jones.
	Flora Igoe I am a History of art and Architecture graduate from Trinity College Dublin, where I studied this as a joint honours with Italian Language and Culture. Much of my Bachelor’s degree focused on 16th- and 17th-century Italian Art History, and an Erasmus year at Bologna University brought focus on Italian Architecture of this period too. My main interest, however, was on the interdisciplinary study of Italian art and literature. My dissertation focused on three modern artists’ illustrations for Dante Alighieri’s Inferno. I love and wish to continue writing on Modern Art. It has been a pleasure to have had the opportunity to do so as part of the third cohort of The Art Story’s Student Ambassador Programme.
	Caitlin Sahin I am currently in my first year at the Courtauld Institute of Art, studying History of Art. I am most interested in Modernism to Contemporary Art and particularly like Abstract Art. At the moment, I am attempting to learn more about Performance and Sculptural Art.
	Hattie Stubbs I am a final year undergraduate student at the University of Exeter. Currently studying Art History and Visual Culture, my interests are Contemporary Art from the 1960s onwards, with a particular focus on social practice art and performance. I am also passionate about representations of sexuality, technology and the body in art, and how queer theory enlightens our understanding of these practices. On graduating, I hope to obtain a master’s degree in Art History and/or Curation and pursue a career in co-curatorship, working alongside artists to create engaging and educational workshops and events.
	Tânia Teixeira Hi! I am Tânia, a student doing the MA Writing programme at the Royal College of Arts in London. I’ve done a Bachelor of Fine Art at the Cambridge School of Arts (UK), and I am a Contemporary Art enthusiast. I find myself particularly interested in mixing current political and cultural subjects with art criticism. I aspire to be an acclaimed art theorist/critic, and I believe art provides a deeper understanding of the world, and that it is capable of bringing about significant changes.