Students develop new undergraduate art history journal

Tufts' new undergraduate art history journal, "Medium," is set to publish its first edition online in late March, according to "Medium" Editor in Chief Annalie Aplin, a senior. The journal aims to provide a venue for undergraduates to showcase their work and create an art history-specific and academically-centered place for students to publish formal papers and reviews, Aplin explained.

Marketing Chair and Exhibitions Editor, Emily Gruzdowich, a sophomore and a columnist for the Daily this semester, added that the journal will also act as a resource for students who are interested in art history but are not specifically involved with the Department of Art and Art History or the Art History Society.

“We want to develop a more widespread appreciation of art,” she said. “Art really isn’t confined to art history or formal papers. We are in Boston, and we have the opportunity to go to so many museums for free. You don’t have to major in it, but look at all the things you can explore.”

According to Travel Editor Madeline Onstwedder, a first-year, there will be three main sections: reviews covering exhibitions in the Boston area and beyond, formal papers written by undergraduates and travel articles that focus on art-related experiences outside of the United States.

Students at "Medium" are also considering adding a fourth section to the journal, which would include interviews with Tufts alumni working in the field of art history, according to Aplin.

“The journal is completely submission-based and will ultimately depend on what we get,” she said. “We have a tentative fourth section, which us as a team will put together, which would be an alumni interview section. We will reach out to alumni in the field and get to know what they’re up to.”

Both Onstwedder and Gruzdowich emphasized the travel aspect of the journal.

“With [an] art history degree, you are really getting a cultural degree, and so many students at Tufts take the opportunity to study abroad,” Gruzdowich said. “We want to pull not only what we are formally learning in a classroom but also how we experience [study abroad] and what your translation is of that into individual moments.”

Aplin noted that "Medium" does not have any plans to publish student artwork in the near future.

Though the journal is not officially associated with the Department of Art and Art History, many professors are responding very positively to the initiative, Gruzdowich added.

“A lot of the professors are pretty excited -- some of them even asked if they could contribute to the journal this year, but we ultimately decided to keep it student-run,” she said.

Aplin worked with Associate Professor of Art and Art History Ikumi Kaminishi to discuss some of the logistics of starting up the journal.

“The faculty in our department consider solid research and skillful writing the most important elements for [an] art historical education," Kaminishi told the Daily in an email. "Art history majors came to create the Tufts "Medium," which demonstrates their proactive engagement in building an intellectual community … I am impressed with and proud of our students' initiatives.”

Although the journal will begin publishing once per semester, Onstwedder said she hopes to see a continued presence of the journal throughout the semester in the future. She explained that constant updates to the website would help people stay up-to-date and involved.

Onstwedder also cited extending the scope of the journal to film and other art forms, as well as collaborating with the the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, as future goals for the publication.