Jennifer P. Kingsley Ph.D.

Curator, with Kevin Tervala.

Reinterpreting permanent collection display of ancient and medieval mosaics from Syria from a more global perspective.

Label proofs here.

Review here.

Lead instructor

Students developed research and curatorial approaches to reinstalling American art.

In collaboration with Virginia Anderson, Curator of American Art at the Baltimore Museum of Art.

“A Modern Approach to Museum Studies”

Object Encounters in the Art Museum

Project Director

A series of videos that considers the ways that audiences engage with art in one of its institutional contexts: the museum. Each 8 minute video focuses on a single artwork, drawing on interviews which undergraduate students conducted in Fall 2018 with visitors to the Baltimore Museum of Art. Students asked visitors what they noticed about an artwork, what meaning they made of it, what questions they had about the artwork and what they took away from the object label.

Collectively, the videos highlight:

How audiences - whether pursuing an aesthetic, formal or informal learning experience - engage with art and the interpretive frames and language that art-history uses.

What helps learners and what jars and frustrates them.

How anxiety about who belongs in a museum and worry about knowing enough to appreciate or understand art manifests and what reinforces those concerns.

The assumptions museums and teachers make about the background and cultural references of our audiences.

The shared cultural expectations that shape how we understand art from different time periods and places.

Oral history project focused on African-American staff and contract workers at the Johns Hopkins University. Undergraduates participate as student researchers as well as in courses.

Co-PI with Nathan Connolly (History) and Shani Mott (Africana Studies)

Funded by the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics.

Article in the Chronicle of Higher Education

Presentation in the Berman Institute Symposium

Project Manager

Interactive exhibit on the topic of work at the Baltimore Museum of Industry (BMI).

With Elizabeth Maloney, Director of Interpretation at BMI.

Project Director

Website to accompany the exhibition 1939: Black Art at the BMA (June 18, 2018 to October 16, 2018) hosted at BMA. Archive of website content here.

In partnership with Morgan Dowty and Gamynne Guillotte from the Baltimore Museum of Art. Co-created with JHU students. Web design by Melanie Martin, Chief Innovation Officer, Baltimore Museum of Art.

Project Director

On-campus exhibition of African-American real photo postcard collection. Physical installation, selfie station (with historic campus photos as backdrops) and visualization wall.

Contribution: Taught course. Mentored student curators. Edited curatorial texts. Exhibit development. Exhibit Design & Installation (working with designers, conservators, digital curation center and facilities).

The Hub: JHU Student Curators

Blog Post: The Selfie Strikes Back

Co-curator with undergraduate students

Ancestry Doll 1 is Johns Hopkins’ first acquisition of contemporary art by MacArthur genius award-winning artist Joyce J. Scott. The piece speaks to the futility of prejudice.

Contribution: Mentored students through collaboration with artist and JHU’s cultural properties curator to select an installation site and develop interpretation for the work. Edited student-authored texts. Organized public programs.

Co-curator with undergraduate students

Online exhibit featuring undergraduate research into university collections assembled by artist Mark Dion in the installation Archaeology of Knowledge.

Project Director

Template in the Omeka platform for students to build and interpret collections online and in the process understand collections and their associated data as socially embedded and historical in their own right.

Contribution: Conceptualized tool, including creating wire frames for back-end and presentation side. Tested site with student and community audiences. Oversaw development and design.

2020 Refresh: Project Director

2014 Installation: Evaluator

Interpretive signage for ten historic sites on the Johns Hopkins University campus. One drew attention, for the first time, to the presence of enslaved people at Homewood house in the early nineteenth century.

“The Practicum Course Model: Embracing the Museum University Culture Clash” Journal of Museum Education 2016.

Faculty Mentor

Theatrical performance at the Homewood Museum; for the first time told the story of the entangled lives of the Carroll family and the enslaved men, women and children who labored for them in the 1800s.

Collaboration Developer and Project Manager

Project 1: Super Snake

Summer activity booklet for conservation education in community spaces authored by undergraduate students in partnership with elementary school students enrolled in the STEM Achievement in Baltimore Elementary Schools (SABES) program. Interpretive project supervised by Maryland Zoo VP of Education, Interpretation, and Volunteer Programs Lori Finkelstein.

Project 2: Wild About

Activity Booklet for conservation education to be used in the Zoo. Authored by undergraduate students in partnership with elementary school students enrolled in the STEM Achievement in Baltimore Elementary Schools (SABES) program. Interpretive project supervised by Maryland Zoo VP of Education, Interpretation, and Volunteer Programs Lori Finkelstein.

Museum Program Turns Its Attention to a Living Collection

Mentor for Faculty and Respondent for Student Projects, Baltimore After the Unrest Program development with six partner institutions.

Project Lead, College Night at the BMA