Ph.D. Candidate
Specialization:
Areas of Concentration: Modern/Contemporary Art
Faculty Advisor: Mark A. Meadow
Committee Members: Jenni Sorkin, Cristina Venegas (Film and Media Studies, UCSB)
M.A. Thesis: "Censored Ambiguity: María Izquierdo’s Tribute to Mexico," completed 2022
Bio:
Nathan is a Ph.D. Candidate in the History of Art & Architecture at UC Santa Barbara, specializing in museum studies, public humanities, and cultural heritage. From 2015 to 2018, he held positions at The Broad Museum and the Marciano Art Foundation in Los Angeles, where he conducted research on contemporary collections and led tours for art professionals. Originally from Lyon, France, and fluent in French, Nathan also served as a liaison between these institutions and French art organizations, including the Centre Pompidou.
His research examines museums as social and interpretive communities, with particular attention to public memory, institutional culture, and collaborative forms of knowledge production. His dissertation, Museums as Communities: Internal Social Life and Public Engagement in California, investigates how the internal dynamics of museums shape public-facing work and visitor understandings of visual culture and history. Through case studies of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens; the Japanese American National Museum; and the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, the project explores the relationship between institutional culture, civic engagement, and community participation.
His broader interests include contemporary art, museum pedagogy, and the relationship between material culture and civic life.