Study Group Details
1510: Art in Conversation
Friday9:45 - 11:15
Starting June 05
Online
Guided by museum educators, delve into the meaningful conversations that emerge when works of art are considered in tandem. Looking closely at a selection of modern and contemporary artworks, we will ask how these works connect to each other, to us, and to the world. Over four Zoom sessions, we will virtually visit two current exhibitions, Manet & Morisot (Cleveland Museum of Art) and Miró and the United States (The Phillips Collection); consider a gallery installation of Edgar Degas and Simone Leigh at the Baltimore Museum of Art; and step behind the scenes into The Phillips Collection’s curatorial project pairing local photographer Charles Rumph with members of the Stieglitz Circle.
View Syllabus
This study group is new
Class Type: Lecture and Discussion
Class Format: Online
Hours of Reading: No required reading
Study Group Leader(s):
Donna Jonte
Donna Jonte recently retired as Head of Experiential Learning at The Phillips Collection and continues to develop and implement programs linking art and wellness. In addition to leading tours for all ages at the Phillips, she facilitates Memory Studio sessions for older adults living with dementia, sponsored by Capitol Hill Village. Donna has an MA in teaching from George Mason University and a BA and MA in English Literature from Mills College. She has presented at national conferences on building empathy through art-based meditation and co-authored a chapter for An Empathy-Building Toolkit for Museums (AAM/Bloomsbury, 2026).
Kelly Richman-Abdou is an art historian with experience across San Francisco, London, Paris, and Washington, D.C. Currently, she is Research Fellow for the Charles Rumph Collection at The Phillips Collection, where she is developing an exhibition. She has a BA in Art History from the University of San Francisco, an MA in Art and Museum Studies from Georgetown University, and a PhD in Art History from the University of Birmingham, UK, where her dissertation examined how American artists reinterpreted Marian imagery to challenge perceptions of modernity, race, and maternity in twentieth-century art. Outside of her work, Kelly loves exploring the world of art with her two young daughters––who often teach her more than she teaches them.
Carla White Freyvogel has more than 25 years’ experience teaching in museums, including The National Building Museum, The National Portrait Gallery, The National Gallery of Art, The Phillips Collection, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She engages audiences of all ages in her tours through inquiry, movement, creative writing, sensory games, collaboration, and a healthy dose of humor. As well as currently teaching at the Met and the Phillips, Carla writes for The Experiment Station, the Phillips’s blog, exploring the intersection of visual art and popular culture.