The Graduate Theological Union is pleased to welcome Dr. Kathryn Barush as Assistant Professor of Art History and Religion. This faculty position is supported by the Thomas E. Bertelsen, Jr., Endowment in Art History and Religion for the benefit of both the GTU and the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, where Dr. Barush will hold a courtesy appointment.
Since receiving her D.Phil. in the History of Art from the University of Oxford in 2012, Dr. Barush has been a postdoctoral research associate at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA) at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. She is also a research affiliate for the Yale University Material and Visual Cultures of Religion project. In 2003 she was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship and traveled to India, Tibet, and the U.K. studying the art of manuscript illumination in the Christian and Buddhist traditions. Previously, she worked as a curatorial assistant at the Yale University Center for British Art and interned at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery.
Dr. Barush’s dissertation examined the concept of the “spiritual journey” as represented in the visual imagination of early-to-mid nineteenth-century Britain. Her current research explores the art and material culture of pilgrimage and the notion of the transfer of “spirit” from sacred sites and objects such as relics to artistic representations such as paintings, labyrinths, icons, and Stations of the Cross. She has also collaborated on several major digital preservation, research, and archiving initiatives at CASVA and the University of Oxford.
In welcoming the appointment, GTU Dean Arthur Holder commented, “The addition of Kate Barush to our faculty will help the Graduate Theological Union continue our tradition of strong leadership in the field of Art and Religion at both the masters and doctoral levels.” JST-SCU Dean Thomas Massaro, S.J., agreed: “Kate Barush brings remarkable academic interests and abilities, as well as outstanding personal qualities and experiences to the school communities of JST and the GTU. What a pleasure it is to welcome her to Berkeley.”