ORGANIZERS/MODERATORS:- Chelsea Stone, Photo Research and Permissions Librarian, History Colorado Center
- Kendra Werst, Assistant Visual Resources Curator, Williams College
PRESENTERS:- Julia Murphy, Digital Asset Manager, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
- John Trendler, Curator of Visual Resources, Scripps College
- Betha Whitlow, Curator of Visual Resources, Washington University in Saint Louis
Have questions about starting out in the Visual Resources field? Interested in hearing other VRA members’ backstories? Join VREPS for a informal conversation with experienced professionals. Speakers will share stories from the beginning years of their career and discuss the difficulties they faced. An open discussion will follow, allowing all attendees to ask questions.
Speakers:Julia Murphy is the Digital Asset Manager at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Julia works to make Hirshhorn’s permanent collection more accessible to staff, researchers, and the public through photographic documentation. She oversees all images of the museum’s permanent collection, the photo archives of the museum’s history, and manages new photography of objects and exhibitions. Julia is also responsible for fulfilling all rights and reproductions requests for Hirshhorn’s object photography. She trains and mentors interns and volunteers who work with the digitization efforts of the photo archives. Julia joined the Hirshhorn as a contractor in 2013 and became a full-time employee in 2016. She received a Masters in Library Science with a concentration in Archives from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2014. Prior to working at the Hirshhorn, Julia worked at the National Museum of African Art, CNN, and the White House.
John Trendler is the Curator of Visual Resources at Scripps College in Claremont, California. John graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and attended the New York Studio Program where he focused on abstract painting. John has given talks on technology and professional issues at various conferences, including the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Arts Education, The College Art Association, The Art Libraries Society of North America and of course the Visual Resources Association. John has served as the Secretary and Chair of the Visual Resources Association’s Southern California Chapter as well as the VRA’s Public Relations and Communications Officer between 2012 - 2016.
Betha Whitlow is the Curator of Visual Resources at Washington University in Saint Louis (WUSTL). Her position emphasizes digital curation, the development and use of technology in pedagogy, instruction in visual literacy, and forwarding digital initiatives, trend forecasting, and advising in the adoption and use of a variety of software and other technologies. She is also a lecturer and instructor of record for The Digital Art Historian, a graduate-level course at WUSTL, and currently serves as chair of the Danforth Staff Council, also at WUSTL. Her research and professional interests include the digital campus, design thinking and innovation, instruction, and management strategies, and are reflected her numerous conference and professional talks. She has served as the Visual Resources Association Vice President, co-chair of the VRA Strategic Plan Task Force, Chair of the VRA Education Committee, Chair of the VRA Publishing Advisory Group, Chair of the ARLIS/NA-VRA Summer Educational Institute, and on the Visual Resources Association Foundation Board of Directors, for which she helped developed the VRAF Regional Workshop program. She is the current co-chair of the VRA Identity Task Force, and the 2018 recipient of the Visual Resources Association's Distinguished Service Award. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, and received her MA in Art History from Washington University in Saint Louis.
