Next up... Kay Tasian Woods!
Thank you so much for your support on our newsletter last week with Lydia Fenet! This week we talked with Kay Tasian Woods (C’01). She has had an experiential time following Sewanee, and we are excited to share!
Did you have any internships during your time at Sewanee? If so, what were they?
“I had an education internship at the Dallas Museum of Art while I was at Sewanee. I also interned in education at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. There, I figured out that I did not love museum education.
“While I was getting my Master’s, I had a summer internship at the Blanton Museum of Art in the Curatorial Department.”
What made you decide to major in Art History?
“I already knew I loved Art History. I took an art class in high school, we didn’t have AP Art History at my school. However, I took the AP Art History exam and passed it. I quit making art and focused on studying it.
“I had two great art teachers in high school that tried to expose us to all kinds of art history. I loved the history, the context, and the why.”
What was your favorite art history course you took at Sewanee?
“Contemporary art with Dr. Mansfield was my favorite. I loved the 20th century to study and to teach.”
Where did you go after graduating? What’s your story postgrad?
“I wanted to go to graduate school in Art History because I was planning to be a professor. I was interested in the late 20th century, new media, video, and film. I applied to a graduate program at the University of Texas. It was a great program; I was eligible for in-state tuition, which was nice. I was also offered a generous scholarship at Bryn Mawr College, however, the potential advisors there were not especially notable to me.
“I ended up going to UT and did not have a great experience with my advisor there. The professor was not a good fit, so I choose another and they also were not a good fit for me. My favorite class, while I was in grad school, was in the radio, television, and film departments. I finished my Masters at the end of a fall semester, and I could not start my Ph.D. until the following fall. So, I had a gap in my studies.
“Around that time, a Sewanee professor called and said they were offered a grant to finish a book, and needed to take a sabbatical. They offered me to come to teach their classes, so I had the opportunity to teach at Sewanee for a semester during the Easter semester in 2004. It was funny because a student in my class was a freshman when I was a senior, and we had been sorority sisters. I taught two sections of Survey of Western Art II, Contemporary Art, a seminar, had 2 independent study students, and I was applying to Ph.D. programs simultaneously.
“I ended up only applying to UT Art History and UT Television and Film. When I started I had to take two semesters of Master's level communications courses, then started on my thesis. I then found out that the Radio, Film, and Television thesis only had to be 60 pages, so I switched to that. I was living in Dallas, married, working full-time, and taking on a second Master’s degree.
“Ultimately, I decided based on my lifestyle and burnout, a Ph.D. did not make sense to keep going. I loved teaching but hate publishing. I thought about teaching AP Art History at a high school. I went to the first round of interviews at Dallas Baptist University, it was a lot of commuting and part-time. It just wasn’t falling into place.
“In 2005/6, I got my real estate license and started working in that. I’ve been doing real estate for almost 20 years now. I still get to tap into my art history background by describing different forms of architecture and design and writing it all up for my clients. I enjoy it!”
If you had to give one piece of advice to your college self, what would it be?
“Even though I am on a different career path now, I do not regret majoring in art history and going to grad school for art history. However, I did spend a lot of energy and time working towards a degree I don’t actively pursue now. There is so much value in a humanities degree in general, but I do wish I would’ve taken a few extra classes like a business that I’d use daily.”
What’s your favorite museum/ gallery/ exhibit/ work of art you’ve seen recently?
“I am a member of the Forth Worth Modern Art Museum. I love to go. They recently had an exhibit of women painting women from all over the world. It was of women doing portraits of women with diverse and beautiful exhibition techniques. I could have stayed there for days!”
How has your art history major helped you in your daily life?
“As I mentioned before about writing descriptions for houses and clients, I have to use tools of formal analysis that help me visually walk an individual through the property. Art History is deeply ingrained in everything considering how much I studied it.”
Thank you so much, Kay, for sharing your experience with us! If you are interested in hearing more, don’t hesitate to reach out! Be on the lookout for our newsletter next week with Katherine Ragosta (C’19)!