In conjunction with the Memento Mori exhibit at the Chastain Art Center, Dr. Beth Roark will explore the fascinating history of funerary art and architecture in American Cemeteries in the 19th century. There is a rich tradition of cemeteries as one of our most important repositories for sculpture. Dr. Roark will examine how this tradition evolved over time and explore some of the most important examples of public art in cemeteries.
About Beth Roark
Elisabeth Roark is a Professor of Art History and Museum Studies at Chatham University, Pittsburgh, PA. She received an M.A and Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and a B.A. from Allegheny College, Meadville, PA, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Other awards include a Mellon Fellowship and a Smithsonian Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. Beth has published and presented widely on colonial and nineteenth-century American art, including articles in Markers, Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide, Italian American Review, Maryland Historical Magazine, Prospects, the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, and the book Artists of Colonial America from Greenwood Press. Beth is currently the editor of Markers: The Annual Journal of the Association for Gravestone Studies and is co-chair of the Pennsylvania AGS Chapter. Her current research focuses on Italian sculpture in American cemeteries and the funerary sculpture of George Grey Barnard.