First Year Student Spotlight: Ria Murray, Lee B. Anderson Memorial Fund Scholarship Recipient
Posted on December 7, 2016 | posted by: adht
Ria Murray’s love of the decorative arts was born over many childhood trips to museums and historic houses with her grandparents, a musician and and educator who fostered an early interest in the arts. By the time she tagged along on a trip to Paris at age 13, taking in the richly decorated rooms of Versailles and Malmaison, a love of art history and an interest in historic interiors had more than taken hold.
After graduating with a BA in Art History from Rutgers University in 2011, Murray briefly interned with the American Friends of the Attingham Trust before gaining employment as a Gallery Assistant at Lillian Nassau LLC, long-time specialists in 19th and early 20th century decorative arts and the work of Tiffany Studios. There, Murray’s work as the in-house photographer meant personally handling objects and learning to isolate the specific design elements that make one piece more important or valuable than another. This experience led to a greater appreciation for the so-called “Applied Arts” and an awareness that her “Fine Arts” education had left her with a gap in her knowledge that begged to be filled. This search led Murray to professors and alumni of the History of Design and Curatorial Studies program, and, tempted by the possibility of working hands-on with a museum collection, she applied and was accepted to the class of 2018.
Murray has spent her time so far devoted to the program’s foundational study of Decorative Arts and Design Theory. When not poring over period magazines or continuing her work at the gallery, Murray also works as a Curatorial Fellow in Cooper Hewitt’s Drawings, Prints & Graphic Design department, where she catalogues and researches the museum’s vast holdings while writing Object of the Day posts. In her second semester, Murray is excited to take advantage of the program’s connections to local museums and collections and hopes to further explore the shift in design philosophy that began in the mid-nineteenth century, focusing particularly on the work of Koloman Moser, the Wiener Werkstätte and the influence of their approach on modern design and material culture in the 21st century.
Though her ideal afternoon involves curling up with a good book and her cat Nyx, Murray is also an avid hiker and photographer. As a recent transplant, she enjoys taking in the architecture of old New York as research takes her across the different neighborhoods of the city.