Tara Trahey (USA)

Life After Ertegun House

After my time at the Ertegun house, I moved to New York to begin a PhD in Art History and Archaeology at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU—where I am now in my third year. At the IFA, I have continued my research on Greek pottery and have furthered my work in the digital humanities. Over the past year I have been working on a project that uses the Python programming language as a tool for the analysis of Greek trademarks. I am also currently working on a project involving the intersections of Greek pottery and funerary sculpture. This summer, I excavated at Selinunte in Sicily, and had the great opportunity to study the site's collection of Corinthian pottery with Cornelius Neeft. Since finishing my coursework at the IFA, I am currently preparing for my doctoral qualifying exams as a Visiting Scholar at Duke University. I have continued my practice as a visual artist, and I am happy to be back in the painting studio at Duke this year. 

I am continuously grateful for the Ertegun community, and for the opportunities that Mica and Ahmet’s generosity has afforded me. My time at Oxford was incredibly formative, as I was inspired everyday by my conversations with fellow Ertegun scholars. I would be more than happy to speak with anyone interested in my experience at the Ertegun House.