Professional Qualifications

PROFESSIONAL CREDENTIALS

Education:

  • BFA in Art History (summa cum laude), OHIO UNIVERSITY, 1974
  • Graduate studies in Asian art and Chinese language, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NY, fall 1974
  • M.A. in Asian Art History, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS , 1978 (subject areas for M. A. exams:  Chinese painting, early Chinese art, Japanese painting, Buddhist art of Asia, ancient Greek art). Professors there included Chu-tsing Li, Stephen Addiss, Laurence Sickman, and Christine Guth.
  • Graduate studies in Japanese art history at Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, September 1980-December 1981, with Professor Tsuji Nobuo.
  • Ph.D. in Japanese Art History, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, 1983 (Ph.D. exam areas included a minor in Chinese Ming dynasty painting)

Appraising Credentials:

CERTIFIED MEMBER of the Appraisers Association of America (AAA) for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean arts, having passed examinations those subjects in 2009, and an Accredited Member in broader categories of Asian arts, encompassing various types of crafts and fine arts of East Asia (China, Japan, & Korea), South East Asia, Indian, and the Himalayas, since joining the organization in 2002. Through AAA, in October 2008 I first completed a 15-hour course and examination on the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP), the Congressionally-recognized set of appraisal standards promulgated by the Appraisal Foundation, and have subsequently completed 7-hour update courses every two years to coincide with biennial USPAP updates. My current USPAP credential is valid through January 2024.

FOREIGN LANGUAGES

Japanese (excellent speaking, reading and writing ability); Chinese (good basic reading and writing, of both classical and modern Chinese, limited speaking ability in Mandarin); French (basic reading level competency).

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Research Consultancies:

  • Member, steering committee for an online exhibition project on Zen Master Yinyuan Longqi/Ingen Ryūki and Ōbaku Zen artists (ongoing from 2022). https://ingen.arizona.edu/ 
  • Consultant to the Denver Art Museum exhibition, Her Brush: Japanese Women Artists from the Fong-Johnstone Collection, 2022.
  • Asian Art Consultant for a grant-funded program, Asian Arts in the Undergraduate Curriculum, sponsored by ASIANetwork, a consortium of over 160 undergraduate liberal arts colleges in the USA with Asian Studies Programs (2006-2009);
  • Consultant for Japanese Art, Santa Barbara Museum of Art (1995-2007);
  • Editorial and Marketing Consultant for Kodansha International Publishers, New York Office (1988-1989).

Museum Positions:

  • Consultant for Japanese Art, NELSON-ATKINS MUSEUM OF ART(1993-2001);
  • Assistant Curator of Asian Arts, ST. LOUIS ART MUSEUM (1991-1993);
  • Research Fellow for Japanese Art, NELSON-ATKINS MUSEUM OF ART  (1984-1986).

Academic Positions:

  • Director, Japan Section of the Kansas-Asia Scholars Program, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS (2002-2006);
  • Lecturer, Graduate Program in Historic Administration and Museum Studies, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS (1997, 1999, 2001);
  • Lecturer, History of Art and Religious Studies Departments, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS (spring 2000);
  • Assistant to the Director, Center for East Asian Studies, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS (1998-1999);
  • Assistant Professor, Art Department, HOBART & WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGES (1988-1990);
  • Assistant Professor, Art History Department, CORNELL UNIVERSITY (1986-1988).

University Courses Taught:

  • Undergraduate courses: Japanese art, Japanese Architecture and Gardens, Cultural History of Kyoto, Introduction to Asian art, Conflicts Between Tradition and Modernity in Contemporary Japan, Contemporary Japanese Culture, Art of Ancient Greece, Introduction to Ancient and Medieval (Western) art.
  • Graduate courses: Japanese Prints, Japanese Painting, Japanese Painting of the Edo Period, Japanese Ceramics, Introduction to Museum Exhibitions, Connoisseurship of Japanese Art at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Material Culture in Japanese Religious Traditions.

Director of Educational Exchange Trips to Japan:

  • Project co-director for the KANSAS RURAL CENTER, Whiting, KS, for Global Partners for Local Organic Foods: A U.S.-Japan Exchange Project in Kansas & Saitama, between Kansas-based organic food industry professionals and counterparts in Japan (cooperating institution in Japan: IFOAM Japan) intended to facilitate change in targeted communities in both locations (2008-2010);
  • Director, Japan Section of the Kansas-Asia Scholars Program (planner and leader for an annual 3-week study abroad scholarship program for outstanding undergraduates), UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS (2002-2006);
  • Director, Summer Study Abroad Institute in Hiratsuka, Japan, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS (5-weeks in 1998).

Leader for Cultural Tours to Japan:

  • Organizer and trip leader for an art and design-themed tour for the SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF ART (October 2006);
  • Lecturer for a tour organized by DISTANT HORIZONS, Santa Monica, CA (fall 2002 and fall 2003);
  • Lecturer on the Clipper Odyssey for a tour sponsored by the AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, NY (spring 2003).

PROFESSIONAL GRANTS, RECOGNITIONS, SERVICE, AND AFFILIATIONS

Institutional Grants:

KANSAS RURAL CENTER, for Global Partners for Local Organic Foods: grants from the Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (2008-2010) and the Elizabeth Schultz Environmental Fund of the Douglas County Kansas, Community Foundation (2008-09); ST. LOUIS ART MUSEUM, for library book acquisitions: grants from the Japan Foundation and the Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art Studies (1992); NELSON-ATKINS MUSEUM OF ART, for library book acquisitions: the Japan Foundation and the Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art Studies (1995 & 1999).

Publication Subvention Grants:

For my book, Faith and Power in Japanese Buddhist Art (2007): Kajima Art Foundation (Tokyo); Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation. For my book, Tea of the Sages, The Art of Sencha (1998): Metropolitan Center for Far Eastern Art Studies; Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation.

Research Fellowships:

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES, Senior Research Fellowship (2003-2005); ASIAN CULTURAL COUNCIL (Rockefeller Brothers Fund) Fellowship, for research in Japan (fall 2001); ASSOCIATION FOR ASIAN STUDIES NORTHEAST ASIA COUNCIL Short Term Travel Grants (to Japan and PRC China, 2014, 2007, 1997, 1991) within the US (1985); FULBRIGHT Senior Research Fellowship for study at Kansai University, Osaka, Japan (1991); METROPOLITAN CENTER FOR FAR EASTERN ART STUDIES Grants (1987 and 1978); JAPANESE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (Mombusho) Fellowship for graduate level study at Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan (1980-1981).

Professional Recognition:

Biography included in the Directory of Japan Specialists and Japanese Institutions in the United States and Canada (The Japan Foundation, 1989, 1995, 2007).

Professional Association Memberships and Service:

Personal Property Resource Panel, Appraisal Foundation, Washington, D.C. (chair, 2018-2020; member 2014-2022), Appraisers Association of America (AAA; member of the Program/Education Committee  2012-2015); American Council for Southern Asian Art, Association for Asian Studies & affiliate groups: Society for the Study of Japanese Religion, Early Modern Japan Studies Group (member of the Editorial board since 2008), and Japan Art History Forum (JAHF; board member 2000-2003;  since 2002, creator, and  subsequently, coordinator of the organization’s website); Midwest Art History Society (MAHS; member of the board of directors since 2006); The International House of Japan, Tokyo; Japan Society (NY).