Laura Evans facing forward, smiling, blonde hair, blue top

Laura Evans

Associate Professor, Art Education
2022 University Distinguished Teaching Professor
Director, Art Museum Education Certificate* Program

Department of Art Education 
940-369-5379 | Laura.Evans@unt.edu
Art Building, Room 308 

*For Certificate Program questions, email cvad.ArtEducation@unt.edu.

 

Areas of Expertise: art museum education, museum studies, art crime and cultural heritage preservation studies, narrative inquiry, auto-ethnography

Laura Evans pointing at an oil painting detail that is projected on a large monitor.About

Laura Evans teaches about art museums and art museum education, art interpretation, art appreciation and art crime. Her research explores how museums can be both “for somebody” and “about something”[1] by creating meaningful, humanistic and inclusive learning experiences.   
 
Evans specializes in art crime: thefts, fakes and forgeries. She studied art crime at the Association of Research into Crimes Against Art, Amelia, Italy, and has a postgraduate degree in antiquities trafficking and art crime from the University of Glasgow, Scotland. Recently, she led one of the first art-crime-history tours through Europe for a group of enthusiastic adventurers from the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNT. During breaks from UNT, Evans lectures about art crime on cruise ships.  
 
Evans received her Ph.D. in art education at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, a master’s in museum studies at the University of Toronto, and a bachelor’s in art history and English at Denison University, Granville, Ohio, and she has studied abroad in Finland, Brazil and New Zealand. Evans has worked at art museums worldwide, from the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts in Western Australia to the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and from the University of Toronto Art Centre to the Lopdell Gallery in New Zealand, with many more in between. She has worked with museums around the country, such as the Kimbell Museum of Art in Fort Worth, Texas, and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, to provide critical museology training.”  

 [1] Weil, S. (1999). From being about something to being for somebody: The ongoing transformation of American museums. Daedelus, 128 (3), pp. 229-258. 

Image: Laura Evans points out a detail in a painting during a lecture in Riga, Latvia.

Research

Laura Evans’ current research is about how everyday people can learn about themselves, others, and the world when they look at contemporary art together in a deep, thoughtful examination and engage together in vulnerable, reflective conversations about it.  

Articles

“Behind the Exhibitions: Graduates from UNT’s art museum education program are using creative ways to enhance visitors’ experiences at some of the nation’s most renowned museums and institutions” by Jessica DeLeón, The North Texan

“Making Connections to Art: Alumni use their education to bring art to life for specific DFW audiences” by Jessica DeLeón, The North Texan

“Treasure and Thieves: Tracing Art Crime Through the Great Museums of Europe”

Video


CVAD Mission: Cultivating creative talent and critical minds within a collaborative and caring environment.