Kathryn Barush

I am currently the Thomas E. Bertelsen Jr. Chair and Associate Professor of Art History and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union and the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University.

I received a D.Phil. from Wadham College, University of Oxford in 2012 and have held positions as Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. and as a curatorial assistant at the Yale University Center for British Art. I am the author of the monograph Art and the Sacred Journey in Britain, 1790-1850 (London: Routledge). Shifting the focus to the present day, my current book project (Imaging Pilgrimage: Art as Embodied Experience, Bloomsbury Visual Culture) explores the transfer of 'spirit' from sites to representations through a critical examination of contemporary art (including assemblages of souvenirs, built environments, and reconstructions of sacred sites) created after or during pilgrimages with the intent to engender the experience for others.

I take an interdisciplinary approach to art history and am especially interested in expressions of belief across a number of religious traditions.

In addition to my research and writing, I am an advisor to the British Pilgrimage Trust and a member of the advisory network of the Yale Center for Material and Visual Cultures of Religion. I'm also an avid walker and have led a group of graduate student pilgrims along the Camino Ignaciano in Spain.