Dear Research Diary,

Today I had my last advising meeting, which was quite sad but also reminded me (as if I needed more of a reminder) of my thesis. I had the pleasure of being advised by Professor De Sena AND Professor Smyth (and even two students!!!...this was not so pleasurable, however). We got to talking about my thesis, and they both had a lot of useful advice. Prof. De Sena told me that he was a 2nd reader on some of Prof. Dohna’s past theses, and thought they were very good, and more importantly, he thought that the student’s own voice was definitely present, not overshadowed by some of Prof. Dohna’s often strong ideas and perspectives. This is good. Prof. Smyth seemed to stress that my thesis will be an independent project, and I should rely on no one except myself. She did, however, offer her services, reminding me that although it is not her preferred field, she is quite knowledgeable in modern art. She hinted at the fact that she could be a good choice for 2nd reader. This got me thinking, and I recalled that I did take the Modern section of the intro course AND Theories and Methods of Art History with her. I enjoyed both of these courses very much, especially from her point of view.

When I told Prof. Smyth that one of the reasons I want to work on Russian avant-garde is because I feel compelled to do so because of my personal connection to Russia and the Soviet Union, she stated the obvious and asked if I had considered researching the Ukrainian avant-garde. I have in fact considered this, but I thought Russia would be more interesting since the Russians were sooooo influential. But maybe I should reconsider. So now I will indeed see what the Ukrainian’s were up to, perhaps in light of the Russians and Italian futurists. It could be very interesting, I DO read Ukrainian, there are a number of professors here who I have had from the Poli Sci department who have studied Ukraine in great depth who could be of much use… This is very exciting!!!!!!!!!!

Oh I forgot all about Prof. Smyth’s presentation in class today. I love hearing about her personal projects, she really reminds you about how brilliant she is!! She spoke of her research in Northern Italy. She gave us some practical tips, such as using our youth and inexperience to our advantage ..this way we can get our hands on a lot of valuable things. She also explained the importance of seeing art works in situ. Also she told many stories and anecdotes about the scholarly world.