nicole lockhart

Art History

Nicole Lockhart began her studies in Education at the University of Northern Colorado before making her way to Colorado State University, Fort Collins, where she fell in love with Art History. Her experience teaching English in Southeast Africa kindled her love for African art, making it a focus during her studies. Nicole will be completing her BA in Art History from the University of Colorado Denver.

After graduation, Nicole will begin her journey with the Peace Corps to follow her passions in travel and education. Once she returns, she expects to continue her studies and get her teaching license in hopes of sharing her passions by teaching art in elementary schools.

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Permanence: Considering Tattooing within the Limits of Art History

Even though tattoos are considered “body art,” they are left out of art history as an artistic practice. By excluding the practice of tattooing from the art historical canon, we are, in effect, excluding a significant aspect of visual culture, complete with styles, designs, and modes of practice from various cultures around the world.

This study seeks to bridge the gap between tattoo and the fine arts by analyzing the former within the definition of the latter.By comparing the work of tattoo artists like Don Ed Hardy with theoretical texts that provide definitions for “fine art,” this paper sheds new light on tattoos. This paper specifically examines scholarship that places tattooing in an anthropological rather than art historical context.

In doing so, I will show that while tattooing holds to artistic conventions, it is problematically left out of art history and categorized as anthropology. When tattooing is held to the same standards as painting, drawing, sculpture, and other recognizable forms of “fine art,” we can see how it is indeed an equally valid form of visual culture.