Howie Gao
Howie is a junior currently pursuing a degree in art history and economics. He is from the other side of the world but he’s passionate about Western Art. Howie decided to join this class to explore the influence of copies, fakes, and forgeries in art history. His love for fine art and fashion occupies his leisure time outside of class.
Molly George
Molly is a sophomore studying art history and creative writing. A writer and editor for The Colby Echo, she rows for Colby Crew and loves to spend spare time exploring coasts and museums. This class aligns with her interest in the narrative of art history and the surprising stories surrounding cases of inauthenticity.
Alyssa Kent
Alyssa is a biology and art history double major from Rowley, MA. She hopes to pursue a career in medicine after her studies at Colby. A member of Colby Women’s Crew, she loves spending time outdoors with friends and teammates. Alyssa took this class in pursuit of a better understanding of the forensics behind art authentication and to expand her grasp of art history.
Annie Muller
Hailing from Tampa, Florida, Annie is a student of the class of 2022 double majoring in chemistry and art history and minoring in physics. Planning to pursue a career in art conservation, Annie joined this class to explore her interest in the forensics processes of art authentication and forgery detection and to ask questions about the nature of authenticity itself.
Elliot Penn
Hailing from Houston, Texas, Elliot is a senior double majoring in history and classical civilization and minoring in art. He will be attending the University of Houston Law Center in the fall to pursue a career in cultural heritage law. He took this class to better understand the methods of and motivations for art forgery. In his free time, he buys and sells fine art, plays guitar, and enjoys outdoor activities like hiking, fishing, and boating.
Julia Pfau
Julia is a senior majoring in art history and government, and she is originally from the Los Angeles area. In her limited free time, she enjoys dancing with the Colby Dance Company and playing guitar and drums. Julia will be attending the University of Texas School of Law in the fall to pursue a career in art law, so questions about the relationship between copies, fakes, and forgeries and the law are of special interest to her.
Véronique Plesch
Professor of Art History at Colby College, Véronique is the author of books and articles in English, French, Italian, and Spanish, on subjects such as late medieval and Renaissance iconography, Alpine art, Passion plays, early modern graffiti, and contemporary art—many of them with a steady focus on word and image issues (she was President of the International Association of Word and Image Studies from 2008 to 2017). Véronique curated several exhibitions and is one of the editors of the Maine Arts Journal: Union of Maine Visual Arts Quarterly.
Caroline Scarola
Caroline, class of 2022, is originally from Mountain Lakes, New Jersey. As a government and art history double major, this course allowed her to explore both her interests. Caroline spent her first semester abroad in DIjon, France, through Colby’s Global Entry Semester program. When not working with Colby Cares about Kids, on campus, or as an editorial intern for the Maine Arts Journal: Union of Maine Visual Arts Quarterly, you can find Caroline at Sugarloaf or exploring Portland.
Amy Schubert
Amy is a double major in Studio Art and English with a concentration in Creative Writing. She is in the class of 2023 and comes from Medfield, Massachusetts. She enrolled in Copies, Fakes, and Forgeries out of an interest in tackling the question of how to define art in a broader sense than in a period specific art history class. As an artist, Amy has a personal interest in the practice of copying artwork for the purpose of training and in the problems that arise from artwork being copied, stolen, or forged.
Whitney White
Whitney is a senior from Buena Vista, Colorado double majoring in Art History and Global Studies. Though her interests primarily lie in the relationship between 20th-century European art and collective memory, she is also more broadly interested in how art shapes our understanding of the past. She was inspired to take this course to study how fakes and forgeries—broadly defined—can alter our perceptions of history.
Mark Wardecker
As an instructional technologist, Mark manipulates and creates copies, fakes, and forgeries on a regular basis. He has worked on a variety of digital humanities projects with Véronique Plesch and others.