Biographies

Mariah Simensky is a fifth year senior, double-majoring in Anthropology and History of Art and Architecture with two minors in Chinese and Japanese. She will graduate this year with an Asian Studies Certificate. This semester, Mariah is researching the Japanese Nationality Room for the HAA 1010 class. Her research paper will focus on how the Japanese Nationality Room’s intended purpose was to facilitate Americans’ and University of Pittsburgh students’ interests in Japan and Japanese culture. ​

Peixiao Liu (Emma) is a senior at Pitt, double-majoring in History of Art and Architecture and Economics. She is originally from Beijing, China and currently aiming at working in arts management industry. She has chosen to study the Chinese Nationality Room for her thesis paper for the course HAA 1010. Emma will be focusing on how the Chinese Nationality Room emphasizes the great learning and teaching of Confucius and what American culture means to Chinese education.

Lisa Canavan is a double major in Studio Arts and Art History.  After working in business and raising a family, Lisa returned to college part-time to pursue a lifelong interest in the arts.  She greatly enjoys her academic pursuits and has been recognized as a university scholar.  Memorializing the past and current life experiences are themes that inspire her artwork and art historical studies.  Besides art, Lisa spends time fostering kittens for Animal Friends shelter and training her thoroughbred.

Qiqi Feng is a junior majoring in Art History with minors in German and Museum Studies. Born in China, Qiqi has received education in China, Singapore and the USA. Qiqi worked for large and small exhibitions in China and the USA, and obtained internship positions in the Sixth Chengdu Biennale in 2013, and in the Carnegie Museum of Art in 2014.

Katherine Rhame is a junior double majoring in Neuroscience and the History of Art and Architeture.  Her research project for HAA 1010 on Visualizing Heritage in Pittsburgh looks at the connection between the culture of Austrian Empire when Austria held significant power and land, and how that image was chosen to represent ideas of identity among the Austrian immigrants when designing the Austrian Nationality Room (dedicated in 1996).

Jinghan Xu is a junior majoring in the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh.  She is pursuing minors in Museum Studies and Studio Arts.  Her hometown is Qingdao city in Shandong province, China.  For her project in HAA 1010 she has chosen to work on the political ramifications of the Confucian themes so prominent in the Chinese Nationality Room that opened in 1939, during a period of civil disorder in China.

Sara Savage is a senior pursuing a degree in Studio Arts and Art History with a minor in Museum Studies and a certificate in Gender Studies. She was selected to participate in this summer’s Honors Wyoming Field Study course where four students spent two and a half weeks working on intense independent studio projects. The artwork Sara produced in Wyoming focused on the identity of the land and what it meant for her to exist within it.

Yehan Hu is a junior student at the University of Pittsburgh, majoring in History of Art and Architecture. After graduating from the Second High School Attached to Beijing Normal University in Beijing, China, he came to the United States in 2012 for college. He has currently been building an original visual novel video game with friends.  He is enrolled in HAA 1010 and is working on the Indian Nationality Room, its construction technology and historical models.