Alumna Dr Hana Leaper reflects on her career path since studying at Leeds

Hana Leaper studied BA History of Art (with English Literature) at the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, followed by an MA in Cultural Studies. She currently works as the Editorial Assistant Postdoctoral Fellow at the Paul Mellon Centre for British Art.

Hana reflects on her studies at Leeds and her ensuing career:

‘After working at National Museums Liverpool during my ‘gap year’, I read Art History and English Literature at the University of Leeds, before studying for an MA in Cultural Studies. The interdisciplinary nature of the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies, and the focus on theory, meant I was able to incorporate many of my interests, including literature and music, into my independent study projects and to build a solid foundation further research.

‘This led to my PhD on British Modernist art at the University of Liverpool, where I lectured in the English Literature and Continuing Education departments on British and European art and literature, primarily 1800-1950.

‘I began work at the Paul Mellon Centre for British Art (Yale University) in November 2014 as the Editorial Assistant Postdoctoral Fellow. My role is to help shape and edit our electronic journal, British Art Studies. The journal is a dynamic new publication which will feature fresh research and scholarship on all aspects of British art. We will host innovative displays of media incorporating multi-sensorial dimensions not possible in print, with the aim of utilising these digital formats to yield new perspectives on art historical study.

‘Before taking up my post at the Paul Mellon Centre, I spent six months cataloging and curating the Angelica Garnett Gift at Charleston – Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant’s former home. The Gift consists of over 8,000 unseen works, primarily by Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, including needlepoint designs, many sketchbooks, and preparatory works for the Berwick Church murals. The conservation and cataloging of this collection will provide tremendous new insights into and opportunities for researching these important twentieth century artists. Research findings by twelve contributors to the venture will be published to coincide with the fruition of the Charleston Centenary Project, which is providing much needed additional facilities at the site.

‘My current research interests include Sybil Andrews and the Grosvenor School linocut artists. My catalogue raisonné of Sybil Andrews' linocuts is due for publication in Autumn 2015 with Lund Humphries, in conjunction with the Osborne Samuel Gallery. This book will be the first to bring together the complete set of Sybil Andrews’ linocuts in colour. I am also editing my PhD thesis ‘Vanessa Bell and the Significance of Form’ in preparation for publication in the near future.

‘My publications include a forthcoming piece for the Modernist Cultures 2016 special edition, exploring the unique cultural position of the Grosvenor School artists in the interwar period, when they created high modernist designs for a mass, middlebrow market. ‘Sisterly Silences: The Unveiling of Hidden Voices in Vanessa Bell’s illustrations for Virginia Woolf’s Kew Gardens’, was published in September 2014 in ‘The Luminary: Hidden Voices, Issue 4’.

‘My essay ‘Vanessa Bell and the heart of Brand Bloomsbury’ was included in the collected edition Bloomsbury Influences, ed. EH Wright (Cambridge Scholars Publishing) in April 2014 and, between 2010-2011, I contributed numerous reviews for the now discontinued Routledge ABES, a digital bibliography for English studies.’

Image: Mark Hallett, Sarah Victoria Turner and Hana Leaper working on the design for the British Art Journal