Melissa Forstrom
Associate Professor of Global Studies and Arts Management
Melissa Forstrom’s research, teaching and practice focuses on the intersections of museums, cultural representation, heritage, and society. Her current and ongoing research project documents and analyzes the changing interpretation in Islamic art exhibition in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
Melissa also researches:
- the development of experiential learning pedagogies in museum studies practicum and study abroad courses
- the intersections of place/space theories in examining the increase of art museums and art exhibitions at international airports
- the use and properties of glass, as a building material in purpose-built art museums
- recent migration from Muslim-majority nations to the Nordic countries and how this intersects with museum practices and exhibitions
More About Me
Dr. Forstrom has been invited to lecture about her research at: The New School, Johns Hopkins, University of the Arctic- Norway, the University of Leicester-UK, University of Oslo, University of Helsinki, University of Iceland- Reykjavik, Humboldt University-Berlin, University of Westminster-London, Ístanbul Bilgi University, and the University of Wales.
Melissa has also been invited to speak at numerous arts organizations including: Shangri-La Museum of Islamic Art/Doris Duke Foundation, Darat al Funan (Amman), Detroit Institute of Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts- Boston, the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, the New York Public Library, the King Abdulaziz Centre for World Culture at the American Alliance of Museums Conference, and P21 Gallery (London).
She has presented her research at conferences in Singapore, Russia, Germany, the UK and USA.
Melissa’s museum practice focuses on partnering with curators, exhibition managers, and museum education professionals in three areas:
- develop and edit inclusive and intellectually accessible exhibition interpretation
- develop, design, and execute visitor studies and exhibition evaluations
- develop and facilitate community, expert, and audience advisory committees and engagement initiatives
Representative Courses
- LBS 3025: Place, Space, and Belonging
- LBS 3031: Public Art and Civic Space
- LBS 3030: Decolonization and the Arts in Global Perspective
- LBS 3020: The Power of Art: Activism and Creative Expression
- AMG 3420: Museum Education and Learning
- AMG 4420: Exhibition Interpretation: Theories and Practice
- AMG 3880: Junior Seminar
- AMG 3440: Museum Visitor Research
- AMG 3420: Exhibition Practice and Management
- AMG 3540: Visual Arts Management II: Curatorship and Connoisseurship
- AMG 2300: Communicating the Arts
- ANT 2475: Museums and Communities
- SOC 4060: Cross-Cultural Solutions to Climate Change (faculty-led study abroad to Oslo, Norway)
- CMS 3300: Management and Communications
Publications
Book- Monograph:
Interpreting Islamic Art in Europe and the United States: a museological perspective (forthcoming) 2025, New York: Routledge.
Book- Anthology (Co-Editor):
Eid, H. and Forstrom, M. (eds), 2021, Museum Innovation: Building More Equitable, Relevant and Impactful Museums, New York: Routledge.
Book Chapters:
“Islam in Islamic Art Exhibition” in: Hadromi-Allouche, Z. (ed.) (forthcoming) 2025, Oxford Encyclopedia of Religion and the Arts in the West: Renaissance to the Present, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
“Islamic art exhibition, Orientalism and contemporary socio-politics: Demystifying connections” in: Öztürk, O., et.al (eds), 2022, Deconstructing the Myths of Islamic Art, New York: Routledge, p.123-134.
“Innovation in Interpretation: Museological responses to the travel ban” in Eid, H. and Forstrom, M. (eds), 2021, Museum Innovation: Building More Equitable, Relevant and Impactful Museums, New York: Routledge, p.27-39.
Articles:
“In Transition: Art Museums and Frames of Migration in New York City” FWD: Museums, In Transit, 2021, p. 50-59.
“Museum Maps and the Edge: Arts of Islam at the Louvre”, Media Fields Journal, Issue 14: At the Edge, July 2019, p.1-8, Available online: http://mediafieldsjournal.org/museum-maps-and-the-edge/.
Presentations / Conferences
Reviewer Experience:
Evaluator/Panelist, Art History Panel- Public Programs, National Endowment for the Humanities, Spring 2023.
NEH CARES Reviewer, Public Programs, National Endowment for the Humanities, May 2020.
Evaluator/Panelist, Art History Panel- Public Programs, National Endowment for the Humanities, Spring 2019.
Reviewer, “Public Spaces: Culture and Integration in Europe,” Humanities in the European
Invited Lectures, Workshops, Presentations and Academic Conference Presentations:
Dr. Forstrom has extensive experience speaking (on over forty occasions) about her research on Islamic art exhibition, exhibition interpretation, exhibition evaluation, and experiential learning/museum studies/study abroad pedagogies in undergraduate education.
Exhibitions / Performances
Co-Curator, Shoulder Season, Richard and Dolly Maass Gallery, Purchase, NY, Fall 2024. 19 February- 19 March, 2025
Co-Curator, Time Trap, Group MFA Show, Richard and Dolly Maass Gallery, Purchase, NY, 20 November-11 December 11, 2024.
Summative Evaluation Design, Training & Reporting, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY, 2019, 2020, 2022, & 2023.
Facilitator, Islamic Art Advisory Committee, The Walters Museum of Art, March 2021- July 2022.
Facilitator, Community Advisory Committee- Ethiopia at the Crossroads exhibition, The Walters Museum of Art March- August 2021.
Docent Training, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY, January 2018.
Summative Evaluation Design & Training, Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase, NY, Fall 2017.
Exhibition and Interpretation Development & Summative Evaluation, Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, 2015.
Summative Evaluation, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, Spring 2014.
Film Curator, Alwan for the Arts, New York, NY, 2010 – 2015.