Recreating Maya artistry

April 24, 2017

Heather Hurst

Heather Hurst, of Skidmore's anthropology faculty, has received a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. A 1997 Skidmore graduate with a self-determined major in architectural archaeology and a second major in art, she holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from Yale.

As a Guggenheim Fellow, she will expand on her project to illustrate ancient Maya murals from a site in San Bartolo, Guatemala. The San Bartolo murals, many of them reassembled from worn and broken fragments, provide new insights into Maya art, religion and culture. Hurst's illustrations replicate the ancient art precisely but may also include clarifications of damaged and worn areas.

Having worked with murals, sculptures and architecture at several Maya sites, Hurst says the intimate knowledge and precision required to articulate a line in a manner that's true to the original inspired her to explore the creators, to make visible the human lives and social roles of these ancient painters, scribes and sculptors. Hurst's work has appeared in National Geographic, Science, the New York Times, the National Gallery of Art, the Met, and other major venues. In 2004 she won a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant.

"The Guggenheim is a prestigious academic award," says her colleague Michael Ennis-McMillan, adding, "Skidmore faculty and students have been fortunate that Heather has shared her talents with us."

The Guggenheim Foundation, established in 1925, this year evaluated nearly 3,000 applicants to choose 173 winners across the sciences, arts, and humanities.