Biography
Heather Belnap is Professor of Art History & Curatorial Studies and the newly-appointed Global Women's Studies Coordinator at Brigham Young University.
She has presented and published widely in feminist art history, and particularly on women in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French art and society. Recently, she has turned her attention to the fields of Utah and Mormon studies. Professor Belnap is the author, with Corry Cropper and Daryl Lee, of Marianne Meets the Mormons: Representations of Mormonism in Nineteenth-century France (University of Illinois Press, 2022), winner of the John Whitmer Historical Association's 2023 Best Book Award. She has co-edited two books, Interior Portraiture and Masculine Identity in France, 1789-1914 (Ashgate, 2011) and Women, Femininity, and Public Space in European Visual Culture, 1789-1914 (Routledge, 2014) and published numerous articles and essays in feminist art history and cultural studies. Her most recent publications include a guest editing a special issue on midcentury women in Utah art for the Utah Historical Quarterly (Fall 2023) and the book section, "The Mormon-LDS Art Tradition," in Variations on Christian Art: Mennonite, Mormon, Quaker and Swedenborgian, ed. Diane Apostolos-Cappadona (Bloomsbury, 2024).
Some of her current projects include two exhibitions, Work and Wonder: Two Centuries of Latter-day Saint Art (Church History Museum, Fall 2024) and Materializing Mormonism: Trajectories in Latter-day Saint Contemporary Art (Mesa Arts Center, Spring 2024) with (with co-curators Brontë Hebdon and Ashlee Whitaker), a volume on Mormon artist Minerva Teichert for the Introductions to Mormon Thought series; and book and exhibition projects tentatively titled, Artistic Frontiers: Women and the Making of the Utah Art Scene, 1880-1940 (with Emily Larsen). She hopes to complete a book manuscript in her primary field of research, Modernity's Muses: Women, Art, and Culture in Post-Revolutionary Paris, in 2025.
Professor Belnap teaches courses on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European art, modern and contemporary art, women in art, Latter-day Saint art, and global women's studies.
Dr. Belnap is also actively engaged in professional and civic organizations, particularly those involved in the advancement of women in the visual arts. She served as the chair of CAA’s Services to Historians of the Visual Arts Committee (2021-2024) and was a member of the CAA Committee on Women in the Arts (2015-2018). She is the Utah representative for The Feminist Art Project and was honored in Jann Haworth’s Utah Women 2020 mural as one of 250 or so women past and present who have shaped the state’s culture.
Degrees
BA, Brigham Young University, 1994
MA, Brigham Young University, 1997
PhD, University of Kansas, 2007
Interests
Travel, gardening, running, fashion, feminism, social compassion
Research Interests
Professor Belnap is the author, with Corry Cropper and Daryl Lee, of Marianne Meets the Mormons: Representations of Mormonism in Nineteenth-century France (University of Illinois Press, 2022), winner of the John Whitmer Historical Association’s Best Book Award. In addition to numerous articles and essays, she has co-edited two books, Interior Portraiture and Masculine Identity in France, 1789-1914 (Ashgate, 2011) and Women, Femininity, and Public Space in European Visual Culture, 1789-1914 (Routledge, 2014).Current projects include a critical biography of Minerva Teichert, a study of Utah women in the arts from 1880-1950, and a monograph on women in post-Revolutionary Paris.Her most recent publications include a guest edited special issue on mid century women in Utah art for the Utah Historical Quarterly (Fall 2023), the book section, "The Mormon-LDS Art Tradition," in Variations on Christian Art: Mennonite, Mormon, Quaker and Swedenborgian, ed. Diane Apostolos-Cappadona (Bloomsbury, 2024), and an essay on mid-century Mormon women artists for the Latter-Day Saint Art: A Critical Reader (Oxford, 2024). During the summer and fall of 2024, her two co-curated exhibitions (with co-curators Brontë Hebdon and Ashlee Whitaker) opened: Materializing Mormonism: Trajectories in Latter-day Saint Contemporary Art (Mesa Arts Center, May 10—August 8, 2024) and Work and Wonder: Two Centuries of Latter-day Saint Art (Church History Museum, September 26, 2024—March 1, 2025).
Dr. Belnap is currently writing a volume on Mormon artist Minerva Teichert for the Introductions to Mormon Thought series and working on a book and exhibition project tentatively titled, Artistic Frontiers: Women and the Making of the Utah Art Scene, 1880-1940 (with Emily Larsen). Thanks to a grant from the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies, her digital public history initiative, the Utah Women Artists Project, is now underway. She continues to work on her book manuscript, Modernity's Muses: Women, Art, and Culture in Post-Revolutionary Paris, and present her scholarship in her primary field of research.
Teaching Interests
Professor Belnap teaches courses on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European art, modern and contemporary art, women in art, Latter-day Saint art, European studies, and global women’s studies.Education
- PH.D., ART HISTORY , UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS (2007)
- MA, HUMANITIES , BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY (1997)
- BA, HUMANITIES , BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY (1994)
Honors and Awards
- BYU College of Humanities Scheuber-Veinz Professorship and Christensen Lectureship for Achievement in Literature or Cultural Studies, Philosophy, Folklore, Art History, or Creative Writing, College of Humanities (2024 - 2025)
- Aileen H. Clyde 20th Century Women’s History Lectureship, University of Utah (2024 - 2024)
- European Studies Professor of the Year, European Studies (2024 - 2024)
- College of Humanities Professorship, College of Humanities (2021 - 2024)
- Best Article in Mormon Women's History, Mormon History Association (2023 - 2023)
- Smith-Pettit Best Book Award, John Whitmer Historical Association (2023 - 2023)
- Phi Kappa Phi Award, BYU Chapter of Phi Kappa Phi Honors Society (2022 - 2022)
- Certain Women Art Exhibition 2021 Advocate of the Year Award, Certain Women (2021 - 2021)
- Humanities+ Fellow, College of Humanities (2020 - 2021)
- Honoree, Jann Haworth and Courtney Giles, Utah Women 2020 mural (2020 - 2020)
- Humanities+ Experiential Learning Educator Award, BYU College of Humanities (2020 - 2020)
- John Topham and Susan Redd Butler Faculty Award, Charles Redd Center for Western Studies (2020 - 2020)
- Women's Research Initiative Grant, BYU (2020 - 2020)
- Humanities Center Fellow, Humanities Center (2015 - 2018)
Administrative Assignments
- Kennedy Center for Internaitonal Studies: International Area Studies Coordinator (2024 - Present)
- European Studies: International Area Studies Coordinator (2017 - 2023)
Memberships
- International Nineteenth-Century Studies Association (2023 - Present)
- Phi Kappa Phi (2023 - Present)
- Mormon Scholars in the Humanities (2020 - Present)
- AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research, & Exhibition (2019 - Present)
- Global Mormon Studies (2018 - Present)
- Pi Delta Phi (2017 - Present)
- Mormon Women's History Initiative (2016 - Present)
- Mormon History Association (2015 - Present)
- The European Society for Nineteenth-Century Art (2014 - Present)
- The Feminist Art Project (TFAP) (2012 - Present)
- National Women's Studies Honor Society (2011 - Present)
- Société de Dix-Neuvièmistes (2011 - Present)
- Historians of Eighteenth-century Art and Architecture (2009 - Present)
- American Society for Eighteenth-century Studies (2005 - Present)
- Nineteenth-century French Studies (2004 - Present)
- Association of Historians of Nineteenth-century Art (2001 - Present)
- College Art Association (1998 - Present)
Professional Citizenship
- Other, The Feminist Art Project (2015 - Present)
- Other, Phi Kappa Phi (2023 - 2024)
- Committee/Council Member, College Art Association (2021 - 2024)
- Adjudicator, Certain Women Art Collective (2021 - 2021)
- Adjudicator, Church History Museum (2021 - 2021)
- Committee/Council Chair, Provo Arts Council (2017 - 2018)
- Committee/Council Member, College Art Association's Committee for Women in the Arts (2015 - 2018)