Art history has always been a part of Caroline Helmer’s life.
“I still remember the first time I went to an art museum with my mom when I was six years old, and we saw a Renoir exhibit,” Helmer said. “And I think I always considered art history as a fun thing.”
However, she didn’t think she could make a career out of it until she enrolled at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass. Once she started taking classes in Gordon’s art department—and excelling in them—she realized that she could pursue her passion not just as a hobby, but as a vocation.
Helmer transferred to Wake Forest as a junior largely because Gordon doesn’t have an art history major, and she knew she wanted to study the subject more deeply.
“I heard nothing but good things about Wake Forest’s art department,” Helmer said. “So I landed on Wake Forest to transfer, and it’s been the best decision I could have ever made.”
Through studying art history, Helmer said she has learned more about other people’s perspectives than she could have learned in any other discipline.
“Art is really the only way you can see somebody else’s perspective because you can’t physically look through somebody else’s eyes, but you can see what they see through a painting or a photo or whatever medium it is that they create,” she said. “So I’ve learned how important art is to drawing out perspectives and seeing other people’s experiences.”
When asked which professors influenced her the most, Helmer said Morna O’Neill and Jay Curley go out of their way to help students grow and develop not just as art history majors, but as people.
“They are just the powerhouses of the art department,” Helmer said of O’Neill and Curley. “They are so not afraid to give up big chunks of time to invest in students. “
O’Neill helped Helmer enroll in a class called “Management in the Visual Arts”, which features a trip to New York City over spring break to meet Wake Forest alumni and explore different sectors of the art market.
“I would not be in that class if it wasn’t for her, and that really helped shape my career aspirations,” Helmer said.
Helmer said the most significant thing she has learned at Wake Forest is that it is the responsibility of all art historians to expand their field’s inclusivity.
“Society in general has a narrative of art history that they like to tell, and so many cultures, and so many voices get left out of that narrative,” she said. “We have to make sure, as art historians, that no culture gets lessened or pushed away because it’s not in the European narrative of our history.”
Helmer plans to attend law school in the next few years. She hopes to combine her art history knowledge with legal studies to pursue a career in New York City.
“I’m scared because I don’t totally know where I’m gonna end up,” she said. “But I think that’s really exciting because I’ve always been the type of person who’s always had a plan, and I don’t have one right now, totally. And so I’m sort of trying to figure out what the next right thing is.”
