
Keri Watson, Ph.D.
Keri Watson is an associate professor of art history, affiliated faculty in the Florida Studies, Women's and Gender Studies, and Texts and Technology Ph.D. programs, and the director of the Florida Prison Education Project. She serves as a co-executive editor for Panorama: Journal of the Association of Historians of American Art and teaches courses in 19th- and 20th-century art, American art, the art of Disney and self-taught artists, and African American Art. Dr. Watson's research, which focuses on the power of art to contribute to and challenge stereotypical representations of race, nationality, gender, sex, and dis/ability, has been recognized and supported by a Fulbright Fellowship and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Terra Foundation of American Art, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Society for the Preservation of American Modernists.
Education
- Ph.D. in Art History from Florida State University (2010)
- M.A. in Art History from Florida State University (2006)
- B.A. in Interdisciplinary Humanities from University of West Florida (2004)
Research Interests
- Modern and Contemporary Art
- American Studies
- Disability Studies
- Museum Studies
- Higher Education in Prisons
Selected Publications
Books
Films
- Watson, Keri, and Tim Reid. One More Dollar. Film. 2017.
- Watson, Keri. The Burden of History. Digital Story, 2016.
- Watson,
Keri, Milos Adjinovis and Yson Dickson. Ward Hall: King of the Sideshow. Film, 2015.
- Watson, Keri, Milos Adjinovis
and Yson Dickson. Johnny Meah:
Czar of Bizarre. Film, 2015.
Articles/Essays
- Watson, Keri. “‘With a Smile and a Song’: Representations of People with Dwarfism in 1930s Cinema.” Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies 14:2 (2020): 137-54. Print.
- Watson, Keri. “Precarious Memory: Eudora Welty and the Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum.” Eudora Welty Review 12:1 (2020): 9-26. Print.
- Listengarten,
Julia, Keri Watson, and Kate Kilpatrick. “Building Affective Solidarity and
Creating Healthier Communities through the Arts: Interactions, Elaborations,
and Interventions in Multiple Contexts.” The International Journal of Arts
Education 14:4 (2019):1-14. Print.
- Listengarten,
Julia and Keri Watson. “Staging Representations: Reflections on Performing
Activism in a Visual Art and Theatre Collaboration.” Scene 6:1 (2019):21-50.
- Watson, Keri.
“You’ve Got Art: Florida’s Post Office Murals.” In Florida Studies Review. Edited by Allyson D. Marino and Marcy L.
Galbreath, 88-101. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2018.
- Watson, Keri. "Curating Controversy in the Trump Era." Museums and Social Issues: A Journal of Reflective Discourse (2017).
- Watson, Keri, and Anastasia Salter. “Secret
Societies of the Avant-garde,” GLS 11 Conference Proceedings, eds. Kyrie H.
Caldwell et al (2016):
440-43.
- Watson, Keri, and
Anastasia Salter. "Playing Art Historian: Teaching 20th-Century Art through Alternate Reality Gaming," International Journal for Scholarship of
Technology Enhanced Learning 1:1 (2016): 100-111.
- Watson, Keri. “Disability in Art History.” Art History Teaching Resources Lesson Plans (2015). https://arthistoryteachingresources.org/lessons/disability-in-art-history/
- Watson, Keri. "'Before We Were Us, We Were Them': Curating Controversy," Journal of Museum Education 39 (2014): 96-107.
- Watson, Keri. “Parody
as Political Tool in Patricia Cronin’s Memorial
to a Marriage.” Mosaic: A Journal for
the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 43:2 (2010): 79-94.
- Fredericks, Keri. “The Country Cousin: Advocating an Arcadian America.” Athanor 26 (2008): 81-89.
Book Sections/Chapters
- Watson, Keri. “Building the World of Tomorrow: Disability, Eugenics, and Sculpture at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.” In Disability and Art History from Antiquity to the Twenty-first Century. Edited by Ann Millet-Gallant and Elizabeth Howie, 187-202. London: Routledge, 2022. https://www.routledge.com/Disability-and-Art-History-from-Antiquity-to-the-Twenty-First-Century/Mill...
- Watson, Keri. “Dalí’s Dream of Venus: Sex, Surrealism, and Eugenics at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.” In Performing Arousal: Precarious Bodies and Frames of Representation. Edited by Julia Listengarten and Yana Meerzon, 27-40. London: Bloomsbury Press, 2021.
-
Watson, Keri. “Practicing Aesthetic Resilience through Collaboration.” In Art and Activism in the Age of Systemic Crisis. Edited by Bram Ieven, Eliza Steinbock and Marijke de Valck, 169-178. New York: Routledge, 2020.
- Watson, Keri. “Picturing the Other: Disability and Difference in
Eudora Welty’s Photographs and Stories.” Teaching the Works of Eudora Welty: Twenty-first
Century Approaches. Eds. Julia Eichelberger and Mae Miller Claxton.
Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2018.
- Watson, Keri and Patsy Moskal. “Scaling an Art History Reacting to
the Past Game for Use at a Large Public University.” Playing to Learn with Reacting to the Past. Eds. C. Edward Watson and Thomas Chase Hagood. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.
- Watson, Keri. "Difference and Disability: The Photography of Margaret
Bourke-White." Disability and Art History. Eds. Ann Millet-Gallant and Elizabeth Howie. New York: Routledge, 2017.
- Watson, Keri. Eudora Welty’s Making a Date, Grenada, Mississippi: One Photograph, Five
Performances.” Eudora Welty, Whiteness, and Race. Ed.Harriet Pollack. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2013.
- Wylder, Viki Thompson and Keri Fredericks. “Evoke/Invoke/Provoke:
A Case Study of Judy Chicago’s Feminist Pedagogy, Vanderbilt University, Spring
Semester 2006." In Florida Without Borders: Women at the Intersections of the Local and
Global, edited by Sharon Kay Masters, 141-60. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars
Press, 2008.
Book Reviews
Awards
- 2020 Laughing Gull Foundation Grant (Florida Prison Education Project)
- 2020 National Endowment for the Art Big Read (Silver Sparrow)
- 2019 Laughing Gull Foundation Grant (Florida Prison Education Project)
- 2019 National Endowment for the Arts Big Read (The Things They Carried)
- 2019 UCF Office of Faculty Excellence Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning Award
- 2019 UCF Office of Faculty Excellence Research Incentive Award
- 2019 UCF Office of Faculty Excellence Teaching Incentive Program Award
- 2018 National Endowment for the Arts Artworks Grant (Florida Prison Education Project)
- 2018 Pabst-Steinmetz Award for Arts and Wellness
- 2018 Southeastern College Art Conference Award for Outstanding Exhibition
- 2018 Association of American Colleges and Universities Endeavor Foundation Grant
- 2018 National Endowment for the Arts Big Read (Station Eleven)
- 2018 American Association of State Colleges and Universities Grant
- 2017 Fulbright-Terra Foundation Award in the History of American Art
- 2017 National Endowment for the Arts Big Read (The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears)
- 2017 Institute of Museum and Library Services Grant
- 2017 UCF Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching Award
- 2016 UCF Karen L. Smith Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning Faculty Fellow
- 2016 National Endowment for the Arts Big Read (The Grapes of Wrath)
- 2015 Society for the Preservation of American Modernists Grant
- 2015 National Endowment for the Arts Big Read (Their Eyes Were Watching God)
- 2015 UCF Office of Commercialization and Research In-House Research Grant
- 2014 UCF College of Arts and Humanities Research Initiative Program Grant
- 2013 Southeastern College Art Conference Award for Best Exhibition of Historical Materials
Activities
Co-Executive Editor, Panorama: Journal of Historians of American Art
Director, The Florida Prison Education Project
Courses
Course Number |
Course |
Title |
Mode |
Date and Time |
Syllabus |
10013 |
ARH2500 |
History of Non-western Art |
Web-Based (W) |
|
Unavailable |
No Description Available |
11009 |
ARH3610 |
American Art |
Mixed-Mode/Reduce Seat-Time(M) |
Tu 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM |
Unavailable |
No Description Available |
11002 |
ARH3888 |
Art of Walt Disney |
Web-Based (W) |
|
Unavailable |
No Description Available |
Course Number |
Course |
Title |
Mode |
Date and Time |
Syllabus |
92849 |
ARH3631 |
African-american Art |
Mixed-Mode/Reduce Seat-Time(M) |
M 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM |
Unavailable |
No Description Available |
92805 |
ARH3888 |
Art of Walt Disney |
Web-Based (W) |
|
Unavailable |
No Description Available |
92850 |
ARH4430 |
19th Century Art |
Mixed-Mode/Reduce Seat-Time(M) |
W 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM |
Unavailable |
No Description Available |
Course Number |
Course |
Title |
Mode |
Session |
Date and Time |
Syllabus |
51358 |
ARH3888 |
Art of Walt Disney |
Web-Based (W) |
A |
|
Unavailable |
No Description Available |
Course Number |
Course |
Title |
Mode |
Date and Time |
Syllabus |
10013 |
ARH2500 |
History of Non-western Art |
Web-Based (W) |
|
Available |
This course provides a survey of the art of the "Non-Western" World, including the visual and material culture of the Americas, Oceania, Asia, and Africa. |
11082 |
ARH3610 |
American Art |
Mixed-Mode/Reduce Seat-Time(M) |
W 09:30 AM - 10:45 AM |
Available |
This course presents an introduction to the visual and material culture of "America," broadly conceived. |
11073 |
ARH3888 |
Art of Walt Disney |
Web-Based (W) |
|
Available |
Walt Disney (1901-1966) was arguably one of the most influential Americans of the 20th century. This course examines animation, art, and architecture created during his lifetime. (PR: ENC 1102 or C.I.) |
No courses found for Fall 2021.
Course Number |
Course |
Title |
Mode |
Session |
Date and Time |
Syllabus |
50688 |
ARH3888 |
Art of Walt Disney |
Web-Based (W) |
A |
|
Unavailable |
No Description Available |
Updated: May 1, 2022