Alexandra Dodson

Assistant Professor

adodson@ndm.edu 410-532-5520 Fourier Hall (FOU) 210
This profile is currently being updated. Some information may be incomplete.

Biography

Alexandra Dodson is Assistant Professor of Art History, co-director of the Gormley Gallery, and current Morrissy Faculty Fellow.

Education

  • Ph.D. in Art History, Duke University
  • M.A. in Art History, Duke University
  • B.A. in Art History and English Literature (Distinction and Highest Honors), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Research

Interests

  • The art and architecture of Italy in the medieval and early modern periods; Carmelite and other mendicant visual culture; east/west cultural exchange; Islamic art; Baltimore architecture

Publications

  1. “From Mount Carmel to the Comune: The Eremitical Life in Carmelite Legislation,” in Different Visions: New Perspectives on Medieval Art 12 (2025).
  2. “Rock, Paper, Chisel, 3D Printer: Teaching Medieval Art with Technology,” in Peregrinations: Journal of Medieval Art and Archaeology, 6, 2 (2017): 13-29.
  3. “Trial by Fire: St. Francis and the Sultan in Italian Art,” in The World of St. Francis: Essays in Honor of William R. Cook, eds. Beth A. Mulvaney and Bradley Franco (Leiden: Brill, 2015).

Presentations

  • “Sant’Angelo of Jerusalem and the Carmelite Quest for Legitimacy.” Paper. Andrew Ladis Memorial Trecento Conference. October 2025.
  • “Chariots of Fire and Men in White: The Prophet Elijah in the Carmelite Imagination.” Invited lecture. Loyola University, March 2024.
  • “Chariots of Fire and Men in White: The Prophet Elijah, the Carmelites, and Mendicant Ideals.” Paper. Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, March 2019.
  • “The Authority of Antiquity and the Holy Land: Creating Carmelite Identity in Central Italy.” Paper.  Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, April 2017.
  • “Constructing Mount Carmel in Central Italy: Carmelite Architecture and Identity.” Paper. Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, March 2016.
  • “Projecting Polychromy: the Art and Science of Displaying Medieval Sculpture.” Paper (with Mariano Tepper). Southeastern College Art Conference, October 2015.
  • “The Marketplace and the Miraculous Madonna: the Carmelites and Cultural Exchange in Naples.” Paper. International Medieval Congress, Leeds, U.K., July 2015.
  • “The Prophet Elijah and Mendicant Art in Italy.” Paper. South-Central Renaissance Conference, March 2015.
  • “Carmel in the Commune: Referencing and Representing the Holy Land.” Paper. College Art Association Conference, February 2015.
  • “The Carmelites and the Virgin from East to West.” Paper. Circulation as a Factor of Cultural Aggregation, Telč, Southern Bohemia, 2014.

Professional Affiliations & Memberships

  • Renaissance Society of America
  • Italian Art Society
  • Society for the Preservation of Fells Point and Federal Hill

Awards

  • Dr. Dodson’s work has been supported by numerous fellowships, including the AAUW Dissertation Fellowship, the Duke University International Research Fellowship, and a Fulbright Award to Rome, Italy.