Alumni Spotlight: Katherine Delony

Katherine Delony (B.A. ’22) is this week’s featured alum in our new Alumni Spotlight series for the This Week at Meadows e-newsletter. Each week, a different Meadows alum will be highlighted for their accomplishments post-graduation.

As Director of the Green Family Art Foundation, art history alum Katherine Delony oversees everything from exhibition curation and design to collection management and the day-to-day operations of an art space. It's a role that draws on both the academic training and experiential learning she gained as a student at Meadows, where internships and faculty relationships helped lay the groundwork for her career.

One of the most influential relationships Delony developed during her time in the program was with art history professor Dr. Amy Freund, who guided her through her senior thesis project and later helped connect her with the opportunity at the Green Family Art Foundation.

“I don't think I would have found this position otherwise,” says Delony, who also completed two internships while studying at Meadows, including one at the Meadows Museum. Those opportunities allowed her to gain practical experience and strengthen her résumé before entering the professional world.

While much of Delony's work focuses on exhibitions, her responsibilities extend to the behind-the-scenes tasks that keep an art space running. From coordinating collection management alongside colleagues to preparing galleries between exhibitions, her position requires a willingness to take on whatever needs to be done, even if that means patching holes in the walls.

Delony's Meadows education continues to inform how she approaches her career. Her coursework provided the historical knowledge and analytical skills she uses to understand contemporary art trends, while internships offered industry field experience and opportunities to build her résumé. Equally valuable were the relationships she developed with faculty, which helped open doors to professional opportunities.

“My time in the art history program gave me the right verbiage and important background to talk about art and to see the historical throughlines of different modern trends,” she explains. “And if you can make the time for it, doing a senior thesis project is a great way to build a strong relationship with one of your professors, which can be a real benefit.”

Drawing on her own experience navigating a competitive field, Delony encourages current students to pursue internships, develop their skills and foster connections with professionals already working in the arts.

From hands-on work and academic research to the faculty relationship that helped open the door to her current position, Delony's journey demonstrates how the knowledge and connections gained at Meadows can provide the foundation for a successful career in the arts.