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Highest Honors, History of Art and Architecture; High Honors, Religion 2006

Museums Studies Program, University of Michigan

Practicum Stipend for Research Project 2015

International Institute/Rackham Graduate School, University of Michigan

Rackham International Research Award 2017

Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies, 2017, University of Michigan

Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies 2017

Sensational Buddhism: Marks of Perfection

Hyecho's Journey: The World of Buddhism

Paths to Perfection: Buddhist Art at the Freer | Sackler

Assembly of the Exalted: The Tibetan Shrine Room from the Alice S. Kandell Collection

ARTH 3750 - History of Non-Western Art

Rebecca Bloom is a scholar and curator who specializes in Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhist material culture, and issues surrounding the intersection of religion and museums. Following four years of curatorial and educational work at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York, she  pursued graduate studies and research that engage materials across media, methods across disciplines, and subjects across geographical boundaries. In her role at SUMA, Dr. Bloom has plunged into the world of modern and contemporary art, exploring especially the arts of the American West and Depression-era community art galleries. She is, however, forever scheming to bring more Asian art to Utah’s high desert.

Her work contributes to a growing body of scholarship within Tibetan Studies that bridges disciplinary divisions—between religion, art history, and literary studies—thus enabling an examination of figures, texts, and objects that complicate conventional genres and dominant narratives. Such research necessitates an interdisciplinary methodology and a diverse archive.

While Rebecca’s work has taken her to the far corners of Asia—from the Himalayan monasteries of Ladakh to the seaside temples of Tamil Nadu to the city-center shrines of Japan—her achievements State-side have also been true adventures. In addition to coauthoring and contributing to several publications, she co-curated a multi-year exhibition of Buddhist art at the National Museum of Asian Art and collaborated on three digital humanities projects with a multi-disciplinary team from the University of Michigan. Rebecca received her PhD from the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan in Summer 2022. She is currently the Diane P. Stewart Assistant Director, Curatorial Affairs at Southern Utah Museum of Art in Cedar City, Utah.

Tibetan Buddhism

Modern & Classic Tibetan

History of Art

Non-Western Art

Museum Curation

Museum Studies

Asian Religions

Buddhist studies

Tibetan

Sanskrit

French

Personal Website

Ancient Tradition Gets a New Look

The Humanities’ Place in Research Spending

A Mirror of Hands-on Instruction: Visual Transmission in the Thirteenth Dalai Lama’s Illustrated Vinaya Commentary

Hyecho’s Journey: Pilgrimage as Pedagogy

The Monastery Museum: Where the Sacred and the Secular Mix

Where the Sacred and the Secular Meet: The Politics of Display at a Monastery Museum in Ladakh, India

The Mystery of Dixon's Cedar City Works

SUMA Tour

Becky Bloom

Assistant Director of Curatorial Affairs

Buddhist Studies Podcast, Ep. 11: Rebecca Bloom | How Art Challenges and Enriches Understandings of Buddhism

In this episode, we speak with Dr. Rebecca Bloom about her beginnings as a scholar and curator of Himalayan Buddhist art history, the meaning of "art" in a Buddhist context, and why she thinks studying art history is valuable for people interested in Buddhism. She also gives a behind-the-scenes look at how museum curators organize exhibitions, and talks about why she loves this kind of work. 

We also preview her upcoming online course, BS 109 | Introduction to Buddhist Art, which will explore these issues in more depth!
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Dr. Rebecca Bloom is Diane P. Stewart Assistant Director, Curatorial Affairs at the Southern Utah Museum of Art. She is a scholar and curator who specializes in Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhist material culture, and issues surrounding the intersection of religion and museums. She holds a BA in Art History and Religion from Middlebury College, an MA in Asian Religions from Yale Divinity School, and she recently received her PhD from the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Michigan, where she also earned a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies.
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See more:

Buddhist Studies Online: https://www.buddhiststudiesonline.com
BDG: https://www.buddhistdoor.net​​​​​​​​

Buddhist Studies Podcast, Ep. 11: Rebecca Bloom – How Art Enriches Understandings of Buddhism

A presentation by Rebecca Bloom, PhD, Assistant Director at the Southern Utah Museum of Art, tracks down how three original Maynard Dixon's found their way to the Cedar City Museum.

The Mystery of Maynard Dixon's Cedar City Works

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