Kayleigh Perkov

Perkov Headshot

Position Title
Assistant Professor

she/her/hers
1256 Social Science and Humanities
1 Shields Ave, Davis CA 95616
Office Hours
Monday 12-1pm; Wednesday 12-1pm
Bio

I am an art historian focusing on the intersection of craft practice and technology. In addition to my scholarly writing, I work on curatorial projects and write about contemporary art and design.

My current book project, Prototype Pastoral: Gender, Craft, and Technology, 1965-1980, is an alternative history of art and technology, developed through an examination of studio craft in the 1960s and ‘70s. Focusing on three women who joined emergent technology with traditional handcrafting, my book project demonstrates how craftspeople created prototypes of now-familiar technological objects and spaces. Moreover, I emphasize craft’s rhetorical value for the technology industry, which historically framed computing as craft-like to emphasize a benevolent image. Based in extensive archival research, my project situates these craft prototypes within a network of American art museums, industries, and government agencies. I demonstrate how concepts of femininity and handmaking are embedded in now-ubiquitous notions of creativity and computing.

Education and Degree(s)
  • Ph.D., Visual Studies. University of California, Irvine, 2018
  • M.A., Visual Studies. University of California, Irvine, 2013
  • B.A., Art History. University of California, Los Angeles, 2009
Honors and Awards
  • 2022-2023 Getty/ACLS Postdoctoral Fellowships in the History of Art
  • 2019 - 2020. Curatorial Fellowship. Center for Craft. Asheville, NC.
  • 2018. Graduate Student Fellowship. Newkirk Center for Science and Society, University of California, Irvine.
  • 2017. Dean’s Dissertation Fellowship. University of California, Irvine.
  • 2016. William H. Truettner Predoctoral Fellowship. The Smithsonian American Art Museum. Washington D.C.
Courses
  • STS 009
  • STS 010
  • STS 109
Research Interests & Expertise
  • Craft history and theory; material culture; design history and theory; contemporary art; gender and creative labor;
Publications
  • Perkov, Kayleigh. "Space Suits and Gas Masks: Mary Ann Scherr and an Alternative View of Personal Technology." Journal of Design History 35.4 (2022): 401-417.
  • Perkov, Kayleigh. "Recurring Aesthetics, Emergent Traditions: Wendell Castle’s Continued Relevance to Corporate Culture." The Journal of Modern Craft 11.1 (2018): 3-15.
  • Perkov, Kayleigh. “Between Knowledge and Comfort – The Crochet Coral Reef and Data Physicalization,” Margaret and Christine Wertheim: Value and Transformation of Corals​, (Baden-Baden, Germany: The Museum Frieder Burda)
  • Perkov, Kayleigh. “What Quilts Mean Now”, Art in America, October 14, 2021.
  • Perkov, Kayleigh. "“Pattern Consciousness: Counterculture Influenced Interior Design,” With Pleasure: Pattern and Decoration in American Art, 1972–1985, Anna Katz, ed. (New Haven and Los Angeles: Yale University Press and MOCA, 2019):214-223.
Membership and Service
  • Board of Directors - Center for Craft; US Exhibitions Review Editor - The Journal of Modern Craft