Ashley Cope was the 2019-20 O'Brien Curatorial Fellow at the Weisman Art Museum. She earned her degrees in Art History and Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Minnesota in spring 2019. Throughout her undergraduate education, she held internships at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the Weisman and received all awards offered by the Department of Art History. Her capstone paper, “Amending History: How Integrating Theresa Bernstein Enhances the Narrative of Twentieth-Century American Realism,” demonstrates a passion for celebrating underrepresented artists; that paper received the Spring 2019 Capstone Award. As WAM's O’Brien Fellow, Ashley worked closely with Senior Curator Diane Mullin on a variety of projects. She helped to prepare materials for exhibitions including Harriet Bart: Abracadabra and Other Forms of Protection, More is More: The Lyndel and Blaine King Collection, and B. J. O. Nordfeldt: An American Internationalist—for which she also did extensive work on the accompanying catalog. Ashley’s fellowship also allowed her to assist Registrar of Collections, Rosa Coral, with semi-annual accessions meetings and permanent collections management. Ashley also served as the Teaching Assistant for the Museum Studies graduate course—taught by former WAM Director, Lyndel King—in spring 2020. Her show, Locally Grown: Documentary Photography of Minnesota Communities, highlights the diversity and history of the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota and encourages viewers to see and understand their neighbors both near and far. Locally Grown will be on view in summer 2022. Ashley is currently pursuing her PhD in Art History with a focus on American modernism and U.S. visual and material culture at the University of Maryland, College Park. She hopes to apply her education and experiences as an O’Brien Fellow towards her future career in the museum field.