Alexa O'Day is pursuing a master's in Art History with a focus on the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean. Her interests include Mesopotamian palatial reliefs and the artistic connections between the Greeks and Assyrians.

Alexa received her BA in Art History with a minor in Classics, summa cum laude, from Utah Valley University, and was awarded the Marilyn and Bill Brown Endowed Writing Scholarship. She has worked with the Kimball Art Center and has served on the board of the Millcreek Arts Council. Alexa has also completed archaeological surveys in the Great Basin region focusing on prehistoric settlements.  

In addition to her studies, Alexa will teach in the Department of Rhetoric at the University of Iowa.

Art History Summer Scholar Research Program experience

This past summer, I advanced the research for my qualifying paper thanks to the Summer Scholar award from the School of Art, Art History, and Design. 

The ubiquity of goats in Assyrian art prompted my central question: could these motifs have influenced the Wild Goat style of Ancient Greek pottery? I explored this by comparing Wild Goat pottery designs with similar motifs in Assyrian palatial reliefs and textile trade inventories. I analyzed museum collections across London, Oxford, Izmir, Istanbul, and Athens, where key findings at both the British Museum and the National Archaeological Museum in Athens reshaped the trajectory of my thesis.  

Additionally, I visited ancient East Greek trading centers in modern-day western Turkey, including Smyrna, Ephesus, Myra, and Perge. Experiencing their sprawling agoras and city streets firsthand provided a deeper understanding of ancient commerce. While months of research prepared me for “aha!” moments to occur while on location, nothing compared to conducting fieldwork directly within the ancient sites and museums.