Ellen Siebel-Achenbach

MA Student

Campus

Fields of Study

Areas of Interest

  • Craft history in Early Modern Northern Europe
  • Material culture reconstructions
  • Intangible craft heritage preservation (within UNESCO's "Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage")
  • Visual culture microhistories
  • Print production and history

Biography

Ellen Siebel-Achenbach is a Master’s student of Art History at the University of Toronto, specializing in the craft history of Early Modern Northern Europe and the preservation of intangible craft heritage. Her research combines visual/historical theory with recreated material culture through traditional carpentry and textile processes of making, as well as a professional stained glass apprenticeship. This multi-faceted approach has been the subject of several recent conference presentations and publications. Her undergraduate degree from the University of Waterloo included a joint-major in Visual Culture and Medieval Studies and minors in Fine Arts Studio and Church Music and Worship.

Selected Publications

  • "Bookbinding in Eighteenth-Century Nuremberg: Reconstructing an Edge Plough from the Hausbücher der Nürnberger Zwölfbrüderstiftungen."  Journal18 18: Craft (fall 2024).
  • “The Medieval Boy Bishop: Role Reversal or Reinforcement?” Tiresias (University of Waterloo) VI (2023).
  • Independent Study: "The Tools of Renaissance Nuremberg: Intangible Heritage and the Processes of Making." University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, fall 2022-winter 2023.
  • “The Tale of Three Brothers and the Legend of the Three Living and Three Dead.” The Journal of Fantasy and Fan Cultures (Southern Illinois University) 1 (2021): 21–28.  Adapted for WSIU Public Broadcasting (2021).

Honours, Awards & Grants

  • CGS-M (SSHRC) Scholarship, University of Toronto, April 2023
  • Rhodes Scholarship Nomination, University of Waterloo, August 2023
  • Medieval Studies Departmental Award, University of Waterloo, May 2023
  • Chalmers Family Arts and Culture Experience Award, University of Waterloo, fall 2022
  • DRAGEN Lab Scholarship for Herstmonceux Archaeology Field School, St. Jerome’s University, spring 2022
  • Kerr Ostrander Leadership for Tomorrow Award, University of Waterloo, fall 2021
  • Kim Biggar Award, University of Waterloo, winter 2021 (highest average in a non-professional program in the Faculty of Arts entering year two)

Education

BA, University of Waterloo

Presentations

"Shaping the Landscape: Recreating Watering Vessels from Early Modern Europe." Universities Art Association of Canada Annual Conference, Banff, Alberta, October 2023.
"Reimagining Medieval Badges in Modern Materials." 58th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Kalamazoo, Michigan, May 2023.
"Reimagining Badges in Modern Materials." Environments of Change Annual General Meeting, Herstmonceux Castle, Sussex, April 2022.

Administrative Service

Graduate Union of Students of Art (GUStA) social coordinator - 2023-present

Cohort