Meet the Scholarly Skater

The mission of A Scholarly Skater Art History is to make historical art and architecture accessible to those without formal training in the field. 

I’m Alexandra Kiely, an art historian from the United States. Welcome to my website!

I have a B.A. with honors in art history (Drew University, class of 2012), as well as a wholehearted belief that looking at art can enrich everyone’s life. To me, enjoying the art of the past is the closest to time travel I’m likely to get, only it’s much safer. It also helps us to see the world through other people’s eyes – a type of empathy and understanding we could all use a bit more of these days. After discovering how many people around me feel confused or intimidated by art, I’ve made it my mission to demystify art history’s complexities without dumbing them down.

Making and appreciating visual art are innate parts of human nature, and our early ancestors have used images long before they even used writing. Therefore, it makes me sad to hear from so many people, including highly-intelligent and well-educated professionals, who feel perplexed by fine art and intimidated in art museums. It doesn’t have to be this way.

I founded A Scholarly Skater in 2013, and the website currently hosts over 400 articles that share my love of art and make art history concepts accessible to people of all backgrounds. In 2022, I expanded into online learning and currently offer three courses.

I have been a regular contributor to DailyArt Magazine and The Collector, and my work has also appeared on Art Herstory, Artips, Citaliarestauro, the Questroyal Fine Art blog, HeadStuff, and Jo’s Art History Podcast, among others. My areas of specialty are American art and medieval art and architecture. The name of my website and company comes from my life-long pursuit of figure skating.

Accolades

I’ve followed [Alexandra Kiely’s] blog for years now, and I can tell you, she knows what she’s talking about.

Longtime reader Belinda O.

I love the way that you wear your knowledge lightly, and emphasize the accessibility (and relevance) of art to everyone.

Art books editor and Art Herstory founder Erika Gaffney

Contact Me

I’m always glad to hear from fellow art lovers! To get in touch with me, comment on any post or email me via the envelope icon below.


Want to enjoy art more? Take an online course.

36 thoughts on “Meet the Scholarly Skater

  1. Hi Alexandra, thanks for following my art blog! It looks like we have similar interests (but not skating – the one time I was on skates I was terrified!), so I’m looking forward to delving into your blog, too.

  2. Alexandra, thanks for the follow. I took a look at your Celtic Art articles. Very nice. I was unfamiliar with the Book of Resurrection, and now I need to learn more. Thank you.

  3. Hi there, thanks for dropping by and liking a post on Geokult-Travel.com. Your blog looks really interesting so am now following 🙂

    Cheers
    Tracey

  4. Hi Alex this is artist Michael Budden writing to thank you for including my art in your post about Guy C Wiggins and paintings of NYC. I enjoy painting NY the most, especially winter scenes and thank you for shedding so light on my work.

  5. Hi there, found you from the reblog on Italian in Italy. I am a former competitive ice skater too! As someone who loves Italy, I’m looking to learn more about art history. Looking forward to more of your posts!

  6. Dear Scholarly Skater:

    Thank you so very much for the “like” of my recent piece, Patron Saint of Ireland, which was posted at First Night History. I enjoyed reading your own site.

    If you found Patron Saint interesting, please feel free to read my blog, bio or a sample chapter at theoryofirony.com. The blog is a teaser for my book, Theory of Irony: How Jesus Led to Moon Golf, now available in print and Kindle formats at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=theory+of+irony.

    Sincerely,

    Erik Von Norden

  7. Just stumbled upon your site. Never graduated with an art history degree but I love writing about artists, art history and culture and cultural work. Nice read! Continue to inspire us with your well-written and history-based articles about the arts. Love from the Islands Philippines!

  8. I found your site by pure chance. I have a background in architecture and photography and it’s good to find a site that accommodates both of these. Just sent you a note on gargoyles.

    Regards

    Barry

  9. Who knew? A Scholarly Skater w/ love of Gargoyles + Dogs + L’Arts+ Architecture + Gothic and Medieval Arts + Hudson Valley Arts and joyous enthusiasm of visual fine arts OMG! Found you through Daily Art Museum. Enthusiastic and extraordinarily thrilled to find Scholarly Skater,
    that embraces beginners, from the actual museum experience…. the scholarly skater will
    soon enjoy an expresso, or cappuccino, or other of her choice. Did I mention it?
    I LOVE GARGOYLES… hope to see a course on an exploration of Gargoyles of Cathedrals created as part of the building designed during the Medieval period.
    Thank you so much for providing these opportunities to your followers and new comers.
    Dianne

    1. Hi Dianne:
      Thank you so much for your enthusiastic words. I am glad that you’re enjoying A Scholarly Skater and DailyArt Magazine.
      In regards to your comment about a gargoyles course, you will be pleased to know that I actually am planning a gargoyles-related course through my online school The Art Museum Insider (the-art-museum-insider.teachable.com). I’m not sure when it will come out, but you can check out my Field Guide to Gargoyles in the meantime (https://ascholarlyskater.com/category/gargoyles/field-guide-to-gargoyles/).
      Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you’ll visit again soon.
      Alexandra

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