John Nolan

John Nolan received a B.F.A. in Studio Art (Painting and Drawing) from Bowling Green State University and during his Junior year spent a summer abroad in Florence, Italy on a full-ride portfolio scholarship to attend Studio Art Centers International. Also, during the summer of 1992, John earned a full paid portfolio scholarship to take painting, drawing and sculpture courses at the Chautauqua Institution, New York.

After receiving a Graduate Assistantship, John moved to Greenville and earned an M.A. in Studio Art (Painting) from Bob Jones University before coming to work at the Museum & Gallery at BJU in 1995. He gleaned much from the museum’s founder, Dr. Bob Jones Jr., during the last two years of his life. Since his appointment as M&G’s curator in 1997, Nolan has published a collection catalog of 100 masterworks, three loan exhibition catalogs (John the Baptist and the Baroque Vision; Discovering a Pre-Renaissance Master: Tommaso del Mazza; and, currently, A Divine Light: Northern Renaissance Paintings from the BJU Museum & Gallery), organized scholarly symposia, curated exhibits, and oversees collections at two museum facilities. His recent exhibition project, From Rublev to Fabergé: The Coming of Art and Culture to America, brought together over 60 Russian icons and works by Fabergé that represent America’s first mass-introduction to Russian art in the 1930s to 1940s. Works on loan included the 1915 Red Cross Egg from Cleveland and other Fabergé works from the Hillwood Museum, Middlebury College, and a private collection as well as and icons from the Rochester, Chazen, Allegheny College, St. Louis, Hillwood, and Museum & Gallery at BJU collections. For loan exhibitions, Nolan has obtained collaborative partnerships with some of the leading scholars in their fields including Edgar Peters Bowron, David Bull, Barbara Deimling, Carl Strehlke, Edward Kasinec, and Wendy Salmond.