PO Box 6826
Houston, TX 77265
Phone: 713-639-7332
Cell: 832-627-7696
cdacus@mfah.org
CHELSEA DACUS
EDUCATION
2019 (expected) PhD, Ancient Roman Art History
Rice University
2005
MA, Maya Art History
Southern Methodist University
1999
BA, Art History, Cum Laude
Mt. Holyoke College
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
July 2009—present
Assistant Curator
The Glassell Collections, Africa, Oceania, the Americas, and Antiquities
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
October 2004—July 2009
Curatorial Assistant
The Glassell Collections
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
August 2003—August 2004
Graduate Curatorial Intern
Pre-Columbian, Oceanic, African, Antiquities and Asian Art Departments
Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
PUBLICATIONS
Dacus, Chelsea. “Weaving the Past: A Catalogue of Bones Buried with an Elite Maya Woman.” MA Thesis,
Southern Methodist University, 2005.
Dacus, Chelsea. “Mayan Art and the Year 2012.” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Magazine Fall/Winter
(2012): 12-13.
Marzio, Frances. Miniature Size, Magical Quality: Nasca Art from the Glassell Collection. Houston: Museum of Fine
Arts; New Haven: Distributed by Yale University Press, 2007.
Marzio, Frances. The Glassell Collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: Masterworks of Pre-Columbian,
Indonesian, and African Gold. Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, 2011.
EXHIBITIONS
Conceived and curated:
- Fangs, Feathers, and Fins: Sacred Creatures in Ancient American Art, MFAH, 10/16/2014-3/22/2015
Facilitated and co-curated at the MFAH:
- Greek Bronze Vessels from the Collection of Shelby White and Leon Levy
- From Myth to Life: Images of Women from the Classical World
- Reading the Roman Portrait Bust
- The Spirit of Ancient Colombian Gold
- Arms and Armor from the Ancient World
- Pompeii: Tales from an Eruption
- Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul
- Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria
- Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs
- The Cyrus Cylinder and Ancient Persia: A New Beginning
- Gifts from the Past: The Isabel Brown Wilson Collection
-
Roads of Arabia: Archaeology and History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
MEDIA PROJECTS
Pompeii: Tales from an Eruption documentary, Channel 13 (ABC Houston)
PRESENTATIONS
“Inside the MFAH ‘Fangs, Feathers, and Fins: Sacred Creatures in Ancient American Art.” Public
presentation given at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, October 17, 2014.
“One Night in The Kingdom of Gold.” Public presentation given in participation with the Houston Museum
of African American Culture, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, May 15, 2014.
“Sacrifice Sucks: Death and Dying Among the Moché of Pre-Columbian Peru.” Paper presented at the Art of
Death and Dying Symposium 2012, University of Houston Libraries, Houston, Texas, October 24—27, 2012.
“Pompeii: Tales from an Eruption.” Public and docent tours given throughout the exhibition, The Museum
of Fine Arts, Houston.
“Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul.” Public and docent tours given
throughout the exhibition, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
“Dynasty and Divinity: Ife Art in Ancient Nigeria.” Public and docent tours given throughout the exhibition,
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
“Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs.” Public and docent tours given throughout the
exhibition, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
“The Glassell Collections of African, Pre-Columbian, and Indonesian Gold.” Public and docent tours given
of the permanent collections, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
“Pre-Columbian Art of Mesoamerica and South America.” Public and docent tours given of the permanent
collections, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Dallas Museum of Art.
“Antiquities.” Public and docent tours given of the permanent collections, The Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston and the Dallas Museum of Art.
“South Asian Art.” Public tours given of the permanent collections, Dallas Museum of Art.
LANGUAGES
French, Spanish, Italian, German