Ariana Thomas, Instructor

Just a train ride away from New York City, Ariana Thomas was born and raised in a small town in Westchester, New York. She attended Somers High School, graduating with honors before moving to New York City to study Art History at Columbia University.

Ariana has been involved in the arts since a very young age. In elementary school, Ariana became involved with the Katonah Art Center, where her love of art started. She began taking various art classes at the center, including ceramics and drawing. Her ceramics teacher, Mrs. Leighton, instilled a love for the history of art in Ariana, and in middle school, under her guidance, Ariana began teaching classes to elementary school students on the history of ceramics in various parts of the world. After her first semester at Columbia University, she decided to take an art history course, as per Mrs. Leighton’s suggestion, and was immediately reminded of her immense love for the subject. 

In the fall semester of her sophomore year, Ariana joined Meet Me at the Museum (MMatM), a Columbia organization that seeks to make elementary school field trips to New York City museums as educational as possible. Ariana writes and leads tours for MMatM, the latter being her favorite part. She is always left learning so much more from the students than she would ever anticipate. Their engagement and enthusiasm about the tours that she writes motivates her to work with her fellow MMatM guides to expand the program to more public schools around New York City. 

Ariana’s love for working with children extends beyond just the art world. She is also involved with Community Impact, a nonprofit organization associated with Columbia University, where she teaches English to immigrants of all ages. She often incorporates the arts in many of her classes, encouraging her students to take advantage of free museum opportunities around the city. 

Since coming to Columbia, she has been able to take Introduction to Art History II, Nineteenth Century Art, Arts of China, Rome Beyond Rome, Northern Renaissance Art, and Twentieth Century Art. These classes have all reaffirmed her love of art history. 

In the future, she would love to work in curation or gallery management. Throughout college, she hopes to continue her involvement with Meet Me at the Museum, and hopes to study abroad in Italy the summer before her senior year.