Ann Johns received her PhD from The University of Texas at Austin. Her research focuses on medieval and Renaissance art and architecture of Siena and the role of monasticism in the arts of this period. Johns has given talks and contributed essays on the subjects of politics and art in Siena as well as the role of Cistercian architecture in late Medieval Italy.
Johns has taught at both UT-Austin and Southwestern University. Her classes have included: all 3 introductory classes; Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque art history; Art Historical Methodology; Art in the Age of Dante and Giotto; Art and the City in Renaissance Italy; and Art, Geology and Place in Italy. Johns has also taught 3 different UGS seminars over 12 years: The Pope’s City: The Vatican and St. Peter’s through the Millennia; New World / Old World Encounters: Visualizing Power and Glory; and Losing Venice: Art and Sustainability. Johns has developed and taught several online introductory classes, both synchronous and on-demand. For the past 20 years, Johns has taught numerous art history classes and served as program director in Italy for the Department of Art and Art History’s Learning Tuscany program, now located in Siena (formerly Castiglion Fiorentino).
In addition to the Regents Outstanding Teaching Award (2011), Johns also received the College of Fine Arts Distinguished Teaching Award for 2012-2013. Johns was a featured speaker in the 2014 University Lecture Series and contributed an essay on the incorporation of the Blanton Museum of Art into UGS curricula for a book on the development of UT’s Signature / Freshman Experience classes. In 2018, Johns won the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award.