Ellen Siebel-Achenbach

Ellen Siebel-Achenbach is a Master’s student of Art History at the University of Toronto, specializing in the craft history of Early Modern Northern Europe and the preservation of intangible craft heritage. Her research combines visual/historical theory with recreated material culture through traditional carpentry and textile processes of making, as well as a professional stained glass apprenticeship. This multi-faceted approach has been the subject of several recent conference presentations and publications. Her undergraduate degree from the University of Waterloo included a joint-major in Visual Culture and Medieval Studies and minors in Fine Arts Studio and Church Music and Worship.

Selected Publications

• "Bookbinding in Eighteenth-Century Nuremberg: Reconstructing an Edge Plough from the Hausbücher der Nürnberger Zwölfbrüderstiftungen."  Journal18 18: Craft (fall 2024).
• “The Medieval Boy Bishop: Role Reversal or Reinforcement?” Tiresias (University of Waterloo) VI (2023).
• Independent Study: "The Tools of Renaissance Nuremberg: Intangible Heritage and the Processes of Making." University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, fall 2022-winter 2023.
• “The Tale of Three Brothers and the Legend of the Three Living and Three Dead.” The Journal of Fantasy and Fan Cultures (Southern Illinois University) 1 (2021): 21–28.  Adapted for WSIU Public Broadcasting (2021).

Honours, Awards & Grants

• CGS-M (SHHRC) Scholarship, University of Toronto, April 2023
• Rhodes Scholarship Nomination, University of Waterloo, August 2023
• Medieval Studies Departmental Award, University of Waterloo, May 2023
• Chalmers Family Arts and Culture Experience Award, University of Waterloo, fall 2022
• DRAGEN Lab Scholarship for Herstmonceux Archaeology Field School, St. Jerome’s University, spring 2022
• Kerr Ostrander Leadership for Tomorrow Award, University of Waterloo, fall 2021
• Kim Biggar Award, University of Waterloo, winter 2021 (highest average in a non-professional program in the Faculty of Arts entering year two)