O.M. Comstock is a writer, researcher, and curator. They are a PhD Candidate in art history at the University of Minnesota where their research focuses on the intersection between the history of craft and critical theories. Broadly, they are interested in process and prioritize the intelligence of makers in their investigation of the materials, techniques, and relationships that co-create objects.
O.M.'s dissertation-in-progress, titled "Allen Fannin: Hand Spinning and Weaving, Nitty-Gritty Needs, and ‘The Black Craftsman Situation,’” critiques the antagonistic relationship between the studio craft movement, economic precarity, and race by providing the first study of Allen Fannin (1939–2004), a studio craft practitioner known for his spinning and weaving between the 1960s and 1980s. Fannin’s frank appraisal of what he called “The Black Craftsman Situation” identified the limits of studio craft for those with “nitty-gritty needs.” This project gathers previously unarchived materials to examine different facets of Fannin’s practice: texture, how-to manuals, commercial production, and pedagogy. By considering the social and material stakes of Fannin’s work, this project pushes the field of American art to consider where race is found in the materials, techniques, and objects of American history.
In their curatorial practice, O.M. is committed to collaborative relationships with artists. They served as independent curator for Edible at the Northern Clay Center in 2024, an exhibition that explored Asian American cultural identity through ceramics that incorporate food aesthetics. In 2020, they were co-curator for ¡PRESENTE! at CLUES, which featured the work of Twin Cities Latina/o/x artists in celebration of 50 years of Chicano and Latino Studies at the University of Minnesota.
Their scholarly work has been supported by the Henry Luce Foundation and the American Council for Learned Societies, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, among others. At the University of Minnesota, their work has been supported by the Center for Premodern Studies and the Center for German and European Studies. Their writing has appeared in Source: Notes in Art History, The Journal of Black Mountain College Studies, and the US Latinx Art Forum. They have presented their research at the College Art Association, the American Studies Association, the Craft History Workshop, and the Caribbean Philosophical Association.
During the 2025-2026 academic year, O.M. is in residence at the Smithsonian American Art Museum as the Predoctoral Fellow in American Craft and Big Ten Academic Alliance Fellow.