Dominique (Nikki) DeLuca has a PhD in art history from Case Western Reserve University. A medievalist by training, her research focuses on the intersections of science, popular mythology, literature, and theology with visual culture of the medieval period. Her dissertation, now being revised into a book under contract with Brill, explores the semiotic values of shadows in medieval art, focusing on fifteenth-century European manuscript illumination. She held a Mellon fellowship and several curatorial internships at the Cleveland Museum of Art in the departments of Education and Academic Affairs, Indian and Southeast Asian Art, and Medieval Art. She has also worked in auction houses and art galleries as a research assistant and cataloguer.