Lectures and workshops connecting various themes within literature, the arts, education design and transformative actions have been held at various institutions, including universities, museums, hospitals, schools and non-profit organizations. Hundreds. Many countries. Many cities. Many sites. So many people… Across New York and across the U.S. in such places as Reno, NV, Los Angeles, CA, Memphis, TN, Richmond, VA, Cleveland, OH, Phoenix, AZ, Seattle, WA, Tampa, FL, Pittsburgh, PA, Chicago, IL, San Diego, CA, Denver, CO, Minneapolis, MN, and beyond.
Internationally, lectures and workshops have been held in various locations including Mumbai, India, Guadalajara, Mexico City and Puebla, Mexico, Rome, Bologna and Milan, Italy, London, England, Madrid and Girona, Spain, Oslo, Norway and Porto Alegre, Brazil. Lectures and workshops have been held on a regular basis at The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Queens Museum of Art, at New York Public Library branches, and other libraries and community organizations in New York. Lectures in French, Spanish, English and Persian
Topics over the years and at various venues have included: Tradition and Innovation in Art (series with four lectures); There Will Always be an Avant-garde (or, Will There?); Words, Worlds, Works; Avant-garde Movements; The Book: Theory and Practice in Modern and Contemporary Art; Photography and Narrative Theory; Photography and Innovation; Poets, Painters and Prophets; You Too: the Viewer on View; Contemporary Art; Cézanne/Pissarro; French Artists Between the Wars; Masks and Modern Art; Abstract Expressionism; Pop Art; Contemporary Museum Education; Avant-garde Museum Education; Literature and Art and much more…
I always love to insist on the following though, as an afterword of sorts… Long, long ago, I was mister quiet hermetic writer-man… Then, one day, needing some cash fast, I got thrown in with a bunch of five year-olds on a basketball court in a leafy school setting, summer time. Mission: teach them French, through sports. Or, sports, in French. Em, okay… Anyone ever in the midst of 20 five year olds on a basketball court in the middle of the summer can attest to: instincts kick in, you become a performer, an instigator, a smiley creator of fabulous fun… Ever since then, I’ve always been very conscious of the parameters at play in these interactive exchanges. From the physical space one occupies to the number of listeners to the modalities of exchange, to the expectations of the audience, and their previous knowledge: these and all kinds of other components determine the adjustments in delivery, tone, language use etc…
Stomping grounds for many years were MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York. From gallery talks to lectures to classes to educational programs in the galleries to workshops for a wide range of audiences. From a straight up interactive lecture on a temporary exhibit, to deeper issues in the theory of art (the Tradition and Innovation series), to specialized workshops for other museum professionals, students, teachers and caregivers, the lectures and workshops created comfortable environments where learning happens: knowledge is transferred, or produced, skills are aquired, cognitive capacities developed, information accessed, and modalities of interaction generated that create more interest and fascination for future elaboration.
For the past twelve+ years, Pratt Institute, where current and past teaching affiliations include work with: a/Writing (mostly MFA and mentoring); b/Pratt Integrative Courses; c/Art and Design Education (museum education); d/Critical/Visual Studies (Connection of literature and art through various courses). Rank: Associate Professor. I’ve contributed in a variety of ways to all these departments: reviewing student applications, leading committees, mentoring of students and peers, creating professional development opportunities (PIC faculty), overseeing independent studies, fashioning partnerships (the MFA Writing residency program at Marble House).
Over the years then: work with kids, fams, adults, vips, profs, college students: older adults, regular-aged, youngest, younger, young and still young, the learned and the learning, the quiet and the boisterous, the couple on valentine’s day, the trustees on a big day, the ambassadors of such and such place during the international day (including the one from Lichtenstein – and guess with whose work we ended the lecture (man offered me ein Bier, after)), teens and pre-teens, all backgrounds, ethnic, financial, quote unquote racial, from diverse nations and regions and languages plus lots and lots and lots of workshops: with museum educators, teachers, artists, docents, professional from various fields (literacy, dementia etc…), cool cats and boring duds (still meaning well), progressive types and still-hanging-on-to-old-model-types… Art creation, photography, writing and literature, poetry, literacy, curriculum develop, leadership. Workshops on creating workshops, workshops on creating learning environments, workshops on teaching strategies: so, workshops focused on particular skills, on strategy development, on teaching techniques, on learning, on concepts and conceptual frameworks and how to change or adapt them to best serve one’s goals and desired outcomes. Always focused on audiences’ particular abilities, experiences, knowledge, audiences with different abilities and at different stages of cognitive development…
All around the country: Richmond to Reno, Cape Cod to Cleveland, D.C. to L.A., San Diego to Chicago, Tampa to Puebla, Memphis to Mumbai, Guadalajara to Grand Rapids, Miami to Mexico City… O yeah O yeah…
Few believe me when I tell of how I was really a very silent kind of guy, and not much for talking. But the truth is, we also make good use of the silences…