This is an opportunity for students to work on faculty-driven scholarly and creative projects. By working with faculty in a studio and research “apprentice” model, students will gain hands-on experience in visual arts studio practices, film/media production practices, the creative writing workshop focused on craft, critical research and writing, library and archival research practices, and much more.

Anne de Marcken (creative writing and digital media) uses creative writing and digital media as methods of narrative inquiry into questions of presence and absence, disappearance and emergence, loss, survival, and memory. Her process-based work results in short stories, personal essays, moving image narratives, sometimes web environments, and often hybrids of these forms. Her current areas of inquiry include climate change, the interactions of place and identity, and the experience of survival. She is presently working on a multimedia narrative installation and a feature film. Students working with Anne will have opportunities to work on one or both of these projects. Depending upon project phase at the time of enrollment as well as individual students’ strengths and interests, activities may include research, installation design and construction, text-based work, and/or audio-video post production.

Kathleen Eamon (social and political philosophy, aesthetics, philosophy of art) has interests in German idealism (Kant and Hegel), historical materialism (Marx, 20th-century Marxists, and critical theory), and psychoanalysis (Freud and Lacan). She is currently working on an unorthodox project about Kant and Freud, under the working title, “States of Partial Undress: the Fantasy of Sociability.” Students working with Kathleen will have opportunities to join her in her inquiry, learn about and pursue research in the humanities, and critically respond to the project as it comes together. In addition to work in Kantian aesthetics and Freudian dream theory, the project will involve questions about futurity, individual wishes and fantasies, and the possibility of collective and progressive models of sociability and fantasy.

Naima Lowe (experimental media and performance art) creates films, videos, performances, and written works that explore issues of race, gender, and embodiment. The majority of her work includes an archival research element that explores historical social relationships and mythic identities. She is currently working on a series of short films and performances that explore racial identity in rural settings. Students working with Naima will have opportunities to learn media production and post-production skills (including storyboarding, scripting, 16mm and HD video shooting, location scouting, audio recording, audio/video editing, etc.) through working with a small crew comprised of students and professional artists. Students would also have opportunities to do archival and historical research on African-Americans living in rural settings, and on literature, film, and visual art that deals with similar themes. Students are generally best equipped for this option if they have taken at least one full year of studies in Media or Visual Arts in a program such as MediaWorks, NonFiction Media, or its equivalent.

Shaw Osha (visual art) works in painting, photography, drawing, writing, and video. She explores issues of visual representation, affect as a desire, social relationship, and the conditions that surround us. She is currently working on a project based on questions of soul in artwork. Students working with Shaw will have opportunities to learn about artistic research, critique, grant and statement writing, website design, studio work, and concerns in contemporary art making.