Tag Archives: Penny Florence

Big Picture Lecture Series: Penny Florence

Don’t miss Monday’s Big Picture Lecture Series featuring Penny Florence, who will present the lecture, “Art is Intensely Political: Why You Should Be Interested in Digital Poetry and the Sexed Subject.”

Florence is Chair of Humanities and Design Sciences at Art Center and professor emeritus at the Slade School of Fine Art in London.  She holds an interdisciplinary Ph.D. from the University of York, U.K., and has lectured at universities across Europe and the U.S., including Art Center’s Graduate Art program. She has written or edited six interdisciplinary books traversing visual art and theory, film, poetry, painting and feminism, and  contributed to 17 others.

Please note:  Originally scheduled for July 12, Sandra Ball-Rokeach’s Big Picture lecture on The Seeds of Civic Engagement in Contemporary Urban Communities has been rescheduled for fall.

Big Picture Lecture Series: Penny Florence
Art is Intensely Political: Why You Should Be Interested in Digital Poetry and the Sexed Subject
Monday, July 12, 1 pm
Los Angeles Time Media Center, Hillside Campus

Meet Dr. Penny Florence, New Chair of HDS

Next month, Art Center will welcome Dr. Penny Florence to her new post as Chair of the Humanities and Design Sciences Department. Florence comes to Art Center from The Slade School of Fine Art, University College London, where she led the research programs. Prior to that, Florence was a professor of contemporary arts and director of research at University College Falmouth, U.K., where she inaugurated and led the Ph.D. program.

We recently spoke with Florence about her educational philosophy, goals for the department and her interest in electronic poetry.

What compelled you to move halfway across the globe and join Art Center?
Art Center is a great school, and I have always been impressed with the students, faculty and staff during my visits. But there’s something more—the College feels very dynamic at the moment and I want to contribute to this. HDS is a cross-disciplinary program whose potential interests me a great deal, and I aim to bring my experience to benefit and develop it. It’s so relevant today because jobs change so fast that you can’t just train to do one thing. You have to be able to transfer skills. Thinking across disciplines is really useful in assessing how best to move from one arena into another. That’s a big reason why a background in the humanities and design sciences is valuable for artists and designers. Another is that it enables you to look at the field of art and design in its entirety. This will always be useful, and sometimes essential.

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