Make Art With Purpose
October 31st, 12:00 in Scoular Hall, room 212
Collaboratively and independently, Janeil Engelstad has produced multiform projects, community events, public art and exhibitions throughout the world. Her creative practice and community advocacy work often dovetail into projects that address political, social, historical and environmental concerns. Her process for this work involves embedding herself in communities, extensive research, and building coalitions between community members, arts institutions, universities, government agencies, NGOs and others.
Engelstad’s work has been exhibited internationally and featured in media outlets, such as Art News, Metropolis, Flash Art, Time Out, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and NBC Nightly News. Recent projects and exhibitions include Y’UTOPIAS: An Almanac (of sorts) of Sustainable and Off- the-Grid Living in Texas at The Reading Room in Dallas, Terrain at Medicine Wheel in Boston and Voices From the Center at threewalls in Chicago. Through Voices From the Center, Engelstad’s interviews with Central Europeans about life during and after communism were documented in an award winning web-based project that also included exhibitions, panel discussions and lectures throughout Central Europe and the United States.
In 2010 she founded Make Art with Purpose (MAP), an organization and virtual resource center for creative projects that shape and transform the world in positive ways. MAP initiatives include an interactive, open source website, projects and exhibitions, and public programs that engage communities and promote social practice throughout the world. She has taught and lectured at universities throughout North America and Europe and in 2006 she was a Fulbright Scholar at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Bratislava, Slovak Republic. She has an MFA in Photography from a joint program between New York University and International Center of Photography and BAs in Political Science and English from the University of Washington, Seattle.
