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New Chairs bring breadth of expertise and international networks to Pacific Northwest College of Art
Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) welcomes two new graduate chairs to the Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies at PNCA. Shawna Lipton joins the college as Chair of the MA in Critical Studies. And Aeron Bergman joins the college as Chair of the Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies.
Lipton holds a PhD in English from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her dissertation, “Queer Literary Criticism and the Biographical Fallacy,” engaged queer theory, modernist studies, and author theory.
“Lipton broadens the scope of the MA in Critical Studies program, bringing a pointed emphasis on broader emancipatory projects including gender studies and queer theory,” says Kate Copeland, Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs. “And Bergman expands the reach of the Low-Residency MFA in Visual Studies program, bringing to the position his extensive curatorial and publishing experience as well as his broad international network.”
Lipton has presented papers at conferences ranging from the Modern Languages Association to the Modernist Studies Association, as well as national and international university symposia. “Returning to The Well: Radclyffe Hall and the Marketing of Lesbian Pulp Fiction,” a collaboration with Dr. Ann Martin of the University of Saskatchewan based on research in the Neil Richards Collection of Gender and Sexual Diversity adds a cultural and historical lens to Queer Studies. Lipton’s scholarly writing has been published in New Cinemas and QED: A Journal in GLBTQ Worldmaking. Her most recent article, “Girls Like Us: Transgender Girlhood in the Memoirs of Janet Mock and Jazz Jennings,” will be published in Girlhood Studies next year.
Lipton’s appointment coincides with the announcement that the MA Critical Studies program now offers a three-year MA/MFA option in partnership with programs in PNCA’s Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies including MFA in Visual Studies, MFA in Print Media, and MFA in Collaborative Design.
Bergman, who works as an artist duo with Alejandra Salinas, founded the artist-run space INCA in Seattle and Detroit and the independent art publisher INCA Press. Salinas and Bergman have exhibited widely internationally and have been included in the 4th Athens Biennale, the Bergen Assembly Triennial, and the Turku Biennial. Bergman holds an MA in Studio Art from New York University, an MA in Art History from University of Toronto, and a BA in Art History from Michigan State University.
The Low Residency MFA in Visual Studies program provides the challenge and community of an immersive, mentor-based graduate program in a flexible format for students who are already engaged in the professional world.
Bergman was most recently faculty in Interdisciplinary Arts and the low-residency MFA at the University of Washington, Bothell. He has taught internationally with positions including a professorship at the Oslo National Academy of Fine Art and as guest professor at Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, and Trondheim Academy of Art. He was the founding chair of Intermedia at the Oslo National Academy of Fine Art from 2007 to 2013; a supervisor of the National Norwegian Artistic Research Fellowship; and a faculty liaison between the International Academy of Art Palestine in Ramallah and the Oslo Academy of Fine Art. Aeron served as an advisor and professor in a low-residency MA program in Scandinavia called the Nordic Sound Art MA.
About Pacific Northwest College of Art
Pacific Northwest College of Art empowers artists and designers to reimagine what art and design can do in the world. Founded in 1909 as the Museum Art School in Portland, Oregon, PNCA offers ten art and design Bachelor of Fine Art programs, six graduate programs including Master of Arts and Master of Fine Arts programs within the Hallie Ford School of Graduate Studies, and a Post-Baccalaureate program.
