Claudia Esslinger has taught at Kenyon since 1984, first as a printmaker and then transitioning into video art, digital imaging, new media and installation. Originally from Long Island, N.Y., Esslinger taught for two years at Denison University before coming to Kenyon. She holds an MFA from the University of Minnesota (1981) and BA from Bethel College, St. Paul (1976).

As a visual artist she brings to her film and video work an interest in visceral, sculptural props and experimental forms. Her recent digital film Breathing Lessons and her collaborations with composers have been seen internationally. Dance collaborations have included interactive software and video projection.

She is the recipient of six Ohio Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowships and a New Forms Regional Grant (NEA). Recent artist residencies include the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, CA (2007) and at the Grafikwerkstaadt in Dresden, Germany (1999).

Her enjoyment of teaching is directly related to the incredible students that come to Kenyon. Talented and dedicated, they often go beyond mere assignments to get the most out of their class experience.

Areas of Expertise

Video art, installation art, new media

Education

MFA, University of Minnesota
BA, Bethel College, St. Paul, MN

Courses Taught

Arts 107: Digital Imaging in the Visual Arts
Arts 360: Installation Art in Time and Space
Arts 361: Alternative Narratives: The Role of Storytelling in Video Art
Arts 362: Poetics of the Moving Image
Arts 480-481: Advanced Studio parts 1 and 2

Artist's Statement

"Reaching out to gather ideas from the context of our lives is especially meaningful in a liberal arts college. Putting together those fragments intuitively, kinesthetically and visually facilitates a kind of discovery that is impossible in a sequential mode of thought but flourishes in the visual arts. Ideas develop in the context of cultural history and personal experience.

"As a teacher and an artist I look for the confluence of these elements in students' work and in my own. Often materials or techniques stimulate new ideas when combined with popular culture and our lives. To use the right media for the content of the piece and to let the work have its own voice is part of a magical interchange between an artist and their artwork.

"The texture of rawhide, rust covered twigs, the electronic pulse of a moving image, the sound of machines or interviews or collaborative music all energize the spaces I find for my installations. The people who enter the galleries enhance the meaning of the work by bringing their own histories to the space and interacting with it."