Janet Kauffman
Encyclopedia
Janet Kauffman is an American
novelist, poet, and mixed media
artist.
, Pennsylvania
. She has taught in the English Department at Eastern Michigan University
(EMU) in Ypsilanti
, Michigan
since 1988. She received her PhD from University of Chicago
in 1972.
Kauffman was instrumental in establishing EMU's Creative Writing Master's degree program, which has received national attention through its unconventional approach to writing. In her classes, Kauffman challenges her students to re-think the definition of "book" and ways in which to use text to communicate ideas. Her unusual approach to creative writing workshops includes creating deformed books, constructions with found objects and original or "borrowed" text, creative alphabets, micro-collections, and engineered books.
Kauffman has been the recipient of numerous awards, including:
Her passions include fighting the pollution of industrial agriculture
, which has been the focus of much of her recent work, including the book Trespassing; Dirt Stories & Field Notes (2008), and the mixed media project, "The Violence of Plowshares." This 2006 exhibit draws on her experience in Michigan with factory farms, using items from her childhood growing up on a tobacco farm and other found objects. As the exhibit notes state:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
novelist, poet, and mixed media
Mixed media
Mixed media, in visual art, refers to an artwork in the making of which more than one medium has been employed.There is an important distinction between "mixed-media" artworks and "multimedia art". Mixed media tends to refer to a work of visual art that combines various traditionally distinct...
artist.
Biography
Kauffman was born in LancasterLancaster, Pennsylvania
Lancaster is a city in the south-central part of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the county seat of Lancaster County and one of the older inland cities in the United States, . With a population of 59,322, it ranks eighth in population among Pennsylvania's cities...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. She has taught in the English Department at Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University
Eastern Michigan University is a comprehensive, co-educational public university located in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ypsilanti is west of Detroit and eight miles east of Ann Arbor. The university was founded in 1849 as Michigan State Normal School...
(EMU) in Ypsilanti
Ypsilanti, Michigan
Ypsilanti is a city in Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 22,362. The city is bounded to the north by the Charter Township of Superior and on the west, south, and east by the Charter Township of Ypsilanti...
, Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
since 1988. She received her PhD from University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
in 1972.
Kauffman was instrumental in establishing EMU's Creative Writing Master's degree program, which has received national attention through its unconventional approach to writing. In her classes, Kauffman challenges her students to re-think the definition of "book" and ways in which to use text to communicate ideas. Her unusual approach to creative writing workshops includes creating deformed books, constructions with found objects and original or "borrowed" text, creative alphabets, micro-collections, and engineered books.
Kauffman has been the recipient of numerous awards, including:
- Michigan Arts Award, 1997
- Creative Artist Grants
- Michigan Council for the Arts 1984 and 1987
- National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, 1985
- Rosenthal Award, American Academy-Institute of Arts and Letters, 1983
Her passions include fighting the pollution of industrial agriculture
Industrial agriculture
Industrial farming is a form of modern farming that refers to the industrialized production of livestock, poultry, fish, and crops. The methods of industrial agriculture are technoscientific, economic, and political...
, which has been the focus of much of her recent work, including the book Trespassing; Dirt Stories & Field Notes (2008), and the mixed media project, "The Violence of Plowshares." This 2006 exhibit draws on her experience in Michigan with factory farms, using items from her childhood growing up on a tobacco farm and other found objects. As the exhibit notes state:
The vision of farming as a peaceful way of life, surrounded by idyllic and pastoral landscapes, is a deeply-rooted dream in American life. That dream has turned nightmare where I live, and in many areas of the country.
External links
- http://www.janetkauffman.com