SDSU Art and Design Professor Receives Honorary Doctoral Degree
Kim Stringfellows creative work was recognized by Claremont Graduate University.
Stringfellow, who holds an MFA in Art and Technology from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, was selected for the honorary degree for her innovative and inspirational work in the multimedia field. This year’s CGU commencement theme—Artistic Practice, Design, and Innovation—emphasized how the arts and creative endeavors help reframe intellectual transformations that result from boundary-crossing, creative, socially conscious work.
According to CGU, Stringfellow’s “perspective and contributions have profoundly shaped and benefited our world and her creative, connective spirit is a model for Claremont and beyond.”
“Personally and professionally, this is quite an honor, especially because it confirms that my research into regional landscapes, local culture, environmental repercussions of human development are considered and of importance to regional academics that I admire,” said Stringfellow.
As an artist, educator, writer and independent curator based in Joshua Tree, California, Stringfellow has published books of text and photographs tracing the history of two desert phenomena—the Salton Sea ecosystem and an area near Joshua Tree National Park, where abandoned shacks mark one of the last tracts of land in the United States to be opened for homesteaders.
Stringfellow and other contributors also created “The Mojave Project,” which features nearly 50 multimedia installments showcasing the desert and its communities, presented through audio, video and archival imagery. The Mojave Project was funded by the California Council for Humanities in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities. She was awarded the 2015 John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and the coveted Curatorial Fellowship from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for the project.
Stringfellow’s artistic work explores cultural geography, public practice and experimental documentary through creative, socially engaged transmedia experiences, such as writing, photography, audio, video, installation, mapping and community engagement.
Stringfellow has been a faculty member in SDSU’s School of Art and Design since 2001.
