Laurel Jay Carpenter

Department Head and Professor of Art

Dr. Laurel Jay Carpenter was a tenured Associate Professor of Art at Alfred University in New York from 2005-2016. There, she developed a curricular direction for foundation through upper-level pathways in visual art, art history/theory and performing arts/performance design. She also designed and delivered more than 15 discrete studio and seminar courses in performance, spatial and social practices alongside tutorials, critiques and independent studies for BA/BFA and MFA students working across object, image, discursive and time-based media.

Carpenter stepped down from her role to initiate practice-based doctoral research at Northumbria University in the United Kingdom as a means to contextualize and disseminate an intersectional feminist and new materialist methodology, as evidenced within her performance work, and to expand her pedagogy with a transnational perspective on Higher Education.

During her earlier career, Carpenter served as a lecturer at the Parsons School of Design, the University of Connecticut, and most recently at Northumbria in both the BA (Honors) Fine Art and MA Theatre programs. Carpenter has also worked as an arts administrator. As the PR/Marketing Director for Performance Space 122 (now PS New York), as well as a Program Director at Parsons, she made use of many opportunities to hone her art and academic interests.

A visual art performer, Carpenter investigates longing, awe and intimacy—while troubling subjectivity—in her durational live works. Having exhibited in New York City since 1992, she has more recently presented at art centers and festivals in the UK, the European Union and Scandinavia, notably the 2007 Venice Biennale, 2013 Bergen International and 2019 Prague Quadrennial. Carpenter’s performance research encompasses slow, sensing and embodied practices combined with simple and striking imagery to activate modes of resistance and undoing dominance. A sited awareness of socio-political and cultural trends becomes visual and poetic, thereby personally accessible, performances.

Turning her attention, most recently, toward publishing as an additional research output, Carpenter’s writing has been included in editor- and peer-reviewed journals in Poland, the UK and the US. The monograph of her collaborative practice, 10 Together: Performances by Longva+Carpenter, published by PABlish in Norway, was released in September 2022 and won the Best Publication Award at the Prague Quadrennial in June 2023.

Educational Background

• Ph.D., Practice-based Research in Art, Northumbria University, United Kingdom, 2021
• M.F.A., Art, University of Connecticut, 2004
• B.A., English Literature & Art History, Tufts University, Massachusetts, 1990

Academic Positions

• Professor and Department Head, Art, Texas A&M University-Commerce, 2023-present
• Associate/Visiting Lecturer, Northumbria University, 2017-2018, 2020, 2022
• Associate Professor, Art, Alfred University, New York, 2011-2016
• Assistant Professor, Art, Alfred University, 2005-2011
• Adjunct Instructor, University of Connecticut, 2003-2005
• Adjunct Faculty, Parsons School of Design, New York, 1999-2000

Awards and Honors

• Best Publication Award for Longva+Carpenter's artist-edited monograph, 10 Together: Performances by Longva+Carpenter, Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design & Space, Czech Republic, 2023
• Bursary, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Newcastle, United Kingdom, 2023
• Bursary, North East Artists Fund, Art Network North East, United Kingdom, 2023
• Developing Your Creative Practice Grant, Arts Council England, United Kingdom, 2021
• Cultural Fund for Publications, 10 Together: Performances by Longva+Carpenter, Kulturrådet: Arts Council Norway, 2021
• Commission, Say Ahhh, performance for video, ‘Liveness,' Performance Research Network, Newcastle University, United Kingdom, 2021
• Shortlist Award, The Light of Day, Artquest, London, United Kingdom, 2021
• Bursary, Research Residency in Norway, a-n: The Artists Information Company, United Kingdom, 2019
• STEP Travel Grant, European Cultural Foundation/Compagnia di San Paolo, 2019

Research Interests

• Visual Performance
• Performance/Live Art
• Intersectional Feminism
• Feminist New Materialism
• Collaboration

Selected Exhibitions/Performances

• Solo Exhibition: Tender Cusps, Galerie Oberwelt, Stuttgart, Germany, 2023
• Screening: Near/Far and Say Ahhh video loop, Window Museum and Cable Channel 180, Porto, Portugal, 2023
• Live-Stream Performance: Take It Away! PAB Festival, Bergen, Norway, 2022
• Performance Object: “Reflecting the Past” Performance Art Oslo retrospective, Galleri 69, Oslo, Norway, 2021