Maureen Nappi
Associate Professor of Media Theoryat Long Island UniversityMaureen Nappi, an artist and scholar, currently teaches Media Theory + CGI in the Media Arts Department of Long Island University, Brooklyn campus. Dr. Nappi specializes in the integration of the theory and practice of arts and technology, about which she has published numerous articles. She received her Ph.D. in Critical Studies/ARTE: (Art, Research, Technology, and Education) as an American Association of University Women Doctoral Fellow from New York University in 2002.My scholarly research continues to combine my feminist scholarship and activism as I bring to the fore women artists who have thus far been recognized by the art world but not necessarily in a way that highlights their intrinsic poetic urgency. My scholarship has been intertwined with an allegiance to feminism from an early age. I am listed among the early activists in Barbara Love’s book Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975 published in 2006 and am also a member of the Veteran Feminists of America (VFA), a group of the second wave feminists. As a member of VFA, in 2010 I was honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Halls, NY with “The Keeper of the Flame” Award.Thus, my academic work simultaneously integrates technology and art often with a feminist agenda. To this end, I have written extensively about the pioneering computer artist and animator Lillian F. Schwartz who was one of the only women working in the visual arts at Bell Labs during its experimental period between 1969 to the end of the millennium. Likewise, I am now engaged in writing about the painter Amy Sillman who has recently started to use her skills electronically to create some of the most innovative animations made to-date on her iPhone and iPad.