Avery Caldwell and Gillian Sneed will begin teaching this fall

Avery Caldwell, MA, MFA

As an experienced creator and educator of design and visualization, Avery Caldwell, SDSU School of Art and Design’s newest Assistant Professor of Interior Architecture, integrates the creative process in all aspects of his professional life which he describes as “a happy symbiosis between life, love, and work.” For over 25 years, Caldwell’s professional accomplishments span across the fields of architecture, digital art, graphic design, multimedia, and visualization. A few of Caldwell’s notable positions include Art Director for Art Connoisseur Magazine, Design Coordinator for Cal Fed Bank, and Art Director for Chef Works.

Caldwell has taught at several academic institutions including UCLA, Concordia University, Golden West College, and Saddleback College. In addition to teaching, he owns and operates a design firm, From Form 2 Morf, where he has produced work for clients such as Sony Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Disney, and the Discovery Channel Network, to name a few.

Caldwell’s teaching philosophy focuses on creating a learning environment that is interactive and collaborative – and one that promotes problem-solving and critical thinking skills.
“I encourage students to creatively explore their craft and to vigorously push the boundaries of their skill, methods, and the current tools available to them,” said Caldwell. I welcome classrooms that are accommodating to a diverse population of students and their learning styles and support campuses that prepare students for a pluralistic society by practicing inclusion and appreciating diversity.”

Caldwell studied at Southern California Institute of Architecture, Claremont Graduate University, and holds a Bachelors’ Degree in Fine Art and a Master’s Degree in Architecture from UCLA.

Gillian Sneed, PhD

Gillian Sneed will be joining the School of Art + Design as Assistant Professor of Art History this fall. Sneed received her PhD in art history from the Graduate Center, City University of New York. Prior to her arrival at SDSU, she completed a postdoctoral curatorial fellowship at the Ernesto de Sousa Center for Multidisciplinary Study (CEMES) in Lisbon, Portugal. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in art history at several universities and institutions including Brooklyn College, the City College of New York, The New School for Social Research, Pace University, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Sneed’s research broadly examines 20th and 21st-century feminist art histories of the Americas, with a focus on Brazilian modern and contemporary art and transnational exchanges between Latin America and the United States. Her scholarship has addressed the intersecting genres of film, video, performance, conceptual and socially engaged art, and the gendered, sexual, and racial politics at play in these practices. At SDSU, Sneed will be teaching a range of undergraduate and graduate global art history and visual culture courses, including modern and contemporary art of the Americas.

“I work to decolonize art historical curricula by emphasizing a global scope and the contributions of historically underrepresented artists and authors,” said Sneed. “In art history courses, this involves sustained focus on global regions and cultural viewpoints not traditionally taught in the histories of Western art.

Sneed has published numerous articles and exhibition reviews and has been invited to lecture nationally and internationally.