C/V Alison Watkins
Education
Ph.D. Florida State University, 1992. Literature: Dissertation: "Visionary Ethics of W. B. Yeats,” Adviser,
Professor George Mills Harper
M.F.A. Bard College, 1985. Major - Creative Writing, Adviser, Robert Kelly
B.A.
Certificate
Certificate Future Media Concepts, Final Cut Pro, Level 1, 2005
Certificate SUNY Stonybrook University/Consortium for Digital Arts & Technology: Introduction to Computational Arts, 2014
Employment
Ringling College of Art + Design:
Faculty, Liberal Arts Department, 1992-2016
Courses taught: Storytelling, Mythology, Artists Among Poets, Introduction to Poetry, Art and the Creative Process, Contemporary Literature, Introduction to Literature, Writing Studio, Freshmen Composition, Women’s Literature, Creativity in Conceptual Drawing
Director of Student Outcomes Assessment, 2003 - 2012
Director of Institutional Research and Assessment, 1995-2003
Registrar, 1995-98
Florida State University, 1986-1992, Visiting Instructor and Graduate Teaching Assistant, English Department
Florida State University, University Fellow, 1990-91
Honors and Awards
“Born to Witness: Lorenzo Scott, Visionary, Self-taught Artist,” 64 minute documentary film for the
Archive of American Artists, the Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, 2013
“Historic Tremé,” finalist in the NY Short Film Festival, Fall 2008
“Historic Tremé,” finalist in the Documentary & Fiction Festival of Hollywood, March 2008
Artist Enhancement Grant, Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, $1000, September 2005
John Ringling Artists’ Fellowship for collaborative work (with J.Spring) in digital poetry, Sarasota County
Arts Council Award, November, 2004
First Place-Digital Imaging, 2003 Exhibition of Digital Art, Venice, Florida, October 2003
Merit Award, New Century Artist Exhibition, Digital Fine Arts Assoc., Florida Statewide Exhibition 2002
Labyrinth Project Grant, $500, Collaborative Arts Committee, Ringling School of Art and Design, 2002
FSU Foundation Award, Outstanding Dissertation, 1992-93
Finalist, South Atlantic Modern Language Association Book Award, 1992
University Dissertation Fellow, $10,000, FSU, 1990-91
Phi Kappa Phi Graduate Honor Society, 1987-92
Milton Avery Award for the Arts, Bard College, 1983-84
Research, Writings, Exhibitions
2014
“Digital Nexus: Visual and Digital Poetry,” coordinator and chair, 2014 Southeastern College Art
Conference, Sarasota, FL, Oct.
“This is Your Brain on Vispo: How to Read, Revisited.” Paper presented at 2014 Southeastern College Art
Conference, Sarasota, FL, Oct.
“Hold the Light,” Electronic Literature Organization Conference, research for new digital poetry course +
writing with code workshop, Milwaukee, WI, June
2013
“Born to Witness: Lorenzo Scott, Visionary, Self-taught Artist,” 64 minute documentary film for the
Archive of American Artists, the Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, completed, October
“The Lorenzo Scott Project” website designer and manager (committed to documenting, preserving and
promoting the art of Lorenzo Scott through advocacy, research, scholarship, digitizing, and
exhibition) http://lorenzo-scott-project.org/Lorenzo/About.html, March –ongoing management
“Lorenzo Scott,” Wikipedia page author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_Scott, April
2012
Review of “The Last Vispo Anthology: Visual Poetry 1998-2008” ed. Nico Vassilakis and Crag Hill, EOAGH Magazine, December
“Videopoetry: the Relation of Words to Image,” paper presented at the New York School of Visual Arts
Annual Conference on Liberal Arts and the Education of the Artist, NY, October
2011
“Artists Among Poets Panel,” chair, Southeastern College Art Conference, Savannah, November
“Leslie Dill: Cloaking and Revealing the Human Soul,” paper presented at Southeastern College Art
Conference, Savannah, November
2010
“Mantic Voices: Poet as Prophet, Prophet as Poet,” video and paper presented at the College English
Association Annual Conference, San Antonio, April
“Drum Circle,” immersive video for Bishop Planetarium Cosmix3 Show, March 2010
2009
“New Media in the Classroom” panel for International Art Conference, Venice, Italy July 2009, Ringling
collaborators panel include Vicky Randall (CORE), Gary Schumer (CA) and Kinga Araya (LAP)
“The Adventures of Bunny Blaster and Rogue Bunny," graphic narrative video for Bishop Planetarium
Cosmix2 Show, March 2009
"The Imaginative Construction of the Soul in W.B. Yeats's A Vision," accepted for publication in the
Association for the Study of Ethical Behavior in Literature Journal, NY, Fall 2009
2008
“The Miracle Stories of Lorenzo Scott,” video interview and paper presentation at Southeastern College
Art Conference, New Orleans, September
“Historic Tremé,” finalist in Documentary & Fiction Festival of Hollywood, March
“Historic Tremé,” finalist in the NY Short Film Festival in October,
“Neighborhood Birds Project,” video installation for Cosmix: A Multidirectional Synthesis of Art and
Technology, South Florida Museum, Bradenton, FL March-April,
2007
“Spiritual Dimensions in Outside Art,” presentation at School of Visual Arts Annual National Conference
on Art Education of Artists, Religion and the Spiritual, NY, October “Counterpoint,” video installation, Prima Faciae Exhibition, Selby Gallery, October 2007
“Boundary Stone”, “Elixir” and “Carry Me,” Finalist, Gulf Coast Film & Video Festival, Houston, Sept.
“Mother Goddess,” video installation for Uplifting Revelations, Art Center Manatee, July-August
“Using Digital Technology to Enhance Creativity in Reading and Writing,” poster session presentation for
International Conference on Improving University Teaching, Jaén, Spain, July
“Living the Life of the Dirty,” paper published in Florida Studies Proceedings of the Florida College
English Association, Cambridge Scholars Press: Cambridge, UK, 2007
“Around Thorn Hill,” video installation of poetry and art, collaborators include Lynda Schmidt, Charlotte
Schulz, Laura Fletcher, Patrick Lindhardt and Mike Swain, October
“Living the Life of the Dirty,” video and paper accepted for presentation at the College English
Association Annual Conference, New Orleans, April
2006
“Hooked on Art,” paper for Florida College English Association Annual Conference, Lakeland, FL, October
“The Visionary Vernacular Language of Black Outsider Artists,” video at the International Art Festival and
Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland, August
“The Visionary Vernacular Language of Black Outsider Artists,” paper in Florida Studies Proceedings of
The Florida College English Association 2005 Meeting, Cambridge Scholars Press: Cambridge, UK
2005
"Blind Man's Stick," poetry published in Florida English Journal, Bradenton, FL November
"6 a.m.," poetry published in Florida English Journal, Bradenton, FL, November
“The Visionary Vernacular Language of Black Outsider Artists,” video at the Florida College English
Association Annual Conference, Daytona, FL, November
"Pythia, with her dream journal," assemblage and artist book, Selby Gallery, Sarasota, Oct.
"Walkabout," video poetry DVD (10 poems, 26 minutes), Selby Gallery, Sarasota, October
“Like A Binnacle,” poetry published in anthology for International Open Poetry Contest and online at
www.poetry.com, Owings Mills, MD, August
Solo CD album, Witness, recorded by the International Library of Poetry, Owings Mills, MD, August
“Creating Fictional Lives,” paper published in Proceedings of the New York School of Visual Arts
Conference on Liberal Arts & the Education of the Artist, NY, October/January
Video Poetry series, on public access television in Tampa-St. Pete, Washington D.C. and Sarasota, FL:
Jan.-Feb.
2004
“Interdisciplinary Bridges: Pitfalls and Progress,” collaborative presentation with Roxie Thomas at
Maryland Institute College of Art, Blurred Edges AICAD Conference, October
“What the Illusion?” White Linen Invitational Exhibition, Art League of Manatee County, MCC, May
Alternative Pinup Show, “Laura and the Mannequins” Center for Innovation and Collaboration, video
poem collaboration with Justin Spring, January, February
Women’s History Month Art Exhibit, “In the Jester’s House” & “A Second Look at the Moon” Poem Art
Object, Center for Innovation & Collaboration, video poem with Justin Spring, March
2003
Anna Maria Island Digital Art Exhibit, “Neighborhood Birds: II,” Anna Maria Island Art League, Dec.
“Interdisciplinary Bridges: Pitfalls & Progress,” presentation and publication (with Roxie Thomas) at School of Visual Arts National Conference on Liberal Arts and the Education of Artists, NY, Oct. /Dec.
“Where Reality Meets Hyperreality: Our Lives Are Ours to Create,” paper presented at the Popular
Culture Association and American Culture Association Conference, Jacksonville, Oct.
Venice 2003 Exhibition of Digital Art, “Parliament of Birds,” “Art is Either,” “American Song,” “Blind
Man’s Geometry,” Venice, October
Five poems recorded for CD of Sarasota Women Poets, by Soulspeak, Sarasota, October
“Roots and Branches,” Faculty Exhibit, acrylic on wood, Selby Gallery, Sarasota, October
“Ghost of the Swamp.” Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Journal of Florida Literature, Sp. Edition
“Catbird's Dance.” Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Journal of Florida Literature, Sp. Edition
“The River.” Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Journal of Florida Literature, Sp. Edition
“Buttermilk Clouds.” Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Journal of Florida Literature, Sp. Edition
“Scrub Pine.” Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Journal of Florida Literature, Sp. Edition
“The Sun Bears Down.” Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Journal of Florida Literature, Sp. Edition
“The Coming of the Rain.” Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Journal of Florida Literature Sp. Edition
“The First Language.” The Campbell Corner Language Exchange, Sarah Lawrence College,
campbellcorner@slc.edu , Spring
“I Have Forgotten Everything.” The Campbell Corner Language Exchange, Sarah Lawrence
College, campbellcorner@slc.edu , Spring
“The Small Bells of the Wind.” The Campbell Corner Language Exchange, Sarah Lawrence
College, campbellcorner@slc.edu , Spring
“Conversation with Walt Whitman and Robert Kelly.” The Campbell Corner Language
Exchange, Sarah Lawrence College, campbellcorner@slc.edu , Spring
“The Unremembered Fastness of the World.” The Campbell Corner Language Exchange, Sarah
Lawrence College, campbellcorner@slc.edu , Spring
2002
“Shadowdance,” “All Fool’s Day,” and “Eye of Palm,” New Century Artist Exhibition, 2002
All Florida Exhibit, Digital Fine Art Society, Manatee County, November-December
Labyrinth Project, Collaborative Installation, Ringling School campus, with Mary Lynn Jamison,
Roxie Thomas and 50 Ringling students, October through December
“Where Got I That Truth? Psychic Junk in a Modernist Landscape,” paper presented at the
University College Worcester, England, August
“George Yeats’s Contribution to W.B. Yeats’s Poetry,” paper presented at Women & Creativity
Conference, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March
2001
“Myth of Blood Libel,” InformNation Exhibit, Anti-War Art Show, Roskamp Gallery, Sarasota
“Neighborhood Birds for Neighborhood Kids,” exhibit, photography plus poems, Avant-Garde,
Sarasota, March
2000
“Sniper Alley,” www.poetry.com, Owings Mills, MD, May
True Confessions, artist’s book collaboration with Patrick Lindhardt, Master Printer
Millennial Dreams, poetry & sculpture installation, exhibited & broadcast at Sarasota Biennial
2000, Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, FL, October – December
1999
Group Exhibition of Artist Books, Really Lush Exhibition, Lee County Arts Alliance: The Slit Gong
“Image Making as Architect of Meaning,” paper presented at New York School of Visual Arts
Conference on Liberal Arts and the Education of the Artist, October
“Image Making as Architect of Meaning,” paper, published in the Proceedings of the New York School
of Visual Arts Conference on Liberal Arts & the Education of the Artist, NY: December
1994-98
"Women in the Workplace," talk given for Women's History Month, New College, Sarasota
"The Myth of Blood Libel," Night in Sarajevo, ed. AllenKuhn, Lost Continuum Press, Sarasota
Lingering Conversations, artist book with painting and drawings by Patti Roberts-Pizzuto
Flowers of Sadness, artist book with monoprints
Tree of Life series (eleven artist books with drawings, photography, monoprints, and painting)
1992
The Visionary Ethics of W.B. Yeats, finalist, MLA book of the year award
"The Imaginative Construction of the Soul in W.B. Yeats's A Vision," paper presented at Florida State
University "Visions and/or (Re) Visions in Literature and Film" Conference, April
1991
"Sooner Murder an Infant in its Cradle: the Anatomy of Desire," paper presented at Florida State
University "Violence in Literature and Film" Conference, April
“The River.” Pikeville Review, KY, 1991
1979-90
"Creatively Interpreting Actuality: A Cry in the Dark," paper presented at Florida State University
"Literature and Film in the Historical Dimension" Conference, 1990
“Like the Sun.” Snake Nation Review, GA, 1990
The Ghost Tree. Angelfish Press, Tallahassee, FL, 1989
“Having No One.” North of Wakulla: an Anthology, Anhinga Press, FL, 1989
“The Tugboat Captain.” Sulfur 3, CA, 1982
“The Embrace.” Text 12, NY, 1981, “Letter to Clayton Eshleman” Text 11, NY, 1979