December 4, 6:00 - 7:30pm | Community Lecture Series: The Third Rail—Working with Shame and Addiction Treatment

In this talk presented by MPS Art Therapy, Renee Obstfeld, PhD, LP, ATR-BC, LCAT, CASAC will explore the dual role of compulsive substance use in alleviating unbearable feelings of isolation, shame, and vulnerability while simultaneously facilitating their embodied expression.

December 8, 7:00 - 8:30pm | MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Alumni Film Fest: Part III

MFA Photography, Video and Related Media celebrates its first Alumni Film Festival, presented as several monthly programs throughout the fall 2020 semester. This series will share the recent work of 30 alumni from the past 28 years. With pieces in formats such as short form narrative, documentary, abstraction, environmental, music videos, installations, and more, this festival highlights the dynamic scope of video work emerging from the department and highlights its global alumni community and commitment to new directions the moving image.

December 8, 7:00 - 8:30pm | Daredoodling with Tom Motley

Join veteran cartooning instructor Tom Motley for a new lesson derived from his three SVA Continuing Education courses: Cartooning Basics, Figure Drawing for Cartoonists, and Thinking in Ink. Motley will demonstrate some key cartooning concepts: curve rhythms, the mighty “swalloop,” and more. We’ll have you draw along and show off your doodles, followed by Q&A. Come play!

December 11, 11:00am - noon | On the Politics of Friendship

In the era of the pandemic, which has foregrounded isolation and technologies of remote nearness, as well as the ongoing crisis of racial injustice, it is all the more important to consider the importance of affiliation and friendship. Join MA Curatorial Practice Chair Steven Henry Madoff in conversation about the topic with London-based artist, writer and curator Céline Condorelli, president of BRIC Arts Media in Downtown Brooklyn Kristina Newman-Scott, and artist, writer and curator Shuddhabrata Sengupta, member of the Delhi-based Raqs Media Collective.

December 11, 7:00 - 8:00pm | Kris Graves: Race and Place in Contemporary American Photography

In this Art & Politics Lecture presented by MPS Digital Photography Honors Program and BFA Visual & Critical Studies, photographer Kris Graves will discuss his recent project photographing scenes that reference the history of racism and police brutality. His camera has captured confederate monuments, sites of police murders, social movement activity, and more. He will discuss how he has approached this work and what the camera might help to say about American reality today.

December 15, 7:00 - 8:30pm | Danna Singer

In this lecture, outstanding portraitist Danna Singer will discuss recent editorial commissions and personal projects as part of the MPS Digital Photography i3: Images, Ideas, Inspiration lecture series. Singer's work focuses on the social ramifications of economic inequality, depicting the struggles of working class Americans. Her photographs were selected for The Best New Yorker Photography of 2019, and The New York Times, Year in Pictures 2019.