Gail Nathan
BRAC Teaching Artist, Painting, Ceramics, Photography, and Printmaking, 1999 - Present
Gail Nathan is an interdisciplinary artist , arts educator and arts administrator, with a commitment to arts-based community development. Throughout her career she has advocated for cultural, environmental and educational justice, supporting the position that the arts can be an equalizing factor in the revitalization of underserved communities.
Nathan was born and raised in the Bronx and attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art. She received a BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and an MFA from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. Nathan has been a visiting professor at art schools and universities throughout the US and Europe including: The School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University; Maryland Institute, College of Art; Kansas City Art Institute; the University for the Arts at Philadelphia College of Art and Design; the Visual Arts Program at Princeton University; and the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava, Slovakia. NYC schools include: New York University, Parsons School of Design, Montclair State University, Ramapo College and Douglass College of Rutgers University. She has also managed public art programs for Richmond, Virginia and Atlanta, Georgia and served as a panelist for the US Government’s General Services Administration’s Public Art program.
Nathan has been awarded a Virginia Museum Professional Fellowship, an Adolph and Ester Gottlieb Foundation, Individual Support Grant , residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts; Art Awareness in Lexington, NY;, and the Karolyi Foundation for Artists and Writers in Vence, France. Nathan’s paintings are included in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Frederick Weisman Collection in Los Angeles, and the New Orleans Museum of Art where she was included in the 1998 Triennial of Contemporary American Art. Nathan has produced several public art commissions for the cities of Richmond, VA, New Orleans, LA, and NewYork City.
Why I Teach: “
Although I trained to be a practicing artist, early-on I came to understand that I was also inclined to be a citizen artist. By this I mean that I felt a commitment to share the knowledge and dedication I had developed for my art practice with others, especially young people.
As a college professor, or community outreach coordinator, public art administrator, and now as Director of BRAC — a community-based art center, I have remained committed to the fact that the arts can be an equalizing factor between people of different economic and cultural strata. Creativity is an inherent human trait that if nurtured can blossom into a fuller and more enjoyable life for everyone who choses this path. I see my “job” as a culture worker equal to, and worthy of, the commitment I evoke for my art practice.
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Snap II, 2005
Masked Lady, 1980