Teaching:

Ken Gonzales-Day is an artist, writer, and educator whose teaching at Scripps College reflects the same interdisciplinary approach that has defined his artistic practice. As a full Professor and The Fletcher Jones endowed Chair in Art, Professor of Art, he encourages students to engage critically with the histories of representation, in art and photography while developing rigorous studio practices of their own. His courses in the Interdisciplinary Core Program, and Art Theory, often bridge research and making, asking students to consider how visual culture shapes ideas of identity, memory, race, and power.

Drawing upon decades of experience as an exhibiting artist, Gonzales-Day introduces students to contemporary debates in art alongside historical precedents, emphasizing close observation, archival research, and thoughtful experimentation. Rather than treating art as an isolated discipline, his teaching encourages connections between visual practice, question accepted histories and create new forms of knowledge.

Through this combination of scholarship, studio practice, and mentorship, Gonzales-Day prepares students to become thoughtful artists and engaged citizens. His teaching reflects Scripps College's commitment to interdisciplinary learning, encouraging emerging artists to see creative practice as a means of inquiry, dialogue, and cultural engagement. Graduates leave with not only stronger technical and conceptual skills, but also a deeper understanding of the role art can play in shaping public discourse.

Invite the artist to come give a talk on your campus:

(Talks typically run for 45 minutes and touch on several bodies of work, with time for questions).  Previous panels and talks can be found here.

Host a survey exhibition:

Ken Gonzales-Day: History’s “Nevermade” is the first mid-career survey of the work of Ken Gonzales-Day, bringing together more than 100 works spanning over three decades. Through photography, drawing, painting, and film, Gonzales-Day examines race, identity, historical memory, and the role of visual culture in shaping understandings of American history.

The exhibition’s title centers on Gonzales-Day’s concept of the “nevermade,” a term he coined to describe historical documents or visual narratives that omit or misrepresent the people and events they depict. Referencing Marcel Duchamp’s idea of the “readymade,” Gonzales-Day reworks archival imagery and visual conventions to question how history is constructed, who is represented, and whose stories are left out.

Bringing Gonzales-Day’s major series into dialogue, the exhibition traces the political and historical concerns that connect his practice. Featuring staged portraits, altered historical imagery, and investigations of museum and archival collections, the survey highlights the artist’s ongoing engagement with representation, institutional histories, and the construction of public memory.

To see the Curatorial Exhibitions Prospectus click here. Read the Exhibition Narrative here.Or email Curatorial Assistance directly here.

Organize a workshop or symposium:

Past workshops have included: the history of racial depiction; racial violence and lynching in America; race and photography; contemporary art and practice; Plaster Casts in Art & Ethnography; Topics and outcomes to be determined in consultation with event organizers. Gonzales-Day currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts as well as on the L.A.C.E. Board of Directors. Previous board service includes served on the Board of Directors for the College Art Association where he helped to organize, and review all the submission for the annual conference. Gonzales-Day also served on the Board of the Western Regional divison of the Society of Photographic Educators (SPE), as well as organizing a symposium as a part of the Getty Foundation's 2017 initiative, PST:LA/LA with Bill Kelley Jr. and Pilar Tomkins Rivas, held at the Getty Center and San Diego Museum of Art.

Need an Expert Witness:

Gonzales-Day is can also serve as an expert witness or "teaching witness" in cases involving the lynching of Latinos in California.

Other ideas? Complete form below: