June 18, 2010

Jennifer Colby, a lecturer in the Liberal Studies Department, has won an Art and Activism Award from the Women's Caucus for Art, Pacific Region.

Called the Catalyst Award, it is given for exemplary projects, artworks or collaborations that make an impact in support of the environment. Awards will be presented at an eco-art conference in Berkeley on June 25.

Dr. Colby is an artist, curator, educator, community activist and co-founder of Galeria Tonantzin, a gallery featuring women's art in San Juan Bautista.

Her Watershed Multimedia Team received two grants from the California Council for the Humanities. One of the grants was used to produce "My Place in the Watershed," an installation of maps and prints created by local schoolchildren, and "The River of Photos," a 24-inch by 200-foot montage. Both were part of a recent exhibit at the National Steinbeck Center. To read more about the exhibit, click here. The other grant supported a 2004 exhibition about the Pajaro Watershed.

In 2007, she won the educator of the year award from the Arts Council for Monterey County. She served as president of the national Women's Caucus for Art from 2006-08 and founded the organization's Monterey Bay chapter.

Her personal artwork explores ecological themes and women's stories.

Dr. Colby has been on the faculty at CSUMB since 2000. She earned a Ph.D. in humanities, philosophy and religion from the California Institute for Integral Studies; a master's degree in theology, religion and the arts from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, and a master's in studio art from CSU Fresno.

She has taught studio art and art history in K-12 settings, colleges and universities, including the Pacific School of Religion, where she directed contemporary art exhibits at the Bade Museum.

At CSUMB, she teaches classes in culture and cultural diversity, introduction to teaching and learning, and service learning courses.