Susanne Cockrell's social and documentary projects over the last 20 years consider the ways people live into specific places over time, amplifying the emergent choreography of landscape, shared experience, story and participatory actions in shaping collective and civic life. Early research in experimental dance, environmental studies, and eastern philosophy continue to shape my interests and craft with attention to ecological rhythms, ephemeral encounters and the poetics of daily life. Fieldfaring Projects, in collaboration with my late husband Ted Purves from 2002-2017, asked questions about systems of critical exchange, collectivity and the urban landscape through the lens of informal social economies and rural aesthetics. Our work was directed toward ways that people come together in social and public contexts.
As a guest living and working on the land of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples, past, present and future, my artwork and teaching has evolved in relationship to the ethos of the San Francisco Bay Area. The light and coastal water, the trees and mountains of the Sierra Nevada, the abundance of food and convivial nature of human gathering in this place over time, continue to inspire and shape my research. The critical scholarship and social movements that arise from this western edge have taught me about the possibilities for participation and collaboration between people, with non-human species and the land, and an ethics grounded in reciprocity, community and care.
As a Professor of Graduate Fine Arts at California College of the Arts, her art work and teaching actively forged and contributed to emergent field of social practice from 2005-2027. During her tenure at CCA she served in leadership for thirteen years, Assistant Chair of the First Year CORE Program 2005-2011, Chair of undergraduate Community Arts 2013-2018 and Chair of Graduate Fine Arts 2023-25. She designed the SPACE (Social Practice and Community Engagement) minor and coordinated the Ecological Theory and Practice Minor from 2019-2022.
You can contact her at susanne0cockrell@gmail.com.
