Sharon Irish Vitae, last updated October 2024.
Or, read through this shortened version:
Sharon Irish
shrnirish (at) gmail (dot) com
DEGREES
1985 PhD, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, Art History
1982 MA, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, Art History
1976 BA, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
cum laude in Art, magna cum laude in General Studies
CURRENT
Research Affiliate, School of Information Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
SELECTED LECTURES AND PRESENTATIONS
“Stephen Willats’ Freezone: Genealogies, Trajectories and Mediatization,” College Art Association annual conference panel, The Transnational 1960s: Concept and Critique, New York City, February 15, 2017
“Stephen Willats and the Performance of Information Flows,” Computer Arts Society, London, U.K., May 9, 2016
”Predictive and Prescriptive Thinking: Considering Stephen Willats,” Anticipation Research Group, University of Bristol, Bristol, U.K., April 28, 2016
“Coded Landscapes: Stephen Willats’ Place-Based Work in the UK,” Museo Tamayo, México, D.F., February 10, 2015
“FemTechNet,” Open Education: Condition Critical, Centre for Disruptive Media, Coventry University, November 20, 2014 (via Skype)
GRANTS
2018, Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Chicago, IL, Publication Grant, “Stephen Willats and the Social Function of Art: Experiments in Cybernetics and Society”
2015, Creative Capital | Warhol Foundation Art Writers Grant Program, Stephen Willats, 1970-2012
2015, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, Stephen Willats, 1970-2012
2014, Colston Research Fellowship, Institute of Advanced Studies, University of Bristol (UK), Department of Drama: Theatre, Film & Television, “In the Margins? Local Knowledge and Self-Organisation”
2011, Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Chicago, IL, Research and Development Grant, “The Socio-spatial Practice of Artist Stephen Willats”
2003-2005, University of Illinois Research Board, “The Embodied Art of Suzanne Lacy”
2000-2001, University of Illinois Research Board, “Layers in the Loop: ‘Full Circle’ by Suzanne Lacy”
PUBLICATIONS:
Books
Concerning Stephen Willats and the Social Function of Art: Experiments in Cybernetics and Society (Bloomsbury Academic, forthcoming 2020).
Suzanne Lacy: Spaces Between (University of Minnesota Press, 2010).
Cass Gilbert, Architect: Modern Traditionalist (New York: Monacelli Press, 1999). (invited)
Winner of David Gebhard Book Award of the Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians, 2000; Winner of Publication Award, Metropolitan Chapter of the Victorian Society in America, 2000; Finalist, Minnesota Center for the Book Award in History, 2000; published as e-book by Random House, 2010
Edward N. Kaufman and Sharon L. Irish. Medievalism: An Annotated Bibliography of Recent Research in the Architecture and Art of Britain and North America. New York: Garland Publishing, 1988.
Edited Volume
With Angela Rivers, Ryan Griffis, Ken Salo, and Sam Smith. Revisiting Murals, Animating Neighborhoods (Urbana: University of Illinois Printing Services, July 2010).
Special Issue of Technology and Culture: Essays in Honor of Carl Condit 30(April 1989).
Book Chapters
“Art in Public at Warwick and Brindley Estate, London.” In Community Spaces: Conception – Appropriation – Identity. Edited by Maren Harnack, Tobias Michael Wolf, Sebastian Haumann, et al. (Berlin: ISR Impulse Online/Institut für Stadt- und Regionalplanung, 2015).
With Deven Gibbs and Debarah McFarland. “Spaces Of Connection: Implementing the Design of a High-Tech Learning Space for Youth.” In Community Matters: Service Learning and Engaged Design and Planning. Edited by Mallika Bose, Cheryl Doble, Paula Horrigan, and Sigmund Shepp. (New York: Routledge, 2014). (refereed)
“‘Great Gray Buildings’: The United States Army Supply Base in Brooklyn, New York.” Pp. 163-174. In Cass Gilbert, Life and Work: Architect of the Public Domain. Edited by Barbara S. Christen and Steven Flanders (New York: W.W. Norton, 2001). (invited)
“Cass Gilbert in Practice, 1884-1934.” Pp. 1-34. In Inventing the Skyline: The Architecture of Cass Gilbert. Edited by Margaret Heilbrun and Mary Beth Betts (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000). (invited)
Articles in Journals and Encyclopedias
“Reflections on Whiteness: Integrating Upward Bound in the 1960s.” Schools: Studies in Education 21:2(Fall 2024), 1-18.
“Inventing the World: In and Around Illinois, 1960-75.” AD Lebbeus Woods: Exquisite Experiments, Early Years. Edited by Aleksandra Wagner and Neil Spiller. 94:2(March/April 2024), 22-29.
With FemTechNet Collective. “FemTechNet: A Collective Statement on Teaching and Learning Race, Feminism, and Technology.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 39:1(2018), 24-41.
“Critical Spatial Practices in U.S. Cities since 1960.” Companion to American Urbanism. Edited by Joseph Heathcott (Routledge, 2016). (invited)
“New Genre Public Art.” Reading Contemporary Performance: Theatricality across Genres. Edited by Gabrielle Cody and Meiling Cheng (Routledge, 2015). (invited)
“Hierarchies in the Circuitry: Women, Information Technology and Scholarship (WITS) at Illinois.” Technology’s Stories [online publication of the Society for the History of Technology] (November 2013). (invited)
With Penny Evans. “Structures of Participation: Performing Local Knowledge.” International Journal of Progressive Education 9:3(October 2013). (refereed)
With Martin Wolske, Deven Gibbs, Adam Kehoe and Vera Jones, “Outcome of Applying Evidence-based Design on Public Computing Centers.” Journal of Community Informatics. 9:1(2013). (refereed)
With Angela Rivers. “Mapping Cultural Migrations between Champaign and Chicago.” Issue 12(2012) AREA Chicago.
“The Performance of Information Flows in the Art of Stephen Willats.”Information & Culture: A Journal of History 47:4(November/December 2012). (refereed)
Video Dialogues and White Papers
“A Different Pie: Reimagining Engagement with Sally K. Carter,” 2018, UIUC Center for Digital Inclusion
Producer and interviewer. “Bodies, with Karen Flynn and Dorothy Roberts.” November 8, 2013, FemTechNet Collective
Producer and interviewer. “Women, Information Technology and Scholarship at Illinois, with Jenny Barrett, Leigh Estabrook, Gail Hawisher, and Angharad Valdivia.” September 2013, FemTechNet Collective
FemTechNet White Paper Committee. “Transforming Higher Education with Distributed Open Collaborative Courses: Feminist Pedagogies and Networked Learning.” September 2013,
Guest Blog Posts
“Archiving a Network, Networking an Archive,” Lacy Justice/New Criticals, produced by Tamsyn Gilbert, February 16, 2016
“The Monstrous Feminine: Lady Gaga in a Meat Dress,” University of Minnesota Press Blog, October 27, 2010
Doctoral Thesis
“Cass Gilbert’s Career in New York, 1899-1905,” Northwestern University, 1985
Advisors: David Van Zanten; Carl Condit
