I enjoyed being in Ms. Crivelli’s class because she approached art with both seriousness and playful curiosity. Her attention to detail combined with her versatility in form made her an inspirational teacher.”
In her own words...
For all of my professional life I have been an artist and an art educator, and for me, each role influences and inspires the other. Working with a variety of media and source material to discover new ideas, new connections, and new ways of thinking is the way I work best as an artist. This practice translates into the studio classroom, where my students are encouraged to do the same, to explore creative possibilities and to stretch one’s imagination.
As a faculty member at PA, I teach both studio and museum studies courses. My greatest satisfaction in both contexts comes from watching students discover something new about art and observing their bright, creative minds at work. During my time at PA, I have been honored with multiple grants and awards: three Kenan awards for the creative development of my artwork, course development grants to introduce new courses into the art curriculum, and professional development grants to attend workshops, lectures, and conferences.
As a professional artist, I began my career creating both indoor and outdoor mixed-media large-scale sculpture installations for exhibitions and commissions and for the stage for dance companies. In 1995, I made a transition to the use of photography and digital technology to express my ideas on a smaller scale, and for the next 16 years I developed several new bodies of photo-based digital work in both two and three dimensions. In 2012, I began a series of digital print-based drawings and collages, which I am currently developing.
My artwork has been included in numerous one-person and group exhibitions in the United States and abroad and is included in many private and public collections. I have enjoyed opportunities to be a visiting artist and to give workshops, lectures, and presentations of my work in the United States and internationally.
Elaine Crivelli
When I came to PA to interview in 1997 for the position of chair of the art department, I remember meeting so many wonderful people and being inspired by all that PA had to offer. For the next nine years, I had the opportunity to lead a dynamic art department and to work collaboratively with my colleagues to revamp the curriculum and add new courses, to welcome new members into the department, to work in close association with the Addison Gallery, and to bring new technologies into the art curriculum, the art studios, and the art store. My fondest memories are those when all of us worked closely together to make change and to advance the department in positive and productive ways.
As an instructor in art, I remember the students I had the pleasure and honor of mentoring while watching them grow into creative thinkers, discovering something new about themselves along the way. I remember the many opportunities to teach established courses across the art curriculum on all levels and to develop new ones for the department. Among my favorite courses to teach were the ones where I connected with fellow faculty, such as Seth Bardo, to teach Rosebud, The Restless Search for an American Identity, an interdisciplinary course that explored the theme of identity in literature, film, and the visual arts. Also, connections to important resources on campus, such as the Addison Gallery and community service, were important to me in developing courses such as Visual Culture: Discovering the Addison Collection, in which students had the opportunity to work with me and members of the Addison staff to learn about important works in the collection, to curate exhibitions from the collection, and to see the inner workings of how a museum functions “behind the scenes.”
I have fond memories of being a parent at PA and helping my daughter, Gina, navigate her way through her four years while studying with caring faculty members across the curriculum and finding her niche in the dance department with Judy Wombwell, in the English department with Craig Thorn, and in the art department with Steve Wicks.
I also have very fond memories of being a host family (with Gina) to two Kemper Scholars from Bologna, Italy; Michela Bassi in 2004 and Allegra Iafrate in 2005. We are still in touch with Michela and her new husband, Matteo Girelli, and plan to visit them in Italy soon after I retire.
As a complementary house counselor, I have many fond memories, since 2004, of working with Shawn Fulford in Eaton Cottage to make the dorm safe, organized, and a welcoming home away from home for the girls. I will always remember “The Garden of Eaton,” Shawn’s labor of love, and I thank her for bringing such visual joy and ever-changing beauty to the dorm and the community.
In retirement, I plan to move back to my native Philadelphia, close to family and friends. I plan to continue my life as an artist, creating, exhibiting, attending lectures, and conducting and attending workshops. I plan to travel to places I have never been and to visit family, friends and former colleagues, both in the U.S. and abroad. Also, I plan to connect with some of the nonprofit organizations in Philadelphia. Whatever other opportunities come my way in this new chapter, I will embrace them.
Thank you Ms. Crivelli for nurturing my passion for the art through highschool and after. I am about to graduate from Tyler School of Art, and your high opinion of the school is part of what encouraged me to go there. You were an amazing teacher.”