JANET STERNBURG
Sternburg has been an important force in almost every facet of the arts –as a best-selling author,
poet, acclaimed photographer, playwright, curator, foundation officer, award-winning educator,
often called a renaissance woman for the breadth and depth of her vision
Born: Boston, MA.
Resides: Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA, New York, N.Y., and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Education: The New School for Social Research, B.A. Philosophy, 1967
SOLO PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITIONS
2009
Skidmore Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles, CA
Seoul Institute of the Arts, South Korea, a multi-faceted whole building installation
2007
Amerika Haus, Munich, Germany
Carl Schurz Haus, Freiberg, Germany
2006
Deutsch-Amerikanisches Institut , Heidelberg, Germany
2005
Café Einstein Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Antioch University LA, Culver City, California
2002
James Frances Trezza Gallery, New York, NY
2000
Skidmore Gallery of Contemporary Art, Malibu, California
1999
Bellas Artes, Galeria Principal, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2005
The Fisher Gallery, New Acquisitions, USC, Los Angeles, California
2004
“Two on Cuba”, Farmani Gallery, Los Angeles, California
CATALOGUES AND PHOTOGRAPHY PUBLICATIONS
2005
Optic Nerve: Photopoems, Red Hen Press
Insatiable Desires, catalogue, The Fisher Gallery
2003
Teachers & Writers, Nov./Dec. Vol. 31 no.2 Covers, portfolio, essay
2002
Aperture, no.166 Six page portfolio
Art Journal, Volume 61, no.1, Cover, plus nine page portfolio
2000
Prairie Schooner, Fall 2000 issue, Cover photograph
LITERARY BOOKS
2005 Optic Nerve: Photopoems Red Hen Press, 2005
2002 Phantom Limb, A Memoir. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, American Lives Series, ed. Tobias Wolff, 2002; paperback edition, 2003.
2000 The Writer on Her Work: Vol. 1. New York City: W. W. Norton, 1980. Twentieth Anniversary edition, W.W. Norton, 2000. Continuously in print for 30 years.
1992 The Writer on Her Work. Combined edition. London: Virago Press, 1992.
1991 The Writer on Her Work: New Essays in New Territory. Vol. 2 New York City: W. W. Norton, 1991. Continuously in print for 19 years. Selected for “500 Great Books by Women.”
1982 Historians and Filmmakers: Toward Collaboration. Co-conference chair and editor. New York City: The Institute for Research in History with NYU, 1982.
ANTHOLOGIES (SELECTED)
1999 “The Scan Chronicles.” Living on the Margins, Persea Books, New York City: 1999.
1998 “Long Exposures: A Poetics of Film and History.” Screening the Past: Film and the Representation of History, Praeger, Connecticut, London: 1998.
1997 “Trochaic.” “His Regular Fare.” The Prairie Schooner Anthology of Contemporary Jewish Literature, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London: 1997.
1993 “Farewell to the Farm.” Between Women, Beacon Press, Boston:1984. Reissued, Routledge Press, New York and London 1993.
ESSAYS (PERSONAL and CULTURAL) and JOURNALISM (SELECTED)
2010 “The Consciousness of a Community and Beyond” Co-writer, Introduction to Spanish edition of play, “Zoot Suit,’ commissioned by the American Embassy in Mexico.
2008 “An Instant Classic: Oprah’s Private Library,” Cover story based on interview with Oprah Winfrey, O at Home: vol. 5, no. 3. and “Oprah’s Secret Garden,” Cover story, O at Home, vol. 5, no. 1, New York City: Spring, 2008.
2003 “A Writer Snaps.” Teachers & Writers, vol. 35, no.2 New York City: 2003
2002 “A Writer’s Need to See.” Art Journal, vol. 61, no.1, New York City: 2002.
2000 “Twenty Years After: Looking Back on “The Writer on Her Work.” The Women’s Review of Books, vol. xviii, no.2, Wellesley: 2000. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary new edition of my book.
1999 “Without the Wig.” Culturefront vol. 8, no. 1, New York City: 1999.
1998 “Why Iran? They Said: A Tourist in Iran.” The Earth Times: New York City: November 16-30, 1998.
1997 “Trochaic.” “His Regular Fare.” Prairie Schooner vol. 71, no.1, Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1997
1994 “Long Exposures, A Poetics of Film and History.” Common Knowledge, vol. 3, no.1, New York City: Oxford University Press, 1994.
1992 “Views from an Unstable Landscape.” Whitney Museum of American Art Catalogue for Re-Mapping Culture(s), New York City: April/May, 1992.
“This Writer on Her Work.” Cover Story, Poets & Writers magazine , vol. 30 Issue 3, 1992. Reprinted in Culturefront, vol. 1, no. 2, New York City: 1992.
1987 “A Blank for New Things.” The Arts for Television, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Los Angeles and Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam:1987.
1985 “Women and Poetry.” The Poetry Review, Issue no.5, New York City: 1985,
1981 “Inside the Room of the Woman Poet.” Guest editor, The Poetry Society of America Bulletin, vol. lxxI, 1981.
POETRY JOURNALS (SELECTED)
2006 “Song of Tom.” Black Clock, no. 6, Los Angeles.
2005 “Narrative, After Bunuel.” Black Clock, no.4, Los Angeles.
1999 “Natura Morta.” Cargo: Beyond Exile, 17/18, Paris, France: 1999.
1987 “I Only Have One.” Commissioned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority for National Poetry Month, Los Angeles: 1997.
1982 “Stones.” “Encyclopedia.” “The Traces.” Response, no. 43, New York City: 1982.
1980 “Tea.” The Niagara Magazine, no. Twelve/Thirteen, New York City: 1980.
1979 “Vitalie.” “An Aria on the Footstool.” Sun, vol.iv no.3, New York City: 1979-80.
1978 “The Facts of Life.” “At My House.” “Vitalie.” “My Mother’s Breakfront.” Ordinary Women/Mujeres Communes, New York City:1978.
1975 “Thomas Eakins.” “The Childless Woman.” “Work Song.” “The Dreamer.” “At That Moment.” “Chimera.” “You Taught Me How to Take a Shower.” “At my House.” “An Aria on the Footstool.” Letters Stacked to Be Mailed: Four New Poets, Saturday Press, New York City: 1975.
WRITING AND DIRECTING FOR THEATER
2010 The Fifth String (playwright), workshop and staged reading, Los Angeles. A theater piece crossing time and space, bringing together Andalusia before 1492 with our own time of expulsions and diasporas.
2008 The Fifth String. Staged reading in Berlin, 2008.
1984 Cultivating Paradise. Co-writer with the Shared Forms Theatre. Produced at Common Ground Theater, New York City:1984.
1984 Isak Dinesen. Produced at the Manhattan Theatre Club featuring Zoe Caldwell, New York City 1982.
1978 Colette. Produced at the Manhattan Theatre Club featuring Stockard Channing and Paul Schmidt, New York City 1978.
1976 What the Woman Lived: Louise Bogan in her Letters and Poems. Co-writer. Produced at the Manhattan Theatre Club featuring Marian Seldes and Kathryn Walker, New York City 1976.
WRITING AND CURATING FOR FILM & VIDEO
1992 Re-Mapping Culture(s), co-curator, Films, lectures, readings from the Rockefeller Foundation Intercultural Film and Video Fellowship. The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City. April/May,1992.
1990 Through Her Eyes. Writer and curator: a 13-part television series of independent films made by women, with Lee Grant, undertaken at the behest of The John D. and Catherine R. MacArthur Foundation, The Learning Channel, National Broadcast: 1990.
1987 Likely Stories. Writer and curator: a 13-part television series of independent fiction films, with Glenn Close, undertaken at the behest of The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Learning Channel, National Broadcast: 1987.
1986 Thomas Eakins: A Motion Portrait. Co-writer. PBS American Masters, National Broadcast: 1986.
1972 Virginia Woolf: The Moment Whole. Producer, director, NET, National Broadcast: 1972. (and directing actress Marian Seldes)
1971 El Teatro Campesino. Writer, Co-producer, NET, National Broadcast: 1971, and screened at the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center.
TEACHING AND PRESENTATIONS
1980 CURRENT Readings, presentations, keynote speaker, lectures at universities, museums, literary and photography centers, cultural institutions, on radio (NPR et al.) and television (commercial and public), throughout the United States and internationally. Chaired conferences and panels.
Selected below:
2009 Panel devoted to my work, Seoul Institute of the Arts, Korea
2008 Lecture, presentation, workshop, Seoul Institute of the Arts, Korea
2005 Lecture Tour throughout Germany sponsored by the American Embassy; e.g., to the universities of Hamburg, Nuremberg, Deutsche Haus, Heidelberg.
2003 Getty Research Center /Stanford Center for Behavioral Studies. Lecture with my photographs at invitational symposium, “Brain, Cognition, Art.”
2003 Associated Writing Programs Annual Conferences. Presentation,panel, my photography as visual language.
1990-2004
California Institute of the Arts. Thinking and Feeling: interdisciplinary course on how new findings in neurology on mind and body relates to students’ art practices; Writing the Personal, on memoir.
1990-1994
Metropolitan Museum and Getty Trust: Program for Art on Film. Consultant, interviewing art historians (Sir Ernst Gombrich, et al.), filmmakers (Richard P. Rogers, et al.), and artists (David Hockney, et al.) on how art translates into moving images.
1976-1985
Graduate Media Studies, the New School University. Courses: Creative Process in Media; also, Autobiography in Film, Video, Literature and the Visual Arts.
FELLOWSHIPS, AWARDS, HONORS, SERVICE (SELECTED)
National Endowment for the Humanities: Scriptwriting and Travel Fellowship, 1981, for film on Virginia Woolf
Artist Residencies, 1974 – 1995 at: The MacDowell Colony; The Millay Colony, Blue Mountain,
Dale Djerassi Fellow at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program
Member of the Board, PEN USA, 1988-2002; former Vice President and Chair, Literary Awards;
currently National Advisory Committee
Member of the Visiting Committee, Cal Arts MFA Writing Program
Member of the Visiting Committee, Antioch College CA
Levantine Cultural Center, National Advisory Council
The Rockefeller Foundation, Senior Program Advisor in Media 1988 – 1995
New York Council for the Humanities, Senior Program Office 1980 – 1987
Director, Writers in Performance at the Manhattan Theatre Club, 1971-80 1971-80; produced and directed literary evenings, among them S. J. Perelman, Louise Bogan, Raymond Chandler, Italo Calvino, others.
Producer, Cultural Affairs Division, National Educational Television (NET) 1967 – 1972
The Utne Reader: 2003 Selected as one of 40 creators in the United States and Europe, in all disciplines, described as “innovative, . . {with} depth, resonance . . full of ideas and insights that challenge us to live more fully.”
JANET STERNBURG
CAREER NARRATIVE
I began taking photographs in 1998. Since then, my photography has been exhibited in one-person gallery and museum shows in New York, Mexico, Los Angeles, Berlin, Heidelberg, Munich, and Korea (the latter a commission from The Seoul Institute of the Arts for a 2009 installation). My work has appeared in portfolios in numerous prestigious publications, among them Aperture(six pages) and Art Journal (cover image and nine pages). My photographs have been widely collected by private collectors and have been acquired for the permanent collections of The USC Fisher Museum of Art and The Seoul Institute of the Arts. My work was honored when it was chosen for the 2003 Arts Issue of the Utne Reader (‘A New Lens’), as one of forty creative people in all disciplines in the United States and Europe whose work is ‘innovative, with depth and resonance, full of ideas and insights that challenge us to live more fully.’
My writing (books, theater and film) has a longer history. My books include the classic two volumes, The Writer On Her Work, described as ‘groundbreaking. . . landmarks’ by Poets & Writers magazine and selected for inclusion in 500 Great Books by Women; Volume One has remained continuously in print for thirty years and been re-issued by W. W. Norton in a 20th anniversary edition in which Julia Alvarez wrote in her new Preface, ‘It was a first: . . . women laying claim to rooms of their own in the mansion of literature.’ Others of my books include Phantom Limb: A Memoir (University of Nebraska Press, American Lives Series, 2002), which Bill Moyers has described as ‘the perfect metaphor for . . . the ultimate inevitabilities of life, and Optic Nerve: Photopoems (Red Hen Press, 2005) in which I bring together both writing and photography through integrating my photographs into my poems so that they function as visual stanzas. In her prologue to Optic Nerve, Molly Peacock writes: ‘her photopoems redefine both poetry and photography.’
My work in theater and film includes ten years as Director of Writers in Performance at the Manhattan Theatre Club where I pioneered in creating new ways to present literature on stage, adapting and directing Stockard Channing in Colette; Zoe Caldwell in Isak Dinesen; and Marian Seldes, the latter both on stage as Louise Bogan and as Virginia Woolf in my award-winning film, Virginia Woolf: The Moment Whole. As former producer for NET, my films (writer, co-producer and co-director) have been broadcast on national public television and the BBC; my documentary El Teatro Campesino was featured at The New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center. I have served as Senior Program Adviser in Media to The Rockefeller Foundation where I co-chaired a symposium at the Foundation’s Bellagio Study Center and co-curated Re-mapping Cultures at The Whitney Museum. I have also served as Senior Program Officer for the New York Council for the Humanities where I created Films in the Humanities which received a National Endowment Award for Excellence, and curated two thirteen-hour television series of independent films funded by The MacArthur Foundation (one, Through her Eyes is the first television series of films by and about women). My play, The Fifth String, was produced in 2008 as a reading in Berlin, and is currently being readied for a full production.
I have received grants and fellowships from The MacDowell Colony (1975); The Millay Colony (1974 & 76); National Endowment for the Humanities (1982); The Djerassi Resident Artists Program (Dale Djerassi Fellowship, 1990). I have also served on the Board of Trustees of PEN USA (Vice-President and Chair, Literary Awards); the National Advisory Council of the Levantine Cultural Center; and the Visiting Committee of Antioch University. Since 1988, I have been an active partner in the life of California Institute of the Arts, both as adjunct faculty member and colleague of my husband, CalArts President Steven D. Lavine; I have traveled widely (Iran, India, Morocco) and have spoken about all aspects of my work at universities, museums, conferences, symposia, radio and television, both nationally and internationally.
Janet Sternburg