Dunkerley Dialogue with Mark Thomas Gibson and Jennifer Delton
Location
About
Join us Thursday, November 12, at 6 pm, for a Dunkerley Dialogue with exhibiting artist Mark Thomas Gibson and Jennifer Delton, professor and chair of History at Skidmore. Gibson is a self-proclaimed American history painter whose works are on view in the exhibition Mark Thomas Gibson: We Are A Constellation.
Dunkerley Dialogues pair Skidmore professors with artists in a conversation format, often sparking new connections and understanding across disciplines. The dialogues are made possible by a generous gift from Michele Dunkerley ’80.
This event is free and open to the public.
About the speakers
Mark Thomas Gibson draws from an eclectic range of sources and inspirations, including comic books, caricatures, historical paintings, and the work of Philip Guston, Robert Colescott, Kara Walker, and Honoré-Victorin Daumier. In his work, Gibson attempts to stir our emotions and reinforce our connections to past events so that we will not forget them or lose sight of them in the waves of new headlines. He received his BFA from Cooper Union in 2002 and his MFA from Yale School of Art in 2013. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Art & Design at Rutgers University.
A recurring character in several of his works is the Town Crier, a figure who rings a bell and shouts important announcements to fellow citizens. Gibson began the series in 2021 as a daily ritual for processing the news and events of the day. What began as a personal reflection has become a historical archive shared regularly on Gibson’s Instagram.
Jennifer Delton is the Harriet Johnson Toadvine ’56 Chair in 20th-Century History at Skidmore College. She holds a PhD in History from Princeton University and teaches US history from the Civil War to the present. Her work focuses on race and ethnicity, civil rights, politics, and business in twentieth-century America. She is the author of four books, including The Industrialists: How the National Association of Manufacturers Shaped American Capitalism (2020). Her current book project is American Utopia: A Father’s Secret, a Daughter’s Search for Answers, and the Hidden History of Boys Town, USA.