CHERI GAULKE – Educator
Cheri Gaulke is an award-winning educator who has mentored students in universities, colleges, and community settings. She began teaching performance art at the Woman’s Building in 1976, then moved on to teaching adults at colleges and universities Otis College of Art and Design, Mount St. Mary’s, CalState Long Beach). In 1985 she found her calling – to empower the voices of teens and pre-teens through art and filmmaking. She has worked with youth in marginalized communities as well as in the private school environment. Much of this work has addressed social issues. Highlights of her students’ work have included: PSA’s about domestic violence, LA River Project (video installation toured to museums by the Smithsonian), Righteous Conversations Project (animations about Holocaust survivors that have won awards at Cannes), and Digital Storytelling Adventures (short documentaries about war, genocide, and immigration made by students Gaulke took to 7 different countries), and Westflix (a film festival for California teens now in its 20th yea)r. Gaulke has mentored hundreds of award-winning youth videos in her various roles as Video Art teacher at Harvard-Westlake School, Founder-Director of HW Summer Film, and Artistic Director of The Righteous Conversations Project.
RECENT TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Artistic Director, Righteous Conversations Project (Holocaust survivors & teens), 2011-2021
Full-time Faculty, Video Art, Harvard-Westlake School, 1988-2019 (now retired)
Visual Arts Department Chair, Harvard-Westlake School, 2015-2018
Founder and Director, Digital Storytelling Adventures (taking teens to 7 countries recovering from conflict to make documentaries), 2013-2019
Artist-in-Residence, A Window Between Worlds (domestic abuse survivors), 2015-16
Founder-Director, Summer Film Program, Harvard-Westlake School, Studio City, California, 2006-2013
LECTURES, WORKSHOPS, AND PANELS
Artist Talks, University of Michigan, Nov. 13-14, 2019
Panelist, “Chaos and Containment: Presenting Collaborative Art Practice in the Museum Environs,” moderated by January Parkos Arnall, LA as Lab: Innovation in Arts and Culture conference, Claremont Graduate University, March 28, 2015
Panelist, “Bullying-School Safety,” presented by Student PSA and Los Angeles Unified School District, Culver City High School, National Council of Jewish Women, Los Angeles, California, January 23, 2013
Artist Talk, “Art in LA/ LA NOW Spring Speaker Series,” Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California, October 5, 2011
Artists Talk, “Beginnings and Transitions in California Performance Art: Denise Uyehara and Cheri Gaulke,” Pomona College, Pomona, California, November 14, 2011
Panelist, “Sisterhood City: Feminist Art in Los Angeles,” moderated by Betty Brown with additional panelists Meg Linton, Rachel Rosenthal, Linda Vallejo and Peter Frank, presented in association with Art Ltd. the 16th Annual Los Angeles Art Show, LA Convention Center, Jan. 21, 2011
Panel Chair, “What’s the Story: Public Art and Narrative in Los Angeles,” College Art Association conference, Los Angeles, California (panel also included Shelia Levrant de Bretteville, Jacki Apple, May Sun, Marlena Doktorczyk-Donohue, Holly Barnet-Sanchez, 2009
Panelist, “Breaking in Two and Mending: Art and Motherhood,” Women’s Caucus for Art/College Art Association conference, Los Angeles, California, 2009
Panelist, “Artists Converse on Feminism,” chaired by Maria Buscek, with Catherine Opie and Andrea Bowers, The Feminist Art Project, Los Angeles, California, 2009
Presenter, Metro Art Tour of Public Art by Women, Women’s Caucus for Art, 2009
Presenter, Bus Tour of Public Art by Women, College Art Association conference, Los Angeles, CA, 2009
Panelist, “Art in the New Political Landscape: ArtScene Visual Radio presents,” facilitated by Marlena Donohue with additional panelists Kim Abeles, Jerri Allyn, Renee Petropoulis , the 14th Annual Los Angeles Art Show, LA Convention Center, Jan. 24, 2009
Panelist, “Women’s Culture of the 1960s/’70s, as part of The Ash Grove 50th Anniversary celebration at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (other panelists: Johanna Demetrakis, Vicki randle, Cris Williamson, Terry Wolverton, 2008
Panelist, “You Wouldn’t Believe It Unless You Were There: The Challenges of the Feminist Experience, 1969-1975,” moderated by Barbara T. Smith with Jacki Apple and Nancy Buchanan, Los Angeles Art Association/Gallery 825, 2007
Presenter, “Feminist Art in Southern California,” chaired by Betty Ann Brown, College Art Association conference, New York, 2007
Panelist, “Revealed: Women, Art, Life, Success,” moderated by Betty Ann Brown and Linda Vallejo, Barnsdall Gallery Theatre, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, 2007
Panelist, “Confronting the “F” Words: Female, Feminine, Feminist,” Southern California Women’s Caucus for Art, Santa Monica Public Library, California, 2007