Elise Kirk


photo of Elise Kirk
  • Associate Professor, Photography
  • Program Director, Photography
  • Faculty Fellow, Center for Undergraduate Research & Fellowships

Contact Info

Chalmers Hall, Rm 357
Lawrence
1467 Jayhawk Blvd
Lawrence, KS 66045

Biography

Elise Kirk is a photographer, photofilmic artist, and educator concerned with human nature in an ecological world, and the ways in which we construct ourselves through our environments. She was raised in middle-Missouri, studied film at Columbia College Chicago and on a U.S. Fulbright award in Madrid, and completed her MFA in photography at the Rhode Island School of Design. She worked for a decade as a media producer in New York and Washington, D.C. for clients including National Geographic, Discovery, and VICE, leading to a post-documentary approach in her own practice. Elise has participated in numerous residencies, including the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) in New York, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska, and the U.S. National Park Service. Her work has shown nationally and internationally. 

Education

MFA, Rhode Island School of Design, 2015

Research

  • Art and ecology / ecological thinking
  • Visualizing place-making
  • Regional identity and representation
  • Expanded documentary approaches
  • Photo media in visual culture

Teaching

  • Creativity as research practice
  • Understanding Photographs as visual culture
  • Moving Image
  • Articulating and writing about creative work
  • Professional practices and development
  • Seminar and critique of the self-designed project