Faculty Profile

Ph.D., The European Graduate School
B.A., University of Texas at San Antonio

Chad Dawkins, Ph.D., is a critic, curator and educator specializing in contemporary art and exhibitionary practices. He has written numerous reviews and essays for sites and publications, uncatalogued essays, and the book "The Role of the Artist in Contemporary Art" (Atropos Press), published in 2014. His work has appeared in publications including Artnet, Artforum, E-flux, Glasstire, Art Lies, Pastelegram, and Eutopia.us among others. He was previously curator and director of exhibitions at Southwest School of Art in San Antonio and before that held similar posts at Texas State University, San Marcos and at Artpace in San Antonio, Texas.

Dr. Dawkins has well over ten years of professional experience in the visual arts: most recently as a university gallery director and educator, also as a freelance critic, writer and curator, and first as a practicing artist. This practical experience is combined with his study of art history, theory and criticism. His Ph.D. is in philosophy of art and critical theory with a specialization is contemporary art, and his scholarly research focuses on the historicization and theorization of exhibition practices from the 1960s to present.

His work is based on formative theories of ideology together with questions of museological, curatorial, and institutional theories to explore how exhibitions operate and how we perceive visual art. Dr. Dawkins has pursued these questions through writing as well as numerous exhibitions and programs.

SAVC 235 “Introduction to Curatorial Practice”
SAVC 435 “Theory and Criticism in Exhibition Practices”