Kathleen Sweeney, a multimedia storyteller, artist, environmentalist, and Assistant Professor of Media Studies at The New School, NY, has exhibited her work internationally. The author of Maiden USA: Girl Icons Come of Age, she has published articles on film, creativity, tech innovation, girl changemakers and social change movements. Her projects have been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, NYSCA and Ford Foundation, with art residencies at Virginia Center for the Arts, and Cill Rialaig, Ireland and Mind and Life Institute Europe, Germany. Her video art and photography have been exhibited at South by Southwest, Walker Art Center, Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie and other international venues.
Her courses at The New School/Parsons focus on solutions journalism, girls leadership innovation and the power of positive news to change the world. She has been featured in The New Yorker, Gannett News and NPR, with photography and essays published in The Nation, Afterimage, and Indiewire.
As a creative communications consultant to visionaries and changemakers (2010-2022), she produced multimedia campaigns for book and film launches, crowdfunding campaigns, apps and websites with a focus on mindfulness, social transformation and cultural breakthroughs. Projects include EcoWatch, Stable Planet Alliance, Garrison Institute, Matthieu Ricard’s Altruism, “The Last Dalai Lama?” documentary and PBS broadcast, “Into the Night.”
A native New Yorker and lifelong environmentalist, she recently relocated to the woods of Roxbury, NY where she co-founded Don’t Trash the Catskills. Current work weaves foraged forest materials, watercolor, ink drawing, collage and photography inspired by the Catskills ecosystem. Recent exhibitions include 1053 Gallery, ArtUp! and Bushel Collective.
The Book of Awe: Wandering and Rewilding, an artist book of original photography and wander lore was published in 2024 with funding from the Delaware County Council on the Arts/NYSCA. She recently curated her first group exhibition, Symbiocene Era: Artists Envision Environmental Symbiosis at Bushel Collective.