Michele Jaquis

Assistant Professor and Director of Interdisciplinary Studies Otis College of Art and Design Jaquis is an interdisciplinary artist and educator who has been teaching in various departments at Otis since fall 2000. Over the past twelve years she has also taught a wide range of courses at UC Riverside, CSULB, RISD, 1st Street Gallery Art Center, and Long Lane School (a juvenile detention facility run by the CT Department of Children and Families). She was also a therapist of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) from 1996 - 2003, working with River Street School (CT) and the Center for Autism and Realted Disorders (CA). Jaquis art work has been exhibited internationally in alternative spaces, galleries, museums, film festivals and conferences. She is a founding member of Rise Industries: Interdisciplinary Projects, a loose collaborative group of artists, designers and musicians in Los Angeles and Boston. Their most recent collaboration was the set/video/sound design for Caleb Hammonds experimental theater piece, Walks Through Walls, performed at Highways Performance Space (Santa Monica, CA) in June 2010. Jaquis 2008 documentary, RECOVERED Journeys Through the Autism Spectrum and Back, made in collaboration with Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh and the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, won Best Documentary at the Director Chair Film Festival in Staten Island NY and was an official selection in the Victoria Independent Film Festival in Sebastapol, Australia and the ReelHeART International Film Festival in Toronto, Canada. Jaquis holds a an MFA in sculpture from RISD and BFA in sculpture/ experimental studio and a minor in psychology from Hartford Art School/University of Hartford.