Illuminating Presence
Visiting Scholar Series
About the Series
Illuminating Presence is PenArt’s Visiting Scholar Series which takes place annually each fall. This series introduces leading artists and thinkers from the broader national field of arts and culture to Door County.
Topics will include important and timely issues facing the arts and culture sector, including:
Art production / innovation
Social justice / impact
Community / civic life
Art theory / history
Cultural policy
Arts advocacy
Arts funding
We chose the name because no doubt our scholars will illuminate us and our county with their presence. But also, because through this series, we are illuminating the importance of presence – in an age of so much digital noise, and unstoppable AI advancement – this series will focus on the presence of mind required to make art, the physical presence of art objects, and the many virtues and benefits we receive by being tangibly in-person, together.
Lectures and events in this series will not be recorded for online consumption. They will be unique experiences and live in the minds and memories of those who attend.
Who is this for?
This series is for anyone who wants broader perspectives and expanded horizons; participation in national conversations; and connection with a group of curious, thoughtful individuals. Lectures are free and open to the public.
2026 Scholar
Sanjit Sethi
Our inaugural scholar, Sanjit Sethi, is a respected leader in art and design education in the U.S. and internationally, and an artist that uses ceramics to address trauma, cultivate understanding, and facilitate healing. Sanjit will teach a three-day ceramics workshop from October 13-15 about healing, resilience, and connection through the act of making. Then he will give a public lecture on October 15 about repairing communities through creativity. Below, you can find more information about the workshop, lecture, and about Sanjit himself.
2026 Visiting Scholar Programs
-
WORKSHOP: HEALING THROUGH CERAMICS
Understanding, Resilience, and Connection Through Making
October 13-15, 2026, 9 am - 4 pm
This workshop invites participants to explore ceramics not simply as a medium, but as a practice for reflection, renewal, and connection. Through a range of making techniques, guided conversation, and moments of quiet making, we’ll consider what clay can teach us about resilience, repair, and navigating change. No previous experience with ceramics is necessary. The workshop values curiosity, attentiveness, and presence over perfection.
-
LECTURE: The Work of Repair: Creativity, Trauma, and the Communities We Build
Thursday, October 15, 2026, 5 pm - 6 pm
Free, open to the public.
About Sanjit Sethi
Sanjit Sethi is an artist, educator, curator, and creative leader whose work has focused on the intersections of culture, equity, education, and community. In addition to his creative practice he has collaborated across higher education, philanthropy, public practice, and institutional transformation, advancing equity-focused strategies and supporting artists, cultural workers, and creative communities.
Sethi most recently served as Head of Campus at Green School Bali and previously as President of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. His previous roles include Director of the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at GWU; Director of the Center for Art and Public Life, Chair of Community Arts at California College of the Arts; and Executive Director of the Santa Fe Art Institute. He has also taught at Srishti School of Art, Design, and Technology; MIT; and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Sethi is regularly invited to contribute to critical dialogues on culture, equity, education, philanthropy, and community. His public work explores the role of creative practice in civic life, institutional change, addressing trauma, and the building of more just and imaginative systems.
Sethi received a BFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, an MFA in Ceramics from the University of Georgia, and an MS in Advanced Visual Studies from MIT. He has received grants and fellowships from organizations including the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and the Fulbright Program. As an artist and curator, his projects have addressed memory, migration, place, and public life through work including Kuni Wada Bakery Remembrance, Richmond Voting Stories, The Gypsy Bridge Project, Spiked: The Unpublished Political Cartoons of Rob Rogers, and 6.13.89: The Cancelling of the Mapplethorpe Exhibition.