COMPOSITION STUDIES BY DIANE K. OLSON, PHD, WRITING, TEACHING AND CRITICISM

DURING THE FALL OF 1996, I WORKED AS A DOCENTS COORDINATOR AT THE NEW MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART IN NEW YORK CITY AND RESEARCHED AND WROTE AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE NEW MUSEUM, NYC, SIMULTANEOUSLY.  I THEN PRESENTED THAT ETHNOGRAPHY AT THE CROSS-CULTURAL POETICS CONFERENCE IN MINNEAPOLIS IN THE SPRING OF 1997.  THE NEW MUSEUM, SINCE 1977, HAS BEEN FEATURING ART THAT ENGAGES IN CULTURAL AND EXPERIMENTAL CRITIQUE AND PUBLISHES ANTHOLOGIES AND BOOKS THAT EXPLORE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ARTS AND AESTHETICS AND CULTURAL/INSTITUTIONAL CRITIQUE.  THE NEW MUSEUM PUBLISHED AN ANTHOLOGY CALLED OUT THERE: MARGINALIZATION AND CONTEMPORARY CULTURE IN THE 1980'S AND WHICH I READ AS AN UNDERGRADUATE AT DRAKE UNIVERSITY AND USED IN THE WRITING OF MY HONORS THESIS: MULTICULTURALISM AND COMPOSITION STUDIES. I SUBSEQUENTLY TAUGHT ESSAYS BY LEADING CULTURAL STUDIES THEORISTS IN CRITICAL ETHNOGRAPHY AND ART, FROM THE ANTHOLOGY, WHEN  I TAUGHT WRITING-INTENSIVE CULTURAL STUDIES COURSES AT GEORGIA TECH DURING THE LATE 1990'S AND EARLY 2000'S.  I WOULD RECOMMEND THE ANTHOLOGY AND THE NEW MUSEUM'S PUBLICATIONS TO ANYONE OUT THERE, LIKE MYSELF, DR. DIANE K. OLSON, WHO IS CONCERNED ABOUT THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE ARTS AND THE MARGINALIZATION OF CERTAIN ETHNCITIES, RACES AND GENDERS WITHIN AMERICAN CULTURE AND HOW ART AND AESTHETICS CAN TRANSFORM AND IMPROVE THE CONDITIONS OF UNDERREPRESENTED, MARGINALIZED POPULATIONS THROUGHOUT AMERICA AND THE EARTH.  SINCERELY AND WITH GREAT LOVE, DR. DIANE K. OLSON