Award winning photographic artist, teacher and author skilled in digital, new media, and traditional photo processes, with a background in current creative industries research and experience in teaching the changing career possibilities.

Taught 8 years at California State University Monterey Bay – students learned creative visualization through photography and video, with online E-zines, books, campus exhibits, performance, and stage design. I founded the “Visual Literacy Component” in programs at the Institute for Human Communication and worked collaboratively with students and faculty in the Creative Writing and Social Action Program, the Service Learning Institute and in Earth Sciences Institute at CSUMB.
www.kiracorser.com/kira/university.html

Promoted student success by teaching 17 years of workshops in photography at universities, community sites and museums – working collaboratively with faculty to develop pedagogy supporting student performance criteria, evaluation, and competencies in visual literacy and artistic communications. www.kiracorser.com/kira/socact.html

Completed a Masters in Fine Art - with studies in photography, video, audio, and traditional art processes, John F. Kennedy University, Berkeley Annex 2006. www.kiracorser.com/kira/mfa_gallery/

Photographic showings in major museums, universities, and legislative buildings (including showings with President Clinton and President Obama at health forums).
www.kiracorser.com/kira/socact.html
CURRENT solo exhibition in San Diego at the L Street Fine Art. http://www.lstreetfineart.com/

Staff photographer for KPBS public broadcasting TV and radio in San Diego for ten years (magazine, newspaper and on air imagery, plus training intern students)

Over 20 awards/grants for photography work including: a National Endowment for the Arts Award, California State Senate Award for Artistic Excellence and Social Collaboration, California Council for the Arts. Funding for exhibit in Sacramento, Penn Partnership Award, CSUMB for working in Service Learning on the Witnessing Welfare book, and www.welfarequilt.com in collaboration with EOP at Monterey Peninsula College

Coordinator and Photographer for The James Irvine Foundation Grant, Communities Advancing the Arts - a 3 year grant at the Community Foundation for Monterey County this work included: photographing, researching, promoting countywide collaboration, and developing an ongoing county Arts Action Plan 2004 - 2007. advancethearts.org/2008/07/24/voicing-culture-and-community-through-art/

Current creative industry needs relating to changing professional photography trends and opportunities. This included: training and working directly with the Creative Industries Cluster of the County of Monterey; the Irvine Foundation’s Statewide Convening and Networking; and establishing 3 community based arts classes that combined and promoted new technologies with traditional art forms in Greenfield, Soledad and Salinas, partially funded by the California Endowment, “Poder Popular” Programs.

This work resulted in a grant for $32,000 for equipment, I co-founded the South Monterey County Arts and Technology Center (SoMoCoCAT) and helped attain a $200,000 commitment from Greenfield City Planners for a new arts center. http://www.cfmco.org/index.cfm/id/217/Accomplishments

Fine Art and Documentary Photography shown in many sites, including: Museum of Photographic Arts in San Diego, Ansel Adams Gallery, the Smithsonian, in Washington, D.C. Recent solo shows include the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas and the L Street Fine Art Gallery in San Diego. Photography can be viewed at www.kiracorser.com (fine art site)

Director of Arts and Education, Monterey County 2007 to 2009 - Developed instructional plans, hired artists and directed the Professional Artists in the Schools Program with over $150,000 in contracts for K-12 classes. This job included: evaluation and instruction of teachers in standards based curriculum, with special training in outreach to underserved populations. This work and much of my current work relates professional/life/industry to student skill building. www.culturalmonterey.org/page/138809/

Director of Visual Arts, First Night Monterey Artworks Outreach, 2008 to 2011 - Taught workshops, designed large-scale community projects, and worked in collaboration with professors and students. Examples are: the “Human Cultural Kaleidoscope” with installation, paintings, soundscapes, and projected imagery, plus multicultural projects based on science, art techniques building or immigration issues. www.firstnightmonterey.org/ArtWorks.html

Director for Grant-funded Statewide Community Arts Project titled “Art is the Next Peace: Connecting Communities.” www.facebook.com/pages/Art-is-the-Next-Peace/150944648256623

4 Nationally traveled grant-funded exhibitions and 3 books (one is at this link, and the others are listed in Section X) www.newsagepress.com/whentheboughbreaks.html

Director and Teacher - Statewide Community Arts Project, “Art is the Next Peace: Connecting Communities,” with photography, paintings, murals, silks, and new media arts.

Sponsors include: the Arts Council for Monterey County, The Pro Democracy Education Fund, First Night Monterey Artworks Outreach, Talbott Foundation, Target Foundation, Marina Teen Center, San Diego ArtWalk, ArtReach, and Hartnell College, Salinas, CA 2009 – 2011.

Photography Lecturer, Mira Costa College, CA - Presentations in photography classes 2010 – 2011.

Faculty, part-time California State University Monterey Bay, Sept. 1996 – 1998 Institute for Community Service Learning, then worked and taught as Visual Arts Consultant 1999 – 2005.

Visual Arts Consultant and Lecturer, California State University Monterey Bay, in the Institutes for Human Communication and Earth Sciences 1997-2005.

Lectures and Panel Presentations on Photography include: University of California San Diego, San Diego State University, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco College of Art, Bucknell University Pennsylvania, Universities of Wisconsin in Madison and La Crosse, W.C.A. John .F. Kennedy University, San Francisco Art Institute, and WCA College Art Association conference panels and community colleges 1984 to 2011.

Co-Director and Videographer, "Weaving a Vision: Two Artists For Social Change," a review of a decade of my work with poet Frances Payne Adler. Produced in the Multi-Media/Video Department, at Stanford University 1994.

Director of Photography Department, KPBS Television and Radio Stations, San Diego Produced still photography for national and local television productions, magazines, and newspapers, and also taught San Diego State University photography student interns l979-l989.

III. SOCIAL ACTION PHOTOGRAPHY PUBLISHED IN PRESS & MEDIA, 1978 – 2011:

Newspapers:
Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union/Tribune Newspapers, Sacramento Bee, San Jose Mercury News, Nashville Banner, Monterey Herald, Coast Weekly, Olympian, Agrarian Advocate: California Action Network, Recent: Sign On San Diego Union/Tribune BLOG: HYPERLINK "http://www.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/joe-nalven/2011/feb/25/kira-carrillo-corser-finding-meaning-through-art/" http://www.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/joe-nalven/2011/feb/25/kira-carrillo-corser-finding-meaning-through-art/.

Magazines & Journals:
Rutgers University Journal, Pan American Pesticide Journal, PBS’s On Air Magazine, California Physicians Magazine, Photo Review, TV Guide.

Television :
KPBS TV, San Diego, CA - Documentary photographer on cultural, political and ethical issues involving Tijuana, Mexico and the San Diego; United States border issues on sewage and business; bilingual education controversy; drug/alcohol use and its effects on pregnancy; twenty-five years of the U.S. presidential chiefs of staff; coverage of African-Americans pushed out of agriculture by corporate farming; and homelessness plus commercial photography for auction, magazine, and portraiture.

NBC and HBO, 1994: President Clinton’s “Health Care: Town Hall Meeting,” broadcast from Sacramento, CA. Social action photographs witnessing need for health care reform used as 10-foot backdrop behind President Clinton’s talk on NBC’s statewide broadcast. Broadcast nationally by HBO with interactive participation of audience and at-home viewers.

HBO, “Comic Relief,” Social action photos with stories of homeless situations -Photos published in books for actors and participators, and televised for promotion. Enlarged photos used in performance halls in fund-raiser for L.A. homeless.

IV. BOOKS PUBLISHED, Solo Photography with Text:

Metaphor and Mystery, A collection of digital surrealistic images by Kira Carrillo Corser 2011

When the Bough Breaks: Pregnancy and the Legacy of Addiction, Corvallis, Oregon; New Sage Press 1993 www.newsagepress.com/whentheboughbreaks.html

Struggle To Be Borne, San Diego, CA San Diego State University Press l988
www.amazon.com/Struggle-Be-Borne-Fran-Adler/dp/0916304841

V. PHOTOGRAPHS PUBLISHED in Collaborative Photography Books:

Pregnant Pictures: A History of Images of Pregnancy, Yale University Press, 2001 by Matthews (film and photography, Hampshire College) and Wexler (American studies and women's studies, Yale University) Published by Taylor and Francis, Inc. 2002

“Pobrecita,” photograph witnessing lack of access to prenatal care.

Steinbeck Country Revisited, Central Coast Press, San Luis Obispo 2000

Calyx, A Journal of Art and Literature by Women, Corvallis, Oregon, l990

Pacific Review, Art & Poetry, San Diego State University Press, l988

Homeless, by Cheryl Gorder, Blue Bird Publishing, and Tempe, AZ l988

The California Dream, The California Nightmare, “5.2 Million People With No
Health Insurance” Health Access, San Francisco 1988

“Regional Task Force on the Homeless,” New Directions. San Diego, CA: Office of the Mayor, 1986 & 1987

VI. AWARDS AND GRANTS:

- Arts Council for Monterey County Grants for Art is the Next Peace: Connecting Communities 2010 - 2011
- AT&T Pebble Beach Charities/Charitable Council for Monterey County Wellness for Children Project 2003-09
- Independent Book Publishers Association Grant for Cultural Puppet Theater in Monterey 2002
- Penn Partnership Award, for working in Service Learning with CSUMB on the Witnessing Welfare book, & www.welfarequilt.com collaboration with EOP at Monterey Peninsula College and CSUMB.
- Mitteldorf Trust Art Grant 2000 for Flora and the Laughing River Stress Reduction for Kids Video 2000-01
- Monterey Cultural Council for the Arts - Patron of the Arts, Leadership Award 1999
- California Wellness Foundation - Flora and the Laughing River -1998- 1999
- Arkay Foundation Art Grants - "Matriot" showings in Washington DC -1997 & 1998
- Monterey County Arts Council & 18 County Libraries, Community Art Grant - 1997 & 1998
- Arkay Foundation - “Helping Children Heal” video Flora and The Laughing River - 1996 & 1997
- Thomala Foundation - video - Weaving A Vision: Two Artists for Social Change -1995 to1996
- Monterey County Cultural Arts Commission - Arts Initiative - 1996
- The Margaret Sanger Award, Planned Parenthood (with Frances Payne Adler) - 1995
- Irvine Foundation Art Grant - (with Collaborator Frances Payne Adler) l992-1993
- California Council for the Arts - funding for exhibit in Sacramento - 1994
- Santa Clara County Arts Commission Grant - l992
- Franklin Award from Publishers Marketing.
- Monterey Cultural Arts Commission Grant - l991
- Las Patronas Art Grant - l991
- March Of Dimes Educational Art Grant - l991
- Peer Panel "New Genre Arts” for Combined Arts and Education Council San Diego - l989
- California State Senate Award for "artistic excellence" & "social collaboration” l988
- National Endowment for the Arts - l987
- Combined Arts and Education Council of San Diego Grant - l987
- Combined Arts and Education Council of San Diego Grant - l986
- City fest Award, San Diego artists' street exhibit - l985
- lst Place, " Children of San Diego” on child abuse - l985
- David Copley Personal grants for social issue exhibitions - 1984, 1987, and 1989
- Combined Arts and Education Council of San Diego and Copley Art Grant - l984
- Corporation for Public Broadcasting, National Women's Training Grant
for Art Director/Photographer position at television station l982-l983

VII. EDUCATION and SCHOLARSHIPS:

A. Education

MFA in Studio Arts, John F. Kennedy University, Berkeley Annex, CA graduation 2006
Photoshop Workshops and Final Cut Pro Workshops 2005- 2009
B.A. Journalism, Concentration in Photography, San Diego State University l983
Specialized Training in Art and Educational Technology 1982
Specialized Management Training, National Women's Training Grant,
Corporation for Public Broadcasting, KPBS TV and Radio l982 - l983

B. Scholarships

Friends of Photography Workshop Scholarship, Carmel, CA, June l986
Final Cut Pro Editing Workshops Scholarship, CSUMB 2001 & 2002

VIII. SOCIAL ACTION WEBSITES:

www.kiracorser.com
Photography, video, creative community action, books and fine arts

www.facebook.com
“Art Meets Fashion” – Official Photographer for the San Diego Arts Network project at the San Diego International Airport Fashion show

www.matriot.org
“A Matriot’s Dream: Health Care For All” website based at CSUMB. Photography/poetry collaboration with Frances Payne Adler, Director, Creative Writing and Social Action Program, Institute for Human Communication. The exhibition combines poetry with photojournalism and includes quotes, facts, stories, and historical/cultural context. Website allows viewers to participate by directly e-mailing the Whitehouse with their concerns.

www.kiracorser.com/soc_art/index.html
Website includes educational and social action photographs and text from collaborative books and exhibitions, Struggle To Be Borne and When the Bough Breaks: Pregnancy and the Legacy of Addiction.

www.wateroverthedam.org
Project director of year-long community action to educate the public and oppose building a new dam in Monterey County. Organized 39 photographers, political leaders, local activists and 90 children in the community to write, photograph and take action to save Native American sacred sites, protect endangered fish and frogs’ habitat, and protect children who live near the proposed blasting. Founded and coordinated the project.

www.welfarequilt.org
Visual art and photographic technology consultant to Monterey Peninsula College. Collaborated and produced website about women on welfare. Inter-active website set up as educational resource, linked to sites for social action and reflection on the values and assumptions of society’s views toward women on welfare. Linked to CSUMB students’ website and book titled Education as Emancipation.

IX. POSTERS:

- Photographed and designed 10 posters promoting art exhibitions, and invitations in Monterey County
- "Victims At Birth,” KPBS Television Station l989
- "Enfoque Nacional” celebrating Latino broadcasting l988
- "Child Abuse" - United Way/Hewlett-Packard sponsors l986
- "Stop Teen Dropouts" - United Way/Hewlett Packard sponsors l986
- Community Outreach on Drug and Alcohol Use during Pregnancy, Washington State 2000

X. TRAVELED PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITIONS:

A. “A Matriot's Dream: Health Care For All”
Seventeen-piece exhibition containing 48 photographs. A collaborative photography/poetry project with poet Frances Payne Adler, about the current crisis in access to health care. Electronic version of exhibition housed on Creative Writing and Social Action website.

Funded by a grant from the Irvine Foundation and sponsored by California Health Decisions, with additional funding from the San Diego County Foundation, the Health Access Foundation and the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation.

B. “Who Says I Can't? The Spirit of Special Olympics”
Fifteen piece exhibition containing 52 photographs. The exhibition includes black & white and color prints framed with stories about people who are developmentally handicapped. Exhibition sites:

Funded in part by the City of San Diego Arts Commission and the Copley Foundation.

C. “Struggle To Be Borne”
A twenty-four-piece exhibition and book published by San Diego State University Press, with poet Fran Adler depicting the crisis of pregnant poor women shut out from prenatal care. National tour:

Funded in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Combined Arts and Education Council of San Diego, with additional support from the Copley Foundation and the March of Dimes.

D. “When the Bough Breaks: Pregnancy and The Legacy of Addiction”
A twenty-three-piece exhibition containing 60 photographs. Kira Corser, writer/photographer and Frances Payne Adler, writer/poet. An exhibit about the inter-generational cycle of addiction and child abuse, documenting drug and alcohol use during pregnancy. Book published by NewSage Press, Portland, OR, l993 publishes the book. National tour includes

Funded in part by an art grant from Las Patronas and an education grant from the
March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation.

E. “Home Street Home”
A twenty-four-piece exhibition and book on homelessness, in collaboration with poet Frances Payne Adler, 1984. Tour has included:

Funded in part by grants from California's Combined Arts and Education Council, David Copley, Catholic Community Services, the National Mental Health Association, "Comic Relief" and the Congressional Committee for Families of the Homeless, Washington D.C.

XI. OTHER EXHIBITIONS INCLUDE:

L Street Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego – Solo Show June –Aug. 2011 Municipal Gallery, Escondido Arts Partnership, Photo Arts Group, in three group shows 2011 National Steinbeck Center, Solo show in main gallery, April – June 2008 Pacific Grove Art Center, Henry Gill Gallery, Solo Show Feb. – April 2007 John F. Kennedy University Gallery, Berkeley – Solo Show June 2006 Rusty Cantor Gallery, Berkeley – Solo Show Oct. 2006 “Artists in Time of War” Exhibit, ARC Gallery, Chicago IL Oct. 2005 “ Images of the Virgin” Juried Exhibition, Galeria Tonantzin Center for Art and Humanities and the Monterey Bay Women’s Caucus for Art, Nov. – Jan. 2005 “Theatre of the Imagination,” Santa Catalina School Gallery, interactive creative writing with imagery. Solo show 2002 “Beggars and Choosers,” nationally traveling group show on poverty and birth control choices, 2002 - 2003 “Memorial to Victims of the Holocaust,” Congregation Beth Israel, Carmel, April 2002 “Journeys Real and Imagined,” Unitarian Church, Solo show Nov – Dec 2002 “Image Makers,” Group show, Pacific Grove Art Center, November 2002 Belle Gallery, New York City, 2001 Artist Equity Show, Pacific Grove Art Center, July 2001 & June 2002 “Visual Voices: Threat of the Dam,” Monterey County Save the Carmel River , Director. Traveling exhibition of photographs, text, children’s art, web site, video, 1999- present “Guiding With Courage: Personal Heroes ,” Monterey County Free Libraries Project. Traveling community exhibit, video and book, 1997 -1999 Ansel Adams Gallery, “Points of Entry: A Nation of Strangers.” Group show -San Francisco, 1996 Center for Creative Photography, “Points of Entry.” Group show, Tucson, AZ. 1995 Museum of Photographic Arts, “Points of Entry.” Group show, San Diego, 1995 Center For The Arts, University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, 1995 La Gallerie De La Rue, “Old Myths and New Superstitions.” Solo show, San Diego, 1995 “Flyways Project: the Pacific Rim,” Women’s Caucus for Art. Traveling group exhibition, WA, CA, HI, 1992-1994 Center for Photographic Art, Carmel, Juried group exhibitions, 1993 & 1994 “Spirit Earth,” Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Carmel. Solo exhibition, l992 “Women and War,” Union Gallery, University of Texas, Austin, national group exhibit, l992 “Dreaming the Earth Spirit,” Solo show, Carl Cherry Center for the Arts, Carmel, May l992 “Back to the Garden: Organic Farming,” Marin County, Headlands Center for the Arts, March l992 “The Subject Is War,” Monterey County Artists. Group show, Pacific Grove Art Center, April l99l “Dreaming Art,” Group exhibition, Cherry Foundation Art Gallery, Carmel, CA., April l99l “New Faces,” Group exhibition, John Thomas Gallery, Fullerton, CA., Jan. l988 “Spirit of the Barrio,” Logan Health Clinic, San Diego, CA. Permanent installation, l986

XII. PHOTOGRAPHY LECTURES and PRESENTATIONS:

California State University Monterey Bay – Presentations in Earth System Sciences,
Service Learning, Human Communication, Photojournalism, and Visual Public Art Institutes, 1996 - 2004

J. F. Kennedy University, Women and Ecology Conference Lecture, “Visual Voices Project” 2002

California State University Monterey Bay Visual Arts Consultant & Lecturer, Human Communications, Earth Sciences and Service Learning Institutes 1996-2003

San Jose State University, peer panel participant 1996

California College of Arts and Crafts, Panelist, Society for Photographic Education 1996

Monterey Museum of Art, Lecture, “Art for Social Change,” Oct. 1995

Taught Workshop, “Art and Social Action,” University of Wisconsin, La Crosse 1995

University of California Santa Cruz, Lecture, “Art & Politics,” l992

Monterey Arts Commission, "Art For Social Change" Seminar, Artist Equity l991

Arizona State University, “Home Street Home,” collaborative presentation with poet Frances Adler l988

San Diego State University, “Social Action Art,” Women's Studies Lecture Series, collaborative presentation with poet Frances Payne Adler, l987

University of California, San Diego “Photography for Social Concern,” 1986

XIII. DOCUMENTARY VIDEO PRODUCTIONS:

“Art is the Next Peace: Connecting Communities” An 8-minute video with still photographs sponsored by the Arts Council for Monterey County, The Pro Democracy Education Fund, First Night Monterey Artworks Outreach,Talbott Foundation, and the Target Foundation 2009 - 2011

“Art and Healing: Journeys Through Breast Cancer.” 18-minute video. Sponsored by Monterey Museum of Art, Breast Cancer Action Group and American Cancer Society 1999 and 2002

“World Walls Art Mural” a collaboration with Visual and Public Arts Institute, CSUMB 1999

CSUMB Capstone Senior Presentations - Institute for Human Communication
45 -60 minute videos 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003

Stanford University Media Lab, “Weaving a Vision: Two Artists for Social Change.” 30 minute video as Co-Director and videographer, , Producer, Sandra Hietala/Thomala Foundation re-edited 2002