PARTICIPANTS

Richard Shelton is Director of Creative Action an Integrated Learning Program, Otis College of Art and Design. Creative Action provides all Otis BFA students with a series of collaborative courses that extends beyond the boundaries of their own major, integrates disciplinary skills and knowledge and is sited within a public context. Students work in interdisciplinary teams with a community organization, and focus on team building and research to address the needs of the communities and to implement real-world solutions when possible. The goal is to move beyond the traditional boundaries of the classroom and respond to community challenges using student’s diverse visions. For the past twenty years, Rich has been active working with community
organizations such as the Minnesota State and Federal Correction Facilities;
Film in the Cities (video in the schools, animation with non-verbal
students, conducting video workshops on Cass Lake/Leech Lake Ban of Ojibwe
Native American Reservation); Open Arms; and Upward Bound.

In his professional practice, Rich Shelton is an active artist who has
exhibited internationally at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of
Art, NEXIT Gallery (Holland), Carlton College, and Goldstein Gallery at the
University of Minnesota. Rich has also worked as a graphic designer in
partnership with Kali Nikitas at Graphic Design for Love (+$) whose clients
include: University of Minnesota Press, the Design Institute, American
Institute of Graphic Arts, and the Walker Art Center.

Rich received an MFA from California Institute of the Arts and a BFA in
Media Arts from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. He has lectured at
a number of institutions including Otis, the New Media Consortium, Carlton
College, and School of Visual Communication, Oslo, Norway, and the annual
conference Profile Intermedia, Burren Germany.