About
Brandi Rose Lewis is a dual-title Ph.D. candidate in Art Education and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, focusing on disability studies, queer theories, care ethics, and rhizomatic posthumanism. They are interested in the embodied experiences of first-generation, disabled, and queer students and how arts-based critical pedagogies support their sense of belonging and well-being, contributing to their success in higher education.
Broadly, their teaching examines popular media and visual culture as pedagogical forces and how artists/activists deploy the visual as a social movement strategy. Brandi has taught courses in Art Education, Art History, and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Penn State University, the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Miami University, and Lorain County Community College.
Their artistic practice explores disability, sensory and process-based making, and interconnectivity with the natural world. They are interested in exploring experiences of pain and disability through a range of media, and are particularly interested in atmospheric attunements—noticing the small and big ways things and people encounter each other as agents—as a starting point and method of their art practice. They explore visual-visceral representations of pain and the mundanity of wellness maintenance as parts of care practices. Their sculptural and fiber practice examines these themes and their connections to the natural world through place-based artistic explorations such as natural dying, herbal healing, weaving, and crocheting, often utilizing branching fractal patterns found in riparian systems, lightning, and roots. Their photography, video, and digital media explore pain as a form of malfunctioning by paralleling glitching technologies with the unruliness of the body (Russell, 2020).
They are a Graduate Officer for the National Art Education Association (NAEA) Disability Studies in Art Education interest group, a 2023-2024 Penn State Graduate School Endowed Fellow, and Co-Organizer of the 2025 Feminist Perspectives on Body, Disability, and Health hybrid conference.
Penn State Art Education Graduate Student Bios
Penn State Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Graduate Student Bio