MATERIAL WITNESS on Campus+
Using Art to Promote Difficult Conversations and Deepen Civic Engagement
A 3 -to 4-hour interactive workshop (adaptable to two class sessions)
for universities, cultural institutions, and community organizations.
Led by visual artist and facilitator Nancy Marks
Using art-making and visual inquiry to bridge history, memory, and modern civic identity.
In a climate often defined by polarization and dehumanization, art serves as a direct antidote—a bridge connecting our history to the present. Material Witness utilizes art-making and visual inquiry to make visible the often-invisible impacts of systemic history on individuals and communities. By exploring what gives them courage within a deeply personal framework, students build the foundational empathy necessary to engage with today’s complex social challenges.
"Not every student feels like an 'Activist,' but every family has a story of persistence."
The Campus Workshop Framework
Rooted in a thirty-year practice as a visual artist and a decade of experience at Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life, this workshop offers students a structured, three-phase framework to explore personal legacy and civic identity.
1. Viewing Art Show & Dialogue
We begin with a guided viewing of my series of drypoint prints exploring my mother’s experience as a Holocaust survivor, drawing parallels to modern immigration and current threats to democracy. This creates a shared space for dialogue rooted in empathy and human narrative. CLICK HERE to view show.
2. Written Reflection
Through a guided exercise, students process the artwork and its core themes: othering, persistence, and courage.
3. Visual Response
No prior art-making experience is necessary. Using accessible materials, students produce an intuitive visual response to a central prompt: How does your family or cultural legacy of resistance and courage shape your civic identity today?
4. (Optional) Amplify Student Voices: The Campus Exhibition
To deepen the impact of the workshop, the resulting student artwork can be curated into an on-campus exhibition or pop-up installation.
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Visible Impact: Signals that student perspectives are a vital part of the university’s civic fabric.
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Broader Dialogue: Invites the wider campus community into the conversation, extending the workshop's reach far beyond the classroom
What Students are Saying:
"By sharing her & her mother’s story, she allows people to feel safe sharing their own experiences. Material Witness is definitely a form of civic engagement that creates a space for valuable discussions about current issues." — A.M.
"It is really hard to understand the historical significance of an event when you are experiencing it in real time, but Nanc’s art helps people understand by putting it into context with a widely known event like the Holocaust." — L.R.
"Nancy emphasizes the need for empathy by putting us in the shoes of today’s marginalized communities and calls for self-questioning: what would we have done in the past, and what will we do in the present?" — J.V.
Bringing Material Witness to Your Campus
This interdisciplinary workshop is highly adaptable and serves as a powerful resource for multiple spaces across campus:
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Academic Integration: Perfect for course syllabi in Civic Engagement, History, Political Science, Studio Art, Peace and Justice Studies, or Sociology.
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Co-Curricular Programming: An ideal anchor event for orientation weeks, leadership retreats, diversity and inclusion initiatives, or campus-wide dialogue series.
Campus Host Logistics at a Glance
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Duration: 3–4 hours (can be split into two sessions to fit class blocks).
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Group Size: Ideal for groups of 5–20 students to maintain an intimate dialogue.
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Honorarium & Availability: Available upon request. Contact: nancymarks31@gmail.com
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About me: The Intersection of Art and Civic Life
I am a Boston-based visual artist and community organizer with over thirty years of artistic practice and a deep foundation in higher education. I worked at Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life for 13 years, where I specialized in public health community engagement and developed models that use creative expression to ground community dialogue in empathy and foster civic learning.
My approach utilizes art as a powerful vehicle to build bridges and explore complex social realities. In 2014, I launched The Intimacy of Memory, an initiative using art to explore grief and loss. In 2016, I co-founded The Opioid Project: Changing Perceptions Through Art and Storytelling, a national initiative aimed at challenging stigma. In recognition of my impact, I was awarded First Place for Arts Advancing Social Justice by the National Organization for Arts in Health (NOAH) in 2024.
As a painter and printmaker, my personal work explores themes of memory, healing, and the human spirit—both through in studio practice and under my abstract art moniker, Urban Abstraction.
My recent mixed-media exhibition, Material Witness, which serves as the foundation for this workshop, was featured in the 2025 anthology America’s Slide Towards Authoritarianism (IHRAM Press).
Please feel free to contact me with any questions or to arrange a time for Zoom.
