Deirdre Visser

Deirdre Visser, is Curator of The Arts at CIIS and publisher of CHROMA books. As independent curator, educator, and publisher she strives to promote pluralism in the arts, to support artists in the creation of new work, and to foster dynamic and critical dialogues within and across communities that propose integrative approaches to the urgent questions we collectively face. Her exhibitions, publications, and public programming with The Arts at CIIS have connected history to the present, ethically and strategically, to look for common themes and deepen our understanding of both past and present as we move into the future.

Deirdre was co-curator with Laura Mays of Making a Seat at the Table, an exhibition of 43
women and gender non-conforming woodworkers that opened in Fall 2019 at Center for Art in Wood. She is also the author of Joinery, Joists and Gender: A History of Woodworking for the 21stCentury, released by Routledge in March 2022.

AND, Deirdre harbors a not-so-secret love of the banjo and of woodworking, and spent 50 hours a week at her workbench during the 2015-2016 academic year, attending College of the Redwoods Fine Furniture program in Fort Bragg, CA.

Topics/Strengths:

education and equity, self-representation, exhibition, community settings and collective process

Arts at CIIS: http://www.artsatciis.org/

Making a Seat at the Table: https://centerforartinwood.org/exhibition/making-a-seat-at-the-table-women-transform-woodworking/

Joinery, Joists and Gender: https://www.routledge.com/Joinery-Joists-and-Gender-A-History-of-Woodworking-for-the-21st-Century/Visser/p/book/9780367363413