Jan Kather

Jan Kather serves as Media Artist in Elmira College's Division of Creative Arts & Humanities, teaching photography, video art, and digital media courses including Electronic Art Studio and Crafting the Vision. She actively participates in the college's Art Faculty Exhibit and collaborates with experimental artist groups like Rural Research Laboratories (Elmira) and State of the Art Gallery (Ithaca).

Her creative practice centers on environmental documentation through photography and video, exemplified by the "Watermark" installation exploring seasonal changes along Elmira's Lackawanna Bike Trail. She extends this into public art projects like the City of Elmira's Adopt a Traffic Signal Box initiative and digital experiments such as the International Collaborative Exquisite Corpse Video Project.

Recent works demonstrate interdisciplinary fusion of traditional media with digital techniques, emphasizing community engagement through student collaborations like the Latina Authors Project and juried student exhibitions. Her output consistently bridges landscape studies, identity exploration, and technological innovation.

Key recognitions include:

• NYSCA Decentralization Artists Crossroads Program Grant
• Finalist for the 2019 Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship Video Contest ("Mark Twain's Jar: Who Wrote Shakespeare?")
• 2015 ARTS Partnership Award from The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes

Kather mentors students through course-based projects and extracurricular initiatives, guiding publications like "Dodge and Burn" (student photography annual) and exhibitions such as "This Face Has Faced," while fostering creative development across disciplines from psychology to Hispanic studies.

She maintains active roles in Rural Research Laboratories for experimental art development and State of the Art Gallery for cooperative exhibitions, alongside international digital collaborations that expand her environmental and social commentaries.