Kristine Diekman ’79: Making art to change the world
Kristine Diekman ’79 is a media artist who tells stories of social significance using sight, sound, and touch.
In “Behold the Tilapia,” a video she created to address ecosystem sustainability, the desiccated body of a fish slowly disintegrates and is buried in sand. In a collaborative installation called “Secret Reception,” visitors touch the images of insects to hear the sounds and feel the vibrations insects make to communicate with one another.
Diekman has been making videos, films, and interactive art for 40 years—and teaching these disciplines for nearly as long. She is professor emerita of media theory and practice at California State University San Marcos but continues to teach courses in sound design and theory while pursuing her own projects.
See some of Diekman’s work online.
At the university she founded a media arts project, Video in the Community, to achieve social change. She continues to hold media workshops independently, with assignments in Mexico and Kazakhstan, among other countries.
“I believe media artists can tell important stories about people and our society that not only will be learning experiences for viewers but will become integrated into their lives, leading to personal and global change,” Diekman said.
She has directed video documentaries on how factory farming in the San Joaquin Valley has poisoned the wells of nearby small farmers, how parenting approaches can prevent unplanned pregnancies, and how young men and women have successfully broken free of gang life.
Diekman grew up in the Chicago area. “I rebelled against the conventional learning environment in high school so strongly that I had no hope of going to college,” she said. A creative writing instructor, sensing untapped talent and dedication to learning, mysteriously arranged for her to enter Cornell.
“I never applied to Cornell,” she recalled. “I just showed up with a check. But it was a perfect fit for me. Cornell turned my life around.”
She majored in English and Chinese studies and graduated summa cum laude. She was accepted at the Rhode Island School of Design on the strength of her college record, life experience, and a portfolio of drawings, and earned an M.F.A. in sculpture. She then worked in video production in New York City for about 10 years, pursuing her art at the same time.
Choosing art over commerce, she accepted a job offer from the Kansas City Art Institute that led to her joining California State University in 1997. She has received more than 50 grants and awards for her art and teaching projects, with hundreds of exhibitions and screenings.
She has mounted three installations at Cornell, including a multimedia history of corn, which was made with help from Cornell students and faculty in 2004.
“For me, collaboration is a very important part of the artistic process,” Diekman said.
She remains in close contact with friends from the college and is making a major gift to support the new digital arts lab. “I still feel connected and committed to Cornell,” she said.
Dan Kellams ’58 is a member of the Cornell College Alumni Association Board of Directors. His career spanned nearly 50 years in public relations in New York City, where he worked as a corporate and agency executive and, later, as a freelance writer and editor. He has written two books set in his hometown of Marion, Iowa.
