Biography
Julie Wosk is Professor of art history, English, and studio painting at the State University of New York, Maritime College in New York City.
She is the author of three books: ALLURING ANDROIDS, ROBOT WOMEN, AND ELECTRONIC EVES (2008); WOMEN AND THE MACHINE: REPRESENTATIONS FROM THE SPINNING WHEEL TO THE ELECTRONIC AGE (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001), and BREAKING FRAME: TECHNOLOGY AND THE VISUAL ARTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (Rutgers University Press, 1992, now named BREAKING FRAME: TECHNOLOGY, ART, AND DESIGN IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (An Authors Guild backinprint.com edition), 2013.
She has lectured widely on technology, art, and design to academic, community, and museum audiences. She is a member of the Speakers Program sponsored by the New York Council for the Humanities, and presents fully funded talks on art and technology to not-for-profit organizations in New York State. To apply for a lecture, see nyhumanities.org.
She has received a 2008 State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Scholarship and Creative Activities and in 2002 she received a State University of New York Chancellor's Award for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
She was the curator and writer of the exhibit "Alluring Androids, Robot Women, and Electronic Eves" which was first held at the New York Hall of Science from June-September 10, 2006 and was also shown at The Cooper Union in New York in 2008. This is a traveling exhibit of large digital images, and more information about it can be obtained by contacting her.
A native of Evanston, Illinois, Dr.Wosk has degrees from Washington University in St. Louis, Harvard University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin. She has twice been a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow in art history, and received early studio art training at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago and the Parsons School of Design in New York. She has twice been a fellow at the the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and her paintings and photographs have been exhibited at New York, Conneticut, and Massachusetts galleries.
Her articles on art and technology, literature, and design have appeared in DESIGN ISSUES, TECHNOLOGY REVIEW, TECHNOLOGY AND CULTURE, ART AND ARTISTS (London), LEONARDO, and others. She is also a painter and photographer whose works have been exhibited in New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut galleries.
To order multiple books of Women and the Machine for classroom use or to order multiple copies of Breaking Frame for classroom use, contact Dr. Wosk.
SELECTED WORKS by Julie Wosk
BOOKS
WOMEN AND THE MACHINE: REPRESENTATIONS FROM THE SPINNING WHEEL TO THE ELECTRONIC AGE (Johns Hopkins University Press). Artists and photographers, advertisers and writers reveal the impact of new technologies on women's lives.
BREAKING FRAME: TECHNOLOGY AND THE VISUAL ARTS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY now named Breaking Frame: Technology, Art, and Design in the Nineteenth Century. Nineteenth-century artists and designers capture the dramatic and often traumatic impact of new machines and technologies on American and European society.
ALLURING ANDROIDS, ROBOT WOMEN, AND ELECTRONIC EVES (Images of Artificial Women in Film, Photography, Art, Anime, Videogames and more).
SELECTED JOURNAL ARTICLES:
"Update on the Film Metropolis.” Technology and Culture 51: 4 (October 2010): 1061-1062.
“On the Cover: Metropolis.” Technology and Culture 51: 2 (April 2010): 403-408.
“Catastrophe Chic: A Commentary.” Design Issues 23:4 (Autumn 2007): 93-97.
“Designing For Safety: Safe: Design Takes on Risk” (exhibit review essay, Museum of Modern Art, New York). Technology and Culture 47:4 (October, 2006): 791-798.
“Perspectives on the Escalator in Photography and Art.” Catalogue essay for the exhibition Up Down and Across: Elevators, Escalators, and Moving Sidewalks. “ Washington, D.C.: National Building Museum/Merrell Pub. Co., 2003: 140-171.
“The Escalator in Art.” Blueprints, National Building Museum (Fall 2003): 12-14.
“Photographing Devastation: Three Photography Exhibits of 11 September 2001.” Technology and Culture, 43: 4 (October 2002): 771-76.
"Mutant Materials in Contemporary Design." Design Issues (Spring 1996): 63-39.
"Brunel Meets Brunelleschi" (ornamented machines in America). American Heritage of Invention and Technology (Summer 1995): 58-63.
"Manhole Covers and the Myths of America." Design Book Review (MIT Press), (Winter\Spring 1995): 54-56.
"The Electric Eve: Galvanizing Women in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century
Literature, Film, and Art." Research in Philosophy and Technology 13 (1993): 43-56.
"The P.U.L.S.E. Exhibit." Leonardo(June 1988): 318-20.
"The Impact of Technology on the Human Image in Art." Leonardo (9, No. 2, 1986): 145-52.
"The Impact of Technology on Art and Art on Technology: A College Course Design," in The State University of New York, The New Liberal Arts--Curriculum in Transition (Albany: State Univ. of New York, 1986): 67-71.
"The Distancing Effect of Technology in Twentieth Century Poetry
and Painting." San Jose Studies (Spring, 1985): 22-41. Awarded "Best Article
of the Year" by San Jose Studies editors.
"The Aeroplane in Art." Art and Artists (London) (December 1984):24-28.
“The Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage: A Unique Exhibition Space." Technology and Culture, (April 1984): 292-93.
"The Explosive Emergence of Technology in Art." Art and Artists (London) (December 1982): 11-15.
"Picasso, Car Classics, and the Engineers." Art Education (journal of the National Art Education Association) (July 1982): 16-19. RJ
"Humanities and the Machine: Responses to Technology." Technology and Culture ( July 1982): 435-38. (Report on SUNY Conversations in the Disciplines Conference held at SUNY Maritime College, 1981.)
"Lawrence Durrell: The Poet As Pygmalion." Deus Loci: The Lawrence Durrell Quarterly (1981): 158-75.
"The New American Classicism" (technology and American design).
USA Today (September 1980): 26-28.
"Artists on Technology." Technology Review (MIT Press) (January 1980): 66-75.
NEWSPAPER STORY:
“Waiting For Dr. King” published as “Hearing A Call to Action in a Hymn.” New York Newsday, Editorial/Opinion Page (January 16, 2007) [story about Julie Wosk’s summer experience as a civil rights worker teaching English to African-American students for Dr. Martin Luther King’s SCLC organization in Alabama].