​On March 6, 2026, I presented "Archive to Adventure: Reigniting Curiosity Through Campus-Based Creative Research" at the DEL "In Between" International Webinar, hosted by Digitally Engaged Learning in the United Kingdom. The presentation drew on pedagogy developed in ART1600 and my ongoing work with UNT's campus collections, arguing that the problem is not technology but passive learning, and that archive-based, object-driven encounters can rebuild the curiosity and tolerance for ambiguity that test-driven systems train students out of. The full active learning loop, from novel object to creative transfer, was demonstrated using Mildred: a hamster, a silver cross reliquary, and a very good argument for Special Collections.

UNT Special Collections 2024 Research Fellowship TalksOn November 7, 2024, Meredith Cawley and Christine Adame presented their research as part of the UNT Special Collections 2024 Research Fellowship Talks in Willis Library, Room 443.

• Meredith Cawley – Extraterrestrial Custodians: Reimagining Conservation Through Speculative Fiction
  
• Christine Adame – Ranchera Futurism
  

Panels at FATE Conference 2025I was honored to chair two panels at the FATE (Foundations in Art: Theory and Education) Conference 2025, held April 10–12 in the DC Metro Area. The first panel explored how to effectively utilize on-campus resources, such as Special Collections, to enhance student learning. The second panel focused on how our individual specializations and personalities contribute to creating a more engaging and memorable learning experience for students.
These panels aligned with the conference theme, NEXT NOW, which centered on evolving and reimagining art education in a post-pandemic world. I appreciated the opportunity to contribute to these important conversations.

Because I work primarily in vectors, it felt natural to translate the bear portion of the drawing into a cut-out using black vinyl. The crisp, clean lines of the vinyl echoed the precision of the digital illustration, while the matte black surface added a new layer of visual and conceptual weight to the bear’s silhouette.
Below are some in-progress images. I ended up cutting the bear three times—the blade kept dragging through the image, forcing me to simplify the design. Reducing the detail allowed the machine to render the form more cleanly. I also shifted direction with the rope, opting to hand-cut the negative space in the vinyl to make placement easier.

The install went much more smoothly than expected. This piece, along with several others from my ongoing body of work, was featured in the Inspiring Imagination: Educators’ Art Collective exhibition at the UNT Paul Voertman Gallery. Curated by Francisco Araujo and Yuni Lee, the show highlighted the creative practices of Lead Instructors and full-time faculty in the Foundations program at the University of North Texas.​

​On November 7, 2024, I presented my UNT Special Collections Research Fellowship project, Extraterrestrial Custodians: Reimagining Conservation Through Speculative Fiction, at Willis Library, Room 443. My fellow Research Fellow Christine Adame also presented her project, Ranchera Futurism. The talk drew on my archival research into the Jim Marrs collection and connected that research to the speculative fiction thread running through the current body of work.