Biography
Carolyn Bloomer is a cultural anthropologist specializing in modern China, and her fieldwork there (1988-2011) has concentrated primarily on contemporary art and cinema, with secondary interests in medicine and agriculture. In addition to anthropological perspectives, her thinking is informed by earlier research and writing in the field of visual perception and by decades of prior experience in the teaching and practice of art. She is currently writing a 3-part series of reference guides to Chinese film.
Selected Publications and Papers
PRINCIPLES OF VISUAL PERCEPTION (1976, revised edition 1989) The first edition enjoyed 8 printings, and in 1987 was published in Chinese translation by Beijing University Press. A Second Revised Edition was published in 1990 by Design Press / McGraw-Hill. Both editions remain frequently cited in bibliographies and course readings in art, graphic design, photography, psychology, media studies, journalism, and related fields.
Her concern with issues of intercultural sensitivity and social responsibility in the convergence of visual perception, graphic design, and cross-cultural communication, led to a number of articles for publications such as Critique: The Magazine of Graphic Design Thinking and Adobe Magazine, and to invitations to speak and lead workshops for groups such as the International Institute for Information Design, Mead Paper Company, Poynter Institute for Media Studies, and Columbia College (Chicago) Department of Marketing.
If you are interested in any of the following, please email a request to Carolyn at cbloomer@c.ringling.edu. Some will be posted soon on this web-site. IMDb
"Screening the Cultural Revolution", US-China Review, Fall 2016, pp 18-20.
"The Washing Away of Wrongs: Forensic Practices in Imperial China", a review of presentation by Woon Chow, MD, PhD at US-China Peoples Friendship Association Biennial Seminar, Washington DC, April. US-China Review, Summer 2016, pp 21-22.
"'I am the Cloud': Musings on Chinese Calligraphy and the Embodied Transmission of Knowledge", essay in memory of Professor Ju I-Hsiung 朱一雄 (1923-2012). Also posted on academia.edu.
"What's Happening to Chinese Movies? Themes in Chinese Cinema since the Fifth Generation". US-China Review, Summer 2014.
Carolyn Bloomer's 2012 Chinese Film List: A Guide for American Viewers, US-China Peoples Friendship Association, non-exclusive distributor, 2012. PDF can be downloaded from the USCPFA web-site at https://www.uscpfa.org/regions-chapters, or by emailing a request to Carolyn at cbloomer@c.ringling.edu.
"But is It Chinese? Musings on the Cultural Identity of Contemporary Chinese Avant-Garde Artists", Hanging in the Balance: Ten Emerging Chinese Artists, bilingual exhibition catalog. Available on request from Carolyn in both English and Chinese.
"Power of Copying and the Myth of Originality: Ruminations on Issues of Intellectual Property", paper delivered at International Exhibition and Symposium "Power of Copying" at Xuzhou Museum of Art, Jiangsu Province, China. Published in English and Chinese in exhibition catalog and symposium proceedings. May 2010. Abridged version published in US-China Review, Fall 2011. PDF can be downloaded from academia.edu or by emailing a request to Carolyn at cbloomer@c.ringling.edu (specify English and/or Chinese)
"Cheap Thrills: Rediscovered Fiction", US-China Review, Summer 2009.
"The Evolving Chinese Woman: Shanghai Advertising Posters: 1910 – 1937", US-China Review. October 2008.
From Beijing to Shanghai by Train: 2000, a lyric video presented at (juried) UniFEM Women Directors Film Festival 2002; (juried) Sarasota Digital Filmmakers Forum, 2002; Ringling School of Art and Design Faculty Show, 2002. (DVD free by emailing a request to Carolyn at cbloomer@c.ringling.edu.
"Traditional New Year's Painting and China's Emerging Market Economy", Perspectives on Asia lecture series, Museum of Asian Art. Sarasota, January 2001. (DVD free by by emailing a request to Carolyn at cbloomer@c.ringling.edu)
"Peace, Ghosts, and Innocence", Adobe Magazine, , March/April 2000.
"The Multicultural Designer," Critique: The Magazine of Graphic Design Thinking, Spring, 1997.
"Tweaking the Envelope", Critique: The Magazine of Graphic Design Thinking, Winter 1996.
What Makes Us Look?" Critique: The Magazine of Graphic Design Thinking, Summer 1996.
中国艺术家和美国艺术市场 (Zhongguo yishu jia he Meiguo yishu shichang (Chinese Artists and the American Art Market). As 白伦美 Bai Lunmei with Xiao Kui (Robert You). 美术 Meishu (Fine Art monthly, National Chinese Artists Association), October, 1991.
Book Reviews
Brand New Art from China: A Generation on the Rise (Barbara Pollack). US-China Review, Spring, 2019. Also posted on academia.edu.
Life and Death: Art and the Body in Contemporary China (Silvia Fok). China Journal, January 2014.
Contemporary Chinese Art: Primary Documents (Wu Hung, ed., Museum of Modern Art, 2010). China Journal, issue #66, July 2011.
Origins of the Chinese Avant-Garde: The Modern Woodcut Movement (Xiaobing Tang, 2008). China Journal, January 2009.
The Urban Generation: Chinese Cinema and Society at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century (Zhang Zhen, ed., 2007), China Journal, January 2008.
Cross-cultural Bridge Builder
Director for the official Sister City relationship between Sarasota, Florida and Xiamen, China (2007-2017).
Led exchange groups to China (artists in 1991, 1993, 1995; official Sister City signing delegation in 2007).
Cultural Consultant to exchange between Sarasota Players Theatre and Guizhou Province (China), 2003, and Behind China's Great Wall, WEDU (pbs.org) documentary of the trip. 2004. (DVD free by by emailing a request to Carolyn at cbloomer@c.ringling.edu)
These experiences led to a secondary specialty in how Americans interface with China.
Education
PhD (Anthropology), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1992.
M.A.Ed. (Master of Art Education), University of Hartford Art School, 1976.
B.A. (English/Creative Writing, Minor in Art), Wichita State University, 1955.
Teaching Career
Carolyn is Professor Emeritus retired from Ringling College of Art and Design FL where for 23 years she taught anthropology in the Liberal Arts Program and coordinated the Cross-cultural Perspectives curriculum (1992-2015).
Prior to that she was a full-time faculty member in the Studio division of the Art Department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1981-84), and Assistant Professor in the Art Department at Monmouth University, NJ (1976-81).
As a public school art teacher, she taught at Parish Hill High School in Chaplin CT (1967-74) and at Chapel Hill High School NC (1984-85).
Artist Career
Active exhibiting artist in numerous juried shows, including a 3-person show in NYC (1964-84)
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