Joseph Krupczynski

Joseph Krupczynski is a designer, public artist and educator. He is the principal of "studio projects", an interdisciplinary design studio which links design, culture and art through public and private design commissions, installations, activism and research. His recent creative work and scholarship promotes imaginative community partnerships, and crafts participatory art/design platforms to engage a variety of issues within the built environment—especially in collaboration with underrepresented communities.

Professor Krupczynski is also a founding director of The Center for Design Engagement (C*DE), a 501(c)(3) design resource center. The C*DE is dedicated to bringing progressive architectural design, public art and civic engagement strategies to local communities and community-based organizations—and advocates for innovative and sustainable solutions to contemporary art/design problems in Massachusetts cities and towns.

Professor Krupczynski is also the director of the office of Civic Engagement and Service Learning (CESL) at UMass Amherst (umass.edu/cesl). The mission of CESL is to promote learning for life-long, engaged citizenship, partnering with communities on and off campus to work collectively for a more just world. 

Professor Krupczynski received his M.S. Design from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, a B.F.A. in Environmental Design from Parsons School of Design, and studied at the Cooper Union School of Architecture.

PUBLICATIONS

• "Arrivals," Holyoke MA, 2014. A $35,000 commission for a public art installation installed at a rail underpass in Holyoke (in collaboration with Caryn Brause)
• Civic Engagement Plan for “The New England Knowledge Corridor (Hartford-Springfield),” 2011-2014. A $66,000 grant from HUD and the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission to develop a community and civic engagement plan. Related Report/Resource Guide: “Sustainability and Equity, Engaging Underrepresented Communities on Issues of Sustainability in the Pioneer Valley,” 2014
• “Re-use Study of Holyoke’s Historic Train Station,” 2014. A feasibility study exploring design options the former a historic landmark in Holyoke MA designed by Henry Hobson Richardson. Related Report: “Restoration and Reuse Study: Holyoke’s Historic Richardson Station,” 2014
• Movable Feast. Various Locations in Western MA, 2010. Design for a “green” food service vehicle to support local food system change. Related scholarly article: “Movable Feast: A Public Art Project To Promote Food System Change,” 2012 (Rethinking Marxism, vol. 23, no. 3, 201, pp. 405–17)

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

• UMass Amherst Distinguished Outreach Teaching Award (2011)
• Antonia Pantoja Award from the Latino Scholarship Association (2008)
• Faculty Making a Difference in the Community Award by The Five College Committee for Community-Based Learning (2007)
• College Outstanding Teaching Award from the College of the Humanities and Fine Arts at UMass Amherst (2006)
• Historic Northampton Recognition Award by the Northampton Historic Commission (2003)