Sandy Litchfield, Associate AIA

Sandy Litchfield is an artist, curator, and Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at UMass Amherst. She teaches courses that lie at the intersection of art, architecture, design, and writing. Her interdisciplinary approach to teaching emphasizes the integration of knowledge through practice-oriented design investigation. She is the director of the Master of Design: Public Art and Engagement program and the current faculty advisor for Paperbark Literary Magazine.

As a researcher, writer, and curator, she is interested in landscape theory, future studies, social justice, and environmental humanities. Litchfield co-founded the UMass Transdisciplinary Future Studies team (an ADVANCE Mutual Mentoring recipient, 2022) and is also the founder and co-creator of On Distant Keys.  Currently, Litchfield serves as the director of the Design Building Gallery. Recent and ongoing collaborative projects include the Multicultural Futuring Symposium, The Futuring Lab, The Anthropocene Lab, and Y3K: On Distant Keys.

Litchfield’s artwork has been exhibited in numerous museums including the DeCordova Museum, The Fitchburg Art Museum, and the Portland Art Museum. She has completed large-scale percent-for-art commissions for MTA Art&Design and NYC Public Art for Public Schools. In addition, she has received fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture.  

Recent Exhibitions
2023– Central Connecticut State University, Silent Spring, New Britain, CT
2023– Bernay Fine Art, Great Barrington, MA
2022– Future Fair, Raft of Sanity & Garvey|Simon, with Roberley Bell, NYC
2021– Positions and Props, Northampton, MA & Buffalo, NY

RESEARCH AREAS

Art, Public Art, Curating, Future Studies, Social Justice, Environmental Humanities.

PUBLICATIONS

“Drawing the City.” In T Squared: Theories and Tactics in Architecture and Design, edited by Samantha Krukowski, 112-126. Bristol, UK: Intellect, 2022.

“Precarious Playgrounds.” In CANDY LAND (scape) III, ACSA Fall Conference, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, J. Benyamin, N. Bouchard, W. Moon, K. Reynolds, M. Zell, Editors. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee WI. October 13th, 2018.

“Negative Capability in Design Education.” Journal: Charette 4(1): Project., The Association of Architectural Educators (aae), London. 2017 pp.2054-6718. 

"Kit of (Odd) Parts: From Still Life to Conjectural City.”  In Tools, 1:1, 32nd National Conference on the Beginning Design Student, C. Trudell, J. Ponitz, C. Olsen, Editors. California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA. February 27, 2016.

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES

• Grant, Puffin Foundation, On Distant Keys, 2022
• Commission, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, MTA Arts & Design, 2022
• CODAawards Top 100, 2022
• Award, Americans for the Arts, Public Art Network (PAN) Year in Review, 2019
• Commission, The Tree Inside Me, Public Art for Public Schools, for PS 14X, Bronx NY, 2016-2018
• Fellowship, Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation, 2016
• Fellowship, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, 2007
• Fellowship, Massachusetts Cultural Council, 2006

COURSES RECENTLY TAUGHT

• ARCH 100: Intro to Architecture Design & Graphics
• ARCH 300: Design I
• ARCH 301: Design II
• ARCH 370: Junior Year Writing
• ARCH590P/ ENG890PB: Paperbark
• ARCH 597: Drawing the City
• HONORS 391AH: Utopian Drawings of Architectural Visionaries