MDOCS People
MDOCS is run by a group of dedicated staff that also function as the core faculty of the program. In addition, MDOCS draws from Skidmore's other faculty and staff along with documentary practitioners to deliver courses in documentary traditions, theory and methods. For more information about the program or current/upcoming semester's offerings, please reach out to the staff below as faculty are not always on their Skidmore emails in off-semesters.
Administrative staff
Adam Tinkle, mdocs Director
Adam Tinkle creates, teaches, and writes about music, sound, media, and performance. At the center of Adam's work are strategies for artistic engagement, interactivity, and pedagogy that draw on experimental music. In 2010, he co-founded the Universal Language Orchestra, a group of elementary-aged novice musicians that composed, improvised, and built their own instruments. He subsequently created several similarly path-breaking arts education programs across San Diego county, where his collaborations with his students and his audience-participatory works were shown at the Birch Aquarium, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the San Diego Museum of Art, the Old Globe Theatre, and the Institute of Perception. Before moving to Skidmore in 2014, he was a founding broadcaster on KNSJ 89.1FM, San Diego's first community radio station, where he led community workshops on radio-making and produced a weekly crowd-sourced music and documentary program. His award-winning solo performance A Mess of Things merges radio documentary with songs and video art. In May 2014, his interactive sound sculpture the Shantytown Scrapblaster was permanently installed at the Media Arts Center San Diego. For More: www.riskyforager.com, www.adamtinkle.com
Sarah Friedland, Storytellers' Institute Director
Sarah Friedland received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College and the International School of Film and Television in Cuba and her MFA from the Integrated Media Art Program at Hunter College. Her documentary films and installations are concerned with personal stories that reveal larger histories and intricacies about place and society. Friedland’s works with Esy Casey have screened widely in the US and abroad and have been supported by grants from the Jerome Foundation, the Paul Newman Foundation, the William H. Prusoff Foundation, the Princess Grace Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the Center for Asian American Media. In 2009, after the debut of her feature documentary Thing With No Name, she was named one of the “Top 10 Independent Filmmakers to Watch” by Independent Magazine. She is a recipient of the 2014 Paul Robeson award from the Newark Museum for her feature documentary The Rink, which is slated for PBS (WNET/NJTV) fall 2016. Her recent documentary Jeepney (2015) was broadcast on PBS (World Channel). She has received residencies and fellowships from the Center of Contemporary Art in Pont- Aven, the LABA House of Study, the MacDowell Colony, and Meerkat Media.
ANGELA BEALLOR, DOCUMENTARIAN IN COMMUNITY CO-CREATION
Angela Beallor is a visual artist exploring memory, history, and politics. She was a 2015 BRIC Media Arts Fellow. A Jerome Foundation Travel Grant recipient (2013), she traveled to Lithuania, Belarus, and Russia in relation to her project Pink Lenins. Her video, I Want a Baby! REVisited (Lecture) won first place in the 2017 Sofia Queer Forum video competition. Most recently, she wrote, directed, and starred in M.G. (aka I Want a Baby! Reimagined), an experimental, queer adaptation of Tret'iakov's play I Want a Baby!. She has been in residence at CCI Fabrika, Moscow; Vermont Studio Center; Habitable Spaces, Kingsbury, TX, and was once a resident-artist at Flux Factory (NY). Her work has been presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art (Cleveland, OH) (2017); Smack Mellon (2016); SPACES (2016); Here Art Space, NY (2014); and, in conjunction with Sharon Hayes, in the Whitney Museum of American Art (2012). She holds a BS in Photo-illustration from Kent State University, an MFA from Bard College-ICP, and a PhD in Electronic Arts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Jesse O'Connell, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Jesse O'Connell is a documentary filmmaker whose work began at the award-winning Moxie Institute Film Studio + Lab in San Francisco, CA. She was the associate producer and assistant editor on many of Moxie's films, including the Emmy-nominated series The Future Starts Here, and edited on the first films in the Let it Ripple nonprofit short-film series including Free Speech and Engage. She also worked with over 2,000 schools and nonprofit organizations involved in the Let it Ripple project, helping them to customize any of the five films for their outreach purposes.
She joined the MDOCS staff in the fall of 2015 after moving back to the east coast. She looks forward to helping students of all disciplines uncover important stories in their studies that allow us to look to the future through the lens and perspective of the past. Inspired by the challenge of highlighting the truth in the complex network of the digital landscape, she continues to explore the power of nonfiction storytelling. She has a BS in video production from Ithaca College's Roy H. Park School of Communications.
ANDREA CASEY, PROGRAM COORDINATOR
Andrea Casey is a visual artist and maker in Upstate, NY. She has worked in the photography industry since 2006 as a wedding photojournalist, portrait and editorial photographer. Her current photographic work focuses on landscape, place and her natural surroundings. Andrea’s making is deeply rooted in fiber arts and wool craft. She is also the Technology Coordinator in the Art Department at Skidmore College.
MDOCS faculty
Nyssa Chow is an oral historian, multidisciplinary artist, and writer. Her documentary art practice engages prose, audio, moving images/film, installation, and visual storytelling. She has taught at many institutions including Columbia, Princeton University, Bard College (CCS Bard), and Purchase College. She was a Research Affiliate at MIT Media Labs (Poetic Justice Group led by artist Ekene Ijeoma), a Writer-in-Residence at Fordham University, and is co-director of the NYC Covid-19 Oral History, Narrative, and Memory Project at Columbia University (I.N.C.I.T.E). She is Lead Artist Facilitator for the 2021 DocX Labs at The Center for Documentary Studies (CDS) at Duke University. She was the 2019-2021 Princeton Arts Fellow at the Lewis Center for the Arts and the 2018 Recipient of the PEN/Jean Stein for Literary Oral History. Chow has conducted oral histories on behalf of arts institutions such as the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, and has lectured widely on the intersection of art and oral history; embodied knowledge and listening; and literary oral history. Born and raised in Trinidad, she is a graduate of Columbia University’s MFA Film program and Columbia University's Oral History Masters Program.
Angus McCullough is interested in the lives of 'things,’ especially assemblages and mechanisms, and exploring how objects usually considered inert can influence (and have influenced) the actions of the living. He believes that if we want to find better interpersonal, civic and emotional experiences, it is vital to enrich our connection to nonhuman life working to recharge our kinship with metal, soil, rock, glass, etc. and elevating the agency of materials to make them more visible to human eyes in a process of material husbandry.
Liv McKee is a writer and dancer who aims to be a chemist for the grand and mundane moments that link our time here. She was ranked 6th poet at the 2020 Women of the World Poetry Slam in Dallas, TX, and has had her performances posted by Write About Now and Button Poetry. She has self published two chapbooks and is featured in the anthology A Wh*re’s Manifesto, edited by Kay Kassirer. She has been commissioned by artists at Skidmore and RPI to contribute to theater and dance projects, and has organized extensively in the Capital Region arts scene with the Arts Center, Nitty Gritty and CapCity Slam, and the private concert series Roof Sessions Troy. She holds a BA in Environmental Studies from Skidmore College. In her spare time she is passionate about gardening, community organizing, rock climbing, and force free dog training.
Christine O’Donnell is an 2x Emmy-Nominated TV journalist and Founder of Award-Winning Podcast Production Company turned Network: Bright Sighted. The Bright Sighted Network showcases the resilience of humanity through the age-old-art of storytelling. Our stories help brands connect with a highly engaged audience looking for products that improve their health and overall wellness. Learn more at www.brightsighted.com
Emily Vallee is a visual artist and photographic educator. Her work explores and challenges the
separation and convergence between humankind and the natural word. Emily’s most recent
exhibitions include Uncovered at the Arts Center Gallery (Saratoga Springs, NY), Dust Collective & Cold Season at Aviary Gallery (Boston, MA), and The Telephone Booth Exhibit, Anderson Ranch Arts Center (Snowmass, CO). In 2017 she was shortlisted for the Royal
PhotographicSociety’s International Photographic Exhibition in London, England. Emily has been
featured in various publications such as Phases Magazine, Mubridge’s Horse, Booooom and Don’t Take Pictures. Emily released her most recent body of work Years With Wings at the Boston Art Book Fair in 2019, an ongoing project influenced by the publication
of the 2019 Audubon Study: Survival By Degrees. She received her MFA in Photography
from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and her BFA in Studio Art from the
University of Vermont.
Nicole Van Slyke is a Digital Artist who specializes in Documentary Production and has experience
in studio, classroom and community environments. She has an MA in Teaching and Learning
through Documentary from Rhode Island School of Design and is a graduate of RPI '07.
She has taught at the high school and collegiate level throughout New England. Currently
living in Troy, NY, Nicole has worked as a Producer/Editor at WMHT-PBS since June
2015 where she specializes in creating unique and moving productions. Some of her
local productions include "The Dragon Lives Here", "Behind the Lights", "Kennedy of
Albany", "The Field Trip Series" and more. Her work focuses on sharing stories of
community and developing content that creates strong messaging.
