A list of what I have done with my (Professional)life
Gretchen Von Koenig
Historian • Researcher • Educator
Jersey City, NJ |gvonkoenig@gmail.com
Education
2021-
PhD Student, History of Capitalism, Technology & Culture University of Delaware. Hagley Scholar
2018
M.A. History of Design & Curatorial Studies, Parsons School of Design, Cooper-Hewitt
National Design Museum | Thesis: Undergraduate Industrial and Product Design Pedagogy & the History Curriculum: How We Teach History to Practitioners in Training (Advisor: Dr. Margot Bauman)
2015
B.S. Industrial Design & B.A. Theater Arts & Technology, College of Architecture &
Design, New Jersey Institute of Technology | Honors: School of Art & Design Medal,
Highlander Leadership Award
Teaching Experience
2016 - 2022
Instructor of Design History & Theory Courses
Parsons School of Design, The New School. New York City, NY
PGIN 5000 Industrial Design History
PGID 5015 Form, Function & Meaning of Constructed Spaces (Interiors) 1400-2000
PLSD 3500 Advanced Research Seminar: Constructed Environments
PAMT3500 Advanced Research Seminar: Art & Design Practice
College of Architecture & Design, New Jersey Institute of Technology. Newark, NJ
INT 310 History of Furniture
AD 490 History of Industrial Design
ID 390 Ethnographic & Market Research for Industrial Design
ARCH 390 Ethnographic Research for Architectural Design
AD 110 Communication in Art & Design
Michael Graves School of Design, Kean University. Union, NJ
AD 101 World History of Design: Pre History to Industrial Revolution
IND 300 History of Industrial Design 1850-2010
School of Art & Design, Montclair State University
PLVS 2000 History of Product Design
2016-2018
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Parsons School of Design
History of Modern Design, 1850-2000, Intro to Design Studies,
Intro to Visual Culture, Post-Election America
Professional Experience 2022
2022
Editorial Assistant for Academic Programs, Winterthur Portfolio
Manuscript & Book Review Editorial Assistance
Research Assistant, University of Delaware Anti-Racism Initiative, Legacies of Dispossession
& Enslavement Committee. February - June 2022.
2021
Editor, Dense Magazine. Design Shed, 501c3
Print publication that explores the relationship between the built environment and New Jersey, the densest state in the US. Dense is operated by DesignShed, a Montclair NJ based non-profit that aims to advance the awareness of design through programming and grantmaking.
2019-22
Deputy Director & Design Director, Art Fair 14c, Jersey City, NJ. Art Fair 14C, 501c3
2019-2021
Curator & Grant Specialist, Van Wagenen House (NRHP, 2006) Office of Cultural Affairs,
City of Jersey City. COVID response April ‘20-August ‘20, managing all covid test results.
Grant Portfolio: Action Grant (New Jersey Council of the Humanities ), Hudson Co.
History Program (Hudson Co.Office of Tourism & Culture ), Cooperative Marketing Grant (NJ Tourism)
Curatorial work featured in New York Times: “More of Collector’s Dutch and British Objects to Go to Museums”. Eve Kahn, Art & Design Section, Jan 31, 2020.
2017 - 19
Academic Advisor for BFA Product Design, Parsons School of Design
2018 - 20 Peer Reviewer
Council of Readers for College Arts Association - Conference Sessions
National Conference on the Beginning Design Student - Conference Sessions
Plots Journal of Design Studies - Journal Article Submissions
2017
Research Assistant to Caroline Dionne, Towards a Theory of Participatory Design Methods
2016- 17
Contributor on Design Education, Metropolis Magazine. Selected Writings:
How to Get More Minority Students in Architecture? Look to 1968
At Cooper Hewitt, Socially Responsible Design Takes Center Stage
RISD Students Disrupt the Gendered Nature of Wearable Tech
Diversity Champions: 8 Schools That Aren’t Just Paying Lip Service To Diversity
College for Creative Studies’ New MFA Pairs Design with Industry
The New School’s New Hire Asserts Design’s Role in the Refugee Crisis
SCI-Arc Launches Scholarship for L.A. Public School Students
Book Review, David Brody’s Housekeeping by Design (Print only)
2016-17
Contributor on Design, TL Magazine
2015
Curatorial Intern, Brooklyn Museum, Department of Decorative Arts, Brooklyn, NY.
2012-15
Archival Catalogger, Jim Wise Theater Archive, Newark NJ
2012-13
Digital Researcher, Society of Architectural Historians, New York NY. Project
SAH Archpedia, University of Pennsylvania. Under supervision of Dr. Gabrielle Esperdy
Academic Presentations
2022
Design History Society, Paper Titled: “American Public Space and Capitalism: A Political
Reading of Rest Stop Interior Design 1950-1970,” Session Moderated by Fredie Flore, session titled: “Commercial Transformations of Interiors,” Izmir, Turkey Sep 8-10, 2022.
2021
College Art Association, Co-Chair Towards a Socialist History of US Design: The Material Culture of Progressive Movements with Rachel Hunnicutt, New York, Feb 12-15. Presenters: Prof. Amanda Horton (U. of Central Oklahoma), Alternative Movie Posters: An Examination of Progressive Practice in Film Poster Design. Jessica Fletcher (CUNY), The District Health Center in New York City: From "Wall Street's Back Yard" to City-Wide Program (1913-1937). Prof. Danielle Aubert (Wayne State), Contemporary Graphic Design on the Left. J. Dakota Brown (SAIC), Phototypesetting and the "Life-Cycle" of Socialism. Ellen Christen and Christopher Cote (San Francisco State), Common Goods: Everyday Objects in New Rituals of Care During the Covid-19 Pandemic.
2020
College Art Association, Co-Chair Beyond the Bauhaus: Histories of American Design
Education with Colin Fanning, Chicago, Feb 12-15. Presenters: Prof. Holly Gore (UC Berkeley), Cooperative Projects: The Socially-Engaged Classroom of Molly Gregory. Dr. Tim Stott (Dublin School of Creative Arts), Sim Van der Ryn’s Outlaw Building. PJ Carlino (BU), De-centering the Bauhaus: Industrial Design Education. Prof. Brockett Horne (MICA), Teaching Taste through Typography.
2019
Design History Society “American Industry & Design Schools: Tracing Influence from
Enterprise to Education” School of Art, Design and Social Sciences Northumbria University Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK. Sep 8-10.
College Art Association, Session Co-Chair Teaching Design Studies: Practice, Methods, &
Resources, with Dr. Carla Cesare, New York, Feb 14. Presenters: Claudia Marina (Parsons), Ephemeral Materiality: Problematizing Design, Dr. Kjetil Fallan (U. of Oslo), Making Design History Matter. Prof. Keren Ben-Horin and Sarah C. Byrd (FIT), Teaching the Unpredictable: Co-Teaching in Museum Practicum Courses. Prof. Kenneth Segal & Dr. J. Ventura (Hadassah Academic College Jerusalem), Designing Cultural Objects: Cultural Design Anthropology as Innovation in the Classroom.
Panelist: Ellen Lupton (Cooper Hewitt), Dr. David Raizman (Drexel University)
National Conference on the Beginning Design Student “History As Context: Case Study on Activating History Classroom” University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 12-14.
2018
Chicago Design: Histories and Narratives, Questions and Methods “Chicago and the
Precedent Of Design Education: Pedagogy, Curricula, and Capitalist Influences” School of the Art Institute of Chicago, November 8-10.
National Conference on the Beginning Design Student “Iciting Criticality in Design Education: How We Teach History to Product Design Students” University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, March 1-3.
2017
Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Association, “Bauhaus: A Capitalist Fetish Beyond Socialist
Intentions & Historical Representations”, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 2017
Parsons Graduate Symposium, “Business Practices of the Bauhaus & The Bard Textbook”, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY May 4-6
2016
Parsons Graduate Symposium Spring 2016 “Bruce Rogers & Modernism: How Euclid
Changed His Aesthetic”, Parsons School of Design, New York, NY May3-4
Guest Lectures & Interviews
2022
"Rest Stops as Sites of Politics," Guest Lectuer for Parsons-wide course Intro to Design Studies.
2020
The Future of Design Education, Interviewed by Renee Collins for Montclair Design Week
Design Education & Industry, Guest Lecturer at Pratt Institute MFA Industrial Design
2019
Guest Crit at Parsons Capstone Review, Senior Showcase, Parsons School of Design
Academic Publications
2018
Inciting Criticality in Design Education: How We Teach History to Product Design
Students. University of Cincinnati, vol. 34 no. 1 (2018): The 34th National Conference on the Beginning Design Student. Published Sep. 2018.
Fellowships, Awards & Press
2022
Research Assistantship, University of Delaware Anti Racism Initiative, Committee of
Enslavement & Dispossession
2020
Health Hero for the City of Jersey City for Covid response on managing testing
sites and constituent results. Managed results for all senior citizen housing.
2020
“More of Collector’s Dutch and British Objects to Go to Museums”, New York Times feature
on curatorial efforts at the Van Wagenen House, Gretchen Von Koenig interviewed by author Eve Kahn, Art & Design section, Jan 31, 2020.
2019
Parsons Part-Time Faculty Development Grant, Design History Society
2018
Research Development Stipend, Office of Student Success, Parsons School of Design
2015-18
Parsons Dean Scholarship
2016-17
National Art Dealers’ Association Funding Recipient - Smithsonian Scholarship
2015-16
Smithsonian Institute Fellow
2015
School of Art & Design Medal, College of Architecture and Design, NJIT.
2014
Undergraduate Presidential Leadership Award, NJIT.
2014
Student Excellence Award - Top Junior Industrial Design Student, College of Arch & Design
Professional Committee & Leadership
2021
Jersey City Arts Council 501c3, Grants committee
2018-20
Jersey City Arts Council (501c3), Co-Chair Architecture & Design Committee
Exhibition: Urban Crossroads, Hudson County Community College
2018-17
Co-Chair - Assessment Committee for Institutional Effectiveness
Faculty Advisor, IDSA Student Chapter, Parsons School of Design
Faculty Advisor, Alpha Rho Chi, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Committee Member - Assessment Committee for Academic Advising Surveys
Committee Member - Careers Committee for Academic Advising
2017
ADHT Graduate Symposium Organizer
Design Practice, Press & Awards
2019-2022
Design Director for Art Fair 14C, 501c3
Graphic Identity, Fair Infrastrucutre Design & Layout, Fair Maps and Apparel
Marketing Assets for artnet, NYTimes, NJ.com, Hyperallergic & social media platforms and website
2016
Seed Packet Design selected for GROWTH Exhibition, NYCxDesign, Astor Place
Sponsored by AmDC, The Sill & NYC Department of Design & Construction.
Seed Packets, collaboration with artist Allison Underwood.
2014-16
Studio Manager, Kiel Mead Designs, Brooklyn NY
Sales Representative, American Design Club, Brooklyn NY
Helped organize public shows for NYCxDesign events, public shows in Astor Place, Times Square and in various Design shows such as Wanted Design, ArchDigest Show & NYNow.
2012-15
Graphic Designer, Jim Wise Theater, Newark NJ
2014
Pillow Design, Cheaper than the Real Thing, selected for AmDC Field Day Exhibition at
Wanted Design @ Industry City
2014
Rubber Ottoman, featured in DesignMilks Best in Show for ICFF 2014
2013
Design Intern, WorkHorse Design, Set design for Radiolab live show Apocalyptical
Design Intern, POD Design, Principle Brooks Atwood
2012
Graphic Designer, Newark Downtown District, Special Improvement District
Professional Development / Attended Conferences
2019
American Association of State & Local Histories, Co-Convened by Sites of Conscious,
Philadelphia, PA
2018
Assessment Institute, National Association of Academic Advising, Daytona Beach, FL
2016
Mid Atlantic Popular Culture Association Conference, Atlantic City, NJ
Professional Membership Past & Current:
College Art Association of America
Association of Independent Colleges of Art & Design
Design Research Society
Industrial Designers Society of America
Design History Society