Dennise Gackstetter

Caine College of the Arts

Art and Design
Undergraduate Faculty Mentor of the Year

Dennise Gackstetter is a Principal Lecturer and Art Education Coordinator in the Department of Art + Design. She has lived a very migratory life. Her wanderings have taken her many places across the country and around the world. She has been a Visiting Artist Educator at the Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic; Visiting Artist at Jose Antonio Diaz Pelaz El Centro Experimental De Las Artes Visuales, Havana Cuba; the Ceramics Coordinator at the Penland School of Crafts in Penland, NC; and an Instructor of English at the Miyagi Guakuin Women's College in Sendai, Japan. She is an accomplished ceramic artist whose work has been exhibited in many venues including Baltimore Clayworks in Baltimore, MD; Penland Gallery in Penland, NC; Vermont Clay Studio in Waterbury Center, VT; Duluth Art Institute in Duluth, MN, and at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN.

A dedicated yogini and meditation practitioner, Gackstetter is a 500-hour certified yoga instructor with the International Yoga Alliance. These contemplative practices directly inform her art making, teaching, and daily life. In 2014 she presented a talk, "Body, Breath, Release" for the 3rd annual TEDxUSU; lead a discussion on "Mindfulness and Making" at the 48th annual conference of the National Council on Education in the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) and was part of a professional delegation of international yoga teachers that travelled to Cuba for cultural and educational exchange.