Susan Eisenberg

Areas of Expertise

Poetry; Mixed Media; Personal Narrative; Medical Humanities; Occupational Segregation; Labor Arts

Email: seis@brandeis.edu

Current Project

Susan’s research and art focus on employment equity and patient-centered medical care. She directs the On Equal Terms Project, using art and personal testimonies for public education, discussion, and action about occupational segregation. She is also completing a poetry manuscript based in the investigations and conversations about chronic illness that inform her Perpetual Care and Wishing Well exhibitions.

Biography

A poet, multidisciplinary artist and educator, Susan Eisenberg re-imagines the everyday, playing with scale and juxtaposition to investigate issues of power and social policy. She has three touring art exhibitions, “On Equal Terms,” “Perpetual Care,” and “Wishing Well.” She’s the author of the poetry collections, Blind Spot and Pioneering, and the nonfiction, We’ll Call You If We Need You: Experiences of Women Working Construction, a New York Times Notable Book.

Susan entered the construction industry in 1978, becoming one of the first women in the country to achieve journey-level status as a union electrician. As a poet, artist, activist, and author, she helped shape the cultural expression and analytical thinking of the tradeswomen’s movement nationally and internationally.

Currently, she directs the On Equal Terms Project, that links touring for her mixed-media installation, On Equal Terms, with programs that expand career opportunities for young women, and advance local and national initiatives toward economic justice. Her recent work has been awarded grants from Mass Humanities, Tyre and Puffin Foundations, as well as a writing residency at Hedgebrook. Susan taught for more than a decade at the University of Massachusetts Boston, and works with students of all ages to develop tools for self-expression.

Education

M.F.A., Warren Wilson College

B.A., University of Michigan

Representative Publications

Eisenberg, Susan. Blind Spot. Omaha: Backwaters Press, 2006

Exhibition:
Eisenberg, Susan. “On Equal Terms: Women in Construction 30 Years and Still Organizing” (2008). A touring mixed-media installation.

Links

Personal Web Page