Rate My Professor Gregory Steel

Gregory Steel serves as Professor of Fine Arts and New Media at Indiana University Kokomo within the New Media Art and Technology program. Born in Detroit and raised by his maternal grandparents in the city's diverse East Side neighborhoods, Steel developed an early interest in art influenced by his grandmother's innovative use of everyday materials to create unique objects and arrangements. Beginning as a self-taught artist who supported his pursuits through various jobs, he pursued formal education part-time while working full-time, earning a BFA from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and an MFA in New Genres from the University of Michigan. He also holds a Ph.D. in philosophy, with a doctoral dissertation titled "The Sublime: An Existential and Ontological Alliance with Mystery." Following his graduate studies, Steel taught sculpture and experimental media at the College for Creative Studies before taking his current position at Indiana University Kokomo. Over forty years of studying Western and Asian philosophy have deeply informed his practice.

Central to Steel's work is the integration of art and life, where ideas drive the process and experience supersedes individual objects. Influenced by Marcel Duchamp, Joseph Beuys, Lawrence Weiner, and Allan Kaprow, he employs a wide array of media and techniques, including video, object making, digital imaging, book publishing, installation, performance, new technology, and sculpture with materials such as steel and limestone. His sculptures, such as Iki (2018), Spirit Path (2018), Still (2020), Still Standing (2020), and Yuugen (2018), embody philosophical concepts like balance, equanimity, the sublime, and the human condition, often drawing on traditions of abstract sculpture and Zen awareness. A brush with cancer in 1998 heightened his sense of urgency, leading to diverse projects addressing social change, including collaborations like a physiological monitoring system with Cybernet Systems of Ann Arbor and intimate tableaus with miniature figures. Steel's art has been exhibited across the United States and Europe, with recent shows in China, Russia, London, and Barcelona, Spain. Notable publications include "Using virtual environments for synchronous online courses" (2013, Journal of Teaching and Learning With Technology) and "The Flux of Matter: An Installation of Paintings and Sculptural Objects Inspired by the Miami Nation of Indians of Peru."