I teach undergraduate English Composition at NYCCT, CUNY and Critical Studies in the MFA program at the New York Academy of Art. I have been a New Yorker since 1982 (and was one in spirit even before that).

I was an art critic and journalist in NYC for more than 20 years, and I contributed reviews, news features, and profiles to TimeOut NY, Art in America, The New York Times, ARTNews, The WG News + Arts, The Village Voice, Photographmag, and other publications.

I was a curator. I did projects in gallery and non-traditional spaces around the City (Norte Maar, Pocket Utopia, Governors Island, Gallery Available, and the Online web gallery 45Projects.com, to name a few). 

I did a LOT of private consulting for artists. Artists Statements were my specialty. I think I have literally written hundreds. I also wrote mission statements, NYFA Grant proposals, Guggenheim-grant bios and work plans, residency applications, exhibition proposals, website bios/statements, and general branding. I even wrote application essays that got artists into grad school (Yale, Columbia, SVA). 

I have often given artist-statement workshops and lectures as Visiting Critic. My gigs in years past include: Yale University, SUNY New Paltz, the Lower East Side Print Shop, Pratt Institute, MICA, and the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, to name a few. Stuff like this:

Here are some examples of other activities:

Spring 2021: Featured on The ARTGRIND Podcast. Episode 50: Sarah Schmerler – A Story Worth Telling.

Summer 2020: Co-Host of Webinar: Architects for Change: Building Wellness, Inside and Out which included Architect Chris Lepine, Director of Zaha Hadid Studio.

Spring 2019: New York Academy of Art. Visiting Critic at MFA Program

Fall 2019: “In Conversation” with Catherine Howe at Winston Wachter Gallery, Chelsea, NY

Summer 2019: New York Academy of Art. Visiting Critic at CFA Program

Summer, 2018: New York Academy of Art. Visiting Critic at CFA Program.

Spring, 2017: Visiting Critic in the studios of the New York Academy of Art.

Fall Semester, 2015 to the Present: New York Academy of Art. Instructor of “Art and Culture II – 1960 to the present: The Shaping of Contemporary Aesthetics and the Current State of Figurative Art”. (MFA) 

Nov. 1, 2014: Participate as writer and performer in The Brooklyn Performance Combine in the Beux Arts Court of the Brooklyn Museum, produced by Norte Maar. (Watch a short synopsis video here.)

Oct. 7, 2014: Lecture/Visiting critic talk/ at The King’s College, Manhattan, in John Silvis’ “Culture and Aesthetics” class.

July/August 2014: I curated a four-person exhibition at OUTLET Fine Art in Bushwick called “Frozen Karaoke” that also included artisanal ice cream by chef Nick Morganstern. It ran July 10, 2014 through August 17, 2014. Link to the gallery: here. 

June 2014: My own visual artwork was displayed in an exhibition called “Suggestion, That is the Dream: Arshile Gorkey and a Selection of Contemporary Drawings.” It was a museum-quality show of works on paper by contemporary artists as well as two historical works — one by Arshile Gorky and the other by William Anastasi — adding gravitas and context to the new work, and I felt honored to be included. Link: here.