Celebrating Bennington's Adult Summer Programs
This August, adult students joined Bennington College faculty members to further their studies in AI, painting, and writing.
From August 17–21, adult students joined Bennington College faculty members for a week on campus thinking, making, and doing. These immersive summer intensives in writing, landscape painting, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) were designed for curious learners ready to deepen their practice.
80 percent of participants rated their experience at the summer programs as "excellent."
Three courses were offered. AI, Creativity, & Ethics, taught by Darcy Otto, the founding director of the Bennington Center for Artificial Intelligence and Bennington College faculty member in Computer Science, aimed to understand AI beyond the surface and to explore creativity, ethics, and technology.
"As an AI researcher, I often approach the subject from my own lane. It was deeply informative and stimulating to approach it from a set of different perspectives," said a student following the course.
Landscape Painting students spent a week painting outdoors in the hills and fields surrounding Bennington College. This intensive workshop invited artists to slow down, observe carefully, and develop new approaches to landscape painting.
Participants praised the beautiful campus settings, helpful Bennington staff members, and the camaraderie that developed between fellow students.
Modern Monsters: Culture, Meaning, and Writing invited students to enter The Scriptorium and ask: “what do monsters reveal about our culture, our fears, ourselves?” Students spent a week with writers, scholars, and faculty members Alex Creighton and Camille Guthrie writing, reading, and thinking deeply about the stories we tell and why they matter within Bennington’s bold, original writing culture.
Students called Modern Monsters "incredibly rewarding, pleasurable, and fruitful," and loved "the inspirational input from both teachers and students."
