American University of Kuwait Professor Clark Stoeckley Showcases Work at Dartmouth

AUK Associate Professor of Art and Graphic Design Clark Stoeckley presented Stars & Stripes, a series of Risograph prints developed during his Dartmouth-AUK Faculty Fellowship, at a Breakfast with the Arts event hosted by Dartmouth’s Department of Studio Art on August 11, 2026. Held at the Nearburg Gallery, the event showcased work Stoeckley created during his summer fellowship in collaboration with Tricia Treacy, Professor and Chair of the Department of Studio Art. Stoeckley credits Treacy with first introducing him to the Risograph printmaking process during Treacy’s workshop at the Tasmeem Doha Art + Design Conference in 2019, hosted by VCU Qatar.

“Collaborating with the AUK program in the Provost’s Office to bring Clark to our studios this summer was a seamless experience. It was wonderful to see people from a range of departments and programs join us for a morning discussion about the artwork in the Nearburg Gallery. It’s always rewarding when our programs extend to new audiences and create connections across campus,” said Treacy.

Stars & Stripes is a series of Risograph prints developed during the Dartmouth-AUK Faculty Fellowship and inspired by Stoeckley’s ongoing Thoughts & Prayers project. The works examine how geometry, cultural identity, spirituality, and political tension intersect within printmaking. The title, Stars & Stripes, nods to both Islamic geometric motifs and the American flag, reflecting Stoeckley’s experience between cultures and the landscapes that shape them. The phrase “thoughts and prayers” becomes a starting point for deeper reflection rather than an ending. Having lived in Kuwait for ten years, his work is shaped by the geometry of mosques, the patterns of local souks, and the layered sights and sounds of Arab and Asian cultures. These daily encounters sparked his interest in how repetition, pattern, and gentle disruption can express both order and uncertainty.

The Risograph process is central to Stoeckley’s prints. Layering translucent soy-based inks, each piece accepts shifts in registration, overlaps, and surprising color effects. These irregularities become metaphors for cultural exchange, memory, and the evolving nature of identity. The process’s balance of control and unpredictability echoes the tensions present in the work. Through these prints, Stoeckley explores how visual meditation can create space for reflection and empathy. Drawing from sacred geometry, stained glass, street art, and architecture, the works shift between structure and spontaneity. Their layered forms seek harmony in fragmentation and encourage mindful looking at abstraction as a quiet act of contemplation.

Clark Stoeckley is a multidisciplinary artist whose recent work bridges geometric abstraction and documentary photography. His latest projects include vibrant large-scale murals for the Kuwait National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters, the Downtown Minneapolis Street Art Festival, and Burning Man, as well as a photography series, Feral Felines, capturing the lives of stray cats. His geometric abstract drawings and murals fuse architectural precision with organic rhythm, transforming public and gallery spaces into dynamic fields of color and pattern. As a courtroom artist, Stoeckley illustrated and authored The United States vs. Private Chelsea Manning: A Graphic Account Inside the Courtroom. His art has been exhibited at the Pratt Manhattan Gallery, apexart, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery, EIDIA House, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Hartware Medien Kunst Verein, Revolt Gallery, and Contemporary Art Platform Kuwait. His work has appeared in ARTnews, VICE, Hyperallergic, Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The Nation, MSNBC, and PBS. Stoeckley earned an MFA in Performance and Interactive Media Art from Brooklyn College and a BFA in Alternative Media from Webster University. He is currently an Associate Professor of Art & Graphic Design at the American University of Kuwait and previously taught at Bloomfield College.

Stoeckley is currently a visiting scholar in the Studio Art Department through the DIMEX/Dartmouth-American University of Kuwait Program. His work is on display in the Nearburg Gallery through August 19.

Attendees view prints from Clark Stoeckley’s Stars & Stripes series at Dartmouth’s Breakfast with the Arts event
Photography Courtesy of Aurora Landers

Clark Stoeckley speaks with a visitor at the Stars & Stripes opening, part of his summer fellowship with Dartmouth’s Department of Studio Art
Photography Courtesy of Aurora Landers

Clark Stoeckley discusses Stars & Stripes, a series of Risograph prints created during his Faculty Fellowship at Dartmouth
Photography Courtesy of Aurora Landers