Curriculum Vitae, Benjamin J. Dunkle, M.F.A.
Designer, Developer, Educator, Artist
2001 Main St., Buffalo, NY, 14208
716.888.3125
Education
1997 Master of Fine Art, Printmaking
The State University of New York at Buffalo
Practiced printmaking, artist books, drawing. Created an extensive and diverse body of work, including artist books, large works on linen and canvas, and a multitude of prints and drawings.
1994 Bachelor of Fine Art, Printmaking
The State University of New York, Purchase College
Concentrated in printmaking, with a strong emphasis on drawing.
1993 Exchange Student, Study Abroad
The Glasgow School Of Art, Glasgow, Scotland
Studied photo printmaking processes, papermaking, artist books, drawing and photography.
Academic Experience
2022–2025 Department Chair
Department of Communication, Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
Oversee development and operations of Digital Media Arts program. Academic Advisor to approximately 25 DMA majors and 10 Freshman each semester.
2017-2020 Program Director
Digital Media Arts Program, Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
Oversee development and operations of Digital Media Arts program. Academic Advisor to approximately 25 DMA majors and 10 Freshman each semester.
2018–2025 Full Professor
Digital Media Arts Program, Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
Develop curriculum and academic policy for Digital Media Arts program in the Department of Communication.
2018–2019 Professor
Canisius Lifelong Learning Initiative (CALLI), Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
Held four to five week long short courses focused on WordPress.
2007-2017 Associate Professor
Digital Media Arts Program, Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
2001-2006 Assistant Professor
Digital Media Arts Program, Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
2001-Present Workshop Instructor
Western New York Book Arts Center, Buffalo, NY
Teach printmaking classes to small groups. Workshops cover a unique approach to combining drypoint and monoprint techniques. All work done on a volunteer basis for this non-profit organization.
2008-Present Instructor
Buffalo WordPress Users Meetup Group, Buffalo, NY
Hold lectures and demonstrations open to the general public. Lectures focused on WordPress and web design in general. Offer classes to the public twice monthly.
1999-2000 Instructor
CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Instructed 12-hour workshops on web design. Courses were: HTML I, HTML II, Adobe Golive I, Adobe Golive II.
1999 Instructor
Empire State College, Buffalo, NY
Introduction to Drawing. Held class sessions on an individual basis.
1999 Instructor
SUNY at Buffalo, Amherst, NY
Intermediate Illustration
Created curriculum and held classes focused on visual communication. Introduced students to printmaking and computers as tools for illustration.
1998 Instructor
Drawing Fundamentals
SUNY at Buffalo, Amherst, NY
Instructed students in the process of acquiring basic drawing skills.
1995–1997 Graduate Teaching Assistant
SUNY at Buffalo, Amherst, NY
For each of four terms in SUNY Buffalo’s MFA program, served as an instructor at all levels of intaglio processes, stressing experimentation and self expression.
1994 Lecturer, Papermaking
The Neuberger Museum, Purchase, NY
Conducted papermaking workshops for children.
1991–1994 Teacher’s Assistant
SUNY Purchase, Purchase NY
Assisted professors with class preparation and labs.
Professional Experience
1997–Present Web/Graphic Design Consultant
Field 2 Design, Buffalo, NY
Provide web and graphic design services to a variety of clients. Services include website design, development, and maintenance; mobile app design and development; illustration; animation; image editing, and presentation material production.
2008–2018 Designer
WordPress.org
Design and maintain Dashicons, the icons used in the WordPress admin. Dashicons are iconic symbols that serve to visually represent the actions that can be taken when creating, managing, maintaining, or updating WordPress-based website content. WordPress is a content management system (CMS) used on over 30% of all websites.
2000–2001 Director of Web Development and Interactive Media
Travers/Collins/Partners Marketing Communications, Buffalo, NY
Promoted to run the new department of the first new media division of one of the largest advertising agencies in Western New York. Integrated visual and navigational design with effective communication in the production of web sites, presentations, and interactive CD-ROMs. Estimated and coordinated third-party services, including domain registration, hosting, and back-end development. Served as primary contact point for corporate clients on all web, interactive and presentation accounts.
1997–2001 Production Designer/Illustrator
Travers/Collins/Partners Marketing Communications, Buffalo, NY
Designed and produced a variety of commercial media, including magazine, direct mail, newspaper, websites, and television ads. Served as in-house illustrator, providing finished artwork, marker comps, logos and icons. Produced digital and analog photography. Assisted in production of annual reports for large corporations through custom illustration, infographics, and layout.
1996 Pre-press Technician/Graphic Designer
Imagecore, Buffalo, NY
Prepared QuarkXPress and Adobe Pagemaker documents for output to film via RIP printers, maintaining adherence to highly complex and crucial specifications. Designed a multitude of publications for commercial use.
Journal Publications
2010 Enhancing the “Informed” in Informed Consent: A Pilot Test of a Multimedia Presentation.
Wanzer, M. B., Wojtaszczyk, A. M., Schimert, J., Missert, L., Baker, S., Baker, S. & Dunkle, B. (2008) Health Communication 25(4), 365-74.
2007 Teaching Creative Collaboration through Teams: Concept, Communication, and Conflict in Team Instruction.
Dahlberg, J. and Dunkle, B. (2007. Journal of the International Digital Media and Arts Association 4(2), 30-37.
2004 Using a Web-Based Simulation for Reading Assessment Training
Richardson, G. & Dunkle, B. (2004). Proceedings of Society for Information Technology & Teacher Education International Conference 2004, (4005-4009) Chesapeake, VA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE) .
Scholarly Presentations
2024 Do you really need all those plugins?
Dunkle, B. WordCamp Rochester, Rochester School of the Arts, Rochester, NY
Presented an overview of the WordPress block-editor, examining challenges and successes as it moves toward a code-free website editing experience
2023 How Close Are We to “no-code”?
Dunkle, B. WordCamp Rochester, Rochester School of the Arts, Rochester, NY
Presented an overview of the WordPress block-editor, examining challenges and successes as it moves toward a code-free website editing experience
2023 Are Child Themes Dead?
Dunkle, B. WordCamp Buffalo, Ken-Ton Commons on Elmwood, Kenmore, NY
Presented a case study and new approaches for creating child-themes within the current core WordPress development environment
2020 Using Google Classroom to teach a community WordPress course
Dunkle, B. WPCampus Online
Presented methods and best-practices for using Google Classroom as the primary courseware
2019 WordPress for Visual Artists
Dunkle, B. WordCamp Buffalo, SUNY Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
2019 WordPress for Visual Artists
Dunkle, B. WordCamp Hamilton, McMaster Innovation Park, Hamilton ON
2018 WordPress for Artists
Dunkle, B. WordCamp Buffalo, SUNY Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
2017 WordPress for Artists
Dunkle, B. WordCamp Rochester, SUNY Brockport, Rochester, NY
Presented methods and best-practices for visual artists using WordPress as a publishing platform
2017 Inside WordPress
Dunkle, B. Keynote address of the Canisius Innovation Conference at Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
Keynote speaker at inaugural conference
2016 A Custom Theme in 30 Minutes
Dunkle, B & Staple, A. WordCamp Pittsburgh, Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
2016 A Custom Theme in 30 Minutes
Dunkle, B & Staple, A. WordCamp Buffalo, SUNY Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
Presented a tutorial in which a working WordPress “theme” was created from an empty project in under 30 minutes
2015 Roundtable discussion and work session on WordPress Admin user-interface design
Dunkle, B. WordCamp US, Philadelphia Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA
Invited to live collaborative sessions with other lead WordPress designers
2015 Teaching WordPress
Dunkle, B. WordCamp Scranton, Johnson College, Scranton, PA
Presented a review of nearly a decade of my WordPress instruction
2014 A Dashicon in 5 minutes
Dunkle, B. WordCamp US, San Francisco, CA
Help a demonstration on the creation of an icon used in the Dashicons collection
2014 The WordPress Brand
Dunkle, B. WordCamp Buffalo, Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
Presented an overview of the WordPress brand
2014 Designing Dashicons
Dunkle, B. WordCamp NYC, New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge, New York City, NY
Present a reflection piece on the design process behind Dashicons, which I designed and which became one of the most popular icon collections in existence
2013 Flattening WordPress
Dunkle, B. WordCamp Buffalo, Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
Presented a critique of current design trends in WordPress.org open-source software
2012 Timeline: a user‐focused, community‐based system for preserving and presenting historical data
International Digital Media and Arts Conference (IDMAA), Miami, FL.
Presented a website built on WordPress open‐source technology, for enabling the preservation and presentation of historical data by historians and communities.
2010 Teaching Creative Teams To Become More Effective Collaborators: An Experimental Study
Dahlberg, J. & Dunkle, B. International Technology, Education and Development (INTED), Valencia, Spain.
Gave virtual presentation.
2010 Teaching Creative Collaboration through Teams: Concept, Communication, and Conflict in Team Instruction
Dahlberg, J. & Dunkle, B. Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL) conference, Creighton University, Omaha, NE.
Presented updates to ongoing course collaboration.
2009 Digital Imaging
Preservation Institute, Western New York Library Resources Council, Depew, NY.
Demonstrated and discussed techniques and approaches to digitally archiving images to approximately 15 session attendees.
2008 Intro to web design: Where do we start?
International Digital Media And Arts Association Conference, Savannah, GA.
Presented “thought piece”, a 20 minute summary scoping research avenues pertaining to teaching web design.
2007 Teaching creative collaboration through teams: Concept, Communication and Conflict in Team Instruction
Dahlberg, J. & Dunkle, B. IDMAA 2007, Philadelphia, PA
Presented research gathered over the course of several semester in which an advertising writing course was co-taught with an advertising design course
2006 Teaching creative collaboration through teams: A pilot approach
Dahlberg, J. & Dunkle, B. Putting the Pieces Together: Fostering Integrative Student Learning Conference. Business Research Consortium: Niagara University, Niagara Falls, NY.
Sat on panel with Dr. John Dahlberg, PhD, to discuss collaboration between Advertising Writing class and Advanced Digital Design class.
2004 Using a Web-Based Simulation for Reading Assessment Training
Dunkle, B. & Richardson, A. Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education International Conference (SITE), Atlanta, GA 2004.
Presented reading assessment tool
2003 Identity on the Web: Trolls, Shills, and Newbies
Dahlberg, J., Dunkle, B. & Irwin, B. Eastern Communication Association (ECA) Convention, Washington D.C.
Presented paper examining online communication trends
2002 Advanced Powerpoint: Beyond Wizards and Clip Art
Eastern Communication Association (ECA) Convention, Washington D.C.
Held short course in advanced Powerpoint techniques.
Open-Source Software Development
2020 Gutenberg Gallery Blocks Lightbox
Programmed, designed and developed a free, open-source WordPress plugin. This WordPress website add-on automatically adds lightbox functionality to gallery blocks. Plugin available at https://wordpress.org/plugins/gg-lightbox/
2017 Shrinkwrap Images Plugin
Programmed, designed and developed a free, open-source WordPress plugin. This WordPress website add-on helps protect online images from being copied or downloaded, by automatically covering all images with an invisible image. Plugin available at https://wordpress.org/plugins/shrinkwrap-images/
Creative work
2006–Present Open source icon design
Design graphic icons for use in interfaces. Since making icons available to general public, I have received numerous requests for rights permission, by a variety of organizations and individuals. I have done extensive icon design for the ubiquitous open-source web application WordPress (http://www.wordpress.org) and Gallery http://gallery.menalto.com/
2001–Present Font designs
Designing fonts for free, unlimited use to the public. All fonts licensed under the GPL 2.0 license, and available on Github at https://github.com/field2/fonts. Approved font designer at dafont.com, the largest distributor of fonts in the world. Currently serving eight peer reviewed fonts at dafont, recording thousands of downloads each month.
2016-Present Circle of Art
Queens Circle, Crystal Beach, Ontario
Selected to exhibit artwork in annual outdoor community art festival.
2014-2018 Three Painters
Crystal Chandelier Cafe, Crystal Beach, Ontario
Exhibited paintings in annual group art show.
2017 “Modes of Transportation” works on paper
1045 Elmwood Gallery for the Arts, Buffalo, NY
Exhibited series of iconic paintings accepted for public display at prominent gallery
2009 Icons
IDEAS09: Arts at the Digital Edge.
Exhibited installation featuring icons created with digital and traditional methods at the largest Digital Media academic conference in the world.
2008 8x8x1
New Dance Group Arts Center, New York City, NY
Selected for Digital Currents exhibition.
2008 8x8x1
Niagara Community College, New York, NY
Work was distributed as part of unjuried Mail Art Exhibition.
2006 Dialogues
Drive In Studios, New York City, NY
Selected for show in renowned photo studio. Work from Hindsight Triptych series was reviewed and invitation extended by gallery curator Kip McQueen.
2006 Font Exhibition: Guppy Bold
Typecon2006: The Boston T Party In Boston, Hyatt Regency, Boston, MA
Font design “Guppy Bold” selected for exhibition in juried group show.
2006 Dialogues
Canisius College, Bouwhuis Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Collaborative installation with Jeanne Dunkle, featuring hung artwork, hand-made books, and audio/video/web-based digital art projection.
2005 Music is Art LIVE @ the Center
SUNY Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
Selected from prominent local artists to create digital fonts in front of public audience. Fonts were hand-drawn, scanned, and converted to digital typefaces. Process was filmed and projected onto large screen.
2005 Music is Art LIVE @ the Center
SUNY Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
Selected from prominent local artists to create prints/artwork in front of public audience. Worked collaboratively with Jeanne Dunkle to produce 3 large monoprints on paper.
2005 Font Exhibition: BeezWax
Type Gallery 2005, Parsons School Of Design, New York, NY
Font design selected for exhibition in juried group show.
2005 Beyond/In Western New York 2005
Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
One of 58 artists elected from over 700 entries to exhibit in Biennial show at a national art gallery.
2005 IDEAS 2005
IDMAA/IDEAS Art Conference/exhibition, Orlando, FL
Displayed “Dialogues 2”, a Flash-based interactive artwork.
2004 IDEAS 2004
IDMAA/IDEAS Art Conference/exhibition, Orlando, FL
Displayed “Glyph”, a Flash-based interactive artwork.
2003 Hindsight
CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Accepted invitation to display collaborative work with artist Jeanne Dunkle.
2002 Big Orbit 10th Anniversary Show
Anderson Gallery, Buffalo, NY
2001–2002 Printmaker’s Show and Sale
Roycroft Institute, East Aurora, NY
2000 Convergence
Carnegie Art Center, Tonawanda, NY
1998 ePIC Printmakers
Carnegie Art Center, Tonawanda, NY
1997 Solo exhibition
Spot Coffee, Buffalo, NY
1996 Holiday Invitational
Big Orbit Gallery, Buffalo, NY
1996 UB Printmaking Today
Suny Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
1996 The Annual Western NY Exhibition
Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
1996 Solo exhibition
Capen Gallery Buffalo, NY
1995 Graduate exhibition
The Butler Building, Purchase NY
Grants and Awards
2022 NEH Innovation Fund
Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
Awarded funds from National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Continued work on Timeline project.
2019 NEH Innovation Fund
Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
Awarded funds from National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Investigated digital tools for improving online learning.
2012 Dean’s Summer Grant
Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
Built Timeline project with artist/historian Kip McQueen, using open source tools.
2009 Sabbatical
Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
Completed “Icons,” artwork consisting of digital and hand-made iconography.
2008 Project Icon
WordPress.org
Entered internationally promoted contest and won against other professional designers by a substantial margin of community votes (35%) .
2008 Top Paper Award
National Communication Association
Received award within the Health Communication division of the National Communication Association convention, San Diego, CA.
2006 2006 Summer Proposal Development Grant
Canisius College, Buffalo, NY
$1000 grant to help fund development of Flash interactive tool to be used at Women and Children’s Hospital of Buffalo.
2003 Artist Grant
Niagara County Community College, Wheatfield, NY
Received $600 in funding toward the exhibition.
2002 Gold Award. Grille 33 Logo
Addy Awards, Buffalo Communicators Annual Award Show
Produced award winning illustration for restaurant logo.
1999 ePIC Printmaking Materials Grant
SUNY Buffalo, Buffalo NY
Funding provided for creating a series of prints to be sold through SUNY Buffalo’s
Experimental Print Imaging Center (ePIC) program.
1996 The Buffalo News Award for Excellence in Printmaking
Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Award received during The Annual Western NY Exhibition.
Interviews and Media Coverage
2022 Featured Artist
Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education
Invited to appear among several artists featured in fall ‘22. Work appeared in print and online publication.
2015 Interview for Design Trends Article
Communication Arts
Offered insights and perspectives about icon design for leading visual communications trade journal.
2006 Music is Art Live @ the Center
Suny Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
Activities and interview, filmed during Music is Art Live @ the Center, aired on UPN 23 WNLO on February 26
2005 The Art of Regionalism
Buffalo News, Buffalo, NY
Work from In Western NY show at Albright Knox Art Gallery was reviewed in Buffalo News. Artwork from show appeared “above-the-fold” in the Buffalo News Arts & Leisure section.
2005 Couple’s visionary artwork selected for Albright-Knox exhibition
Amherst Bee, Buffalo, NY
Subject of cover story. Photos of co-artist Jeanne Dunkle and work from In Western New York show were featured on the cover and inside pages.
2003 Artviews Interview-An Inside Look at Art in Western New York
Niagara County Community College, Wheatfield, NY
Interview with wife and co-artist, Jeanne Dunkle. Interview was aired live on LVL-20 and broadcast throughout Western NY.
Exhibition Catalogs
2005 Beyond/In Western New York
Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, NY
Artist statement and sample artwork printed in show catalog.
2005 Show Catalog
IDMAA/IDEAS Conference Art Exhibition, Orlando, FL
Artist statement and sample artwork printed in show catalog
2004 Show Catalog
IDMAA/IDEAS Conference Art Exhibition, Orlando, FL
Artist statement printed in show catalog
Professional and Community Memberships
2008-Present Buffalo WordPress Users Group
Founder, Organizer
Founded group in 2008. Organize monthly “meetup” group, with over 1000 members. Organize annual WordCamp Buffalo conference, with ~130 attendees from around the world
2008-Present Friends of Crystal Beach
Active board member of community group focused on providing cultural events and improving local livelihood in Crystal Beach, Ontario
2004-Present Western New York Book Arts Center
Active member of local arts institution focused on book arts and printmaking
2016-2017 WP Campus
Organizer, volunteer for annual conference focused on the use of WordPress in higher education
2004-2010 International Digital Media and Art Association (IDMAA)
Member
1996-2006 Brainstorm: Communicators Club of Buffalo
Member