Rebecca Migdal is an interdisciplinary artist, performer and author engaging with the healing power of the arts. Her creative practice, which incorporates dreams, myths and fairytales, ranges from painting, poetry and comics to animation, improvisational performance and sound sculpture. In any chosen medium Migdal explores the transformational dynamics of the imagination, as a tool for healing personal, cultural and intergenerational traumas. Migdal currently teaches in the Art+Media+Design department at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania. She is also co-owner and puppeteer at Book & Puppet Co. an independent bookstore and puppet theater in Easton, PA.
Professional and Academic Credentials: Migdal received her Bachelors in Studio Art in 1982 from the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she was a Regent’s Scholar. Her work has been supported by grants including the Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance, Emerging Artist Grant in 1989. She has a Master of Arts Degree in Communication Arts from the New York Institute of Technology. In 2005 Migdal entered the MFA program in English and Creative Writing at Stony Brook University, Southampton, where she studied script writing and the novel with Jules Feiffer and Roger Rosenblatt. In 2021 she earned a Master of Arts degree in Jungian Studies and Archetypes at Pacifica Graduate Institute, where she is currently pursuing a doctoral degree, researching consciousness and the creative process. She is also a certified dream coach, have completed three years of study with Stephen Aizenstat at Pacifica Graduate Institute.
Career Highlights: Starting in 1996 Migdal was the sole proprietor of R.L.Migdal Creative Multimedia, offering digital design, animation and presentation services to a variety of clients in publishing, media and the fashion industry. In 2000 she was an animator on Queer Duck, written by Mike Riess, now on Showtime. In 2004 she directed an animated faux commercial, Shugga Crax, which appeared in Alberto Bonilla’s play, Walking to America. Migdal founded the Yippee Skippy Puppet Theater in 2006. In 2012 she directed an animated book trailer, Rebel Bookseller: Amazilla VS Barnes Kong, that was featured on the web sites of The New Yorker, The New York Post and The Paris Review.
Service: Rebecca Migdal is a committed educator and advocate, working for gender equality, environmental justice and human rights. She is a contributing editor at World War 3 Illustrated, a NYC-based collective, publishing a critically acclaimed annual anthology of social justice comics. In 2022 she helped organize an exhibition promoting free speech in Russia and supporting artists protesting the invasion of Ukraine. In May 2023 the World War 3 Illustrated collective releases its latest issue, My Body Our Rights, an anthology of comics on gender, abortion and bodily autonomy, on which Migdal serves as an editor, contributor and designer.
Rebecca Migdal’s Curriculum Vitae accompanies this application, below.
Education
2025 Doctor of Philosophy, Jungian Studies & Archetypes
Pacifica Graduate Institute
2021 Master of Arts, Jungian Studies & Archetypes
Pacifica Graduate Institute
2008 Master of Fine Arts, English & Writing
SUNY Southampton
2005 Master of Arts, Communication Arts
New York Institute of Technology
1982 Bachelor of Arts, Studio Art
University of California, Santa Cruz
Selected Grants and Honors:
2005 Merit Scholarship, LIU Southampton MFA Writing Program
2004 New York Institute of Technology, Graduate Teaching Fellowship,
Long Island News Tonight: Broadcast Journalism and Web Design
1989 Emerging Artists Grant, Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance
1978-1982 Regents’ Scholar, University of California
Selected Paper Presentations, Workshops, Residencies and Performances
Motherflower (A Ceremonial Performance) January 2023; La Finca Sagrada, Vilcabamba, Equador; Piramide Mandango, Vilcabamba, Ecuador; Open Studio, Prague, Czech Republic
Climate Cassandras: Don’t Look Up and the Psychology of Believing. Paper presentation,2022 Conference, Mythologium (virtual event)
Jung and the Collective Shadow: From Witnessing Hate to Envisioning Social Justice 2022 Conference, Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies, Seattle, WA
In the Jaws of the Merman: Celebrity, Beauty and the Female Artist 2022 Conference, Popular Culture Society (virtual event)
Dreams, Puppetry and Healing Imagination,with Louise Watkinson Rosager – interviewer. 2021 Conference, Nordic School of Arts and Health, Copenhagen, Demark
Dance and Draw Dream Tending III workshop with Steve Aizenstat, October 2021
Puppeteer-in Residence Book & Puppet Co, 2017-present
Puppeteer-in Residence Bank Street Bookstore, 2012-2016
Recent Teaching
Adjunct Professor in Illlustration and Graphic Design, East Stroudsburg University, 2021-2023
Adjunct Professor in Digital Media, East Stroudsburg University, 2017-2018
Teaching Artist: Puppetry, Puppetmaking,
Cartooning, Computer Animation,
Arts Horizons; and numerous institutions throughout NJ and PA, 2016-present
Graphic Novel, Arts for the Environment, Storytelling and Puppetry workshops, Bank Street Bookstore, NYC. 2012-15
Selected Publications
Books
Intimate Partner Violence Escape Room 2019; Editor; Author, Illustrator, Mythoprint Publishing
Mermaids Fast Asleep (2019) Author (as Robin Riding). Macmillan, Feiwel and Friends imprint
Who Killed Luke Mandrake? Vols. I and II 2016; Editor; Author, Illustrator, Mythoprint Publishing
The Graphic Canon The Awakening by Kate Chopin (Graphic Novel Adaptation). Seven Stories Press, 2013
The Bohemians Ed. Paul Buhle. Verso Press, 2014
Periodicals
The Voice Behind the Curtain: Reclaiming My Dominant Function from the Protector/Persecutor 2022, Type in Depth; Author, Illustrator
Published in World War 3 Illustrated Magazine, New York, NY:
– Motherflower 2023; Author, Illustrator
– The Scars Went Deep 2022; Author, Illustrator
– Trump Dreams 2020; Author, Illustrator
– Intimate Partner Violence Escape Room 2019; Editor; Author, Illustrator
– Rojava: Flower in the Rubble 2018; Author, Illustrator
– Help Lady Liberty Find Her Way 2017; Author, Illustrator
– Death By Cop 2016; Author, Pencil artist
– The Future 2015; Editor; Author, Illustrator
– In Praise of Whistle-Blowers 2013; Author, Illustrator
– The Lost Treasure of Nauru 2011; Author, Illustrator
– The Yes Men in Judgement Day 2010; Author, Illustrator
– Ana and the Calabash 2009; Author, Illustrator
– Fools Gold 2007; Author, Illustrator.
– Agent Alpha, The Pentagon’s Tiniest Covert Operative 2006; Author, Illustrator.
– Crime And Punishment 2004 Author, Illustrator.