Assistant Professor of Art and Art History Mark Denaci loves living in a community which revolves around teaching and learning about art and the world. His interests reach from the broader areas of the history and philosophy of art of the last 100 years to the more specific area of "how the philosophical approaches of deconstruction, gender/queer theory and postcolonial theory can be used to understand and critique contemporary art practices," he says. Denaci attended a National Endowment for the Humanities seminar over the summer, and he is working on an essay for an anthology based on the seminar topic, Cuban-American Philosophy, Art and Literature. Whether it is his students or his colleagues, Denaci likes learning about their work both within the Art and Art History department and in the University as a whole. "Aside from the teaching," he says, "what I enjoy most is being part of an intellectual community. Learning about the work of my colleagues reminds me of why I wanted to become a professor in the first place -- so I could keep on learning everything I could about the world." Now in his second year at St. Lawrence, Denaci says, "The most rewarding moments have been those times when I've worked individually with students on their writing, and really noticed the difference in their work." In addition to the visual arts, Denaci also enjoys foreign and independent films and claims, "I am a huge music buff. I like everything from avant-garde jazz to alternative rock."