Todd Bartel received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design in 1985 concluding his studies at RISD’s European Honors Program in Rome. In 1990, he was a recipient of the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship (U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C.) and the Liquitex Art Materials Award. He earned an MFA in Painting from Carnegie Mellon University in 1993. Bartel’s work assumes the forms of painting, drawing, and sculpture in a collage and assemblage format. His work investigates the interconnected histories of collage and landscape and the roles of nature and natural resources in Western culture. Bartel was awarded a Connecticut Council on the Arts Fellowship Grant in 2000 in support of the continuation of his related series entitled, Terra Reverentia and Garden Studies. Bartel has taught drawing, painting, and sculpture at Brown University, Manhattanville College and Carnegie Mellon University, Vermont College MFA in Visual Art, New Hampshire Art Institute MFA in Visual Art among others. He has been a guest critic at Rhode Island School of Design, a visiting critic at Vermont College (since 1999) and New Hampshire Art Institute since 2014. Bartel has lectured at Alfred University, Western Connecticut State University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Montclair State University, Chatham College among others. His work has been exhibited nationally in venues that include Palo Alto Art Center (Palo Alto, CA), Katonah Museum (Katonah, NY), Brockton Art Museum (Brockton, MA), The Rhode Island Foundation (Providence, RI), Zieher Smith (New York, NY), Mills Gallery (Boston, MA), Iona College (New Rochelle, NY). He is the founder and Gallery Director at the Cambridge School of Weston’s Thompson Gallery, a gallery dedicated to thematic inquiry, including such exhibition series as Sublime Climate, Collage at 100,Kiss the Ground, Nowhere Everywhere, With Eyes Open,  and About Vulnerability. A seasoned teacher since 1986, Bartel currently teaches drawing, painting, collage, assemblage, conceptual art, and installation art at The Cambridge School of Weston, Weston, MA.

Todd Bartel was the inaugural recipient of Rhode Island School of Design'sArt and Design Educator Award