Artist and educator Olivia Gude, professor in the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago, will lead a workshop in conjunction with the exhibition Mai-Thu Perret: An Ideal for Living. Known for her lectures and workshops on the transformation of art education, Gude's work explores the collaborative development of curriculum based on postmodern art and community issues. Her research identifies new paradigms for structuring visual art curricula and is described in Postmodern Principles: In Search of a 21st Century Art Education and Principles of Possibility: Considerations for a 21st Century Art and Culture Curriculum. She is actively involved in monumental urban projects, teen art workshops, and collaboration among a myriad of constituencies–artists, architects, planners, educators, community leaders, and intergenerational groups.

Gude has received many grants, commissions, and awards, including National Endowment for the Arts grants to create public artworks (1993 and 2004) and the Viktor Lowenfeld Award by the National Art Education Association for her contributions to the field of art education (2009). She is the Founding Director of the Spiral Workshop, a curriculum research project, and a member of the Public Program and Education Advisory Board for Art21 and the Council for Policy Studies in Art Education.