David Seaman first had international experience
as a teenager living in Rome, Italy, where he learned
to speak Italian and nourished a love of art and architecture.
In college he majored in French and German, spending summer
study abroad experiences in Vienna and Québec.
He continues to be a strong believer in the value of study
abroad, having taught in immersion and USG programs in
France, Italy, and Greece. He also has traveled widely
in Africa and the Caribbean, and taught for a year in
Morocco as a Fulbright senior lecturer.
As a graduate student at Stanford University,
David Seaman earned a Master’s degree in German,
with a thesis on Rainer Maria Rilke. At this time he also
studied art with outstanding painters and printmakers.
He then switched to French for his Ph.D., doing research
on 19th and 20th century French literature. His dissertation
on French avant-garde poetry and art led him to become
involved with the Lettrist movement which has embraced
him as one of its creators. He has exhibited with the
Lettrists in Europe for over twenty years, and has been
the curator of Lettrist art shows in several academic
galleries in the United States.
Dr. Seaman is the author of the book, Concrete
Poetry in France (Ann Arbor: UMI, 1981), a classic study
of European visual poetry. He has published numerous articles
on avant-garde art and literature and lectured at dozens
of conferences. His interest in the Francophone world
led to his translation of André Breton’s
Martinique–Snake charmer (Austin: University of
Texas Press, 2007). He has created two artist books published
in France; these are portfolios of hypergraphic photographs
about Georgia agriculture, called Georgics–Tobacco
and Georgics–Cotton. They have been exhibited and
awarded honors in the Georgia Coastal Heritage Art Exhibit.
David Seaman had a one-person show of his Lettrist paintings
in 2003 at the Kalmanson Gallery in Swainsboro.
Alternative energy, gardening, furniture
building and historic sports cars are some of David Seaman’s
interests; he is currently building an architecturally
green treehouse. In the fall of 2007 Seaman is an exchange
professor at Huazhong Normal University in Wuhan, China,
teaching French and lecturing on American popular culture.
