Jackson Mac Low - Life

Life

Mac Low received his associate's degree from the University of Chicago in 1943, where he continued study in philosophy and literature into 1945, and his bachelor's degree in Ancient Greek from Brooklyn College in 1953. From 1957 onward, Mac Low worked as an etymologist, writer of reference-book articles, copy editor, indexer, proofreader, and fact checker for many publishers, including Knopf, Funk & Wagnalls, Pantheon, Bantam, and Macmillan. Beginning in 1981, Mac Low and Anne Tardos wrote, directed, and performed in seven radioworks. In 1965 Jackson gave lectures on 'Mousike' for the newly founded Free University of New York.

From 1964 through 1980, Mac Low participated as a visual artist, composer, poet, and performer in the Annual Festivals of the Avant-Garde in New York. In 1968, he signed the “Writers and Editors War Tax Protest” pledge, vowing to refuse tax payments in protest against the Vietnam War. In 1969 he produced computer-assisted poetry for the Art and Technology Program of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

In 1986 he received a Fulbright travel grant for New Zealand, where he was the keynote speaker at the Australia and New Zealand American Studies Association conference at the University of Auckland. He also participated in a composers’ conference and led a workshop in Nelson, New Zealand. He read, performed, was interviewed, and led workshops in Wellington, Dunedin, and Auckland as well.

In 1989 Mac Low participated in the Fine Arts Festival at the University of North Carolina. From 1990 to 1991, Mac Low served on the poetry panel of the New York Foundation for the Arts. In 1993, Mac Low and Anne Tardos gave a joint concert of their works for voices with prerecorded tapes at Experimental Intermedia, New York. In January 1996 he presented readings and performances at Cowell College of the University of California, Santa Cruz.

In 2000, Mac Low performed two readings of his poetry at the Bjørnson Festival 2000 in Molde, Norway. He also unveiled a monument to Kurt Schwitters on an island off Molde.

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