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Penn state professor named artist of year
Lonnie Graham, assistant professor of art and integrative arts, was honored in October 2005 by Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell with the Hazlett Memorial Artist of the Year Award. The honor is part of the annual Governor’s Awards for the Arts honoring outstanding artists, arts organizations and patrons of the arts in Pennsylvania for their excellence and achievement in the arts. The honors are the Commonwealth’s highest recognition for artistic talent and service to the arts.
From Lonnie Graham's 2004 exhibition A Conversation with the World: "Temple Worshiper," Lughzun, Kashmir, 2004
Graham is a visual artist, photographer, community activist and teacher whose photographic work, installations and community-based art projects explore a complex array of social and political issues. In addition to teaching at Penn State, he is an instructor of special programs at the Barnes Foundation and a visiting instructor of graduate studies at the San Francisco Art Institute. Previously, he was a visiting professor at Haverford College and served for many years as curator-in-residence for Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh.
During his tenure as director of photography at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild (MCG) in Pittsburgh, an arts organization dedicated to the educational development of disadvantaged urban youth, he developed an after-school photography program using innovative pilot projects merging the arts and academics. One such project led to the development of the MCG Arts Collaborative, an interactive program between public schools and community organizations. The White House cited the pilot projects as a National Model for Education. Graham’s efforts also contributed to the development of the Community Development Corporation/Arts Resource Initiative (CDC/ARI), a multi-million dollar multi-year project funded by the Ford Foundation.
Graham has been involved in and won a number of major commissions concerning social and political issues. Among these are the African/American Garden Project, a physical and cultural exchange of disadvantaged urban single mothers, an elderly African American community and farmers from the small farming village in Muguga, Kenya, and a 1997 commission to travel to Papua New Guinea through the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia to document the work of the Maisins, a people who have successfully blocked the efforts of foreign logging interests to win over their property rights, and have chosen to support themselves by maintaining traditional values rooted in an ancient lifestyle.
Most recently, Graham was awarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts and a National Endowment for the Arts/Pew Charitable Trust Travel Grant for travels to Ghana. He is a three-time Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship recipient and has also been nominated as a DuPont Fellow and for the Cal Arts–Alpert Award in the Arts
Graham’s work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of African American History in Detroit; the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the Delaware Museum of Art; and the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Mass.
Past recipients of the Artist of the Year Award include pianist Lang Lang, conductor and composer Andre Previn, and Freedom Theatre founder John Allen Jr. –AMM
student chapter of american string teachers association honored with national award
The Penn State student chapter of the American String Teachers Association (ASTA) was presented with the Outstanding Student Chapter Award on March 10, 2006, during the national convention in Kansas City, Mo. The award is given to an ASTA student chapter that actively promotes strings in the university and the university community.
“I believe our chapter was chosen for this award because of the number, and more importantly, the variety of activities that the students have organized,” says Robert Gardner, chapter advisor and instructor of music education (strings).
The Penn State student chapter of ASTA, an official organization recognized by the University’s Division of Student Affairs, was established in September 1997 with Timothy Deighton, associate professor of music, as the first advisor. The organization’s numerous events have helped to improve members’ musicianship and teaching skills while promoting the importance of strings education at Penn State and throughout the community.
In addition to clinics and faculty performances, the chapter has held a “Violafest,” which featured internationally recognized performers and more than 200 participants, and hosted visits by Suzuki specialist Martha Shackford and noted alternative styles violinist Geoffrey Fitzhugh Perry.
The chapter continues to organize events of interest to students in the School of Music, as well as members of the community, and hopes to establish an annual chamber music festival. “I am proud of the students’ accomplishments,” notes Gardner. “Even with their already-busy schedules, they donated their time and efforts to create unique opportunities for themselves and for the entire Penn State string-playing community.” –FWM
art education students leave mark on department of education mural
The Penn State student chapter of the Pennsylvania Art Education Association (PAEA), in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Education and Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program, recently participated in the painting of a mural that will permanently grace the entrance to the Department of Education in Harrisburg.
Dana Carlisle Kletchka, curator of education for the Palmer Museum of Art and affiliate instructor in art education, attended a workshop in preparation for the mural painting during the summer 2005 meeting of the PAEA board of directors, and coordinated Penn State’s involvement in the project. The 20 x 25 foot mural, painted by students from 20 schools, ranging from elementary schools to universities, is titled “Inspiring Students to Become Productive Life Long Learners.” Sections of the mural were sent to each participating school and 12 Penn State students worked over two weeks this past fall on painting the 5 x 5 foot pre-designed fabric. It was then returned and installed by César Viveros-Herrera, the designer and a resident artist and muralist in Philadelphia.
Other partners in the project were the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, the City of Harrisburg, and Fulton Bank Corp. and M & T Bank Corp., which own the building wall and gave their consent for the mural. The mural is part of a yearlong celebration of the state capitol’s 100th anniversary.
According to Kletchka, the students learned invaluable lessons by observing the collaboration between the designer and art teachers. “It was a really good thing for students to see the negotiations that happen between partners when they are trying to do some sort of community-based project. Plus they have the knowledge that their work will be on public display for years to come.” –FWM
Photo by Mary Elizabeth Meier
Penn State students painted the portion of the mural in the upper-right corner.
