Graham & Dowhie: Artist and Arts Educator of the Year
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Photo by LaVerne Jones/USI |
Lenny Dowhie, left, and Matthew Graham, right.
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USI’s College of Liberal Arts has a lot to brag about – nothing more so than its outstanding faculty. Last month, the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana acknowledged the accomplishments of two of them.
Matthew Graham, professor of English, was named the 2008 Artist of the Year, and Lenny Dowhie, professor of art, was awarded Arts Educator of the Year at a reception in September.
Presenting Graham with the Artist of the Year award, Mary Jane Schenk, executive director of the Arts Council, said, “Matthew Graham is an exemplary poet who shares his own poetry, his knowledge of other poets’ work, and his expertise in writing and publishing with his students, his colleagues, and the public.”
Graham is the author of three books of poetry, A World Without End (2007), 1946 (1991), and New World Architecture (1985). He is USI’s director of Creative Writing, co-directs the RopeWalk Writers Retreat, and serves as poetry editor for the University’s literary magazine, Southern Indiana Review.
His poems have been published in many anthologies and in Harvard Magazine, Poetry Review, The Antioch Review, and The Missouri Review, among others. His poem “Delicate” was read by Garrison Keillor on National Public Radio’s “Writer’s Almanac” and another, “Greta’s Song” was read on NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
Graham is the recipient of an Academy of American Poets Award, a Pushcart Prize, a Maryland State Arts Council First Book Award, two literary fellowships from the Indiana Arts Commission, and a fellowship from the Vermont Arts Studio.
He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Iowa Writers Workshop residency program at the University of Iowa, a Master of Arts degree from John Hopkins University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York at Binghamton. Graham joined the University in 1984.
Presenting Dowhie with the Arts Educator of the Year Award, Schenk said, “Through Lenny’s encouragement, his students participate in numerous local and regional art shows and competitions. He encourages and assists many in pursuing acceptance into graduate school programs. Lenny is a fantastic teacher and an accomplished artist, whose work is constantly undergoing change.”
She continued, “Known for his extraordinary mustache, Lenny shows he is not intimidated by change, and he doesn’t mind making a statement but rather thrives on meeting the next challenge.”
Dowhie’s ceramics and drawings are represented in numerous national and international collections, including the Shigaraki Ceramics Cultural Park, Australian National University, American General Finance, and the Smithsonian Institute of American Art, Renwick Gallery.
Dowhie is a partner in Expressions of Culture, Inc., producers of International Exposition of Sculpture, Objects and Functional Art (SOFA) Chicago, Illinois; SOFA New York, New York; and SOFA Palm Beach, Florida.
He has served as a visiting artist in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, China, and Russia. He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards. Since 1978, he has been a member of the National Council on Education of the Ceramic Arts, serving as president and now as advisor to their board.
He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from Indiana State University and a Bachelor of Art Education degree from Arizona State University. Dowhie joined USI in1978, after teaching at Nichols State University, Indiana University, and Kirkland College.
Dr. David Glassman, dean of the College of Liberal Arts, said, “The College of Liberal Arts is extremely proud of the accomplishments of Matthew and Lenny. They are master artists in their respective avenues of creative expression. It’s wonderful that the Southwestern Indiana Arts Council chose to celebrate their work, an honor I believe well deserved.”
Wendy Knipe Bredhold
News and Information Services
wkbredhold@usi.edu
812/461-5259
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