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USI faculty take home two Arts Council Awards

August 17, 2018

Two members of the USI faculty were honored as award winners and a third was honored as a finalist at the Arts Council of Southwest Indiana's Annual Arts Awards Celebration on Thursday, August 16 at the Doubletree by Hilton in Downtown Evansville.

Al HolenAL Holen, associate professor of ceramics, was awarded the Arts Council Award for both her nationally-celebrated ceramic art pieces and exhibitions and her creation and continued support for Empty Bowls Evansville, a community fundraising event that has raised over $25,000 for local hunger charities over the last two years. You can read more about Holen and her involvement in Empty Bowl in this 2015 USI Today feature.

Erin GibsonErin Gibson, instructor in journalism and advisor of The Shield, was named the recipient of the Visual Arts Award for her documentary, Two Elephants (2018), which tells the story of Kay and Bunny, two elephants who were housed by Mesker Park Zoo. The documentary premiered at the WNIN Old National Public Theatre in May and has been selected for multiple film festivals.  More about her passion for this story and the work behind the documentary can be found in the spring 2017 issue of illume and at twoelephantsfilm.com.



Leigh Anne HowardAdditionally, Leigh Anne Howard, professor of communication and director of the Master of Arts in Communication Program, was recognized as a finalist for the Arts Educator Award, and Joan Kempf deJong, professor emerita of art and assistant dean emerita of the College of Liberal Arts, served as a representative of the Martha and Merritt deJong Foundation, which was awarded the Mayor's Art Award.

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