Art & Design’s Beverly Penn to present Presidential Seminar

Posted by Jayme Blaschke
University News Service
March 30, 2009

Beverly Penn, a professor in the Department of Art and Design at Texas State University-San Marcos, will be honored by university President Denise M. Trauth at the 40th Presidential Seminar Wednesday, April 8.

Penn will discuss “Second Nature: Art as Primary Experience,” during the seminar. The event will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the second floor Mitte Gallery of the Joann Cole Mitte Art Building on the Texas State campus. A reception will follow.

The Presidential Seminar represents the highest honor the university bestows upon faculty for scholarly and creative activity.

“Certainly, it is high recognition of the individual selected,” said Bill Covington. associate vice president for research and chair of the Presidential Excellence Award for Scholarly/Creative Activities Committee. “It is prestigious and applauds the accomplishments and efforts of people who are selected.”       

The recent work of Penn, who specializes in metal sculpture, explores the sacrifices that accompany the advances of industrial and post-industrial times. Issues her sculptures address include escalating emissions, deforestation, compromised personal privacy and loss of identity. Employing man-made materials in ways that make them appear organic in her art, Penn explores the dichotomy between artificially constructed spaces and those that are natural.

“My work poses elements from landscape against human constructions as a means of articulating both the tragic and humorous complexities of contemporary culture,” Penn said.

This 40th Presidential Seminar is free and open to the general public. Seating is limited.

The Presidential Seminar was established in 1978 to provide a means to highlight and recognize superlative research, creative work, or other scholarly efforts undertaken by Texas State faculty members. The Presidential Seminar honoree is selected by the Presidential Excellence Award for Scholarly/Creative Activities Committee plus the three last recipients of the Presidential Seminar. Previous Presidential Seminar honorees are Arnold Leder, 1978; Harvey J. Ginsburg, 1978; Patrick Cassidy, 1979; Alexander Kritselis, 1979; Ronald C. Brown, 1980; William F. Brown, 1980; David J. Pino, 1981; James D. Irvin, 1981; William D. Liddle, 1981; Arch R. Mallard, 1982; Russell C. Riepe, 1982; Joan C. Hays, 1983; Sheila Fling, 1983; Max L. Warshauer, 1984; Patricia M. Shields, 1984; Kenneth Margerison, 1985; Sharon Keefe Ugalde, 1985; James Benjamin, 1986; John T. Baccus, 1986; Robert F. Gorman, 1987; Lon R. Shell, 1988; Joseph R. Koke, 1989; Miles S.Wilson, Jr., 1990; James E. Sherow, 1991; Paul A. Kens, 1992; Paul A. Kennedy, 1993; Nancy Feyl Chavkin, 1993; Ronald B. Walter, 1994; Richard G. Boehm, 1995; Donald W. Olson, 1996; Clifford J. Ronan, 1997; Joseph K. Yick, 1998; Garland R. Upchurch, Jr., 1999; Oren Renick, 2000; Kathleen Peirce, 2001; Paul W. Barnes, 2002; John M. Blair, 2003; Joycelyn M. Pollock, 2004; Robert J.C. McLean, 2005; and David R. Butler, 2006.