UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Three days of events celebrating artist Robert Reed’s contributions to creative practice and drawing as a discipline will be held at Penn State University Park on Feb. 21–24, followed by a one-day event on March 23 in New York City at Hunter College and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
The Robert Reed Drawing Workshops, comprised of lectures, discussion panels and drawing workshops, will be hosted by Penn State Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.
The discussions and lectures will be open to the public and discuss key topics related to Reed’s teaching and painting. The workshops will engage college-level visual arts and design students. The curriculum for the workshops will be developed by Reed’s students and colleagues and based on research of Reed’s pedagogy and curriculum.
In conjunction with these events will be an exhibition of Reed’s visual art and of his teaching archives. The Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State will collaborate on the curation and exhibition of Reed’s drawings and collages, representing several periods of his work and the close link between his pedagogy and creative practice. Penn State’s Rouse Gallery in the Stuckeman Family Building will exhibit materials gathered by the researchers, including his assignments, photographs of his drawing workshops, and previous student work. A version of these exhibitions will be re-mounted for workshop in New York.
“Access to Reed’s work and pedagogical discoveries will benefit artists, designers and educators,” noted Cathy Braasch, Reed’s former student, assistant professor in the Department of Architecture at Penn State, and project director. “The events will also identify areas for further research and curation of Robert Reed’s work and create vibrant documentation of his contributions to our culture and creative practices.”
Reed taught drawing and painting for over 50 years (primarily at Yale University 1969-2014), received the 2004 College Art Association Distinguished Teaching of Art Award, and was the first African-American professor tenured by the Yale School of Art. Documentation of his pedagogy and art is not accessible to the public, but his innovative curriculum and unique studio culture have influenced the teaching and creative practices of generations. He also taught many students who did not pursue art or design, but who gained a visual literacy — an understanding of art and the built environment — that became a fundamental lens for their understanding the world.
For more information and a complete schedule of events, please visit the Robert Reed Drawing Workshop website.