Professor Elizabeth Lee of the Department of Visual Arts and New Media was awarded the SUNY Fredonia Inaugural Marion Fellowship for the Visual and Performing Arts for the 2013-2014 year. On Thursday, May 1 she will be presenting, “Cosmological Process,” at 5:30 p.m. in Marvel Theatre.
The new Art Gallery Director will be also announced and the 2014-2015 Marion Fellow will be introduced. The event is free and all are welcome.
Following the presentation, a hors d'oeuvres reception and Senior Student Exhibition will be held at 6:30 p.m. in the Marion Art Gallery and Marvel patio, weather permitting, with special guests SUNY Fredonia alumna Cathy, '79, and Jesse Marion. A jazz trio will provide music for the reception.
The Marions created the fellowship through the Fredonia College Foundation to bring together the arts from both public and private sectors and facilitate community outreach. The concept of the fellowship was developed by June Miller-Spann, associate director of Development, who also serves as a selection committee member.
Founding Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts Ralph Blasting noted, "The Cathy and Jesse Marion Fellowship is one of the most innovative I've ever encountered. By funding a 'journey,' they have encouraged both the process of artistic creation and the richness that comes from collaboration. Marion Fellows connect some of the most active and respected sites of creativity across North America: Chautauqua Institution, the University of Alberta, the Alley Theater, the UCross Foundation in Wyoming and SUNY Fredonia. We are honored to be a part of this vision."
The fellowship supported Ms. Lee in the creation of a photographic series designed to inspire a new and closer relationship with the universe during a period of growing environmental and social crisis.
The Marion Fellowship coincided with formation of SUNY Fredonia’s College of Visual and Performing Arts and the Marions' desire to support the new college in a unique way.
