The spotlight will shine on two faculty members when Visual Arts and New Media Professor Timothy Frerichs presents the Kasling Memorial Lecture and English Associate Professor Birger Vanwesenbeeck receives the William T. and Charlotte N. Hagan Young Scholar/Artist Award on Tuesday, Oct. 3, in Mason Hall.
Both the lecture and award ceremony will be held in the Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall at 2 p.m. and are free and open to the public. A brief reception will follow in the lobby.
Mr. Frerichs’ artistic research investigates differing human perceptions of the natural world. Most of his artist career has focused on drawing larger connections between the environment, knowledge formation and differing cultural perspectives. His most recent artwork explores climate change, mapping, shale extraction, drawing with water and walking.
Drawings, installations, prints and artist books by Frerichs have been exhibited nationally and internationally; his artwork is also included in international and national public, corporate and private collections.
Grants and awards received by Frerichs include: two Fulbright awards to Germany; a Netherlands-America Foundation Cultural Grant; a United States Embassy cultural grant in The Hague, the Netherlands; USA Artists project grant; an American-Scandinavian Foundation fellowship; three New York Foundation for the Arts Strategic Opportunity Stipend grants; a Constance Saltonstall Foundation grant for Printmaking; a USA Artists Project grant and a 2017 Artist in Community grant from the New York State Council for the Arts and the Cattaraugus County Arts Council.
On campus, Frerichs was the recipient of the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and Learning in 2015 and the William T. and Charlotte N. Hagan Young Scholar/Artist Award in 2013.
Frerichs has a M.A. and M.F.A, both from the University of Iowa, and a B.A. from St. Olaf College. Prior to joining Fredonia in 2006, Frerichs taught at Truman State University and Central College.
The Kasling Memorial Lecture award is named after Robert W. Kasling, a Geography professor who fostered in others an unflinching personal integrity and high standard of scholarship. Each year, a distinguished faculty member is invited to share insight into the nature and significance of research or creative activity in the professor’s respective field.
Dr. Vanwesenbeeck, co-editor of two books, has been published widely in the areas of 20th century American and European literature as well as in critical theory. His essays and reviews have appeared in leading national and international journals that include the Los Angeles Review of Books, Postmodern Culture, Mosaic and the Journal of Austrian Studies. His previous research awards include fellowships from the Northeast Modern Language Association, Leiden University and the National Endowment for the Arts.
A member of the Department of English faculty since in 2007, Vanwesenbeeck has a M.A. and Ph.D. in comparative literature from the University at Buffalo and a B.A. in Germanic Linguistics and Literatures from the University of Antwerp.
The Hagan award, which recognizes an individual who has made outstanding recent achievements in research or creativity, is named in honor of Dr. William T. Hagan, an eminent scholar specializing in the history of the American Indian, who served at Fredonia from 1965 to 1988.
