April 1st, 2009
Professor to be honored at Presidential Seminar

STAFF REPORT

Texas State President Dr. Denise Trauth will honor Beverly Penn, a professor in Texas State’s Department of Art and Design, at the 40th Presidential Seminar on April 8, at 3:30 p.m.

The Presidential Seminar is the highest honor Texas State can bestow on faculty for scholarly and creative activity. Penn will discuss “Second Nature: Art as Primary Experience,” as part of the seminar.

“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.”

Penn’s recent work explores the sacrifices that accompany the advance of industrial and post-industrial times. Her sculptures address issues such as escalating emissions, deforestation, compromised personal privacy and loss of identity. Using man-made materials in ways that appear organic, Penn, who usually works with metal sculpture, explores the dichotomy between artificial and natural spaces.

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

The seminar, which will be located in the second floor Mitte Gallery of the Joann Cole Mitte Art Building is free and open to the public, but seating is limited.