Six faculty members from Kent State University’s School of Art have been awarded Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Awards for 2017. The winners are Peter Christian Johnson (Ceramics), Gianna Commito (Painting), Janice Lessman-Moss (Textiles), Lori Kella (Photography), Andrea Myers (Sculpture, Kent State University at Stark) and Paul O'Keeffe (Sculpture, Professor Emeritus). Each received an award of $5,000. The Individual Excellence Award was given to a total of 77 artists throughout the state of Ohio this year.
“Kent State University couldn’t be more proud of its amazing faculty,” says Michael Loderstedt, interim director for the School of Art. “The School of Art is home to incredible art historians, art educators and studio artists, and having six of our studio art faculty receive such a prestigious award solidifies our standing as one of the most comprehensive art schools in the state.”
According to the Ohio Arts Council, Individual Excellence Awards are peer recognition of creative artists for the exceptional merit of a body of their work that advances or exemplifies the discipline and the larger artistic community. During this funding cycle, applications in crafts, design arts and illustration, interdisciplinary and performance art, media arts, photography, two-dimensional visual arts, and three-dimensional visual arts were accepted. Seventy-three $5,000 and four $2,500 collaborative Individual Excellence Awards were approved, totaling $375,000.
The School of Art is located at the Center for the Visual Arts at 325 Terrace Drive in Kent. The 27,900-square-foot facility — twice the length of a football field — had its grand opening in 2016 and houses all School of Art studios and classrooms under one roof.