Thomas Riesing Selected as the Recipient of the 2009 Alumni Achievement Award in Art and Art History at the University of Nebraska
Dr .Thomas Riesing has been selected as the recipient of the 2009 Alumni Achievement Award in Art and Art History at the University of Nebraska. He will be receiving the award on Saturday. April 25 in Lincoln, NB and as the recipient he will be spending the day with the students and faculty of the Hixson-Lied College of Fine Art and Performing Arts on Friday, April 24. The Graduate Studio Art Program at the University of Nebraska is a top-notch program with myriad alumni of note; this is quite an honor for Tom and for the UT School of Art.
About Dr. Riesing
Since 1985, my landscape paintings and drawings have been site-specific and directly related to my travels. Travel is an essential component in how I define myself. Paul Theroux referred to travel “…as an experiment in space,” a statement that resonates for any landscape painter. My recent panoramic pieces evolve greatly from workday to workday. The horizon constantly shifts, as does the relationship between sky and ground. Often times in the same piece I shift from place to place: at one point the painting is of China and at another, perhaps, it changes to Tennessee. I like this state of flux, eventually coming to a conclusion, but only after trying many scenarios, making comparisons, and ultimately being faced with new situations.
Thomas Riesing began teaching at UTK in 1973 after receiving his M.F.A. at the University of Nebraska. He has served as a Visiting Professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio, at the National Academy of Fine Art in Bratislava, Slovakia and at ten different universities and academies in China, including the Central Academy of Fine Art, Sichuan University, Sichuan Institute of Fine Arts, Guangxi Normal University in Guilin, and Fujian Normal University. He holds the position of Guest Professor at Sichuan University where he has been active in establishing an exchange program with UTK. He has been the recipient of numerous Professional Development Awards and an NEH Endowment Grant to facilitate his work in China. He received the Berry Award (1999-2002) from the School of Art and a Lily Post-Doctorate Teaching Fellowship (1978). Riesing has exhibited his work extensively nationally and internationally, recently participating in the 1998 Asia-Pacific Contemporary Art exhibition in Fuzhou, China. His work is in many collections, including Coca-Cola; T.V.A.; Opryland, Inc.; Northern Telecom Corp.; Zhongyin International Industrial Corp.; Miami University and Miami Fine Arts Gallery; Davidson College Art Gallery; and Sichuan University.