During the summer of 1970, John D. (Jack) Kehoe, a sculptor
and University of Georgia professor of art, took a small group
of UGA students to Cortona, Italy, for art classes. Thirty-five
years and nearly 5,000 students later, a new facility in Cortona
was named in honor of him.
The summer naming of the John D. Kehoe Cortona Center honors
Kehoe’s many contributions to UGA and its Lamar Dodd
School of Art, where he served for more than 30 years as a
faculty member and 20 years as director of the Cortona Study
Abroad program. In addition, Kehoe and his wife, Marilyn, have
established endowments and scholarships to support the program.
They are contributors to the John D. Kehoe Cortona Scholarship,
the Friends of Cortona Discretionary Fund and the Cortona Fund
for Facilities. Kehoe also serves as a member of the art school’s
board of visitors.
“Jack Kehoe is that rare commodity: an extraordinarily
talented artist, whose sculpture has been seen and acclaimed
worldwide, and an accomplished administrator who served as
director of the Cortona program from its beginning in 1970
until 1990,” said UGA President Michael F. Adams during
the dedication ceremony. “We would not have this
outstanding program were it not for him.”
Kehoe is an internationally acclaimed sculptor, known for his
work in stone and marble, with an extensive exhibition and
public commission record. He has been recognized in many ways
for his contributions to the Italian community. He has received
a diploma of full membership as an Academician to the Etruscan
Academy of Cortona and was granted honorary citizenship by
the Commune of Cortona, Province of Arrezo region of Tuscany
in 1979. He also received an “Ordine Cavallerasco,” the
highest nonmilitary order of Knighthood authorized by the Italian
Republic.
The Kehoe Center building was originally constructed in 1270
and is adjacent to the Severini School, where UGA conducts
its Cortona programs. The new center will be used for
both academic and residential purposes and has been renovated
to include an 80-bed residential facility, a large lecture
hall, several common spaces, a dining hall, laundry and kitchen
as well as additional studio space for drawing and painting. Support
from alumni and friends of the art school enabled the purchase
of the facility along with support from the UGA Real Estate
Foundation and the UGA Foundation.
Kehoe originally chose Cortona not only for its history and
spectacular scenery but also because of its attributes for
art education. Located in the birthplace of Italian Renaissance
art, it has many examples of Etruscan, Roman, Medieval and
Renaissance art and architecture, and is within day-trip distance
of such cities as Florence, Bologna and Siena, home of works
by Michaelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo daVinci and other masters.
Since that first summer, the program has evolved to a full
curriculum of art courses and electives in the fall, spring
and summer semesters. Today, more than 200 students go to Cortona
to study art, landscape architecture, Italian culture and language,
as well as a variety of courses in the humanities.
Building the New Learning Environment
The new learning environment is an academic and intellectual
community on the campus of the University of Georgia humming
with the vibrancy of the true college experience—bright
and talented students working with brilliant faculty formally
in the classroom and informally over a cup of coffee or lounging
in the greenspace which stretches from one end of campus to
the other. It is a place which recognizes that new information
technologies are transforming traditional academic disciplines
and embraces those opportunities. |
