By Phil Williams
pwilliam@franklin.uga.edu
Art Rosenbaum, who has been a member of the School of Art faculty at the University of Georgia since 1976, has been named to the first Wheatley Professorship in the Arts.
The new professorship, which is open to faculty in the Fine Arts Division of the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, provides the recipient with a substantial permanent salary increase and a support account for teaching and creative work or research.
“It’s great that the university is recognizing the importance of the arts with this new professorship, and I’m elated and honored to be recognized with this chair,” says Rosenbaum. “Some interesting things have been happening in the studio recently, and I intend to use the support of the Wheatley Professorship to build on this momentum and undertake some new large-scale paintings, do some traveling and continue to seek out the indigenous music and culture that have been inspiring to me over the years.”
The Wheatley Professorship in the Arts is an outgrowth of a fund that formed the Baldwin Professorship in the Humanities. Named for UGA’s first president, Abraham Baldwin, the chair’s first occupant was William McFeely in history. Since his retirement several years ago, that chair has been vacant, and because of sharp growth in the endowment, university officials decided to split it and create an entirely new named chair while retaining the Baldwin Professorship as well.
The faculty member who holds the Wheatley Professorship is proposed by a faculty committee in the college and named by Dean Wyatt Anderson. The appointment is permanent.
The new professorship is named in honor of Charles Wheatley, the founder and owner of Americus Engineering and Construction Co., as well as Wheatley Realty Co. He provided the unrestricted endowment that was used to create the original Baldwin Professorship.
“We had a number of strong candidates, and it wasn’t an easy decision, but Art Rosenbaum’s outstanding record and the varied and interdisciplinary nature of his work really stand out,” says Hugh Ruppersburg, associate dean of the Franklin College. “His paintings are original and striking, and they reveal much about the human spirit.”
Rosenbaum has been a force in Athens art, folklore and music since his arrival here a quarter-century ago.
“There is no doubt that Professor Rosenbaum’s reputation and multidisciplinary activities have attracted many art students to study at UGA,” says Carmon Colangelo, director of the Lamar Dodd School of Art. “His personality and distinctive figurative style have been a huge part of the identity of the school and the Athens community at large. He is one of the most dedicated and deserving artists I know.”
The recipient of two Fulbright grants, Rosenbaum has shown his work in more than 150 regional, national and international exhibitions. As well as being an accomplished painter, he is a muralist, draftsman, scholar of folklore and musical traditions and a performer. |
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