Art Professor Wins Award for Curatorial Excellence

Matthew Kolodziej, distinguished professor of art, in the Myers School of Art in the Buchtel College of Arts of Sciences, won the 2023 SECAC Award for Curatorial Excellence for the 2022 exhibition Synapse 15: Intersections of Art and Science. This award is given in recognition of a curator whose design, publication and/or community engagement for an exhibition is considered exemplary. The award was presented on Thursday, Oct. 12, at the annual awards luncheon in Richmond, Va., during the 79th meeting of SECAC.

"I could not have been honored with this the award without the support of the team at Myers School of Art," said Kolodziej. "I want to extend a special thanks to Arnie Tunstall, director of UA's galleries, and to Ryhe Pirie, graphic design student, for their design of the dynamic catalogue."

The Synapse Art and Science Series probes ideas, images and mutual interests connecting art and science disciplines. Kolodziej's 2022 anniversary exhibition showcased a selection of the more than 40 artists that had come to The University of Akron over the past 15 years and highlighted Akron's legacy as a city of invention.

SECAC is a national non-profit organization devoted to education and research in the visual arts.

Synapse 15 ran concurrently to FRONT 2022: Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows at the Emily Davis Gallery at The University of Akron and included works by FRONT 2022 artist Wong Kit Yi and FRONT Board Member Diane Davis-Sikora.

Synapse 15: Intersections of Art and Science exhibited works by ten artists: Judy Pfaff (Tivoli, NY), Jenny Sabin (Ithaca, NY), Terry Winters (New York, NY), NERVOUS SYSTEM (Jessica Rosenkrantz and Jessie Louis Rosenberg of Palenville, NY), Mark Dion (Copake, NY), Stacy Levy (Spring Mills, PA), John Roloff (Oakland, CA), BeTA_S (Diane Davis-Sikora, Akron, OH, Rui Liu, PhD, Linda Ohrn-McDaniel), Nathalie Miebach (Boston, MA), Wong Kit Yi (New York, NY and Hong Kong).

Read more about Synapse here!