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Poetter Hall was purchased by the SCAD founders in March 1979. Classes began in September of that year.  
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The Arts

Professors offer nine lives

“Analog Optimism,” by Craig Drennen

“Analog Optimism,” by Craig Drennen, is on display at Pinnacle Gallery through June 10.

By Hannah Pittard
Published: Friday, May 16, 2003

Because they understand the need for members of the college community to view work by the artists responsible for influencing and shaping the talents of SCAD painting students, nine painting professors banded together to bring to life the exhibition “Nine.”

Under the organizational leadership of professor Steve Knudsen, professors Michael Brown, Linda Cohn, Craig Drennen, Denise Falk, Suzanne Jackson, Morgan Santander, Josh Yu and dean Sandra Reed divvied up the wall space at Pinnacle Gallery where each artist is presenting two pieces from their personal collections.

“This exhibition gives students a direct experience of the strength and diversity of their professors’ work,” said Drennen, whose two paintings, “Analog Optimism” and “Analog Pessimism,” reflect his continuing curiosity about the reproducibility of both intuitive and non-intuitive marks. “I work very hard as an artist and I feel fortunate to have the chance to show my paintings to my students and the SCAD community.”

Brown, who said the themes of his work have to do with the identity of place as an individual, agrees with Drennen’s assessment of the show. “All the SCAD painting professors are having a group show to allow the opportunity for the SCAD and outside community to see the work that we do in relation to how we might teach or influence our students,” he said. “It is important that the students can recognize the variety of work that is created by their teachers and how that variety is also carried throughout the many painting classes offered at SCAD.”

Jackson, who was the first painting faculty in residence at the SCAD/ARTLink workspace in New York City in December 2002, is using this exhibition as an opportunity to share the direction of her current investigations. According to Jackson, “9, Billie, Mingus, Monk’s,” one of her two pieces on display, “represents the beginning stage in a new series, which will develop scale and dimension through alternative uses of limited or confined space and continue my interest in layering acrylic resins, papers, linen, canvas and reused materials.”

Reed, who says her paintings address the passage of time and the vulnerability of everything in the world to its influence, spoke also of her affinity for her craft. “It is a privilege to be a painter,” she said. “The act of painting provides a material call-and-response to intellectual queries, the physical satisfaction of making something from scratch that may live beyond the span of a human life, the delight of engagement with the world outside of oneself throughout the process of creation and the means to communicate.”

From Drennen’s peculiar hybrid of conceptual thinking, abstract gestures and heightened realism and Cohn’s visual vignettes concerning transit, flux and separation to Santander’s suggestions of abstract forms and Knudsen’s introspective recognition of mortality, “Nine” is a unique opportunity to witness in one setting the confidence and talent of nine SCAD painting professors.

“This show is an emblem of our diversity and that’s why we didn’t put a theme on it,” said Knudsen. “It’s emblematic of our strength because of that diversity.”

“The importance of the exhibition is for students as well as SCAD, Savannah and visitors to the community to recognize the breadth of artistry and content of the college’s diverse painting faculty,” said Cohn. “I feel honored to work within this exceptional group of educators and working artists.”

“Nine” is on display through June 10 at Pinnacle Gallery, 320 E. Liberty St. This exhibition will be featured as part of the Gallery Hop June 6, 5-7 p.m.