Awards
2004 Distinguished Teaching of Art Award
Robert Reed, Yale University
Robert Reed
Established in 1972, this award is presented to an artist of distinction who has developed a philosophy or technique of instruction based on his or her experience as an artist, has encouraged his or her students to develop their own individual abilities, or has made a significant contribution to the body of knowledge loosely called theory and understood as embracing technical, material, aesthetic, and perceptual issues.
The Distinguished Teaching of Art Award Committee has unanimously selected Robert Reed as the recipient of this year’s award. His long and distinguished career as a faculty member at Yale University attests to his importance as a teacher of art.
Reed studied at Morgan State College, where he received a BS in 1958, and later at the Yale University School of Art, where he received a BFA in 1960 and an MFA in 1962. He attended the art division of the Yale Summer School of Music and Art in 1960. In 2001, Reed received an honorary doctor of fine arts degree from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
His work has been shown throughout the United States and Europe and has been included in group exhibitions at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Whitney Museum of American Art, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, and Yale University Art Gallery. The Whitney hosted a solo exhibition, and his work is in the permanent collections of the Hirshhorn, Walker, and Whitney. Reed has been a Yaddo Fellow and in 1980 was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Robert Reed, Initial the Paths, 1999–2002, acrylic and oil marker on canvas, 72 x 60 in. (artwork © Robert Reed)
Reed began his teaching career at Yale as a graduate student assistant in instruction. He has since lectured widely and taught at Skidmore College and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, where he was head of the Foundation Studies Division in 1964. He also authored several drawing programs, and from 1970 to 1975 he directed the art division of the Yale Summer School of Music and Art. In 1969 he was appointed to the painting faculty at Yale and is now professor of painting and director of undergraduate studies in art.
Most impressive to the award committee is the number of past students and present colleagues who passionately shared with us their memories of Reed as a teacher. One former student wrote, “Robert didn’t simply teach me to draw, as other instructors might have done. Instead, he taught me how to see, so that I could then teach myself to draw.” A former graduate student at Yale said, “Knowing Robert Reed has shaped who I am as an artist. I endeavor to pass the strengths and ways of seeing and thinking that I inherited from Professor Reed on to the students with whom I work.” Another student recalled that “he motivated me, inspired me, and irritated me just enough to get me going in the right direction.” Numerous former students, many now faculty members at important institutions, also wrote of how Reed changed their lives and influenced their own teaching practices, using such words as energy, vigor, enthusiasm, generosity, and passion.
Reed’s former students not only remember him but also were forever affected by nearly every moment spent within and outside the classroom. Most notably, he is a teacher who rejects the notions of hierarchy between student and teacher, and, at a school known nationally for its graduate program, distinguishes himself with his commitment to undergraduate education in art.
Committee: Christine M. Waters, University of Michigan, Flint, chair; Leslie King-Hammond, Maryland Institute of Art; Michael Krueger, University of Kansas; Wayne Potratz, University of Minnesota; and Gina Werfel, University of California, Davis.
