School Notes: School of Art
September/October 2019

Long-time faculty member granted emeritus status

Samuel Messer ’82MFA, first appointed as a senior critic in 1995, was granted emeritus status by the Yale Corporation at the close of the 2018–19 academic year, following his last semester as an adjunct professor in the Department of Painting/Printmaking. Messer served for 12 years as associate dean and for over 20 years as the director of the Yale Norfolk School of Art after graduating from the painting program in 1982. His collaborative, literary painting practice has earned him the deep-rooted respect of students, alongside noted awards including a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant in 1984 and a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1996, 
among others.

Yale Norfolk School of Art’s summer program was established in 1948, and as director for 20 years Messer was at the helm for nearly a third of the program’s lifetime. His active engagement with the town of Norfolk, through the facilitation of free community drawing classes as well as public talks and lectures, fostered a productive and collaborative environment not unlike his own practice 
as an artist.

Norfolk School of Art completes 71 years

Led for the first time by newly appointed codirectors Byron Kim and Lisa Sigal, the Yale Norfolk School of Art completed its 71st year at the end of June. An intensive six-week undergraduate summer residency, the program brings young artists from across the US together to immerse themselves in a rigorous environment of artistic practice, learning, and growth.

This summer Yale Norfolk School of Art also offered a thematic program, made possible by Norfolk Foundation, Inc., called “The Ethics of Color”—a series of public lectures that brought visiting scholars and artists to Norfolk to engage the students and the local community on a wide range of topics.