Joyce J. Kolligian Distinguished Professor and Sonja C. Davidow ’56 Endowed Chair in the Fine and Performing Arts Jon Keenan is at Tokyo University of the Arts this November on a Fulbright Specialist grant as part of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars Program.
Professor Keenan, an internationally known ceramic artist and educator who resides in Elkins, N.H., will present his methods for wood-firing ceramics with anagama and lecture on the differences between American and Japanese contemporary ceramic cultures.
MarÃa de los Ãngeles Crummett, executive director of the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, says Professor Keenan is among the ranks of “distinguished scholars and professionals worldwide who are leaders in the educational, political, economic, social and cultural lives of their countries.”
Professor Keenan received a Fulbright Senior Specialist Fellowship at Kyoto Seika University in 2009, and he earned his C.A.G.S./M.F.A. from Kyoto City University of Fine Arts.
“The selection for a competitive program such as this deservedly honors Professor Keenan’s longstanding artistic contributions and relationships in Japan,” says Academic Vice President & Dean of Faculty Deborah Taylor.
The Fulbright Program is the U.S. government's flagship international educational exchange program. Administered by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and the Council for International Exchange of Scholars, the program seeks to increase mutual understanding between the citizens of the United States and those of other countries.
Professor Keenan joined the Colby-Sawyer College faculty in 1990. He has been a visiting artist at Hampshire College, University of Leeds, Dartmouth College and the University of California, Los Angeles. His ceramics have been collected and exhibited around the world, including in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Japanese Art Gallery Ikebana Exhibit.