In the Loop
Press Release : Apr 6, 2017

Lynn Tomaszewski appointed Director of the School of Art + Art History

Gainesville, Fla., April 6, 2017 — Lynn Tomaszewski has been appointed as Director and Professor of Practice in the School of Art + Art History in the College of the Arts at the University of Florida. Her appointment will begin on July 1, 2017. 

As director, Tomaszewski will oversee the articulation of the School of Art + Art History’s vision, goals and accomplishments to promote the school’s visibility. In addition, she will manage the school’s resources, operations, facilities, academics and funds. Tomaszewski will direct the examination of the school’s artistic, scholarly and academic programs to ensure continued reaccreditation and relevant curricula to recruit and retain high-achieving student artists, designers and scholars in alignment with the strategic plans of the school, college and university. 

“Lynn has more than 20 years of experience as an accomplished educator,” said College of the Arts Dean Lucinda Lavelli. “Her practice as an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of art, science and technology, and her strong arts administration skills that helped build her institution’s first distance education plan make her a perfect fit for the School of Art + Art History. We are pleased to have her join our outstanding group of faculty, staff and students to advance the university’s and school's goals for preeminence.”

Prior to coming to UF, Tomaszewski served as the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she helped administer 17 diverse graduate programs and oversaw graduate student support, program assessment and program-level accreditation. She also expanded the Teaching Assistant support and enlarged SAIC’s partnership with the Art, Science and Culture Initiative at the University of Chicago.

In addition to her work in arts administration, Tomaszewski served as a professor at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD) for 16 years. She taught multiple upper and lower division courses, including interdisciplinary studio and theory courses. She also served as chair of the faculty and chair of foundations during her tenure at MIAD.

Tomaszewski is an interdisciplinary artist whose conceptually-driven practice explores how technology facilitates, alters, and influences perception and subsequently, how perception constructs ideas. Her recent research focuses on collaborative structures and the social power of play.

She has participated in 15 solo exhibitions and over 50 group exhibitions nationally at institutions including the St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Colorado State University, the Kohler Art Center and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art. Her work is in the permanent collections at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota and the Center for Contemporary Art in Sacramento, California.

Tomaszewski is the recipient of numerous awards and grants including, the Mary Nohl Suitcase Fund Award, the Great Lakes Drawing Biennial Purchase Award and the Beloit & Vicinity Juror’s Award. Tomaszewski has participated in residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, the Roger Brown House in Michigan, and has been an affiliate artist at the Headlands Center for the Arts.

Tomaszewski holds an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

About the School of Art + Art History

The School of Art + Art History is one of the University of Florida College of the Arts’ three fully-accredited schools. The School of Art + Art History supports the College of the Arts’ mission of serving as an educational, professional and cultural resource in the visual arts for the campus, community, state and region. Programs offered include art education, art history, art and technology, creative photography, ceramics, drawing, graphic design, museum studies, painting, printmaking, sculpture and visual art studies. In addition, the school supports five galleries that are open to the public and feature contemporary artwork, student pieces and more. To learn more, visit www.arts.ufl.edu/art.

About the College of the Arts

The College of the Arts, previously known as the College of Fine Arts, is one the 16 colleges and more than 150 research centers and institutes at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. The College of the Arts offers baccalaureate, master’s and Ph.D. degree programs in its three fully-accredited schools — the School of Art and Art History, School of Music and School of Theatre and Dance. The college is home to the Center for Arts in Medicine, Center for World Arts, Digital Worlds Institute, University Galleries and the New World School of the Arts in Miami. More than 100 faculty members and more than 1,220 students work together daily to engage, inspire and create. The college hosts more than 300 performances, exhibitions and events each year. Faculty and students also exhibit and perform at other local, national and international venues. To learn more, visit www.arts.ufl.edu

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Media Contact:

Allison Alsup

Public Relations & Partnerships Specialist

aalsup@arts.ufl.edu