J. Kirk T. Varnedoe ’67 Professor of Art, Emerita
Your work has been exhibited around the world and honored with fellowships at Skowhegan and the MacDowell Colony. It often uncannily incorporates motion into otherwise inanimate objects, blurring the distinction between body of work and body of the artist. Your newest and largest installation, now at MASS MoCA, involves more than 400 figures that independently, and unexpectedly, open their eyes to gaze back at the viewer.
In your teaching and campus presence, meanwhile, you yourself are the study in motion. A former figure skater, you glide back and forth between commitments: supervising students in the studio until midnight; energetically co-chairing your department; temporarily housing a new colleague. In all aspects of life, you give the impression of constant activity, creativity and care.
These qualities made a particular impact during the Covid-19 pandemic. When Williams shifted to remote study, you quickly mailed each of your students a box of materials with a note saying, “Make sculpture!” You told your own colleagues, “We need art!” and then hosted them for outdoor happenings with renowned artists and musicians.
As widely regarded as you are for your art, you are equally admired for your teaching, which has shaped the careers of future artists and the lives of alumni in many professions, who all learned from you both what art can teach us and why it matters.
I hereby declare you the J. Kirk T. Varnedoe ’67 Professor of Art, Emerita, entitled to all the rights, honors and privileges appertaining thereto.
June 8, 2025