Latest News Archive
Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
17 May 2024
|
Story Anthony Mthembu
|
Photo Supplied
Prof Magdalena Sobon from Poland and Michael Jackson Blebo from Ghana shared their expertise with staff and students during their visit to the Department of Fine Arts at the University of the Free State.
In a concerted effort to solidify its identity in South Africa and abroad, the Department of Fine Arts at the University of the Free State (UFS) recently played host to two distinguished artists: Prof Magdalena Sobon from the Wladyslaw Strzeminski Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz, and the Ghanaian multidisciplinary artist, Michael Jackson Blebo.
Dr Adelheid Von Maltitz, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Fine Arts at UFS, lauded the visits, held between 19 and 29 March 2024, as an enriching learning experience for the faculty and students within the department.
The visit highlights
During their visit to UFS, Prof Sobon and Blebo actively engaged with the department’s staff and students. Prof Sobon, an acknowledged paper-making artist, conducted a comprehensive two-day workshop, imparting extensive knowledge in this craft. As a direct outcome of this workshop, the department has procured the requisite equipment and materials, enriching the students’ capabilities in this medium. Blebo on the other hand, conducted a demonstration on clay bust modelling and both artists participated in critique sessions with the fourth-year students. Dr Von Maltitz underlined the significance of Blebo’s African heritage, noting, ‘’For our students to interact with a young, accomplished artist of his calibre is of benefit to them in terms of how they may envision their art careers.’’ Of particular note were Prof Sobon’s interactions with the students, wherein she shared her own artistic practices from her student years during her lectures.
In addition to their engagements with the students, Prof Sobon and Blebo also had the opportunity to present their research to second-year sculpture students at the Richmond Land Art Project, an off-campus initiative fostering art creation centred on socio-economic and other pertinent issues.
Future collaborations
Dr Von Maltitz emphasised the importance of maintaining ties with these eminent artists for the department’s growth and global outreach. Prof Sobon’s visit has paved the way for two department members to visit the Wladyslaw Strzeminski Academy of Fine Arts in Lodz in the near future. ‘’These individuals will get an opportunity to learn about studio setups and network with fellow academics, creative researchers, and artists,’’ stated Dr Von Maltitz. She hailed the visit by the two artists as both stimulating and fruitful, particularly for the students.
UFS confers honorary doctorate on one of the world’s foremost academics
2012-11-26
 |
|
Prof. Martha Nussbaum
Photo: Supplied
26 November 2012
|
The University of the Free State (UFS) will confer three honorary doctorates at the Summer graduation ceremony on 6 December 2012. One of the world’s foremost philosophers is among those to be honoured. Prof. Martha Nussbaum, described by The New York Times as “one of the most prominent female philosophers in America”, will be honoured with a D.Litt. degree in the Faculty of Humanities. Judge F.D.J. Brand, a former Constitutional Court judge, and Prof. Otto Walter Prozesky, one of the country’s foremost medical researchers, will also receive honorary doctorates.
Prof. Nussbaum, who has honorary doctorates from 40 colleges and universities in America, Canada, Asia and Europe, is recognised for her intellectual and public contribution to human development. She is the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago and an active member of the American Philosophy Association. Prof. Nussbaum is well-known and respected as a public intellectual and is considered to be one of the most prominent philosophers in the world.
Prof. Prozesky is to be honoured for the important role that he played in the field of medical research, especially as the President of the Medical Research Council and as researcher/educator in the field of virology and HIV/Aids. He is to receive an honorary degree in Medicine in the Faculty of Health Sciences.
Judge Brand, Extraordinary Professor in Private Law in the Faculty of Law at the UFS, is to receive a Doctor Legum degree in recognition of his considerable contribution to the legal science. More than 120 of his judgments are reported in South African legal reports. A review of recent South African legal journals (over the past five years) shows that reference is made to his judgments in at least 30 articles and case discussions.
The Summer graduation ceremony will be held in the Callie Human Centre on the Bloemfontein Campus and will take place in two ceremonies. At 10:15, master’s degrees and doctorates will be awarded, and at 15:15 qualifications will be awarded in a combined graduation ceremony of the Faculty of Health Sciences and the School of Open Learning.
- Prof. Martha Nussbaum will lead a conversation with members of the public and the campus community on 7 December 2012. On 8 December 2012, she is the main speaker at the UFS’s conference on “Engaging the Other: Empathy and Breaking Transgenerational Cycles of Repetition” on the Bloemfontein Campus.