Massachusetts College of Art and Design Commencement 2011

Gran Fury Art Collective to be Honored with Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts
For Immediate Release

Darlene Gillan, Director of Communications
tel. 617 879 7050
e. darlene.gillan@massart.edu

President Katherine Sloan will present the Massachusetts College of Art and Design graduating class of 2011 in an outdoor ceremony to be held at the college on Friday, May 20, at 1:00 p.m. Over 385 graduate and undergraduate students will be awarded Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Architecture, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Arts in Teaching, and Master of Science in Art Education degrees.  In addition to recognizing the tremendous efforts of graduating students, the college will award the Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts to art collective Gran Fury. Michael Nesline will accept the honorary degree on behalf of the group and will address the graduates. MassArt will also honor Art All-State (Honnee Hess, Director of Education, and Gillian Bonazoli, Art All-State Coordinator) as Distinguished Educators of the Year and The Godine Medal will be awarded to Michael and Katharine Dukakis. The charge to alumni will be given by '07 photography alumna Jess T. Dugan.

Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts: Gran Fury
The Gran Fury art collective formed out of the AIDS direct action group, ACT UP, to give voice to the political issues surrounding the earliest days of the AIDS crisis in America. The collective devised appropriation strategies to simultaneously utilize and critique Madison Avenue vernaculars, and circumnavigate questions of access. Named for the automobile used by the undercover New York City police force, Gran Fury created work for the public sphere that drew attention to medical, moral, and public issues related to the AIDS crisis. The collective's work has been featured in public art commissions for The Whitney Museum, The New Museum, The Venice Biennale, Creative Time and The Public Art Fund; in publications like ArtForum, Bomb and The New York Times; and is in the permanent collections of MoMA, The Whitney and The New Museum. In November 2011, Gran Fury is mounting the first public survey of its work for 80WSE in New York City.

Educator of the Year: Art All-State
Launched in 1987, at the Worcester Art Museum through an off-hand suggestion of a retired art teacher, Art All-State brings together 145 of the most artistically talented high school juniors from across the state for an intensive two-day marathon art experience at the Worcester Art Museum. The students, competitively selected, collaborate with artist/mentors to create group installations inspired by explorations of the museum's fifty centuries of art. Through gallery and studio experiences at the museum, Art All-State challenges and inspires participants to think creatively about themselves and the role that art can play in life after high school. Art All-State is sponsored by the Worcester Art Museum with the Massachusetts Art Education Association. Led by Honee A. Hess, Worcester Art Museum Director of Education, and Gillian H. Bonazoli, Art All-State Manager, Art All-State continues to significantly advocate for the important role that the visual arts and museums can play in the education of young people.

Godine Medal Recipients: Michael and Katharine Dukakis
Michael Dukakis
Michael Stanley Dukakis was born in Brookline, Massachusetts to Greek immigrants. He served in the U.S. Army in Korea before receiving his law degree from Harvard Law School. Mr. Dukakis served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1962 to 1970. In 1974, he was elected Governor of Massachusetts and served from 1975 to 1979. He was reelected in 1982 and served from 1983 to 1991. In 1986, he was named the most effective Governor by the Democratic Governors Association. In 1988, Dukakis was the Democratic nominee for president of the United States. Dukakis continues to live in Brookline with his wife, Kitty.

Katharine Dukakis
Mrs. Dukakis has worked extensively on issues related to the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, and contemporary human rights issues. Appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the President's Commission on the Holocaust, she then became a founding member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. On November 9, 2010, she was sworn in after President Obama's appointment, as a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Council. She now serves on the Board of Directors of Mapendo, International, a refugee foundation whose purpose is to alleviate human suffering in Africa and the New England Center for Children, a school for autistic children in Southborough, Massachusetts, and is the namesake of the Kitty Dukakis Treatment Center for Women, which is part of the Lemuel Shattuck Hospital in Boston. She serves on the Board of Advisors of the new Saks Institute for Mental Health, Law, Policy and Ethics at the University of Southern California.

Location: Evans Way Park
Address: 621 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MBTA: Green "E" line
Information: MassArt.edu

Massachusetts College of Art and Design, founded in 1873, is recognized as one of the premier colleges of art and design in the US. A public independent college, MassArt is known for providing broad access to a high quality professional arts education, accompanied by a strong general education in the liberal arts.  The college offers a comprehensive range of baccalaureate and graduate degree, continuing education, and K-12 programs, taught by outstanding faculty and designed to encourage individual creativity. A major cultural force in Boston, MassArt presents public programs of innovative exhibitions, lectures, and events.