Donna Rosen Artist-in-Residence Program: The Birthday Gift that Keeps on Giving

Intended to greatly enrich our students’ understanding of and appreciation for the visual arts, the program brings a recognized artist to Isidore Newman School to teach, lecture and exhibit his or her original work. The artist conducts workshops and one-on-one sessions with students, offering them perhaps their first chance to get to know someone who makes a living as an artist. Ben Rosen ’50 established the fellowship in honor of his wife Donna for her birthday three years ago. Prior to her move to New York City, Donna played a major role in shaping the New Orleans art scene as a patron of the arts and the director of the Galerie Simonne Stern.

This year’s Artist-in-Residence is a local but is known internationally: George Dunbar. Mr. Dunbar was born in New Orleans but currently lives in Slidell, and has been creating art for more than 60 years. He works in a number of different media, including paint, clay, fabric and different types of leaf, and encouraged students to experiment in different media during his week-long series of workshops. Students made several types of art using these techniques, which are on display in the Krohn Foyer.

In a lecture to the Upper School, he discussed various methods of creating art, such as action painting and string drawing, as well as coating clay sculptures or engravings with palladium or gold leaf. Mr. Dunbar’s unique form of art uses novel media and technique to give it what he calls “its own thumbprint.” By using nontraditional media, he explained, you can differentiate yourself from other artists. He also advocates giving up some control to see what happens. Sometimes it makes something great or interesting, that never would have happened if you maintained control. The result is what Mr. Dunbar referrs to as “accidental triumph.”

To see more images of Mr. Dunbar in the classroom, the art opening, and some examples of student art, click on the link to our photo slideshow.