Tony Jones at Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace announced on New Year’s Day that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth is to confer upon Professor Tony Jones, president of SAIC, the Honor of Commander of the British Empire. The honor is in recognition of Jones’ long years of distinguished service to the arts and culture, to international education, and to the promotion of British arts in the United States. Her Majesty, at an investiture ceremony at Buckingham Palace, will award the CBE later in the spring.

More SAIC Honors

The Visual Art Critic: A Survey of Art Critics at General-Interest News Public-ations in America, conducted by the National Arts Journalism Program a Columbia University, named SAIC as the “most influential art school.” The survey asked 169 art critics at general interest news publications across the country to select the “most influential art school” from a list of colleges and universities. SAIC was the top-rated institution and the only school to receive at least 20 votes from critics participating in the survey.

The Art of Connection 2003

Students in SAIC’s Master of Arts in Art Therapy program, and their clients from the clinical training portion of the program, exhibit paintings, drawings, sculpture, and mixed media pieces in The Art of Connection 2003. The artists presenting work aim to demonstrate the ability of art to serve as a bridge between an individual’s external and internal experiences, between one person and another, among groups of people, and between individuals and their cultural contexts.

The Master of Arts in Art Therapy program is designed for students who are concerned with the relationship between life experience and the making of art, and who have a desire to aid others in gaining or recovering intellectual and emotional clarity, equilibrium, and power. The program prepares students for work as art therapists in a wide range of clinical and nontraditional settings.

The Art of Connection 2003 opens Sunday, Feb. 9, and continues through Saturday, Feb. 22, at Gallery 2, 847 W. Jackson, 2nd floor. The opening reception is Sunday, Feb. 9, from 4 to 6 p.m.

New Scholarship

SAIC’s Auxiliary Board is honoring acclaimed Chicago interior and furniture designer Judith Niedermaier, president of Niedermaier Inc., by establishing an endowed scholarship in her name. Niedermaier, who has served two terms as president of SAIC’s Auxiliary Board, is also a member of the Board of Governors, and has worked with students as a visiting professor in the Interior Architecture department. Funds raised for the scholarship will create a permanent endowment that allows gifted students from the interior architecture department, who would otherwise not be able to attend SAIC, to fully realize their talent and potential for excellence.