Lonnie graham biography

Lonnie Graham, is an.
Lonnie Graham is an American fine art photographer, professor, installation artist, and cultural activist investigating the methods by which the arts can be.
Lonnie Graham is an American fine art photographer, professor, installation artist, and cultural activist investigating the methods by which the arts can be used to achieve tangible meaning in peoples lives.

•

Biography

Lonnie Graham, is an artist, photographer and cultural activist whose work addresses the integral role of the artist in society and seeks to seeks to re-establish artists as creative problem solvers. Lonnie Graham is a Pew Fellow and Professor of Art in Photography at Pennsylvania State University. Professor Graham is formerly Acting Associate Director of the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. Graham has served as Executive Director of the PhotoAlliance of San Francisco and the Chairman of the Board of the San Francisco Art Institute. Graham also served as Director of Photography at Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an urban arts organization dedicated to arts and education for at risk youth. There, Graham developed innovative pilot projects merging Arts and Academics, which were the subject of a Harvard case study then ultimately cited by, then, First Lady Hillary Clinton as a National Model for Arts Education.

In 1996 Graham was commissioned by the Three Rivers Arts Festival to create the “African/American Garden Project

•

Lonnie Graham

Artist’s Statement

The definition of Art and Culture remain illusive. We feel compelled to manufacture meaning and weight for the esoteric efforts of the lone practitioner. The distance between the arts and society has grown so great that art makers have become agents for an exclusive self defined reality. The burden of that distance has proven so disorienting that we accept the craftsmen’s practice as a representative portrait of our collective selves.

A truer description of ourselves and our culture lies in the way in which we address our intrinsic needs food; shelter, and clothing; and with the respect we render our minds, our bodies and our spirits. This is evident in other original cultures, and even our own pre technological society. As artists it is our duty to embrace the culture and honor ourselves and our ancestors. We cannot speak wisely of what we do not know. As a society we must embrace the dreamers and visionaries as we collaborate our future.

When artists begin to address our essential needs, we open a dialogue with our fellow human bein

•

Lonnie Graham

Lonnie Graham, a Pew Fellow and Associate Professor at Pennsylvania State University is formerly director of Photography at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, an urban arts organization dedicated to arts and education for at risk youth. There, Graham developed innovative pilot projects merging Arts and Academics, which were ultimately cited by, then, First Lady Hillary Clinton as a National Model for Arts Education.

In 1996 Graham was commissioned to create the "African/American Garden Project." which provided a physical and cultural exchange of disadvantaged urban single mothers in Pittsburgh, and farmers from Muguga, a small farming village in Kenya, to build a series of urban subsistence gardens.

In 2005, Professor Graham was cited as Artist of the Year in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and presented the Governor's Award by Governor Edward Rendell. Professor Graham serves as a panel member for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, DC.

Lonnie Graham is the recipient of a N