We remember faculty, staff, alumni, and friends of the Department of Art and Art History who have passed away.
ALVIN C. SELLA - TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Professor Emeritus Alvin “Al” Sella, acclaimed artist and long-time faculty member in the department of art and art history at The University of Alabama, died April 8 at Hospice of West Alabama. He was 93. Sella retired from UA’s department of art and art history in 1996 after a distinguished 35-year career. He continued to teach, by popular demand, until 2010. Known by many as a consummate educator and accomplished artist, Sella influenced thousands of students during his life. Read more…
JOSEPH BOLT - TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Dr. Joseph Sullivan Bolt, who served for 36 years as a professor in the department of art within the College of Arts and Sciences at The University of Alabama, died Tuesday, July 9. He was 81. Bolt, a painter and art historian, was recognized for his extensive knowledge of 20th century art and as an award-winning teacher. In 1984, Bolt received the Outstanding Commitment to Teaching Award, given by UA’s National Alumni Association. Read more…
RICHARD BROUGH, well-known painter and long-time University of Alabama professor, died Sunday, December 22, 1996 at his home. He was 76. A native of Salmon, Idaho, Brough taught at The University of Alabama from 1948 until 1987. Throughout his 39 years at the university, he combined teaching with a successful career as a commercial artist. He was a talented watercolorist and maintained a private studio in Tuscaloosa until his death. Read more…
BRUCE ALAN CROWE, alumnus and professor of painting at The University of Alabama for many years, died June 22, 2008. He earned a BS in education in 1971, an MA in art education in 1972 and an MFA in painting in 1974 from UA, before going on to Mississippi State for his PhD in education. He taught art for fifteen years at UA before his seventeen-year stint at Shoals Community College in Russellville, Alabama. Among many awards and prizes for his artwork and teaching, Crowe was chosen Art Educator of the Year in 1991-92 and in 1995-96 by the Alabama Art Education Association. A student of his in the 1970s, Frances Tucker remembers Crowe as “conscientious and hardworking; yet he had a wonderful, quiet sense of humor. I was impressed by his dedication to teaching and his willingness to spend time helping students.” -from The Loupe, Spring 2009
FRANK ENGLE, 85, Professor Emeritus of Art, the University of Alabama, passed away on Thursday, February 20, 2002, at DCH Regional Medical Center. Engle joined the faculty at the University of Alabama in 1949 and taught at the University for 31 years. After his retirement, he continued to create at his farm in Tuscaloosa County and at his cottage on the Bon Secour River in Baldwin County, Alabama. Read more…
FRANK GILSON, who earned a BFA in art from The University of Alabama in the mid 1960s, died December 28, 2008, at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital after a brief illness. Fellow classmate Ron Yrabedra writes about Gilson: “We were students together in the ‘60s. He was so creative and intelligent that he baffled the professors. He served as a medic in Vietnam, traveled in the Mid East, and received an MFA from Florida State University in Islamic Art. He worked as an archaeological illustrator for the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research for most of his career. He was also a beloved teacher of drawing and watercolor at LeMoyne Art Foundation in Tallahassee for many years.” – from The Loupe, Spring 2009
ANGELO JOHN “JACK” GRANATA, age 86, died March 10, 2009, at DCH Medical Center. Mr. Granata, professor emeritus of art, is survived by his wife Clara (Topsy) Granata, his daughter Diane Thompson Granata, his son Gary Granata, and his grandson Anthony (Beau) Thompson. His family was by his side when he passed away. Read more…
PAUL RAYMOND JONES – Noted art collector Paul R. Jones, a native of Bessemer, Ala., who built one of the largest collections of 20th century African-American art – now the Paul R. Jones Collection of American Art at The University of Alabama – died Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010, in Atlanta after a brief illness. He was 81. Read more…
TED KLITZKE – Theodore Klitzke, art history professor and head of the UA art department from 1959 to 1968, died January 10, 2008, in Baltimore, Maryland. Living in Alabama seemed to have enhanced Dr. Klitzke’s full and rewarding life as much as The University of Alabama was enriched by him. While he was here, he served on the board of the ACLU, and he marched with his wife and children from Selma to Montgomery in March of 1965. In The Freedom Quilting Bee, author Nancy Callahan writes that he befriended organizers of the Gee’s Bend quilters and in 1967 helped the artist Lee Krasner find her way down to Wilcox County to meet them. According to a former student, the KKK burned crosses in the front yard of his Pinehurst home three different times. Dr. Klitzke also contributed an essay to Emphasis ‘67, an SGA publication in which he discussed civil rights, women’s rights and the rights of college students. – from The Loupe, Spring 2008.
MELANIE RENEE TYLER OWEN, 38, of Cleveland, Mississippi, and graduate student in sculpture at The University of Alabama, was killed in an automobile accident October 31, 2008. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations to a memorial art scholarship in her memory be sent to the Delta State University art department, P.O. Box 3141, Cleveland, MS, 38733. – from The Loupe, Spring 2009
MORGAN SIGLER was a UA art major, class of 2012, who lost her life in the tornado of April 27, 2011, after it hit the house in which she was taking shelter with friends. In honor of Sigler, a special reception was held at the Walnut Gallery in Gadsden, owned by MARIO GALLARDO (MFA 2002) where her work, along with other work by UA art students, was on exhibit at the time of the tornado. She received her degree from The University of Alabama posthumously. Please also visit: http://stormvictims.tuscaloosanews.com/person/112/morgan-sigler/ and http://bit.ly/MorganEncore. Reprinted from The Loupe, Summer 2011.
BRIAN DAVID STANDIFER, died May 28, 2010, after a brief illness. Dave Standifer earned a BFA degree in graphic design and an MA degree in photography under Professor Gay Burke. Read more…
JOHN R. WESTON – Former student and friend of the art department, John R. “Bob” Weston, passed away on March 17, 2004, after an extended illness. He was known throughout the community as a painter and draftsman, and avid patron of visual arts. Weston was a decorated former Marine who served three tours of duty in the Vietnam War. His artistic talents as an illustrator led him through a myriad of opportunities from muralist to film set story board artist. He possessed a brilliant command of language and quotation. Weston attended classes at the UA art department from 1991-1996. – Professor W. T. Dooley
RICHARD ZOELLNER - TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama artist and retired University of Alabama professor Richard Zoellner, whose widely-collected paintings and sculpture-like prints were known for their energy and vibrant application of color and pattern, died Thursday, March 6 at the age of 94. Zoellner served for 33 years on the department of art faculty in UA’s College of Arts and Sciences. His retirement from UA in 1978, at the age of 70, launched a period of renewed creativity in which he received extensive recognition as a highly productive painter of elegantly crafted lithographs and canvasses. He worked daily in his studio and continued to exhibit his work until his death. Read more…
Please send news to Rachel Dobson, Visual Resources Curator, Department of Art and Art History, Box 870270, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 or email us.
