Culture
School of Art + Design Mourns Passing of Professor Emeritus Abner Jonas
< < Back to school-of-art-design-mourns-passing-of-professor-emeritus-abner-jonasThe School of Art + Design mourns the passing of Abner Jonas, Professor Emeritus, longtime faculty member and previous director of the School of Art + Design who passed away Monday, Feb. 6.
Born in 1935, Jonas was a celebrated artist and printmaker with a long history in the Athens community. He is survived by his wife, and fellow artist, Kathleen Jonas.
Jonas taught undergraduate and graduate printmaking courses in the School of Art + Design from 1964 to 2005. From 1980 to 1986, he was the director of the School of Art and the acting director from 1989 to 1990. Throughout his career, he also taught at Brighton Polytechnic (Brighton, England), the University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA) and Luther College (Decorah, IA).
Jonas studied printmaking and painting at the University of Iowa, where he received his M.F.A., and at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN.
After retiring in 2005, Jonas exhibited his printmaking works extensively across the country in more than 50 group, invitational, competitive and solo exhibitions. He received the Mid America Print Council’s Outstanding Printmaker Award in 2006 at a ceremony held at Seigfred Hall.
His artworks were widely collected by esteemed institutions such as Baldwin-Wallace College, Northern Illinois Center Galleries, Akron Art Institute, Brighton Polytechnic, Indiana University Museum, College of William and Mary, Dayton Art Institute, University of Colorado, Rourke Gallery and Museum, Western Illinois University, University of Virginia, Moorhead State University, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing, the Kennedy Museum of Art and many more.
An exhibition in honor of Abner Jonas is being organized and will be on view Feb. 25 – March 4, 2017 in the Trisolini Gallery at Baker University Center. An opening reception is scheduled for the evening of Feb. 25.