The artist’s search for a personal geography:
Professor John Blosser to share recent paintings in Afternoon Sabbatical Oct. 11

GOSHEN, Ind. – During his recent sabbatical from Goshen College, Art Professor John Blosser had the opportunity to reflect on the experiences that brought him back to Goshen, where he received his undergraduate degree, and to use artwork to make sense of his life’s journey. He will share paintings that are the result of his sabbatical in a presentation, titled “A Place Observed: The Search for a Personal Geography,” on Oct. 11 at 1 p.m. in Sauder Concert Hall, as part of the Afternoon Sabbatical Series. The program is free and open to the public.

After graduating from Goshen College in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in art and art education, Blosser earned a master’s of arts degree from Bowling Green State University in 1979 and a master’s of fine arts degree in drawing from Arizona State University in 1986. He moved further west and taught at Hesston and Bethel colleges in Kansas. In 1999, Blosser completed the circle and returned to Goshen College to serve as an art professor. The journey of his life became the focus of his sabbatical in the 2004-05 school year.

In his Afternoon Sabbatical presentation, Blosser will take participants along on a chronological journey through the evolution of his art making. Besides the events and travels that have influenced his work, he will discuss and illustrate the progression of the artwork that came out of his sabbatical. The oil and watercolor paintings that Blosser has completed are the result of direct observation in places of personal interest in northern Indiana and Illinois.

“I decided to draw and paint the local landscape as a way of making sense of my return to this area after 30-plus years of living elsewhere,” said Blosser. “I find that working from direct observation on location is a useful way of encountering the reality of my new life here in Goshen.”

According to Blosser, his art has evolved over the course of the past year. He began with straightforward graphite pencil drawings of places and things that interested him, such as place of family history. In late September, he attended a direct observation drawing to painting workshop in Colorado. He found new and interesting approaches to his work under the direction of Susanna Coffey, who lives and paints in New York City and teaches at the Chicago Art Institute. According to Blosser, his work has become increasingly “more intensely colorful and fluid.”

Blosser also traveled extensively during his sabbatical, visiting museums and art galleries. A trip to Paris in May 2004 to lead a three-week course for Goshen College students began his sabbatical; he went on to visit Chicago, New York City, Boston, Ann Arbor, Mich., Madison, Wis., and Grand Rapids, Mich.

To conclude his year away from the classroom, Blosser spent two weeks in the Ragdale Artist Residency program in Lake Forest, Ill. One of the oldest and finest programs in the country, Ragdale offers a peaceful setting and uninterrupted days to work in fine studios.

Blosser’s artwork has been exhibited in a number of invitational and solo shows over the past three decades, along with a wide variety of juried shows. He has won awards for his art, as well as being involved in workshops and artist residencies around the country.

Blosser’s art exhibit, “A Place Observed,” can be viewed in the Hershberger Art Gallery following the presentation, and is on display until Oct. 16.

Future lectures in the Afternoon Sabbatical series:

·    Nov. 8, 1 p.m., Sauder Concert Hall – Community School of the Arts, students and professors share their music

·    Dec. 6, 1 p.m., Sauder Concert Hall – “Our Life and Music” with Solomia Soroka, assistant professor of music, and Arthur Greene, University of Michigan chair of the piano department

·    Jan. 28, Chicago Bus Trip to See “Little Women.”Cost: $99.

·    Feb. 14, 1 p.m., Sauder Concert Hall – “Women’s World Choir” with Deb Brubaker, associate professor of music

·    March 14, 1 p.m., Sauder Concert Hall – “Greece – Sabbatical Study and More” with Robert Birkey, director and professor of social work

·    April 11, 12 p.m., Church Fellowship Hall – “International Lunch: Peru – A Land of Contrasts” with Dean Rhodes, associate professor of Spanish, and Janette Yoder, director of special events. Cost: $20.

·    May 16 – Bus tour to Meijer Gardens and Ford Museum. Cost: $45.

Goshen College’s Afternoon Sabbatical program is in its 29th year of offering rich diversity in programs for the community. A committee of area representatives and college personnel look to the wealth of knowledge and talent at Goshen College and among Elkhart County citizens and selects programs that will appeal to a wide variety of interests. Programs have an integral connection to the college, either through subject matter or in ways in which the campus and community are interrelated.

For more information on the Afternoon Sabbatical series call the Goshen College Welcome Center at (574) 535-7566 or e-mail welcomecenter@goshen.edu.

- Jennifer Rupp

Editors: For more information about this release, to arrange an interview or request a photo, contact Goshen College News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at (574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu.

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Goshen College, established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide” and U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit www.goshen.edu/.