Luther College's Lea Lovelace is honored

Luther College art faculty member Lea Lovelace has been named the 2016-2017 Outstanding Higher Education Art Educator by members of Art Educators of Iowa.

The award is determined through a peer review of nominations.  It recognizes outstanding achievement and contributions in previous years to the field of higher education within the state of Iowa. The award will be presented at the AEI Conference Thursday through Sunday in Burlington, Iowa.

Lovelace says, "Sometimes I reflect upon the ways in which my path to teaching higher education has been non-traditional compared to many and wonder if I'm the best representative for our future art educators. However, I am reminded that my resume reflects the liberal arts education from which I come and for which I advocate and teach today, a pedagogy which art educators value."

Lovelace has worked in the past as program director and instructor at the community-based arts organization Art Factory in Augusta, Georgia; as the manager of school programs at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago; as a visiting faculty member nine years ago; and, with Kristen Underwood, co-founded ArtHaus, Decorah's center for visual, performing and literary arts offering programming for all ages.