PAFA Celebrates 209th Commencement on May 9, 2014

Jane Golden to Deliver Commencement Address

PHILADELPHIA (May 5, 2014) - The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) celebrates its 209th Commencement on Friday, May 9, 2014 at 3 p.m. in the Historic Landmark Building (118 N. Broad Street).

PAFA will recognize 129 graduating students, including 28 Certificate Program graduates; 29 Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) graduates; 28 Certificate graduates; 7 BFA/Certificate graduates; 19 Post-Baccalaureate graduates, and 46 Master of Fine Arts graduates.

Jane Golden, Executive Director of the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, will address the class of 2014 as the Commencement speaker. Golden has been a driving force for the Mural Arts Program for thirty years, overseeing its growth from a small city agency into the nation’s largest mural program and a model for community development across the country and around the globe. Under Golden’s direction, the Mural Arts Program has created over 3,600 landmark works of public art through innovative collaborations with community organizations, city agencies, non-profits, schools, the private sector, and philanthropies. PAFA’s School of Fine Arts has been a part of the work of the Mural Arts Program for many years, as dozens of PAFA alumni have participated in creating murals in Philadelphia. Earlier this year, PAFA hosted Beyond the Paint: Philadelphia’s Mural Arts, an exhibition showcasing the cumulative work of three decades of community engaged art-making in Philadelphia.

PAFA will present the 2014 Distinguished Alumni Award to internationally recognized artist Raymond Saunders. Born in Pittsburgh in 1934, Saunders studied at PAFA from 1953 to 1957. His work is included in public collections around the country, including PAFA; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Howard University; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the de Young Fine Arts Museum, San Francisco, among many others.

Recent solo exhibitions include Centre Cuzin in Auch, France; Stephen Wirtz Gallery in San Francisco; and Stir Gallery in Shanghai, China. Saunder’s many honors include two National Endowment for the Arts Awards; a Guggenheim Fellowship; the Prix de Rome; and numerous awards from PAFA, including a William Emlen Cresson Memorial Travel Scholarship, the Thomas Eakins Prize, and the Granger Memorial Award. Saunder’s work was included in two recent exhibitions at PAFA: After Henry Tanner: African American Artists since 1940 (2012) and Abstract Expressionism and its Discontents (2011).

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Founded in 1805, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is America's first School of Fine Arts and Museum. A recipient of the 2005 National Medal of Arts presented by the President of the United States, PAFA is a recognized leader in Fine Arts education. Nearly every major American artist has taught, studied, or exhibited at PAFA. The institution's world-class collection of American art continues to grow and provides what only a few other art institutions in the world offer: the rare combination of an outstanding Museum and an extraordinary faculty known for its commitment to students and for the stature and quality of its artistic work.