Honorary Degrees of Retiring Faculty
Arthur A. Thrall, Charles S. Farrar-Laura Norcross Marrs Professor of Fine Arts, 1990
"Arthur Thrall, printmaker, painter, teacher--your art, which finds its inspiration in sources as diverse as calligraphy and computers, music and microchips, graces galleries, museums, and collections from London to Los Angeles and from the Little Apple to the Big Apple.
From Milwaukee-Downer to Lawrence, from Bjorklunden to the London Center to Helsinki, you have taught your students intaglio and oils, color and perspective. You have encouraged and inspired them to capture not only the landscape without but also the music within. In your teaching as in your art you have demonstrated imagination and patience, dedication and high standards. One of your students praises, your 'steadfast help, optimistic exhortations when my work fell short, and your generous, measured praise when my work succeeded...You gave me a confidence in creativity, and an awareness of form, color, and emotion in art which changed my life and made me a more complete human being.'
In the studio, in the classroom, and in committee you have persuasively reminded us of the importance of art to our community, and you have contributed your expertise and experience toward the realization of an Art Center which literally brings art to the center of our campus, and for many of us, to the center of our lives.
Lawrence is proud to honor you today, as you embark upon another stage of your artistic odyssey.
By the authority vested in me, I now confer upon you the degree of Master of Arts, ad eundem, and admit you to its rights, its privileges, and its obligations."