Press Release
Bro. David Haack, ofm
Art Students League of New York Membership
Bro. David J. Haack, ofm, associate professor of Art History and Studio Art in the Visual and Performing Arts department was granted membership into the Art Students League of New York on May 2, 2011 in New York City. During his sabbatical year, he submitted a portfolio of recent paintings and was accepted at the Art Students League, America's Premier Atelier School in the French Academic tradition, to study portraiture and figure studies in the medium of traditional oil paint. He studied with master painters Joseph Peller (figure studies) and Tom Torak (portrait studies) at the League from September, 2010 to April, 2011. Both master painters recommended him to become a member of the league after a review of his work produced at the league. Three practicing members of the League acted as recommenders and his nomination was voted in by the full membership of the League on April 14. May 2, he signed the League's Constitution, written in 1875, held a concours exhibition of his works at the League's Gallery, the Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery on West 57th St., that was capped by the Leagues traditional ceremony for new members.
The Art Students League was founded in 1875 by a group of artists, including many women, who were students at the National Academy of Design. The League's early instructors included William Merritt Chase, Kenyon Cox, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Chester French, Thomas Eakins and Childe Hassam. Many artists who shaped the vocabulary of art worldwide have trained or taught at the League. They include Georgia O'Keeffe, John Sloan, Reginald Marsh, Thomas Hart Benton, Alexander Calder, Hans Hofmann, Paul Manship, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Louise Nevelson, Romare Bearden, Roy Lichtenstein, and many others.
His work can be viewed on his website (www.dhaackofm.com) or (www.haackstudiolo.com).
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Bro. David Haack, ofm is a Franciscan brother of the Order of Friars Minor of Holy Name Province, and a retired (2013) Associate Professor of Visual Arts at St. Bonaventure University in New York.
Bro. David taught Art History courses such as Ancient Civilizations, Renaissance through Romanticism, Women in Art: Past and Present, and an Introduction to Art course, as well as studio courses entitled Senior Exhibition and Seminar, Drawing I and II, Traditional Techniques in Oil Painting, Two-Dimensional Design, and a Clare Core curriculum course Arts and Literature. During the summer months he taught two Graduate Franciscan Art History courses, Franciscan Paintings: Part 1, from 1223 to 1517; and Part 2, from 1517 to the Present; and a Franciscan Studio Painting course in the Graduate School of the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University.
Bro. David began his college education as a musician and ended up an art historian/artist. He holds a Ph. D. in Humanities/Art History from Syracuse University, and a M. Phil. from the same university. He did his doctoral dissertation research in Northern and Central Italy. His dissertation was published in 1999 through UMI and entitled "Content and Controversy in choir and Convent Images of St. Francis of Assisi in Northern Italy, 1300-1450." He also holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Oil Painting from the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. and a B.S. degree from St. Francis College in Brooklyn Heights, New York.
He has been a host/lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC, presenting a program entitled "Selected Sacred Franciscan paintings of the 13th, 14th, 15th centuries" from the collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Other lectures include "Franciscan Art through the Ages: A Collage of Francis' Thought through Art;" "Content and Controversy: Paintings of Francis of Assisi, 13th and 14th centuries;" "Images of Francis, 13th-18th centuries;" and "Spanish Art, Renaissance to the turn of the 20th century."
As a painter, Bro. David has painted commissioned works for the Curia Generalizia dei Frati Minori in Rome, Italy; Mt. Alverna Novitiate in Asumbi, Kenya; the Carnavale Center, Pompton Lakes, NJ; St. Elizabeth's Motherhouse, Allegany, NY; St. Bonaventure Friary, New York; Georgia Tech. University, Atlanta; and Holy Name Provincialate, New York City. His works are also in private Collections in Dublin, Ireland; Palm Springs, California; Montreal, Canada; Wanaque, New Jersey; Green Bay, Port Washington, and Fredonia, Wisconsin. He has exhibited in solo exhibitions at the Carnavale Center, NJ; Washington Theological Union, Washington, D.C.; St. Francis University, Fort Wayne, Indiana; and at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Group exhibitions include St. Bonaventure University Faculty Exhibits and Siena College, Loudonville, New York.. He also was solo guest speaker for three Boces television programs.
Bro. David has directed several religious retreats and workshops using the mediums of watercolor and clay in Western New York, Denver, Washington, D.C., Burlington, Wisc.; St. Louis, and Jemez Springs, New Mexico. He was one of three presenters for the National Franciscan Institute Forum V Workshop: "Reading the Tradition in Word and Art", in Colorado Springs. He also created, in 1998, an exhibit and forum at St. Bonaventure University entitled Perceptions of the Universe in Art & Science. The forum combined space travel in conjunction with the formation and exhibition of paintings by "George Constant: Exploration of the Universe, 1948-1978."
Musically, Bro. David produced and directed the concert "Mario Zedog Mendoza, ofm, Classical Guitarist" in 2000; and produced, directed and conducted the interdisciplinary "Joy" concert, combining the visual arts of painting and sculpture with vocal and instrumental music from all idioms, drama, and interpretive dance.
Contact information: Bro. David Haack, ofm
Haack Studiolo
1 Friary Circle,
St. Bonaventure, New York 14778
E-mail: [email protected]