Three faculty artists who helped build the reputation of Bowling Green State University’s School of Art
will return for a show of their drawing, photography and painting in the exhibit
"Distinguished." Tom Hilty, Ron Jacomini, and Bob Mazur launched a generation of young artists
and shaped the School of Art during an era of growth.
The three professors emeriti of art all retired from teaching in 1998 but continue to produce their art.
They have selected a range of recent and older works for the exhibit, which opens Oct. 25 in the Willard
Wankelman Gallery in the Fine Arts Center and runs through Nov. 22. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tuesday-Saturday, 6 to 9 p.m. Thursdays and 1 to 4 p.m. Sundays. They will discuss their work at 6 p.m.
Nov. 17 in the Thomas B. and Kathleen M. Donnell Theatre at the Wolfe Center for the Arts.
The former director of the School of Art, Hilty taught for 32 years and oversaw the construction of the
new wing of the Fine Arts Center that opened in 1992 and houses the galleries and classrooms.
His art, while predominantly figurative, combines free abstract areas overlaid with drawn sections in
Conte crayon and pastel, creating a complex whole. In the early part of his career he worked exclusively
in graphite and charcoal but later expanded to other mediums.
Jacomini, an award-winning graphic designer and photographer, began teaching at BGSU in 1965, the same
year he received his master of fine arts degree from the University. He taught his first class in
photography in 1970, introducing it as a major area of study to the school in 1975. He was named a
professor in 1978 and served as the chair of the design division from 1981-98.
Jacomini featured the human figure in a variety of settings, using techniques such as straight shots,
split imagery and moving figures. A series of photos of water inspired his colleague Mazur to create a
series of related paintings.
A prolific artist, Mazur often employed a technique beginning with a flat pallet of sponge rubber and
then layering and incising paint on it so that the eventual painting took on an almost sculptural
texture and appearance. He later worked in mixed media and acrylic on canvas.
Using organic forms and, sometimes strong sexual influences, his work makes a direct statement, one
reviewer observed. Other works were more abstract and took nature or water as their subject.
Mazur served as acting director of the School of Art in 1975 and was the longtime director of graduate
studies. He also received the Il Magnifo Award from the Medici Circle. In 1990, Undergraduate Student
Government named him the top teacher in the School of Art.
(Story provided by BGSU Office of Marketing and Communications.)
