November 23, 2009

Mel Leipzig is a gifted portrait painter whose attention to detail and unique four-color approach to observational acrylic painting captures the work and lives of artists, students and everyday people. Mr. Leipzig is our first 2009-10 Rankin Scholar in Residence and his residency is the focus of a full day of activities planned for Wednesday, December 2nd. Beginning at noon, Mr. Leipzig, Drexel Theater students and members of the Philadelphia Artists Collective, including professional actors Greg Wood and Lenny Haas, will present 'Ibsen in the Afternoon: A Reading of Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of The People', directed by Drexel adjunct faculty member, Damon Bonetti. Also on December 2nd, we will celebrate the work of Mr. Leipzig with an opening reception for his exhibition, Mel Leipzig: Life Observed, in the Leonard Pearlstein Gallery at 6 PM. Mel will give an artist talk just before the reception at 5:30 PM in Stein Auditorium, (111 Nesbitt Hall) and the exhibition will be open to the public through December 18th.

Mr. Leipzig was elected into the prestigious National Academy in 2006 and has been the recipient of numerous awards including a Fulbright Travelling Fellowship, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Award and an Individual Artist Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Mel's work has been featured in more than twenty-five solo shows and is currently in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, Yale Art Gallery, Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Montclair Art Museum, New Jersey State Museum and the White House. For the past 36 years, Mel has been a distinguished Professor of Art and Art History at Mercer County College in New Jersey.