COLUMBUS, Ohio—Award-winning artist and Columbus College of Art & Design (CCAD) Professor Emeritus Ric Petry will receive an honorary doctorate during the college’s 142nd Commencement, which will be held virtually on Saturday, May 15. Petry will also address the graduating class.Petry’s art-making is broad in scope and media, including commercial and fine art photography, as well as film, performance, sculpture, and recently, collaborative production of video and animation integrated with dance performances.Petry began his career at CCAD in 1981. In 2009, he led the establishment of the first graduate degree at the college, a multidisciplinary, project-based MFA, and became Director of Graduate Studies. Prior to 2009, Petry served as Dean of Media Studies for 10 years and was responsible for the Photography, Video, Animation, and Interactive Arts programs. Petry was also a faculty member in the Photography program and its chair from 1992 to 1998.
Ric is truly a Renaissance man, and his impact on CCAD has been monumental,” said Dr. Melanie Corn, CCAD’s President. “He served our institution for 38 years as an educator, administrator, and outstanding multi-disciplinary artist. His visionary leadership helped make CCAD what it is, and his continued artistic success and commitment to the college make him so deserving of this honorary doctorate.”
Each year CCAD awards one or two distinguished individuals an honorary doctorate at its Commencement ceremony. CCAD faculty, staff, and students are invited to submit nominations, which are reviewed by the CCAD Board of Trustees Committee on Academic and Student Affairs before recommendations are sent to the Provost and President. Honorees are chosen because of their outstanding creative achievement; eminence in an art, design, or related field; and/or significant leadership in the arts or broader contemporary cultural conversation.Petry earned a Master of Fine Arts from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, where he studied Photography with William Larson, and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Akron, where he majored in Philosophy and History of Science. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, three Ohio Arts Council Fellowships, and a Greater Columbus Arts Council Individual Artist Grant.Petry’s artwork was part of Dust:The Plates of the Present, a photographic exhibition at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, where it was on view Oct. 21, 2020–March 22, 2021. His dance/performance videos, 19ChoreOVIDS, created with his wife, dancer and choreographer Susan Van Pelt Petry, were exhibited at the Hybrid Arts Lab at The Ohio State University in February 2021 and will be at the Boulder Contemporary Dance Festival this month.
About Columbus College of Art & Design
Columbus College of Art & Design teaches undergraduate and graduate students in the midst of a thriving creative community in Columbus, Ohio. Founded in 1879, CCAD is one of the oldest private, nonprofit art and design colleges in the United States. CCAD offers 12 BFA programs and a Master of Fine Arts program that produce graduates equipped to shape culture and business at the highest level. For more information, visit ccad.edu.
