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Sackler program draws major artist to UConn
February 23, 1998

Major New York artist Sue Coe has been selected as the next Raymond and Beverly Sackler Artist-in-Residence by the School of Fine Arts.

Well known for her satirical and political work, Coe uses her art to effect social change. Her paintings, etchings and drawings have been seen in The New Yorker, The Village Voice and Artnews. The English native has held more than 25 one-woman shows and authored five illustrated books.

Coe will create a lithograph while at UConn from March 2-6, and will give a lecture and visual presentation on Wednesday, March 4, at 4:30 p.m. in the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. Students can interact with Coe as she creates in the printshop. She will also provide critiques to MFA art students and to advanced undergraduate art majors.

"The art faculty and students are thrilled that they will have this rare occasion to work side-by-side with Sue Coe, one of the major artists of our time," says Dean Robert Gray of the School of Fine Arts. "Ms. Coe's work is an important part of the collections of both artists and museums throughout the world."

The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Artist-in-Residence Program for the Advancement of the Arts was established to ensure that new works of art, drama and music will be created by the most important artists of each generation. The Sacklers, of Greenwich, are longtime supporters of the arts, medicine, biological and natural sciences, mathematics and archeology.

The artist-in-residence program, a special academic program, is designed so that the artist, the creative process and the artist's work will benefit future generations of artists and add to the cultural landscape of Connecticut and the world. An annual creative residency provides the artist with resources, privacy, amenities and a special atmosphere to pursue intensive creative work.

Coe was born in Tamworth, England, and studied graphic design at the Royal College of Art. She moved to New York in 1972, almost immediately landing a commission from The New York Times. She has also taught at New York's School of Visual Arts. Her work has been acquired by such institutions as the Arts Council of Great Britain, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Library of Congress.

Among other publications, in 1996 Coe published "Dead Meat," a collection of graphite and watercolor sketches depicting slaughterhouses, hatcheries and meat farms and narrated by her first-person observations.

Renu Aldrich