CCA to Confer Honorary Doctorates on Samella Lewis, Michael McClure and Barclay Simpson
San Francisco, April 19, 2005
California College of the Arts (CCA) will confer honorary doctorate degrees on art historian Samella Lewis, poet Michael McClure and philanthropist Barclay Simpson at the 98th Commencement Exercises held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 14, at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco. Michael McClure is the commencement speaker; his speech will take the form of a performance with noted composer Terry Riley, founder of the minimalist and new tonality movements. In addition to attending the commencement ceremonies, Lewis, McClure and Simpson will be honored at a private dinner the night before and will participate in the post-commencement reception on CCA's San Francisco campus.
The career of teacher, scholar and artist Samella Lewis has spanned more than 50 years. One of the first African-American women to obtain a doctorate in art history, Lewis has championed the artists of her time, including Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, Lois Mailou Jones and John Biggers. While professor of art history at Scripps College, she founded the International Review of African American Art (originally released as Black Art, An International Quarterly). She has curated many exhibitions both in the United States and abroad and was founding director of the Museum of African American Art. As an artist, Lewis is primarily known for her prints, which in the 1960s and 1970s reflected the struggle for humanity and freedom among people of color. She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the 1993 Charles White Lifetime Achievement Award and the 1995 UNICEF Award for the Visual Arts. In 1996–97 she was a distinguished scholar at the Getty Research Institute.
The Los Angeles Times called him "the role model for Jim Morrison." Poet and playwright Michael McClure burst onto the literary scene in 1954 at the legendary Six Gallery in San Francisco with fellow writers Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder and Jack Kerouac. Author of more than 30 volumes of poetry and 20 plays, he has given hundreds, if not thousands, of readings at clubs, colleges and theaters and has also conducted numerous writing workshops. His many awards include a New York Theater Critic's Award, two Obies, the Lifetime Achievement Award in Poetry from the National Poetry Association and grants and fellowships from such prestigious organizations as the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He has been teaching at CCA since 1963—the longest tenure of any faculty member at the college. Most recently, McClure has been performing and recording with Ray Manzarek, former keyboardist for the Doors. In December 2004, the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley acquired McClure's journals from the years 1956 through 2002.
Entrepreneur and art aficionado Barclay Simpson is founder and chairman of Dublin-based Simpson Manufacturing. A member of CCA's Board of Trustees since 1986, Simpson and his wife, Sharon, have supported a variety of projects at the college, including the Sharon Hanley Simpson Library on the San Francisco campus and the award-winning sculpture facility on the Oakland campus. Each year the Simpson Scholarship is awarded to outstanding graduate students. The Simpsons are also generous donors to the Berkeley Art Museum; Girls Inc. of Alameda County; California Shakespeare Festival; Museum of Children's Art; Bay Area Discovery Museum; Boys & Girls Clubs of Oakland and San Leandro; Berkeley Public Library and Orinda Public Library; Chabot Space and Science Center; John F. Kennedy University; Wardrobe for Opportunity; and Pacific Vision Foundation. In November 2004 they received the Outstanding Philanthropist Award at the National Philanthropy Day Luncheon in San Francisco.
The college will confer degrees on 361 students at the 2005 Commencement Exercises. For more information about CCA's honorary doctorate degrees or about the college's 98th Commencement Exercises, please call 510.594.3666.
About the College
Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts (formerly California College of Arts and Crafts) is the largest regionally accredited, independent school of art and design in the western United States. Noted for the interdisciplinary nature and breadth of its programs, CCA offers studies in 18 undergraduate and 6 graduate majors in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design and writing. The college offers bachelor of architecture, bachelor of arts, bachelor of fine arts, master of architecture, master of arts and master of fine arts degrees. With campuses in Oakland and San Francisco, CCA currently enrolls 1,500 full-time students. Noted alumni include painters Nathan Oliveira and Raymond Saunders; ceramicists Robert Arneson, Viola Frey and Peter Voulkos; filmmaker Wayne Wang; conceptual artists David Ireland and Dennis Oppenheim; and designers Lucille Tenazas and Michael Vanderbyl.