November 9, 2010

Associate Professor of Architecture Ronit Eisenbach has been awarded a MacDowell Colony Fellowship for the Spring Semester 2011.

The MacDowell Colony is the prestigious art colony for writers, visual artists, architects and performance artists. The mission of the MacDowell Colony is to nurture the arts by offering creative individuals of the highest talent an inspiring environment in which to produce enduring works of the imagination. At its founding in 1908, the Colony was envisioned as "an experiment with no precedent."

Since this beginning the Colony has provided a refuge for more than 6,000 artists, including such notable names such as Leonard Bernstein, Thornton Wilder, Aaron Copland, Milton Avery, James Baldwin, Spalding Gray, and more recently Alice Walker, Alice Sebold, Jonathan Franzen, Michael Chabon, Suzan-Lori Parks, Sonny Rollins, and Meredith Monk. The MacDowell Colony is located in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire.

While in residence Professor Eisenbach will develop the tactile dimension of her architecture by exploring the dynamic tension between touch and sight. This inquiry builds upon prior work in which she has designed physical and pedagogical environments to explore embodied spatial experience. The work she will do at the MacDowell Colony will provide the groundwork for a site-specific installation in Reston, Virginia with choreographer Sharon Mansur. The time and resources enabled by the fellowship will allow her to further her inquiry into the nature of the built environment while living in a dynamic community of creative individuals.

The School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at the University of Maryland is home to four academic disciplines: architecture, urban planning, historic preservation and real estate development. Committed to educating its students and community about the importance of sustainability and smart growth, the School practices an interdisciplinary approach to education, research, creative work, and community and professional service. For more information, please e-mail us or call 301.405.8000.

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