Fine Arts faculty: Farewell to some, welcome to others, thanks to all

Please join Dean Catherine Wild in thanking Irene Gericke and Evergon for their scholarly, creative and personal contributions to the Faculty of Fine Arts. We wish them well as they retire from university life.

Irene Gericke, Creative Arts Therapies (retiring June 1)
Irene Gericke joined the Department of Creative Arts Therapies as a part-time professor in 1990 and joined the full-time faculty in 2008. Before starting her Concordia career as a full-time faculty member, Gericke was a pioneer as an art therapist, employed at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute in Child and Adolescent Services from 1970 to 2007, seeing children, adolescents and their families in individual and group art therapy with a wide range of client populations. During her time at the university, Gericke brought her warmth, kindness and extraordinary wisdom to Creative Arts Therapies faculty, staff and students. She will be deeply missed.

Evergon, Studio Arts (retiring June 15)
Evergon joined the full-time Studio Arts photography faculty in 1999 after teaching in England at the Bradford and Ilkley Community College. His work represents a prolific international career as educator and artist/photographer imaging primarily gay male culture. At once gentle and welcoming, yet still very exacting, Evergon always made a strong impression on students, encouraging them to work from a personal point of view, taking the photograph unexpected places. Colleagues figure that Evergon will most certainly continue creating, writing and exhibiting in his post-Concordia life, as an artist never really retires.

Wild would also like to take this opportunity to welcome new department chairs – Yehudit Silverman (Creative Arts Therapies), Katie Russell (Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema), Silvy Panet-Raymond (Contemporary Dance) and pk langshaw (Design and Computation Arts) as well as David Howes (Director, Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies in Society and Culture) – to their positions.

They join David Pariser (Art Education), Cynthia Hammond (Art History), Liselyn Adams, (Music), Ted Little (Theatre) and Eric Simon (Studio Arts) in this important administrative role.

Many thanks also to the outgoing chairs – Joanna Berzowska, Dan Cross, Michaal Montanaro and Stephen Snow – for their hard work and dedication throughout their terms.