Theodore Randall International Chair

The Randall Chair was established in 2007 to honor the legacy of artist and educator Theodore Randall, remembered as the architect of the School of Art and Design at Alfred and as a significant artist and organizer in the field.

Ted Randall's signature/mark on the bottom of a ceramic piece of art

The Randall Chair is open to established, international artists living outside the United States as non-US citizens who, by virtue of their stature as experienced artists, will bring diverse cultural insight.

Spring 2024 Foundations : Simeen Farhat

Simeen Farhat was born in 1968, in Karachi, Pakistan. Her work has been shown in museum shows including The Asia Society Museum, Houston, Arlington Museum of Art, Ithra Museum, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, The Grace Museum, Abilene, TX, Sharjah Museum of Art, UAE, and The National Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan.

Farhat also has numerous solo and group exhibitions in New York City, Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston, London, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Bahrain, Kuwait, Pakistan, Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria, 56th Venice Biennale.

Many of her works have been placed in numerous public and private collection including Ithra Museum, Saudi Arabia, Parish School, Dallas Texas, Dallas Records Building, Dallas, TX, US Embassy, Islamabad, Pakistan, US Consulate, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Ammar Architecture Group, Bahrain Mesa Community College, Mesa Arizona, US, Uptown Dermatology, Dallas TX, Abu Dhabi Palace for the Crown Prince, UAE, Tudor Pickering Holt and Co, Houston, TX, Bur Juman, Arjaan Rotana Hotel and Four Seasons Hotel, Dubai UAE, Peninsula Hotel, France.

Farhat’s art has been mentioned and written about in major publications, and catalogues such as: NY Times, Elephant Magazine, Selection Magazine Votergent, Contemporary Practice Philadelphia Inquirer, Dallas Morning News, Dallas Observer, Art and Seek, Artlies, Art and Culture, Houston Chronicle The Daily Dawn, Nukta Art Magazine, Geo News, Canvas Magazine, Harpers' Bazar, Khaleejesque, and Kuwait, India Times, India Today, India Art Journal, Glasstire.

Fall 2024 Art History: Dr. Wendy Gers

Dr. Gers is an award-winning international academic, curator and consultant. She has lived and worked in the Netherlands, UK, France, South Africa, China and Taiwan etc., and established research laboratories, taught and curated major exhibitions in Europe, East Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Among these exhibitions are 2 major Biennales, that were visited by over 1 million people. Her curatorial leadership was celebrated by the City Press’s inclusion of Gers in their list of 100 ‘World-Class South Africans’. In parallel, Wendy has delivered over 80 public lectures and keynote addresses in 20 countries, and has served on various juries and boards.

Gers is currently Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Princessehof National Museum of Ceramics in the Netherlands, a prestigious Rijksmuseum with collection of over 45 000 works. 

She has authored numerous catalogues, book chapters and scholarly articles, including the landmark monograph on southern African potteries, Scorched Earth (2016), Cont{r}act Earth (2017) and Terra Nova (2014). She has written chapters for 2 readers, The Ceramics Reader (2017) and The Craft and War Reader (forthcoming). Her research interests include sustainability, decolonisation, museums restitution and healing. 

Gers is the recipient of a PhD from the University of Sunderland; MA in History of Art (cum laude); Advanced University Diploma in Information Studies and BA from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. She completed her Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Tshwane University of Technology (South Africa).

Ziyang Wu (Fall ‘22)

Ziyang Wu is an artist based in Hangzhou and New York, currently teaching at the School of Design and Innovation at China Academy of Art, and is a current member of NEW INC at the New Museum. With an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, and a BFA from the Florence Academy of Fine Arts, his video, AR, AI simulation and interactive video installation have exhibited internationally, including the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Philadelphia, Rhizome at the New Museum in New York, Walker Art Center and Rochester Art Center in Minnesota, SXSW in Texas, Art Dubai, Annka Kultys Gallery in London, Eigenheim Gallery in Berlin, Medici Palace in Florence, Milan Design Week, Today Art Museum in Beijing, Chengdu Biennale, Song Art Museum in Beijing and Ming Contemporary Art Museum in Shanghai. His recent fellowships and residencies include “Kai Wu” Interdisciplinary Studio residency, Media Art Lab, Times Museum; AACYF Top 30 under 30; Residency Unlimited; MacDowell Fellowship; Artist-in-residence at Institute for Electronic Arts (IEA) at Alfred University; Winner of The ROCI Road to Peace by Robert Rauschenberg Art Foundation. His work has been reviewed and featured by Artnet, Brooklyn Rail, It’s Nice That, Vogue Singapore, Hypebeast, ArtForum China, Wall Street International, New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), BIE, Neural Magazine, Vie Des Arts Magazine, ANTE Magazine, Frontrunner Magazine, LEAP Magazine, Coeval Magazine, Stir World Magazine and more.

Liet Heringa and Maarten Van Kalsbeek (Spring ‘22)

The International Randall Chairs for the Division of Ceramic Art in the Spring Semester 2022 will be Liet Heringa and Maarten Van Kalsbeek, an artist duo from the Netherlands.

For more than 25 years, since their student days at the Rietveld Académie, they have regularly collaborated as Heringa/Van Kalsbeek on myriad projects in the Netherlands and internationally. Look over their website and CV to see the wide range of materials, methods, and projects they have engaged.

Liet and Maarten will be teaching Junior “Ceramic Sculpture II” within a thematic structure they provocatively titled “Frontstage/Backstage.”

Division Chair Walter McConnell states "I’ve had the pleasure of working with Liet and Maarten at a Korean Biennial in 2004. I can tell you from firsthand experience that they are hardworking prolific artists, fine and generous people with a wealth of knowledge to share and good fun to be around."