Jeff Rau and Ted Prescott discuss Prescott's sculpture, True Vine, commissioned by the Long Family.
Jeff Rau is an artist, curator, and educator based in Long Beach, CA. In 2000, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Valparaiso University, Indiana, but soon after moving to southern California he left engineering to pursue a career in the arts. In 2011, Rau earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Photography and a Graduate Certificate in Museum Studies from California State University, Fullerton. Rau has taught photography and digital media courses in the Art Department since 2008. In his artistic practice, Rau employs photography and other documentary media (video and sound) in a conceptual practice of archiving, mapping, and serial performance. He is also a founding member and active curator with Sixpack Projects.
Theodore Prescott is a sculptor and writer who lives and works near Harrisburg PA. Prescott received a B.A. in Art from The Colorado College, and an M.F.A. from the Rinehart School of Sculpture at MICA. He has exhibited in the United States and Western Europe, completed several public commissions, and has work in public and private collections. In 1980 Prescott began the art major at Messiah College in Grantham, PA. By the end of his tenure at the school the program had grown to 125 students in three majors, with 7 full time and 3 part time faculty. He chaired the art program for a decade, and was the recipient of two successive 5 year terms as a Distinguished Professor of Art. He is currently an Emeritus Professor of Art at the college.
Prescott was instrumental in founding the national organization CIVA (Christians in the Visual Arts), served as its president for two terms, and edited its triennial publication for more than a decade. His articles on art have appeared in several publications, including American Arts Quarterly, Image, and The New Criterion. He has edited one book on contemporary figurative art, and written three catalog essays for solo exhibitions by contemporary artists.
Prescott’s sculpture is characterized by an interest in material substances, and their poetic and associative nature. He is versatile in the use of traditional sculptural materials like stone, wood, and metals, but also employs unconventional materials like coal, honey, and salt. The forms of his work are related to modernist sculpture, but his subject matter often draws on the beliefs and ideas found in the Christian tradition.
Website: tedprescottsculpture.com