Oakton Educational Foundation recognizes donors
The Oakton Community College Educational Foundation recognized the contributions of donors to its recently completed Student Center, as well as its renovated Student Street areas, at a Wednesday, Jan. 31, reception at its Des Plaines campus.
"The recognition event celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Student Center allowed donors to see firsthand how their investment is changing the lives of our students for the better," said foundation board President Howard Singer. "Their generous support for infrastructure programs such as the Student Center have helped transform the lives of those the college serves, as well as the space where inspiration and creativity can thrive."
The Educational Foundation has received pledges and gifts totaling approximately $250,000 for the center.
As part of the event, which ran from 5-7 p.m. at the Student Center, noted photo artist Darryll Schiff was recognized for his donation of "Descending to Heaven - The Parade Commences," which was installed outside the Student Center in November 2017.
Completed in 2014, "The Parade Commences" is an integral part of Schiff's "Descending to Heaven" series, based on an 1893 speech by Hindu monk Swami Vivekanda at Chicago's Columbian Exposition and an interpretation of Indian artist Jitish Kallat's 2011 installation at the Art Institute of Chicago.
The series visually reinterprets the two items into what Schiff believes is a much more realistic view of humanity.
The artwork is the second print acquired by Oakton. The first, "Belief Persists I," is also from the "Descending to Heaven" series and is on display in the college's Margaret Burke Lee Science and Health Careers Center.
Schiff is scheduled to return to the college in March to speak to art and business students, prospective students and members of the arts and business community.
In recent years, Schiff has become one of Chicago's most prominent artists, with works displayed around the world. His art was selected to be exhibited in South Korea's Art Busan and the Bazaar Art Fair in Jakarta, Indonesia, Scope Miami, as well as a local solo exhibition in Chicago's River North art district. Schiff's works will also be exhibited in Scope New York in March.
In addition to two prints on display in Oakton's Art Walk, Schiff's art appears in many other noteworthy institutions, including New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, George Eastman House, Norton Simon Museum Pasadena, Museum of Contemporary Photography and in many private collections.
Established in 1977, the Oakton Community College Educational Foundation is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt, public charity governed by a community-based, volunteer board of directors and serves as the philanthropic arm of the college.