By Ruth Melville

This summer marks the 70th anniversary of the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art, and the 20th year under the directorship of Sam Messer, a professor and former associate dean at the Yale University School of Art. Housed in the Art Barn on the Battell Stoeckel Estate, the summer program is one of the most well-regarded artist residence programs for college undergraduates. An important feature of the program is that the students live with Norfolk families, giving them the opportunity to form ties to the community.

The 26 students attending this summer have been chosen from over 200 universities worldwide, including in the United States, Canada, Mexico, England and India. The full-time faculty this year comprises Martin Kersels (sculpture and performance), Anna Betbeze (painting), Kati Gegenheimer (painting), Mark Gibson (drawing) and Messer (printmaking).

As he does every year, Messer has also invited visiting artists and lecturers to supplement the core faculty: writer Garnette Cadogan, art historian Susan Cahan, and artists Mike Rader, Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, Anoka Faruqee, Ayham Ghraowi and Josephine Halvorson. Throughout the session, there are free lectures at Battell House, thanks in part to support from the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Estate and the Battell Arts Foundation. Weekly community drawing classes will be held in the Art Barn on Tuesdays, 7 to 9 p.m., and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Over the years many of the summers school’s alumni have gone on to become distinguished artists, including Eva Hesse, Nancy Graves, Robert Mangold and Mickalene Thomas, to name just a few. In honor of the 70th anniversary, Messer has encouraged alumni to come back to visit the campus, especially on June 24, the date of annual Open Studios Day, which concludes with a celebratory community picnic.

But this summer also marks another historic milestone in the history of the Yale Norfolk Summer School of Art. After 20 years, this will be Messer’s final year as director of the art school. “It has a been a privilege and an honor to have taught some of the best and most gifted young artists from around the world. Looking back at my time as director, I feel very fortunate to have been involved in the legendary history of this program.”

On a more personal level, he adds, “The twenty summers that I have spent here in Norfolk with [daughter] Josephine and [wife] Eleanor have been magical and joyous. I feel especially attached to my time as a volunteer driver for the ambulance, and to my many summers overseeing the community drawing sessions, where I came to know so many of the local artists. Norfolk has become a second home for us, and we feel over the years we have gained an extended family.”

Photo of Sam Messer in his studio by Bruce Frisch.

June Lectures

Josephine Halvorson, June 2
Mark Thomas Gibson, June 9
Mike Rader, June 12
Molly Zuckerman-Hartung, June 13
Anna Betbeze, June 15
Sam Messer, June 16
Martin Kersels, June 23