NTID’S VOELKL EARNS ART AWARD OF EXCELLENCE

From: NTID - Mar 5, 2004

ROCHESTER, N.Y., March 5—Michael Voelkl, associate professor of art and computer design at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), a college of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), earned an Award of Excellence in Communication Arts magazine's 44th Photography Annual competition.

Voelkl, who submitted a trio of stringed instrument collages to the juried competition, was one of 162 international photographers whose works were chosen from more than 8,000 entries.

"As an artist, I'm always searching for visual ideas as inspiration," said Voelkl, who has taught at NTID for 27 years. "Joining a musical group recently exposed me to a variety of stringed instruments and to see their textures and shapes as design elements."

Producers at VH1 in New York City who saw Voelkl's work in the magazine commissioned him to create a portrait for VH1's newsletter, STM, (Save the Music), a non-profit effort to promote and acquire musical instruments for students in schools that lack funding for music programs. He also is designing a compact disc cover for The Montana Mandolin Society.

NTID is the first and largest technological college in the world for students who are deaf and hard of hearing. One of eight colleges of RIT, NTID offers educational programs and access and support services to 1,100 students from around the world who study, live, and socialize with 14,400 hearing students on the RIT campus. Web address: www.rit.edu/NTID.

###

Copyright©2003 Rochester Institute of Technology. All rights reserved.