Two members of Howard Payne University’s art faculty recently earned recognition for professional accomplishments.

David E. Harmon, professor of art and chair of the Department of Art, shared his panel paper at the 28th Annual National Conference on Liberal Arts and the Education of Artists in New York City. The topic was “The Art Canon: The Vital Role of Visual Art in the University.”

In addition, one of Harmon’s painted works was accepted into the Second Annual National Plein Air Competition. The competition was held at the San Diego Artist Guild in San Diego, Calif. Three of his works were also accepted into the 4th International Small Works Show at the Lessandra Gallery in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Paintings by Harmon and his wife, Susan, were recently the focus of a joint exhibition at the Frost Center for the Visual Arts at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene.

Julie Mize, adjunct instructor of photography at HPU, had a photograph accepted into an exhibit at Texas Tech University.

“High and Dry: A Photographic Exhibition of Peoples and Places of the World’s Dry Lands” is sponsored by the International Cultural Center of Texas Tech’s Office of International Affairs. This is the third consecutive year Mize has had a photograph accepted into this exhibit. The exhibit will be open from November 21, 2014 until January 16, 2015.

Mize’s image, “Rialto Theater,” is a black-and-white photograph of the marquee on an abandoned movie theater in Brownfield. Mize used film and darkroom processes to take the photograph and develop the print.

Mize has been the photography course instructor at HPU since 2008. She also teaches art at Brownwood Middle School.

Pictured above is Harmon’s painting “Seascape #4.”

Pictured below is Mize’s photograph “Rialto Theatre.”