Oakland University professor, alumnus among diverse class of 2015 Kresge Artist Fellows

ROCHESTER, Mich. - July 23, 2015 - PRLog -- Oakland University English professor Jeffrey Chapman (http://www.jeffreyschapman.com/comics.html) and alumnus Kahn Santori Davison (http://www.kahnd.com/) are among 18 Metro Detroiters to receive a 2015 Kresge Artist Fellowship from the Troy-based Kresge Foundation.

The $25,000 awards highlight an array of disciplines in the literary and visual arts. Dr. Chapman, who teaches creative writing courses at OU, was recognized as a literary arts fellow for his fiction and graphic novels. Appearing in publications throughout the country, his stories and comics blend the day-to-day, mundane world with the fantastic, mythical world. English Department Chair Kathleen Pfeiffer notes how Dr. Chapman’s work creates an interactive experience for the reader.

“Professor Chapman has developed a very cinematic approach to graphic literature, developing multiple points of view and cultivating visual and textual perspectives that move the narrative through space powerfully and effectively; these are narratives that invite the reader to participate in making meaning through image and text alike,” Dr. Pfeiffer said. “Particularly in his graphic memoir ‘Exile,’ the relationships between image and text reveal extraordinary aesthetic sophistication.”

Davison was recognized as a literary arts fellow for poetry. He graduated from Oakland in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in communication and is currently a music writer for The Metro Times.

Fellowship winners were selected from more than 650 applications, which were reviewed by two independent panels of national and local artists and art professionals. Artists were recognized in many categories, including experimental freestyle poetry, arts criticism, performance art, painting, sculpture, photography and more. Along with the $25,000 award, artists receive a year of intensive professional development support.

Kresge Artist Fellows are funded by the Kresge Foundation and administered by the Kresge Arts in Detroit program of the College for Creative Studies. To learn more about the program, visit kresgeartsindetroit.org (http://www.kresgeartsindetroit.org/).

Photos provided by the Kresge Foundation.