UW-Stevens Point: Dept. of Art and Design honors four

The Department of Art and Design at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point honored three alumni and a friend of the department as part of its Homecoming gathering.

The Trailblazer Alumni Award went to Ryan Dorshorst, San Francisco, Calif., a 2006 alumnus, and Lucas Allen Buick, Sausalito, Calif., a 2005 alumnus, for their work as designers and owners of the Synthetic Infatuation design firm, which they created shortly after graduating from UWSP. The firm now employs additional staff and has had success with several iPhone applications. Both are giving back to UWSP by establishing the Entrepreneurial Prize to be awarded to a student or students who successfully bring a product to market.

The Distinguished Alumni Award was given to Thomas Dailing, Stevens Point, a world- renowned jewelry designer who works for Lee Ayers and Thomas Dailing Designs in Stevens Point. As one of the top five awarded jewelers in the nation, he has won more than 50 national and international awards and has had a piece accepted into the Smithsonian Gem Collection. His work has graced the covers of all the major jewelry publications and he was invited to lecture at the Gemmological Association of Great Britain in London. Dailing has donated many pieces of jewelry to community organizations and to UWSP’s College of Fine Arts and Communication for fundraising events.

The Friend of the Department-Lifetime Achievement Award was given to Richard Schneider, Stevens Point, who taught ceramics at UWSP from 1962 to 1989. He created the outdoor mural that adorns the wall of the Trainer College of Natural Resources Building and, along with his late wife, Myrna, established the Schneider Student Gallery within UWSP’s Carlsten Gallery. He and his daughter, Lora Hagen, maintain a pottery shop in Minocqua and both donate their time, funds and creative work to the benefit of current and future art students.

For more about the Department of Art and Design at UWSP, go to http://www.uwsp.edu/art-design.