In the sciences and engineering, instructional faculty who also conduct research are valued for the real-world perspectives they bring to the classroom. The same is true of faculty in the art department. Old Dominion's studio art faculty have long been known in the community for their work. The art department, in fact, had an auspicious, if humble, beginning when a young, renowned painter named Charles Sibley moved to Norfolk and established it in 1955. Considered by many as the most influential painter and art teacher in the area, Sibley retired from the university in 1980 but continued to produce remarkable representational images for many years. Other well-known artists who taught at Old Dominion include the late A. B. Jackson, Wally Dreyer and Faye Zetlin.

The studio faculty today features several artists who have longstanding reputations in Hampton Roads and beyond, and others just beginning to make names for themselves. While their research takes them in often divergent directions, the studio faculty have always maintained a close bond among themselves and with their students. Perhaps this is due to the fact that, although they specialize in specific media, each frequently breaches these boundaries in the creative process.

Printmaker Ken Daley also produces stunning, large-scale neon installations. B. Stephen Carpenter, ceramicist and director of the art education program, also works with context-driven performance and sculpture. Carol Hines' work in drawing and printmaking impacts her movement into digital imagery. And Victor Pickett's monumental sculpture is informed by his background in design and technology.

"The art department is fortunate to have a strong group of highly regarded and very productive artists who work with diverse materials and aesthetic approaches," notes an appreciative Karen Gould, dean of Old Dominion's College of Arts and Letters. "The works of professors Carpenter, Daley, Hines and Pickett are excellent examples of the breadth and depth of accomplishment for which our art department faculty has become widely known."

Ken Daley
Although the name Ken Daley has been synonymous with printmaking at Old Dominion University for 35 years, his creative interests have led him to work in many media. Perhaps his most arresting work is his neon sculpture, which can be seen throughout Hampton Roads. These pieces are inherently evocative of commercial signs and as such reinforce the ubiquitous nature of the concerns they arouse. Daley's installations represent a deeply thoughtful exploration of the human condition - the brevity of our existence and our perception of our place in world. Daley holds a B.F.A. from Philadelphia College of Art and and an M.F.A. from Yale University School of Art and Architecture.

Victor Pickett
Vic Pickett has taught sculpture and design at Old Dominion since 1964. He is known throughout the Southeast for his sleek, highly polished, stainless steel sculptures. These monumental works, in their crystalline mathematical organization, seek to give physical form to the essence of thought. They examine the relationship between the emotional impact of the form and the intellectual exploration of geometric shape. Many of Pickett's works exploit formal qualities of intersecting warped planes for their sheer beauty and natural emotional resonance. Pickett holds a bachelor's degree in product design from North Carolina State University and a master's in sculpture from East Carolina University.

B. Stephen Carpenter
One of the newest members of the studio faculty, Stephen Carpenter is director of the art education program. His interest in the methodology of critical analysis is strongly reflected in his ceramic, mixed media and performance work. His mixed media works frequently utilize familiar images and found materials chosen for their metaphorical content and inherent meaning. The employment of apparently disparate objects as modifiers are themselves modified by their placement within each piece. Profoundly complex, his works can be read on multiple, sometimes seemingly contradictory levels. Carpenter holds a B.F.A. from Slippery Rock University and master's and doctoral degrees in art education from Pennsylvania State University.

Carol Hines
Her background in drawing and printmaking has been augmented in recent years by an interest in adapting new digital tools as they became available. Carol Hines' fascination with computer imagery and animation led her to develop the first classes in computer animation at the university. Her series of digitally manipulated photographic Barbie images examines the complex iconological associations inherent in this classic American doll and its relationship to prehistoric Venus figures. In these works she explores the links between contemporary and historical issues of beauty, creativity and art, in which fertility is connected with scholarly as well as earthly abundance. A faculty member since 1968, Hines holds bachelor's and master's degrees in art from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.