Welcome
Dr. Lin Hightower is Art Administrator and Professor Emeritus and a practicing Artist/Designer in the USA. She has two terminal degrees: a Master of Fine Arts in Textiles and a Doctorate in Art Education with a focus on arts administration. With over 25 years of experience teaching and working as a fine artist and designer, she conducts art/business workshops for artists, university students, and art entrepreneurs in the US and abroad.
Dr. Hightower is an accomplished contemporary artist specializing in fiber, mixed media, and painting. Her work is held in private and international public and private collections. In addition to her artistic pursuits, Dr. Hightower has dedicated her career to helping low-income artisans in numerous countries, including Turkey, Nepal, India, Thailand, Egypt, Morocco, and Peru. As an art product designer, she has created sustainable sales markets for artisans, preserving their indigenous art techniques and cultural heritage.
Dr. Hightower's passion for "Art for Positive Social Change" work was integrated into her teaching, presentations, and published papers. Her students have designed over 22 websites for nonprofit organizations worldwide, attracting donations and supporters.
She has received numerous awards for her work as an artist and art product designer that promotes a more equitable global community. Notably, she received a Fulbright Scholar Award to Thailand Mahasarakham University and a Fulbright Scholar Award to Nepal to Katmandu University. "The Fulbright Program is considered one of the most prestigious scholarships in the United States" https://fulbrightscholars.org . It was founded in 1946 by the United States Senator J. William Fulbright. During her time at these universities, she focused on developing the entrepreneurial abilities of art and business students for founding fair-trade artisan cooperatives and designing art products. She also received a Thailand Fulbright Specialist Award, where she completed three initiatives: creating new artisan product designs, teaching textile software to preserve historical patterns, and designing a museum floor for a permanent textile museum space for the Institute of Northeastern Art and Culture .
Dr. Hightower's work has attracted media attention, including features on BBC and Nepalese national TV. For more information about Dr. Hightower and her work, please continue to review her website here at http://www.LinHightower.com.
To inquire about teaching availability, project inquiries, or speaking engagements, please utilize the contact form.
Additional Bio Information
She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Georgia State University and a Doctorate in Art Education from the University of Georgia, with a focus on Arts Administration and Professional Business Practices in the Arts. She has had notable roles in academia, including serving as the Chair of Visual Arts at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, as well as the Associate Director and professor at in the School of Art and Design and the School of American Crafts at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She has also served as Chair in the art departments at Mississippi State University, MS and Shorter College, GA. In addition to her academic work, she is the founder of Ariel Gallery, an artist-partnership gallery in Buckhead, Atlanta, GA (open fifteen years). She is also the founder of the Spruill Center Gallery in Dunwoody (Atlanta), Georgia. Over the years, she has managed and overseen six university galleries. Currently, as a professor emeritus, she operates Hightower-Zsedely Art Studio and teaches part-time. She is an accomplished textile artist, painter, and mixed media artist, and her work has been exhibited and collected in the USA and internationally.
Artist Statement
I am committed to employing art for positive social change to address the inequities of the human condition in our global community, particularly among low-income artisans. Arts for transformative social, educational, and economic change are a part of my everyday life. I employ the People-Profit-Planet economic model. This model recommends fair and beneficial business practices towards people, communities, and regions, as well as sound environmental practices, and creating organizational value to ensure sustainability.
Current Activities
1) Working as an artist and art product designer for low-income artisan groups, to increase their sustainable sales and preserve their indigenous arts techniques and imagery;
2) Continuing ethnographic research for peer-reviewed presentations and publications about the visual arts being employed to transform society;
3) Operating Hightower-Zsedely Fine and Applied Art Studio
Dr. Hightower is an accomplished contemporary artist specializing in fiber, mixed media, and painting. Her work is held in private and international public and private collections. In addition to her artistic pursuits, Dr. Hightower has dedicated her career to helping low-income artisans in numerous countries, including Turkey, Nepal, India, Thailand, Egypt, Morocco, and Peru. As an art product designer, she has created sustainable sales markets for artisans, preserving their indigenous art techniques and cultural heritage.
Dr. Hightower's passion for "Art for Positive Social Change" work was integrated into her teaching, presentations, and published papers. Her students have designed over 22 websites for nonprofit organizations worldwide, attracting donations and supporters.
She has received numerous awards for her work as an artist and art product designer that promotes a more equitable global community. Notably, she received a Fulbright Scholar Award to Thailand Mahasarakham University and a Fulbright Scholar Award to Nepal to Katmandu University. "The Fulbright Program is considered one of the most prestigious scholarships in the United States" https://fulbrightscholars.org . It was founded in 1946 by the United States Senator J. William Fulbright. During her time at these universities, she focused on developing the entrepreneurial abilities of art and business students for founding fair-trade artisan cooperatives and designing art products. She also received a Thailand Fulbright Specialist Award, where she completed three initiatives: creating new artisan product designs, teaching textile software to preserve historical patterns, and designing a museum floor for a permanent textile museum space for the Institute of Northeastern Art and Culture .
Dr. Hightower's work has attracted media attention, including features on BBC and Nepalese national TV. For more information about Dr. Hightower and her work, please continue to review her website here at http://www.LinHightower.com.
To inquire about teaching availability, project inquiries, or speaking engagements, please utilize the contact form.
Additional Bio Information
She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Georgia State University and a Doctorate in Art Education from the University of Georgia, with a focus on Arts Administration and Professional Business Practices in the Arts. She has had notable roles in academia, including serving as the Chair of Visual Arts at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, as well as the Associate Director and professor at in the School of Art and Design and the School of American Crafts at the Rochester Institute of Technology. She has also served as Chair in the art departments at Mississippi State University, MS and Shorter College, GA. In addition to her academic work, she is the founder of Ariel Gallery, an artist-partnership gallery in Buckhead, Atlanta, GA (open fifteen years). She is also the founder of the Spruill Center Gallery in Dunwoody (Atlanta), Georgia. Over the years, she has managed and overseen six university galleries. Currently, as a professor emeritus, she operates Hightower-Zsedely Art Studio and teaches part-time. She is an accomplished textile artist, painter, and mixed media artist, and her work has been exhibited and collected in the USA and internationally.
Artist Statement
I am committed to employing art for positive social change to address the inequities of the human condition in our global community, particularly among low-income artisans. Arts for transformative social, educational, and economic change are a part of my everyday life. I employ the People-Profit-Planet economic model. This model recommends fair and beneficial business practices towards people, communities, and regions, as well as sound environmental practices, and creating organizational value to ensure sustainability.
Current Activities
1) Working as an artist and art product designer for low-income artisan groups, to increase their sustainable sales and preserve their indigenous arts techniques and imagery;
2) Continuing ethnographic research for peer-reviewed presentations and publications about the visual arts being employed to transform society;
3) Operating Hightower-Zsedely Fine and Applied Art Studio
Power Point on the Design & Art Work and Teaching of Dr. Lin Hightower
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