Subject
Artists--Florida
Art--Southern States
Painters--Southern States
Painting--Florida
Sculptors--United States
Pottery--Southern States
Potters--Florida
Educators--Florida
Teachers--Florida
Rollins College (Winter Park, Fla.)
Winter Park (Fla.)
Seminole Community College
Sanford (Fla.)
Description
The venerable Grady Kimsey enjoys critical and popular success as a sculptor, potter, painter and instructor, with eight decades of life experiences to draw upon for inspiration. Kimsey was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1928. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts from the University of Tennessee in 1950, and then completed his master's In Education from Rollins College in Winter Park in 1969.
Kimsey remains modest about his many accomplishments, which began in his high school days and have continued throughout his career. He has received the Council of Arts and Sciences for Central Florida Award for "Outstanding Achievement in the Arts" in 1982, the Richard A. Florsheim Art Grant in 1992, and a State of Florida Individual Artist Fellowship in 1990 and again in 1996.
Kimsey's influence was extensive on budding artists in the community, having served as a professor of art for 20 years at Seminole Community College (present-day Seminole State College of Florida). Among his many other contributions to that institution, Kimsey founded the Fine Arts Gallery in 1980. As an instructor, he was known to guide his students to explore all media and styles. When ready, his students had the confidence to stand behind their work, and many are still creating and exhibiting with the same devotion as their mentor.
Coverage
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee
Rollins College, Winter Park, Florida
Seminole Community College, Sanford, Florida