Professor bids farewell

HURON TWP. — After 30 years, a renowned and well-respected public educator is saying goodbye. David Sapp, a BGSU Firelands professor of art, is set to retire this month. "We congratulate Professor David Sapp on a storied career and well-deserved retirement," BGSU Firelands' dean Allia Carter said. "As an educator, Professor Sapp has empowered countless students at BGSU Firelands to explore the arts and embrace creativity in every facet of life," Carter said. "As an artist, he has promoted cultural vitality in the region and beyond with his award-winning works while also championing the works of other artists as director of the Little Gallery on the Huron campus. We wish him well on his next chapter." A proud legacy While he's served as an instructor at the Huron-area institution for 30 years, his connection to education dates back even further. Before becoming a Falcon, Sapp served as an assistant professor at Ashland University. He joined Firelands in 1994, reached tenure in 1999 and was promoted to his professor position in 2005. His impact on students spread across several lecture courses, including art history and studio courses in design, drawing, painting, printmaking and 3D foundations. He also offered graduate workshops for art teachers in the area. In his decades of experience, Sapp created opportunities for his students. He built the art program on the Huron Township campus to include the BGSU First-Year Program for freshman art majors, and an art minor, among others. The work he completed during his tenure is on display in the halls and offices at the college. He was responsible for administering the acquisition of art, from professional artists and students, to establishing an extensive collection of pieces. From the start of his time on campus to 2023, Sapp was also the director of the campus Little Gallery, an exhibition space on campus. Sapp not only touched the lives of those on the Huron campus but also the main campus in Bowling Green, where he maintained an affiliate status with the university's art school. The connection Sapp has to BGSU dates back to when he was a student. He graduated with a master's degree of fine arts in drawing in 1989. Before then, he attended the Cleveland Institute of Art, and his undergraduate degree included art and psychology. Sapp is a native of Ohio, from Mount Vernon, but his work has traveled across the world. His pieces have seen the inside of venues such as The Sandusky Cultural Center, Carrington Arts in Sandusky; Firelands Association for the Visual Arts, Oberlin; The Sculpture Center, Cleveland; The Griffin Museum of Photography, Boston; and the Toyohashi City Museum, Toyohashi, Japan. He's received several accolades for his artwork, which include becoming the 2021 recipient of an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award. The program recognizes outstanding accomplishments by artists in a variety of disciplines. Awards give artists the resources to experiment and explore their art forms, develop skills and advance their careers and receive affirmation and acknowledgement for outstanding work. Outside the art world, Sapp is also an award-winning writer. He is a Pushcart Prize nominee. The American literary award recognizes the best works of poetry, short fiction, essays and creative nonfiction published in small presses and literary magazines. His poetry and prose also traveled the world including venues in Canada and the United Kingdom. Sapp's notable publications include articles in the Journal of Creative Behavior; chapbooks Close to Home and Two Buddha; a novel, Flying Over Erie, and a book of poems and drawings titled Drawing Nirvana. Hearing from him Sapp commented on his retirement: "It has been an honor, a privilege and a pleasure serving the students at BGSU Firelands. Each semester it was a delight to witness students' first encounters with the world of art history and the actualization of their creative process in the studio. The arts are essential in any academic setting where a general education is offered to its students. The arts reflect our identity as a civilization and as a community. The arts provide a priceless expressive creative outlet for the human spirit. It is my sincere hope that the arts will continue to play a vital role at the Firelands campus, for its students and the wider community."