Wellington Reiter, assistant professor of architecture, has received the 1993 Gyorgy Kepes Fellowship Prize from the Council for the Arts at MIT. The $2,500 award was presented last Friday during the Council's Annual Meeting by Angus N. MacDonald '46, chairman of the Council's Kepes Prize Committee.
A graduate of the Tulane University School of Architecture and Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, Professor Reiter has been recognized in the architecture and visual arts communities for his synthesis of architecure, sculpture and drawing.
The presentation was attended by Institute Professor Emeritus Gyorgy Kepes and his wife, Juliet Kepes. Founder of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Professor Kepes is celebrated internationally for his work exploring the relationship between art and science, and art and the environment.
Professor Reiter's recent architectural projects include the design of several art galleries in Boston and New York and live/work studios for artists. In addition, his work is included in the permanent collections of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts and the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University. His works have appeared in exhibitions at Boston's Institute for Contemporary Art and the Boston Center for the Arts, the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, and ARTPARK in Lewiston, NY. In 1992, he was awarded two fellowships from the New England Foundation for the Arts for "works on paper" and a "built environment."
The Kepes Prize is given annually to a member of the MIT community "whose creative work reflects the vision and values of Gyorgy Kepes" and "who has demonstrated excellence in the creative arts: architecture, visual and performing arts and writing."
As part of the prize stipulation, Mr. Reiter will deliver a public lecture at MIT at a date to be announced later in the academic year.
The citation for Mr. Reiter said in part:
"With ready dexterity, Wellington Reiter grasps the fundamental task of architecture: to harness the coiled energies of mass and space to create the passageways, courtyards, and chambers of our lives. Respectful of the complementary domains of visual art and architecture, his creative endeavors span the intimate expresison of pen and ink drawings to the bold declaration of metal and concrete forms... Building bridges to cross the public and private spheres, Wellington Reiter encourages us to demand an aesthetic of inclusion from the built environment."
For the first time, the council's annual meeting focused upon a single arts discipline, with architecture serving as this year's concentration. In addition to awarding the Kepes Fellowship Prize, the Council also presented its annual Eugene McDermott Award to New York City architects Thomas Hanrahan and Victoria Meyers. As part of the award stipulation, Mr. Hanrahan and Ms. Meyers are in residence at MIT in the Department of Architecture this week.
A version of this article appeared in the November 3, 1993 issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume 38, Number 12).
