Robert Ponzio - Artist / Educator/ Citizen Diplomat
Former Artist's Blog: http://hardcorepainting.blogspot.com Websites: School- http://www.oakhall.org
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NEW: I’m honored to be featured on PBS! Thanks, WUFT and Sponsors!
As an Artist and Educator, I have had the good fortune to be allowed the opportunity to utilize my Art as a powerful instrument for global outreach. My school's mission statement reads: "Preparing students for ethical leadership in a diverse and global society," and I strive to live up to this guiding educational principle. I view my classroom as a bridge to the world; my art and gallery as a window; and my curriculum as a vehicle to help my students explore the varied cultures of the world.
As a Citizen Diplomat, I maintain active involvement in several international cultural exchange projects. Our city of Gainesville, Florida is a leader in official international Sister City relationships as we enjoy strong relations with Novorossiisk, Russia, Rzeszow, Poland, Jacmel, Haiti, Kfar Saba, Israel, and Qalqilya, Palestine. Additionally, Oak Hall School maintains productive Sister School relationships with schools in Changzhou, China, and Andros Island the Bahamas. Throughout my career, I have also maintained creative projects and built personal relationships with artists, teachers, and students from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Vietnam, and Japan.
Through these various creative outreach activities, I am motivated to diplomatically lead by example so my students and community can gain a deeper understanding that we truly are all brothers and sisters around the globe. My art and diplomatic activities are meant to celebrate our various cultures and reflect upon my own experiences. I also hope my art may inform, remind and inspire my viewers to realize that despite our seeming cultural differences, people all around the world really are all the same.
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TEACHING:
•Oak Hall School, Gainesville, FL, USA
Visual Art Teacher (Aug 1995–Currently)
•Curator, Cofrin Art Center Gallery, Oak Hall School, Gainesville, FL, USA (Aug 1995–Currently)
•Sangmyung University, Cheonan, South Korea
Visiting Art Teacher (June 2009–July 2009)
•University of Florida, College of Fine Arts, Gainesville, FL, USA
Adjunct Professor of Painting (Aug 1992–August 1995)
· LEADERSHIP IN GLOBAL EDUCATION, ARTISTIC ACTIVITIES, and CITIZEN DIPLOMACY INITIATIVES
ESTABLISHED LONG-TERM INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE RELATIONSHIPS:
Changzhou, China, Sister School Program: 3/07 – Ongoing. In March of 2007, I was one of the founders of a Sister School relationship with Changzhou No. 2 High School, in Changzhou China. This came about after pursuing such a relationship with the help of the US-China Exchange Initiative. Since then, I have served as leader of several student exchange trips from Oak Hall School to Changzhou and hosted delegations from China biannually. This exchange has been enriching to our communities and has led to teacher exchanges as well. This relationship led me to discover an image of Changzhou depicted in a Qing Dynasty scroll that scholars in Changzhou were unaware of. In 2011, I obtained a digital copy of the scroll from the collectors and presented it to the excited citizens of Changzhou, making national news in China. In 2014, a new history museum was opened in Changzhou and the scroll image appears prominently throughout. A full accounting of how the scroll was discovered can be found here, and an interview with the Chinese media about the opening of the museum can be found here.
Kfar-Saba, Israel. Sister City Program: 10/11-Ongoing. Met with Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Minister of Education, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nobel Peace Prize recipient Dr. Ernesto Kahan, as well as educators and arts professionals, to foster sister city relationships with Gainesville and Qalqilya, with specific attention to the arts, education and student exchanges. Presented Art exhibition/Public Painting Performance at Gallery 29, Kfar Saba, Israel. 4/13- hosted Sister Cities Delegation from Kfar Saba, Israel, and organized a “Sister Cities Blues Jam.
Qalqilya, Palestine (West Bank) Sister City Program: 10/11-Ongoing. Served as part of an official delegation to foster sister city relationships with Kfar-Saba and Gainesville, and specifically regarding exchange and collaborations in the arts and education. Painted Peace mural on security wall with local children and at Qalqilya Women’s Center, Qalqilya, Palestine. Exhibition/Art Performance with Luminaries - Qalqilya Municipality Building, Qalqilya, Palestine. Met with Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, Mayors of the cities of Qalqilya, Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramaala, Nablus, and Taybeh in the West Bank, as well as many City Commissioners, University President of An-Najah National University to foster interest in creating additional three-way sister city relationships with American, Israeli and Palestinian cities. Also met with the Head of Al-Amal School for the Deaf. My students then went on the found Buildadeafschool.org raising $8000 and kicking off a successful international fundraising campaign to build the only school high school for the deaf in the West Bank, which opened in 2020. Hosted visiting Palestinian student/teacher delegation in Gainesville in 2014. Sister Cities Website. A documentary film about the Sister City project is coming soon. The trailer for the film can be found here. Please read this news story about Sister Cities Program.
Andros Island the Bahamas Sister School Program: 3/03- 03/18- Co-founder of Sister School relationship with Central Andros High, Andros Island, the Bahamas. Performed various service projects and hosted Artist/student exchanges with Oak Hall School. This relationship inspired a student-founded charity to be formed, https://rerunsneakers.org/ to collect and distribute running shoes to peer students in need. This charity has since expanded and still operates to this day.
NEW INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE RELATIONSHIP:
Online Art Exchange: 02/21-Currently- Kawara Junior High School, Fukuoka, Japan.
Art and educational exchange to mutually study Anne Frank and discuss Peace with our peers in Japan. 1000 paper cranes to be shared.
OTHER GLOBAL ACTIVITIES, HONORS, AND ARTISTIC INITIATIVES:
Keynote Speaker: 04/20- University of Florida Model UN Conference 2020 regarding sister cities programs, international exchange projects, and citizen diplomacy initiatives.
Citizen Diplomacy Cuba: 3/2016- Served as a member of visiting delegation to Cuba to organize exhibitions for the biannual cultural exchange event, “Bulla Cubana”. https://www.bullacubana.org/ Bulla Cubana is a celebration of arts and culture, promoting the exchange of ideas and inspiration between Cuba and the North Central Florida region. Curated two exhibitions of Cuban Artwork in the Cofrin Gallery in 2017 and 2019
Public Art: 06/15 Odaiko Drum Build-Make Magazine covered our creation of a massive Odaiko drum for the benefit of our school’s Taiko drumming program by my Engineering and Design class. Our build was featured in the National MAKE magazine. A video about the making of “Tonka” can be viewed here.
Guest Lecturer: 11/14- "Gainesville Connected: Raising Global Awareness in North Central Florida Classrooms", Workshop for educators sponsored by University of Florida Center for Latin American Studies.
Citizen Diplomacy Puerto Rico: 9/14- Curated exhibition and hosted delegation of Artists from San Juan, Puerto Rico for ¡Celebrate the Santeros! A public exhibition at the Cofrin Gallery School.
Guest Lecturer: 6/14- “Bridging Cultures: Perspectives on Chinese Art and Culture in the Classroom” – sponsored by The Confucius Institute, the University of Florida International Center, the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art.
Citizen Diplomacy Improvisation: 9/13- Hosted members of Sister Cities Delegation from Jacmel, Haiti, and Sister School delegation from Changzhou, China simultaneously. Overcame language barriers by celebrating with a Global Painting Party.
Public Art: Bridge built by Engineering and Design Students: 09/13- Featured in the national “MAKE: Magazine”. Designed and created by Oak Hall Engineering and Design students.
Permanent Installation at the BB King Museum: 7/13- Blues-themed wood carving/installation on permanent display at the BB King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianola, Mississippi. Watch this video overview of the project.
Permanent Installation: 5/13- Blues themed wood carving on permanent display at "Lucille's", the Red Rock Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada
Citizen Diplomacy Haiti: 1/13- Member of Sister Cities delegation to visit Jacmel, Haiti as part of official Sister City program. Exhibition/Public Painting Performance- Fosaj Art Gallery, Jacmel, Haiti. Have since hosted artist delegations annually here in Gainesville.
Guest Lecturer: 5/12- “Crossing Paths: Teaching Chinese History, Art, and Culture” teacher workshop – sponsored by The Confucius Institute, the University of Florida International Center, the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art, and the School Board of Alachua County.
Hosted Peer Teacher from Kyrgyzstan: 11/10- sponsored by the International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) and the Global Connections and Exchange Program. http://hardcorepainting.blogspot.com/2010/11/nuris-last-days-in-gainesville-part-1.html
Online Art Exchange Kyrgyzstan: 8/09 – 5/11- Collaborative, online Art exchange project sponsored by the International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) and the Global Connections and Exchange Program.
Online Art Exchange Turkmenistan: 8/08 – 5/09- Collaborative, online Art exchange project sponsored by the International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) and the Global Connections and Exchange Program.
Guest Lecturer: 11/08- “Rethinking the Art, History, Economics, and Culture of Qing Dynasty China in Relation to the Rise of Europe after 1500”, 2008 Florida Council of Independent Schools State Conference, Orlando, FL
Zero Gravity Flight and Drawings: 12/08- Created aboard “G-Force 1”, parabolic aircraft during training flight sponsored by NASA, Space Florida, Northrop Grumman, SpaceTec, Zero Gravity Corp., and the Stephen Hawking Microgravity Education and Research Center. http://hardcorepainting.blogspot.com/2008/12/blog-post.html Blog post also picked up by the nationally recognized blog, Climate Progress.
Published Lesson Plan: 3/08- “A Journey Through Space: What the Kangxi and Qianlong Southern Inspection Tour Scrolls Reveal about Western and Chinese Conceptions of Space in Art”. Examined the influence of Western perspective on Qing Dynasty, Chinese handscroll painting. Featured by Asia for Educators and Columbia University.
Guest Lecturer: 11/05- “Benefits of International Enrichment to Community, School, Curriculum, and Students”, 2005 Florida Council of Independent Schools State Conference, Orlando, Florida.
Online Art Exchange Uzbekistan: 5/05-08- Collaborative, online Art exchange project sponsored by the International Research and Exchange Board (IREX) and the Global Connections and Exchange Program.
Published Lesson Plan: 7/04- “Documenting the Journey”, Created in response to a research trip to East Asia, sponsored by National Consortium for Teaching on Asia, UF Asian Studies, and The Freeman Foundation.
Research China and Japan: 5/04- Awarded grant to visit and study China and Japan, sponsored by National Consortium for Teaching on Asia, UF Asian Studies, and The Freeman Foundation.
Research Japan: 10/03- Awarded grant to visit the Japanese mainland and Okinawa to study educational system, and Japanese arts and culture. Sponsored by the Fulbright Memorial Fund and the Japanese Government.
