Southern Connecticut State University will inaugurate its 11th president, Mary A. Papazian, Ph.D., on Sept. 28. President Papazian is the first woman of Armenian descent to serve as a college or university president in the United States. As part of her inauguration week festivities, an exhibition of Armenian artwork will be on display on the SCSU campus through Oct. 21 in the Lobby Gallery of the John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts. An opening reception for the exhibit, which was curated by Vicki Shoghag Hovanessian, will be held on Sept. 27 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Lobby Gallery.
The exhibit presents paintings, drawings and sculptures by 13 leading Armenian artists some currently or formerly based in Yerevan, Armenia, while others are in the United States. The artists whose work appears in the exhibit are Ashod Bayandour, Arshile Gorky, Sarkis Hamalbashian, Hamlet Hovsepian, Gayane Katchadourian, Vasken Kalayjian, Reuben Nakian, Vahan Rumelian, Ararat Sarkissian, Arthur Sarkissian, Shanoor, Kegham Tazian and Paul Zenian. Hovanessian, a prominent collector, curator and art adviser, was the former director of Vicki Hovanessian Contemporary Art. She currently represents contemporary artists of Armenia within Europe and America. Since 1995, she has regularly curated exhibitions in Yerevan, Armenia, and the United States. In 2001 she curated a momentous exhibition at the Yerevan State Museum. In July 2008 she curated an exhibition marking the 40th anniversary of the consecration of St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral in Manhattan, N.Y. In 2010, Hovanessian received the Gold Medal of Mkhitar Heratsi from Yerevan State Medical University for curating an exhibition dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the university. In 2011 she was decorated by the Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Armenia for curating a significant exhibition that celebrated the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Armenia.