Faculty Member Wins ACE Award for Community Arts Leadership
Peggy Shaw to be honored by 40th North with Artist ACE Award Nov. 8
A Parkland College faculty member has earned community-wide honors for her leadership and contributions to culture and the arts in the area.
Peggy Shaw, Art and Design faculty in the college's Fine and Applied Arts department, won a 2018 ACE Award from the Champaign County Arts, Culture and Entertainment Council (40 North). The organization will hold its 14th annual ACE Awards ceremony Nov. 8, 6 p.m. at the City Center, 503 S. Chestnut St., Champaign.
ACE Awards honor individuals, businesses, artists, teachers, arts organizations, volunteers, and government and community leaders whose hard work and creative efforts enrich the culture of Champaign County. All seven ACE Award category winners embody the spirit of the local arts community with their passion, energy, and dedication to the creative culture of the community.
According to the 40 North website, Shaw won the Artist ACE Award for "making work that is publicly accessible yet deeply personal, work that commands a large room while engaging the individual viewer in a quiet, intimate space, for the immersive power of her work through the courageous revealing of her personal story, for evolving and developing compelling new ways to contribute to the local arts community, inspire students, support colleagues, and the people around her."
Shaw teaches digital photography, darkroom photography, video production and photography portfolio classes in the Art and Design program. Parkland College's Professional Development Subcommittee for Faculty selected her as its 2016 Illinois Community College Trustees Association Outstanding Full-Time Faculty Award for Parkland College. A member of Parkland College's faculty since 2007, Shaw helped establish the school's Educational Video Center (now PCTV) and was part of the team that initiated distance learning efforts at the college. In addition to developing the popular Photography AAS degree, she has created various courses related to photography and video production.
Shaw received her BFA degree in painting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her MFA degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her photography has been exhibited nationally and has won numerous awards in both photography and video, including fellowships from the Illinois Arts Council and the Arts Midwest/National Education Association Regional.
ACE Award winners were chosen from public nominations by an independent panel of community-based judges representing a broad cross-section of Champaign County. Anyone can submit a nomination for an ACE Award.