Cranbrook Schools Artist in Residence wins Emmy for Cultural Documentary

This summer, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Michigan Chapter honored one of Cranbrook’s own with an Emmy award for a documentary that explored his art and inspiration.

 

Make Way for Tomorrow, produced by Eden Sabolboro and Desmond Love, “illuminate(s) the world of visual artist Senghor Reid, who draws inspiration for his paintings from current events and from his hometown of Detroit. Reid’s colorful and evocative paintings of human subjects in strange yet familiar environments inspire audiences with future visions of hope and possibility.”

 

Reid, who was the keynote speaker at the commencement ceremonies for Cranbrook Academy of Art in June, was awarded a sabbatical by Cranbrook Schools for the 2024-2025 academic year.  

 

Senghor Reid explores the interactions between the human body and the environment, creating visual representations of dreams, memories and traces of human contact with nature. Reid earned a BFA from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI); a Masters of Teaching in Art Education from Wayne State University (Detroit, MI) and attended the internationally recognized Marathon Program at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture (NY, NY).

 

He is currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Cranbrook Schools (Bloomfield Hills, MI) and is a National Board Certified Visual Arts Educator. He has received many awards including the Kresge Foundation Kresge Arts in Detroit Visual Artist Fellowship prize and the prestigious Governor’s Award for Emerging Artist (Michigan). Reid’s work has been exhibited in the U.S. and abroad in galleries and museums including the Museum of Contemporary Art – Detroit in Michigan, Kentler International Drawing Space in New York, St. Catharine Museum in Canada and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York. His work is in private, public and corporate art collections.

 

 

Founded in 1947, the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) and the Emmy® Award stand for the best in the television industry. The National Academy is the only non-profit organization dedicated to recognizing outstanding achievement, raising industry standards, and improving the quality of television. Its dedication to excellence is pursued every day by members of its 19 chapters across the country.

 

The Michigan Chapter was charted by the National Academy in 1978 as the Detroit chapter and Peter Kiezer was the first President. In 1989 the chapter was expanded to include the entire state of Michigan.