WASHINGTON (November 14, 2011) – The Howard University Department of Art will host an artist conversation with world-renowned scholar and university alumnus David C. Driskell on Friday, November 18th at 4 p.m. The conversation is presented as the inaugural lecture in The James A. Porter Distinguished Lecture Series on Art and History and will launch the Department of Art’s 90th anniversary celebration this academic year.

The lecture will be presented in the Howard University Gallery of Art, Childers Hall, Division of Fine Arts, on the main campus of Howard University at 2455 Sixth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20059. The lecture is free and open to the public.

As a former student of James V. Herring, the professor who founded the department along with James A. Porter, Loïs Mailou Jones, and James L. Wells, Driskell will discuss the energy and excitement that fostered his development as a curator, art historian, and collector. He will be joined by other distinguished alumni of the Howard University Department of Art, including Tritobia Hayes Benjamin (B.F.A. ’68 and M.A. ’70) associate dean, Division of Fine Arts, and director of the Howard University Gallery of Art.

Driskell received the National Humanities Medal from President Clinton at a White House ceremony in December 2000. He is the recipient of numerous fellowships, among them: three Rockefeller Foundation Fellowships, a Danforth Foundation Fellowship and a Harmon Foundation Fellowship. He is a member of the National Academy, the nation’s most prestigious and oldest art organization to which one can be elected.