First M.F.A. Degree Awarded

Western Connecticut State University has announced that Margaret Ival Stratford-Kovner has received the school’s first M.F.A. degree. Ms. Kovner completed the 60-credit, two-year program in December 2001. Working in her studio at Warner Hall for a year and a half, she averaged nearly 54 hours a week. Many of the 200-plus oil paintings she created for this program have since appeared in shows, including the Society of Illustrators 100th Anniversary Exhibition in New York City during January and February 2002 and Blue Mountain Gallery’s 2001 Summer Show “Small Works Invitational,” held in the Chelsea area of the city. Later this spring, Kovner will be featured in a solo show at a Newbury Street gallery in Boston.

Kovner’s work may be viewed online at http://vax.wcsu.edu/artalumni/mfastudents/stratfordi.html.

Kovner taught painting for more than ten years at DeCordova Museum School in Lincoln, Massachusetts. She has also taught courses at Rivier College and Newbury College, both in Massachusetts. Her certifications include: Massachusetts (art teaching); Clark University (computer graphics); and the University of Massachusetts (arts management). She is a member of the Artists Directory of Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Originally from Bethel, Connecticut, where she maintains a home, Kovner obtained her B.F.A. from Boston University. Her adviser was Jack Kramer. She received her M.S. from Western Connecticut State University in 1986. Her thesis involved testing an entire elementary school, P.S. 92 in Harlem, where she taught for one year. She also taught school in the Virgin Islands. She is married to Ronald Kovner, an attorney living in Boston, and has three stepchildren.

Kovner has completed 26 marathons, including finishing as the third American woman in the 1985 Athens, Greece, Marathon. The stamina required to paint hours in the studio is derived in part from the discipline of running, she says. Her paintings range in size from 3”x 5” to 4’x 4’ canvases. Her subject matter has revolved around pods and ornamental grasses. In the future, she hopes to develop collaborations with scientists currently investigating bio-energy resources utilizing various grasses.

Says Kovner of her experience in the M.F.A. program at Westconn: “It was an important time for me to revisit and reinvestigate my own relationship with oils. I had been using watercolors for almost 20 years and had wanted to return to oil painting, my first love. This opportunity was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to take time away from my teaching and devote myself to my painting.” She continues, “I thought the program provided opportunities to investigate related areas as well, including printmaking and illustration. My illustrations, done under the tutelage of Chairman Ecchevaria, will be included in an upcoming publication entitled ‘Winter in Paree.’ One cannot say enough good words about this program and the experience it provided.”