John and Diane Marek are active supporters of the visual creative arts in Chattanooga. They enjoy the presence of fine art and the significance of that presence in the lives of others and have an invested interest and vision of the relevance that art can bring to a community. As collectors of art, they understand the meaning that art can bring to a life. In our Chattanooga area, their efforts and support of the Hunter Museum of American Art, the Association of Visual Artists, and Chattanooga State Technical Community College, and many other public and personal venues have made a sincere and dynamic difference in the level of activity and involvement, community investment, and quality of artistic production in the region of Chattanooga and beyond.
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, the UTC Department of Art, and the UTC Cress Gallery of Art are proud to continue the second year of this new venture with the support of the Mareks: the UTC John and Diane Marek Visiting Artists Program.
This program is designed to bring to Chattanooga throughout the academic year, two to three visual arts professionals of national and international reputation for three to five day venues of activities with UTC Department of Art professional curriculum student majors, the UTC academic campus and those campuses of other regionally related institutions both public and private, and the Chattanooga arts and public community.
In its spirit the John and Diane Marek Visiting Artist Program will provide the region that surrounds the Chattanooga Area a new and provocative level of exposure to artists and artistic production that encompasses a full range of today’s styles and aesthetics, relevant in its extent to span geographical and political boundaries, to address the broader essence and significance of international and global contemporary artistic expression.