St. Clair County Community College is presenting “Timelines: Progression of a Vision,” a memorial exhibition of works created by SC4 Professor of Visual and Performing Arts David Korff, who passed away in January 2021.
David was a 30-year professor at the college before retiring in 2011. The galleries will feature 44 works including 10 watercolors, 14 drawings and 20 collages. As Chairman of Visual and Performing Arts at Lambton College in Sarnia, and later, the same role at SC4, he followed his Plan A for 45 years. There never was a Plan B. The blue water between Canada and the United States ran through his veins and influenced much of his work, which has been featured in many galleries and museums, as well as private collections.
His wife Katherine shared the following, “We are all given time and purpose, but time is less important if the purpose is a life well lived. If you really care about the world you live in and the space you inhabit within that world, you may have been a student of David Korff.”
David was an art advocate not only with his students but in the local community and beyond. He was a founding member of the Port Huron Art Initiative, served on the Art Committee for the Community Foundation of St. Clair County and was a board member of the International Symphony and Port Huron Museum.
Korff was an integral part of Patterns, a magazine of SC4 student literature and art that has been published annually for more than 60 years. The memorial dedication in the 63rd edition of Patterns states, “David was a teacher and artist of diverse talents and tastes. When it came to music, the graphic and plastic arts, literature, dance or theatre, he dedicated himself to supporting all of them and seeing them flourish on our campus.” There is no part of our community connected to the arts that has not in some way, been touched by David’s presence. “It is his lasting gift to us.”
Exhibit hours are 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday from Nov. 15, to Dec. 17, in SC4’s Fine Arts Gallery. Extended Saturday hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 20, 27, Dec. 4 and 11. The gallery is closed Nov. 24 to 26.
Community members are encouraged to visit campus for a stroll through the galleries to view the works of David Korff and share their thoughts in an Exhibition Journal, which will be kept by the family.
