To the SVA Community,

I write to tell you that after thirty-nine years on the faculty and twenty as Chair of the BFA Illustration and BFA Cartooning Departments, Tom Woodruff has decided to retire and assume the title of Chair Emeritus as of 9/1/2021. 

As many of you know, Tom is an artist of national reputation and broad scope. His paintings have been exhibited extensively in galleries around the world, and he has had 12 one person museum exhibitions across the country. His printed work has appeared in Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, Graphis, Interview, Harper’s, and Mother Jones to name a few, and he has created many memorable book covers including the works of Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Ann Patchett, Anne Tyler, and the American Illustration annual. Through the decades he has also designed for opera and theater, two of Tom’s passions.

Others of you will know that for twelve years he taught the thesis workshop 2nd year in the MFA Illustration program before becoming the undergraduate Chair of Illustration and Cartooning in 2000. Over the  past two decades, the Illustration and Cartooning departments have grown significantly under Tom’s leadership. During that time Tom has reconsidered and reshaped the curriculum culminating in, among other things, dominance in the Society of Illustrators annual competition—last year with four of the top five winners:https://societyillustrators.org/onlinegalleries/student-scholarship-competition-2020/

and building the consistently remarkable Third-Year Exhibition of work deriving from the study of unique classic texts in the seminars and studios of the Third-Year Project:https://www.galleries.sva.edu/all-in-the-family 

As well, Tom has carefully created the annual Illustration and Cartooning magazines, brilliantly showcasing the works of each senior class, outstanding documents to the many brilliant young artists who have studied at SVA, and have gone on to become important voices in the field.

In the SVA way, for four decades Tom has brought our students and programs his powerful and unique personal vision combined with his extensive professional experience, and for that, we are all grateful. I know you join me in wishing Tom the very best as he continues to create his important artworks and moves forward on his artistic journey.