David Giffels

Florida Southwestern State College will host renowned author David Giffels for a Richard & Julia Rush Endowed ArtSPEAK@FSW lecture and book launch event in the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery. Reading from and discussing his latest publication, “The Beginning was the End: DEVO in Ohio” (The University of Akron Press, October 2023) with co-author and Bob Rauschenberg Gallery director Jade Dellinger, this first official launch event for their new book will be moderated by FSW Humanities Professor Dr. Elijah Pritchett in the context of the “DEVO 5-0: The Beginning was the End – A Fiftieth Anniversary Tribute to The De-Evolution Band” exhibition. The event is on Saturday, Oct. 14 with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. and the lecture/reading and Q&A from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Co-author, with Steve Love, of “Wheels of Fortune: The Story of Rubber in Akron”, and, with Jade Dellinger, of “Are We Not Men? We Are DEVO!” (SAF Publishing Ltd./UK 2003/2008) – the first-ever book about this seminal band, David Giffels is a former Akron Beacon Journal columnist and writer for the much-beloved MTV series “Beavis and Butt-Head”. He has been published in The New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic.com, Parade, The Wall Street Journal, Esquire.com, amongst many others. He has written seven books of nonfiction, including the critically acclaimed memoirs, “All the Way Home” (William Morrow/HarperCollins 2008), winner of the Ohioana Book Award, and “Furnishing Eternity: A Father, a Son, a Coffin, and a Measure of Life”, published by Scribner in 2018 – a book hailed by the New York Times Book Review as “tender, witty and … painstakingly and subtly wrought,” and by Kirkus Reviews as “a heartfelt memoir about the connection between a father and son.” Also, a Book of the Month pick by Amazon and Powell’s and, like his celebrated “The Hard Way on Purpose: Essays and Dispatches From the Rust Belt” (Scribner 2014), both were New York Times Book Review “Editors’ Choice” selections. Additionally, Giffels is a professor of English at the University of Akron, where he teaches creative nonfiction in the Northeast Ohio Master of Fine Arts Program.

The event is free and open to the public.

More about The Bob Rauschenberg Gallery

The Bob Rauschenberg Gallery was founded as The Gallery of Fine Art in 1979 on the Lee County campus of Florida Southwestern State College/FSW (then Edison Community College). On June 4, 2004, the Gallery of Fine Art was renamed the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery to honor and commemorate our longtime association and friendship with the artist. Over more than three decades until his death, the Gallery worked closely with Rauschenberg to present world premiere exhibitions including multiple installations of the “¼ Mile or Two Furlong Piece”. The artist insisted on naming the space the Bob Rauschenberg Gallery (versus the “Robert Rauschenberg Gallery”) as it was consistent with the intimate, informal relationship he maintained with both our local Southwest Florida community and FSW.

The Gallery is open to the public, free of charge.

Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It is closed Sundays and holidays.

For more information, call 239-489-9313 or visit RauschenbergGallery.com and visit the Gallery on Facebook.

Source: Bob Rauschenberg Gallery