Two professors and their prot&eg&es will help Ohio State’s art and literature magazine, Mosaic, celebrate 32 years with its annual Professor Prot&eg&e event.

Mosaic magazine has selected Robert Derr and Lee Martin for this year’s celebration. Derr is an assistant professor in the Department of Art, and Martin is an English professor and the director of OSU’s Creative Writing Program.

Mosaic, a student-run magazine, publishes art and literature submitted by undergraduate OSU students each year. In preparation for the Professor Prot&eg&e event, the magazine’s art and literature editors select OSU professors that they feel are making great strides in these fields of work.

Derr’s expertise and interest are in photography, video and performance. Trained as a photographer, he says he always wanted to work with photos that went beyond the standard image. His works have been shown all over the world, from Columbus to Limassol, Cyprus.

When he is in the midst of his creative process, Derr says that he tries to view art and life as a seamless operation. Although the social meanings of his works are varied, the theme of being an autonomous individual in society and what kinds of ramifications that has can be found in many of his projects, he said.

Derr manages to bring his wisdom and experiences to the classroom.
“I’m teaching [that] it’s more than just a picture that can be framed individually,” Derr said.

At the event Derr will show six of his pieces, including his ongoing project, “In Play.” This video project shows the inter-connectedness between artists and writers. In the video, Derr is seen with different influential art figures playing a game of pingpong, which he describes as representing the “field of play” in the art world.

Martin was a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for his book, “The Bright Forever.” A writer of creative nonfiction and fiction, Martin says his desire to write began in his childhood.

Much of Martin’s work revolves around the culture of small towns and farming communities in the Midwest. He says he is interested in writing about people and the decisions they make.

Martin said his characters are “seemingly ordinary people that through their actions find themselves in extraordinary events.”

He describes himself as a curious writer, and when he is working on a project, he writes a little bit each day in order to fulfill his curiosity. Often he tries to explore what things characters might do or he explores things going on in his life.

“What keeps me writing is a sense of curiosity about human nature,” Martin said.

At the event, Martin will be reading excerpts from his book, “The Bright Forever.”

Both Derr and Martin are working on new projects. Derr is developing a photo and video project on the 1979 WHO concert tragedy that happened in Cincinnati, and Martin is going through the edited version of his new novel, “Break the Skin.”

The Professor Prot&eg&e event will be held Thursday in Ramseyer Hall, room 100. The event is free, and food and beverages will be provided.