Editor’s note: This story ran in the March 31 print edition of The Criterion.
The Jac Kephart Fine Arts Building has now officially been renamed.
The Fine Arts building was renamed after Pat Kephart, Jac’s wife of over 50 years, donated $1 million to the university. The gift was given to support students and honor the legacy of Jac’s work.
Kephart was a CMU alumni who passed away in May 2019. He was 79 years old.
“I can’t say enough about Jac Kephart, not just I think a prominent member of our community, but an all around wonderful human being. One of my true friends, I just really, really loved him,” CMU President Tim Foster said during the naming ceremony.
Kephart has over 40 of his works displayed on campus. CMU currently offers a mapped, self-guided tour of them all.
“I think he was a true artist in the sense of […] a true artist is somebody who’s obsessed with making art. They just have to make art, it’s in their blood, it just has to come out,” Head of the Art Department Suzie Garner said at the event.
Kephart won Artist of the Year at CMU, which was then known as Mesa State College, in 1958 and 1959.
Kephart and his wife ran a local floral shop, called Jac’s House of Flowers, in the valley for years until he was able to fully turn his attention to art. Much of his art focuses on landscapes, before turning to abstract pieces, many of which can be found in places including the University Center, Wubben Hall and Dominguez Hall.
“Jac walked into my office, looked at a large work he had done many years prior, and said ‘I don’t remember this,’” friend of Kephart Dick Scariano said at the event. “I told him I purchased it at auction. They wanted to get rid of it. It was a dismal piece because of the frame. I changed the frame — the painting is gorgeous. Jack was famous for ugly frames. He sold art, not the frame.”
Students and faculty attended the event.
“He had great ideas, no matter which style he presented. I went through a year or two hearing him rant about painting landscapes, he ventured into modern landscapes in his early career,” Scariano said. “The landscapes gradually went away. One time he told me that if we ever get another landscape he would quit art.”
I’m so fortunate to be able to know this man, who was such a wonderful artistic talent and friend. Jack believed art was a window to the soul. I believe he was correct,” Foster said.
