Thomas Berding, Professor in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design, has spent more than three decades at Michigan State University, creating paintings, mentoring student artists, and developing a studio practice that has taken his work to galleries and museums across the country. He is now among a select few MSU faculty members who have earned the William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award, which is among the most prestigious honors MSU bestows upon its faculty.
“I feel humbled and honored,” Berding said of the award. “It is a recognition of not just my work but that of many of us in the arts and humanities who have carved out a career through persistence, imagination, and a relentless spirit of inquiry.”
When Berding learned he had been named a 2025-2026 recipient of the William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award, he said his mind went back to the beginning.
“I thought back to when I was hired at Michigan State University and what a journey it’s been,” he said. “Having spent over three decades here, I thought about my past and present colleagues and students, and the incredible mentors and educators I have been so fortunate to have that supported my development as an artist, educator, and administrator. I am also endlessly grateful to my spouse, Alisa, and family.”
“It is a recognition of not just my work but that of many of us in the arts and humanities who have carved out a career through persistence, imagination, and a relentless spirit of inquiry.”
Presented annually to members of the tenure-system faculty, the William J. Beal Outstanding Faculty Award recognizes a comprehensive and sustained record of scholarly excellence across research and creative activities, instruction, and outreach. No more than 10 faculty members receive the award each year. Berding and the other 2025-2026 recipients were recognized at the All-University Awards Ceremony on April 7 at the Breslin Center.
Early Influences and a Path Into the Arts
Growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio, the youngest of nine children in a family of modest means, Berding is a first-generation college graduate.
“Being the youngest, I benefited from observing and learning from others,” he said. “It was indeed my earliest education.”
Berding earned his B.A. from Xavier University and his MFA from Rhode Island School of Design where he met his spouse, Alisa Henriquez, who also is a Professor in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design at MSU.
Berding came to MSU after teaching at Dartmouth College, Indiana University, and Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State University). Throughout his career, he has established a body of work and a professional record that extends far beyond the studio. His paintings have earned grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and the NEA/Mid America Arts Alliance
His work has been exhibited at venues including the David Klein Gallery, Nelson-Atkins Museum, Rochester Institute of Technology, Indiana University, Art Chicago International Art Fair, Fort Wayne Museum of Art, Carnegie Mellon University, Savannah College of Art and Design, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, and Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, among many others. In 2016, Oakland University Art Gallery mounted a major survey of the last decade of his work that was accompanied by a substantial catalog.
Further cementing his national reputation are his solo exhibitions at the University of Maine Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, and currently at The Painting Center in New York City. The Thomas Berding: Projections in the Deluge solo exhibition at The Painting Center March 31-April 25, 2026, showcases Berding’s recent work. Also currently displayed at The Painting Center through April 25, 2026, is the recent work of Henriquez in the solo exhibition, Alisa Henriquez: Beneath the Palms.
Studio Practice: A Matter of Commitment and Partnership
For Berding, keeping his studio practice alive after decades of making work has been a matter of commitment and partnership. He and Henriquez have built their creative lives in tandem.
“We support each other’s practice in many ways, but first and foremost is honoring the discipline and time commitment being an artist requires,” Berding said. “Sometimes an edge is wet in a painting and there is a timeliness in getting back to the studio that evening. At other times, one of us may be generating resources for a new body of work and the other is preparing materials for an exhibition, which are very different mental spaces to be in. With both of us being artists, we are sensitive to what the work requires of each other at any given stage in the process.”
To sustain a lively and inventive studio practice for decades, Berding seeks to stay open to the world.
“Feeding and nurturing one’s own practice is so important to being an effective educator in the arts,” he said. “To sustain one’s practice over decades has meant both maintaining an openness to the world and also having a sense of one’s artistic self. One has to also continually invest in one’s practice and the biggest investment in life is time.”
Inspiring the Next Generation of Artists
Berding’s studio practice directly informs how he approaches teaching. In the studio classroom, he aims to help students understand that making art is not a solitary act but a participation in something larger.
“I hope to give students a sense that they are entering a community of makers and potential mentors and that they, too, can benefit from the experiences of those who came before them,” he said. “I try to inspire and instill in students that they are always part of a much bigger conversation. No artist truly works alone. I aim to get students to consciously situate their work in an orbit of influence, especially as they move through the program. Contextualizing one’s own efforts can be a source of great strength and learning to learn from others is so important in fostering their own artistic growth and vision.”
Berding’s approach goes beyond technique. He pushes students to develop habits of close observation of the world and of their own artistic choices and to cultivate both the insight and the courage to act on what they find.
“In general, being observant of the world and also a student of one’s own artistic behavior and choices is so very crucial,” he said. “As a maker, one needs to explore deeply subjective aspects of oneself and nurture one’s intuition and, at the same time, develop critical tools of objective evaluation. In the studio, we talk about strategies and methods for approaching one’s practice in both very tangible ways and philosophical terms. We discuss the questions one can ask of their studio process or in front of the painting they are making that might propel an imaginative response and further the work’s development. Having the ability to raise questions that are informed and timely and cultivating the courage to act in response to the insights gleaned is everything.”
“I try to inspire and instill in students that they are always part of a much bigger conversation. No artist truly works alone.”
Berding has written and published essays on painting and has been a frequent presenter at the College Art Association, where he also has served on its Professional Practices and Services to Artists committees and co-led the Committee on MFA Standards that re-wrote the guidelines for the MFA degree in Art and Design. He has been invited nearly 40 times by other universities to serve as a Visiting Artist/Critic.
Having taught at other Big Ten and Ivy League institutions and visited dozens more, along with serving as Chairperson of MSU’s Department of Art, Art History, and Design for over eight years, Berding has a unique perspective on why he enjoys working at MSU.
“When I say, ‘MSU has been a great place to work,’ I say that based on having a strong sense of the national landscape of the arts in higher education,” he said. “MSU’s mission as a leading public institution of international scope that also promotes access to a diverse range of students makes for an exciting classroom environment. It is the people here — students, faculty, and staff — that makes this place so very special.”
Berding is already looking ahead. He plans to host curators in his studio this summer as he begins a new body of work — another chapter in a practice that shows no signs of slowing down.
By Austin Curtis and Kim Popiolek
