Thomas Berding

Thomas Berding was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and received a BA from Xavier University and an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design. Prior to his appointment at Michigan State University, he taught at Dartmouth College, Indiana University, and Southwest Missouri State University. He has also served as a Visiting Artist/Critic at over 25 institutions.

A practicing studio artist, Berding’s paintings have been recognized with awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and the NEA /Mid America Arts Alliance. His work has been the subject of recent solo exhibitions at the University of Maine Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, and The Painting Center in New York. In 2016, Oakland University Art Gallery in metro Detroit mounted a survey of the last decade of Berding’s work which was accompanied by a major catalog. Over his career, he has exhibited his work at many venues including the David Klein Gallery, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, 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, and Rhode Island School of Design Museum among many others.

Berding’s essays on painting have also been published and he has been a frequent presenter at the College Art Association, where he has also served as a member of the Professional Practices and Services to Artists Committees. In 2010, Berding was one of five MSU faculty and administrators selected as a CIC (Big Ten and University of Chicago) Academic Leadership Fellow by the Office of the Provost.