Conceptual Artist Lowry Burgess Reached For The Stars

As a pioneer and educator, he pushed the boundaries of technology while poetically investigating life on Earth. Professor Emeritus Lowry Burgess, former dean of the College of Fine Arts , passed away Tuesday, January 28, at his home in Melbourne, Florida. Burgess also was a Distinguished Fellow in the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry , which he co-founded, and was one of the few pioneers of the Space Art movement. His School of Art and CFA family mourns the loss of a true trailblazer. An internationally renowned artist, Lowry created the first art payload taken into outer space, which was carried aboard NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery in 1989. For nearly half a century, Burgess had also been a cornerstone of Carnegie Mellon University's School of Art. He retired in 2017 but remained committed to art, space and Carnegie Mellon.