John and Magda McHale Fellowship

Magda Cordell McHale McHale first rose to prominence as a painter in the 1950s in England. She and her husband, John McHale, were among the founders of the London-based Independent Group, the British movement and group of artists, critics and architects fascinated with American mass culture and post-World War II technologies. After moving to America to work with Buckminster Fuller, the McHales went on to study the impact of emerging technologies on the future of human societies, research that Magda continued here in Buffalo after she joined its design faculty in 1978. Magda was an integral part of the school until  she retired in 1999. She continued her research as a fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science and through her artistic endeavors until her death in 2008. In celebration of the McHales' diverse legacy that ranges from pop art to ecology, the McHale Fellowship fosters an integration of teaching with creative activity and research.