Inaugural issue - The University of the Arts

SPRING09
edge
EDGE
the magazine of
the university
of the arts
spring 2009
WELCOM
I take great pleasure in introducing the first issue of Edge, the
magazine of The University of the Arts. In these pages, we will
explore a wide range of topics related to the visual, performing and
media arts, in addition to subjects impacting the University community at a more local level.
It is our hope that each issue will engage and inform students,
faculty, staff, alumni and friends of the University, and will convey
accurately the dynamic and innovative nature of our institution.
We always look forward to hearing from you, and I encourage you
to write us about this magazine, any of the stories we present in it or
any other issue about the University that may be of interest to you.
Warm regards,
Sean T. Buffington
President
The University of the Arts
Edge, Volume 1, Number 1
Edge is the magazine of The University
of the Arts. Readers are encouraged to
submit ideas for original articles about
University students, faculty and alumni;
advancements in arts and arts education;
and visual, performing and media arts. The
submission of artwork for reproduction is
also encouraged. Please include contact
information when submitting art. Unless
requested, artwork will not be returned.
Letters or comments on any topic are
welcome and can be sent to Edge c/o
The Office of University Communications,
The University of the Arts,
320 South Broad Sttreet
Philadelphia, PA 19102; or
can be emailed to news@uarts.edu.
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EDGE
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Sean T. Buffington, President
Paul F. Healy, Vice President of
University Communications
Kevin Kaufman, Editor
Jessica Frye, Art Director
BFA ’02, MAT ’03 (Illustration, Art Education)
Contributing Photographers
John Carlano
Harris Fogel
David Jackson
Rosalie Kenny ’05 (Film/Digital Video)
Paola Nogueras
Jeffrey Totaro
Nat Ward
Natalie (Sehn) Webber ’88 (Photography)
Contributing Writers
Laura Armstrong
Amanda Black
Mara Jill Herman ’07 (Musical Theater)
Bill Hoblin
Jennifer A. Miller
Damian Shembel ’07 (Musical Theater)
Ashleigh Whitworth ’11 (Dance)
Cover Art
Debora Dias ’09 (Painting/Drawing)
Family Portrait, 2008; Acrylic on canvas, 5’ x 7’
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Edge c/o
University Communications, The University of the
Arts, 320 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19102.
3
NEW WORLD:
contentS
47
ALUMNI NOTES
15
jet-setting:
photography
senior captures
national award
11
technology has
transformed the
way we create and
experience art. But
is it for the better?
19
37
CHRIS OF
ALL TRADES:
a faculty profile
IF I HAD A HAMMER:
extensive renovations expand
and enhance University spaces
across campus
A BEAUTIFUL COMPULSION:
Johanna Jordan (’41) forms steel
into towering, geometric abstract sculptures
stu dent profi les .....15
alu m ni events ........43
facu lty notes ..........21
alu m ni notes ..........47
we lcom e: provost
m ichaE l nash ...........23
in m e mo r iam ...........63
cam pus notes ..........31
deve lopm ent
br iefs ......................67
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feature
The digital age has changed
how art is created, shared,
taught and experienced.
But is it for the better?
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BRAVE NEW WORLD
feature
W
hen associate professor Mark Tocchet teaches Junior
Illustration Methods, he doesn’t ask students to buy canvases,
paper, paints and watercolors.
He gives them the Corel Painter software program and teaches
them to explore.
“It’s like a really big art store all in one program. There’s anything
you could possibly name, from scratch board to pastels to water color to crayons,” says Tocchet, chairman of the Illustration
Department at The University of the Arts. The creative process
happens via students interacting with a computer program, stylus
and keypad.
That technology has affected art is obvious – the digital age has influenced the way we live, and art is not outside of technology’s grasp.
But how and to what benefit the two coexist is a cloudier issue.
Programs like Corel Painter make different illustration experiences
more accessible – what student could afford to buy the hundreds
of materials that are simulated through the program? – but can a
stylus on a keypad mimic a brush on canvas? Is something being
lost as technology keeps leaping over itself to present the next best
thing? And what changing role does the artist play in that evolving
process?
“There probably isn’t an artist working who hasn’t been influenced
in some ways by technology,” says Tocchet, who is also principal
of Tocchet Studio, a design and illustration firm. “Even the most
traditional artists are gathering information or references on the
Internet or using a digital camera. Technology is involved from the
beginning of the making of a piece of work all the way through the
creative process, to the finished art itself.”
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Technology has also helped to level the playing field,
giving more artists access to more resources. They can
use computers to explore endless options, make their
own Web pages and put their work out for anyone to
find. Producing an album doesn’t mean hiring musicians and being signed to a record label anymore. A
music program and file sharing is all a musician needs
to make, mix and produce a finished product. The artist
doesn’t even need to burn CDs anymore – just upload
files for downloading.
Chris Garvin, director of the Multimedia Department,
also sees that broadening of access as a significant
change in the way art is experienced.
“The marketplace of art has always been a reactionary
system that took its main cue from the materiality of
the work. In the Renaissance, works were commissioned and
Technology has also helped owned by the
only classes
to level the playing field,
or groups
giving more artists access
that could
to more resources.
afford to not
only purchase
and keep large tapestries, murals, architecture, marble
sculpture, etc., but to collect them. Churches and the
ruling class created the market and thus led the aesthetic and the experience of the works.”
Technology has also changed the demands on artists
entering the working world. Illustrators and animators must know digital techniques, for example, if they
expect to work and create in the new creative economy.
But as new technology dominates the means by which
the creative process works, is something being lost? Or
is technology adding to the creative experience? Can
technology exist within art without biting the hand
that feeds it? The answer isn’t as clear as a highdefinition image.
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Collaboration
“I have memories of sitting in my PJs with ink-stained
fingers copying music,” says Charles Gilbert, director of
the University’s Musical Theater program.
There’s a tint of nostalgia when Gilbert, a composer,
writer and director, talks about his music education,
but it’s an experience he keeps solidly in the past.
Gilbert has embraced the computer and the ways it
has changed his work, saving him time and his clients
money, while also allowing him to open up his collaboration process.
“The ability to note music on the computer and edit it
in the same way that you would edit a word processing
document means that the whole process of creating
notated music is so much less time consuming for me
now,” says Gilbert. He can also simulate what the piece
would sound like without having to hire musicians to
do so.
Less time means less expense, and technology allows
Gilbert to bring the work out of the studio and into a
richer collaborative process.
Take, for example, Gilbert’s recent scoring of The
Velveteen Rabbit, a touring Philadelphia Enchantment
Theatre Company production. By creating the music
on his computer, he scored the piece for a fraction of
the cost – Gilbert estimates that he did about 80 percent of the audio production on his laptop at home.
“It was cheaper for the theater company, and much
more effective for me to hear what my ideas were going
to sound like,” he says. “I would go into the rehearsal
with a laptop and a little keyboard and take all of that
experience home with me. I was able to capture all that
instantly and then take it back to my studio to work
with it,” he says.
He recorded the rehearsals so he could watch them
while working solo. “You’re not just sitting in a room
with your imagination when you have these sorts of
tools,” he says.
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But the same tools that allow Gilbert to write wherever
he wants can isolate artists who count on the portability to work anywhere.
the precursors to going into design,” he says. “Once
you have that understanding, you can play with it and
develop your own ideas and own design pieces.”
“I think of the stone age man who took a stick and
started beating a stone and then at some point people
in the clan started getting up and dancing around the
fire,” says Tocchet. “That’s music. Today we have musicians who create compositions entirely on a computer
in a room without an audience, and people listen to
that music by themselves on an iPod.” So while technology can bring artists together, it can also push them,
and their audiences, apart.
Model making – and many training experiences where
students start learning by following a master’s plans – is
expensive and time consuming, which is why technology is making inroads into the field.
“One of the things art is supposed to do is remind us
that we’re human, that there are certain commonalities that we have together,” says Tocchet, “and when we
share things like that it elevates everything together
and ourselves as well. We have to be careful about doing things in solitude.”
The machine he refers to is the Envisiontec Perfactory
Mini System, a 3D printer. Instead of creating molds,
students send their design files to the printer, which
makes their molds for them. It brings down the cost of
model making but removes from the education equation what had been a key step in learning.
Learning
Like Gilbert, Jonas Milder, director of the University’s
Master of Industrial Design program, learned in a
much different way than he teaches. He studied to be
a cabinetmaker before going to design school. “Model
making and the ability to work in certain materials were
But with the reduced cost and ability to undo something with a few keystrokes, technology can also free
an artist.
“Today it’s very different because you don’t have to be
able to take a piece of material and go to a machine and
process it because this machine will do that for you,” he
says.
“In some ways you can be much more experimental
and playful in the Painter program than students are
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with traditional methods,” says Tocchet, because a
computer allows you to make mistakes without creating real time or money risks. His example: “If you have
a deadline that’s tomorrow and you put 50 hours into
a painting and it’s late at night and you just get this
blast of energy and you think to yourself, what if I just
paint the whole bottom of this green? Because it’s due
tomorrow and you’re taking this huge chance, would
you do it? In traditional painting there’s a lot to lose if
it goes wrong. You can’t fix it, but that is not the case
with the Painter program.”
TEACHING
Just as learning has been affected by technology, so has
teaching. The tools are different, as are students who
might not remember a time when digital options, like
Internet searches, weren’t readily available.
“In doing musicals, audiences come to the theater
expecting what they’re hearing and seeing is original to
the original cast album,” says Gilbert. “Wireless microphones, audio processing and sound designers become
much more crucial because audiences come to expect
that musical performance sounds a certain way.
“It’s expensive for the school and it requires specialized expertise – and that’s not just true for colleges but
high school musicals as well. Our ears won’t embrace it
otherwise.”
“To teach a student in 2008, I know I’m teaching somebody whose mind is wired differently than
somebody I taught 30 years ago,” says Gilbert. “They’re
accustomed to having a much more casual and comprehensive access to information. The idea, for instance,
of rote memorization of information in a history class
seems redundant to me now when I’m sitting in a
classroom where every student has a laptop in front of
them. The answer is never far away.”
But not everyone has to see a performance live and at
that expense to experience the music, points out Marc
Dicciani, director of the School of Music. “Technology
has made the learning curve and accessibility of listening and hearing and experiencing music much easier
and much more prolific,” he says.
So much information creates a volume issue, too –
too much information can make finding the right
information more difficult. Endless options can also
overwhelm students. Tocchet, for example, limits the
options students can use when working with Corel
Painter because the sheer number of alternatives can
paralyze a student.
“You can get online and track down specific songs and
listen to them immediately for 99 cents,” he says, where
before finding particular songs was like a scavenger
hunt. He waxes nostalgic about searching for key finds
in jazz specialty stores in the same way that Gilbert
talks about his ink-stained fingers.
“Because there is so much information available to
them, the challenge is trying to do more to create a
context and meaning for that information so as not just
to be a purveyor of data for them, but to really try to
give them a context that will make all of that meaningful,” says Gilbert.
7
New technology also elevates student expectations,
which creates another technology challenge for teachers and artists. While technology can save artists time
and money, those savings can be gobbled up in new
costs associated with presenting the work.
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spring 2009
Dicciani sites youtube.com and itunes.com for opening
up the listening field.
The Internet has cut out that search, and helped him
teach students. He uses youtube.com to give context to
what he’s teaching – videos of Carnival, for example, to
give a student context to learning a drumming technique.
Dicciani also says that the availability of music, and the
ease at which it can be customized, helps students learn
how to play – without relying on other musicians being
feature
in the room, which can be prohibitively expensive and a
scheduling nightmare.
“To be able to turn on a computer and say I want to
play jazz at 118 beats a minute to a 12-measure blues
form – that kind of thing would have been amazing
to have when I was growing up,” says Dicciani, who is
a drummer and learned by trying to play over others’
recordings. “I’m not sure it would have made how I play
better, but it would have helped my learning,” he says.
THE HUMAN FACTOR
“I’m a carver, practically medieval,” says Sharon Church,
a jeweler and crafts professor who has been teaching at
the University since 1979. Rather than seeing technology and art as at odds, she argues they have always been
intertwined.
“We have an ancient relationship between technology
and need. War has driven our health system, that we get
better at preserving life at times of war,” she says. “Once
technology is discovered, it’s then applied simultaneously with art and with functional objects. So I don’t
know that you can say that technology drives art or art
drives technology. They are forever linked,” she says.
Church works more in the traditional creative process,
saying that her whole creative endeavor “exists in my
hands in my bench.
“At the same time, I could not exist in this world without some of the tools that the computer has provided,”
she says.
While she has embraced how easy a computer can
make her life – like enabling her to send a digital photo
of one of her pieces to a gallery in Boston, for example,
instead of digging through boxes for an image she
would have to mail – she’s not convinced that our need
for human touch will ever go away.
“We haven’t left our mortal coils. We are not brain
stems sitting around in glasses. We are still bodies that
age and die. We are still people who have connections
to each other and mortal and ethical responses to each
other. Handwork is somehow emblematic of that,” she
says. “Technology can’t produce art. It’s a tool – a marvelous tool right now but still a tool.”
NEXT
How technology and art will work together going forward is up to the next generation – and those learning
in the field now don’t see the two spheres at odds. Gilbert’s two college-aged sons are musicians, too, and they
only know how to compose on the computer. Having a
website is a no-brainer, and getting their work out is as
easy as sharing a couple of files.
“Our students don’t really see technology and traditional as two diverse, different things,” says Tocchet.
“They’re more apt to create hybrids where part of the
process is digital and part of the process is traditional,
and they work between the two seamlessly. If anything
comes out of technology, it will be more of this hybrid.
What exactly that will be, we’re going to have to wait
and see.”
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As these tools become even more available, artists will
face the challenge of differentiating themselves and
proving that we shouldn’t turn over everything to the
digital age. It’s an issue Milder faces in his academic
and professional life.
“There is a reciprocal relationship between creative
practice and technological innovation. Tools are made,
people use them and, more importantly, misuse them,
and then new technologies and tools are made to accommodate the new way of working.
Milder is principal of Milder Office (Milderoffice.
com), a furniture design and production company that
adapts and customizes its designs to whatever space
you have. “The design code is now more accessible to a
much broader group of people,” says Milder. “In a few
years, you can configure things on your own as a nondesigner based on a certain system that’s operating in
the background, whether making jeans or configuring
furniture or cars or other things. Hit the return button
and this order is now essentially designed by you.
“My hope is that we are educating creative leaders of
the next generation who care less about what discipline
they are creating for, and more about the stories they
are telling and the problems they are solving.”
“It’s not just a specialist profession. The design code
is now more accessible to a much broader group of
people.”
In his graduate classes, students are focused more on
design approaches that are informed by technology.
This means not just designing for design’s sake, but
designing smart systems, like kitchens that are efficient
and have spaces for composting and recycling, or more
fuel-efficient cars.
“Technology has provided us more tools to help us in
that quest of self-expression,” says Dicciani. “But as far
as the end result, I don’t know that it’s better. It’s just
different. There are great improvisers and great artists
throughout history, people like Bach and Mozart and
John Coltrane and Miles Davis who didn’t have this
technology. If technology made the art better and the
music better, it would follow that all the music today
would be better than that of 20 years ago, 50 years ago
or 200 years ago, and that’s certainly not the case.”
Multimedia’s Garvin sees the tools of individual artistic
disciplines changing and evolving – sometimes dramatically – but he considers the practice of making art
a continuously recurring cycle that remains unaltered.
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Like Garvin, Church views the human mind as the
one constant in the creative process.
“Here we are at a time when the computer has really
changed everything, but it hasn’t changed the meaning of art. Something remains constant here. Perhaps
it’s the human heart. Perhaps it’s the human desire
for things that mystify, for things that reflect back, for
things that allow us to imagine the future. Art does
that for us. I think what modern technology has done
with the digital world has made the magical more accessible,” she says.
Church points to her own wedding ring as an example
– she created it out of metals gathered from her family
and her husband’s family. “I could do some gee-whiz
amazing thing in the computer, but I think you and
your potential husband want something that is more
representative of something that’s personal, connected
to family and timeless,” she says. “Certainly whatever
is generated in the computer, as wonderful as it is, is
now. Not 100 years ago, not 1,000 years ago. We still
have memory and still have links to the past as well as
aspirations for the future. Not saying that a computer
can’t do that, but I think I can do that best,” she says.
Animation senior Juno Mendiola and associate professor
Karl Staven work in the program Corel Painter X with an
advanced Wacom Cintiq 21 UX interactive pen display.
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If I
Had
a
Hammer
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SPRING
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Art Education lobby (opposite page), Graphic
Design lobby, Graphic Design printer suite,
Art Education Resource Room, Art Education
hallway (photos left to right).
F
or much of the past year, a cacophony of hammers, saws and nail guns
competed with the melodies of saxophones and pianos on the University’s
campus – and the noise was music to
the ears of space-starved students
and faculty.
be completed by the end of this academic year, will allow the relocation
of the Graphic Design (13th floor) Art
Education (10th floor) and Industrial
Design (5th floor) programs into expanded spaces that have been specifically designed to meet their needs.
Understanding that top-flight facilities
are crucial to the educational environment, as
well as to
recruiting and
retaining
the best
students
and faculty, the University committed significant
resources to expanding, renovating
and enhancing studios, labs, classrooms and performance spaces from
one end of campus to the other.
In addition, the building’s aging elevators were completely refurbished with
new motors and management software, to significantly reduce downtime and the resulting inconvenience
to students, faculty and staff.
Extensive renovations
expand and enhance
University spaces
Terra Hall, at the northern edge of campus at the corner of South Broad and
Walnut Streets, has undergone the
most extensive transformation, with
the complete repurposing and renovation of three floors. The renovations, to
lery space, faculty and administrative
offices, reference library and student
lounge, complete with digital projectors and smart whiteboards.
Plans are also being developed for
creating new consolidated space for
the Industrial Design and Master of Industrial Design programs on the fifth
floor.
The crown jewel of the new spaces
in Terra Hall is The Ellen and Ronald
Caplan Center for the Performing Arts
on the 16th and 17th floors. The Caplan
Center boasts a 250-seat recital hall,
a 100-seat “black box” theater, green
room and dressing room space, stateof-the-art recording equipment and
classrooms for both theater and music.
In its new space, the Graphic Design
program offers fully networked and
wireless facilities that include studio
space for students, as well as classrooms, galleries, experimental technology space, and faculty and administrative offices. Students are connected
to the new Print Services Center iLab,
which provides high-quality output of
creative projects, and associated print
services.
The School of Theater Arts opened the
Center with the Philly Fringe production of Theater Arts Professor Jeffrey
Sweet’s play “Court Martial at Fort Devens.” “Brownie Speaks,” this fall’s celebration of the legacy of jazz trumpeter
Clifford Brown (see page 31), followed
soon after, featuring a variety of concerts, symposia and panel discussions.
With its move, the Art Education program increased its classroom and
workroom space, student labs, gal-
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“The Caplan Center has been in use every day since it opened –
and in numerous ways,” said Richard Lawn, dean of the College
of Performing Arts. “We simply could not have embarked on producing ‘Brownie Speaks’ without this new venue. It’s capable of
supporting both performance and scholarly events that require
various forms of media. The addition of the Caplan Center has already had a sweeping impact in transforming the College, which
had been somewhat space-starved for many years, in terms of
performance venues for its students and faculty.”
According to Lawn, the studio theater on the 16th floor was essential in responding to the needs of expanding programs in the
School of Theater Arts. With this additional venue, the School
is able to mount more student-designed and directed productions, while also providing first-rate space for acting and musical theater classes.
Terra Hall wasn’t the only University building to receive a makeover. Moving Graphic Design, Art Education and Industrial
Design freed up additional instructional space for Foundation,
Illustration and other programs in Anderson Hall, located at 333
South Broad St. across from Hamilton Hall.
“Space, equipment, facilities – they either get in the way or
facilitate what you can conceive of and do creatively,” said
Stephen Tarantal, dean of the College of Art and Design. “The
new spaces will positively and directly impact the educational
range of our programs by providing students and faculty more
options to conceptualize and produce their creative work.”
On the 7th floor of Anderson Hall, Illustration is operating in
a completely redesigned area with additional studio and gallery space, technological scanning and computer-aided facilities, and centralized office space for administrative and faculty
use. In addition to another iLab being installed, the 6th floor of
Anderson Hall is also being expanded to create more lab and
studio room for Illustration, and additional space for the Printmaking program.
In addition, the newly renovated cabaret venue at the University’s Arts Bank was re-opened and dedicated as the Laurie
Beechman Cabaret Theater, in memory of the late Philadelphia
native and Broadway star. The theater was christened with the
sold-out cabaret revue “Soiree Parisienne.”
For Dean Lawn, all of the work has made a significant difference
in the educational experience, and will continue to do so.
“These construction projects create spaces that enhance university activities and programs ranging from Liberal Arts to Multimedia, Screenwriting to Media Arts, Dance, Theater and Music,”
he said. “We have taken a significant step towards physically
integrating curriculums and programs.”
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The Ellen and Ronald
Caplan Center for the Performing Arts
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student feature
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student feature
jet-setting in the blink of an eye
Photography senior captures national award
It’s been said that when you know, you know
– and Photography senior Katie McCurdy, the
winner of the “Travel” category of the national
Olympus “Photographers of Tomorrow” contest,
knew right away.
“As soon as I heard the categories, the image
of a fabulous jet-setting woman flashed in my
mind. I wanted to create a fresh image with a
vintage feeling. I wanted to take my own style of
shooting and apply it to the Olympus contest,”
said the native of Schwenksville, Pa., who generally shoots fashion-related photography.
And just like that, McCurdy envisioned “Jetsetter,” (opposite page) envisioned as a portrait
of feminist hero and groundbreaking aviator
Amelia Earhart disembarking from the pilot’s
side of a twin engine commuter jet. She is wearing big “Jackie O” sunglasses, her head wrapped
in a flowing white scarf, right hand on the steering mechanism, hat box and charts in the left.
“Katie’s image was great,” said photographer
and contest judge Jay Kinghorn. “It was tightly
composed and it carried the concept of the
fashionable young female traveler all the way
through the shot.”
Designed for aspiring professional photographers
or photojournalists, the contest was open to students from 12 of the top collegiate photography
programs across the United States.
To make her vision come to life, McCurdy enlisted
the help of her friend Alana to model, and raided
Alana’s mother’s wardrobe for clothes and props.
With its powerful mix of reds, blues and greens,
the image could have come straight out of a
high-style fashion magazine. The image earned
McCurdy a $5,000 scholarship and an Olympus
E-3 Digital SLR camera set worth $3,500.
“I give her two thumbs up!” said McCurdy’s instructor, adjunct assistant professor B. Proud.
“Katie is an exceptionally talented student. She
is highly motivated and eager to learn, making
her a delight to have as a student. I had the
pleasure of teaching Katie in two studio classes during her junior year and I could see very
early on that she had the vision and the drive
that would eventually launch a successful career.
“This is a fantastic honor for Katie and for the University, but it will be only one of many I expect her
to garner in the coming years.”
Fine Arts Grad Honored WITH
Rohm and Haas Achievement Award
Lillian Cotton, a 2008 Fine Arts graduate, was among four student artists
honored with the Rohm and Haas 29th Annual Fine Arts Achievement Award.
Cotton’s artwork, This is My Identity, is a vibrant oil-paint-on-canvas self-portrait
highlighting her flowing hair.
“I read the book Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America by
Ayana Byrd and Lori Tharps,” said Cotton, “and I learned that one of the ways
a woman defines her identity is through her hair… It is one of the first things
people see.”
Cotton plans to participate in artist residency programs and continue her
education as a graduate student.
Lillian Cotton accepts her Rohm and Haas Fine Arts
Achievement Award.
SPRING
spring 2009
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student feature
CMAC Students Would Like to Thank
If you think of student internships in
Siwik interned at Lawrence Bender ProHollywood terms, they would be the
ductions, a new incarnation of the procoming attractions, providing sneak
duction company A Band Apart, which
previews of feature presentations – of
Bender founded with Quentin Tarantino.
the professional world that students
Bender has produced “Good Will Hunthope to join after graduation. They of- ing,” “The Mexican,” 2007 Academy
fer students an opportunity to decide
Award-winner “An Inconvenient Truth,”
whether to stick around for the feature, “Kill Bill,” “Pulp Fiction” and the “From
or to write a different screenplay for
Dusk Till Dawn” trilogy, among others.
themselves.
“Both Brandy and Lauren, like last year’s
This Hollywood metaphor, for which
grant recipients, benefited greatly by
gratefully there is no sequel, is a lead- working in entertainment industryin to the story of an exciting internship
based companies in Los Angeles,” said
program that allowed two College of
Writing for Film and Television program
Media and Communication students to
director Jeffrey Ryder. “Being the enimmerse themselves in the movie busi- tertainment capital of the world, Los
ness. Thanks to grants from the Acade- Angeles provides students with a firstmy Foundation, the educational wing of
hand insight that otherwise cannot
the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
be seen or experienced. It definitely
Sciences – the group that awards the
affords them opportunities for potenOscars – Writing for Film and Television
tial employment after graduation. The
seniors Lauren Deacon (above right)
University can educate them, but a proand Brandy Siwik (above left) spent this
fessional internship in Los Angeles can
past summer as interns at major Holly- often be the first step in their career.”
wood production companies.
Both Deacon and Siwik provided the
Deacon worked in development at
production companies with script covRelativity Media, which has produced
erage, a filmmaking term for the analy27 feature films since 2006, includ- sis and grading of screenplays, often
ing “Hancock,” “The Other Boleyn Girl,” within the script development depart“Wanted,” “Evan Almighty” and “Don’t
ment of a production company. CoverMess with the Zohan.” The firm has
age usually takes the form of a written
also financed and handled distribution
report, guided by a rubric that varies
sales of other feature films.
from company to company.
17
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SPRING 2009
“The coverage I wrote was really helpful
because it was an opportunity to put
my two cents into the industry,” said
Siwik, a native of Cleveland and 2005
graduate of Cleveland School of the
Arts. “If a script was bad, I could write
that and say why. If you find good things
in a script, it’s nice to put that too. Your
opinion actually counts. It also helped
me to evaluate my own work.”
And both women learned about the
movie business – for better or worse –
and learned about themselves.
“I witnessed the ups and downs of the
industry,” said Deacon, a Columbus,
Ohio, native, who is the creative force
behind “Box Social,” CMAC Video’s
Web-based “surreality” show about
“the inner workings of the universe.” “I
experienced the horror stories of being
an intern, but also witnessed the magic
of moviemaking. Being an intern made
me realize what I’m good at and what I
need to work on.”
“The industry is tough,” Siwik said. “I
saw people get hired and fired so fast,
sometimes for obviously dumb reasons,
sometimes I never got to know the reason at all. I don’t like how cutthroat the
industry is. The competitiveness I can
deal with if I have to – I expected it, but
it’s just different to see it in person.”
spring 2009
EDGE
student feature
The Academy
encing what I want to do and how many
people can say that?”
Brandy Siwik (above)
does her best Mia Wallace
impression in front of the
iconic “Pulp Fiction” poster
depicting Uma Thurman as
the Wallace character.
In addition to checking out the Santa
Monica Pier and Mann’s Chinese Theater, Siwik and Deacon, of course, experienced the inevitable brushes with
celebrity.
Preston Scavo on “Desperate Housewives.”
Most of all, the internships helped
them chart their next career moves.
Deacon ran into William H. Macy – lit- “I could see myself possibly going back
to California, so my next move is to get
erally – after not paying attention to
a killer portfolio together so that if I go
where she was going, and on another
back I can really sell my work, maybe
occasion went to get coffee for Tobey
get an agent,” said Siwik. “California
Maguire. Deacon did confess, also, that
was weird – just isn’t easygoing. It
her mouth dropped to the floor when
keeps you on your toes. I might conshe saw Paul Walker of “The Fast and
sider checking out Vancouver, which
The Furious” fame on her second day of
work. On the serious side, though, Dea- sounds like a really cool place. If I like
it, I might try to get work there.”
con had the
opportunity
to discuss “After experiencing LA and getting first“ B r o t h e r s ” hand experience on what it’s like out
with its Acad- there, I can apply what I learned to my
emy Award- studies so next year when I move out
there, I will be even more prepared,”
nominated director Jim Sheridan, whose
remake of the 2004 Susanne Bier film, said Deacon, who lived in a five-bedroom hostel with 30 other interns and
“Brødre” hits theaters in 2009.
international students. “I’m confident
that I want to work in the industry, but
Siwik read writer/director Quentin
more
confused than ever on what I reTarantino’s “Inglorious Bastards” script
ally
want
to do. There are just so many
about a group of Jewish-American soljobs,
so
many companies and differdiers known as “The Bastards,” who
ent
positions.
I was living my dream
spread fear throughout Nazi-occupied
there,
but
still
had
one more year left of
France during World War II. She roomed
school.
I
kept
pinching
myself so that I
with students from the University of
knew
[her
experience]
was
real. I look
Southern California, two of whom were
back
on
my
summer
and
every
day I
identical twins Max and Charlie Carver,
was
there
was
a
highlight.
I
was
experiwho were recently cast as Porter and
Both women learned about the
movie business - for better or
worse - and about themselves.
For the second consecutive year, the
University received grants from the
Academy Foundation to fund internships for seniors enrolled in the University’s Media Arts Department and College of Media and Communication.
Media Arts students Kim Bunce and
Mike Antrim also received grants to cover travel and living experiences while
on internships in Philadelphia and
California, respectively. An Animation
student, Antrim interned at KenduFilms
in Laguna Beach, Calif., as a production
assistant, responsible for storyboard
development for the firm’s production
of the book The Giant Leaf, an epic tale
of survival told from the vantage point
of a fox. Bunce is studying film/digital
video at the University and interned
on Philadelphian Tony Luke’s film “The
Nail: The Story of Joey Nardone,” about
a South Philly boxing champion whose
life is forever changed after being incarcerated for the accidental death of
a teenage girl. Filmed on location in
Philadelphia, James Quattrochi directs;
Luke, William Forsythe and Tony Danza
star in the feature, which is in postproduction.
Through its Institutional Grants Program, the Academy Foundation has
distributed more than 400 grants to a
variety of film-related non-profit organizations, schools and colleges since
1968. In 2007, the program distributed
more than $500,000 to 56 institutions.
Typical funding ranges from $5,000 to
$15,000 per institution.
spring 2009
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18
feature
Chris
Chris Garvin, head of the Multimedia
program in the College of Media and
Communication, won’t be pigeonholed. Is he a designer? Artist? Entrepreneur? Professor? All of them? Each
role is distinct, but that doesn’t mean
they don’t overlap.
“I don’t think I could be as diverse in
all of these different roles if they didn’t
overlap and feed each other,” said
Garvin, who earned an MFA in painting in 1996 from the Advanced Center
for Computing and Design at The Ohio
State University and graduated cum
laude from SUNY-Buffalo in 1993 with
a BFA in painting. “My teaching is better because of the professional work
I do and vice versa. How I work flows
out of a desire to communicate ideas.
I started using a number of different
mediums as an artist, designer and
entrepreneur because one medium,
one way of working or one school of
thought was too limiting. I like to work
in a place in which any solution is possible and the medium, technology and
aesthetics are all results of inquiry and
an iterative process.”
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spring 2009
A Buffalo, N.Y., native, Garvin works
on stretching the bounds of solutions
as creative director and partner in the
interactive design firm egwrk (Educated Guess Work), which he founded
with two former Multimedia students John Benson and Bill Gastrock.
(“I learn from my students all the
time,” he said. And apparently, he still
does). egwrk creates clear interactive
environments that connect people to information through intuitive and immersive experiences.
The work bridges a variety of
technologies, industries and
content and delivery systems,
from robust Web sites to interactive media walls, exterior video projection systems and more. egwrk has
created experiences for advanced users, casual audiences and passersby
alike at Penn’s Annenberg Center, The
Philadelphia Museum of Art, World
Cafe Live, Syracuse University and W
Hotels around the country.
Last year, the firm launched a project
for Syracuse University – its billion
dollar capital campaign kick off. Using
motion graphics projections to illuminate the heart of the campus, egwrk
used a historical time line as the main
motif to create a sense of pride and
forward-looking hope for alumni as a
way of inspiring them to give to their
alma mater. The University’s historical
archives, online athletics archive and
the University’s new branding campaign were used to tell the story.
“How I work flows
out of a desire
to communicate ideas.”
“The Urban Video Project came about
as a result of another installation we
did for the University last year,” said
Garvin. “The University was happy
with what we did and we started consulting with them about how we could
make these sorts of displays permanent venues in the community.”
of all trades
Utilizing Mainlight Industries’ SoftLED tri-color LED curtain – technology
used at last year’s Super Bowl and by
musical acts R.E.M, Radiohead and Elton John – design commenced in June.
egwrk created an array with thousands
of pins of light beaming out motion
graphic artwork for the video installa-
tion that soft-launched in the façade
of Syracuse Stage October 17, 2008.
egwrk was responsible for the creative
content for the venues, designing the
permanent installations and creating a
content management system for easy
maintenance and future use by other
artists. Three more Syracuse venues
will come online in the coming months as
part of Syracuse’s Urban Video Project.
One last thing to add to Garvin’s list
of roles? Husband – He married Dr.
Jennifer Smith September 28, 2008, at
Albright Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, N.Y.
spring 2009
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20
Complaining in Tune
feature
21
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spring 2009
The international Complaints Choir phenomenon reached the City
of Brotherly Love this fall, but there’s no one complaining. In fact,
it’s drawing nothing but compliments.
University faculty
turn whining into
beautiful music
The brainchild of University of the Arts Sculpture alumna and Fine
Arts faculty member Shelly Spector, the 50-plus member Philadelphia Complaints Choir sings about gripes both personal and
general, like dating, roommates, public transit and friendship,
in a four-part harmony arranged by Evan Solot, head of the Composition Department in the School of Music. Co-sponsored by
Spector’s SPECTOR Projects and open to anyone, the Complaints
Choir whined its way through performances all around the city,
wrapping up November 12 at the First Person Arts Festival. Along
the way, it received rave reviews from The Philadelphia Inquirer,
Philadelphia Daily News and “Radio Times” on WHYY radio.
Spector first learned about the Finland-based Complaints Choirs last
summer on a trip to New York for a Museum of Modern Art-sponsored
The School of Music’s Evan Solot leads the Complaints Choir in its first practice,
held at The Ellen and Ronald Caplan Center for the Performing Arts.
exhibition of Finnish artists at its satellite gallery,
P.S.1. At the exhibition, Spector encountered videos of four of the choirs from around the world.
“I didn’t know what I was watching at the time,
but I eventually realized what was going on and
came back to Philadelphia really wanting to figure
out how we could have one here,” Spector told
the Philadelphia City Paper. She approached Vicki
Solot, executive director of First Person Arts, to form
the choir. Vicki, in turn, asked her husband, Evan,
to compose a piece for the group. After some initial hesitation (do you have any idea how busy his
schedule is?), he jumped in with both feet (probably
aching), composed the choir’s grumpy masterpiece
(under unbearable deadline pressure, no doubt)
and the rest, as they say, is bellyaching history.
Philadelphia is part of a growing fraternity of
cities hosting the choirs. From a discussion between Finnish artists Tellervo Kalleinen and
Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen about how to turn people’s complaining into something powerful,
Complaints Choirs have sprung up around the
world from Melbourne, Australia, to Singapore,
from Slovenia to Italy, since debuting in Birmingham, England, in 2005. And Kalleinen and KochtaKalleinen haven’t complained about other choirs
popping up across the globe; instead, they offer
encouragement – they’ve posted step-by-step
“how to” guidelines on their Web site (www.complaintschoir.org).
SPRING 2009
spring
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22
18
faculty profile
directing a new
PRODUC TION
the university welcomes
a new provost
He’s directed plays across the United States and in Europe, but Michael Nash, Ph.D., is now managing a big
production closer to home – the academic enterprise of
The University of the Arts. On September 15, 2008, Nash
assumed the role of provost, the University’s second in
command, chief academic officer and principal partner to
President Sean Buffington in leading the effort to define and
develop the university’s objectives and institutional plan.
Nash comes to the University from the Boston Conservatory, where he built a long record of success as dean and
chief academic officer of the privately funded 500-student
institution. A summa cum laude graduate of Cornell
University with a bachelor’s degree in theater and English
literature, he went on to earn doctoral and master’s degrees
with honors in theater and drama from the University of
Kansas.
His theater credits are equally impressive. Nash has served
as producing artistic director of the Porthouse Theater
Company (Kent, Ohio) and Central Casting Theater
Company (Ithaca, N.Y.), and directed the work of Clifford
Odets, Moliere, Joe Orton, Henrik Ibsen, Noel Coward
and Friedrich Durrenmatt. His directing skills have been
in high demand for companies as diverse as People’s Light
and Theater (Malvern, Pa.), Fulton Opera House (Lancaster, Pa.), Spectrum Theater Company (New York) and
the Théâtre du Nouveau Gymase (Liége, Belgium).
“Michael is a gifted theater artist, but also a talented and
experienced academic leader,” said President Buffington.
“I am thrilled that he’s joined us in this critical role at such
an exciting time in the institution’s history.”
The Conservatory is renowned for its multidisciplinary
environment that offers fully accredited graduate and
23
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spring 2009
undergraduate programs in music, dance and theater, and
he served as the top administrative and academic officer
for all academic programs. During Nash’s almost 10 years
of service, the Conservatory’s enrollment grew 50 percent,
and year-to-year retention improved to 80 percent.
However, it was the “wider academic and artistic terrain”
The University of the Arts offers “in writing, film, video
and visual arts” that most interested him about the provost
position here. While working on multiple projects with
the People’s Light and Theatre Company in the 1980s,
Nash learned about the University. And once he arrived
on campus, he was struck by the intensity and engagement
of the University faculty.
“The University’s academic leaders, the deans, chairs and
directors, they all care so much about what one of their
students should be when they grow up,” he said. “I am
impressed with the level of discourse about the educational process and by the faculty’s deep respect for what
the University is and can become. There is a real appetite
for asking fundamental pedagogical questions, integrating
technology and exploring both inter- and cross-disciplinary studies.”
The curtain is already up on Nash’s latest production, and
he’s hoping for some rave reviews.
faculty profile
mariateresarodriguez
Focusing on issues.
“To get to the heart of a subject, one must go through the
people,” said Media Arts adjunct assistant professor
Maria Teresa Rodriguez, explaining her documentary-making
modus operandi. “I want people who have had historical
experiences to talk on camera. It gives a personal approach
to a historical issue.”
After tackling health inequities in America in the documentary “Becoming American” for the Public Broadcasting System
in April, Rodriguez’ latest project, “¿Dónde Están?” looks at
the issue of missing Salvadoran children. Sixteen years after
the end of El Salvador’s civil war, the whereabouts of approximately 1,000 children who disappeared during the conflict
remain unknown. This summer, Rodriguez became one of 16
filmmakers selected to share $512,500 from the Sundance
Institute Documentary Film Program. The institute received
325 applications from filmmakers in more than 52 countries.
Fellow director and co-producer Katheryn Pyle introduced
Rodriguez to the issue of children who have disappeared.
“¿Dónde Están?” follows an investigator and survivor of the
civil war, as she tracks down children and reunites families.
Rodriguez and Pyle will continue to travel to and from El
Salvador before filming tentatively wraps in 2010.
As the project nears the end of the research and development
cycle, the 2001 Pew Fellowship Award winner worked during
the University’s summer break to film one of the main subjects
to create a sample reel to use in shopping around for
additional funding.
“Independent documentaries like this usually take three
to five years to complete,” said Rodriguez, who earned her
bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia in 1987 and
MFA from Temple University in 1997. “It’s one of those labors
of love. You work for many years, raising money to make a
documentary, not to pay yourself. It’s all about creating art.
That’s what keeps me going.”
The documentary will be shot in El Salvador and the United
States, reflecting the transnational existence of almost 25
percent of the Salvadoran population. Rodriguez and Pyle
are working with Pro-Búsqueda, a Salvadoran non-governmental organization whose mission is to use DNA testing
and grass roots investigation to reunite children who were
forcibly separated from their families during the civil war.
As a budding high school actor, Rodriguez took a filmmaking
class that helped her realize she should switch her focus to
being on the other side of the camera.
“I suddenly realized that I was a good but not great actress
and I was really taken by the cinematic possibilities of how
you could use a camera and images to tell a story,” she
said. “And I sort of ran with that. I love telling stories. I love
the possibilities of the film medium. I like the challenge of
infusing art within and thinking about the best way to tell a
story visually, to express the heart of what people are going
through,” she said.
spring 2009
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24
faculty Notes
Illustration faculty member Al Gury published Alla Prima about the
history and practice of direct painting methods. Richly illustrated with
master works from American museums, the book contains abundant
guidance on such issues as color mixing, underpaintings, glazing and
master copies. Marketed both as a fine art book and textbook, Alla
Prima includes four complete sequential demonstrations of a portrait,
figure, landscape and still life. Gury also published articles in
American Artist magazine, one focusing on his doing a portrait
demonstration, the other about drawing. He also joined the staff of
Per Contra, The International Journal of Arts, Culture and Ideas, as a
contributing editor. His first article was on Philadelphia women
illustrators and artists.
Gerald Nichols (Painting/Drawing) showed
12 new drawings and five new constructions, a culmination of his fall 2008 sabbatical research project at the University’s
Gallery 817 in September.
Karen Saler (Foundation) spent her fall
sabbatical as a visiting artist at Rome’s
American Academy.
Marisha Simons (Fine Arts) exhibited in
“Ghosts and Shadows,” a show of environmental art installations presented this fall
by The Center for Emerging Visual Artists
and Schuylkill Center for Environmental
Education.
Tony Rosati (Printmaking) exhibited and
gave a gallery talk and tour this fall at his
exhibition “Prints and Paintings” at Rowan
University’s Art Gallery
Karl Staven (Media Arts) screened a series
of his animated short films covering a
broad range of styles – including stopmotion and computer generated animation
– at the County Theater in Doylestown, Pa.,
and Ambler (Pa.) Theater in September.
The shows were featured in a full-page
story in Philadelphia’s Metro newspaper.
The ceramic design work of Heather Mae Erickson (Crafts)
was featured as a “Fall Pick” by design bloggers in the
Home and Garden section of The New York Times in
September. A feature about Erickson and her Clay Studio
throwing class and work were featured in a segment
aired in October on WHYY-TV.
21
25
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SPRING
spring 2009
faculty Notes
Patrycja Doniewski (Industrial Design) and her firm Qb were awarded
the 2008 Philadelphia Emerging Architecture Prize and gave a talk at the
Philadelphia Art Alliance about their work in October 22. A subsequent
exhibition of the firm’s work was displayed in November at the Center for
Architecture. Additionally, the firm’s work was featured in a fall issue of
Philadelphia magazine. Her renovation to the garret of a commercial building (photo right), originally a window factory (c. 1900), is conceived of a
silent background for the client’s collection of artwork, books and objects.
Remnants of the building’s prior use: hoists, factory windows, and steel beams and columns, are
left in place to speak of the play between new and old. The new architecture occupies the space
as a series of stage sets and composed still-lives within the existing column bays.
Dr. Andrea Clearfield (Music) gave an
illustrated lecture in October on her
trip to Nepal where she was gathering material for her new composition
“Lung-Ta-The Windhorse,” which
is scheduled to premiere at the
University in March.
Almost Grown, a collection of poems
by Jack DeWitt (Liberal Arts) about
growing up in 1950s Stamford, Conn.,
has drawn critical praise for its “unadorned, unsung blue collar vein,”
and is available at www.wordpainting.com. DeWitt’s poems were also
featured in the November issue of the
American Poetry Review.
Rod McCormick (Crafts) presented
“Digital Craft: Computers for Object Makers” in October as part of the University’s
Faculty Voices Lecture Series.
The Sebastian Agudelo (Liberal Arts)
manuscript To the Bone was named the
2008 winner of the Saturnalia Books
Poetry contest, judged by internationally
renowned poet Mark Doty.
Mara Adamitz Scrupe (Multi-Disciplinary
Arts) was the United States representative in the international exhibition “Cork
Harbour Project, Beyond the Myth,”
presented by Sirius Arts Centre, Cobh,
County Cork, Ireland, where she was a
resident artist in 2007.
Faculty members
Mark Campbell
(Foundation) and
Peter Rose (Media
Arts) and alumni
Anthony
Angelicola
’06 (Film) collaborated on
the exhibition
“Conflation/Living above the Store: Function Integration
in Cherry Hill And Beyond.” Featuring film, sculpture and
sound components, the exhibition considered alternative organizational strategies for the built environment
in Cherry Hill, N.J., and was on display in Hamilton Hall in
September and October. Campbell built an architectural
model/sculpture that both mocks and celebrates suburban topography. Rose enhanced Campbell’s structures
with video images that engage the work in a surprising
variety of ways. Angelicola constructed a subtle and
nuanced paean to the ambient sonic of the city. “Conflation” offered a complex, richly metaphoric reflection on
the meanings of the urban/suburban environment.
Amy Feinberg (Theater Arts) directed the Hypothetical Theatre Company’s world
premiere of Jennifer Maisel’s “There or Here” at New York’s 14th Street Theater in September. A dark comedy about a mixed-race couple who outsource their baby-making
surrogacy to a woman in India, the production received a glowing review from
The New York Times, which claimed “this production by the Hypothetical Theater
Company … is never less than engaging.” The play was selected as a finalist for the
2007 Sundance Theatre Lab, 2008 O’Neil Theatre Conference, and the 2008 STAGE
International Script Competition for the best new play about science and technology.
spring 2009
EDGE
26
faculty Notes
Instructional Technology grants,
sponsored by the Provost office and
managed by the Center for Teaching
and Learning, were awarded this fall
to faculty members as part of the
Faculty Enrichment Program. Karl
Staven (Media Arts) earned a grant
to support the testing, mastering
and teaching the use of the Cintiq
12WX Wacom Display Option; Tony
Miceli (Music) used his grant money to support the launch of a lecture
series section within the Sakai
School of Music project site with a
video lecture “Wagner to Coltrane”
by Dr. Donald Chittum; and Neeti
Bathala (Liberal Arts) purchased an
interactive and inquiry-based computer module students can use to
manipulate ecological parameters
in various environmental settings
and support the addition of this
computer module into the syllabi
of several science courses. These
grants are intended for faculty who
want to create new modules, digital
tutorials and similar tools that
will help to facilitate our goals of
improving modes of instruction and
course delivery. This new initiative
recognizes the recent implementation of Sakai as a Web-based course
management tool available for
all courses.
Anna Beresin (Liberal Arts) was a
contributor to the upcoming Encyclopedia of Play.
Dena Shottenkirk (Painting/Drawing) had her doctoral dissertation
published by Springer Publications
(Synthese Library series: Studies in
Epistemology, Logic, Methodology,
and Philosophy of Science).
Shottenkirk’s book, Nominalism
and Its Aftermath, is a monograph
on 20th century American analytic
philosopher Nelson Goodman.
“Mydeath.com,” another Copeland
video, humorously asserts the
Internet as the ultimate commoditized marketplace and re-contextualizes images downloaded from
various “death” Web sites and was
screened as part of the Moving
Image Film Festival (www.miffest.
com) on November 6. The video was
screened in 13 cities across Europe
on November 21.
Matt Curtius (Illustration) created
the illustration that accompanied
The New York Times article “The
Science of Sarcasm (Not That You
Care)” this summer. The story and
illustration also ran in the International Herald Tribune.
Patty Smith (Fine Arts) exhibited
drawing prints and artist’s book at
“Illuminate” at Galleria Sotoportego
in Venice, Italy, this summer.
Collette Copeland (Media Arts) was
interviewed in a summer edition
of Afterimage magazine and had
videos included in the Kratkofil Film
Festival in Bosnia; Bochum Film
Festival in Germany; and Artsfest
Film Festival in Harrisburg, Pa.
Diane Pepe (Foundation) exhibited “Conversations,” a collection of collage drawings and sculptures, at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art in Wilmington this summer. A large-scale
sculptural work in the exhibition, “Center,” was created with funds from a Faculty Enrichment Grant; the triptych was created in collaboration with Jason O’Brian, a recent graduate.
Pepe creates new mixed-media sculptural works and layered, cut paper collages that investigate
the “dichotomy between mankind’s emotional/passionate nature and the ordered/structured
elements that we engage to control or reveal these emotions.” Many of Pepe’s early sculptures
in the exhibition are influenced by a trip to Kochi, Japan. She utilizes wood, stone, brass and
handmade paper to evoke the complex interplay of contrasts such as joy and strength–that are
central to the human experience. In the more recent sculptural works, Pepe has shifted to investigations of these forces in a more universal context that continues to be a driving force in her
current creative research.
27
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spring 2009
faculty Notes
David Graham (Media Arts) taught
a summer landscape photography
workshop at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Mass.
Toby Zinman (Liberal Arts) recently
published the book Edward
Albee, which offers essays on
each of Albee’s plays, following
the chronology of the Collected
Works, volumes 1, 2 and 3.
Stephen Tarantal (CAD) was
featured in a broadcast of First
Friday TV, a locally broadcast show
that provides a unique look at the
Philadelphia visual arts. Tarantal
has also had an untitled pastel from
1972 accepted into the Yale University Art Gallery.
The Charles Browning (Fine Arts /
Foundation) exhibition “Remembering to Forget: Strategies of
Propaganda and Mythology” was
on display at the Schroeder Romero
Gallery in Manhattan this summer.
The play “House, Divided” by Larry
Loebell (WFTV) at Philly’s InterAct
Theater Company was met with positive critical review by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Jewish Exponent and
Variety. The play was nominated for
a Barrymore Award for Excellence
in Theater in the “Best New
Play” category.
Jeffrey Sweet (SOTA, bottom left) wrote “Court Martial at Fort Devens,” (top left) which was staged at the
Philly Fringe Festival and was the first play performed
at the new Caplan Center. This gripping historical
drama exposes incidents of racism and sexism in the
U.S. Army’s Women’s Auxiliary Corps during WWII.
Originally produced in 2007 at the Victory Gardens
Theater in Chicago, it garnered a Joseph Jefferson
Award nomination for Best New Play of the Year.
Sweet has been a playwright, screenwriter, lyricist,
critic, journalist, teacher, theatre historian and sometime songwriter and director. He is a resident member
of Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater. Sweet serves as
a member of the Council of the Dramatists Guild, is
a member of Ensemble Studio Theatre and is a New
Dramatists alum. He contributes a regular column to
Dramatics and Stage and Screen Online, a British Web
site about film and theater music.
bIG NIGHT AT THE BARRYMORES
The Surdna Foundation, which supports arts programs for teens and
teaching artists, awarded funding
to seven Pre-College instructors,
enabling them to pursue artistic interests to enrich their personal work
and teaching methods without loss
of income. Recipients include Aaron
Cromie (Acting), Christina Day
(Fibers), Julianna Foster (Photo),
Justin Jain (Acting), Andrea Poulsen
(Book Arts) Elizabeth Thorpe (Writing) and D’Arcy Webb (Musical
Theater).
Susan Arthur (Media
Arts) moderated the
panel discussion “Toy
Camera: Beyond Cult”
in October at Project
Basho, a photography
resource center located
on Germantown Avenue
in Old Kensington, an
artist-concentrated and
culturally vibrant section
of Philadelphia. The panel
was held in conjunction
with the “Toyland” exhibition at Nexus Foundation
for Today’s Art. The panel
explored the creative uses
and unique qualities of
toy cameras as well as
the happy accidents that
sometimes occur with this
medium.
Faculty Win Prestigious Awards
University faculty won the day at the 2008 Barrymore Awards for
Excellence in Theater, winning five of the six categories in which they
were nominated. The ceremony was held in October at the Crystal Tea
Room in the Wanamaker Building. Eric Ebbenga (SOTA) won for Outstanding Music Direction for “Assassins” at the Arden Theatre Company; Lee Ann Etzold (SOTA) took Outstanding Supporting Actress
in a Play for her role as the Assistant Dramaturg in “The Happiness
Lecture” at the Philadelphia Theatre Company; Scott Greer (SOTA,
bottom right) was recognized in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in
a Musical, for his portrayal of Samuel Byck in the Arden Theatre Company’s production of “Assassins;” Richard St. Clair (SOTA, top right)
earned the award in Outstanding Costume Design for “Sleeping
Beauty” with the Arden Theatre Company; and
Jen Childs (SOTA, center right) earned a nod for
Outstanding Ensemble in a Play in “Suburban Love Songs” with
1812 Productions. Additionally, Larry Loebell (WFTV) earned
a nomination in the Outstanding New Play category for his
“House, Divided” at the InterAct Theatre Company. Produced by
the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, the award show was
named after the legendary Barrymore family and has recognized
and celebrated Philadelphia theaters and artists since its inception in 1994. Each year, more than 100 productions, produced by
professional theaters in the region, are reviewed by the Barrymore
nominating committee.
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24
faculty Notes
INVENTED
WORLDS
Alida Fish (Media Arts) exhibited her “Invented
Worlds” at the Delaware Art Museum this winter.
The exhibition’s 31 photos used traditional, historical and digital processes to bring her visions to life,
and included Ektacolor prints with hand-applied
dyes and enamel; silver prints; and wet-plate collodion tintypes. She also served as this fall’s Prescot
Visiting Artist at Miss Porter’s School in Farmington,
Conn., where she exhibited photos in the school’s
Donaldson Gallery and gave a talk about her work.
Alida Fish, Altered Identities (left), Pigeon
Point Datura (right)
staffnotes
The theater company Cardboard
Box Collaborative presented the
play “Swineheart: A Brothers’ Tale,”
(far right) a play written by Andrew
H. Beal (Theater Arts) at Pageant
Soloveev in June. The play focused
on two scientists who have been
waiting for a final seismic reading,
living on coffee, instant meals and
cigarettes for more than two years.
Cut off from headquarters, they
turn to each other and play childish games that turn deadly serious.
A playful, violent, fathomless dive
into humanity’s most ancient crime
and the most dangerous green
creature. The production featured
University alumni Brian Cowden,
Steve Kuhel and Jessica Dal Canton.
Cisco Griffin (Enrollment Management) moderated a professional
development session at the annual
Pennsylvania Association for College Admission Counseling Con-
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ference (PACAC) this summer in
Harrisburg. Entitled “Selective Tech:
What Works for You?” the session
reviewed current trends in electronic communication and ways to
determine best institutional fit for
recruitment and retention strategies. Griffin has been asked to serve
as chair of the PACAC Technology
Committee in 2009.
promotes student employment through research,
publications, professional
development opportunities and open exchange of
information.
Regina Barthmaier (CAD)
was awarded a bronze medal
from Da Vinci Art Alliance for
a sculpture “Hercules,” which
Barbara Danin (University Libraries) showed in Da Vinci’s annual
exhibited work at Philadelphia’s Art members show “Found Objects: New Contexts.” (below)
in City Hall program this summer.
Her work also graced the July cover
of Wisdom magazine.
Debi Chatman-Royce (Financial Aid)
has been invited to serve on the
Board of Directors for the National
Student Employment Association,
an organization of several hundred professionals involved with
programs for college students
who work. NSEA supports and
faculty Notes
Professor Tom Porett, Electronic Media, Koi-Time/Space
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26
campus Notes
T
hough he died tragically in 1956
at the age of 25, jazz trumpeter
Clifford Brown left a larger-thanlife legacy. “Brownie Speaks,” a
three-day symposium at the University
October 30 – November 1, brought
together jazz aficionados, musicians
and educators to study, explore and
celebrate Brown’s life and music. The
event featured jam sessions, panel
discussions and academic presentations, and performances by jazz greats
Benny Golson, Lou Donaldson and
Terence Blanchard. Brown’s son,
Clifford Brown Jr., served as the event’s
master of ceremonies.
Celebrating
the Legacy
of
Clifford
Brown
“I think we made history,” said School
of Music professor Don Glanden, the
driving force behind the event. “We
added to the body of knowledge,
showcased our student musicians,
made some of the biggest names in
jazz and jazz education aware of our
work, and gave our students an amazing and unique experience.”
Glanden premiered his documentary,
“Brownie Speaks,” which features
interviews with Brown’s wife, LaRue
Brown Watson, and family, friends
and associates, including Donald Byrd,
Donaldson, Golson, Wynton Marsalis,
Arturo Sandoval and Herb Geller. The
academic portion of the symposium
included presentations on such varied
subjects as Brown’s improvisational
style, his early influences and his years
in his hometown of Wilmington, Del.
Other participants included jazz critic
and columnist Nat Hentoff; jazz pianist and keyboardist, noted author and
professor of music at Rutgers-Newark
Lewis Porter; Rick Lawn, saxophonist
and dean of the College of Performing Arts at The University of the Arts;
trumpeter and University of Denver
professor Alan Hood; Clifford Brown
biographer Nick Catalano; disc jockey
Phil Schaap; and jazz greats Jimmy
Heath, Golson and Donaldson.
The on-campus concerts with Golson,
Donaldson and Blanchard drew nearly
2,000 attendees. The Lars Halle Jazz
Orchestra premiered a new John
Fedchock composition dedicated to
Clifford Brown.
The Philadelphia Music Project, a program of the Philadelphia Center for
Arts and Heritage, funded by The Pew
Charitable Trusts and administered by
The University of the Arts, sponsored
the performance component of the
symposium, with additional support
from The University of the Arts and
the recently founded Philadelphia Jazz
Heritage Project.
“This event was a success beyond
our hopes, and follow-up from many
of the participants confirmed that,”
said College of Performing Arts Dean
Rick Lawn. “We can think of no stone
that was left unturned in bringing together artists, students, scholars and
honorees for this fitting celebration of
Clifford Brown.”
Soupy’s On...In Philly
Soupy Sales was presented with a medal and certificate for his “advancement and preservation of jazz” during the symposium. Now in his early 80s, Sales was a huge jazz fan and
regularly introduced greats like Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald
and Charlie Parker to the stage of his 1950s Detroit-based “Soupy’s On” TV show. Sales
hosted Brown on his show and as chance would have it, recorded the performance, which
remains the only film in existence of Brown playing his trumpet. The clip, which appears in
Ken Burns’ documentary, “Jazz,” was shown following the award presentation.
In the clip, Sales offered congratulations to Brown for becoming a father. Following the
screening, an obviously touched Clifford Brown Jr. thanked Sales profusely for saving the
clip and for all that he had done for jazz and jazz musicians.
In acceptance remarks delivered for him by jazz singer and actress Annie Ross, best
known as a member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Sales recognized Brown’s brilliance, stating
“The musical genius of Clifford Brown was obvious to everyone who encountered him. The sounds he recorded in his
brief time thrill us today. ‘Joy Spring’ remains more than a song title. It is the essence of listening to Clifford Brown, a
joy in music that springs forth all these years after his death.”
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campus Notes
ID’s ‘Aging with Design’
Exhibition Helps
Aging Population
With recent medical advances, the population
of the United States is living longer than ever.
So much so that by the year 2030, 70 million
people over the age of 60 will be living in the
United States. In fact, Pennsylvania has the
second oldest population state in the nation.
Meanwhile, the birth rate in the developed
world is dropping rapidly. “The number of
people over the age of 65 is going to double
over the next quarter century, thanks to the
aging of the baby-boom generation,” predicts
product designer Gretchen Anderson.
Living longer is good. Living longer and with
greater ease is better. That was the focus of
“Aging with Design,” the Industrial Design
senior thesis exhibition at The University of the
Arts. Twenty-one students created design interventions, taking into consideration the everfluctuating relationships between aging people
and their surrounding objects. Looked at in the
contexts of “body,” “home” and “community,”
design solutions ranged from hydroponics
systems and radical three-wheel tilting bicycles
to bottle ergonomics and mobility aids. Staged
inside three refurbished and repurposed shipping containers on a vacant lot in the heart of
the Avenue of the Arts (photo below), “Aging
with Design” was a collection of provocative
products that embraced and redefined what
it means to be “timeless.” These projects are
meaningful interventions for a multigenerational society.
UNIVERSITY Benefactor Rudman Regains
Footing along Avenue of the Arts
Fully refurbished and good as new, long time University supporter Kal Rudman’s plaque on Broad Street’s Musical Walk of Fame was unveiled and rededicated this summer. The plaque had fallen into disrepair and was jarred
loose nearly two years ago. The School of Music coordinated the repair and
polishing of the plaque in honor of the Philadelphia radio icon. Over the past
15 years, Rudman has donated more than $150,000 in scholarships to allow
low-income high school students to attend the School of Music’s Summer
Jazz Institute. President Sean Buffington led the plaque unveiling on the
southeast corner of South Broad and Locust streets. (From left to right)
Marc Dicciani, Richard Lawn, Art Scena, Kal Rudman and President
Sean Buffington.
Young ‘Phillywood’ Takes
Center Stage at Student
Film Festival
As the curtain rose on the third act of the
Greater Philadelphia Student Film Festival
at the Levitt Auditorium in Gershman
Hall, UArts students were recognized for
their outstanding work in several categories. In the Animation
category, UArts students garnered five nominations. The standout entry in
the Documentary category was Sam Nalband’s “Charlie and Guy,” about two
Philadelphia homeless men and how they deal with life, money and friendship while living on Philly’s streets. All nominees passed through a panel
of judges that included students, industry professionals and academics,
including the University’s Media Arts chair, animator Karl Staven. The festival
provided an opportunity for Philadelphia students to screen their work in
front of a city-wide audience of their peers.
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campus Notes
Jazzing It Up in Italy
Acting Out: Eagles Football from
South Philly to Central Italy
School of Theater Arts (SOTA) lecturer Aaron Cromie found a way to meld
his love of theater and Philadelphia Eagles football with “Home Opener,”
a contemporary Commedia dell’arte-style production including masks and
a cast of archetypes. A group of SOTA students presented “Home Opener”
this summer in Italy at the international Accademia dell’arte Arezzo Festival.
“Home Opener” followed three die-hard Eagles fans on a Football Sunday as
they scour Philadelphia for game tickets they misplaced on the Broad Street
subway line. “I immediately thought, ‘what’s crazier than Philadelphia Eagles
fans?’ ” said Cromie, who teaches classes in neutral mask and mask characterization. A great match: the long-flourishing traditions of Italian Commedia
dell’arte and the long-suffering “colorful” football fans of Philadelphia.
After an arduous audition process, the UArts Jazz
Singers performed this summer at the 28th Biennial
World Conference of the International Society of Music
Education in Bologna, Italy. The only vocal jazz group
to perform at the conference, the ensemble sang to
a standing-room only crowd at Bologna’s Academia
Filarmonica and was so well received that the audience
of more than 200 music professionals from around the
world demanded an encore. Ensemble members also
performed for more than 200 listeners on an outdoor
stage at the Cantina Bentivoglio, one of Bologna’s most
award-winning restaurants and a famous Italian jazz
venue.
With the assistance of ensemble
members, Jazz Singers director Justin
Binek presented the workshop/demonstration “The Ten Habits of Highly
Effective Scat Singers.”
“The students in the ensemble not
only performed at a tremendously high
level,” said Binek, “they also represented the University in the best way
imaginable, acting as true professionals
throughout the trip.”
Bessie Award Goes to Alumna
Hilary Clark ’99 (Modern Dance) was named this year’s recipient of the New
York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award, the dance world’s equivalent
of the Oscar. For over 20 years, the Bessies have honored outstanding innovative achievements in contemporary dance and performance, spanning a
period of monumental artistic productivity in spite of a variety of economic,
social and political challenges. The annual awards ceremony recognizes exceptional artistic achievements and reflects upon the issues and challenges
that face artistic communities.
Sapphire Fund Awards First Tony Sparacino
Memorial Scholarship
John Davenport ’11 (Theatre Design) became the inaugural recipient of the Tony Sparacino Memorial Scholarship, established by
the Sapphire Fund, a non-profit organization serving the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community (GLBT) and Philadelphia’s HIV/AIDS community. The scholarship honors local activist and business owner Tony Sparacino. The $1,000 award is
given to a GLBT student , or a student supportive of the GLBT community, who is majoring in the arts at a Philadelphia college or
university and who has a history of community service.
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campus Notes
A Tree Grows
in South Philadelphia
Thanks to ID Students
A neighborhood vision was realized in June when Philadelphia Mayor
Michael Nutter announced development plans and more than $2 million in
funding for the creation of Hawthorne Park on a vacant lot at 12th and Catharine streets in South Philadelphia. Industrial Design students and faculty, in
collaboration with the Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition and neighborhood
residents, developed the vision as part of a 2003 project.
“We have to end the notion that somehow development is only about downtown or that parks are only in certain neighborhoods,” Nutter said.
Roughly the size of half a city block, the park will include shade trees, pathways and benches as well as a lawn area that could serve as an amphitheater.
“The design of the park was the result of a deep collaboration of all the parties involved. We helped the community to realize its hopes and dreams for
a park by providing design facilitation and concept development,” said ID
faculty member Jamer Hunt.
New Division of
Continuing Studies
The University’s Continuing Studies, Professional Institute for Educators (PIE) and
Pre-College programs have been combined
into a new Division of Continuing Studies.
President Buffington made the announcement
this summer, citing the need to strengthen the
three programs and enable them to function
more effectively and efficiently. Long-time PreCollege director Erin Elman has been
named dean of the new division.
“The three programs have always
provided outstanding arts education
to teachers, children and members
of the community,” said Buffington. “Under Erin’s leadership, these
programs will continue to thrive
and grow, and to pioneer new
ways of serving communities that
are eager for artistic training and
experiences.”
Watch for more on the new Division of
Continuing Studies in the next issue of Edge.
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The University team met monthly over the course of the year with the
Hawthorne Empowerment Coalition to get feedback on the design and to
develop it further. Finally, thanks to William Penn foundation support, the
concept drawing was picked up by the Penn Horticultural Society, which
produced more detailed and professional-grade drawings. The perseverance
of the Hawthorne community, however, is what managed to push the project
through. PHS will handle design development and construction documents
moving forward.
A neighborhood in transition after the 1999 demolition of the Martin Luther
King public housing project and the construction of a mixed-income townhouse development, the area was left untouched by upscale development
until the coalition stepped in to initiate the development of a park. The
Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, Fairmount Park Commission and private
foundations all stepped up with funding to make the park a reality. Construction will begin as early as 2009 and is expected to be completed by 2011.
Rumble Performs at Philadelphia’s
Welcome America Wednesday Night Out
Rumble, the University’s bucket drum ensemble, was one of more than
15 acts, including Philadelphia International Records artists Bunny Sigler,
MFSB, Soul Survivors and others who took to the four stages set up along
the Avenue of the Arts and in the Kimmel Center as part of Philadelphia’s
Sunoco Welcome America Independence Day celebrations. Rumble performed on a stage in front of Hamilton Hall.
campus Notes
thinking outside the honor box
and Other DesignPhiladelphia Happenings
Industrial Design, Graphic Design and Illustration students reenvisioned Philadelphia City Paper honor boxes in one of the nearly
100 events during the week-long fourth annual DesignPhiladelphia
celebration. Beth Van Why (upper right), ID faculty member and
DesignPhiladelphia project manager, and Graphic Design faculty
member Richard Felton, coordinated the student project, which
re-imagined the functionality of the street corner boxes from which
readers retrieve the free weekly edition of the City Paper.
Students were charged with transforming the interior and/or exterior of the boxes to communicate the idea of “information distribution.” Video screens, dioramas, seating devices – nothing was
off-limits. Among the proposals: eco-friendly refillable dog bowls,
flower boxes, soap boxes with political slogans, and a multi-lingual
information kiosk equipped with Wi-Fi and bluetooth capability.
“We weren’t just going to paint a box and put ‘DesignPhiladelphia’
on it,” said Felton. “The design could be totally practical or completely impractical. We introduced this project as ‘let your imagination go.’ The interesting thing is asking somebody ‘what can this
everyday thing be?’ and then opening the door to rediscovering
what it is – particularly something as common and abused as those
paper boxes.”
Designs from three Industrial Design department teams and four
Graphic Design department teams were selected as the winners:
Redacted Box: Keelia Murnane, Amanda Eutsey (GD ’10)
My City Paper: Joseph Vu, Cathy Socci, Ryan Casey, Gordon Sexton,
Brian Santoro (GD ’10) Murder Marker: Karen Martinez, Ivy Liu,
Patrick Heid, Samantha D’Agostino, Clara Jeong (GD ’10)
Rate Philly: Liz Morrison, Eunice Lai, Tara Taylor, Seong Kim (GD ’10)
Water Fountain: Matthew O’Connell, Mary Huynh (ID ’10)
Flower Box: Shannon Malone, Thomas Reynolds (ID ’10)
Bling Box: Candra Provenzano, Jared Delorenzo (ID ’10).
Of those seven, Flower Box and Bling Box were chosen to be implemented and placed on the streets in the vicinity of campus. Judges
included President Sean Buffington, University Trustee and City
Paper publisher Paul Curci and Virginia Gehshan of the design firm
Cloud/Gehshan.
DesignPhiladelphia cast a spotlight on all types of design in numerous events across the city from October 16 – 22. And The University
of the Arts played a central role in the project.
Each of those events was coordinated by Van Why, project manager
for DesignPhiladelphia for nearly three years. In her
role, she helped coordinate the entire
event along with Hilary Jay, executive
director of The Design Center at Philadelphia University.
DesignPhiladelphia featured 14 on- and
off-campus events involving students, faculty, staff, alumni and even entire departments from The University of the Arts. They
ran the gamut, including College of Media
and Communication Dean Neil Kleinman’s
participation in a panel discussion about
Paine’s Park skateboard park; “A Clean
Break,” a full-scale modern, sustainable, affordable pre-fab neighborhood that popped
up in the parking lot across South Broad Street from Hamilton Hall;
a lecture by Eitan Mendelowitz on embodied interaction, transdisciplinary collaboration and the AI Aesthetic; an open studio tour
hosted by the Master in Industrial Design program; and the second
annual SO RE FA, a fashion show presenting innovative sustainable
clothing constructed of new eco-materials, recycled and re-purposed, or fair-trade garments, that is the brainchild of
an alumna.
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ALUMNI PROFILE
for johanna jordan,
creating art isn’t a choice: she calls it
“an urge that’s innate.” For the better part of the last seven decades, the
1941 graduate has been compelled to
answer that call – and has done so in
dramatic fashion.
Thirty-foot-tall steel abstract sculptures, in public settings and private
collections on two continents, tower as
testament to Jordan’s creative vision.
And the 89-year-old Santa Monica,
Calif., artist has no intention of putting
down her welding torch and hammer
anytime soon.
“This urge has been with me all my
life,” she says. “I’m never happier than
when I’m working. I’ve been drawing
since I could hold a pencil, and it really started when I went to school at
the Philadelphia College of Art,” one
of the university’s predecessor institutions. “Miss Sweeney, my mentor
there, made an impact on me that has
lasted my entire life. She strengthened
my faith in myself. She even gave me a
plaster cast of della Robbia’s ‘Dancing
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Boys’ that she brought back from Italy.
I hung it in my studio in 1938, and it’s
still there today. Every time I look at it I
feel her belief in me.”
Jordan began her college career majoring in Illustration, but shifted to
Advertising Design, and after graduating, took a job at an ad agency in New
York. The work was exciting, but she
disliked the city and moved back to
Philadelphia, where she met and married her late husband, William Jordan,
a self-taught research chemist. After
their two sons were born, the family
moved to California.
“I kept up my painting while raising my
sons, but sculpting was what was really satisfying,” Jordan says. “I went further and further with it, and ended up
working with geometric abstract forms,
which I’m still working with today.”
She initially designed a smaller piece
for her home that led to commissions
for larger sculptures. “One commission was a 30-foot-tall piece for a
company in North Carolina. I had to
ALUMNI PROFILE
COMPULSION
A BEAUTIFUl
travel 10,000 miles over the course of
a year to supervise its fabrication because of faulty workmanship, then it
took 11 hours to install. I wish they had
frequent flyer miles back then!”
Since then, her works have become
part of public and private collections
in the United States and Europe, and
have also been featured as background
in the Warner Brothers’ films “Mame,”
“Terminal Man” and “La Femme Nikita.”
She continues to work in her shop every day, cutting, welding and bending
metals to fit her designs. And that wall
plaque continues to inspire her.
Her advice to current students is simple. “So often we’re deterred by events
in our lives. Just keep at it. Enjoy what
you’re doing and see what happens.”
“College was a vibrant and exciting place
for me,” she says, “and it set the stage
for everything I’ve done since then.”
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ALUMNI PROFILE
DON
BREWER Living His Multimedia Dream
Don Brewer ’02 (Multimedia) had a dream. He wanted his own multimedia
design agency.
“I always had a keen interest in working in new media,” he said, “developing
Web sites, producing videos and generating publicity for interesting clients
while advancing my skill levels and achieving self-actualization through creativity, design, communication and enterprise. UArts was the perfect choice to
help me fulfill my dream.”
One factor that makes Brewer’s career path interesting is that he was a
middle-aged “knowledge worker” when he decided to return to college for
his degree in multimedia. That took guts.
“Fear is the mind-killer,” said Brewer, who, after retiring from AT&T after 25
years, entered the Multimedia program in the College of Media and Communication, graduating in 2002. “In returning to college at the grand old age of
45, I experienced many fears – age discrimination, fading skill, learning
at an advanced level, criticism and finally, failure. UArts helped me to
overcome all these fears and become part of an extended family of
artists, writers, musicians, theorists, inventors, critics, actors, dancers, designers and teachers. My education at UArts has been the best
experience of my life.”
Today, Center City Philadelphia’s DoNBrewer Multimedia handles Web
design and video projects for a wide spectrum of clients – from fine
artists seeking a Web presence to companies looking for a cuttingedge marketing campaign. He credits the University with giving him both
the technical skills and the experience to address multi-faceted needs.
“Clients count on me to help them navigate the maze of options to
develop a multimedia presence,” he said. He provides a range of services to steer through that maze: Web site design; custom web pages;
search engine optimization and page ranking expertise; information
design; graphic design; photography; Flash motion graphics; streaming video and video production; podcasting; DVD/CD-ROM production; brand identity; e-mail marketing newsletter development and
public relations campaigns.
“My clients know I understand the value of their message and am dedicated to helping them express it across a wide range of media,” he continued. “I’m
proud of how I’m able to take away the worry and help them target their customers. UArts taught me a valuable lesson – always look for new ideas and tools to
expand my capabilities and resources.”
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spring
ALUMNI PROFILE
[walter plotnick]
crosses the “optical bridge”
For Walter Plotnick, MFA ’06 (Painting),
his passion for photography reaches back to his childhood,
and a father who helped kindle his son’s excitement for creating visual art.
“He was an amateur photographer,” says Plotnick, whose
work is featured in private collections in Philadelphia, New
York and Los Angeles. “As a young boy, he taught me to develop film and print photographs in the basement of our home.
I’ve been making images ever since. In my current work, I
use a combination of wet photography, drawing and digital
manipulation.”
Plotnick’s mother was also an artist, so his success seems to
have been a combination of DNA, parental mentoring and his
own continuous creative exploration. His latest achievement:
the Philadelphia Museum of Art recently acquired his photogram “Optical Bridge” for its Prints, Drawings and Photographs permanent collection. Measuring 18x30 inches, “Optical Bridge” is a limited-edition archival pigment print on photo
rag paper.
Photograms are photographic images made without a camera, by placing objects directly onto the surface of a photosensitive material such as photographic paper and then exposing it to light. The 2007 Fleischer Challenge-winner creates
his pieces by constructing temporary still lifes, using vintage
found objects and images. By manipulating a variety of light
sources, then digitally combining, repeating or adding images, Plotnick visually explores an abstract environment with
objects and light – creating movement, form and tension. His
work often features bilateral symmetry and, in one series,
even images of vintage circus performers. Blending darkroom
practices with digital technology adds a layer of complexity to
the photographic process of making images.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Prints, Drawings and Photographs collection is the largest group of objects in the museum’s collections, including more than 150,000 works of art on
paper (more than 28,000 prints) dating from the 15th century
to the present. The museum’s collection of photography includes more than 28,000 prints, with concentrations of work
by Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand and other major American and
European figures.
Plotnick will host a solo show at the St. Joseph’s University
Gallery in 2009 and mounted his “Shadows and Shapes” exhibition at the Multiple Choice Gallery in Blue Bell, Pa., in 2006.
At the Nexus Gallery’s PHOTO-IMAGE 07, Plotnick was honored with the Juror’s Distinction Award and Silicon Graphics
Award. Plotnick is also an instructor in the Fine Arts Department at Penn State Abington, as well as Montgomery County
Community College. View more of his work at www.walterplotnick.com.
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ALUMNI PROFILE
The Road Not Taken?
Not for George Hansberry.
What do an industrial designer, dancer, award-winning physician and civic
leader have in common? They’re the same person, and a distinguished member of The University of the Arts community who credits his experiences here
with helping him in each stage of his life.
Dr. George W. Hansberry (Industrial Design ’54) has spent his life exploring
diverse interests, seeking new challenges and helping to build better communities. Having attended Philadelphia College of Art (now The University
of the Arts) on the G.I. Bill, earning a degree in Industrial Design,
Hansberry decided to follow his interest in ballroom dancing, working at
a local dance studio in order to pay for lessons. He quickly fell in love
with the grace and precision that dance required, and in a few short
years opened dance studios in North and South Carolina.
He eventually sold the studios and set out on a new path in his career,
entering the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center College
of Medicine, from which he graduated in 1964. He began in private practice
in 1965, and a year later joined the Decatur Clinic in Decatur, Ala.
In 2005 Hansberry took down his shingle after 40 years of service to his community.
By then he had more than 1,000 regular patients, and had seen thousands of different
patients – many without insurance or co-pays – over the course of nearly 300,000 office
visits. He has served on local, state and national committees on mental health, AIDS
prevention and other important wellness efforts, while holding leadership positions with
Decatur General Hospital and several nonprofit community boards. Hansberry and his
wife, Dr. Catherine Hansberry, have been champions of the growth and
development of the city of Decatur and the state of Alabama.
He is quick to credit his education as a driving force behind his life’s journey.
“My learning experiences and education at Philadelphia College of Art have had a
significant influence in all areas of my life,” he says, “and I am forever grateful for
the opportunities afforded to me.”
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ALUMNI PROFILE
cornelius jones embarks on his
PERSONAL JOURNEY
Cornelius Jones Jr. ’99 (Musical Theater) has loved performing for as long
as he can remember. This summer, he
finally got to live one of his dreams,
producing and performing his first autobiographical solo show, “FlagBoy” at
the Ninth Annual Midtown International Theater Festival in New York City. The
reviews have been glowing, and Jones
was nominated for a Theater Festival
Award in the category “Outstanding
Performance in a Solo Show.” NYTheatre.com wrote in its review that “the
likable and talented Cornelius Jones,
Jr. delivers a wonderful and humbly
honest solo performance.”
Jones credits the University with
teaching him the value of hard work.
“The faculty really respected and rewarded the students who showed a lot
of initiative, drive, dedication and diligence,” he said. “It was like an unspoken creed: Hard work equals payoff,
longevity and respect.”
“The faculty really respected
and rewarded the students
who showed a lot of
initiative, drive, dedication
and diligence,” he said. “It
was like an unspoken creed:
Hard work equals payoff,
longevity and respect.”
His love for the performing arts began
at a very young age; he remembers, “I
was always running around the house
cutting up and silly!” and he was active in the drama club and choir by
grade school. At that time, there were
few live theater productions in his
hometown of Richmond, Va., so most
of his early inspiration came through
television. He credits three big television moments, “The Cosby Show” (he
wanted to be Cliff and Claire’s little
nephew), “Fast Forward” (the ’80s
movie about a dance group moving to
New York City and making it big) and
the 1985 movie “A Chorus Line.”
After completing his freshman year
at George Wythe High School Magnet
Program for the Arts, Jones entered
the Duke Ellington School of the Arts
in Washington, D.C., concentrating on
vocal music. While attending Ellington, he became actively involved with
the Duke Ellington show and concert
choirs, and the teen musical theater
company.
After graduation from The University
of the Arts in 1999 with a degree in
musical theater, Jones won a role in
the national tour of “Smokey Joe’s
Café,” which would eventually embark
on a tour to Seoul, South Korea, with
Broadway stars BJ Crosby and Ken Ard.
In 2001, he landed his first Broadway
show - “Thou Shalt Not” – under the
direction of famed director/choreographer Susan Stroman and New Orleans
jazz icon Harry Connick Jr.
His next opportunity was a role in the
first national tour of Disney’s smash
hit musical “The Lion King.” After touring for more than two years, Jones was
invited to join the show’s Broadway
company, performing the role of Adult
Simba at various performances, while
also stepping into other roles.
Jones returned to graduate school
this fall at New York University (NYU),
where he is pursuing a concentration
in dramatic writing and applied theater. While at NYU, he plans to transition “FlagBoy” from a one-man show
to a two-act stage play with a full cast
of characters. He also continues to
work on his memoir, the initial project
that spawned the idea of “FlagBoy.”
spring 2009
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ALUMNI events
FROM THE
DIRECTOR’s Desk
Laura J. Armstrong
Director, Alumni Relations
This past August, the University welcomed the
Class of 2012 to campus in a flurry of boxes,
maps, parents and red balloons. In some ways,
last year was my “freshman” year as well, having just joined the University the previous summer. Like our new students, I have learned a
great deal in my first year – how to navigate the
University’s policies and procedures, which elevator in Anderson works the best and where the
sculpture studios are in Furness. I even grabbed
a pint at Dirty Frank’s. I also had the wonderful opportunity to meet many alumni at the University’s first full reunion event in April 2008 as
we celebrated the inauguration of our new president, Sean T. Buffington. This was an extraordinary event and a once-in-a-lifetime chance to
experience the fullness of the University’s rich
history and be present as its future unfolds. If
you missed reunion this year, I encourage you
to check out the article and photos on page
45, or visit us online at www.uarts.edu/alumni.
If last year could be defined as the year of new
beginnings, then this year will certainly be re-
43
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SPRING
spring 2009
membered as the year of regional outreach! As
you’ll see, we are working hard to bring the
thrill of the University to a city near you. We
have nearly doubled our alumni events and look
forward to the official launch of alumni association regional chapters in Philadelphia, New York
and Southern California. As always, we continue to add new alumni benefits to our roster
and hope you will take advantage of them. The
growth in our program has been amazing, and
I thank all of you who have contributed so far.
If you have been out of touch for a while, now
is the time to re-engage. It is my goal to continue to inform, inspire and involve alumni in the
life of the University. Whether you remember
us as PMSIA, PCA, PMA or any of the other
predecessor institutions that made The University of the Arts possible, I look forward to
welcoming you back to the alumni community.
Warm regards,
ALUMNI events
ALUMNI EVENTS
golden arts luncheon
On December 12, 2007, the University welcomed
the Class of 1958 to campus for the Golden Arts
Luncheon, our annual event celebrating the
50th reunion year of each class. Many thanks
to Joe Volpe ’58 (Advertising Design), who
volunteered to lead the reunion efforts for his
classmates! Attendees met the University’s
new president, heard student performances
and toured campus. The University had the
added pleasure of recognizing Howard Alber
and Leo Weisz, graduates of the Class of 1933 who
were celebrating their 75th reunion. Artwork, ranging from student
sketches from the ’30s to recent works by both, was on display at
the luncheon. This spring, we look forward to recognizing the Class
of 1959. If this is your class, be on the lookout for more information
coming soon! Back (left to right): George Beach, Sandra Ridgley,
Joseph Volpe, Peter Paone, Sidney Goodman and Sean Buffington.
Front (left to right): Eileen Taber, Barbara Mimnaugh,
Barbara Schafer.
alumni dinner in seoul, korea
The second annual Seoul, Korea, alumni gathering was
held at Kung Restaurant on March 26, 2008. Back row
(left to right): Terry Kim ’02 (Industrial Design), Rich Park
’87 (Industrial Design), Je Duck Park ’87 (Ceramics), Steve
Tarantal (Dean, CAD); Front row (left to right): Yoon Hee
Cho ’99 (Graphic Design), Barbara Elliott (VP for
Enrollment Management).
SPRING 2009
2009
spring
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44
ALUMNI events
reunion
Of the many great events that took place last year, one stood out as truly
historic. The Alumni Council was privileged to present the inaugural
all-University Alumni Reunion – all graduating classes, all colleges, all
disciplines, together in one celebration April 17-19. This event provided
a unique opportunity to renew old friendships and make new connections. Over 120 alumni participated in a variety of activities and events
throughout the week, culminating in the inauguration of
University President Sean T. Buffington on Friday, April 18.
california dreaming
SoCal alumni came out in record numbers for the annual
alumni reception in Los Angeles on February 11, 2008.
The Viceroy in Santa Monica was packed full of alumni,
parents and prospective students as everyone caught
up with friends, colleagues and the University’s performing arts directors. This year, San Francisco got into the
alumni spirit, sponsoring a gathering in the Bay Area on
February 13, 2008, at the trendy Bubble Lounge champagne bar. The nearly 100 alumni in attendance ranged in
graduation years from 1941 to 2007. This was President
Buffington’s first UArts-related trip to the West Coast, but
given the energy, enthusiasm and warm welcome from
alumni, many return visits are to be expected!
45
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spring 2009
ALUMNI events
NEW STUDENT SEND-OFF in ATLANTA
On August 10, 2008, Atlanta-based alumni hosted their first
joint event with the admissions office to welcome students
from the Class of 2012 to the University community. New
students and their families joined alumni for a private tour of
the High Museum of Art. The tour featured the exhibit “HISTORY REMIXED,” which included an incredible photography
exhibit chronicling the Civil Rights movement from 1956 to
1968, and an innovative new show of contemporary works
reflecting on, interpreting and responding to the movement
created after 1968. Prior to the tour, which was open to all
Atlanta-area alumni, new students and their families joined
alumni and current students for brunch at the museum’s
Table 1280 restaurant.
social in the city
Brooklyn
Over 30 alumni came out May 15,
2008, for the first New York social in
Brooklyn, gathering at Barcade, the
hip arcade bar crossover. Where might
the next land? Queens? Long Island?
Anything is possible.
young alumni
happy hours
Philly
While they were in
town for the annual
SIGGRAPH conference, professors
Harris Fogel and
Karl Staven caught
up with Los Angeles
Media Arts grads at
the Veranda Bar at
the Figeuroa Hotel
on August 12, 2008.
summer soiree
Boston
What do an internationally ranked
tango dancer, a watercolor artist and
a principal for a graphic design firm
have in common? They are just a few
of the alumni who came out for an
August 16, 2008, soiree at the home
of Stevie Black ’84 (Photography) on
Boston’s creative North Shore.
Since so many recent graduates stick
around in Philadelphia, the University
decided to roll out a series of young
alumni happy hours across town to
help keep people connected. So far
this year, Alumni Relations has hosted
two successful events – a June 26,
2008, gathering at El Vez, featuring
its signature frozen margaritas; and a
September 18, 2008, event at Nodding
Head Brewery, featuring its awardwinning microbrews. Be on the lookout
for happy hours this winter and spring.
If you have a favorite neighborhood
watering hole, send the suggestion to
alumni@uarts.edu.
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46
alumni notes
Elayne Stein Wolf
Charles Domsky
1940s
Elayne Stein Wolf ’41 (Illustration)
is still having successful one-woman
shows. She paints in oils, pastels, and
collages. She furthered her art education many years — and doesn’t miss a
museum show in Philadelphia or New York.
A Dale Ziegler ’48 (Painting) retrospective opened at the Kauffman Gallery at
the Lancaster (Pa.) County Art Association in March. The exhibit, “Sixty Years
of Painting,” showcased Ziegler’s artwork from his years at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art,
as well as some more recent pieces
and national prize winners. Ziegler is a
signature member of the Pennsylvania
Watercolor Society, honorary member
of the Philadelphia Water Color Society and a life member of the Baltimore
Watercolor Society. He is 83 years old
and still painting.
1950s
Seven paintings, including one triptych, by W. Taylor Oughton ’50 (Illustration) have been acquired by the
James A. Michener Art Museum in
Doylestown, Pa. (www.michenermuseum.org).
W. Taylor Oughton
This past July, William R. Tompkins ’50
(Advertising Design) showcased approximately 20 frames completed from
1950 to 2000 in the exhibit “Fifty Years
of Black and White Art” at the Indian
Valley Public Library in Telford, Pa. The
show included illustrations of buildings, food packaging, labels, logos,
lettering styles, household items and
selections from a Christmas clip art
book. Tompkins thought it was interesting to show new artists, now skilled
at computer art, why it was necessary
to create so much black and white art.
In addition to newspaper advertising, black and white art was done to
make plates for color printing. After
spending four years as an illustrator
at Philco Corporation and four years
at Crown Can Company, Tompkins performed freelance art from 1958 – 1976
when he incorporated under the name
of Tompkins Graphics, Inc.
The work of Alan J. Klawans ’54
(Advertising Design) was on display
February – April 2008 at the Villanova
(University) Art Gallery in the exhibition “Recollections.”
Paintings by Pat Pealer ’54 (Fine Arts)
were in three juried shows at Chester
County (Pa.) Art Association — “color:
Bold/SUBTLE,” “Watercolor” and “All
Media.” Her work was also in a group
exhibit at the West Goshen (Pa.) Township building. Her paintings may be
seen year round at The Arts Scene in
West Chester, Pa.
Herb Snitzer ’57 (Photography) had a
43-piece exhibition on display at Sheldow
Art Galleries in St. Louis, Mo., from May –
September of 2008. In addition, a 50-piece
Snitzer photography retrospective was
shown at the Arts Center in St. Petersburg,
Fla., from November – December 2008.
Snitzer says he would love to hear from
his colleagues. (herbsnitzer@aol.com)
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spring 2009
Sam Street ’58 (Advertising Design)
showcased works in “Fishin’ on Main
Street,” an exhibition in Sheridan,
Wyo., January – February, 2008.
After more than 35 years in the advertising business, Charles Domsky
’59 (Advertising Design) has entered
the next chapter in his career of fine
arts. Working each day in his Center City Philadelphia studio, Domsky
finds his recent drawings have been
inspired by studies of van Gogh, de
Kooning, Twombly and Diebenkorn, as
well as through memories of trips to
Greece, Italy and France — especially
Provence. To view Domsky’s work, visit
www.charlesdomsky.com.
Suzanne Reese Horvitz ’59 (Art Education) was recently featured in the
“Page Turners” exhibit at the JCCNV
Art Gallery in Northern Virginia; “Celebrating Connections: Contemporary
Glass by Mid-Atlantic Artists” exhibit
at the Museum of American Glass in
Millville, N.J.; as well as in an exhibition at Philadelphia’s Sande Webster
Gallery. Reese Horvitz creates art in
a variety of media and incorporates
fiber, aluminum, Plexiglas and glass.
Her work has been shown in museums around the world and is included in the permanent collections of
the Fyns Kunstmuseum in Denmark;
Utah Museum of Fine Art; Museum of
Greater Victoria in Canada; and Musee
D’Art Contemporain in France. Reese
Horvitz is also a Creative Blass Center
of America Fellowship award winner.
In addition, she serves as a cultural
advisor to United States embassies in
Egypt, Syria, Argentina, Ecuador and
Myanmar.
ALUMNI notes
Jerry Pinkney
Linda Lee Alter
1960s
Holly Ciccoricco ’60 (Art Education) is
the program coordinator for New Jersey’s Pascack Art Association. Some of
her watercolor paintings were exhibited at the gallery of the Glen Rock (N.J.)
Library this past December.
Works by Jerry Pinkney ’60 (Illustration) were exhibited at the Brandywine
River (Pa.) Museum in February 2008.
Titled “Jerry Pinkney: Aesop’s Fables
and Other Tails” was based on classic
children’s stories and fables, such as
The Tortoise and the Hare, The Wolf
in Sheep’s Clothing and The Ugly
Duckling. Pinkney is the recipient of
five Caldecott Honor Medals and five
Coretta Scott King Awards. He has illustrated over 80 children’s books
since the 1964 publication of his first
book, Adventures of Spider: West African Folktales.
Joe Winston ’60 (Dimensional Design)
has enjoyed a 30-year career in the
field of textiles for industries such as
aircraft, office and commercial furniture
and consumer electronics. Through his
work, he had the opportunity to travel
to Europe, Japan and China. Winston
was also an active member of the New
York Chapter of the Industrial Design
Society of America, of which he became a member in 1975. He has maintained professional relationships with
many in his field including Jack Lenor
Larson. Winston met Larson while attending Haystack in the summer of
1959. Despite an active career in design, his love has remained ceramics.
Today, Winston continues to craft oneof-a-kind ceramic bowls in his home
studio in Fernandina Beach, Fla.
Linda Lee Alter ’61 (Art Education)
held the career-spanning exhibition of
work, “Linda Lee Alter: A Life in Art,”
Alvin Sher
at the Allentown (Pa.) Art Museum,
June 8 – September 7, 2008. Exhibition curator Dr. Jacqueline M. Atkins
noted that Alter’s work is “refreshingly
uncomplicated and unaffected colorful
creations in fiber and paint. Alter’s unconventional and often witty personal
interpretations of familiar stories will
appeal to viewers of all ages, each of
whom will find their own meaning in
her work.” Alter’s work ranged from
vibrant fabric wall hangings appliquéd
with lively allegorical depictions of
fables and Old Testament stories to
paintings that serve as metaphors for
life events. In 2006, the Philadelphian
started working on a series of paintings about the effects of trigeminal
neuralgia (facial pain), from which she
has suffered since 2000. Alter states
that although the disorder sometimes
imposes limitations on her work, “the
act of painting sets me free.”
that involves apprenticing to professionals in all areas of the arts. The
program was a dream and reality for
thousands of students from across the
country and abroad. Sher had shaped
and enlarged the program for 25 years
after teaching in New York and London.
He also spent time living and working
in Paris. He plans to stay active in his
Connecticut studio making sculpture
(when he’s not traveling and trying to
keep up with his wife and 9-year-old
son). Sher’s sculpture “Oculus” was
recently installed in the White Plains,
N.Y., library park. The piece is a 12-foot
tall welded and burnished aluminum
sculpture.
Works by Francine (Honowitz) Shore
’65 (Painting) were recently exhibited
at the Third Street Gallery in Philadelphia from June 4 – 29, 2008.
Robert Byrd ’66 (Illustration) illustrated the 2008 Newbery Medal-winning
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! (Candlewick Press), which Laura Amy Schlitz
wrote. The Newbery is given “for the
most distinguished contribution to
American literature for children” by
the American Library Association.
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! consists
of 22 illustrated short plays set in the
Middle Ages. Byrd teaches children’s
book illustration in the University’s
Illustration department.
Jane Boyd Carr ’61 (Industrial Design)
showcased artwork in July and August
in the show “Where the River Rises –
Landscapes of Delaware County” at
the Mural Gallery in Stamford, N.Y.
Boyd Carr also taught and exhibited
one final time at the Great Northern
Arts Festival in Inuvik, Northwest Territories, in July 2008.
Last year, an original painting of the
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine
Arts by Noel G. Miles ’62 (Illustration) was given to the Prince of Wales.
The prince responded by sending his
book as well as a personal letter of
thanks. Miles also designed the images used by the Philadelphia City
Council as a part of their proclamations and is working on a new image of
Philadelphia’s City Hall.
After retiring from her advertising and
design business, Sally K. Bischel ’68
(Illustration) has pursued fine arts
(mostly watercolor and oil painting).
She is president of the Galena Artists’
Guild, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization
with about 100 members, 60 percent
of whom are exhibiting artists. Visit
www.galenaartists.com to find out
more about the guild and see some
of her work. Galena is an historic “town
that time forgot” in the far northwestern
Alvin Sher ’64 (Sculpture) retired as
director of the New York Arts Program,
an accredited junior year in New York
spring 2009
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48
ALUMNI notes
Sally Bischel
part of Illinois, just 15 miles from the
Mississippi River. Unlike the flatness
of the rest of Illinois, the area is similar in terrain to eastern Pennsylvania.
Bischel encourages classmates to be
sure to visit the gallery at 324 Spring St.
(Route 20).
Oil and acrylic paintings by Toni
Silber-Delerive ’69 (Painting &
Drawing) were displayed at the exhibition “Aerial Landscapes” at the Treasure Room Gallery of the Interchurch
Center in New York City this past March
and at the NY Studio Gallery in June.
1970s
Jacqueline Ott ’70 (Jewelry) showed a
solo exhibit at 5 Traverse from November through January. Ott has shown
her work throughout New England and
has received grants from the Rhode
Island State Council for the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts and the
New York Foundation for the Arts.
In April 2007, oil and acrylic paintings
by Jean Plough ’70 (Painting & Drawing) were shown in the exhibit “Windows & Doors” at the 3rd Street Gallery in Old City Philadelphia. Works by
Plough were also featured from January – February 2008 at the JMS Gallery
in the Chestnut Hill section of Philadelphia. He is scheduled to show work at
the Hoyt Art Institute in New Castle,
Pa. Plough recently began teaching for
University of Phoenix online.
Since 1999, Anthony Visco ’70 (Sculpture) has been working on sculptures,
relief works and murals as a part of
the remodel of the National Shrine of
Saint Rita of Cascia’s lower church in
Philadelphia. He received the Mother
Teresa Award in 2005 for his work as
an American religious artist. In addition to his commission for the entire
49
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spring 2009
Toni Silber-Delerive
chapel of Saint Rita’s, Visco has many
works that can be seen in churches
throughout Pennsylvania and New
Jersey.
Wayne F. Michaud ’71 (Illustration)
combined his artistic talent and love
for animals in his latest endeavor,
Green Mountain Pet Portraits, for
which he paints traditional oil on canvas portraits of people’s most beloved
animals, their pets. For information
about how to commission an original
portrait of your pet, visit www.greenmountainpetportratis.com.
Works by Winnie Owens-Hart ’71
(Crafts) were featured this past year in
“Where in the World” at the Upstairs
Gallery in Tryon, N.C.; “From This
Earth: Ceramics by Winnie OwensHart and Followers” at the Delta Arts
Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.; and
“In Your Face: Looking at the Truth”
at the Coppin (State University) Art
Gallery in Baltimore, Md. Owens-Hart
had the opportunity to conduct field
research in traditional pottery in a village in Kuli, Ghana, West Africa, in the
summer of 2007.
Emilie Lapham ’72 (Graphic Design)
was featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer for jewelry she makes from
plant materials, including acorns,
pinecones, ivy leaves and rose thorns.
Her pieces have been a focal point
at the Philadelphia Flower Show for
the past 11 years. Lapham is a member of the Wissahickon Garden Club,
as well as a repeat winner of several
flower shows in which she frequently
competes. Lapham has worked as a
graphic designer in New York, Philadelphia and London for 15 years.
Robert Bishop ’73 (Graphic Design)
had his first solo photography exhibit,
“Photography of the Mid-Atlantic Region & Beyond,” during March at Café
Gelato in Newark, Del.
Wayne F. Michaud
The solo exhibition “Planes of Aspiration” by Maureen Drdak ’73 (Fine Arts)
showed this past winter at The Gallery
at Penn College and McKinney Gallery
at West Chester University. The pieces
included were based on religious and
cultural themes that incorporated the
past and present.
Secoges Photography
John C. Jackson ’73 (Crafts/Wood) retired Jackson Woodworks from service
in West Reading, Pa., after nearly three
decades of exhibits and commissions
for sculpture, furniture and cabinetry.
He is best recognized nationally as a
marine artist for his series of refined
one-of-a-kind hand-carved wood sculptures. Jackson plans to focus once more
entirely on song writing, recording and
performance. “Johnny” was the founding member of Johnny’s Dance Band
(JDB), the popular Philadelphia group
that originated at the Philadelphia
College of Art in 1968. Fellow alumnus and current faculty member Chris
Darway ’70 (Jewelry) was also one
the original four band members. JDB
recorded three albums for RCA in the
late 1970s and performed regionally at
major venues until 1981. Jackson just
released two CDs of original songs,
“Songs from Baseballtown” and
“Round Trip.”
ALUMNI notes
Judith B. Osborne
Judith B. Osborne ’73 (Art Education)
was a featured artist included in the
re-opening of Gallery One in Old Saybrook, Conn., in November 2007.
Anthony Russo ’73 (Percussion) taught
privately for 16 years, served as a high
school adjudicator and percussion instructor and also played snare drum
and sideline percussion in several
drum and bugle corps. He is the musical director of the Ches-Mont Jubilaires
Barbershop Chorus, a Philadelphia-area chapter of the Barbershop Harmony
Society in Nashville, Tenn. He attended
and taught at the BHS Harmony University at Missouri Western State University and received his Master of Music
degree from West Chester University
in 1983. Russo wonders what people
were doing since “the Good Old Days.”
Phil Travaline ’73 (Conducting) opened
a new season of the Philharmonic of
Southern New Jersey with a “Players
Choice” concert at Moorestown High
School last fall. As founder and conductor of the philharmonic, Travaline
polled his members and from their
suggestions compiled a program of
musician and audience favorites, such
as Beethoven’s “Leonore No. 3,” Mendelssohn’s Overture “The Hebrides,”
Georges Enesco’s “Romanian Rhapsody No. 1,” and Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony No. 1” as the finale. He began
the philharmonic 17 years ago in response to the lack of classical music in
South Jersey. Since, it has grown to include 90 players and 25 staff members,
all volunteers.
Rand J. Kehler ’74 (Environmental
Design) is an account executive for
Pindler & Pindler Textiles, covering the
art and design community of Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey and Delaware. Kehler is also the vice president
of programs for the Philadelphia chap-
ter of the International Furnishings
and Design Associates.
Diane Monroe ’75 (Violin) performed in
a faculty recital as artist-in-residence
at Ursinus (Pa.) College in March as
part of Pennsylvania Performing Arts
on Tour. She teaches at Temple University.
Gerald Kolpan ’74 (Illustration)
published his first work of historical
fiction, Etta, the untold story of Etta
Place, the girlfriend of the Sundance
Kid. It was published by Ballantine
Books, a division of Random House,
in the spring of 2009. The novel is
represented by International Creative
Management (ICM) and features many
figures from turn of the century America, including Butch Cassidy, Eleanor
Roosevelt, Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley,
Alfred Stieglitz and Leon Trotsky. Kolpan continues as a features reporter
for Philadelphia’s Fox 29 News.
Photography by Deborah Willis ’75
(Photography) was featured alongside
that of faculty members Alida Fish and
Eileen Neff in the “Women to Watch:
Photography in Philadelphia” showcase at the Levy Gallery for the Arts
in Philadelphia in the winter of 2007.
The show was presented by the Pennsylvania State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts
(NMWA).
Anne Krinsky ’74 (Printmaking) exhibited works from her “Diagonal Thinking” series in an exhibition at the
Kentler International Drawing Center
in Brooklyn, N.Y. “Persistence of Line
/ Selections from the Kentler Flatfiles”
was curated by Brooklyn Museum Curator of Contemporary Art Charlotta
Kotik and ran from June 6 - July 13. She
also exhibited in the 2008 Biennial at
the Center for Maine Contemporary
Art in Rockport, Maine, from August 9
through October 4. Earlier in the year,
Krinsky exhibited the series in a solo
show at the Soprafina Gallery in Boston.
Kay Wood ’75 (Illustration) is executive producer of “First Friday TV,” a
new show focusing on the arts in and
around Philadelphia. The show premiered on Drexel University’s DUTV
in January. For more information and
future broadcasts, visit www.firstfridaytv.com.
Debra Valenti-Epstein, Esq. ’76
(Graphic Design), along with partners
and fellow artists John J. Hagarty and
Colleen D. Gjefle, opened the 443gallery, featuring a range of artwork from
local landscapes to international art
to avant garde pieces and a gift shop.
Visit them online at www.443gallery.
com or by appointment at 443 Green
Lane in Philadelphia.
Carla Tudor Berd ’75 (Painting & Drawing) exhibited “Deconstruction Sites”
in Gallery 817 in Anderson Hall at The
University of the Arts from February to
March, 2008.
Joe Arnold ’77 (Painting & Drawing)
had a one-man show at the New Center for the Arts in Jackson, Wyo., in
July 2007. He also participated in the
traveling show “Masterpieces of Colorado Landscape” this past winter. The
University of Wyoming Art Museum
recently purchased his triptych “View
from Disappointment Peak” (31x180 in.).
Wendy W. Cohen ’75 (Fibers) is artistin-residence at Towson (Md.) University. She also looks forward to a solo
show at the Cramer Art Center in Richmond, Va., in April of 2009.
spring 2009
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ALUMNI notes
Amy Kann
Contemporary jazz trombonist Robin
Eubanks ’78 (Trombone) released the
CD/DVD package “Live, Vol. 1” (Kindred, 2007), featuring his three-piece
band EB3, which includes drummer
Kenwood Dennard and keyboard player
Orrin Evans. Despite its few members,
the band has a tight, funky, powerful
sound as a result of the incorporation
of electronic instruments and previously recorded loops. Eubanks tours
with the Dave Holland Quintet and has
played a variety of music styles, performing with artists such as Art Blakey,
Elvin Jones, Talking Heads and Barbra
Streisand.
Jane Martin ’78 (Jewelry) was a featured lecturer for the Northwest Bead
Society in Seattle on February 21,
2008.
Leslie (Cohen) Rogalski ’78 (Illustration) taped several segments demonstrating how to create original
beadwork for the PBS show “Beads,
Baubles and Jewels.” The editor in
chief of Step by Step Beads and senior
editor of Beadwork magazines (Interweave), she will continue to be a featured presenter on “BB & J,” portions
of which can also be seen on Howtotvonline.com. Segments began airing nationally on PBS stations in May
2008. Rogalski, whose original jewelry
designs are frequently published, also
travels around the country for Step by
Step Beads, appearing at Interweave
bead shows, including Bead Expo
in Portland, Bead Fest in Miami and
Philadelphia. She frequently teaches
beading techniques at these shows,
specializing in inspiring new beaders
to step up their creative evolution. Find
Rogalski’s original jewelry for sale at
leslie19083.etsy.com. Find info about
the shows at www.beadfest.com.
51
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spring 2009
Robert Oppecker
Amy Kann ’79 (Sculpture) is still practicing her art full-time. She is represented by the James Graham and
Sons Gallery in New York, Morris Whiteside Gallery in South Carolina and
has just agreed to be represented by
the Wendt Gallery in California. In the
past two years, she won the National
Sculpture Society’s (NSS) Ettl Grant,
the NSS 75th annual exhibition’s
bronze award and Portrait Society of
America’s first place. She is showing
in the State of Pennsylvania Museum
Annual, Salmagundi Annual and Red
River Museum shows. In July 2007,
she was featured in American Art Collector magazine. She lives in Narberth,
Pa. with her two daughters.
1980s
Andrea Emmons ’80 (Printmaking) is
one of the founding members of the
Atlanta Printmakers Studio, a nonprofit printmaking studio founded in
2005. The studio wants to promote
the fine art of printmaking by offering
access to a well-equipped studio and
diverse educational programs that
foster the development of printmaking as a vibrant and progressive art
form. For more information, visit www.
AtlantaPrintmakersStudio.org.
Works by Libby Newman ’80 (Printmaking) were featured at the Villanova (University) Art Gallery in her
Retrospective exhibition of 45 years
of artwork. Curated by former Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Curator/Director Linda Bantel, the exhibition presents an overview of Newman’s rich and extensive body of work
including paintings, prints, multipaneled carved screens and books.
In speaking of her art, Newman explained, “My approach to my work
gives me the freedom to explore texture and color, the freedom to be in-
Jayne Wexler
ventive, the freedom for poetic expression and freedom of choice.” The show
ran from April through June 2008.
Robert Oppecker ’82 (Jewelry) has a
silver vase in the collection of singer/
actress Bette Midler and a large silver bowl in the possession of Rolling
Stone co-founder and publisher Jann
Wenner, both of which were completed
with the 1990 Pennsylvania Council on
the Arts fellowship grant. Oppecker
received the third place cash award
in the Artists Who Teach regional art
show at the Charles Taylor Art Center
in Hampton, Va. He also submitted a
sculptural stoneware vessel and a series of sketches done on church bulletins titled “Divine Inspiration Sketch
Series.”
Jeff Darrohn ’83 (Saxophone) has compositions available for jazz ensemble
published by Alfred/Belwin-Mills Music Publishing. He performed at the
31st International Saxophone Symposium at George Mason University,
sponsored by the United States Navy
Band on January 19, 2008. Darrohn’s
group, SAXON, performed at the event,
where he also presented a lecture “ReScoring Your Jazz Band Saxophone
Section.” He has been performing recently with the BBC Radio Big Band
and the Buddy Rich Tribute Band, led
by drummer Pete Cater. Darrohn lives
and works in London.
Returning to school after 25 years,
Brenda Smith ’83 (Illustration) has
been named a Diversity Fellow at Saint
Louis University Graduate School,
where she plans to study communication research with an emphasis on organizational communication. Thanks
to important lessons imparted from her
previous UArts professors, Smith says
she has “never stopped learning.”
ALUMNI notes
Peter Kalivas
Jayne Wexler ’83 (Photography) recently launched www.jaynewexler.
com. Wexler photographs for a number of clients including Better Homes
& Gardens, CBS Broadcasting, Glamour, Medical Broadcasting Company,
Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Target
and Vanity Fair and has published three
photo-essay books, Daughters & Mothers, Girlfriends and Grandmothers.
In November of 2007, Stevie Black
’84 (Photography) joined McDougall
Interactive
(www.mcdougallinteractive.com), a preeminent search engine
marketing firm in Gloucester, Mass. He
serves as social media director and account manager and is responsible for
all online and offline content for McDougall Interactive’s accounts. Black
is a key contributor in developing the
marketing strategy for every client Web
site and strategically and visually retools each site’s conversion points. He
also develops and manages new creative across all accounts. His close contact with the trials and tribulations of
online business strategies has led him
to begin consulting with artists on their
Web sites in an effort to help them understand the nature of search engines
and increase their visibility on the web.
In June 2007, Black was part of a twoperson show at the Gallery at Spencer
Lofts in Chelsea, Mass. He showed a series of large works that were comprised
of paintings stenciled on vast collages
on canvas. He will have a solo show
there in November. He has an art studio in
his home in Swampscott, Mass. Feel free
to contact him at sb@mcdia.com.
Drawings, oil paintings and sketches
by John Chinnery ’85 (Illustration)
were on display in the Lieutenant Governor’s building in St. Thomas, Virgin
Islands, in March. Chinnery uses the
natural environment and architectural
history of St. Thomas as the subjects
for his private and commercial commissions. His work can be found for sale
in the Haagensen House museum gift
shop, as well as displayed as a mural
at Mountain Top.
Works by Carole E. Vaughan ’85 (Photography) and other Yardley, Pa., artists were included in exhibit “Winter:
An Artist’s Perspective” from November 2007 to January 2008 at the Bucks
County (Pa.) Conference and Visitors
Bureau.
well as dance
teacher at the
Leadership
Preparatory
Charter
School;
Deridra
Burden is
a modern
dancer and
works for
the Montgomery County Welfare Department.
Bob Langnas ’86 (Architectural Design) has been promoted to the rank of
full professor at St. Louis Community
College, where he has been serving
as acting chair of the Florissant Valley campus’ art department (the first
NASAD-accredited community college
art department in the country). Some
of his recent activities include judging
the 5th annual Hazelwood Community
Art Fair and the annual competition of
Society of Independent Artists at the
Florissant (Mo.) Civic Center. His most
recent solo exhibition was held at the
Ethical Society in Clayton, Mo.
Tracy Helgeson ’88 (Illustration) showcased paintings in a solo exhibition at
the Harrison Gallery in Williamstown,
Mass., during January 2008. Her collection was centered on abstract images of landscapes.
Peter Kalivas ’88 (Modern Dance) and
dancers from the PGK Project collaborated with Freespace Dance Company
to present a work at Jacob’s Pillow for
the summer of 2008. Kalivas is the
artistic director for PGK Project and
directed a United States Department
of Education and Culture-sponsored
dance project in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil,
this past August. His company is also
scheduled to perform in Stuttgart, Germany, as part of the 2009 season.
A collection of lamps by Nan Wollman
’86 (Ceramics) were shown at the exhibition “Let There Be Light” at Angel’s Ink in San Pedro, Calif., this past
winter. Wollman transforms pieces of
scrap metal into unique pieces of art,
such as lamps, chandeliers, headboards and light fixtures, through the
use of texture, patterns, shapes and
inspirational forms from nature.
Charles Keenan ’88 (Fine Arts) completed 15 new paintings in 2007, bringing his total volume of work to over 150
oil paintings (excluding the handful of
experimental pieces he is certain only
his children will have the opportunity
to see). His work was recently published in the book 100 Oil Paintings
by Charles Keenan and includes some
of his best paintings from the past 13
years, as well as his methods and motivation. The book is available online
from Lulu Publishers (www.lulu.com/
content/1326080). Keenan’s work was
also showcased in the “Seasonal Runways” exhibition at 1 Shot Coffee in
Philadelphia in December 2007.
Anne Rush ’87 (Jewelry) recently
launched www.annerush.squarespace.
com. Her goal is to help new designers
reach positions of creative influence in
the industry by passing on the knowledge she has gained over the past
20 years. She is embarking on a new
stage of her career and branching out
into consumer product design through
licensing, creative collaboration and
consulting.
Robert Burden ’88 (Modern Dance)
and Deridra Burden ’90 (Modern
Dance) have passed their dance legacy onto son William, who participated
in the 2008 National High School
Dance Festival hosted at the University in March and was the subject of
a feature article in The Philadelphia
Inquirer. Robert Burden is a master
lecturer of dance at the University, as
Joanne O’Brien ’88 (Opera) was included in the vocal quartet for Friends
of Music’s holiday production of “A
Song for Christmas” at the Wickenburg
(Ariz.) Community Center. The quartet
spring 2009
EDGE
52
ALUMNI notes
Marsha Heydt
also included singers John Boswell,
Kevin Earley and
Lee Lessack and
showcased a medley of Christmas
favorites, as well
as original piano
compositions by
Boswell. O’Brien
also performed
in February 2008
with Mac Frampton’s Hollywood
Hills Orchestra in
“And the Winner Is,” a showcase of
Academy Award-winning songs, including everything from Disney to Doris Day. O’Brien is working as a singer,
voice-over artist and pet sitter, as well
as attending graduate school to become a minister.
Michael Worrell ’88 (Illustration) recently published Heru, Set and the
Harmony of Humanity, his first novel
under the pen name “Duzac.” The story uses art, science and spirituality to
present a harmonious concept of humanity and is available online at www.
duzac.com and www.amazon.com.
Maria (Nigro) Young ’88 (Illustration)
and her husband Steven celebrated
the birth of their daughter Sarah this
past May. She is welcomed by big sister Samantha. Young is employed by
SourceLink in Madison, Miss., as a senior designer and copywriter.
Regina Barthmaier ’89, MA ’03 (Art
Education) was awarded a bronze
medal from Da Vinci Art Alliance for
the sculpture “Hercules,” which was
exhibited in Da Vinci’s annual members show. The show, “Found Objects:
New Contexts,” ran this summer.
1990s
Anthony Shostak ’90 (Painting & Drawing) juried the exhibition “The Figure
Revealed III” at the Atrium Art Gallery
in Maine. His art was recently included
in the “Revoluciones del Mundo” collection shown in Cuba, Mexico, Germa-
53
EDGE
spring 2009
ny and Austria. An education curator
for the Bates College Museum of Art,
Shostak is the founder and director of
the public life drawing sessions.
After two years of running Dance Express, LLC out of a small strip mall,
Jennifer Rae Weigand-Watkinson ’90
(Dance) relocated her dance studio to
a spacious old mill in Norwich, Conn.
The studio’s dance company recently
traveled to Boston and New York City
to participate in dance showcases.
www.danceexpressllc.com
Actress and singer Irene Bedard ’91
(Theater) performed lead vocals, accompanied by husband/guitarist Deni
Wilson and violinist Laura Ortman in
Gallup, N.M., this past February. As a
Native actress, Bedard has portrayed
historical figures in many period films,
including “Squanto: A Warrior’s Tale,”
as well as more contemporary characters in films such as “Tortilla Heaven,”
“Cosmic Radio” and “Tree of Life.”
Bedard also performed the voice of
“Pocahontas” in the Disney animated film and has appeared in over 42
movies in addition to her roles for
television. She is currently working
on a film project about Native woman
“Spotted Elk.”
Laura C. BenAmots, MFA ’91 (Book
Arts/Printmaking) released the book
Eros on Canvas: The Erotic Paintings
of Laura BenAmots in August 2008.
The book is co-published and nationally distributed by Last Gasp Publishers of San Francisco and Smokemuse
Productions of Colorado Springs, Colo.
Denise Griffin Crowe ’91 (Modern
Dance) danced in Philadelphia for
Convergence-Dancers & Musicians
and the Opera Company of Philadelphia. After graduation, she moved to
New York and danced for various choreographers. She also performed in
the Edinburgh (U.K.) Fringe Festival.
Griffin Crowe was a senior teacher of
the Lotte Berk Method in New York
City and Bridgehampton, N.Y., for
more than eight years and was also
in charge of teacher training. After
the closing of Lotte Berk, she owned
Michael Worrell
her own studio, Ealanta Exercise, with
her friend Shawn McCormack. With
the birth of daughter Michaela in June
2006, she and her husband Rusty, a
professional drummer, moved to Boston. Griffin Crowe is the mind body
class coordinator at Exhale Spa in Boston. She has been an ACE-certified personal trainer since 2002.
Colin Diemer ’91 (Percussion) is living
in Washington, D.C., playing, teaching,
and recording.
Marsha Heydt ’91 (Saxophone) recently released the effort “One Night” with
Blue Toucan Records. The CD features
original compositions inspired by personal experiences and life in Manhattan as well as jazz standards, played
and arranged by Heydt. “One Night”
was well received by critics, who gave
it outstanding reviews. Joe Montague
of JazzReview.com wrote, “I was blown
away by her emotive playing and her
instincts as an arranger/composer.
Heads and shoulders above the projects more seasoned artists are turning
out today. A rising young star.” Marsha
plays with her own ensemble in and
around New York City and also performs once a month for patients at the
Rusk Institute at New York University
Hospital. For more information, visit
www.marshaheydt.net.
Paula (Panichelli) DiGianivittorio ’91
(Voice) is a music education teacher
and choral director for Wedgwood Elementary School in Washington Towship, N.J.
ALUMNI notes
ation. She spent three years with the
NBA Laker Girls, for which she continues to choreograph occasionally.
Before moving to California, she lived
and performed in Hawaii and Las
Vegas. She is a full-time dance instructor and loves every second of it.
Ana Ortiz
Joseph Menna
She also teaches and coaches voice/
pedagogy and classical piano privately. She resides in Sicklerville, N.J., with
her husband Nick and children Nicholas Jr. and Pauline.
Lynn K. Stimeling ’91 (Painting &
Drawing) joined the staff of the Reading, Pa.-based non-profit Berks Arts
Council (BAC) in January 2008 as artists services coordinator. The BAC is
known nationally for producing the
annual Berks Jazz Fest. As the services
coordinator, Stimeling coordinates
member art shows, juried art shows
and art retailing opportunities in the
Berks County area. Stimeling continues
to work part-time as programming/PR
coordinator for Mifflin Community Library in Shillington, Pa.
Upon returning from researching art
and culture in China, Gary Joseph
Cohen ’92 (Photography) assembled
a brief film with the aid of the Claudia
Curfman Castellana Grant from The
Calhoun School in New York City and
with on-site assistance from fellow
alum Seth Grossman ’92 (Photography), who resides and teaches in Beijing. The film was made primarily as a
teaching agent to help introduce the
new Mandarin Studies program at The
Calhoun School where Cohen teaches.
Part travel log, part poem, part daydream, “I Like China...” is an aggregate
of his professional backgrounds in
photography, film and literature, most
of which can be traced directly to his
training at the University. To find out
more about the film, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVG_rUWpcnE.
Joseph Menna ’92 (Sculpture) designed
and sculpted the reverse of the Dalai
Lama’s Congressional Gold Medal for
the United States Mint, which was presented to His Holiness in 2007 by President George Bush. Joseph continues
to design and sculpt various coins and
medals for the Mint and is their first
on-staff digital sculptor. His work has
been on display at the Smithsonian’s
National Portrait Gallery and was also
presented directly to First Lady Laura
Bush. Joseph maintains his own digital
sculpting studio through which he has
been able to engage his lifetime love
of comic book heroes by doing various Marvel Legend figures for Hasbro.
He is also developing Marvel comicsbased work for Bowen Designs, one
of the leading producers of superhero
collectibles. He and his wife live with
their three children in Philadelphia.
Illustrator and muralist Marcus
Disciullo ’93 (Illustration) showed
work in an exhibition at The Art Gallery
at Noel Schmidt’s Furniture in Lansdowne, Pa., in January of 2008.
After dedicating over 12 years to the
company Rhythm & Hues, Brian Dowrick ’93 (Animation) recently moved on
to work in China, where he serves as
head of animation, special effects and
director for a film by John Woo.
Alexandra Solmssen
Alexandra Solmssen ’92 (Photography) photographed the cover for the
winter issue of The L Magazine, which
includes stories about music, film,
theater, art, dance and local events in
New York City. Solmssen also opened
the exhibition “Photographs” in May
at the Gloria Kennedy Gallery in Brooklyn, N.Y. Solmssen used a unique combination of photography and paint to
make the images of the female figure,
on which the exhibition is based, come
to life.
Ana Ortiz
’93 (Acting) was
f e a t u re d
in the Hollywood
Exclusive
section
of the November 2007 issue of the Creator’s
Syndicate for her role as Hilda on the
show “Ugly Betty.” According to the
article, Ortiz finds inspiration for her
character from her cousins, whom she
often imitates on the show. She has
also appeared in episodes of “NYPD
Blue” and “ER” and was a regular on
“Everybody Loves Raymond.”
A book illustrated by Elbrite Brown ’93
(Illustration) was featured at the 16th
annual African American children’s
book fair held at the Community College of Philadelphia this past summer.
The book, My Family Plays Music, was
provided free to attendees and teachers, who also had the opportunity to
meet Brown, in addition to other notable illustrators and authors. Brown
is a Coretta Scott King award winner
and currently teaches art at the Creative and Performing Arts High School
in Camden, N.J.
Brigid Burns-Kellaris ’93 (Dance Education) lives in Valencia, Calif., with her
husband and has danced for various
TV and film productions since gradu-
Michael Cortese ’94 (Percussion) has
just been appointed as a full-time faculty member at Cayuga Community
spring 2009
EDGE
54
ALUMNI notes
Timmy Graham
Colleen Bell
College in Auburn, N.Y. He will be coordinating the music program, working
in the Telcom program, and teaching
digital recording and applied music
courses.
Wendy Garfinkel-Gold ’94 (Graphic
Design) is now a graphic designer at
The Adsmith in Athens, Ga.
Renee Jaworski ’94 (Modern Dance) is
the rehearsal director/artistic associate for dance company Pilobolus, with
whom she performed at Philadelphia’s
Annenberg Center this past May.
A group of drawings by Marie Sivak ’94
(Sculpture) was included in the exhibition “Narrations” at the Nancy Margolis
Gallery in New York in January 2008.
Sharon Cooke-Akbar ’95 (Illustration)
celebrated the grand opening of Café
Tea in Ambler, Pa., in February 2008. In
addition to featuring a variety of teas,
sandwiches and pastries, Sharon’s
teahouse serves as an art gallery,
gift shop and meeting place for local
business groups. Café Tea also hosts
a number of art-based events, such as
live music, poetry readings and movie
nights.
Valerie Zimany ’95 (Ceramics) was featured as an emerging artist in the May
issue of Ceramics Monthly. The article
profiled her work both in the United
States and Japan, where she completed her MFA at Kanazawa College of Art.
Zimany works as a fellow at Lawrence
University in Appleton, Wis.
The Grand Opening of 13 North Art
Gallery featured numerous artists,
including alumni Dan Hazel, MAT ’95
(Visual Arts) and Russell Loue, MFA
’00 (Painting), in March. The gallery is
located in Merchantville, N.J., just outside of Philadelphia.
55
EDGE
spring 2009
Kyle Margiotta
During the past two years, Kyle
Margiotta ’95 (Illustration) has been a
busy completing a commission of six
tromp l’oiel paintings for the Cumberland (N.J.) County Improvement Authority; taught a sculpture workshop
on Louise Nevelson in Vineland, N.J.;
and participated alongside Christian
Patchell ’95 (Illustration) and Paul
Palko ’98 (Illustration) in a group
show celebrating the 10th anniversary
of the Philadelphia Cartoonist Society.
Most recently, Margiotta was included
in juried shows at the Philadelphia
Sketch Club and McGOPA Gallery in
Conshohocken, Pa. He teaches basic
drawing, life drawing and illustration
at the Antonelli Institute of Art and
Photography in Erdenheim, Pa.
Adam Wallacavage ’95 (Photography)
opened his “fun house,” a Victorianstyle brownstone on South Broad
Street in Philadelphia, to the public in
January 2008 as a place to watch the
Mummers. Wallacavage has used his
house similar to a canvas and creates
masterpieces in each room based on
a variety of themes, from monsters
to the undersea world. Highlights
through the house include his octopus chandeliers, which he casts out
of plaster. In addition to selling these
unique light fixtures, they were also
featured at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery in New York this past summer.
Nicole Convery ’96 (Sculpture) is selfemployed, restoring vintage clothing
and items for resale as antiques. She
paints interior murals and teaches P-3
elementary art education in a classified urban area. Convery is also active in carving stone and showing her
work in a gallery in Asbury Park, N.J.,
a center for urban transformation and
renewal.
Timmy Graham ’96 (PAFA), the selfproclaimed “Father of 4D-ism,” is a
recent recipient of the Pollock-Krasner
Award. In 2008, he was featured in
such exhibitions as the “New Works of
Diverse Pennsylvania Artists,” a traveling exhibition shown at Penn State,
Jump Street/Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, Lancaster Museum
of Art, Heeschen Gallery, Manchester
Craftsmen’s Guild, Erie Art Museum
and the African American Museum in
Philadelphia. Find out more about his
art and other recent accomplishments
at www.timmygraham.org.
Arlene M. Marshall ’96 (Crafts) recently became engaged to Samuel A.
Marcionette. Marshall is an event producer at OBO in New York City and Marcionette is a physical education teacher
in the New Haven (Conn.) School District.
The wedding is planned for June 2009.
In October 2008, Cher Schneider Ward
’97 (Painting) worked in the Prints &
Drawings collection of the Art Institute
of Chicago after receiving a Mellon fellowship in paper conservation. The
fellowship lasts one to three years, depending on the research and projects
in which she is involved.
Colleen Bell ’98 (Painting) teaches
sixth grade special education at Feltonville School of Arts and Sciences in
Philadelphia. She happily promoted the
University to children at the school’s
recent “collegiate day” celebration.
Jeffrey M. Leeser ’98 (Photography)
was the winner of the 2007 Bronze:
OZZIE Award, from Folio Magazine –
BEST USE OF PHOTOGRAPHY: B-to-B
under 100,000 circulation. Leeser had a
cover story spread in the January 2007
issue of Advance for Health Information Executives and is the photography
coordinator for Advance Newsmaga-
ALUMNI notes
Cesar Abreu’s Ainadamar
Allen Radway
zines of Merion Publications Inc. (MPI).
He has also been staff photographer at
Advance for 8 years and is responsible
for coordinating the photo department
schedule and setting up freelance
photo shoots for MPI magazines on the
West Coast and in the central states.
Garrett Lee Hendricks ’99 (Acting)
married Nikoa Subrina Evans this past
January in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
The couple met in New York, where
Hendricks works as an actor and Nikoa
owns the designer apparel store “N.”
Last year, Hendricks starred in the
leading role of “By Oscar Micheaux”
with the Milk Can Theater Company.
In 2006, he performed in the revival of
“The Taking of Miss Janie” by Ed Bullins
at the National Black Theater Festival in
North Carolina, as well as at the Henry
Street Settlement in New York. He is
soon to be seen as Walker in a production of “Two Rooms” by Lee Blessings
with Roust Theatre Company in New
York City. Hendricks has also shot three
short and/or independent movies, including “Stroll” with Bill Cobb.
Allen Radway ’99 (Acting) has performed in over 30 professional productions, locally and regionally, since
graduating. He most recently appeared
in the critically acclaimed American
premiere of Laura Wade’s “Breathing Corpses” for Philadelphia’s Luna
Theater Company and is preparing for
the title role in Commonwealth Classic
Theatre Company’s January 2009 production of “Hamlet,” which he also edited/adapted. Radway is the co-creator
and author of “Two Dimes on the Dollar,” an Internet comic strip about life
in the restaurant industry. He lives in
Philadelphia.
Jessica Senker ’99 (Crafts) and Brian
Donlen announced their engagement
in January of 2008. The couple married
in June 2008 in Philadelphia.
(Musical Theater) stays busy. She is
the lead singer in two rock bands,
sings in a duet and recently recorded
her first original with the sound engineer of “Dream Girls.” She models
for QVC, a variety of catalogs, swimsuit calendars and magazine covers.
Cleveland has appeared on television
shows including “Law and Order,”
“Gossip Girl,” “The Sopranos” and
Japan’s “Astonishing News around the
World.” She also been principal in over
10 national commercials, countless local commercials and web hosted for
numerous brands such as Cosmopolitan and Lexus, among others. Recently
Cleveland shot the web TV series
“Ninja Babes from Space,” viewable
at www.ninjababesfromspace.com. Be
sure to check out www.trishcleveland.com.
Ben Vinci ’99 (Sax) and his band have
released the CD “Big Swing Face.”
The release features UArts alumni Jon
Botbyl ’03 (Trombone), Nick Corvino
’05 (Trumpet), Keith Giosa ’99 (Piano), Matt McCloskey, MM ’99 (Jazz),
and Meg Clifton Mitchell ’01, MM ’02
(Voice).
Paul W. Zdepski ’99 (Illustration)
worked as art director and designer for
the symphonic release “Das Lied von
der Erde” by Gustav Mahler, performed
by the Smithsonian Chamber Players.
Released by Dorian Recordings, the
CD was a 2008 Grammy contender in
the Best Small Ensemble Performance
category. Zdepski has also worked as
the art director for Dorian and Sono
Luminus Recordings for the past few
years. For more of Zdepski’s artwork,
visit www.zillustration.com.
Erik Dutko ’00 (Guitar) married Ishbara
Acosta in December 2007. The couple
resides in their home in Philadelphia
along with their two cats. Dutko works
as a professional musician in and
around Philadelphia and also teaches
in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia at the Music Workshop.
2000s
Cesar Abreu ’00 (Dance Education) recently choreographed the opera “Ainadamar,” a 2007 Grammy Award-winner
for Best Classical Contemporary Composition, for the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Abreu is working
as the artistic director and choreographer for La Compania, a dance company he founded in 2002, and is also
the resident choreographer for modern dance company Gritty Cherries.
Some other highlights from his career
include performing as a dancer at the
Metropolitan Opera, dancing the role
of Mungojerrie in the 25th anniversary national tour of “Cats,” receiving
a MFA from Tisch School of the Arts
on full scholarship and dancing as a
member of Philadelphia-based Koresh
Dance Company.
Heather Mae Erickson ’00 (Crafts) was
one of four finalists in the Ceramics:
Molded category at the 2007 NICHE
Awards for her work titled Dessert
Compote. Erickson is a Crafts lecturer
at the University.
Taurus M. Hines ’00 (Dance Education)
is founder/executive director of TMH
DANZ Productions, a youth outreach
program that focuses on introducing
the arts to children in low economic
developments. TMH DANZ will present
a show titled, “In the Spirit,” which is a
collaborative work that focuses on the
impact of movement through spiritual
music. The show was scheduled for
production in mid-spring of 2008.
As a member of the Screen Actors
Guild, Trish (Connolly) Cleveland ’00
spring 2009
EDGE
56
ALUMNI notes
Brad Loekle ’00 (Musical Theater)
made his national television debut on
the TruTV (formerly Court TV) series
“The Smoking Gun Presents.” He is
signed on for the rest of this season.
New episodes premiere Thursdays at 9
p.m. EST/PST. Loekle can also be heard
Wednesday mornings each week on
the Sirius Satellite Radio show “OUT Q
in the Morning,” which is broadcast on
America’s only GLBT radio station.
Dana Rossi ’00 (Musical Theater)
served as stage manager for A.R.
Gurney’s “What I Did Last Summer”
in New York City at the Spoon Theater this past November. Produced by
Retro Productions, “What I Did Last
Summer” is based on the hardships
and changes an American family goes
through when the father is away at
war. Find out more information about
the non-profit and resident company
of the Spoon Theater at www.retroproductions.org.
Jen Woodhouse ’00 (Musical Theater),
self-taught guitarist and composer,
was a featured performer at the Park
Hyatt Lounge in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, at the beginning of this year. In
addition to her numerous tour dates
throughout the United States during the past year, Woodhouse also
recently finished a tour of the United
Kingdom.
Lauren Camiel Sugrue and Michael
Andrulewich ’01 (Industrial Design)
were married in May at Our Lady of
Sorrows in South Orange, N.J. Sugrue
works as an associate producer for
“Dateline NBC” and Andrulewich is the
lead designer at the Brooklyn, N.Y.based furniture design firm Milder Office, the outfit of which University MID
prof Jonas Milder is principal.
Pennsauken, N.J., resident Melissa
Carruth, MA ’01 (Museum Education) was promoted to senior exhibits
manager of the National Constitution
Center of Philadelphia in May. Carruth
also serves as a guest lecturer for The
University of the Arts.
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Allison S. Hoge ’01 (Painting & Drawing) purchased a “needy” Victorian in
the up-and-coming Pittsburgh neighborhood of Lawrenceville, also known
as the Design Zone. She renovated
the space with special funding offered
by the Lawrenceville Corporation, the
neighborhood’s redevelopment association. The first floor houses her gallery, while the second and third floors
were renovated into modern open
plan apartments for rent. Hoge holds
quarterly events in her studio, as well
as an annual clearinghouse auction.
www.ashgalleries.com.
calda established the NAHS at P-W in
2004 to maintain art education in public
schools and share a love and appreciation for art with those in her community.
Through NAHS, Maggioncalda’s students
participate in community service projects, as well as learn about watercolor
painting, photography and art history.
Maggioncalda has been on the P-W
faculty since 2003.
Anah Klate ’01 (Musical Theater) just
finished her first year in Columbia
University’s MFA theatre management
and producing program. This summer, she produced “Frequency Hopping” Off-Broadway at the 3LD Art &
Technology Center from May 29 – June
29. She also worked at Nina Lannan
Associates with Katherine McNamee
’01 (Musical Theater) on “Legally
Blonde,” “Mamma Mia,” “Cat on a
Hot Tin Roof,” “The Color Purple” and
“Billy Elliot.” She works at Riverside
Church Theatre as operations director
on behalf of Columbia University.
Diana Nicholas, MFA ’01 (Painting) and
Hiro Sakaguchi ’93 (Painting & Drawing) were featured artists in the “Small
Works” collection at the Seraphin Gallery
in Philadelphia in the winter of 2008.
Daniel Kushner ’01 (Industrial Design)
had a successful launch of the “Keep
the Change” program at IDEO, which
received the BusinessWeek Design+
Catalyst Award for the “best product
design of 2007;” International INDEX
award for “design to improve life;” and
the IDSA/IDEA award for the “innovative research approach.” After recently leaving IDEO, Kushner launched his
own company, MONO (www.monocase.com), which designs and manufactures hybrid cases for guitar, bass
and percussion instruments. The company aims to be completely wastefree and uses animal-free products to
make lightweight cases that provide
the ultimate protection for musical
instruments.
Lucas Steele ’01 (Musical Theater) is
working on John Bucchino’s “It’s Only
Life” in Ventura, Calif.
Candance Maggioncalda, MA ’01 (Art
Education) celebrated the induction of
students at Plymouth-Whitemarsh (Pa.)
High School into the National Art Honor
Society this past January. Maggion-
Katherine McNamee ’01 (Musical Theater) is the associate company manager for the Broadway production of
“Legally Blonde.”
Jill Pearson ’01 (Illustration) released a
new line of nursery wall art based on
her digital collage illustrations. Pearson operates the website Sophie and
Spice (www.sophieandspice.com), an
online children’s boutique inspired by
her daughter. Pearson offers cards, pop
art portraits, birth announcements and
other original products on her site.
In April, Virginia Batson, MFA ’02
(Book Arts/Printmaking) presented
“substance, sustenance,” her second
solo exhibition at Nexus/foundation
for today’s art in Philadelphia. Inspired
by her experience of pregnancy, giving
birth and becoming a parent for the first
time, Batson used her own hair, breast
milk and other natural components to
create her works in this collection.
A documentary film based on dancer
Regina Daniels ’02 (Dance) recently
won an award at the 12th annual Dance
Chicago Festival. Episodes of the documentary, titled “Dancing with Silence,”
can be seen on youtube.com. Daniels
completed her master’s degree in performance arts management at the Columbia College Chicago. She is living in
Chicago and working on film projects.
ALUMNI notes
Daniel Kushner
Desire Grover ’02 (Illustration) is working as a video instructor and an art
director for the cultural arts program
at Chester Eastside Ministries, where
they are developing the youth media
web site www.chesteryouthperspective.com. Grover edits the Web site
while the youth develop the content.
She also freelances as a videographer
and has created short documentaries
for a number of youth-focused nonprofit groups such as Camp Omega,
Peace in the Streets, Chester Youth Collaborative, Shaw Middle School, Chester Eastside and A Child’s Place.
Recent sculpture pieces by Rex
Kalehoff ’02 (Sculpture) were exhibited
in the spring of 2008 in the solo show
“Relics at the Medialia” at the Rack and
Hamper Gallery in New York City. After
graduation, Kalehoff taught sculpture
in Thailand and Australia and is completing his MFA in woodworking at the
Rochester (N.Y.) Institute of Technology.
Women’s roller derby team member
Rachelle Lee Smith ’02 (Photography)
showed her exhibit “Pride/Prejudice:
Voices of GLBT Youth” at Human Rights
Campaign headquarters in Washington, D.C. in the fall of 2007. The exhibit,
based on photos of GLBT youth that included handwritten personal stories, is
a six-year ongoing project and received
attention on the Human Rights Campaign’s Web site (www.hrc.org) in the
winter of 2008.
Christopher Totten ’02 (Musical Theater) recently did a staged reading of
“The Black Dahlia: A Musical Noir”
alongside Emily Skinner and Aaron Lazar, which was presented by the York
Theatre Company in New York City. He
will be featured in the upcoming production of “Love! That 4-Letter Word”
at the Kaufman Theatre at The Algonquin in New York City.
Jeffrey Edward Tryon ’02 (Graphic
Design) is a designer for an in-house
graphics group of a large architectural
firm. Tryon is also in charge of hiring
architectural photographers and photographing buildings.
married fellow Metropolitan Opera
Company member Ailyn Perez in September 2008.
Helena Domenic, MA ’03 (Art Education)
is working on her MFA in interdisciplinary
arts at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vt.
Jessica Waters Frye ’02, MAT ‘03
(Illustration/Art Education) was recently promoted to Art Director in the
Office of University Communications
at UArts. She married Robert Frye of
Ledyard, Conn. in September of 2007
and they reside in South Philadelphia.
Artwork by Sienna Freeman ’03 (Photography) was featured at YO, an art
gallery in Center City Philadelphia,
from January to March of this year. The
exhibition, titled “Re/member,” incorporated themes based on the female
body and represented Freeman’s personal experiences and conceptions of
the world around her. Freeman used a
combination of photography and mixed
media to form collages, which were
then mounted away from the wall to
allow the shadow to be a part of each
piece of artwork in order to capture her
implications and influences. Freeman
works as the associate director of Old
City Philadelphia’s Wexler Gallery.
Sisters Susan Wilcox ’02 (Ballet) and
Katie Wilcox ’05 (Ballet) were reunited
with previous dance colleagues at Ballet Theatre of Lancaster’s 15th anniversary production of “The Nutcracker”
this past holiday season. One performance featured a “Clara” presentation, a gathering of dancers who have
danced the lead role over the past 15
years. The Wilcox sisters were the only
siblings both cast as Clara. The pair
teaches dance in Philadelphia.
Dorothy Oge ’03 (Graphic Design)
works as a senior designer for Victoria’s
Secret Beauty in New York City.
Nako Adodoadji ’03 (Acting) recently played the role of Briar Rose, the
heroine in the Arden Theater’s recent
witty, modernized version of “Sleeping
Beauty.”
Michael Stever ’03 (Trumpet) joined
with smooth jazz pianist Brian
Culbertson for his 2008 tour. The tour is
playing at the Berks Jazz Fest, Newport
Beach Jazz Festival, Capital Jazz Festival
and Capital Jazz Cruise, among others.
Stever plays trumpet and auxiliary keyboards and is the horn section leader
and arranger as well. More details and
further tour dates are available at www.
brianculbertson.com.
Stephen Costello ’03 (Voice) was promoted from his secondary role of Arturo to the leading role of Edgardo for
one performance of the Metropolitan
Opera’s production of “Lucia di Lammermoor.” After his performance, Costello received acclaim from fans and audience members, as well as a positive
review in The Philadelphia Inquirer. He
was also featured in an original role in
the new opera “Cyrano.” In addition
to his numerous performances in the
United States with the Metropolitan
Opera, he has performed in England,
France, Germany and Austria. Costello
As a member of IATSE USA Local 829,
Joseph Trainor ’03 (Animation) continues to work in New York City, painting
theatrical scenery for Broadway, television and film. His work can be seen
weekly on “Saturday Night Live,” in
the recent feature films “I am Legend,”
spring 2009
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ALUMNI notes
Max Sainvil
“Enchanted,” “American Gangster,”
and “The Good Shepherd.” His Broadway credits include sets for “Young
Frankenstein,” “Sunday in the Park
with George,” “The Little Mermaid,”
“Xanadu” and the upcoming “Shrek.”
Carrie Zaruba ’03 (Voice) is living in
Nashville, writing songs and working
with veteran producer Kent Wells, who
has worked with Dolly Parton, Reba
McEntire and Kenny Rogers.
Brian Angello ’04 (Musical Theater)
was married in June 2008. He performs at the Black Bear in Pigeon
Forge, Tenn., and is also the company
outing coordinator for Dollywood and
Dollywood Splash Country. Angello
and his wife Nikky met about a week
after he moved to Sevierville, Tenn.,
in March 2005, and he hasn’t looked
back since.
In April, works by Katie Baldwin, MFA
’04 (Book Arts/Printmaking) and Hiro
Sakaguchi ’93 (Painting & Drawing)
were featured in the “Emerging to Established: 25 Years of the Center for
Emerging Visual Artists,” presented by
the Center for Emerging Visual Artists
in the Director’s Gallery at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Adam Blackstone ’04 (Electric Bass)
received three 2008 Grammy Awards
nominations for his collaborations
with Jill Scott and Musiq Soulchild. He
is working as the music director for
Kanye West’s “Glow in the Dark” tour.
Billy Bustamante ’04 (Musical Theater) appeared in a special performance of Chay Yew’s “The Long Season” with Jose Llana in June 2008 in
New York City. In July, he appeared in
Miss Saigon at the St. Louis MUNY.
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Jessica Demcsak
A site-specific installation by
Jessica Demcsak, MFA ’04 (Painting)
was shown from May to June in The
Hall at the Crane Arts Building in Philadelphia. The exhibition, “The Crane
Adjacent,” was inspired by images of
the Crane Arts Building and surrounding architecture.
Jeremiah Downes ’04 (Musical Theater) is the founder of Philadelphia
Music Theater Works, a new company
devoted to new, recent and classic
musicals. Its inaugural production,
“FRESH: New Musicals Stripped,”
was presented on June 13 at the Ethical Society Building in Rittenhouse
Square. This event was featured on
Playbill.com and highlighted many
UArts talents. Check out www.playbill.
com/news/article/118057.html.
Seth Kramer ’04 (Film) produced and
directed the film “The Linguists,” along
with fellow filmmakers Daniel A. Miller
and Jeremy Newberger of Ironbound
Films. The film, which premiered at
this year’s Sundance Film Festival, is
a documentary about endangered languages that have been lost between
generations and are in danger of being forgotten altogether in the midst of
economic and political conflict. While
shooting the film, Kramer traveled to
remote locations around the world.
Stephen Kuznicke ’04 (Graphic Design) recently launched www.kuzdesign.com, on which most of his recent
work can be found.
Bryn Lafferty ’04 (Crafts) was mentioned in an article in the March 2008
issue of The Philadelphia Inquirer for
her work in needle felting. Lafferty
sells her felted accessories at www.
MissBunnyFace@Etsy.com.
Max Sainvil ’04 (Film) recently directed
a music video called “Be Alright” that
featured two theater alumnae Christina May ’05 (Acting) and Dionne Stone
’03 (Acting). See it at www.youtube.
com/watch?v=gadaTEkF-zM.
Members of Philadelphia-based jazz
quartet Shot x Shot, Dan Scofield ’04
(Saxophone), Matt Engle ’04 (Electric
Bass), Dan Capecchi, MM ’03 (Jazz)
and Bryan Rogers ’03 (Saxophone),
played a concert at The Rotunda on
Walnut Street in May 2008 along with
artists Eli Litwin and Lionshead. Shot
x Shot formed in 2004 while the musicians were attending school and has
since performed in venues across the
country. The group released its debut
album in 2006 on the High Two Recordings label and is due to release a
second album, Let Nature Square, later
this year.
Jonathan Shade ’04 (Musical Theater)
and Phoebe Silva ’07 (Musical Theater)
performed at the Walnut Street Theatre
in “The Irish and How They Got That
Way.” The entire run is sold-out and
the show earned a rave review from
The Philadelphia Inquirer.
This past April, Chris Veit, MA ’04
(Museum Communication) organized
the collaborative art exhibition and
auction “HeartWorks”. Over 70
contemporary artists, all friends of
Veit’s, donated artwork for the fundraiser. The proceeds were given to the
Mazzoni Center in Philadelphia, which
focuses on the health needs of the region’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.
Work by Maya Winters, MFA ’04 (Painting), Marisha Simons, MFA ’03 (Book
Arts/Printmaking) and current painting student Sarah Robb was shown
in Centennial Hall Gallery at The
ALUMNI notes
Dionne Stone
Haverford School in Haverford, Pa. this
past December in the exhibition “Seven: Life, Landscape and Liver.”
Olivia Antsis, MFA ’05 (Book Arts/
Printmaking) was hired as the director
of the Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival
Programs.
Schuyler Evan Blanchard ’05 (Sculpture) and Rebecca Ann Pulver ’07
(Crafts) were married on September 15,
2007, in Philadelphia at Bahdeebahdu
Gallery. The couple met while attending UArts. A mutual friend conducted
the ceremony. Pulver designed her own
wedding dress, which was displayed
at the gallery, along with the colorful
bridesmaids’ dresses and other works
by the wedding party, in the collection
“Bliss.”They reside in Philadelphia,
where Pulver works at Bahdeebahdu
Gallery with light sculptor Warren
Muller and Blanchard works with artist
Greg Nangle at Outcast Studios.
Nikki Curmaci ’05 (Musical Theater)
landed an ensemble role in “Hairspray”
at the Walnut Street Theatre with fellow
alum Kerri Rose ’07 (Musical Theater).
An artist’s book by Sonja-Lotta Forster
’05 (Photography) was showcased at
a book launch for the publishing company A Shoal of Mackerel this past
November. A Shoal of Mackerel is an
independent publishing house based
in Glasgow/Gothenburg and is run by
artists, for artists. Find more information at www.ashoalofmackerel.com.
Patricia Kelly ’05 (Photography) was
the featured artist at a photo exhibition at Small World Coffee in Princeton,
N.J. from January – February 2008. The
photographs featured images captured
from trips to Havana. See Kelly’s work
at www.pattikellyphotography.com.
Christina May
Patricia Kelly
Jonathan Gerard Rodriguez ’05 (Musical Theater) was cast as Joey for the
Las Vegas production of “Jersey Boys.”
He is also the understudy for the role of
Frankie Valli. The Vegas show opened
in April 2008.
Mancha” at the Covered Bridge Theater in Maryland. The production also
featured University sophomore Rory
Donovan as Padre. Lyles also played
Mazeppa in “Gypsy” at Delaware’s
New Candlelight Theater, with University senior Mario White. Earlier this
year, Lyles performed the role of Arlene in “Paris Is Out” with the Rainbow
Dinner Theater in Lancaster, Pa. In the
fall, Lyles plans to attend Villanova on
full scholarship to get her master’s degree in theater with a concentration in
acting and directing.
Anneliese Sari ’05 (Ballet) and Alex
Parisi were engaged in February 2007.
Sari dances with the Washington (D.C.)
Reflections Dance Company.
Daniel Bell ’06 (Writing for Film &
Television) teaches video and music
production at the Chelsea School in
Silver Spring, Md., which is a school
for students with learning disabilities.
He received the school’s “Rookie of
the Year” award this year. He is also
pursuing his master’s degree in special education at Trinity University in
Washington, D.C.
Kaitlin Mercurio ’06 (Musical Theater)
is currently performing on the Disney
Cruise line.
Megan Elise Monczewski ’06 (Photography) is a graphics supervisor at
Deluxe Digital Studious (www.bydeluxe.com), a DVD authoring company
in Moosic, Pa. She oversees and coordinates menu design deliveries on
movie titles for Universal Studios and
The Weinstein Company. She was recently promoted to Production Coordinator where she also manages EST/
DTO (Electronic Sell-Thru/Download-toOwn) titles for Apple-iTunes, Amazon,
Movielink, VUDU and Popcorn Media.
The facility most recently authored
DVDs including “American Gangster”
and “Charlie Wilson’s War” (Universal
Studios).
Laura Catlaw ’06 (Musical Theater) is
on the national tour of Nickelodeon’s
“The Backyardigans Live.”
Paris Como ’06 (Musical Theater) finished a workshop of the new musical
“Radicalove” (www.radicalove.com).
In August, he played Brittanicus in
“Agrippina” at the Hudson Mainstage
in Hollywood, Calif.
Erin Kirk ’06 (Photography) is in the
Marines working as the only female
combat photographer in Al Anbar
Provence in western Iraq.
Melanie Mowinski, MFA ’06 (Book
Arts/Printmaking) taught the “Looking for Red in All the Right Places”
program in January and February
2008 as part of the Berkshire (Mass.)
Museum’s hands-on art course series
for children. The program, hosted at
the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts in
Pittsfield, Mass., focused on artists’
use of the color red in different media as a form of expression. Mowinski
coordinates public programs for the
Ben Kramer ’06 (Musical Theater)
covered various performances for
Philadelphia’s Lantern Theatre Company in its production of “Othello” as
Roderigo. He was also in the Bristol
(Pa.) Riverside Theatre’s production of
“Dear World” as the waiter.
Kathryn Lyles ’06 (Musical Theater)
appeared as Aldonza in “Man of La
spring 2009
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60
ALUMNI notes
Melinda Steffy
Berkshire Museum and also teaches
art at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, Mass., as a
visiting professor.
Caitlin Reilly ’06 (Musical Theater)
performed as Millie in “Picnic” with
the Montgomery Theatre Project in
Souderton, Pa.
Clayton Reilly ’06 (Trumpet) is performing, recording and touring with
R&B recording artist John Legend.
A choreographic work by Molly Root
’06 (Modern Dance) was presented
as a part of the Community Education
Center’s New Edge Mix series in Philadelphia this past November. Entitled
“Fragmentations,” the work was based
on the relationship of couples. Root is
the founder of ROOTEDancEnsemble
and earned a Regional Dance America
Monticello Award for her emerging
choreography.
Revanta Sarabhai ’06 (Multimedia)
was featured in an article in the March
2008 edition of Indian Express Newspaper for his work in Bharatanatyam
dance. He uses this style of traditional
Indian dance as the core and inspiration for his contemporary works, such
as “Hot Talas, Cool Rasas.” In his spare
time, Sarabhai creates art with his
mother and designs books published
by his father.
Mary Scholz ’06 (Musical Theater) is
touring as a singer/songwriter. June
performances included stops throughout southeastern Pennsylvania, including King of Prussia, West Chester,
Center City Philadelphia, Barrington
and Lansdowne. Check out www.maryscholz.com for details.
Melinda Steffy, MFA ’06 (Painting)
opened a solo exhibition at the Sam
Quinn Gallery in West Philadelphia.
The show, “Particular Memories (and
the Vast Emptiness of Forgetting),” ran
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spring 2009
until mid-June. The collection of work includes a mix
of paintings and small sculptures, all dealing with ideas
of memory, loss/emptiness, and disintegrating structures. Steffy also had
work featured in the group show “Currents” at William Paterson University in
Wayne, N.J. Visit http://melindasteffy.
blogspot.com for artwork, reviews and
other information.
Denise L. Vandeville, MFA ’06 (Ceramics) has been named interim dean of
the International School of Art and
Design (ISAD) at Finlandia University
in Hancock, Mich. When Vandeville,
previously an art history instructor at
Finlandia, assumed her two-year post
this summer, she became the first
woman to lead the school.
Molly Marie Walsh ’06 (Musical Theater) closed the “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” tour and headed to Theatre
by the Sea in Wakefield, R.I., in June
2008. Walsh also played Agnes Nolan
in “George M!”
Elyse Ault ’07 (Musical Theater) started classes at the William Esper studio
in New York City in June 2008.
Bryan Brinkman ’07 (Animation) is
currently working for Kraftworks, a
New York ad agency, which is designing an anti-counterfeiting campaign
with the New York City and the AntiCounterfeiting Coalition. Brinkman
was in charge of creating three custom
videos based on the print ads to run
in Times Square. There are two spots
running on the Kodak Jumbotron, one
on the NASDAQ screen and one on the
Reuters Screen.
Lucy Carr ’07 (Theater) has been
working steadily since graduation,
appearing in Echo Theatre’s production of “Envoy” (as Seanna); A Reasonable Facsimile Theatre Company’s
“Soon To Have a Witty Title a Chicago
Christmas Spectacular;” Azusa Productions’ “The Man Who Liked Dogs,”
Bryan Brinkman
“Fly Paper” and “Shakespeare Sonnet Marathon.” This past summer she
understudied as Ursula and Margaret
in Oak Park Theatre Fest’s “Much Ado
about Nothing.”
Amy Cutter ’07 (Voice) was recently
engaged to Chris Farinella ’04 (Animation). Both live in New Jersey. A summer 2010 wedding is being planned.
Chanee Davis ’07 (Musical Theater) is
performing all over the East Coast and
can be seen in the Believe Festival and
the Afr’Am Festival in Baltimore, Md.
Laura Fischer ’07 (Musical Theater)
was cast as Tina in “Tony and Tina’s
Wedding” in the Philadelphia area.
Nathaniel (Nat) Hamilton Jr. ’07 (Photography) is a teaching assistant in the
University’s Photography program. He
is an independent professional photographer, specializing in panoramic
photographs, examples of which can
be seen at www.nathanielhamilton.
com. A resident of Center city, Hamilton’s work reflects his interest in city
life and in ordinary events turned extraordinary through photographs. He
can often be seen shooting city scenes,
accompanied by his chocolate lab, Bear.
Mara Jill Herman ’07 (Musical Theater)
traveled to Israel in August 2008 with
the Birthright Organization. Prior to her
trip, she filmed for the YouTube hit series “The Battery’s Down,” which aired
May 31 at midnight. Look for her as a
Hair Salon Customer, singing backup
for Leslie Kritzer (“A Catered Affair,”
“Legally Blonde”).
Kevin Korn ’07 (Composition) lives in
Los Angeles and works as an agent assistant for Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
ALUMNI notes
Larissa Marie Lovejoy ’07 (Voice) made
her solo debut at Carnegie Hall in New
York on January 20, 2008. She sang the
mezzo-soprano solo and also the bass
solo in Pergolesi’s “Magnificat,” due to
the maestro’s decision to use women
for the tenor/bass duet movement.
She was just hired as the first voice
teacher at “MusicNotes Academy,” a
private music program in N.J., where
she teaches voice, piano, theory, harmony, transcription and aural skills to
children and adults.
Matthew Mastronardi ’07 (Musical
Theater) performed for the company
SummerStock at the University of Findlay in Ohio. He appeared in “Hank Williams: Lost Highway” and as Toad in “A
Year with Frog and Toad.”
Andre Myers ’07 (Musical Theater)
started a production of “High School
Musical” in Elysburgh, Pa. The production ran through August 2008, after
which he continued rehearsals for his
upcoming television show “NFUSION.”
Thad Reid ’07 (Film) is pursuing directing in Los Angeles and teaches painting, storyboarding and dance in an after-school program at The Arts Centre.
Coralis Rivera ’07 (Jazz Dance) was hired
by the Hochstein School of Music and
Dance and resides in Rochester, N.Y.
Kerri Rose ’07 (Musical Theater) moved
to New York this summer. Her production of “42nd Street” from New Bedford
Festival Theatre was nominated for
Best Musical, and Rose earned a Best
Actress nod (as Peggy Sawyer) from
Motif magazine. She is working with
modeling agencies in Philadelphia and
New York City and is also a club dancer
for Pacha Nightclub in New York City.
Damian Shembel ’07 (Musical Theater)
closed “Altar Boyz” in Oregon and then
played the Beast in “Beauty and the
Beast” at La Comedia in Springboro,
Ohio, from June-August.
Rob Stein, MAT ’07 (Music Education)
just finished his first year of full-time
teaching as an elementary school band
director in East Windsor, N.J. He’s also
owner of Standing O – Marching Arts
Specialists – a business he started to
write marching band music and tour
around the country teaching bands.
When there’s time on the weekends,
he gigs with the band Jimmy Jorge and
the Latin Express.
This past summer, Marcy Gordon
’08 (Musical Theater) was performing in Fort Myers, Fla., with Prather
Entertainment-Broadway Palm in the
casts of “The Wizard of Oz” and “High
School Musical.”
Emily Kirkwood ’08 (Musical Theater)
arrived in Seattle on July 27, 2008 for
stunt school. Her final destination is Los
Angeles, where she arrived August 17.
By November, she had already appeared
as an extra on “My Name is Earl.”
Elyse Taylor ’07 (Musical Theater) appeared in “Go Dog, Go!” this spring
at Philadelphia’s Arden Theatre Company. By the end of the run, Taylor was
a member of Actor’s Equity.
Dennis Necsary ’08 (Musical Theater)
returned for his second season at the
Surflight Theater in Beach Haven, N.J.,
where he will play Carmen Ghia in “The
Producers,” among other roles.
Heather Woodward ’07 (Musical Theater) and Artie Sievers ’07 (Musical Theater) performed in “The Full Monty” at the
Media (Pa.) Theatre as Pam and Malcolm,
respectively, in the spring of 2008.
Lauren Palmeri ’08 (Musical Theater)
performed at Mac-Hadyn Theatre in
Chattam, N.Y. this past summer. The
season included “My Fair Lady,” “7
Brides for 7 Brothers,” “A Chorus
Line,” “Hairspray,” “Phantom of the
Opera,” “Will Rogers Follies” and “The
Sound of Music.”
Alex Bechtel ’08 (Musical Theater)
was hired for 1812’s fall 2008 production of “This Is the Week That Is.”
Mat Burrow ’08 (Musical Theater)
and senior Brad Greer are starting a
UArts YouTube account and have been
posting clips from the recent cabaret
in New York City, as well as a cabaret
called Duets, featuring Burrow, Kate
Schwartz ’08, Lauren Palmeri ’08, Alex
Bechtel ’08, Greer and fellow senior
Ryan Touhey. Be sure to visit http://
youtube.com/user/bradleygreer and
http://youtube.com/user/UAsota.
Moses Rodrigues ’08 (Musical Theater)
began rehearsals in June for the nonequity tour of “Altar Boyz,” for which
he will understudy Juan and Abe. The
tour runs through April 2009.
Kate Schwarz ’08 (Musical Theater)
will return to the Forestburgh Playhouse for her second summer to play
Ulla in “The Producers” and Dainty
June in “Gypsy.” By the end of the
summer she became a member of Actor’s Equity.
Richard Cerato ’08 (Musical Theater)
will tour this summer with Broadway
Asia’s “Cinderella,” starring Lea Salonga.
He will also be heard on the original
cast recording for the Lakeshore Label.
Kyle Collier ’08 (Voice) is now working for
the University as an admissions counselor.
We love hearing from our alumni! To submit
a class note, simply visit www.uarts.edu/alumni
and click on the “Tell us Your News” button.
Sean Elias ’08 (Musical Theater) was a
member this summer of the resident company with the Forestburgh Playhouse in
Forestburgh/Monticello, N.Y. The season
includes “Gypsy,” “Cabaret,” “The Producers” and “The King and I.” He was also accepted into the master’s theater education
program at Boston’s Emerson College.
Class notes come in from a variety of sources
– self-reported, faculty referrals, newspapers,
press releases, etc. We do our best to verify the
information before it is printed; however, if you
notice a mistake or inaccuracy, please let us know
by contacting alumni@uarts.edu. Thank you!
Kyle Garvin ’08 (Musical Theater) is
touring with “Go Diego Go,” but still
graduated with his class.
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inmemoriam
Artist and author Charles J. Stoner ’31 (Advertising Design)
died March 9, 2008, in Chambersburg, Pa., at the age of 101.
Mr. Stoner was well known for his pen and ink drawings and
paintings centered on historical places and events. He served
in the Pennsylvania Cavalry, worked as a draftsman for the
Chambersburg Engineering Co. and was the advertising director for the Hunt Pen Company for over 35 years. Mr. Stoner wrote two books, Pen Tips on Cartooning in 1939, and
Beautiful Italic Handwriting Made Easy in 1977. He won a
national packaging award for Hunt Products for Artists. In
1946, he married his wife Jane, by whom he is survived. He
is also survived by a daughter and three granddaughters, two
great-grandchildren, two sisters and two nephews.
James M. Shimer Jr. ’37 (Industrial Design), formerly of Levittown, Pa., passed away on October 29, 2007, from complications of prostate cancer. Mr. Shimer was a retired illustrator
and lived with Dolly, his wife of 66 years, in Tucson, Ariz. He
was born December 4, 1914, in Philadelphia, and attended
Frankford High School, where he was a member of the track
and football teams. Upon graduation in January 1933, he won
a four-year scholarship from the board of education to the
Philadelphia Museum School of Art (now The University of
the Arts). Mr. Shimer worked in the graphic arts at a variety of
businesses throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including
Fleetwings, Inc., where he was the assistant supervisor in the
Graphic Art department; Drexel University, where he worked
in the Engineering, Science and Management War Training
program; and the Naval Air Development Center, where he
was a technical illustrator in the Aviation Armament Lab. In
addition to illustration, he enjoyed sports, aviation, steam
railroading and the military. He was a long-standing member of associations such as the Naval Institute, United States
Air Force Museum, American Aviation Historical Society and
the Reading R.R. Technical and Historical Society. He and
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his wife were also establishing members of the Resurrection
Lutheran Church in Levittown. He is survived by his wife,
children James Shimer, Joan Fuentes and John Shimer, four
grandsons and five great-grandchildren.
Milton Weiner ’37 (Advertising Design) passed away on November 17, 2007, at the Hyder Family Hospice House in
Dover, N.H. Mr. Weiner worked for many years as art director at the advertising agency N.W. Ayer & Sons, where he
collaborated with artists and photographers such as Andy
Warhol, Richard Avedon and Hiro, and designed ad campaigns for DeBeers Diamonds, Levi Strauss, Cannon Mills and
Breck Products. Some of his work is on permanent display at
the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia. In addition to
working in the advertising industry, he also designed jewelry,
illustrated books and worked at his wife’s general store in
Philadelphia. Mr. Weiner enjoyed international travel, classical music and Broadway theater. He is survived by wife Reba,
daughters Frances L. Schwab and Patty L. Fox, one grandson,
two granddaughters and three great-grandchildren.
Helene Harmon Martin Weis ’43 (Theatre Design) died November 13, 2007, three days short of her 85th birthday. One
of Mrs. Weis’ greatest passions in life was for stained glass,
and she served as librarian, historian, iconographer and artistic planner for Willet Hauser Architectural Glass from 1956
to 2005. In 1943, Mrs. Weis received The University of the
Arts Costume Design Award. Her artistic skills are showcased in stained glass work in Poland, Norway, Tokyo and
in a permanent exhibit for the World’s Fair of Science and
Technology, the largest commission in the history of modern
stained glass. Her artistic vision and contributions to Willet
Hauser aided its growth to one of the largest producers of
in memoriam
(Painting at left) Naeemah Redmond, Painting/Drawing, 2006
Winner of the Rohm & Haas Purchase Prize
major faceted stained-glass projects in the world. In addition
to her work with Willet Hauser, Mrs. Weis was a contributing
editor of Stained Glass Quarterly and author of the historical
novel Colored Winds. She also enjoyed music and singing with
the Mendelssohn Club and the Philadelphia Chamber Chorus.
She is survived by husband Henry Weis, daughter Sandra Su
and a granddaughter.
Michael N. Balogh ’50 (Industrial Design) passed away on
February 6, 2008. Mr. Balogh served in the United States Navy
for three years during WWII and later worked for Combustion
Engineering Refractories in King of Prussia, Pa. He was also a
member of St. Basil the Great Catholic Church in Kimberton,
Pa. He is survived by his wife Elizabeth, children and sons/
daughters-in-law Michael and Mary Beth Balogh, Thomas
and Nancy Balogh, David Balogh, Barbara and Richard Whittemore, Mari Beth and Brian Duffy and Teresa Reed; brothers
Frank and John; and five grandchildren.
Marvin Goldman ’50 (Advertising Design) died on April 28,
2008. He was born in Philadelphia on December 30, 1926, to
the late Harry and Sarah Goldman. Mr. Goldman studied advertising design and photography at the Philadelphia Museum
School of Art (now The University of the Arts). At 23, his
photographs were featured in Life magazine. He became vice
president/art director at Warwick & Legler and art director
at Benton & Bowles Inc. Together with his wife Marilyn Bass
he founded the graphic design business Bass & Goldman Inc.
After moving to Cary, N.C., in 1997, he returned to fine art
photography, completing the photographic series “We’ve Got
the Whole World ...” and “Garbage.” Mr. Goldman is survived by his wife Marilyn; children Alexander Goldman and
Susan E. Barry; Jessica and Christopher Smith with Ariel and
Zoe; and Natasha and Joachim Homann with Tobias; and the
family dog Mollie.
Jane G. Jamison ’50 (Illustration) died on February 16, 2008,
after a battle with lung disease at the age of 82. Ms. Jamison
showcased her creativity as an artist in a variety of ways, from
making lampshades for interior designers to painting beautiful
watercolors. In addition, she was a longtime member of the
West Chester Golf Club. She leaves behind her husband, son
and twin daughters.
Leonard Laskin ’52 (Art Education) died on June 21, 2007. A
lifelong artist, Mr. Laskin enjoyed painting watercolors during summer travels with his wife. As a senior student, one of
his paintings was showcased in the “Young Artists with Promise” exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, alongside
a work by Leonard Baskin. Since the painting had been sold to
a private collector, Mr. Laskin did not know of his place in the
exhibition. He found out only after several of his Philadelphia
College of Art (now The University of the Arts) classmates
saw the work and let him know it was on display. Mr. Laskin
is survived by his wife Selma and two sons.
C. Leslie Smith Jr. ’52 (Jewelry), 82, of Allentown, Pa., died
on April 28 2008, surrounded by his family. He was the loving
husband of Ruth E. (Bock) Smith, to whom he was married
for 58 years. He was born in Bethlehem, Pa., a son of the late
Charles Leslie and Norene G. (Monahan) Smith. He taught
art at the college and worked for Rodale as a designer. Mr.
Smith was a silversmith for more than 50 years. Through his
career, he trained many artisans, including Tom Jones, Bob
Trump, his daughter, Kristian Smith Becker, granddaughter,
Adria Edens and grandson, Josh Gehringer, who all went on
to have successful careers of their own. He opened his store
in Allentown in 1953. Over the years, he operated a total of
seven stores, employing up to 35 people at a time. Mr. Smith
created the Muhlenberg College Mace, Ginko Leaf Award for
Cedar Crest College, Tree of Life for Lehigh Valley Hospital,
baptismal bowl at Christ Lutheran Church and medallion for
the president of Cedar Crest College. He was a World War
II veteran and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. In 1984, Mr.
Smith received a commendation from Lehigh County as the
county’s outstanding businessman, and that same year was
given the American Heritage Award by the Pennsylvania State
Senate.
Philadelphia native John N. McGarvey III ’60 (Industrial Design) passed away at his home in Drexel Hill, Pa., on March
16, 2008, from a heart attack. As an industrial designer and
partner with Henry Dreyfuss Associates, Mr. McGarvey aided
in the design of telephones, sewing machines and ergonomic
chairs. He served in the Army from 1955 to 1961. As a retiree,
he enjoyed working around the house, especially painting. He
is survived by his wife, two daughters and five grandchildren.
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in memoriam
John “Jack” Simons ’61 (Photography), professor of photography, died unexpectedly May 8, 2008, at the age of 76. Born
in Millheim, Pa., July 23, 1931, he lived most of his life in
Philadelphia and Cape May, N.J. Mr. Simons was a veteran of
the Korean War and a graduate of the Philadelphia College of
Art (now The University of the Arts). He worked as a studio
and public relations photographer. Mr. Simons was a highly
innovative visual artist, working with both photographic and
ceramic mediums. In 1969, he was hired by the Community
College of Philadelphia, where he was the founding faculty
member of the Department of Photography. He served as the
chairman of the department until he was badly injured in an
auto accident. He recovered and returned to teach black and
white and color printing, as well as studio photography. He
completed his last Photo 101 class only two weeks before his
death. He is survived by his wife Ann.
Ceramics artist Carol Clamer ’71 (Painting & Drawing) died
of lung cancer on January 31, 2008, at the age of 59 at her
home in Dixon, N.M. Upon graduating from the Philadelphia
College of Art (now The University of the Arts), she established her own plastering and painting business. After moving
home to New Mexico, she built a studio where she could fire
pottery and was an active artist in the Dixon community. Ms.
Clamer also enjoyed gardening. She leaves behind a sister and
two nephews.
Jeffrey Laird Claflin ’76 (Piano) passed away November 29,
2007. According to his sister Nancy, Mr. Claflin showed his
interest and talent for the piano at the age of four, and his
passion for music continued throughout his life. In his earlier
years, he played the piano for school productions and played
the organ in a local church; after attending college he started
playing in clubs and piano bars in Philadelphia and also spent
some time in New York. In the later years of his life, Mr. Claflin served as organist and choir director of Jarrettown (Pa.)
United Methodist Church. He was also a member of the Order
of Founders and Patriots of America. He is survived by his
sister Nancy and mother June Claflin.
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Jason C. Zarzycki ’99 (Graphic Design) passed away March
12, 2008, at his home in Bensalem, Pa. Mr. Zarzycki loved
cooking, spending time outside and visiting the Poconos. He
worked for the News Gleaner in Philadelphia and also for Advertising Design Systems in New Jersey. He leaves his mother
Jeannette, father Kenneth, brother Justin, sister Cheryl, girlfriend Trish, grandmother Jean and many aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.
Megan D. Miller ’04 (Multimedia) passed away after a lengthy
illness on Friday, June 20, 2008, at Pennsylvania Hospital at
the age of 26. Born in Mt. Holly, N.J., Ms. Miller was a resident of Medford, N.J., before moving to Philadelphia in 2001.
She was a 2000 graduate of Lenape High School and was pursuing her master’s degree in new media. Ms. Miller co-owned
Philadelphia’s Amble Gallery and Books, was a published
poet and an avid animal lover. Some of her interests included
art, Web design and writing. She is survived by her husband,
Daniel Paquet; her parents, Edmund and Sandra Miller; her
brother and sister-in-law, Michael and Juliana Miller; her
nieces and nephews, Colby, Hadley, Lucas and Jacob Miller.
Edward Angelo Pipkin (Theater Arts), died on May 15, 2008,
at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport, Conn., at the
age of 26. Mr. Pipkin was born in Bridgeport, to Scarlett
Moye Pipkin and the late George E. Pipkin Jr. Mr. Pipkin
was talented, fun-loving, well spoken and passionate about
the performing arts. He graduated from Fairfield Country
Day School and Central High School. He attended the Master’s School – Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., and The University of the
Arts, majoring in theater arts, where he received a four-year
Presidential Scholarship. He was also a Fairfield Rotary Club
Scholarship Recipient in 2000. Mr. Pipkin was attending
Housatonic Community College, Bridgeport and was a candidate for the 2008-2009 Public Allies Apprenticeship Program
for non-profit and civic agencies. He performed in the touring companies of: “Aida,” “Rent” and “Clifford – Live,” and
was an understudy at the Goodspeed Opera House as Gabriel
in “Shenandoah.” He is survived by his mother, Scarlett M.
Pipkin; his brother, George E. Pipkin III; many aunts, grand
aunts, uncle and cousins; and three godmothers.
Associate professor Mark Tocchet, Chair, Illustration, Lovers Pass
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development briefs
3rd Annual
UArts
Golf Tournament
Trustee and Golf Chair
Roger L. Bomgardner accepts
appreciation trophy from
President Sean T. Buffington.
Chaired by University Trustee Roger L. Bomgardner
and held on August 25, 2008, at Stonewall, in
Elverson, Pa., the 3rd Annual UArts Golf Tournament raised more than $213,000 for the Promising
Young Artist Scholarship Fund. Alumni, trustees,
executives and friends of the University gathered to
play golf on a beautiful and challenging course and
enjoyed great food – all in support of the University.
Twenty-six foursomes teed off on both
Stonewall courses. Special thanks to Naming
Sponsor Commerce Bank and
Lead Sponsor Mid America Group.
SAVE THE DATE
The 4th Annual UArts Golf Tournament is
Monday, August 24, 2009. Foursome reservations
are being taken now. Contact Bill Hoblin
(215.717.6146 or bhoblin@uarts.edu) for details.
Alumnus Bill Badnaruk ‘52 (Industrial Design) and
Laura J. Armstrong, Director of Alumni Relations
Craig Spencer, with a perfect shot off the tee
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sol calvin cohen
memorial award
The University of the Arts is proud to announce the Sol Calvin Cohen Memorial
Award honoring the late Graphic Design professor. Cohen graduated from Philadelphia Museum School of Art in 1951 and went on to become a successful graphic
and advertising designer. He was also a distinguished book designer, credited for
numerous volumes of history, religion and culture for the Jewish Publication Society
of America. Cohen began teaching at Philadelphia College of Art (PCA) in 1954 and
went on to teach at both PCA and Fleisher Art Memorial for many years.
David Pachman ’62 (Graphic Design) has generously provided the initial funding for
the memorial award, which will be used to enrich the student experience through
travel and internships abroad. Pachman had fond memories of his classes with Cohen, who
enjoyed playing classical music while the students worked.
Pachman is a successful artist in his own rite; his work was recently on display in the president’s
office at Richard Stockton State College of New Jersey in Pomona, N.J. His current work is a
photographic study on the life and travels of the painter Vincent van Gogh. For additional
information on The University of the Arts Awards Program, please visit www.uarts.edu/giving.
The William Daley
crafts & haystack award
The William Daley Crafts and Haystack Award, which was
established and generously funded by beloved former faculty and legend William Daley, is helping students more than
ever. After teaching at the University for more than 40 years,
Daley created the award to support exceptional Crafts students. Known for creating outstanding ceramics, Daley designed the fund to send artists to Haystack Mountain School
of Crafts. This secluded, international craft school near Deer
Isle, Maine, provides intensive studio-based workshops in
a variety of craft media. Haystack offers a matching grant to
assist University artists. Recipients are selected based on
artistic talent and achievements as determined by faculty.
The University’s Scholarship and Award Program, which is
almost as old as the institution itself, annually distributes
upwards of half a million dollars through more than 300 different scholarships to over 700 students. With roughly one in
four students receiving a scholarship or award, the Scholarship and Award Program ensures that the University attracts
and retains the most talented artists.
Through The University’s Scholarship and Award Program,
donors create scholarships and awards to honor or
memorialize friends, family members, faculty and alumni.
Through personal invitations to
campus for student performances,
gallery exhibits and annual scholarship events, donors get to know their
scholarship recipients and see firsthand the impact that their generosity
has on students’ achievements. Each
year, benefactors receive reports on
their award, a financial statement and
biographic information about their
student.
If you would like to make a donation
to the William Daley Crafts and Haystack Award or are interested in more
information about The University of
the Arts Scholarship and Award Program, please contact Amanda Black,
Associate Director of Student Financial Services, Grants and Scholarships
at 215.717.6137 or ablack@uarts.edu.
For additional info. on The University
of the Arts Awards Program, please
visit www.uarts.edu/giving.
Bill Daley and Stuart Kestembaum, Executive
Director of the Haystack Mountain
School of Crafts (top),
Haystack Studios (bottom)
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“You Can’t Take it with You,” Spring 2008
The University of the Arts
has launched a monthly
e-newsletter – Verge –
to communicate its
exciting events, programs
and recognitions to its
alumni, parents and friends.
To subscribe, visit
www.uarts.edu/verge
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