News: November
• The 2009 US News & World Report Visual Arts and Design rankings have been released and VCUarts is once again ranked as the #1 public university school of arts and design in the country. Click here for all our ranking information.
• Tara Donovan (1999 VCUarts MFA) has been awarded a $500,000 MacArthur Foundation "Genius" award. Read about her in the New York Times. Ms. Donovan is the third VCUarts graduate in five years to receive this prestigious award. The others are Teresita Fernandez (2005) and Daisy Youngblood (2003). Congratulations!
• The 11th Annual Theresa Prizes for Excellence in the Arts have been announced and those with VCUarts connections came home with 10 of the 12 awards. They include: Cindy Neuschwander lifetime achievement award, (along with Jay Barrows); Pam Fox, Photography; Terri Murphy Simpson, Vocalist; Susie Ganch, Fine Arts; Scott Putnam/Amaranth Contemporary Dance, Dance; David Bridgewater, Theater; Ann Swanson, Film; Virginia Samsel, Emering Artist; No BS Brass, Ensemble (most members are students, were students, or now teach in VCUMusic); Danny Finney, Applied Arts.
• "For Africa," a benefit that raised about $50,000 to aid children in Ghana, received Virginia Commonwealth University's first Currents of Change award. The project was a collaborative effort of the VCU School of Social Work, School of the Arts (Chris Burnside in particular), Peacework Inc. and artists in the Richmond community. It included three nights of performances, a silent auction and an African market. The money raised was used for a library and a child development center.
• Rex Richardson, associate professor in the Department of Music and Yamaha trumpet artist, will be appearing on Yamaha posters across the country and will be part of a new Carl Fischer Publications book created for trumpet students.
• VCU Dance alumus Jason Somma is the first American to ever receive the Rolex Award from the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, which is a $50,000 two-year grant to the protege. Somma is one of only 6 recipients of the Rolex Award this year, selected from an international pool.
• PBS will air Slash Coleman’s award winning one man show, “The Neon Man and Me,” during the third week in November. The production was first directed for the stage by Shanea N. Taylor in 2005 who received her MFA in Theatre Pedagogy last year from VCU. The PBS version of the show was directed in April 2008 by Becca Bernard who is currently in the graduate movement program at VCU and is an MFA candidate for Theatre Pedagogy. The production was filmed in March in the Community Ideas Stations in Richmond, Virginia in front of two studio audiences.
• Recent news from the Department of Craft/Material Studies
Students and Alumni
Linda Laino, BFA and MFA, received a $5000 Fellowship from the Virginia Commission for the Arts.
Jeannine Hill, BFA, was in "Unmarked Pathways: emerging voices in contemporary art" at North Georgia College and State University.
Katie Hudnall, MFA, has a two-page full color spread in Fine Woodworking's Furniture: 102 Contemporary Designs (2008,Taunton Press.)
Jessica Schlacter, MFA candidate, just had her work purchased by the Enameled Arts Foundation and was asked by famed enamelist, June Schwarcz to demonstrate her skills.
Aaron McIntosh's, MFA candidate Communicating with the Past has been accepted into the Quilt National '09 Exhibition. Aaron will also have his work at the Museum of Arts and Design, NYC in an upcoming exhibit on cut paper.
Gabriel Craig, MFA candidate, and Amy Weiks, 5th year alumna, will be in the exhibition Laughingstock: Humor in Art and Craft at Luke and Eloy Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA, November 15th - December 23.
Gabriel's work, Narcissist no.6 will be published in 500 Enameled Objects by Lark Books, due out Spring 2009.
Adam Welch, MFA, has been working with www.artaxis.org since its inception and is now working with its creator to start an annual e-journal.
Rachel Rader, BFA, is having her first show in Seattle @ VAIN.
Emilie Brown (now Emilie Henry), MFA, had her work shown in Lafayette Mill Gallery in Rhode Island in October. In November she will show at the Shore Institute of Contemporary Art (SICA) in New Jersey, and she will participate in a fundraiser for L.A. Center for digital arts (LACDA).
Faculty
Natalya Pinchuk has her work included in two recent books: Jewellery from Natural Materials by Beth Legg Adorn: New Jewelry by Amanda Mansell. Natalya was also invited to be an artist-in-residence in Amsterdam Dec. 12-Jan.
The October issue of The Crafts Report features one of Susan Iverson's tapestries.
Sonya Clark was a juror for the Chenven Foundation grants from a pool of almost 400 applicatints and awarded $1,500 in prizes.
Sonya Clark, Susie Ganch, and Natalya Pinchuk will all have work SOFA Chicago.
