News: June
• 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 our ranking information.
• Tara Donovan (1999 VCUarts MFA) has been awarded a $500,000 MacArthur Foundation "Genius" award. 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).
• Sculpture + Extended Media alumna Diana Al-Hadid (MFA 2005) received a 2009 New York Foundation for the Arts Artist Fellowship Award. This year, NYFA's fellowship grants award a total of $917,000 in unrestricted funding to 134 artists recognized for excellence in their given disciplines.
• Renowned Islamic calligraphy artist and VCUQatar Joint Advisory Board member Mohamed Zakariya was recently commissioned by U.S. President Barack Obama to create a gift of calligraphy for King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia.
• TheatreVCU alum Jason Butler Harner was recently featured in Richmond Magazine. Harner discusses his recent movie roles in The Changeling and The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3.
• Sculpture students Nataliya Slinko and Ian McMahon have each been awarded a prestigious Javits Fellowship, two out of only six total arts fellowships awarded nationally for the coming year! VCUarts Sculpture currently has three additional Javits awardees in the process of completing their fellowships, as well: Angie White, John Blatter, and Sami Ben Larbi. Our congratulations to Nataliya and Ian!
• Four VCUarts students have been awarded 2009 VCU Summer Research Fellowships. This summer's fellowships will provide student and faculty support for mentored research and creative scholarship experiences. Congratulations to Phillip Cardwell, Music; Blue Clements, Sculpture + Extended Media; Melanie Seeger, Craft/Material Studies; and Bonnie Gabel, Theatre.
Students and Alumni
• Craft/Material Studies MFA Nicole Baumann’s A Busy Bee Sat on a Bushel of Blossoms: A Drawing Installation, is on view at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden from May 9 – July 5 in Ginter Gallery II.
• Travis Townsend, Craft/Material Studies MFA,was awarded a 2009 Virginia A. Groot Foundation grant. His work was published in Lark Books' 500 Tables and will be displayed at The Sculpture Center in Cleveland, Ohio later this year.
• Craft/Material Studies MFA Cari Freno will be exhibiting at 1708 Gallery’s juried biennial, FEED2009 through July 11. Read a recent review of Cari’s work.
• Craft/Material Studies MFA alumna, Lizzie Perkins and instructor Emilio Santini, were both mentioned in a review in the Daily Press. Lizzie’s work, Ida, was chosen for the BIGG: Breakthrough Ideas in Global Glass exhibition sponsored by Steuben Glass. BIGG runs from July 10 to October 10 at the OSU Urban Arts Space and Hawk Galleries in downtown Columbus, Ohio. Select works from the exhibition will then travel to SOFA Chicago 2009, from November 5th through the 8th.
• Craft/Material Studies student Roberto Celis was elected as Vice President to the VCU Student Government Association of the Monroe Park Campus. Roberto was also awardeda series of awards and scholarships including one to attend Penland this summer, a $2500 License Plate Affinity Award, a $2500 Multicultural Diversity Award, and the Green Award at the Planet E(art)h exhibit in the Student Commons Gallery. Other Planet E(art)h winners include Kristina Totoritis (Dean's Award) and Elaine Butcher (Student Choice Award).
• Craft/Material Studies students Brittany Felter, Cathy Nault, Barbara Dorrough, and Meg Christensen were awarded scholarships to attend Peter's Valley Fiber classes this summer.
• Craft/Material Studies student Melanie Seegere received a university-wide Summer Undergraduate Fellowships for 2009. Melanie also received a $300 Peachtree award and and $300 Eastman Award for her work in glass. Other Peachtree award recipients include Ryan Tanner and Brenna Rondeau.
• Keith Mendak, Craft/Material Studies MFA candidate, was accepted in the
Bearing Witness exhibit in Chicago's ARC Gallery for the month of June. Keith was also featured in the April issue of Richmond Magazine for an altar he installed at Lumpkins Jail.
• Katie Hudnall, Craft/Material Studies MFA alum, received the first ever University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Art, Wood/Furniture Area Resident Artist Program for $15,000.
• Travis Townsend, Craft/Material Studies MFA alum, is in the exhibit, Penland: Great Teachers, Great Artists at Habatat Gallery in Tysons Corner, VA from April 28th to July 17. Traviswill be included in the Cedarhurst Wood Project at the Cedarhurst Center for the Arts in Mt. Vernon, Illinois and the "Transformations" Raphael Prize show at Pittsburgh's Society for Contemporary Craft.
• Nanda Soderberg, Craft/Material Studies MFA alum, is working at the Pilchuck Glass School in Washington state as a gaffer for artists Whitfield Lovell and Elizabeth Turk this summer.
• Sarah Holden, Craft/Material Studies BFA alum, has work in her first international exhibition where she is eligible for 3 different awards at The Port Moody Art Awards in Port Moody British Colombia, Canada. Sarah also has work in the Fibers Expanded exhibit at the Luke and Eloy Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA.
• Music's Joseph Martinez Barry (BM '10) recently had an article published in Soundboard, the magazine for the Guitar Foundation of America. His article is entitled "The Guitar Music of Carlo Domeniconi."
• Music's Jessica Harika (BM '11) will sing the role of Cherubino (The Marriage of Figaro) in Rome, Italy at the Operafestival di Roma.
• Music's Phillip Cardwell (BM '10) has been awarded an Undergraduate Summer Fellowship by the University for jazz guitar studies.
• Music alum Jay Sykes (BM '01) was recently awarded Goochland Middle School Teacher of the Year.
• Three TheatreVCU alumni have been cast in the musical Peter and the Wolf that will open at Imagination Stage in Washington, DC in January 2010.
• TheatreVCU alumnus John DeBoer (MFA, 2007) is the winner of the 2009 VASTA Clyde Vinson Memorial Scholarship. John is a first year faculty member at the School of Theatre and Dance at the University of Montana.
• Theatre alumnus Court Watson received rave reviews for his scenic design of The Foreigner at the John Engeman Theatre in Northport, New York. He also served as the Assistant Costume designer for the 2008 Tony Award winning Broadway musical South Pacific. Watson is the assistant scenic designer for Elton John's Austrian production of AIDA and Frank Wildhorn's production of Jekyll and Hyde in Germany, as well.
• Theatre alumnus Gerold Solomon is in the acting ensemble of the 2008 Tony Award winning Broadway musical South Pacific, now entering its second year.
• Theatre's Justin Scribner (BFA Stage Management, 2004) is stage managing the Broadway play The American Plan.
• Theatre's Vanessa Leuck (BFA, 2006) is designing costumes for Disney's national ice capades production.
• Theatre alumna Alanna Wilson (BFA, 2004) is shooting a film directed by Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
• Patrick Storey, Sculpture BFA 1996, is Production Designer on film "HERE," by Singaporean artist Ho Tzu Nyen. "HERE" was selected to screen at the prestigious 41st Directors' Fortnight (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2009. The film will premiere in Cannes and will then be screened at The Picturehouse in Singapore in late June.
• Works by Communication Arts students Guy Parkhomenko, Geary Day, and Stanley Rayfield have been selected for inclusion in volumen 43 of CMYK Magazine under the category of illustration.
• Two works by Communication Arts student Geary Day have been selected by jury to be exhibited at the Salon International 2009, a project of the International Museum of Contemporary Masters of Fine Art, at the Greenhouse Gallery of Fine Art in San Antonio, Texas.
• Students from Communication Arts had award winning entries in the Society of Illustrators 2009 Scholarship Competition in New York. From May 6 - June 6, 2009, work by Communication Arts students will be on display at the Museum of American Illustration. Selected by a celebrated jury, this exhibit features the most mature, sophisticated and well-crafted illustrations of the year from top-level college illustration students around the country.
• Art History undergraduate students Isabella Jost, Kelly Cloutier, Jessica Ferey, and Varia Degtiarenko spoke to an audience at the Virginia Association of Museums during association's session "The Future of Museums: What Does the Next Generation Want in a Museum?" They were invited to participate based on outstanding papers they wrote for Professor Margaret Lindauer's class, "Museums in the 21st Century."
• Jason Horowitz, Photography and Film graduate alum, received an Individual Photographer's Fellowship from the Aaron Siskind Foundation. The Foundation offers a limited number of fellowship grants of up to $7,000 each for individual artists working in still photography and photo-based art.
Faculty
• Karen Videtic, Chair of Fashion Design and Merchandising,
is featured in VCU OnTopic discussing fashion, retail and the economy.
• Craft/Material Studies Chair, Sonya Clark will have work included in the Uber Portraitexhibit at the Bellevue Arts Museum in Bellevue, Washington from June 16-October 18; the Illinois Exhibition at McLean County Arts Center in Bloomington, IL from June 26-August 8; and the Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah, NY in the exhibit Dress Codes: Clothing as Sculpture from July 12-October 4.
• Art Education's Dr. Pamela G. Taylor and her interdisciplinary research team, Dr. Joan Rhodes and Dr. Frances Smith (School of Education) and Jan Johnston (Department of Art Education) received notice that their proposal, “Research for eLASTIC: Electronic Learning and Assessment Tool for Interdisciplinary Connections among the Visual Arts, Reading, and Writing" has been awarded a $1,050,000 grant under the 2nd cycle of the Qatar National Priorities Research Program (NPRP). This proposal, along with 92 others from such prestigious institutions as Princeton, University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers, Ohio State, Carnegie Mellon, MIT, University of British Columbia, University of Malaysia, etc.), was selected from 482 international submissions with an approximate 20% success rate.
• Jazz Drum professor Tony Martucci has released a new CD entitled Long Street Charm.
• Guitar professor Adam Larrabee was recently reviewed in Guitar Player Magazine for his work on the CD Eric Satie: Music from the House with Four Chimneys.
• Music's Kenneth Wood will be singing the roles of Don Basilio and Don Curzio (The Marriage of Figaro) at the Operafestival di Roma and will be serving as co-director of the opera scenes program.
• Music's James Smith-Parham will serve as stage director for the Operafestival di Roma's production of Suor Angelica for his third season with the company. Melanie Kohn Day is in her fifth season as artistic director of this summer opera training program.
• Music's Charles West will give masterclasses at the National Conservatory of Peru this summer.
• Music's Bryan Hooten has recently released his CD Framing the Void by his quartet "Ombak," which features VCU faculty member Brian Jones (drums), VCU alumnus Trey Pollard (guitar), and former VCU student Cameron Ralston (bass).
• Music's Stephen Vitiello has an article in the Syracuse City Eagle on his new multi-media sound art exhibition in Syracuse, NY.
• Music's Rex Richardson recorded his newest album, Jazz Upstairs, Volume 2 , in Athens, Greece in mid-March. The live recording took place at the Bar Guru Bar, the same venue used for Richardson's last live jazz release, Jazz Upstairs: Live at The Bar Guru Bar (Summit; 2006). To see a video of Rex on Yamaha Winds, click here. For more information and current news on Rex Richardson visit ww.RexRichardson.net.
• Music professor Sonia Vlahcevic has been chosen to give a lecture recital at the International Conference of the College Music Society in Zagreb, Croatia in June of 2009. Prof. Vlahcevic will present on the solo piano music of Andrzej Dutliewicz, composer and Director of Contemporary Music at the Chopin Institute in Warsaw, Poland.
• Music faculty member Dr. Patrick Smith has been invited to present a lecture/recital on the performance styles of jazz hornist Julius "Phantom" Watkins at the 41st International Horn Symposium at Western Illinois University in June. He will lead attendees through a guided lesson on the chorus of Watkins' original piece, Linda Delia, and will perform the work with the WIU Jazz Orchestra. Dr. Smith has also been named to the steering committee for the Seattle Julius Watkins festival, to be held in Seattle, WA in October 2009.
• Theatre faculty member Toni Leslie James' costume designs are featured in the musical Finian's Rainbow at Carnegie Hall.
• Theatre's Director of Costume, Toni-Leslie James won a 2009
Village Voice OBIE Award for her sustained excellence of costume design (with special reference to WIG OUT, Vineyard Theatre).
• Theatre Chairman David Leong is in preproduction for the off-broadway play Things of Dry Hours, directed by Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago Hudsen and starring Delroy Lindo. Leong continues to maintain and supervise the fight choreography for the current smash hit Broadway musical Billy Elliott.
