Edge - Spring 2016

the magazine of

edge The U ni v er sit y

Sp r i n g 2 0 1 6

of the

A rt s

David Yager president

Josephine Burri publisher vice president for advancement

Paul F. Healy editor associate vice president of universit y communication s

Benjamin Brotman BFA ’13 art director & designer

James Maurer production manager

Dana Rodriguez associate editor

contributing writers

contributing photographers

Ann de Forest Paul F. Healy Phoebe Kowalewski BFA ’04 Sima Rabinowitz Dana Rodriguez Nicole Soll TJ Walsh BFA ’07

Jason Chen BFA ’08 Joe Cucciniello ’17 Ian Douglas CJ Harker BFA ’14 Ken Yanoviak

cover image

Jonathan Williams ’19 (Vocal Performance) f r e s h m a n r e c i t a l , f e b r u a r y 2 0 16 photo: i a n dougl a s

postmaster: send address changes to: Edge c/o University Communications The University of the Arts 320 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102 edge, Volume 1, Number 17 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.

Please send all comments, kudos and criticisms to: Edge c/o University Communications, Letters to the Editor, 320 S. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102; or email news@uarts.edu.

Robert Haskell BFA ’14 (Sculpture) Expletive Deleted 2015,

p ly w o od s cul p t ure

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FROM THE PRESIDENT Welcome to this issue of Edge magazine, my first as president of the University of the Arts.

Having taken office in January, I have been excited to spend the past several months getting to know UArts and the members of the University community. It has been a fast-paced, interesting and thought-provoking introduction, and I have enjoyed meeting and talking with as many individuals as possible.

I have also made it a priority since my arrival to reach out and connect with key people in the external community in order to introduce UArts to many who are unfamiliar with us.

It is my mission going forward to ensure that together, University of the Arts faculty, students, alumni, staff, trustees and supporters work to build a reputation— locally, regionally and nationally—for this school as an institution that is unique and second to none.

And many of the building blocks for that path are in place, in particular our extraordinary faculty, our commitment to excellence, and our unique approach to educating unconventional thinkers who will become tomorrow’s creative leaders. And we have a significant advantage in attracting talented students and faculty: our location not only in the exciting and dynamic city of Philadelphia, but also at the very center of its burgeoning cultural community. There is good reason why one national media outlet after another is recognizing Philadelphia as a top destination for creatives, students, businesses, entrepreneurs and visitors alike.

I am not wearing rose-colored glasses, however. I have always made it my goal to determine not just the strengths of an organization, but also the challenges it faces. Most private colleges have faced economic stresses over the past several years, and we are not immune. My top priority is to address those issues and to improve the University’s fiscal situation in order to address needs such as facilities renewal, the introduction of new programs and technologies, enhanced support for our students and faculty, and a focus on excellence.

And we look ahead to this fall with great anticipation. That is when we will begin celebrating the University’s 140th anniversary—a time when we will honor our impressive past and begin moving ahead with a vision for this exceptional institution’s future. The University of the Arts has a long history of excellence and innovation, and I am very excited to be tasked with working to point it in the right direction going forward.

Recently, I sat down for an interview session with Edge editors, and the result is a question-and-answer article in these pages in which I expand on some of the topics I’ve touched on here. I hope you enjoy this issue of Edge, and I strongly encourage you to send me your feedback, your thoughts on the University’s future and any ideas you may have to make this institution an even more exceptional place.

Warm regards,

David Yager president

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TA BL E O F C O N T E N T S

PAGE 5

Q-AND-A: DAVID YAGER

PA G E 9 : F E AT UR E D S TO R Y

SHRINKING THE GLOBE

P A G E 17

140TH ANNIVERSARY

P A G E 19

GD50: WE ARE HERE

23 UArts News 29 Supporting UArts 31 Alumni Notes 39 In Memoriam 41 From the Archives 4

Q-AND-A: DAVID YAGER Edge magazine sat down with new UArts President David Yager to talk about why he’s here, what he values and what he envisions going forward.

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PHOTO: CJ Harker BFA ’14

Why did you want to become the next president of UArts? What made this job appealing to you?

From the institutional standpoint, the most important piece was in place here, and that’s the quality of the faculty and their dedication to students. It’s very difficult to build a new faculty—buildings and other components of a university are important, but the quality of your faculty is what makes a school a top-tier institution.

And the city of Philadelphia is an exciting place to live; the scale is very manageable, but it has everything, and in multiples.

High-level performances and art, and the restaurant scene is fantastic. As an artist, I like the city’s grit; I still like that things can be discovered that you didn’t know existed, that things are still being made here and that artists can still afford to live here. There’s a new energy here that’s really exciting, and we’re in the center of it.

Your own background as an artist, designer and educator in a range of fields mirrors UArts’ emphasis on crossing boundaries and disciplines.

That seems like more than a coincidence.

That’s right. My whole life has been exploding and expanding opportunities for students and faculty, breaking siloes, and building more open-source environments. If you look at the world out there—the performance world, the visual arts world, the design world—the best in those worlds aren’t worrying about what silo they’re in, they’re taking pieces from anything that makes sense. We should be breaking the rules—that’s who we should be, and there shouldn’t be any boundaries.

The more we start thinking about that and the more we embrace that, the more successful we’re going to be. But you have to find a balance: We need to figure out how much of the core of the discipline we focus on, how much do we allow students to go beyond that and at what point? We’re one of the few places where that can be done, because we have the largest portfolio of disciplines and because our curriculum allows for and encourages it to happen.

What are you most proud of accomplishing during your tenure as dean at UCSC? The most important thing is I changed the culture. If you don’t have the proper culture, the odds of being successful are small; many decisions are collaborative ones, and if you don’t have the right culture, you’re doomed to failure. At Santa Cruz, we had big siloes where people were not working together and we changed that into a culture of all of us in the Arts Division working together.

The second thing is that we raised a lot of money and were able to spend it on a lot of amazing things. We supported students in a lot of different ways, and faculty, for whom we were able to fund their research into their work as artists or for trying new things in the classroom. We also addressed deferred maintenance of infrastructure and equipment. And it happened during the worst budget cuts in the history of California.

The third one was the hiring of amazing faculty and starting new programs. Over my tenure, we were able to hire high-level faculty.

What is your top priority as you hit the ground running here?

It’s simple: I came here to raise the profile of the institution, to take a lot of the things that are being done here and make people realize the amazing things our faculty, students and alumni are doing. UArts is a well-kept secret, and it shouldn’t be. I want to spread the word, to bring in new friends, new supporters and new Board members, and connect everything to the “Excellence Rule,” the idea that excellence is our goal and our measuring stick in all we do across the University.

If you could single out one thing that successful organizations have in common, what would it be?

An institution has to decide what its core values are. It has to think in terms of “we,” not “I.” When I talk to parents, they really want to know what the institution that their son or daughter is going to values. We’re going through an exercise at UArts now where we’re asking our community to help us decide on the four or so core values that are most important to us, and so when we’re making decisions, we’ll reflect back on those values.

What do you see as the biggest challenges you face as the new president?

I think they’re national challenges: the cost of education and the cost of operating first-class institutions that don’t have billion-dollar endowments. We are an institution that’s been around a long time and has older buildings with maintenance needs that must be addressed. There are new programs and new technologies out there. We’ll try to prioritize those kinds of things, as well as supporting students who can’t afford tuition and trying to build a diverse staff, faculty and student population.

What are you looking forward to most as the president of the University of the Arts?

Meeting more of the faculty and staff and getting a better understanding of all the programs. Becoming more literate about everything that’s going on. Improving the facilities and salaries. And getting the first large check to name a building or support some of the things we need to improve.

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Featured Faculty Artist Adjunct Professor Christine Hiebert BFA ’82 (Graphic Design)

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Night Drawings 2015 p r o j e c t i o n

of dr aw ings in ch a rcoa l a nd cr ayon

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EDITORIAL ILLUSTRATIONS BY:

Lizzy O’Donnell ’17 (Illustration)

SHRINKING THE GLOBE UArts’ International Reach Makes the World a Smaller Place As the world has become increasingly interconnected —economies, social and cultural movements, the arts, and more—direct personal experience with that wider world has never been of greater value.

Recognizing both the shrinking of the globe and the critical importance of a broader perspective, the University of the Arts is actively expanding our international reach, enhancing relationships with artists and institutions around the globe, and welcoming inspiring and accomplished artists, arts educators and scholars to our campus.

Faculty and students are collaborating with international partners and developing new educational and performance initiatives. In the experiences of students and faculty traveling to far-flung places— and in both what they teach their hosts and the new approaches and ideas they bring back with them— the impacts of those cross-border and cross-cultural interactions are enormous. Put simply,these connections and experiences help to develop new ways in which the arts influence perspectives and transform lives and communities.

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Across the world‌ and into the future This past year alone, delegations of UArts leaders, faculty and graduate students toured eight of the most highly regarded arts academies and museums in China; met with leaders in arts and design in Seoul, South Korea; participated in student and faculty learning and performance programs in Japan, Europe, the U.K. and Israel; supported faculty research efforts with international colleagues; and explored opportunities for formal collaborations and joint programs with multiple institutes and academies in every country our delegations visited. In addition, UArts and the Korea National University of Arts in Seoul have enjoyed a robust and active exchange of students over the past several years, in programs ranging from Music to Fibers.

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“In this day and age, it’s increasingly hard for artists to be successful unless they have an international context for their work.”

— James Savoie

“In this day and age, it’s increasingly hard for artists to be successful unless they have an international context for their work,” says James Savoie, dean of Graduate & International Studies. “We believe strongly that making those exciting connections in many places across the globe, along with bringing top international artists and scholars here, is really important for both our students and our faculty.”

Among the excursions abroad during the 2015-16 academic year: UArts Dance students participated in programs with dancers and choreographers in Vienna, Paris, Japan and Israel; and a group of students from the Photography, Studio Art, Craft + Material Studies, Graphic Design and Interdisciplinary Fine Arts programs spent two weeks learning in the Florence, Italy, studios of the Santa Reparata International School of Studio Art. “Studying abroad, whether for two weeks or a semester, enriches students’ learning and expands their knowledge of the world,” says Photography program Director Anne Massoni, a leader of the latter trip. “It also evokes empathy and understanding of their fellow man and creates memories that stand out against their college experience.”

Joanna Settle, director of UArts’ Ira Brind School of Theater Arts, sees enormous value in such experiences. “It’s hard to make choices you’ve never heard of,” she says with a smile. “For students who study abroad, they become stronger in the world, their educations are placed in perspective and they become stronger in their education. It’s really beautiful.” For its part, the Brind School has developed an exchange program with the Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow, Scotland, and is in the process of building others.

Matthew Emig, a senior Dance major, says studying in France and Germany taught him “that I could choose to participate in the existing structures of art or money or power, or I could choose not to. Of course, each choice comes with consequences,” he adds, “but after studying abroad, I didn’t feel trapped into anybody else’s systems.”

Studying in Tel Aviv, Israel, was a “much-needed lesson that this world is much bigger than my own,” says senior Emma Lawes, also a Dance major.

“It made my tiny, nearly nonexistent problems seem irrelevant and has given me a drive to create work that reaches out further into the world as deeply as it is rooted in me. As artists, we have to hold ourselves accountable for making work that matters to more than just ourselves.”

And for Mike Hoover, a 2015 Photography graduate who studied in Florence, what left a lasting impact on his artistic practice was the spiritual power of the city. “Whether you’re religious, spiritual or neither one, there’s an intense energy that emanates from every corner of every street in that city,” he says. “Because of this . . . some of my artistic practice since is deeply involved in my spiritual past and religious history.”

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Opening the door to China In the summer of 2015, a delegation from the University of the Arts visited China for two weeks, signing memoranda of understanding for academic collaboration and cooperation with several major universities.

As a follow-up to a visit to the National Academy of Chinese Theater Arts (NACTA), UArts played host in Philadelphia to a delegation from NACTA, including its president, and professor Zhang Huoding, a Peking Opera star. At a ceremony, Zhang, who made her performance debut at Lincoln Center this past September, was named a UArts Honorary Distinguished Professor of Theater Arts.

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“These key connections we’re building with China’s cultural world give us access into their cultural heritage that others wouldn’t have,” says Mark Campbell BFA ’74 (Sculpture), dean of the College of Art, Media & Design. “Besides having one of the world’s richest cultural heritages, China is a vital contemporary art scene. And this kind of connection opens up an awareness of what’s going on in the largest economy and culture in the world.”

“These experiences— whether it’s our students and faculty going to places so unlike home, or amazing artists traveling here— all serve to expand our abilities to look at the world, And as we expand our views, we expand our abilities and our potential.”

–Donna Faye Burchfield

Bringing the world to Broad Street As students and faculty have moved out into the world, the road has also carried others to Philadelphia.

Over the course of the past year, UArts was the temporary home for several dozen visiting artists, writers and scholars. Twenty guest choreographers and dancers joined UArts from leading companies in Israel, Canada, Colombia, Romania, the Democratic Republic of Congo and U.S. cities to stage new work with UArts students, teach and participate in “Knowing Dance More,” a lecture series that explores current issues in the field.

“It’s essential for human beings to consider and understand ourselves in relation to others in the world,” says School of Dance Director Donna Faye Burchfield.

“And the center of dance is no longer the West.

For example, a woman choreographer from North Africa is making incredible dances.

“These experiences—whether it’s our students and faculty going to places so unlike home, or amazing artists traveling here—all serve to expand our abilities to look at the world,” Burchfield says.

“And as we expand our views, we expand our abilities and our potential.”

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Featured Alumni Artist Neon stringed instruments by Richard O. Roland BFA ’76 (Sculpture)

featured at the grand opening of the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale, Calif., February 2016

Left: DVN Neon Electric 5-String Violin: carbon graphite neck, ebony fingerboard and tuning pegs, aluminum adjustable tailpiece, and neon

Below: Roland’s daughter, Christina “Tina” Roland ’07 (Animation) , is pictured playing

the LAVA Violin, one of the first neon violins he created in 1991

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THE UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS CELEBRATES OUR 140TH ANNIVERSARY 1876–2016

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14 0 T H A N N I V E R S A R Y

The University of the Arts of today evolved from two century-old institutions: the Philadelphia College of Art (PCA) and the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts. We recognize the school’s official founding with the establishment of PCA in 1876 as part of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Some dozen name changes and a momentous merger later, the University of the Arts as we know it came to be. From the move to Broad and Pine Streets in 1893 to becoming the single largest landowner on the Avenue of the Arts today, the University has been— and continues to be—a leader in educating artists, designers, performers, writers and creative individuals of all kinds.

This September, the University of the Arts will kick off a year-long series of events to celebrate the University’s 140-year history, to demonstrate what makes UArts unique and to share our vision for the future.

A highlight of the activities will be the inauguration of President David Yager and a number of related activities—including an anniversary gala— in October 2016. Events will continue throughout the academic year.

The 140th Anniversary festivities will focus on engaging alumni, faculty, students and their families, staff, trustees, donors, and others to commemorate the institution’s heritage of innovation and influence, and to set the stage for the exciting years ahead.

Stay tuned for more details!

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GD50: WE ARE HERE Graphic Design at UArts celebrates a milestone anniversary

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GD50: WE ARE HERE

“We Are Here.” A simple, affirmative sentence. A bold declaration in the present tense. Straightforward on the surface, it’s a statement that shimmers with multiple meanings—announcing arrival, emphasizing endurance, staking a claim. For graphic designers, “We Are Here” resonates as a wayfinding term—a mark on a map to orient someone who is lost. It lets you see where you’ve come from and plot a route to where you are going.

This September, the Graphic Design program at UArts turns 50, and “We Are Here” is the theme for marking that milestone. In a weekend of exhibitions, events, a daylong symposium and a party, Graphic Design alumni, students, and faculty past and present, along with well-wishers from the global design community, will connect the dots between past and future—while celebrating in the here and now.

Fifty years ago, the Graphic Design program’s founder, Ken Hiebert, immersed in the avant-garde principles of Swiss design, revolutionized the way graphic design was taught in this country. He developed an innovative program that integrated the universalist visual design approach taught in Basel by his mentor, Armin Hofmann—as a hands-on, perceptual process—with a Liberal Arts degree program. Hiebert and his pioneering international faculty successfully translated the Swiss approach to an American idiom. One of the first Graphic Design programs in the country, it remains one of the most acclaimed and most influential.

“We want to acknowledge this with fanfare,” says Christine Fischer BFA ’84 (Graphic Design), co-chair, with Graphic Design Program Director Chris Myers, of the GD50 festivities’ steering committee.

But Fischer and the committee of alumni from every generation and current and past faculty did not want a commemoration that simply catalogued the accomplishments of five decades. “We want to look at the heritage in a different way,” says Fischer. “We want to celebrate the thread that has existed through every era, that still exists and has sewn this program together.”

That common thread over five decades is the continuous, rewarding and energizing relationship with Swiss design. The points of Swiss connection will sparkle throughout GD50, with a show of Hofmann’s last works and a selection of his famous theater and museum posters at UArts’ Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery.

A daylong symposium on September 24 will feature keynote speaker Philip Burton BFA ’68 (Graphic Design), a student of Hofmann’s who continued the UArts legacy by founding the Graphic Design program at the University of Houston and reinforces our Swiss connection as executive director and faculty of the famous Summer Graphic Design Program in Brissago, Switzerland. A screening of “Teaching to See” brings an inspirational end to the day. The acclaimed film celebrates the slow, contemplative, gestural approach to form-making practiced and taught by Inge Druckrey, an influential longtime UArts teacher whose work embodies the core values of the Swiss approach to design.

GD50 will celebrate change as well. Weekend events will include demonstrations of student projects, some in response to real-world clients’ needs, many in media not even imagined 50 years ago. And the symposium will be led by a panel of designers and scholars working on the cutting edge of design practice probing the future of design education and visual communications.

But openness to change has always been a significant part of the Graphic Design program’s revolutionary approach.

It’s through the core values—the grounding in design fundamentals—that Graphic Design alumni from UArts recognize each other and share a common bond. “The beauty,” says Fischer, “is that the core elements of learning to see through drawing, through searching out form, through disciplined looking . . . those core values still exist.”

Hiebert, reflecting on the revolution he launched half a century ago, looks forward to the festivities ahead: “I hope to see alumni of every generation I taught and every generation since, joining to exchange personal stories with a deep-seated link. I look for conviviality and joy about the past, of course, but a real sense of being here in the present, always evolving.”

We Are Here.

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Featured Student Artist Rebecca Kolodziejczak ’16 (Craft + Material Studies) For Your Entertainment (detail): b a s s w o o d a n d p o p l a r , shaped and te x tured with a bandsaw and finished using a three-s tep pa inting a nd dry brush proce s s

PHOTO BY: Ken Yanoviak

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UARTS NEWS

AROUND CAMPUS Jay Baker Named Dean of Liberal Arts Associate Professor Jay Baker has accepted the position of dean of Liberal Arts after serving as interim dean throughout 2015. Baker began at UArts as a part-time faculty member in 1998, teaching a broad range of Liberal Arts classes. He has also chaired a number of committees, including the Liberal Arts Course and Curriculum Committee, was the Liberal Arts representative on the Core Studies Planning Committee and chaired the former University Committee on Instruction. Baker is an active and valued contributor to the Council of Deans and an excellent advocate for the Division of Liberal Arts.

UArts Launches New Game Art, Writing for Film + Television Programs The University of the Arts is now accepting applications for two new BFA programs launching in fall 2016: Game Art and Writing for Film + Television. In the new Game Art program, led by Associate Professor and alumna Michelle Rothwell MID ’97 (Industrial Design), students will learn to enhance models and environments with convincing textures, lighting and visual effects, and master basic and advanced principles of art and animation. Ideal for aspiring screenwriters, the Writing for Film + Television program offers students the opportunity to develop their passion for visual storytelling, story structure and character development. The program is directed by Emmy-nominated producer Diane Walsh, who is an associate professor in the Division of Liberal Arts.

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UArts Awarded PSEA Seal of Recognition The University of the Arts is a proud recipient of the Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) Seal of Recognition for Professional Development for the non-matriculated courses offered through the Professional Institute for Educators and its master’s programs.

Corzo Center Awarded $15K ‘StartUp PHL’ Grant The University’s Corzo Center for the Creative Economy has been awarded a $15,000 StartUp PHL Call for Ideas Award, given to organizations that provide programs and events to support entrepreneurship in Philadelphia. The grant supports the Center’s “Introduction to Entrepreneurship” program that took place in January 2016 in partnership with the Philadelphia Free Library’s Business, Science and Industry Department. The interactive, two-week course was designed to introduce the principles of entrepreneurship to the creative community.

STUDENT NEWS

Graduate Ensemble Featured in ‘All About Jazz’ Like No One Else, the latest release by the School of Music’s Graduate Ensemble, received a glowing review in the January 12, 2016, issue of All About Jazz. The recording was produced by Professor Don Glanden, head of the graduate Jazz Studies program, and features Dimitrios Angelakis MM ’15 (Jazz Studies), Tal Shtuhl MM ’16 (Jazz Studies), Daniel Nissenbaum MM ’15 (Jazz Studies), Conner Saltzer ’16 (Percussion) and Ryan Kuhns BM ’10 (Bass).

Art Ed Student Is Co-Author, Picture Editor for New Book First-year Art + Design Education graduate student Julien Tomasello MAT ’17 (Visual Arts) has recently released his second book, a hardcover titled Art + Fashion: Collaborations and Connections Between Icons (Chronicle Books). An award-winning art and photography editor, Tomasello serves as co-author and picture editor on this latest release, which features artist and fashion icon collaborations spanning numerous eras. He was also picture editor on his first book, The New York Times best-selling Pantone on Fashion: A Century of Color in Design (Chronicle Books, Fall 2014).

New Generation of ‘Applejacks’ Features Students, Faculty, Alumni What do you get when you mix up-and-coming musicians like Jimmy Boyle ’16 (Trumpet), Reed Bodenstein ’17 (Composition), Sam Riessen ’17 (Guitar), Jake Kaplan ’16 (Bass), Conner Saltzer ’16 (Percussion), Nick Lombardelli BM ’15 (Trombone) and Phil Hansen BM ’15 (Saxophone) with School of Music Adjunct Assistant Professor Kevin Hanson and modern jazz masters like Steve Beskrone, George Young, Hector Rosado and Demetrios Pappas? A new generation of The Applejacks, an instrumental studio group originally formed in the 1950s by the late Philadelphia songwriter/producer Dave Appell, who co-wrote and/or produced such gold and platinum hits as “Let’s Twist Again,” “South Street,” “Mashed Potato Time” and “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ’Round the Ole Oak Tree.” Best known for such Top 40 hits as “Mexican Hat Rock” and “Rocka-Conga,” The Applejacks have come full circle, with a special performance at Philly’s World Cafe Live last December that kicked off the release of their new self-titled album. A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales went to the Dave Appell Student Musical Instrument Fund at the University of the Arts.

UArts Grad Students Take Over Penn Museum’s Instagram Students and faculty in the MA in Museum Communication program took over the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology’s Instagram feed last December, posting their own photos of some of the museum’s ancient animals as part of the Media for Museum Communication course.

Student Band Gaining Recognition Festive fusion band Out of the Beardspace, which features School of Music students Sam Gutman ’18 (Keyboards) and Jeremy Savo ’18 (Guitar), is gaining recognition in the music world with recent spotlights in online publications like Live for Live Music and Live Music Daily, which includes them as part of “a new invasion of outstanding bands [from Philadelphia] ready to take their music to the next level and make an impact in music throughout the country.” The band is also gearing up for its annual Beardfest, a three-day music, art, education and community festival taking place June 16-18 at Paradise Lakes Campground in Hammonton, N.J.

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UARTS NEWS FACULTY NEWS School of Music Faculty/Alum Wins Latin Grammy Congratulations to School of Music faculty member and alumnus Arturo Stable MM ’10 (Jazz Studies), who played percussion on the Paquito D’Rivera album Jazz Meets the Classics, which won a Latin Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album during the November 19, 2015, ceremony. Stable was also part of the 2014 Grammy Award-winning album Money Jungle: Provocative in Blue by drummer Terri Lyne Carrington.

Exhibit by Museum Studies Faculty, Alums Nominated for Global Fine Art Award “Beneath the Surface: Life, Death and Gold in Ancient Panama,” a University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology exhibit that was created by several Museum Studies faculty members and alumni, was nominated for a 2015 Global Fine Art Award in the Best Ancient Art Exhibition category. The project was led by alumna Polly McKenna-Cress MFA ’95 (Museum Exhibition Planning + Design), associate professor and director of the MEPD program, and Richard Cress, a master lecturer in the MA in Museum Education program. Other nominees in the category included the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Hermitage Museum and the Getty Museum.

Brind School Faculty Member Featured in ‘American Theatre’ Ira Brind School of Theater Arts Master Lecturer César Alvarez was featured in the October 13, 2015, issue of American Theatre magazine in an article titled “César Alvarez Is Changing the American Musical Form, and the World.” The New York-based composer, lyricist and performer serves as the artistic director of the Brind School’s annual “Polyphone Festival,” a multiday event featuring new and emerging musicals by the UArts community.

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Music Faculty’s Score Featured in HBO Documentary School of Music Master Lecturer Aaron Levinson, a Grammy Award-winning producer and composer who teaches in the Music Business, Entrepreneurship + Technology program at UArts, had his score featured in the HBO documentary “Toe Tag Parole: To Live and Die on Yard A.” Created by Oscar-winning directors Alan and Susan Raymond, the film features exclusive, unprecedented access to California State Prison, a maximum-security facility in the Mojave Desert.

Professor’s New Commission on Display in NYC Craft + Material Studies Distinguished Visiting Professor Warren Seelig, an American Craft Council Fellow and a 2016 Art Unleashed Spotlight Artist, recently completed a commission for Oppenheimer Financial, which is on display at 2 World Financial Center in New York City. The 23-foot-long piece titled “Colored Light/ Suspended Animation” took Seelig’s team more than a month and a half to fabricate.

Professor Discusses David Bowie’s Legacy, Hillary Clinton on Salon.com University Professor of Humanities & Media Studies Camille Paglia was interviewed on Salon.com about the legacy of David Bowie, who died on January 10, 2016. Paglia, who has often hailed the music icon as one of her central influences—in particular for her book Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson—wrote a catalogue essay on Bowie for the Victoria & Albert Museum’s 2013 show of his costumes.

Sexual Personae was also included on the New York Public Library’s list of Bowie’s 100 favorite books, which went viral after his death. Paglia also had a featured piece on Salon.com about presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, who she contends suffers from “blame-menfirst” feminism. “Hillary’s sometimes impatient or patronizing tone about men, which can perhaps be traced to key aspects of her personal history, may prove costly to her current campaign.”

Faculty Member Helps Local Communities Through Residency Adjunct Professor John J. H. Phillips took part in an artist residency called Neighborhood Time Exchange, an experiment in social art curated by Broken City Lab of Vancouver. Invited artists of various disciplines worked both on their studio practice and on community-sourced projects to enhance local neighborhoods. Phillips’ three-month residency included working with the Mantua community to paint a 470-foot-long barricade as a welcome banner for the neighborhood and completing a documentary video on the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech at 40th and Lancaster Avenue for the H.U.B. Coalition in West Philadelphia. Recent grad Chelsea Blackmore BFA ’15 (Film + Video) assisted Phillips with the recording of the celebratory parade and speeches.

Director of MFA in Devised Performance Named Eisenhower Fellow Quinn Bauriedel, co-founder and co-artistic director of Pig Iron Theatre Company and director of the UArts/Pig Iron MFA and Certificate programs in Devised Performance, has received an Eisenhower Fellowship.

Fellows were selected from a highly competitive pool of applicants from across the United States and will travel abroad on an intensive four- to five-week individualized professional program.

Professor’s New Book of Poetry Gains Recognition Beast, a book-length collection of poetry by Professor Mara Adamitz Scrupe, has been awarded the National Federation of State Poetry Societies Press’s Stevens Manuscript Competition Prize. Her poems have also been short-listed or named a finalist for several national and international literary awards. Scrupe, who serves as director of the University Common Curriculum, celebrated the book’s release by hosting a book launch party for the UArts community in October.

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UARTS NEWS ALUMNI NEWS Illustration Alumnus Reimagines Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice’ As Beloved Book Turns 150 To mark the 150th anniversary of the Lewis Carroll classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, renowned artist and UArts alum Charles Santore BFA ’56 (Illustration) has reimagined the beloved book’s characters in drawings for two special editions. Cider Mill Press has already released a stunning collector’s edition of the original manuscript, Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, featuring 40 of Santore’s never-before-seen pencil sketches. He continues to work on the anniversary edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which will feature the completed watercolors.

Sculpture Alumnus Is Costume Designer for ‘Star Wars’

“It’s possible that no single person is going to exert more influence over fashion trends in the coming year than Michael Kaplan BFA ’71 (Sculpture),” says Elle magazine of the UArts alum who was the costume designer for the history-making blockbuster “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” In addition to Elle, he was featured in People, Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly, The Philadelphia Inquirer and other publications in advance of the movie’s highly anticipated release last December.

Kaplan has also designed costumes for the latest “Star Trek” films, as well as for “Blade Runner,” “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” “I Am Legend,” “Burlesque,” “Flashdance” and “Fight Club,” among others.

He began his career in the mid-1970s working for designer Bob Mackie on “The Sonny and Cher Show,” with an initial task of “metallicizing” a pair of Cher’s shoes to match one of Mackie’s glitzy gowns.

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Illustration Alumnus Named to ‘Forbes’ 30 Under 30 List Daniel Fishel BFA ’09 (Illustration) has been named to Forbes magazine’s 2016 “30 Under 30: Art & Style” list. The Queens, N.Y.-based illustrator is included in a group that is “creating and designing the future, from the gallery to the runway.” Fishel was also included on Print magazine’s 2015 New Visual Artists list as one of “15 brilliant creatives under 30.” His work, featured in such publications as The Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and Boston Globe, also includes a set of tarot cards for The Portlandia Activity Book and two book covers for award-winning writer Nick Hornby.

Alumna Nominated for 2 Grammys Blues-pop singer Elle King ’12 (Multidisciplinary Fine Arts) was nominated for two Grammy Awards for her top 10 smash “Ex’s and Oh’s.” The 25-year-old Brooklyn, N.Y.-based alumna, who is the daughter of comedian Rob Schneider and former model London King, co-wrote the hit, which was up for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Performance. The 58th Annual Grammy Awards aired live on February 15.

Sculpture Alumnus Chosen to Create WWI Memorial in DC UArts alumnus and master sculptor Sabin Howard BFA ’86 (Sculpture) was selected as part of the design team to create a National World War I Memorial at Pershing Park in Washington, D.C. Howard, who taught anatomy in the University’s Illustration program for a number of years, collaborated with architect Joseph Weishaar on the winning concept titled “The Weight of Sacrifice.” The design includes long bronze walls covered with bas reliefs that will be executed by Howard based on his own drawings; he will also create a three-dimensional sculpture.

Work by Alumnae, Staff in 39th Annual PMA Craft Show

Dance Alumna Nominated for NAACP Image Award Sakina Ibrahim BFA ’11 (Dance) was nominated for a 47th Annual NAACP Image Award in the Outstanding Literary Work-Instructional category for her selfpublished book Big Words to Little Me: Tips and Advice for the Younger Self, dedicated to helping young girls develop the tools necessary to navigate life’s challenges, to build a healthy self-esteem and to lead towards becoming secure, thoughtful, self-loving adults. The Image Awards celebrate the outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts, as well as those individuals or groups who promote social justice through their creative endeavors.

Work by alumnae Alexandra Lozier BFA ’10 (Crafts) and Amy Roper Lyons BFA ’82 (Crafts) was featured in the 39th Annual Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show, which ran November 12-15, 2015, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center.

Work by Craft + Material Studies Shop Supervisor Rea Rossi was also included. Lyons, Rossi and Lozier, who took home the Prize for Excellence in Jewelry, were selected from more than 1,000 applicants. This premier show and sale of contemporary craft features the finest and most dynamic craft artists in the United States.

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SUPPORTING UARTS The Aidan Doyle Memorial Scholarship: Celebrating a Remarkable Young Life “You already know what I’m going to say,” Peggy Doyle told friends, family and faculty at the November 2015 UArts Memorial Tribute for her son, Aidan Doyle ’17 (Creative Writing). “This day would have been perfect if Aidan were here to perform with his classmates.” Aidan, who was majoring in Creative Writing and minoring in Music, loved being a member of the Rumble Bucket Drum Ensemble, which performed at his tribute celebration (along with the UArts Jazz Ensemble), and he loved a good story. Many stories were shared that day, among them Aidan’s journey to UArts, the place where he was living his dream.

At the age of 20, after completing his sophomore year at UArts, Aidan was killed in an automobile accident near his home in New Jersey. To celebrate his talent, generosity and kindness—and acknowledge Aidan’s success despite the many challenges he had faced in his young life—his parents, John and Peggy Doyle, created the Aidan Doyle Memorial Scholarship Fund.

A fundraising effort started by Aidan’s friends became a larger campaign because “so many people wanted to commemorate his life.”

UArts was the ideal place for Aidan, who was pursuing his dual passions of Creative Writing and Music. He was convinced UArts was right for him from his first visit as a high school junior. He was driven, ambitious and unconventional; it was freeing to find himself among peers who appreciated his creativity. Aidan played the clarinet (in high school, he was chosen for the All State band), cello (which he loved best), piano, flute, saxophone and drums. He had outlined a six-book series of science fiction novels, The Awakening of Fire, and had nearly completed the first manuscript. John and Peggy are collaborating with a UArts graduate to complete the book.

What makes Aidan’s story especially moving is the way it began. “When he was 5 years old, we were told by a school psychologist to not expect much,” said John and Peggy. Aidan had been diagnosed with multiple hearing and learning disorders. But John and Peggy told their son that with patience and hard work, he could achieve whatever he wanted, and they were right—Aidan persevered and excelled. They hope the Aidan Doyle Memorial Scholarship will be awarded to a student who has overcome extraordinary challenges in learning and who wants to study Creative Writing or Music.

The Doyles have raised nearly $15,000 for the scholarship fund and hope to increase the fund to $50,000.

Meeting challenges is something at which they excel.

John, an innovative Wall Street tech expert, places first in his age group in many 5K road races; Peggy ran the Philadelphia half-marathon for the first time to raise funds for the UArts scholarship, and she plans to run the race to support the scholarship every year. “Maybe I can win in my age group when I am 90,” she says.

Every attendee at the Memorial Tribute received a booklet with one of Aidan’s stories illustrated by UArts classmates and a hat modeled on the original design that Souleye “Pap” Fall ’17 (Sculpture) had created for Aidan last year. “We’re grateful that Aidan had the opportunity to be part of the UArts community,” Peggy said. “He was beyond thrilled to be in Philadelphia and to be a student at UArts.”

To contribute to the scholarship, please call the Advancement Office at (215) 717-6147 or visit uarts.edu/donatenow and select the Aidan Doyle Memorial Scholarship from the designation menu.

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PHOTOS: Provided by Peggy & John Doyle

SUPPORTING UARTS GOING LIVE! It’s no small feat to mount a live concert with a national touring group—booking headliners and opening acts, promoting and marketing the show, and managing the production. Live performance has always been a cornerstone in the promotion of new music.

“Today, more than ever, as the music business evolves, live performance is the powerful bridge that connects artists and audiences.” This is the insight that motivated UArts Trustee Laurie Wagman to collaborate with the Music Business, Entrepreneurship + Technology (MBET) program to create “Laurie Wagman Presents,” a series of concerts run entirely by students.

To pursue careers in the music business, students are exploring and utilizing the new mechanisms and technologies that surround live performance and music production. There’s no better way to learn about event production than hands-on experience. Wagman should know. She founded and guided American Theater Arts for Youth, the nation’s largest production company serving young audiences.

“Laurie Wagman Presents” kicked off in October with indie rock band Lithuania, which includes UArts alumni Dominic Angelella BM ’08 (Guitar) and Eric Slick BM ’08 (Music Performance), and opening act Mother, an MBET student band. A second concert followed in December featuring Frances Quinlan of the popular group Hop Along. MBET student Matt Diamond ’18, aka Little Tyrant, opened the concert. Several shows are in the works for spring 2016, each featuring a different style of music. A team of 15 students has been securing the talent, organizing, promoting and producing the events. Wagman’s generous gift supports artist fees and production costs.

“We want to give students a realistic take on the industry,” says Assistant Professor Michael Johnson, performer, producer, recording engineer and MBET program director. “In the music biz, the old models no longer apply. Our students are exceptionally creative, and we’re preparing them to shape the industry, not just adapt to it.”

Scarlet Hernandez ’16 (MBET), one of three principal event organizers (all upper-class students) and marketing assistant for professional concert production company AEG Live, says that working alongside freshmen and sophomores is a significant part of her involvement with “Laurie Wagman Presents.” “Being successful means passing on information and helping to educate others. That’s one of the really special things about this opportunity,” she says.

In order to expand opportunities and develop expertise, “Laurie Wagman Presents” will also offer symposia, master classes and workshops to enable students to learn from and network with professionals in the industry. The MBET program is one of the fastest growing at UArts, and demand for participation continues to grow. “Clearly, the MBET faculty is uniquely experienced and committed,” says Wagman. “They understand the special skills needed to thrive in this evolving music scene. UArts is a remarkable institution with a student body that brings fresh creativity and energy to our world.”

Concerts in the series are free for students, faculty and alumni. There are plans to offer tickets to the larger community in the future. “The impact of this series goes beyond city limits,” says Johnson. “We’re creating a new national reputation for UArts through this unique program.”

PHOTOS: Joe Cucciniello ’17 (Photography)

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ALUMNI NOTES

1960s

1890s

Award-winning documentary “BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez,” featuring a score by School of Music Professor Emeritus Evan Solot BM ’67 (Trumpet), BME ’67 (Composition), MM ’75 (Composition) and cinematography by Film + Video Assistant Professor Michael Attie, had its national broadcast premiere on PBS’s World Channel this March. The film also screened at the Painted Bride Art Center in November 2015.

Work by African-American sculptor Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller DIPL 1898 was included in the “We Speak: Black Artists in Philadelphia, 1920s-1970s” exhibition at the Woodmere Art Museum. Held from September 2015 through January 2016, the exhibit featured over 70 paintings, photographs, sculptures and prints produced by black artists living and working in Philadelphia during that 50-year period, including fellow UArts alumni Allan R. Freelon, Sr. DIPL 1916; Samuel Joseph Brown DIPL ’30 (Teacher Training), ’35 (Pictorial Expression); Claude Clark DIPL ’39 (Illustration); Paul F. Keene, Jr. DIPL ’41 (Illustration); Jerry Pinkney DIPL ’60 (Illustration); and Deborah Willis BFA ’75 (Photography). “We Speak” also focused on a number of the city’s institutions and cultural organizations that supported black artists at that time, including the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts), where Fuller received a scholarship in 1894.

1950s Eileen Taber Goodman BFA ’58 (Illustration) had an exhibition of her work at the Woodmere Art Museum in November 2015. “The Weight of Watercolor: The Art of Eileen Goodman” celebrated one of Philadelphia’s most respected realist painters and an innovator within the city’s long-established tradition of still life painting.

The exhibition included work spanning five decades of the artist’s career, from her early figurative drawings, prints and oils, to her recent watercolors. Her work is in the collections of Bryn Mawr College, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the National Gallery of Art.

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1970s Christopher Darway BFA ’70 (Crafts), Holly Goeckler BFA ’85 (Crafts) and Jimin Jung BFA ’15 (Craft + Material Studies) exhibited work at “Craft Forms 2015,” an international juried exhibition of fine contemporary craft that is dedicated to promoting an understanding and appreciation of contemporary craft while providing a venue for established and emerging artists to exhibit their work.

Barbara Sosson BFA ’71 (Painting), along with invited colleagues Carolyn Newhouse and Elizabeth Wilson, exhibited at the Da Vinci Art Alliance in Philadelphia. The three-person show, curated by Sosson, featured works by three artists in three different styles.

Cheryl Goldsleger BFA ’73 (Painting), painter and visual artist, was appointed the new Morris Eminent Scholar in Art at Georgia Regents University in Augusta, Ga., beginning in fall 2015. Her solo exhibition “Explorations” was on view in the Mary S. Byrd Gallery in Washington Hall on the Summerville campus in November 2015.

David Graham BFA ’76 (Photography), who is a professor in the University’s Photography program, was featured in the online newsletter Blouin ArtInfo as part of its slide show of what to see at Paris Photo, an international photography conference that took place November 12-15, 2015, at the Grand Palais in Paris.

Peter Olson BFA ’77 (Photography) and nine other artists opened “Memories and Mourning, Contemporary Cremation Urns” at the Clay Studio in September 2015.

John Carlano BFA ’78 (Photography) and Julianna Foster MFA ’06 (Book Arts + Printmaking), both faculty members at UArts, were interviewed on G-Town (the Sound of Germantown) Radio’s “Morning Feed” program. The pair recently collaborated on an exhibit titled “Ping Pong,” which was on display at 1816 House Gallery last fall.

Kathleen Greco BS ’79 (Industrial Design), MFA ’15 (Studio Art) and Sue Carrie Drummond MFA ’15 (Book Arts + Printmaking) were featured in a group exhibition titled “2015 Master of Fine Arts Biennial” at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts.

Brian Alegant BM ’82 (Piano) was named a 2015 U.S. Professor of the Year for undergraduate institutions by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. One of only four professors selected out of nearly 400 nominees, Alegant is the first music teacher to ever be granted this honor. He is the director of the Division of Music Theory and the Barker Professor of Music Theory at Oberlin College and Conservatory, where he has taught since 1996.

Joanne DeWald BFA ’87 (Illustration) recently released Paper Sculpted Meals, published by They Draw & Cook, the Internet’s largest collection of illustrated recipes created by artists from around the world. The book is a collection of 30 recipes illustrated by DeWald with paper sculptures.

1990s

Amy Kann ’79 (Sculpture) was selected as a finalist to develop a public art concept for the reconstruction of the Narberth Avenue Bridge, in Narberth, Pa. Kann is known for her detailed, classically inspired relief work.

She is the current vice president of the National Sculpture Society.

Philadelphia-based 1812 Productions, an award-winning comedy theater company co-founded

by UArts alumni Jennifer Childs BFA ’90 (Acting) and Peter Pryor BFA ’90 (Theater Arts), is the winner of a 2016-2017 Barra Award. The $50,000 unrestricted grant from the Barra Foundation will be distributed over two years.

1980s

Arthur Taylor ’90 (Theater) won the New Jersey Association of Community Theatres Award for his choreography in the Road Company of Williamstown, N.J.’s production of “The Color Purple,” staged at the Grand Theater of Williamstown. Professionally, Taylor has tap danced with his partner, Robert Burden, Jr., as Tap Team Two with the Fly Squad of “Riverdance” in Europe, was voted Artist of the Year with Young Audiences of America, and has choreographed a video featuring the directorial premiere of Grammy Award-winning neo-soul artist Jill Scott. Additionally, Taylor is executive director of IMAGINE…Dance Theater of Camden, N.J., and serves as a board member of the International Association of Blacks in Dance.

Ron Kerber BM ’80 (Saxophone), along with fellow School of Music alums and faculty members Chris Farr BM ’94 (Saxophone), MAT ’95 (Music Education); Matt Gallagher MM ’01 (Jazz Studies); Mike Kennedy BM ’91 (Guitar), MM ’08 (Music Performance); and Micah Jones MM ’99 (Jazz Studies), make up, in part, “Power of Ten,” a chamber jazz ensemble.

The group was invited to perform at the Jazz Education Network Conference in January 2016. To celebrate and prepare for the performance, the group performed two sets at Chris’ Jazz Cafe in Philadelphia in November 2015.

The performance coincided with the anniversary of the release of their CD Earth Tones.

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Anthony Morrow BFA ’92 (Illustration) recently returned to the Philadelphia area. He currently has two companies, AnthonyMorrow.com and PXL.HOUSE. Morrow focuses mostly on post-production but also works on full production projects. AnthonyMorrow.com is his art licensing company. Under that name, he has worked with Target, Kmart, Martha Stewart, Walmart and Pottery Barn, among others. PXL.HOUSE is his production studio that works with celebrities, sports figures and major brands all over the world. Morrow says that he still utilizes the skills he developed as an Illustration major every day, but has expanded into areas that he never thought would be possible.

Heather Croston BFA ’94 (Jewelry/Metals) is the designer behind the Mighty Makers: Fun on the Ferris Wheel building set for K’NEX Brands, where she is a design manager. Created to introduce girls to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields, Croston’s Mighty Makers was nominated for a Toy of the Year (TOTY) award in the educational category. The TOTY Awards are sponsored by the toy industry to recognize the top toys available over the holiday season.

Erik Brubaker BFA ’95 (Wood) and Rebecca Carr Brubaker BFA ’95 (Sculpture) exhibited a piece at the Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center titled “On Sea Ice.” Christian “Patch” Patchell BFA ’95 (Illustration), who teaches in the University’s Illustration, Creative Writing and Pre-College programs, collaborated with Kelly Meissner BFA ’11 (Illustration) and her “Ugly Apparel” clothing label to create two new T-shirt designs featuring Patch’s characters from his animated short “The Brothers Brimm.”

“The Anthropologist,” a documentary by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Seth Kramer BFA ’96 (Film), was shown at the UN Climate Change Conference held in December 2015 in Paris. The film, which premiered at the DOC NYC Festival in November, looks at climate change through the lens of two anthropologists.

Mi-Kyoung Lee MFA ’96 (Book Arts + Printmaking), Fibers coordinator and associate professor, curated “Touched,” an exhibition of work by alumni from the Craft + Material Studies program that featured William Gerhard BFA ’97 (Crafts), Caitlin McCarthy BFA ’15 (Crafts), John Riggi BFA ’15 (Crafts) and Dot Vile BFA ’13 (Crafts).

Seth Monahan BM ’98 (Composition) is associate professor of music theory at the Eastman School of Music. In November 2015, Monahan was named the recipient of the Society for Music Theory’s 2015 Emerging Scholar Award. The award recognizes significant contributions to music theory, analysis or history of theory in work published in the prior three years. Monahan was recognized for his article “Action and Agency Revisited,” which appeared in the Fall 2013 issue of the Journal of Music Theory. In the article, Monahan develops a theoretical model that accounts for the many ways that analysts have attributed emotion, consciousness and volition to musical works and their internal elements, as well as to fictionalized versions of the composer and/or performers. After UArts, Monahan went on to receive his Master of Music degree in Music Theory at Temple University in 2002 and his PhD in Music Theory at Yale University in 2008.

2000s

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Adam Wallacavage BFA ’95 (Photography) had his first photography exhibit in more than 10 years in November 2015 titled “Shipwrecks of Unicorn Beach.” The exhibit was on display at LMNL Gallery in Philadelphia and was featured in Philadelphia Magazine.

Wallacavage is best known for his whimsical octopus chandelier sculptures.

Jordan Rockford BFA ’00 (Photography), a senior lecturer and academic advisor in the University’s Photography program, was commissioned by Israeli artist Gustavo Sagorsky to pen an essay to accompany Sagorsky’s new monograph, Apparitions. Sagorsky was featured in “Correspondences,” an exhibit of work by students and faculty from Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem that was curated by Rockford. In addition, a Q&A with Rockford was featured on the Strange Fire artist collective’s blog.

Bruce Garrity MFA ’01 (Painting) had recent work exhibited at 3rd Street Gallery in Philadelphia in September 2015.

Ryan Dunleavy BFA ’02 (Film) worked for the last 12 years at PBJS, a creative agency in Seattle, Wash., where he was the art director for motion graphics and video.

During his time at PBJS, Dunleavy worked on largescale events for clients such as Microsoft, Sephora and PayPal, and nonprofit organizations like the Gates Foundation and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

However, in October 2015, he left that longtime position to travel around the world for a year. His plans are to make art and volunteer along the way. He has a blog to record and share his travels at WeAreGo2There.com.

David Miller MA ’02 (Art Education) was named a 2015 Outstanding Secondary Art Educator by the Pennsylvania Art Education Association (PAEA). Miller’s passion for art education is what earned him the PAEA Award, which is given annually to recognize the hard work and dedication of art educators in Pennsylvania.

“Through content-driven projects, I try to explore with students things beyond art. I believe art is life and life is art,” he says. “I try to give them experiences that will benefit them in all their other courses, that can stretch across the curriculum and make them better human beings.”

Rachelle Lee Schneider BFA ’02 (Photography), a current School of Design staff member who is the author of the award-winning photo essay, book and exhibition Speaking OUT: Queer Youth in Focus, was invited to speak at Pennsylvania Comes Out for Freedom: A National Coming Out Day Celebration, held at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., in October 2015. This was the first LGBTQ community celebration held in the Capitol building. In addition, Speaking OUT recently won Best Bisexual, Transgender and LGBT Debut in the Rainbow Book Awards, which also named the book a runner-up in the Best LGBT Book and Best LGBT Nonfiction, Poetry, Visual Arts/Photography categories.

James Singewald BFA ’02 (Photography) was featured in the October 29, 2015, issue of the Baltimore City Paper for his series of images titled “Contact Sheet: Baltimore Block by Block.” The Baltimore-based photographer has been documenting the city’s blocks with his 4x5 camera and Fuji Velvia film for the last five years.

Abby Schmidt BFA ’04 (Crafts) had her fourth solo exhibition, “Subsidized Starvation,” at Paradigm Gallery + Studio in Philadelphia in September/October 2015.

Joseph Opshinsky BFA ’03 (Painting + Drawing) created 12 cut-paper collages, including one titled “The Pope in Philly,” that were on display at FrameWorks Studio & Gallery in a solo exhibition titled “Here & There.” The pope collage was picked up by NBC10 Philadelphia as a lead-in image for the station’s papal visit coverage in September 2015. FrameWorks is owned by fellow alum Kylie Grant BFA ’03 (Painting + Drawing).

“Songwriter Sessions: An Exploration of American Song,” a new series by Grammy-nominated faculty member and alumnus Ben O’Neill BM ’04 (Music Performance), premiered on Philly radio station WXPN. “The Hardest Thing,” a Cary Ann Hearst cover that was the ninth release in the 12-video series, debuted on the station’s local music program, “The Key.” “Songwriter Sessions” features interpretations of such contemporary American songwriters as Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder.

Miranda Clark-Binder MA ’05 (Museum Education) was selected to receive the 2015 Pennsylvania Art Education Association Outstanding Museum Art Educator Award. This award recognizes Clark-Binder’s exemplary contributions, achievements and service to art education at the state, regional and national levels.

Michele McKeone BS ’05 (Communication), founder of digital literacy program Autism Expressed, was honored as a Rising Star at the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 2015 Women of Distinction ceremony on November 17, 2015. Women of Distinction spotlights the region’s most influential business women “who are making a difference in their communities and blazing a trail for the rest of us.”

Faculty member Lauren Putty White BFA ’05 (Modern Dance) and her husband, composer/ musician Brent White, form Putty Dance Project. Together with producer/director Phil Sumpter, they created “iStand: Stories of An American Civil Struggle” at Community Education Center (CEC) over the 2015 Thanksgiving weekend. Putty White is an Ellen Forman Award recipient and is a nominee for a 2016 Pew Fellowship. Her company, in residence at CEC, currently consists of seasoned PHILADANCO dancers Roxanne Lyst and Joe Gonzalez, as well as Amanda Edwards, Isaac Lindy and Sarah Warren, who form a racially mixed and coherent ensemble.

Trish Maunder MA ’06 (Art Education), creative director and co-founder of Philly Touch Tours, was featured in the November 5, 2015, issue of the PhillyVoice.

Philly Touch Tours supports the inclusion of people with special needs into Philadelphia’s cultural life through accessible sensory tours. The article focused on a tour by students from Overbrook School for the Blind at Penn Museum.

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Mary Tasillo MFA ’06 (Book Arts + Printmaking) has expanded her nonprofit community print shop, book- and zine-making center, and rare publications library, The Soapbox, and has moved into a larger space at 4700 Kingsessing Avenue in West Philadelphia. To support the move, the organization launched “Step Up for the Soapbox,” a fundraising campaign with a goal of $15,000. Tasillo attributes her success to the programs offered at the University’s Corzo Center for the Creative Economy.

Sun Young Kang MFA ’07 (Book Arts + Printmaking) was named one of three winners of the 2016 Meyer Family Award for Contemporary Art, presented

by Main Line Art Center. Each artist received $1,000 and a solo exhibit at the 12th annual Betsy Meyer Memorial Exhibition, on display March 7-April 17. Senior Lecturer and fellow alum Matthew Courtney BS ’84 (Industrial Design) was also named a winner; Senior Lecturer Christine P. Day BFA ’99 (Crafts) was named a finalist. Kang was also interviewed on artefuse.com, where she spoke about what it means to make books as an art using techniques she learned and developed in the MFA program at UArts.

Work by Trevor Young BFA ’06 (Painting), which reflects the intersection of architecture and light, was showcased this winter at Addison/Ripley Fine Art in Washington, D.C. Young was also recently featured on modernluxury.com in a story titled “Man-Made America.”

Jeanette Berry BM ’07 (Vocal Performance) and her band Jeanette Berry and the Soul Nerds have released a debut album titled Allegiance to Love on iTunes.

In addition to Berry, who toured for two years as a backup singer with Grammy Award-winning artist Lauryn Hill, other band members include fellow alumni Ian Brick BM ’10 (Instrumental Performance), Anwar Marshall BM ’10 (Instrumental Performance), Elle Morris BM ’06 (Vocal Performance) and Andre Webb BM ’08 (Vocal Performance). The group participated in a mini-tour of the Northeast in December 2015.

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Jim Dessicino BFA ’07 (Sculpture) was featured on WHYY’s “Articulate with Jim Cotter” in October 2015 along with fellow alum Christian “Patch” Patchell BFA ’95 (Illustration).

Two projects by Devin Sidell BS ’07 (Industrial Design) were featured on Core77.com, the leading blog for industrial designers. The “Biomeme One3” turns the iPhone into a DNA analysis engine, while the “Grow Pod” creates a safe microenvironment for the growth of a vegetable seedling. Sidell, who is the lead industrial designer at Likuma Labs in Philadelphia, has been awarded three design patents and has had numerous other products brought to market.

David McBride BFA ’08 (Animation) formed his own animation studio in 2008, and in 2014 illustrated his own children’s book, Dimitri Has His Head in the Clouds.

Dotan Negrin BFA ’08 (Musical Theater), who in 2010 quit his day job, bought a truck and began his “Piano Around the World” tour, was featured on the “CBS Evening News” on September 4, 2015. The 24-yearold “wandering piano man” has lugged his 400-pound piano from coast to coast in the United States, to Central America and even to Europe, all in pursuit of bringing people together through the power of his music.

Aime Donna Kelly BFA ’09 (Acting) and Brandon Pierce BFA ’12 (Acting) were cast in Philadelphia Theatre Company’s production of “Exit Strategy.” The production, which ran during the month of February, was the East Coast premiere of Ike Holter’s new play.

André Trenier BFA ’09 (Illustration) was spotlighted on the YES Network, the official broadcast station of the New York Yankees. Trenier is the artist behind the beloved Yankees murals on River Avenue near Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

2010s Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighter Paul Felder BFA ’08 (Acting) was featured in the January 15 issue of the Boston Globe in advance of his UFC match at Boston’s TD Garden, which he won. The 31-year-old thinks his theater background gives him an advantage in the ring: “There are some guys who step into the octagon who might get nervous about the bright lights, the noise, the fans . . . but honestly, I enjoy that part of it. I got all that stuff in school.” Felder is also the winner of a 2012 BroadwayWorld Philadelphia Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Nathan Pankratz MFA ’08 (Studio Art) opened his second solo exhibition, “So many ways to say I love you, I think I’ll try every one,” at the Bridgette Mayer Gallery in November 2015.

Mark Caserta BFA ’10 (Ballet) returned home to Philadelphia in January to dance at the Prince Theater with Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, a modern dance company from Canada with whom he tours the world.

His stellar performance was featured in The Philadelphia Inquirer, which described him as “dancing to his hometown audience with a luxuriantly sensual vengeance.”

Clare O’Malley BFA ’10 (Musical Theater) starred in the Arden Theatre’s production of “Metamorphoses” and was featured in the October 22, 2015, issue of the South Philly Review.

Anne Elissa Rossman ’11 (Acting) married Selina Rochelle Liberman on October 31, 2015. They live in Arlington, Mass., where Rossman is teaching in the after-school program at Hardy Elementary School. She recently fight-directed “The Man from Willow’s Brook,” a Wax Wings production that premiered at Boston Playwrights’ Theatre in November 2015.

David Boyd BFA ’12 (Illustration) recently released Oni playing cards, which are inspired by the twisted demons, ogres and tricksters of Japanese mythology and are drawn from the tales of legendary warrior Minamoto no Yorimitsu and his four guardian kings found in the Otogizoushi and Noh theater.

Michael Studebaker BFA ’08 (Metals), owner of Studebaker Metals in Pittsburgh, was featured on the local CBS affiliate in a piece titled “Studebaker Metals Shining New Light on Metalsmithing.” Studebaker and his wife and partner, Alyssa Catalano, spoke about their recently opened store and metalsmithing business.

Brittany DeMaio BFA ’09 (Photography), who recently opened her own boutique family photography studio franchise with Little Nest Portraits in Montclair, N.J., was featured in Entrepreneur magazine. The former freelance photographer is enjoying “the tears of joy she often sees over a beautiful family portrait.”

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Corey Espinosa BFA ’12 (Multidisciplinary Fine Arts) and Ronald J. Kustrup BFA ’12 (Painting + Drawing), MAT ’13 (Visual Arts) collaborated on a non-profit in South Philadelphia called the KIND Institute, an after-school arts program for children that is also a gallery space with studios used by professional artists. Kustrup is the organization’s co-founder and Espinosa served as graphic designer and art teacher.

Jonathan Lyndon Chase BFA ’13 (Interdisciplinary Fine Arts) opened a solo show in October 2015 at the University’s Gallery 817. Chase creates figurative paintings that mine psychological and emotional experience.

Jessi Cosgrove BFA ’13 (Acting) has been cast in the reboot of the popular web series “Shotgun Mythos.”

Since March 2015, Cosgrove has performed stunts for the series, which was picked up by 20/20 Productions, including a knife fight, short falls and an unarmed fight. Her work in “Shotgun Mythos” can be seen at shotgunmythos.com, episodes 5 and 7.

John Souter BFA ’12 (Craft + Material Studies) exhibited at the Snyderman-Works Galleries in Philadelphia, December 4, 2015, to January 30, 2016.

His exhibition, “Forbidden Fruit,” was the culmination of three years of intensive research into color, form and language. Souter is the winner of a 2012 Windgate Foundation Fellowship and residencies at the Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center in Denmark, Anderson Ranch Art Center in Snowmass Village, Colo., and the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana, where he will continue to work through 2016. “Forbidden Fruit” was Souter’s second solo exhibition at Snyderman-Works Galleries, which showed his sculptures alongside his two-dimensional mixed-media wall pieces.

Christina Alberici BFA ’13 (Illustration) was a winner in the Illustrators of the Future Contest and will be honored at the 32nd Annual L. Ron Hubbard Achievement Awards event being held in April 2016. The contest, one of the most prestigious illustration competitions, is judged by some of the premier names in speculative fiction. Alberici will be flown to Los Angeles with other winners from all corners of the globe and treated to a weeklong workshop taught by the contest’s blue ribbon panel of judges, including Cliff Nielsen (Chronicles of Narnia), Larry Elmore (Dungeons and Dragons), Steven Hickman and others. The workshop will be followed by a gala awards ceremony.

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Qiang Gong BFA ’13 (Craft + Material Studies) was the costume and set designer for the American premiere of “Aza’io,” an Italian children’s opera created by the International Opera Theater. The one-act opera was performed at Philadelphia’s String Theory Charter School in October 2015 and featured Bobby Hill, the 14-year-old choir singer who became an international sensation when he sang for Pope Francis during his visit to Philadelphia in September 2015.

Sarah Hulsey MFA ’13 (Book Arts + Printmaking) was featured in the November-December 2015 issue of Harvard Magazine in an article titled “Worth a Thousand Words: A Printmaker Plays with the Hidden Patterns of Language and Art.” Hulsey received an AB from Harvard and a PhD from MIT, both in Linguistics, before attending UArts to further explore the subject through the art of printmaking.

Brittany Schrum MFA ’13 (Museum Exhibition Planning + Design) accepted a position as the curator of exhibitions at the Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society at the Sigal Museum in June 2015.

Jacqueline Bauwens BFA ’15 (Animation) took home the Grand Jury Prize at the 2015 Community Underground Film Festival, hosted by the Community College of Philadelphia, for her film “The Man Who Lives on a Hill.” Alumnus Mike Green BFA ’15 (Animation) won Best Film Directed by a University Student for his piece “Da Funk.”

Jotie Mondair BFA ’15 (Multidisciplinary Fine Arts) and Lauren Findlay BFA ’14 (Multidisciplinary Fine Arts) exhibited individually at Blick Art Materials on Chestnut Street in Center City Philadelphia. The Blick shows promote the work of UArts students and alumni and generally run for two months at a time.

Takashi Aoyama BFA ’14 (Photography) was featured in a Time magazine slideshow spotlighting some of the world’s landmark buildings showing solidarity after the 2015 terror attacks in Paris. His photo shows the Tokyo Skytree in Japan illuminated in the colors of the French flag. Takashi is currently a Tokyo-based Getty Images photographer.

Lauren Findlay BFA ’14 (Interdisciplinary Fine Arts) was featured in “Body Language,” a group exhibition held at Philadelphia’s Painted Bride Art Center in November/December 2015. The exhibit, which also included faculty member Laurie Beck Peterson, showcased artwork concerning the body, depictions of femininity and public expression of private self.

“Trenton Blacksmiths,” a solo exhibition by CJ Harker BFA ’14 (Photography), featured 11” x 14” palladium prints from digital negatives matted in 20” x 24” artist-made frames at Artworks Trenton, December 5, 2015-January 23, 2016. Harker also gave an artist talk on January 16.

Justin Kutner BFA ’14 (Photography) was featured in the PhillyVoice in an article about his South Philadelphia corner store photography project.

Submit your news for the next issue of Edge to alumni@uarts.edu.

Let us know about your latest exhibition or performance, new job, achievements, awards, articles—anything you would like to share with the UArts community.

High-res images can also be included and will be printed as space allows.

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In Memoriam Alumni Charles Reeder

Anthony Samuel Lane

Charles Reeder BFA ’52 (Art Education) passed away peacefully in his sleep on January 13, 2016, at the age of 90. A former resident of Havertown, Pa., Reeder resided at Columbia Cottage in Collegeville, Pa., at the time of his death. He served in the Army during WWII in North Africa and at the Battle of Anzio in Italy. After the war, he married Nancy Isabel Barrett, who predeceased him in 1994. He was an exceptional artist and served as president of the Philadelphia Sketch Club, America’s oldest club for artists. He attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art (now the University of the Arts) on the GI Bill following WWII and continued his education through to a Masters +60. Reeder taught art in the Upper Darby School District in both the junior and senior high schools. He is survived by his son, Steve Reeder, a senior lecturer in the University’s Division of Liberal Arts; his daughter, Janice Ellen Reeder-Highleyman; his sister, Lois McLatchie; and numerous loving in-laws, nieces and nephews, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Anthony Samuel “Tony” Lane BFA ’66 (Photography), 71, who was responsible for some of the most iconic images of the 1970s, died on January 1, 2016, in Oakland, Calif. Lane was born and raised in New York City, where he attended the High School for Art and Design.

He went on to study at the Philadelphia College of Art (now UArts) and upon graduation, was hired as assistant art director at Harper’s Bazaar before moving on to become art director at Holiday magazine.

Later, Lane was hired as a designer at Columbia Records, working along prominent designers Henrietta Condak and Paula Scher. While at Columbia, he created the iconic soft-focus cover art to Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Trouble Water in 1970, one of the best-selling albums of the decade. Over the years, he created album covers for a diverse set of artists, including Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand, the Beach Boys, Toto, Kenny Loggins and Carly Simon. His album cover design for Simon’s Boys In Trees won a Grammy for Best Album Package in 1978. In 1974, Lane became the third art director at Rolling Stone magazine, where he often worked with photographer Annie Leibovitz, graphic designer Milton Glaser and artist Kim Whitesides. He went on to become executive vice president and creative director at Design Co., creating identities for such brands as LaCroix Sparkling Water, Pacific Telesis and Wrangler.

As a freelancer, he designed logos for Global Pacific Records, HarperCollins Publishing and Kia. A memorial and exhibition were held in February in San Francisco.

John Duffy John Duffy CERT ’59 (Advertising Design), 73, of Springfield, Delaware County, a childhood artist who blossomed into a graphic designer, illustrator and teacher, died on December 30, 2015, of multiple myeloma at Delaware County Memorial Hospital. After beginning his undergraduate work at Temple University and serving in the U.S. Coast Guard during the Korean War, Duffy finished his undergraduate education at the Philadelphia College of Art (now UArts). After graduating, he launched his career as a commercial artist specializing in graphic design and illustration. His first job was as a staff artist for Strawbridge & Clothier in Philadelphia. Later, he became a freelance artist, working with clients throughout the Philadelphia area, including many department stores. Duffy was also one of the original instructors at the Art Institute of Philadelphia, where he shared his skills and experience with students until retiring in 1999.

Thomas McAnulty Thomas McAnulty BFA ’72 (Sculpture) died suddenly at the age of 73 after an accident near his home in New York City on January 15, 2016. McAnulty was an accomplished sculptor and professor who was passionate about his art and his teaching. He was raised in Philadelphia and initially studied to be a priest in the Catholic Church. He served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and attended college on the G.I. Bill, after deciding to leave the priesthood behind. McAnulty cobbled together odd jobs while working on his sculpture until he was offered a job at Adelphi University, where he would go on to help build the school’s art department. He worked there for 20 years and was serving as professor emeritus when he passed away.

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Carson Van Osten Carson Van Osten BS ’68 (Industrial Design), who began his career at Walt Disney Productions in 1970 as an illustrator of Mickey Mouse comic books, passed away on December 22, 2015, at the age of 70. One of his best-known works is the “Disney Comic Strip Artist’s Kit,” a seven-page primer on staging, perspective and other design fundamentals that is still in use today by the Walt Disney Studios and is regarded as a “Disney Bible.” Other projects to which Van Osten contributed were the logo concepts for Mickey Mouse’s 50th and 60th birthdays and the Disneyland Hotel clock tower “Mickey” in Paris.

More recently, he served as a consultant for the “Disney Epic Mickey” and “Where’s My Mickey?” games. During his 45-year Disney career, he held a variety of creative positions, including manager of Creative Services for Disney Consumer Products, vice president of Creative Resources for Disney Consumer Products, vice president of Creative Services for the European regional office of Disney Consumer Products in Paris and vice president of International Creative Development for the Disney Publishing Group. Van Osten was honored in August 2015 with a Disney Legends Award, which recognizes those who have made a significant contribution to the Walt Disney Company. Prior to his Disney years, Van Osten played bass in the rock group Nazz, which featured musician/songwriter/producer Todd Rundgren on lead guitar. The band opened for the Doors in 1967 and recorded one of Rundgren’s biggest hits “Hello It’s Me” in 1968 as the B-side to the group’s debut single “Open My Eyes.”

Faculty & Staff Ann Shengold

Tom Giacabetti

Ann Shengold BFA ’75 (Sculpture) passed away at the age of 62 on November 26, 2015. Shengold was an artist and art director whose creativity was an inspiration to all who knew her. Her career included directorships at Montauk Point Lighthouse Museum, the Smithtown Arts Council and the Knight Gallery at Spirit Square in Charlotte, N.C.

Longtime School of Music faculty member Tom Giacabetti passed away on December 17, 2015, at the age of 64. An adjunct assistant professor who taught guitar at UArts since 1991, Giacabetti was a wellknown guitarist and educator in the Philadelphia and Atlantic City areas. He performed with such jazz greats as Nancy Wilson, the Count Basie Orchestra, Dave Brubeck, Randy Brecker, Kenny Barron, Morgana King and the Michael Pedicin Quartet, among others. He also taught at Temple University, Rowan University and Bucks County Community College. Giacabetti is survived by his wife and two children.

Melissa Forgione Melissa “Bang Bang” Forgione BFA ’98 (Photography) of Dunmore, Pa., and Philadelphia, died on January 28, 2016, at the age of 39. She battled Crohn’s Disease courageously from the age of 16. Born in Scranton, she was a 1994 graduate of Dunmore High School and became a part of the dance, theater and film community after graduating from UArts in 1998. She danced and costumed for Altoids.com and was seen on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent.” As a burlesque and circus performer, Forgione spent many years conceiving, choreographing and costuming for Philadelphia’s infamous Peek-A-Boo Revue, entertaining for Jennifer Tilly, Chris Noth, Cirque du Soleil performers, the cast of “Saturday Night Live” and many Philadelphia Fringe Festivals.

Dancing was the love of her life. She also worked as a graphic designer for Scarlett Alley in Philadelphia. Forgione’s smile and her kindness were her greatest attributes, and she believed everyone was good and kind. She touched everyone’s life, leaving a part of herself with each of them. She is survived by her mother, her brother and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, godparents and extended family members.

Darko Cuglievan Darko Cuglievan BFA ’11 (Multidisciplinary Fine Arts) passed away at age 27 in the summer of 2015. Having always been interested in the arts, he began painting as a hobby, selling his first canvas at 16. Born in Lima, Peru, he had a passion for sculpture, which he discovered while studying at the University of the Arts. At the age of 21, he was given the opportunity to be a “copyist” in one of the greatest museums in the world, the Louvre, where he was taught how to paint like the old masters. Making his own oil paint from scratch, he had the chance to copy paintings from masters such as Goya and Flandrin. As his career involved broad knowledge in painting, sculpture and printmaking, his artwork showed a mélange of the techniques learned throughout his artistic life. He painted on canvas but sometimes called his sculptures his canvas. Cuglievan’s colorful paintings and sculptures focused on subjects like the femme fatale, sexuality, extreme beauty, glossiness and contradictions.

David Jenkins Ira Brind School of Theater Arts faculty member David Jenkins passed away unexpectedly on November 5, 2015, at the age of 39. Jenkins joined the University of the Arts full-time in the 2014-15 academic year as an assistant professor, after serving as a visiting professor the previous year. Over the course of his time at UArts, he was the musical director for numerous Brind School productions and was elected chair of the University’s Faculty Council in 2015. A 1997 graduate of Wilkes University with a BM in Piano (summa cum laude), Jenkins also served for several years as musical director of the Walnut Street Theatre, working with many other Philadelphia theater companies as well. His talents took him across the country and around the world to perform and conduct. His energy and personality made him an extremely popular member of both the UArts family and the Philadelphia theater community. Jenkins, who was married only three weeks before his death, is survived by his wife, his mother and his sister.

Carla Weinberg Carla Weinberg, an adjunct professor in the University’s Division of Liberal Arts, passed away on December 21, 2015, at the age of 77, after fighting valiantly against cancer for a number of years. She had been in hospice care in her home under the watchful care of her family since September. Weinberg was known at UArts for her elegance, her learning and her inimitable wit, with friends noting her warm smile, her keen intellect and her gentle good humor.

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A sample of the many course catalogs and admissions bulletins housed in the University Archives.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES THE 140TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS

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FROM THE ARCHIVES T H E 14 0 T H A N N I V E R S A R Y O F T H E UNIVERSIT Y OF THE ARTS

by Phoebe Kowalewski BFA ’04 (Printmaking) Cataloger/Processing Archivist, University Libraries This year marks a milestone in UArts’ history. Not only are we welcoming a new president, David Yager, but we are also celebrating the University’s 140th anniversary. On February 26, 1876, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania chartered our predecessor institution, the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art (PMSIA, now known respectively as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the University of the Arts’ College of Art, Media & Design). It is hardly surprising that, since our origins, the University of the Arts has undergone transformations. Some of the most noteworthy include the changes in our name and location, our 1964 separation from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and, perhaps most paramount, the 1985 merger with the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts (PCPA) and subsequent university status in 1987. One change that is not as emphasized as often is the evolution of our curriculum.

The changes in the courses and majors we have offered in the past 140 years illustrate not only the history of the University of the Arts, but our dynamism in the face of changing technological and cultural epochs and our deep connection to Philadelphia.

We started our existence as a trade school dedicated to the industrial arts through the “instruction in Drawing, Painting and Modeling as is required by designers and workmen in the various constructive and decorative arts” (1880-81 PMSIA catalog). Not to be confused with industrial design, industrial art is the application of the arts in industries such as textile design, cabinetry and metalwork, and was immensely popular in the face of rapid manufacturing developments of the late 19th century. At the time of PMSIA’s charter, Philadelphia was a major center of manufacturing and in the midst of preparing to host the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. It was the preparations for the exhibition that instigated our conception. Although we still have courses that harken back to our first years (such as painting, drawing and crafts), our overall focus has greatly diversified to encompass other art forms such as writing, multimedia and the performing arts, and we continue to evolve to embrace emerging technologies and philosophies.

Although we are a product of the Industrial Revolution, we are firmly rooted in the 21st century.

Here are some interesting facts about our curriculum gleaned from the many course catalogs and admissions bulletins stored in the Archives: 1. When PMSIA officially opened on December 17, 1877, at 312 N. Broad Street, the only course offered to its 100 enrolled students was Drawing.

2. Philadelphia Conservatory of Music (now the School of Music) founder Richard C. Schirmer was so displeased by the lack of affordable printed music available for his students that he brought a professional music engraver from Germany to create a large library of teaching music for the school. A number of these scores would later be purchased and republished by the Theodore Presser Publishing Company. Music Library users may notice Schirmer’s name printed on a number of scores on the shelves.

3. The School of Dance was originally founded as the Children’s Dance Theatre

by Nadia Chilkovsky Nahumck in the 1940s. Later known as the Philadelphia Dance Academy (PDA), the school was the first to teach Labanotation, a form of choreographic notation, to elementary school students.

4. Photography first appeared as a departmental major in 1954-1955, with faculty/ alum Sol Mednick as its director. According to the 1954-55 catalog, photography was “one of the fastest-growing art fields.” Over 40 years later, digital photography courses would be introduced in the 1997-1998 catalog.

5. In 1966, through federal funding, the Philadelphia Musical Academy (PMA, now the School of Music) established its Studio for Electronic Music Composition.

The center, located at the Academy’s 20th Street annex, included the fourth ever-created Moog synthesizer created expressly for PMA by R.A. Moog. Longtime faculty member/alumnus Dr. Donald Chittum BM ’56, MM ’57, DM ’63 co-directed the center with Andrew Rudin. The Moog is currently at home at the Merriam Theater, where it can still be used.

6. Industrial Design was the first department to offer a course in computers.

“Introduction to the Computer” appeared in the Fall 1974-Spring 1975 Curricular Catalog. This elective sought to familiarize students with computer technology using the Industrial Design department’s single terminal.

7. The Jazz Emphasis program was introduced as an official elective by the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts (PCPA, now the UArts College of Performing Arts) in 1977. Until this time, much of the official curriculum was centered on traditional western classical music (although a Jazz Workshop was started in 1966).

8. In 1996, the College of Media & Communication (CMAC) was formed as a response to the vast number of new media and technologies emerging in the late 20th century and introduced new majors such as Communication and Multimedia.

In September 2011, CMAC merged with the College of Art & Design (CAD) to form the College of Art, Media & Design (CAMD).

Do you have questions or comments? Please contact Phoebe at pkowalewski@uarts.edu.

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