ALUMNI NEWS SPRING 2020
The Gringa, a novel by ANDREW ALTSCHUL (18), was published by Melville House in March. OLIVE AYHENS (03,10,16) had a solo show, Urbanites and Ur-Beasts, at Bookstein Projects in NYC through December 20. TANYA BARFIELD (06) was named the winner of the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theatre Award. She was also appointed co-director with David Lindsay-Abaire of Juilliard’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program beginning in Fall 2020. AVANTIKA BAWA’s (17) solo show, #FFFFFF, was at Ditch Projects in Springfield, OR through March 1. NELLEKE BELTJENS (02,20) gave an art presentation at Sheridan College in March with Ucross Fellow Laurie Schwartz for the 3rd annual International Women’s Day presentation. MICHAEL BERMAN’s (14) new book, Perdido: Sierra San Luis, was published in November by the Museum of New Mexico Press. LISA BIELAWA (04) has been working on her new large-scale musical work Broadcast from Home, which integrates Bielawa’s original music with public testimonies of
experiences during the coronavirus crisis. Testimonies can be submitted in written word or recorded spoken word on her website. The project will eventually culminate in a series of 20to 30-minute participatory musical performances for an unlimited number of singers and instruments. NPR has covered the project. RHONA BITNER (93,02,19) has been awarded the Pollock-Krasner grant in contemporary art. ROSALIND BLOOM (94) had work in the show, Nature/Nurture Family Exhibit at the Patricia M. Nugent Gallery in Rosemont, PA through March 19. While in lockdown in the South Pacific, V.O. BLUM (87) is completing a historical novella about a U.S. adventuress in Polynesia at the turn of the 19th century. The story, Hihifo, has been commissioned by Jorvik Press in Portland, Oregon. Chaffee Arts recently announced that TERESA BOOTH BROWN (10,13,16) will be the judge for the Open Awards Art Show in May at the Heritage Museum in Buena Vista, CO. TRINE BUMILLER’s (19) exhibition, This Land, was on view at the Denver Central Library through December 12. Her site-specific mural, River of Stars, was commissioned for the new
Aerospace Building at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and was dedicated in a short ceremony on January 17. Her series, 100 Paintings for 100 Years, was on exhibit at the Lafayette Public Library in CO through February. ANDRÉE CARTER (19) was interviewed by Esther Tyree of KRVS radio station for the program j’Savais Pas. The interview aired on October 22. She also had work in several shows early this year including That Layered Look II at Tufenkian Fine Art in Glendale, CA, Art of the Square at BG Gallery in Santa Monica, CA, and New Year, New Vision, at Stern Contemporary in Santa Fe, NM. ANDREA CLEARFIELD (05,08,14,17) will be hosting “Zalons” (Zoom Salons) on April 26, May 17, and May 31. New commissions include: Singing and Painting Peace, in collaboration with Zen master poet, painter and activist Kaz Tanahashi for the Fourth Coast Ensemble in Chicago, and a new cantata, Here I Am: I Am Here, for Coro Allegro chorus. MARGARET COGSWELL (11) had work in the duo show, Views from a Puddle, at mh Project NYC in January.
MADELIN COIT (15) was approached by Harwood Art Center in Albuquerque, NM to install a solo exhibition in one of their galleries. Her site-specific installation will be on view in May. DARCY COURTEAU (17) was named a recipient of the 2020 Mosaic Journalism Prize from The Heising-Simons Foundation.
TALLMADGE DOYLE’s (19) solo exhibition, High Tides Rising, was at the Augen Gallery in Portland, OR through February 29. JESSICA DUNNE (94,03,04,07) has work in the group show, One Night in California: Contemporary Nocturnes, at the Bakersfield Museum of Art through April 25, as well as in the show Feminizing Permanence, at Saint Mary’s College Museum of Art in Moraga, CA through December 13.
JANET CULBERTSON (89,99) participated in the Parrish Art Museum Friday Night Talk: Environmental Artists Panel, The NINA ELDER (17) had work in Artists View: Artists Choose Artists, the group exhibition, Hot Spots: in Water Mill, NY in January. Radioactivity And The Landscape, at the Krannert Art Museum SANDRA DAL POGGETTO (03,13) through March 21. Other recent had work in a group exhibition in shows include a solo exhibition of Gallery Hall at the Warren Miller drawings, Accumulations, at the Performing Arts Center in Gallatin University of Wyoming and The Gateway, MT through February 17. Score | Indianapolis at Indianapolis Contemporary. MOYRA DAVEY’s (12) new essay collection Index Cards will be published in May by New Directions. An excerpt titled White Light/White Heat from the essay Burn the Diaries was published in the May issue of Harper’s Magazine. JENNY DAY (15) had a solo exhibition, Letting Go Of Utopia, at the Mesa Arts Center Museum in Mesa, AZ through April 5. JANE DESCHNER (03,06,08,13,16) participated in the 36-state art project, Her Flag, representing the state of Montana. HOLLY DOWNING’s (15) Paintings in Praise of Cultural Diversity was at 1821 Gallery & Studios in Fresno, CA through December 24.
JOY HARJO (13) was a Special Guest Poet at the 16th Annual Palm Beach Poetry Festival in Delray Beach, FL in January. SHARON HARPER (92,03,13) recently had work in the Harper National 42nd Small Works Exhibition at Harper College in Palatine, IL where her work was given a purchase award. Her work was also in Monochrome, a national juried exhibition at Site: Brooklyn, as well as Gender in the Balance at the Barrett House Gallery in Poughkeepsie, NY. JULIE HÉBERT (17) with the group Look What SHE Did! celebrated Women’s History Month with a benefit brunch in Los Angeles on March 31. LUZENE HILL (19) has been invited to be a “visiting artist” at the Anderson Ranch in June. She was referred by the First People’s Fund.
MIKE HOLOBER’s (07,19) recent CD release, Mike Holober and the Gotham Jazz Orchestra: Hiding Out, was nominated WILLIAM FOX’s (18) new book that he worked on while at Ucross, for a 2020 Grammy Award for Best Large Ensemble Jazz Album. He worked Michael Heizer: The Once and Future Monuments from Monacelli on composing the music during a 2007 Ucross residency when he stayed in Jesse’s Press is now available from Hideout I. Amazon and elsewhere. CHRISTY FUNSCH (08) received a Fulbright Scholar Award in Fall 2019 to teach and do choreographic work in Lisbon, Portugal. Corner, a new book with film stills by SANDRA GIBSON (99,12) and LUIS RECODER (12) and photographs by Paula Court, documents Douglas Dunn’s performance of his 1973 work Time Out and was recently published by MAB Books.
BEN HOWE’s (15) solo exhibition, Leviathan, was on view until November 24 at Beinart Gallery in Brunswick, Victoria, Australia. He was a finalist for the Doug Moran National Portrait Prize, and The Lester Prize for Portraiture in 2019. CHRISTOPHER HOWELL’s (13) twelfth collection of poems, The Grief of a Happy Life, was published in early October by the University of Washington Press. His previous two collections, Gaze, and Love’s Last Number, were runners up for the Rilke Prize and Love’s Last Number was longlisted for the Pulitzer Prize. MUNSON HUNT (18) has been awarded the Pollock-Krasner grant in contemporary art. STEPHEN T. JACKSON’s (12) essay, Humboldt for the Anthropocene, that reflects on Humboldt’s contributions and legacy, was published in September 2019 on the 250th anniversary of his birth. MALIA JENSEN’s (16) video, Worth Your Salt, part of her Nearer Nature project, was on view through December 2019 at multiple locations.
The one, the only, our Spring 2020 resident group! L to R: Sara Lyons, Paul Outlaw, J.C. (Chris) Hallman, Sharon Charde, Nicole Sara Simpkins, Sunny Kim, Nelleke Beltjens, Elizabeth Duffy, Laurie Schwartz.
VESNA JOVANOVIC’s (14) exhibit, Vesna Jovanovic: Field Anatomy was on view through January 18 at OS Projects in Racine, WI.
ELIZABETH KADETSKY’s (98,03) fourth book, The Memory Eaters, was the winner of the 2019 Juniper Prize in Creative Nonfiction, and was published in March by the University of Massachusetts Press. JESSICA KAHKOSKA’s (18) new play, In Her Bones, was selected for inclusion in the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Theatre Company’s 15th annual New Play Summit in February. SARAH KLEIN (18) had work in multiple exhibitions in the fall including most recently at Kala’s Artist Annual Exhibition in Berkeley, CA and the Carl Cherry Art Center Benefit in Carmel, CA. She has work in the Civic Center Art Exhibition in Berkeley, CA through August. Her new Risograph book, Orbitals, explores sequences of abstracted motion, circular orbits and their motion. ANN KRESGE (19) will be a Studio Artist in Residence at Women’s Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY through the Spring of 2020. There she will continue to work on Spaces/ Places, a series on large scale prints created in reaction to residency sites. The body of work will be exhibited in 2021 at The Annex Gallery in Salem, OR. Her video/sound collaboration, Healing Forest, can be viewed at: http:// vimeo.com/6668966. The book of essays, Mothers Before: Stories and Portraits of Our Mothers as We Never Saw Them, edited by EDAN LEPUCKI (09,14) was published in April. DAVID LICATA’s (13) film, A Life’s Work, was part of the Kansas International Film Festival in Kansas City on November 11. LING MA (19) recieved a 2020 Whiting Award in Fiction for her novel Severance. PAMELA MADSEN (19) had work included in From The Stars To The Earth, presented by the CSUF New Music Ensemble at the Cal State Fullerton School of Music on November 14. She was the Artistic Director of the 19th Annual New Music Festival: The Composer Improviser in the 21st Century that was held February 26 to March 1. BRENDA MALLORY (18) had a solo
show, Gather Back, at Upfor Gallery in Portland, OR through December 21. CLAIRE MCCONAUGHY’s (95) solo show, Not So Far Away, was at The Painting Center in NYC through November 23.
Pavilion in London, UK in January. She currently has work in Zine/ ZEEN/: The Art of Homemade Resistance at the ARTspace & Gallery in Lake Oswego, OR through May 22.
In October, LAINI NEMETT’s (14) permanent murals created for the lobby of The Delson building were open to the public as part of Open House New York. Her MARIE MUTSUKI MOCKETT’s (19) work was also included in the memoir, American Harvest: God, Country, and Farming in the Heartland exhibition Patterns of Engagement at the Albany International Airport was published in April by Graywolf Gallery in which eight artists were Press. commissioned to respond to the expansion and renewal of the SUSAN MOGUL’s (91) exhibition, airport. The exhibition was reviewed Less is Never More, was at As Is L.A. on the front page of the Arts through September 8, and was also section in the Times Union and ran reviewed in The Los Angeles Times. through March 2. HONOR MOORE’s (06) novel, Our Revolution: A Mother and Daughter at LYNN NEUMAN (14,16), director of Artichoke Dance Company, led an Midcentury, was published by W.W. interactive movement workshop Norton & Company in March. at A Day of Learning on the Arts TONY MOORE (94) had sculptures of Environmental Justice held at in the exhibition EARTH & SPIRIT the New York Botanical Garden on / Ceramic Show at Holland Tunnel September 28. Artichoke Dance Gallery in Newburgh, NY through was also featured at the Earth and October 20. Ocean Arts Festival in Cannon Beach, OR with performances of SATOKO MOTOUJI (19) had a solo Visioning Bodies and Liberate the show at the Ginza Renga Garou Earth. Lynn presented excerpts gallery in Tokyo, Japan through of Visioning Bodies in the Bank November 30. of America glass atrium in NYC in January and spoke at the ELLEN MUELLER (12) had work Association of Performing Arts included in the group show, Professionals Annual Conference. Depictions of Living, at The Art KAILYN MCCORD’s (19) story The West We Leave will be published in Ploughshares Spring 2020 issue.
and discovery in their artwork. Her work is featured in the exhibition Entwined: Jennifer Reifnseider + Martha Tuttle in the Ucross Art Gallery through late summer.
CHARLES NICHOLS (12) had multiple performances of his compositions in the fall of 2019 most recently including: Sound of Rivers: Stone Drum, for computer music and video, played from fixed media on the Sunday Night Multimedia Series, at Montana State University, Bozeman, MT and Current Threat Level, for computer music, played from fixed media, on the Il Suono Delle Lingue concert, Contemporanea festival, Teatro San Giorgio, Udine, Italy. JENNY OFFILL’s (94,97,02,12) novel Weather, was published in February by Alfred A. Knopf and was included in the longlist for The Women’s Prize for fiction. ERICA OLSEN’s (99) microchapbook, Girlmine, was published by Bull City Press in the fall of 2019. EILEEN OWEN’s (84,88) poetry collection Split came out in December from Independent Writers’ Studio Press. FRANK OZEREKO (12,15) and his wife FRANCINE OZEREKO (15) were invited to attend an opening of The First Session of World Ceramic Teapot Art Competition in Yixing, China where Frank had two teapots on exhibit through December 31. NELL PAINTER (16) was recently appointed Chair of MacDowell Colony Board of Directors.
ANN PATCHETT’s (93) novel The Dutch House is included in the longlist for The Women’s Prize for fiction. KATE PETLEY (16) has work in the group exhibition, On Screen/Off Screen: Contemporary Painting and Technology at Orth Contemporary in Tulsa, OK through October. Her solo exhibitions include The Very Thing, at VonLintel Gallery in Los Angeles, CA through April 25 and Staring Into the Fire at the University of Colorado Art Museum though November 1. A new piece by LARRY POLANSKY (19), five songs for kate and vanessa, premiered at the Center for New Music in San Francisco on December 11 and is slated for CD release on New World Records in the spring. CHRISTINA PUGH’s (05) fifth book of poems, Stardust Media, won the Juniper Prize for Poetry and will be published in April by the University of Massachusetts Press. TOSHI REAGON’s (19) opera Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower, was presented at UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance in March. Toshi and the Parable group worked on the opera at Ucross in summer 2019 in collaboration with CAP UCLA. JENNIFER REIFSNEIDER (00,17) was awarded the Montana Arts Council Artist’s Innovation Award. This award acknowledges Montana artists who have demonstrated dedication to their creative pursuits
VANESSA RENWICK (19) had three new works about migration out in November: You Remember, You Forget, a site specific installation at the 2019 Portland Biennial; Cold Holy Water, a video installation at Nine Gallery in Portland, OR; and Disperse, a nine color lithograph made with collaborative master printer Judith Baumann. The Portland Art Museum has acquired her seven-channel video installation, Next Level Fucked Up, for their permanent collection. She was the recipient of the 2020 Stumptown Artist Fellowship from Stumptown Coffee Roasters in Portland, OR, and her solo show Out There was on view at their downtown cafe through March 11. PETER ROCK (95) was named a finalist for the 2020 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, for his novel The Night Swimmers. PAUL RUCKER (05) streamed a solo cello concert/conversation on April 29 via TED Social to address food insecurity. All funds raised went toward addressing this issue. Circadia, ANDREW RUDIN’s (11,15,17) new CD of chamber music, was recently released by Centaur Records. KAREN RUSSELL’s (06) essay, How the Coronavirus Has Infected Our Vocabulary was published in The New Yorker in April. ROB SCHEPS (03) has two new CD’s featuring his NYC based band, The Core-tet: Comencio (Steeplechase), and Rob Scheps Core-tet Live at Smalls (Smalls Records). He had recent tour performances in Oslo, Norway and Pori, Finland, as well as in many US cities. JAY SCHMIDT’s (99) exhibition, The End Is Here, was at Aunt Dofe’s Gallery in Willow Creek, MT through December 31. KATE SCHUTT (13,16) played two songs from her album, Bright Nowhere, at the Pigeonholed Theatre Co. in NYC in November. LAURIE SCHWARTZ (20) gave a presentation at Sheridan College in March for International Women’s Day.
JENN SHAPLAND’s (18) first book, My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, was published in February by Tin House Books.
lyricists, and book writers in honor of Jonathan Larson.
AWARD
ALIA VOLZ’s (19) memoir Home Baked: My Mom, Marijuana, and the Stoning of San Francisco was published in April by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
TORU SUGITA’s (16) solo exhibit Small Backyard | Transient Monument was at Sticks Framing and Fine Art in Berkeley, CA through November 30. He also had work in the Manna Gallery FRANK WEBSTER (04,17) had work in the group exhibition, Intersections, Collectors Showcase in Oakland, CA at The Painting Center in NYC through December 21. through December 21. MCA Denver presented STACEY BARBARA WIESSBERGER (09) has STEERS’ (10) animated film Edge of Alchemy (2017), along with individual had work in three recent exhibitions: CUSTODIA on view at C for Courtside collages through April 5. in Knoxville through October 2019; PAMELA TALESE (02,18) participated Mother at Silver Eye Center for Photography in Pittsburgh though in the OHNY 2019/ BNY Open May 16; and Perception, a two person Studios at The Brooklyn Navy Yard exhibition at the Missoula Art Museum on October 19. She was also included though March 2. in the short film, Gold & Rust by Gael Towey. In November, GLEN WHITEHEAD (19) performed Lonnie and Lonie ROBIN TEWES (17) had work in the (2019), a world premiere double two-person exhibition, Exposed, at concerto for trumpet along with the The Untitled Space gallery in NYC Chamber Orchestra of the Springs through October 26, as well as a solo show, Inside Out, at the Payne Gallery and Susan Grace on piano at the Peak Frequency Festival with George in Bethlehem, PA through February. Lewis. MARTHA TUTTLE (16) has work DANIEL WIENER (13) was featured in the exhibition Entwined: interviewed by Fawn Krieger at Jennifer Reifnseider + Martha Tuttle in the Ucross Art Gallery through late BOMB about his exhibition Wide-Eyed and Open-Mouthed which was at summer. Lesley Heller Gallery until October 20. BENJAMIN VELEZ (18) is a recipient of the 2019 Fred Ebb Award as well as SUSAN YORK (12) had an installation a 2020 Jonathan Larson Grant, which of graphite works included in a group show at exhibitions 2d in Marfa, TX. recognizes emerging composers,
PULITZER PRIZES Recipients MICHAEL R. JACKSON COLSON WHITEHEAD Finalists ANN PATCHETT JEANINE TESORI GUGGENHEIM FELLOWSHIPS MOYRA DAVEY BRANDEN JACOBS-JENKINS ALEX KETLEY HELEN MIRRA SIGRID NUNEZ HELEN PHILLIPS LUCILLE LORTEL AWARDS Recipients DAVE MALLOY Nominees AZIZA BARNES EISA DAVIS MICHAEL R. JACKSON MATTHEW DEAN MARSH JEANINE TESORI
IN MEMORIAM
A NOTE ABOUT THE UCROSS ART GALLERY and ENTWINED: JENNIFER REIFSNEIDER + MARTHA TUTTLE Due to public health and safety concerns, the Ucross Art Gallery closed on March 16 until further notice. The gallery schedule going forward may be subject to change. To honor the artists and artwork featured in the current exhibition ENTWINED, we hope to reschedule cancelled public workshops and receptions. Please stay tuned!
CHARLES WOURINEN 1938 - 2020
Image left: Pi Model, cotton, copper, the first 1,000 digits of Pi, 2019, 15 x 14 3/4 x 2 3/4 inches, Jennifer Reifsneider Image right: Like the way galaxies receded to the rim of space, 2019, Wool, linen, graphite, pigment, and quartz, 63 x 46 x 2 inches, Martha Tuttle
Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, MacArthur Fellow, Ucross Fellow, and Ucross Friend – Charles will be missed!
2020 SUNDANCE INSTITUTE ARTIST RESIDENCY AT UCROSS February 3 - 21, 2020 Pictured L to R: CHARLOTTE BRATHWAITE, GENE BACK, KARIM DOUAIDY, DAVID ADJMI, CHRISTOPHER HIBMA (Director, Sundance Institute Theatre Program), AZIZA BARNES, RAQI SYED. Not pictured: HALEY ANDERSON. ⠀
SPOTLIGHT UCROSS SPOTLIGHT, a nationwide series of artist-centric events, is designed to highlight our esteemed alumni, their work, and their contribution to the nation’s arts and letters. During these current times where we are avoiding gathering in-person, we will be hosting UCROSS SPOTLIGHT ON ZOOM.
APRIL 30, 2020 Featuring award-winning songwriter, singer, guitarist, and producer KATE SCHUTT (13,16) and acclaimed poet and visual artist SHERWIN BITSUI (18).
MAY 28, 2020 Including Flight Path Dance Project, which is led by MICHAEL MCGOWAN (10). Stay tuned for more information!
We always enjoy hearing from our alums. send your current news to us at info@ucross.org! Photo credits: Martirene Alcántara (page 1); Gene Back (page 3); Dr. Jackie Canterbury (page 4)
30 BIG RED LANE CLEARMONT, WY 82835 307.737.2291 UCROSS.ORG