Fall 2023: School of Art & Design Alumni Newsletter, University of Illinois

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Dear Alumni,

Director’s Message

The School of Art & Design continues to see great success with our enrollment in both quality and size.

Our undergraduate portfolio submissions for our fall 2023 class reached 800. The Admissions Committee who reviewed these portfolios continues to be impressed with the high standards and great expectations our firstyear students bring to Art & Design. Our first-year class consists of 193 (127 first-time freshmen, 32 intercollege transfers, and 34 transfers).

We have continued to focus on establishing an inclusive atmosphere in every aspect of our community. Through the focused and sustained efforts of my colleagues, we have experienced progress in meeting this goal.

In 2023–24, 38% of our faculty and staff will be from underrepresented populations. We believe this progress has had a major impact on our ability to recruit a diverse student body.

In fall 2023, out of approximately 587 undergrads, 138 are first generation, with 136 self-reporting as underrepresented minority. This year’s first-year class has 29 first-generation students.

We believe through the work of many we have created a vital School of Art & Design that demonstrates a commitment to

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the promotion of the importance of visual arts and design research, a culture of interdisciplinarity, and the goal of our school’s impact on campus and beyond.

As you will see later in this newsletter, we have been able to hire a significant number of new faculty with impressive credentials that will continue to add vitality to our community.

I would like to share two significant alumni events that have taken place this past year.

Clyde and Kay Davis Garden Dedication On May 13, the school held a dedication ceremony to honor Clyde and Kay Davis for their generosity for the Clyde P. Davis Scholarship, which is the model (the gold standard) for the school, college, and university to attract and fully support the brightest and most talented students possible from the Chicago area to the School of Art & Design.

This spring, the 18th Davis Scholar was

selected to have an opportunity beyond their dreams to receive a world class education with no debt for themselves and their families.

As an administrator in the school, I have had the extreme pleasure of informing our selected Davis Scholars and their parents of this scholarship designation and have witnessed the incredible joy, shock, and great appreciation for this opportunity.

Students and families who could not have realized this dream were amazed by this generous gift. Two out of three Davis Scholars have informed us that they could not have attended Illinois without this scholarship.

During their time at Illinois, the recipients of this scholarship have been acknowledged for their talents and work ethic by being awarded the Outstanding Senior Award from their program of study;, the Shipley Scholarship, honoring graduating seniors in Art & Design based on their excellence as judged by the school’s faculty; and the Bronze Tablet, which is bestowed upon undergraduates who have demonstrated sustained academic achievement and are ranked in the top three percent of the university’s graduating class.

The impact of this gift goes beyond the life changing opportunity for the 18 recipients of the Davis Scholarship and their families. A

few years back, I had conversations with Clyde and Kay on how their scholarship could encourage increased donor giving to Art & Design and positively impact the quality and size of our enrollment.

The Davis Scholarship has inspired donor gifts and strengthened the school’s recruitment efforts.

Caption: Alan Mette, Clyde Davis, Brenda Nardi, Kay Davis

Graphic Design Reunion We were pleased to host the 1985 Graphic Design alumni in the Link Gallery for their reunion.

The gathering was coordinated by William

of Illinois and nine years as Director of the School of Art & Design.

I was most fortunate to join the faculty shortly after graduate school and be part of an arts community that I cherished in 1981 and continue to cherish in 2023. Thank you for all of your support to the school. The college is

We have experienced a 48% growth in undergraduate enrollment since 2014 and maintained that growth. We had 414 undergrads in 2014 and now will have 560 in spring 2023.

This growth continues, with a fall 2023 entering class being the largest in decades. These very positive numbers are occurring at a moment when high school students and their parents have placed an increased effort to find the perfect degree program and university in a highly competitive market in which students are applying to 12–20 schools compared to 1–2 in the past. Admitted students carefully weigh offers from many institutions, scrutinize the quality of the curriculum, and converse with our faculty before making their decision.

Clyde and Kay, we thank you and honor you with this courtyard designation which will be a gathering place for many of our students in the future.

Johnson and Lance Rutter and was held in the Art & Design Link Gallery on September 30, 2023.

Retirement Announcement I would like to share with you that I plan on retiring in the summer of 2024, marking 43 years at the University

currently conducting a national search for a new director who will begin their tenure in fall 2024.

Back row: Sharon Johnson, Marty Regan, Lance Rutter, Ken Carls, Marc Kundmann, Mike Anderson, Terri Hurley.

Middle row: Ann Marie Schaeflein, Susan Coleman, Lori Lafond Lamore, Colleen Bushell, Alan Mette, Chris Martin. Bottom row: Gerta Sorensen London, Peter Bushell, William Johnson, Bob Raczka.

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College of Fine & Applied Arts Legacy Award Winners from Art & Design In celebration of both past legacies and emerging voices in the arts, the College of Fine and Applied Arts sponsors the FAA Legacy Awards. These awards recognize college alumni and friends who have demonstrated courage, curiosity, and passion in their work. We are honoring lifelong learners and advocates, individuals who have impacted their fields in transformative ways—catalysts with distinguished service to the arts.

Douglas Busch BFA 1974 Graphic Design Distinguished Legacy Award “I am interested in presenting reality more accurately than I can actually see it. On one level, my work is about a certain density. There is more to see than we can actually see.”

Busch’s large format black and white photographs, ranging from 8”x10” to 40”x60” (shot with the world’s largest portable camera, designed and built by the artist himself), present images of great beauty and irony, great subtlety and elegance. In Busch’s photographs, “actuality is not abbreviated but opened into the world, not merely documented but discovered,” states Dr. Donald Bartlett Doe, Director of the Mulvane Art Museum, Topeka, KS. Busch’s vision and personal sensibilities enable him to capture the monumental in the ordinary, to inform the details of everyday life with sensitivity and clarity.

Robert J. Evans, Director of the Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA, notes, “Busch’s combination of technical perfection and personal poetic sensitivity is truly overwhelming.

His intense, aesthetic vision combines with his

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outstanding craftsmanship to produce strong works, simple and direct, yet redolent of the great artistic tradition that preceded him.

There is a deeper mood and a quality of light washing through the cityscapes distinct in feeling from what we can see in most American imagery. Busch’s sensibility shines through always, creating harmonies that delight the eye.”

Busch’s technical ability is widely acknowledged and respected. His work has been published in virtually every international photographic magazine.

Jannes Art Publishing of Chicago, IL writes, “Mr. Busch will become, within the next few years, one of the world’s outstanding and most noteworthy black and white photographers. The technical caliber of his work is superb, his vision exciting and strong.” Numerous publications have cited Busch’s technical expertise in inventing and building photographic equipment for large format photography.

Al Weber comments, “Busch’s genius is his ability to combine his artistic talent with an uncanny technical expertise in a way which has placed him in a unique position within the international photographic field. By those who are familiar with his work, he is considered one of the most talented and accomplished large format black and white photographers anywhere.”

Kimiko Gunji MS 1971 Library Sciences, MA 1979 Asian Studies Illinois Arts Award Kimiko Gunji is a professor emeritus of Japanese Arts & Culture in the School of Art & Design, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Gunji joined the Illinois faculty officially in 1979 but was assisting teaching Japanese arts and culture classes with Professor Shozo Sato since the late 60s while she was a graduate student in Library and Information Studies. She taught courses in Zen aesthetics, Japanese tea ceremony, and Ikebana (Japanese Flower arrangement) until 2011.

Coinciding with Sato’s retirement in 1992, the original Japan House was slated to be razed by 1998. Gunji spent the next 2 years raising funds from private donors, grants, and international support to build a new facility on south Lincoln Avenue. A new Japan House, surrounded by traditional Japanese gardens, was dedicated on June 18, 1998, and Gunji was named director.

Gunji also worked for the Campus Honors Program (CHP) from 1989-1998 as Assistant Director for International Affairs. In this position, she developed an Inter-Cultural Study Tour program in which she took groups of students throughout the years to learn more about Japan through personal experience and explorations – traveling throughout Japan and visiting such places like Urasenke Tea School and Ikenobo Ikebana in Kyoto, Japan. Through the Campus Honors Program, she also established an ongoing program, the “Ambassador to Japan Program,” in which

a committee selects an outstanding CHP student to live in Japan for one month with the support of the Yanai Rotary Club. This program has been in existence for over 20 years.

Gunji is a Full Professor at the Ikenobo Ikebana School (Japanese flower arranging) in Kyoto, Japan, and she is Assistant Professor for the Urasenke Tea school and holds the tea instructor name, or chamei, Souki, from the Urasenke Tea School and serves as President of the Urbana-Champaign Association of Chado Urasenke Tankokai since 1992 which she initiated and established. Through this Tankokai, she has taught hundreds of students the Way of Tea, many of which have continued their studies beyond their days spent on this campus. In 2011, she worked with staff at the Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, Illinois. Through her efforts she developed annual Japanese cultural programs, began offering seminars and workshops, and also established a tea study group and has been teaching tea twice month since 2015.

Professor Gunji has received numerous awards for her teachings from the University of Illinois, as well as for her contributions to promote Japanese arts and culture from various organizations.

She received a Uof I Campus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, University of Illinois-UrbanaChampaign, April 28, 2003, and UI Alumni Association Educator’s Award sponsored

by UI Alumni Association, April 13, 2003.

The most distinguished award she received was the “Order of the Rising Sun” (Kyokujitsushō) from the Japanese Government on June 6, 2012, which was presented to her by the Japanese Emperor.

This order was established in 1875 by the Emperor Meiji and is bestowed upon individuals who have shared distinguished and significant achievements in international relations and promotion of Japanese culture.

Recently, she received the “Certificate of Appreciation,” from Dr. Genshitsu Sen, 15thgeneration Grand Master of the Urasenke Chado (the way of tea) Tradition for promoting the understanding of the Urasenke Way of Tea and cultivating Chado practitioners at the University of Illinois on the occasion of the Twentieth Anniversary of the Urbana-Champaign Association of Chado Urasenke Tankokai on April 23, 2023. This event welcomed over 80 practitioners of tea from China, Japan, Hawaii, Oregon, New Mexico, Texas, Michigan, Ohio, New York, California, Colorado, and throughout Illinois.

Currently, she continues to teach both Japanese traditional arts and culture to students as well as to the community members at Japan House at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

She also gives lectures/ demonstrations on Japanese arts and culture at various colleges and universities as well as many different organizations throughout the

United States. Most recently, she has been participatory in teaching workshops that focus on the health for the mind, spirit, and body. She has been a strong promoter for peace and a firm believer of good communication with one’s sincere kokoro.

For the last 40 years, she has been introducing the Japanese word, kokoro, which encompasses multiple meanings including “mind,” “heart,” and “spirit,” and have been conducting seminars to cultivate kokoro in various fields. In August 2023, she will be introducing the Japanese concept of kokoro at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin Preservation in Spring Green, Wisconsin, with garden specialist, Tim Gruner from Anderson Japanese Gardens.

Gunji is an author of “The Art of Wagashi: Recipes for Japanese Sweets that Delight the Palate and the Eyes,” which is on its second printing.

This book was written to share the art of Japanese sweet making by making it accessible to all by using ingredients that were readily available outside of Japan and sharing simple traditional techniques and methods. She is also the author of online text, “Chado and Kokoro,” which is used for University of Illinois classes taught through Japan House. She also has two books in progress, “Kokoro Insight: Tea and Kokoro,” and “Wagashi: Season by Season,” a follow-up cookbook that focuses on the importance of considering seasonality in Japanese sweet-making.

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Coleen Sterritt BFA 1976 Sculpture Distinguished Legacy Award

For close to 45 years Los Angeles-based artist Coleen Sterritt has fabricated hybrid sculpture evoking the interplay between nature, culture, and lived experience. Her source materials are pulled from everyday objects and elements. Plaster, tar, pinecones, tumbleweeds, found furniture, and studio refuse are just some of the components she uses to construct and express her richly evocative formal language. Questioning the diverse possibilities of sculpture in both scale and form, her eccentric, abstract structures present strong polarities possessing a resonance at once familiar and obscure.

Sterritt’s sculpture and drawings have been exhibited nationally and internationally in a wide variety of spaces and included in museum exhibitions at the Oakland Museum, the Riverside Art Museum, the Lancaster Museum of Art & History; Torrance Art Museum; Long Beach Museum of Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art, L.A.; and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan. Her work is held in notable collections including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Museum of Contemporary Art, L.A.; The Crocker Art Museum; the

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Scripps College Collection; the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art, NM; Nestlé USA; and The Capitol Group Companies, Los Angeles, New York, & London.

Named a John Simon Guggenheim Fellow in 2016, her other awards include the National Endowment for the Arts, the Roswell Artistin-Residence Program, Art Matters, Inc., the J. Paul Getty Trust Fund Fellowship from the California Community Foundation, and the City of Los Angeles Individual Artist Fellowship (COLA). In 2019 she received the Outstanding Educator Award from the International Sculpture Center. As the first community college professor to receive this award, she joined a list of distinguished colleagues from such institutions as Alfred University, Bard, California College of the Arts, University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers, Tyler School of Art at Temple University, University of Arizona, and California Institute of the Arts.

Sterritt’s teaching career began in 1983 and has included positions at California State University, Fullerton; Otis College of Art & Design; and The Claremont Graduate University. From 1998 to 2021

she was a professor and the faculty coordinator of the sculpture program at Long Beach City College. At LBCC, she initiated and developed the sculpture program, which enabled underrepresented, marginalized students the opportunity to, not only complete an AA degree, but to transfer into top art programs across the country. Her students consistently transferred to four-year colleges and universities including UCLA, USC, Cal State Long Beach and Fullerton, San Francisco Art Institute, California College of the Arts, Art Center College of Design, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Degree students worked with her in preparing their graduate portfolios then successfully enrolled in MFA programs including Claremont Graduate University, SAIC, Otis College of Art & Design, and University of California, Irvine receiving numerous scholarships and fulltime tuition waivers.

Sterritt was born in Morris, Illinois and grew up in Chicago. After receiving a BFA from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign in 1976, where she was the first woman designated as the sculpture studio shop assistant, she earned an MFA from Otis Art Institute (now Otis College of Art & Design), Los Angeles in 1979.

Art & Design Picnic 2023 Photo credit: David Akins

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Distinguished Alumna Award Presentation and Lecture

A member of the Spokane Nation and an artist, writer, educator, and activist, Charlene Teters rose to national prominence as a graduate student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she led protests against the degrading depictions of American Indian caricatures used as sport team’s mascots and was the subject of the awardwinning documentary In Whose Honor?

by Jay Rosenstein. She has been honored as “Person of the Week” by ABC News and received a New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. She is the recipient of two honorary doctorates from Mitchell College in Connecticut in 2000 and from the Institute of American Indian Arts in 2021.

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CH

HARLENE TETERS SAVE THE DATE / ARTIST TALK

Thursday, March 21, 2024 / 5:30 pm Plym Auditorium, Temple Buell Hall, 611 E Lorado Taft Dr, Champaign, IL Reception following in the Link Gallery (408 E Peabody Dr, Champaign, IL)

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Program Recognition Art Education Alumni News Four alumni have been recognized by the Illinois Art Education Association (IAEA): • • • •

Kamila Glowacki, 2023 IAEA Art Education Museum Educator of the Year Melissa Farley, 2023 IAEA Elementary Art Educator of the Year Machaela Leno, 2023 IAEA Early Professional Art Educator of the Year Sheri Kushner, 2023 IAEA President’s Award.

Rachel Yan Gu • Best in Show, 2023 IAEA Membership Exhibition • 2023 IAEA Graduate Student Scholarship recipient • Committee of Multiethnic Concerns (COMC) 2023 Inservice Teacher Award, National Art Education Association Kay Yang • Honorable Mention, 2023 IAEA Membership Exhibition • 2023 IAEA Graduate Student Scholarship

Faculty News Dr. Jorge Lucero was invited to deliver the keynote address at three state art education conferences this year: Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee. In addition, he delivered the keynote address at the 84th annual Kutztown Art Education Conference. He also had major exhibitions at the Center for Visual Arts, Denver, CO; the Cantor Gallery at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA; and at the Downtown Gallery at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Lucero also received the 2023 National Higher Education Art Educator Award.

Laura Hetrick was named OpEd/Public Voices Fellow 2023-2024. One of only 20 scholars selected from across the University of Illinois system to participate in this prestigious fellowship, Professor Hetrick will join her cohort of Public Voices Fellows in crafting her research and expertise in ways that can contribute to public conversations of our age.

• In summer 2023. Hetrick became an Affiliate of Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Working with an interdisciplinary team of scientists, she hopes to explore and understand various autistic health comorbidities from a cellular level, and as a result, advocate for improved medical care, prevention, and maintenance for autistic adults.

In September 2023 she presented three lectures at the International Society for Education through Art [InSEA, an affiliate of UNESCO] World Congress in Çanakkale, Turkey.

• “Navigating Socially-imposed Fault Lines: Critical Explorations of a Neurodivergent Autistic Identity.”

Solo lecture.

• “Recognizing Compassion Fatigue in Teachers: Healing the Fault Lines of the Empathic-Self.” Solo lecture.

• “Twitch Streamers at the Fault Lines of Education: Exploring their Approaches to Engage Disinterested Students.”

Panel with Ahu Yolac and Ishan Pal Singh.

Dr. Sarah Travis presented research at the World Congress of the International Society for Education through Art in Çanakkale, Turkey, in September 2023, and at the Art Education Research Institute Symposium in Tucson, Arizona, in October 2023. In addition, in 2023, Dr. Travis published journal articles in Art Education, Studies in Art Education, and the Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy.

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Art History Alumni News Lauren Applebaum (PhD 2019 Art History) was appointed Jim and Betty Becher Curator of American Art at North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC, in 2021.

Sarah Eckhardt (PhD 2011 Art History) curated the exhibition Benjamin Wigfall and Communication Village at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, where she is Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. Robyn Farrell (BFA 2004 Art History) was appointed Senior Curator at the Kitchen in New York.

María del Mar González-González (PhD 2013 Art History) curated the exhibition Beyond the Margins: An Exploration of Latina Art and Identity | Más allá de los márgenes: investigaciones sobre el arte y la identidad Latina for the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art (UMOCA), Salt Lake City, UT. The exhibition is currently on view at Blue Galleries at Boise State University. González is currently Assistant Professor of Art History at Weber State University, Ogden, UT. Miriam Kienle (PhD 2014 Art History) published the monograph Queer Networks: Ray Johnson’s Correspondence Art (University of Minnesota Press, 2023). She was promoted to Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky in 2021.

Jessica Landau (PhD 2020 Art History) guest edited a special issue of Curator: The Museum Journal (July 2023), which includes her essay “Proximity, wholeness, and animality: The case of Little Sorrel’s repatriation.” She is currently an Assistant Instructional Professor on the Committee on Environment, Geography, and Urbanization (CEGU) at the University of Chicago.

Christina Michelon (BFA 2011 Art History) was promoted to Associate Curator at the Boston Athenaeum in 2022 and published an essay this summer in the catalogue A Singularly Marine & Fabulous Produce: The Cultures of Seaweed.

Dana Ostrander (PhD 2021 Art History) was appointed Assistant Curator of Modern Art at the Kemper Art Museum at Washington University, St. Louis, MO. Xuxa Rodriguez (PhD 2019 Art History) was appointed Assistant Curator of Contemporary Art at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR, in 2020.

Laura Elizabeth Shea (PhD 2020 Art History) was appointed Assistant Professor of Art History at St. Anselm College in Manchester, NH, in 2020.

Chloe White (BA 2022 Art History) was appointed Louise Bourgeois 12-month Intern at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Faculty News James Pilgrim joined the Art History faculty at UIUC. His article “Jacopo Bassano and the Flood of Feltre” appeared in the September 2023 issue of The Art Bulletin.

Oscar Vázquez was awarded a Fulbright Global Scholar Grant for completing research in Mexico City on a book manuscript in which he examines the pedagogy, politics, and studio practice of copying the human figure in the art academies of Mexico and Spain in the late 18th through 19th centuries.

Hermann von Hesse is a Faculty Fellow at the Humanities Research Institute at UIUC in 2023-24. His article “‘A Modest, but Peculiar Style’: Self-Fashioning, Atlantic Commerce, and the Culture of Adornment on the Urban Gold Coast” was published in The Journal of African History in the spring.

Maureen Warren (Curator of European and American Art before 1850, Krannert Art Museum, and Art History Affiliate) was awarded the IFPDA Foundation Book Award for her exhibition catalogue Paper Knives, Paper Crowns: Political Prints in the Dutch Republic.

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Graphic Design Faculty News Eric Benson was named a judge for Sappi 2023 Ideas that Matter and will face the difficult task of choosing winners based on potential effectiveness, plan for implementation, and creativity. Read on to meet the panel of accomplished design industry leaders and learn more about their achievements. Sappi is a global renewable resource company that uses every part of the tree to make every day more sustainable.

Eric Benson with collaborators Professors Tina Sleiman and Dr. Fatme Al Anouti (Zayed Univ) received a $54,000 grant from Zayed University in the UAE for a project entitled “The Fresh Press-Enterprise: A Sustainable Action Project for Paper Production within the UAE using Locally Sourced Agricultural Waste.”

Deana McDonagh was recently featured in FOX 32 Chicago: “University of Illinois developing ‘Star Wars’-inspired selfdriving wheelchair.” Video and article by Natalie Bomke.

Juan Salamanca presented his research at the following: The Dynamic Creativity of Proto-artifacts in Generative Computational Co-creation. Joint Proceedings of the ACM IUI Workshops 2023, March 2023, Sydney, Australia.

Urban Attractors for Micromobility Coordination. 14th International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics. San Francisco, USA. Urban Attractors for Uncoordinated Micromobility Riders. In Mensh und Computer ’23: Building Bridges, September 03-06, 2023, Rapperwil, Switzerland.

Social emergence for discursive design. AIGA Design Educators Community LENS symposium. New York, USA. Salamanca initiated a research collaboration with Dr. Maximilian Schrapel from the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (Germany) to extend the micromobility prototype developed in his research. He was also appointed as a Faculty Affiliate to the Siebel Center for Design for the term 2023-2024.

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Angelica Sibrian presented Designing Collective Racial Healing Spaces paper written in collaboration with Professors Lisa Mercer, Terresa Moses, and Nekita Thomas at the IASDR Life-Changing Design International Conference in Milan on October 10, 2023. The paper may be accessed here.

Industrial Design

Studio Art

Student News

Student News

Owen Harry, Industrial Design sophomore is a team member of Illini Vex Robotics that competed in the 2023 VEX Robotics World Championship. Illini Vex Robotics brought home both the Amaze award and the Onshape online challenge award while placing 5th in the world for driver/ programming skills (timed challenge).

Olivia Howell, Studio Art senior, earned her first NCAA Indoor Mile Championship Title and claimed her secondstraight Indoor First Team All-American nod. Olivia broke the Albuquerque Convention Center facility record that was set by three-time Olympian and Nike athlete Shannon Rowbury in 2010! Read more.

Alumni News

Faculty News

Joon Park (MFA Industrial Design, Spring 2023) was awarded the IDSA Graduate Student Merit Award for the Midwest District. Through his design work, Joon seeks to enhance and revolutionize contemporary living with designs that seamlessly integrate users, artifacts, environments, experiences, and the overall human context to offer a meaningful and holistic user experience.

Kira Dominguez Hultgren was featured in The New York Times Style Magazine on September 11, 2023.

Faculty News Carlos Araujo de Aguiar, Assistant Professor of Industrial Design, with co-authors, presented three papers at conferences of the Association for Computing Machinery: “TOUCH: A Multi-sensory Emotional Communication System,” at PETRA 2023; “Sounds of Play: Designing Augmented Toys for Children with Autism,” at PETRA 2023; “Nurturing Eco-Consciousness: The Journey of the EcoMorph Guardian in Shaping Tomorrow’s Stewards,” at LDT 2023. Also with co-authors Zhiyu, Koh, Shihang, and Wang, he published “Could Socially Interactive Architectural Robotics Promote Restorative Environments?” in the Journal of Social Robotics.

Suresh Sethi, Professor of Industrial Design, was recently interviewed by Kevin Mako, President of MAKO Design + Invent, in his podcast “Use Inventor Narrative to Design Great Hardware Products.” Listen.

Cliff Shin, Associate Professor of Industrial Design, received a SIT Furniture Design Award in April 2023. SIT is a program under the 3C Awards, which were established to inspire and promote creative minds. The 3C Awards is a leading organization curating and promoting design across the globe. The 3C Awards, for which entries are submitted from 65 countries each year, offer designers and students from around the world a unique opportunity to reach new markets and increase exposure and media coverage of their work. 3C Awards is part of Three C Group GmbH, a Swissregistered company based in Baar, Switzerland. In August 2023, Professor Shin earned a PhD in Informatics from the University of Illinois program in Informatics.

Patrick Earl Hammie contributed to “The Lunar Codex,” Earth’s Moon, Sol System, Orion Arm, Milky Way Galaxy, July 2023. Curator: Samuel Peralta, physicist, author, composer, film producer. The Lunar Codex is four time capsules holding digital archives that feature 30,000 artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers from 157 countries. It will travel to the moon between 2023 and 2026 as part of The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program where it will permanently reside. Reproductions of Hammie’s artwork with interviews and reviews that were originally published in PoetsArtists Magazine are included. Dr. Peralta said, «Our hope is that future travelers who find these time capsules will discover some of the richness of our world today... It speaks to the idea that, despite wars and pandemics and climate upheaval, humankind found time to dream, time to create art.” See articles in The New York Times and ARTnews.

Ben Grosser, l’antinumérique (Ben Grosser, the antinumerical), focuses on his social media research broadly, from Demetricator projects to Zuckerberg film to Minus. À la recherche du réseau social idéal (In search of the ideal social network), quotes Grosser extensively and discusses his Minus project. The New York Times. “The Future of Social Media Is a Lot Less Social” by Brian X. Chen.

David Weightman, Professor of Industrial Design, participated in the fall 2023 NASAD Evaluations Workshop in St. Louis, Missouri.

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Takeover V TAKEOVER is an annual extravaganza/experimental showcase of art and design where all 180+ first year students take over the bathrooms, hallways, stairwells, ceilings, galleries, and classrooms in the A&D Building and the Link Gallery for one night only.

TAKEOVER V was on Friday, March 31, 2023, and to celebrate its five-year anniversary, it also included all years, graduate students, and faculty and staff. TAKEOVER VI is scheduled for Friday, March 22, 2024.

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National Portfolio Days The School of Art & Design faculty again participated in National Portfolio Days at San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Louis. Those who attended portfolio days at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago are pictured here.

front row Angelica Sibrian, Teaching Assistant Professor, Graphic Design/Design for Responsible Innovation Melissa Pokorny, Executive Associate Director, Professor, Studio Art (Sculpture) back row Stacey Robinson, Associate Professor, Graphic Design/Design for Responsible Innovation Jennifer Bergmark, Teaching Assistant Professor, Art Education Alan Mette, Director Deke Weaver, Professor, Studio Art–New Media Salman Raheel, Teaching Assistant Professor, Industrial Design Luke Batten, Associate Professor, Studio Arts–Photography

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A&D Awards View the 2023 Awards program here.

Art & Design Summer Educator MicroResidency The summer educator micro-residency took place June 26– July 1, 2023, on campus with 17 educators and three faculty mentors participating. Educator-artists from a broad range of disciplines live, work, and collaborate to push the boundaries of their practices. Faculty mentors guide resident artists through critiques, offer challenges, make presentations, provide demonstrations, and engage in one-on-one sessions.

A public exhibition culminates the experience.

Licensed IL educators receive Professional Development Hours (PDH) for studio hours completed. Non-IL licensed educators receive a letter of completion for their respective state board agency. Graduate credit is not available for this program. Visit the website for more information and the 2024 application form.

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Greg Drasler Distinguished Alumni Presentation and Lecture Greg Drasler presented the A&D Distinguished Alumni Lecture titled “The Painted Line” in March 2023. Drasler lives and works in New York City. His paintings have been the subject of sixteen one-person exhibitions and included in over thirty group shows. He was born and raised in Waukegan, Illinois, and moved to New York in 1983 after receiving an MFA in Painting at UIUC. The first exhibition of his paintings was in the first On View at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in 1983, followed by Other Man: Alternative Views of Masculinity in 1987, both curated by Marcia Tucker.

Metaphorical depictions of construction sites and workers evolved in his work as accumulations of tools and objects populated his paintings that addressed the constructions of identity. Crowds of men in hats along with the Baggage Paintings contained humor, nostalgia, and memory in ongoing assemblies of selves. Drasler began describing his painting process as packing and re-packing an empty suitcase or painting the inside out. These works were exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at the R.C. Erpf Gallery, New York; the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Artist Space, New York; and the Whitney Museum in Stamford, Connecticut, among others.

With the support of a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in 1991 followed by a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1993, Drasler began Cave Paintings. Through depictions of elaborately constructed interiors, paintings concentrating on refuge were posed as asylums or containers for a self. The Queens Museum of Art first presented Cave Paintings in 1994, followed by exhibitions in Boston, Seattle, and New York.

Drasler joined the Betty Cuningham Gallery in New York in 2007. His recent exhibition, titled On the Lam, traced his references from film production apparatus into auto interiors as places of independence, seclusion, and screening. He characterized these paintings as “packed like luggage, appointed like rooms, and driven like automobiles.” His current work Road House, with the support of a 2014 Guggenheim Fellowship followed by a Pollock Krasner grant 2019, continues the use of assembly procedures in

constructing patterned panoramas. Cloud computations above planes of vivid crazy-quilt terrains contain structures suggesting vernacular American roadhouses as places between here and there.

Drasler’s essay “Painting into a Corner: Representation as Shelter” was published in The Vitality of Objects: Exploring the Work of Christopher Bollas, edited by Joseph Scalia (Continuum Press, London; Wesleyan Press, 2002) and was followed by a collaboration with poet Timothy Liu titled Plolytheogamy (Philadelphia: Saturnalia Press, 2009). Drasler has taught and lectured at schools, including Princeton University, Pratt Institute for the past twelve years, Williams College, Hofstra University, and Montclair State University. Reviews of Drasler’s work can be found in Art in America, New Art Examiner, Chicago Tribune, and A.C.T. Gallery.

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In Memoriam Vernon Fisher, MFA 1969

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Fort Worth artist Vernon Fisher, one of Texas’ most important painters, has died

By Marcheta Fornoff, Fort Worth Report, April 25, 2023 https://fortworthreport. org/2023/04/25/fort-worthartist-vernon-fisher-one-oftexas-most-important-paintershas-died/ Fort Worth visual artist and educator Vernon Fisher has died at age 80 The mixed media artist had several opportunities to leave Fort Worth, showing his work at more than 40 museums around the globe in London and Mexico City and nationally at museums like the Guggenheim and Whitney in New York.

But the artist continued to call North Texas home up through his death, which was announced by Mark Moore Gallery on Monday.

“He wanted to stay true to his roots,” Mark Moore said over the phone. His gallery is based in California and the pair worked together for more than 30 years.

“He would definitely be considered one of the most important artists to come out of Texas ever, if not one of the most important contemporary artists to emerge from the United States,” he said. “He had shows at the Hirshhorn Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Whitney Biennial all the same year. I mean, this is virtually unheard of.”

Michael Auping, who served as the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth’s chief curator from 1993-2017, was a good friend of Fisher’s. The pair bonded over golf and their love of art.

“We’re very different kinds of people. But the one thing we had in common was the idea that art would get us through all of this, meaning get us through the idea of being a living person and never being able to resolve anything,” Auping said.

Fisher’s art, like his sense of humor, was sharp and acerbic, juxtaposing cartoonish figures with literary references. Fisher’s sense of humor remained intact, even as the artist’s health issues ramped up, Auping said.

“When Vernon got sick, he had to have dialysis three times a week. It was grueling,” he said.

But when one of their frequent haunts, an old-fashioned cafeteria, shut down and later became the home to a dialysis clinic, both men laughed at the irony.

“That’s the nature of Vernon’s art. You might think it’s funny because Mickey Mouse is in it, but you might notice Mickey’s arm is missing or something like that,” he said.

In the ’70s, when many people looked to the coasts as artistic hubs, Auping said that Fisher helped put Texas on the map.

“So many young artists I’ve run into here in Texas who studied with Vernon Fisher said he really helped them understand that they could have a career in art and that career could be in Texas.”

As an educator at the University of North Texas from 1978-2009, Fisher helped mold the next generation of artists.

“So often you’re a good teacher and not necessarily a great artist, or you can be a great artist and not necessarily a good teacher. Vernon was able to do both,” Auping said.

Fisher’s friend and UNT colleague Matthew Bourbon said, “He was always the smartest person in the room, but humble. He didn’t lord it over you. He was a downto-earth guy … I will certainly miss him.”

KERA’s Jerome Weeks and Dane Walters spent time with Fisher in his studio in 2016. He told them that he liked to play with our natural inclination to see an image and create a narrative. Fisher began as an abstract painter, but then started experimenting with text.

“Language was becoming a very big part of the art world then,” Auping told Weeks in 2016. “Some artists were using just pure language, pure text — like Jenny Holzer. What brought Fisher attention early on was his use of text and image. And he was making ‘narratives’ that were often disjunctive. They made you wonder if the image actually fit the text. And in most cases, the relationships are oblique. They could be based on something you don’t even notice initially.”

When Weeks asked Fisher, then 73, if he’d ever stop painting, Fisher replied: “I’ve never really attempted to stop, So I wouldn’t know, y’know?”

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In Memoriam Ellen McDowell, 1947 BFA Painting

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Ellen McDowell, 99, of Champaign passed away August 17, 2023, at home. Ellen Jane Attebery was born June 15, 1924, at St. Mary’s Hospital in East St. Louis, on an early Sunday morning as a storm eliminated electricity in the hospital. Her parents were Clark and Lydia Attebery.

She attended St. Philip Grade School and St. Teresa Academy in her home city. In September 1942, she registered at the University of Illinois with $11 to pay for a room with kitchen privileges and was able to defer payment of tuition and fees. With the help of her parents, two jobs, several scholarships and moving to a University Co-op, Alpha House, she graduated with highest honors and a fine arts degree in painting.

On Jan. 23, 1947, at St. John’s Catholic Chapel, she married Austin McDowell, instructor in music and a returning WWII Navy pilot. Austin died on Dec. 4, 2013, as retired director of the School of Music at the University of Illinois. They were married for 66 years.

One quality that stood out was Ellen’s extraordinary memory. In her own words, she “remembers watching Charles Lindbergh sitting on the back of an open car in a parade, the Crash of 1929, the Great Depression, triple dip cones for five cents, the New Deal, Amelia Earhart, Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima.” Raising six children through the Cold War, Rock N’ Roll, the Vietnam War, the civil rights movement and beyond forged a deep commitment to peace, justice, and the rights of the poor and marginalized. In 1964, Ellen met and was influenced by

Dorothy Day, becoming part of the first Catholic Worker House in ChampaignUrbana. She was active in Pax Christi and the Martin Luther King Jr. Advocacy for Justice Committee. In 2009, with other volunteers, she helped found the Daily Bread Soup Kitchen, which still thrives, serving meals to almost 400 individuals on a daily basis. Known fondly to guests as “Miss Ellen,” she initiated the organization’s assistance program, which has helped ensure hundreds of community members better access to employment, health care and independence.

Immensely talented as a painter and a writer, Ellen often put her family above her own self-expression. A number of her writings were professionally published, and her oil paintings, one of which won a prestigious award when she was still in college, remain a legacy that will be cherished by her family. Ellen taught painting in the Adult Education Program at Central High School and volunteered in numerous organizations, including Girl Scouts and Holy Cross Youth Group.

She was a tireless and loving mother, devoted and loyal wife, compassionate grandmother, and active community member. Ellen brightened people’s days with her beautiful smile, positive attitude, great sense of humor, fierce intellect, curiosity, and an amazing ability to quote a complete poem or passage from literature at a moment’s notice. She loved progressive politics, studying history and spirituality, reading voraciously, listening to opera, classical and devotional music,

being in nature, gardening, camping at Pere Marquette State Park and even learning to swim in her 60s. Those who knew her appreciated her great love of beauty and ability to find the good in everyone.

Preceding her in death were her husband, Austin; two sons, James and Joseph; her parents; two brothers, David and Fred; and beloved aunts, Isabel and Ellen.

Surviving are her brother, Col. John Attebury of Lusby, Md.; children, Mary of Nashville, Tenn., Ann (Henry Szujewski) of Champaign, John (Alexandra Spadea) of New York, Andrew of Champaign and Peter of Los Angeles; grandchildren, Lily Szujewski, James Szujewski, Andrea McDowell and Luna Spadea McDowell.

Also mourning her loss are many inlaws, nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews, to whom she was “Aunt Ellen.”

She died after a short battle with acute myeloid leukemia. The family wishes to thank Patricia Mills for her loyalty and loving care. A memorial Mass and a celebration of life will be held later this fall.

Memorials may be sent to Daily Bread South Kitchen, P.O. BOX 648, Champaign, IL 61824-0648; Living the Dream Scholarship Fund, c/o the Rev. Claude Shelby, 500 W. Park St., Champaign, IL 61820; or Holy Cross Church, 405 W. Clark St., Champaign, IL 61820. Her family also asks you to consider a gift to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, lls. org. Condolences may be offered at owensfuneralhomes.com.

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Alumni Spotlight

Rebecca Goesling BFA 2013 Industrial Design

Tell us about yourself—where you are from, prior teaching or professional experience, education, etc.

I am a designer based in Chicago, IL. After a few years of designing home goods and small electronics for consultancies in the area, I joined Whirlpool’s Color, Material and Finish (CMF) team. Through the mentorship of my bosses and peers at the studio, I went from designing washing machine patterns to developing CMF strategies, conceptualizing brand languages, and leading trend forecasts.

In almost eight years at the company, I got the opportunity to play with a dozen brands and many more products across the globe.

What brought you here? What attracted you to Industrial Design?

My mom is a fine artist, and my dad builds antique motorcycles. Their passions exposed me to an incredible blend of beauty and function from a very young age. When it came time to pursue a higher education, I knew I wanted to specialize in something that would incorporate both artistic and technical exploration. However, I had no idea what that path could be. I spent months visiting schools for everything from Mathematics to Illustration. I eventually landed on French Lit at UIUC, though I never felt confident in my choice. One night toward the end of senior year in high school, my mom and I were watching TV when the most beautiful staircase came onto the screen. The narrator began talking about his job, his process, and his mission to change the world through design. That narrator was John Maeda, and his job was in industrial design. Thanks to the help of my art teacher at the time and U of I’s FAA Dean, I switched my major within the week and the rest is history.

Where are you now, and what are you doing?

My sister, an interior designer, and I joined forces just over a year ago. Together we run the cross-functional Goesling Group design studio in Chicago. While my sister manages the interior design and construction half of the business, my role as Director of Design is to lead all brand, trend, and CMF projects. These can range from a multi-year CMF strategy for an athletics company to a full rebrand for a beverage distributor and everything in between. In addition to my work at Goesling Group, I teach CMF and trend forecasting with Offsite, Advanced Design’s online education platform.

This program allows students from across the world to come together and further their design education through projects, discussions, and critiques on a regular basis.

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Best memory of your time at UIUC. How to pick just one? From an educational perspective, the day Professor Shin introduced the idea of CMF sticks out. He brought in about 100 red swatches, describing the process of achieving different hues, gloss levels, and so on. It was the first time I really understood the power a color could have on someone’s perception of an object and the work that goes into creating that. Socially though, any late night at the studio with friends, whether building paper shoes or dancing to Sandstorm, will be memories I look back on fondly forever.

Proudest accomplishments—professional and/or personal.

Though seeing my designs on shelves or Instagram is a wild feeling, I’m prouder to be able to give back to the design community through programs like Offsite. I learned so much from my professors, mentors, and peers through the years; it is truly rewarding to pass on the wisdom they shared with me. However, my greatest accomplishment of all is getting to collaborate with my sister every day. We have dreamt about and worked toward this goal for over a decade, and it is an even greater joy than I could’ve imagined.

Upcoming or current projects that you’d like people to know about.

Unfortunately, all my upcoming work is confidential, but I can talk about a few of our interiors team’s designs. They are closing up three very different, very cool projects right now.

The first, “Fastlane,” is a new construction in which the team is building a hybrid guest house and car workshop/showroom with a clean, crisp aesthetic. “Songbird,” a full home remodel, is a pied-a-terre in West Loop with a vintage twist. Another fun project is “Put A Ring On It,” a private jewelry gallery with a luxury event space attached.

Advice for those about to graduate.

Maintain your relationships. Do it genuinely and free from expectations. I made some of my best friends and most trusted collaborators in the classroom and workplace. Every professional opportunity I’ve received has come from someone I’ve taken the time to get to know in those spaces, and they have always come when I least expect it.

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Alumni Spotlight María del Mar González-González PhD 2014 Art History

Tell us about yourself—where you are from, prior teaching or professional experience, education, etc.

I grew up in Columbia, Missouri, and Puerto Rico—I know, it’s an unusual combination. I received a BA in visual arts from the University of Puerto Rico with an emphasis in 2D art. It was as a studio undergrad that I “discovered” art history and realized that I enjoyed doing research. In fact, I enjoyed it so much that for graduate school, I decided to switch from studio art to art history. I earned my MA in modern and contemporary art history from Indiana University-Bloomington (IU) and my PhD from UIUC. At IU, I worked as the graduate assistant in the Works on Paper Department of the Indiana University Art Museum (now the Eskenazi Museum of Art) and interned at the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico. At Illinois, I focused on modern and contemporary Latin American & Caribbean and US Latinx art, and I was able to take classes in areas such as Latino/a Studies, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Cultural Anthropology, Queer Studies, and Museum Studies.

I studied with some incredible faculty members including Oscar Vázquez, Jordana Mendelson, Terri Weissman, Arlene Torres, Richard T. Rodriguez, and the late Dara Goldman. This interdisciplinary atmosphere encouraged me to work on decentering the canon, rethinking inclusion and exclusion, as well as the ways in which centers and peripheries had been traditionally defined. During this time, I also expanded my research and museum experience through internships, fellowships, and appointments at Smithsonian National Museum of American History, The Phillips Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, and The Getty Foundation. On the academic side, I’ve taught at the University of Utah, UIUC (as both a grad student and later as a visiting assistant professor), California College of Arts, and am currently at Weber State University.

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Where are you now, and what are you doing?

I’m an assistant professor of global modern and contemporary art history at Weber State University (Ogden, UT). I specialize in contemporary Latin American and US Latinx visual art and culture with a focus on the intersection of art and politics. My research and teaching interests extend to socially engaged practices, decolonization, art biennials, the history of collecting and museums, and reprographic arts. In addition to teaching, I maintain an active curatorial agenda having recently curated Beyond the Margins: An Exploration of Latina Art and Identity (2023) at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, which is currently on display at Boise State University’s Blue Galleries, and co-curated with Jorge Rojas Vida, Muerte, Justicia / Life, Death, Justice (2021) at Ogden Contemporary Arts and The Mary Elizabeth Dee Shaw Gallery.

I also actively participate in numerous local arts organizations and non-profits in advisory roles or as a reviewer.

Best memory of your time at UIUC. I have so many fond memories of UIUC, most of them involve either “the stacks” or a tower of books from Ricker Library and Main Library. I absolutely loved exploring the book collections and finding unexpected gems on the shelves. I miss our wonderful librarians who would go out of their way to find books related to my research—I am especially grateful for the enthusiasm and help of the late Chris Quinn (Ricker Librarian). Another great memory is the interdisciplinary academic community that I was able to establish at school, ranging from grad student peers to faculty mentors in other departments and colleges. The enrichment of those experiences made me a much better art historian, and I retain those connections to this day.

Proudest accomplishments—professional and/or personal.

I take great pride in the work I do bridging academia and local communities. I do this through developing accessible programming in my own work and in conjunction with nonprofits. Most recently I’ve been able to curate or co-curate two bilingual (Spanish-English) exhibitions focused on centering marginalized voices and highlighting Latinx experiences. It was the first time in which the art museums and galleries hosting these exhibitions had full programming (in the didactic materials and talks) in Spanish, bringing more diverse crowds into these spaces. One of these exhibitions, Beyond the Margins: An Exploration of Latina Art and Identity, was funded through grants from the Salt Lake City Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

I’m also particularly proud of my new daughter, Aria del Mar Zwick-González. She’s my first child and was born this year.

Upcoming or current projects that you’d like people to know about.

My most recently curated exhibition Beyond the Margins is on view at Boise State University’s Blue Galleries through October 2023. As I work on rethinking art history in the 21st century, I’m always working on new ideas for classes, and I’m currently developing a social practice art history class, as well as an honors course on the topic of forgeries, scandals, and shenanigans in the art world. I have a few curatorial projects and articles in the works, but it’s a bit early to go into too much detail at this time.

Advice for those about to graduate.

Enjoy your time in grad school. Make friends in your program, but also forge friendships outside of it. The support system that you develop in grad school will carry through for the rest of your professional and personal life. Don’t be shy about reaching out to your peers for advice, help, or just to catch up.

Photo by Zachary Norman for UMOCA.

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Alumni Spotlight Louis Lee BFA 2011 Graphic Design Tell us about yourself—where you are from, prior teaching or professional experience, education, etc.

I’m from St. Louis, Missouri, born and raised. Proudly attributing my roots and entrepreneurial spirit to my industrious Korean immigrant parents and their successful dry-cleaning business, thriving for over 35 years.

During my undergraduate graphic design program, I developed a deep passion for the craft. I was fortunate to have supportive and nurturing design professors (Gunji, Luu, Benson, and Jennings). On graduation, I received prestigious awards, including the James & Dorothy Shipley Award, Outstanding Senior Award, and American Institute of Graphic Arts (IAGA) Chicago Student Scholarship. These scholarships enabled me to relocate to Chicago and freelance for diverse clients, from Fortune 500 companies to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

After a brief time in Chicago, I moved to New York City in the summer of 2012. Another alumnus from UIUC Art & Design told me about a job opening at Aperture Foundation.

Little did I know that the hiring manager, who was also the Creative Director, would eventually become one of my business partners.

Before starting Bellweather, I continued to gain experience at design studios, advertising agencies, and NYC’s tourism marketing organization. I also worked on freelance projects creating lifestyle publications. A highlight of my career was leading and executing NYC’s official Pride celebrations for three years.

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What brought you here? What attracted you to Graphic Design?

Since I was young, I’ve been captivated by the world of art. I’d rummage through my mom’s old high school art portfolio, fascinated by the hidden gems she kept tucked away in her closet. In high school, my passion for art flourished and became the focus of my extracurricular activities.

While in yearbook class, I discovered graphic design and fell in love with it. Taking charge of graphics and layouts sparked my passion. Dedicated to art and design, I applied to various art schools across the country. However, it was UIUC’s allure that captivated me.

UIUC’s School of Art & Design is part of a broader network that encourages interdisciplinary exploration. What I truly enjoyed was the freedom to indulge in my passion for art while also delving into courses on Greek history or political science. It offered a remarkable opportunity to embrace diverse subjects and broaden my intellectual horizons.

Where are you now, and what are you doing?

I am one of the three co-founding partners at Bellweather Agency, where I proudly serve as the Chief Creative Officer.

Our agency, driven by research and strategy, specializes in creating captivating experiences for clients in the sectors of travel and tourism, health insurance, and non-profit organizations. From crafting brand identities to designing and developing enterprise websites and executing advertising and marketing campaigns that include experiential activations, we offer a wide range of services. In just eight years, our agency has grown into a thriving medium-sized organization with a highly skilled team of over 20 talented individuals.

As the leader of the creative team, I oversee a diverse group of professionals, including graphic designers, copywriters, photographers, videographers, and production coordinators.

While I still actively contribute to the design work, I place great trust in the skill and expertise of my team members to bring our strategic visions to life through creative executions.

Best memory of your time at UIUC. I surrounded myself with diligent individuals, whose dedication and work ethic were unparalleled. Countless nights were spent collaborating on projects and fostering strong bonds forged through shared experiences. Once deadlines were met, presentations and critiques given, we would indulge in well-deserved rest and fun (I can still recall the smells of the old KAMS).

Proudest accomplishments—professional and/or personal.

Without any bank loans or external investors, Bellweather Agency was founded and nurtured solely through personal investments from me and my two partners. We take immense pride in being a certified women and people of color-owned agency, a rare representation that accounts for less than 1% of all agencies, as recognized by Forbes.

Upcoming or current projects that you’d like people to know about.

We have a lot going on! While it’s a bit early to spill the beans on upcoming projects, I’m super proud of our most recent website launch for Halifax, Canada. We’re also in the process of developing an enterprise website for BRIC, a renowned Brooklyn arts institution. On top of that, we’re expanding our partnership with MetroPlusHealth, a non-profit health insurance company that serves the vibrant community of New Yorkers. Be sure to follow us on Instagram.

Advice for those about to graduate.

Embrace the opportunities that surround you. You never know what you might enjoy until you give it a try, or who you might encounter that could lead you to new possibilities.

Cultivate a supportive community around you. If an environment isn’t nourishing your growth, move-on and forge ahead. Trust your instincts yet remain open to taking calculated risks.

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Alumni Spotlight Elliot Purse BFA 2011 Painting Tell us about yourself—where are you from, prior teaching or professional experience, education, etc.

In New York I say I’m from Chicago, and in Chicago I now say I’m from Brooklyn. Both cities I think have had an equal impact on me and how I identify myself today (Chicago being my place of birth and where I spent my childhood/ adolescence and NYC being the place I really matured and sort of found myself). I attended U of I from 2007–2011 and went on to graduate school at the New York Academy of Art (NYAA) from 2012–2014. Early out of grad school, I taught some summer seminars for undergraduate students at the NYAA. I haven’t been teaching recently, but it’s something that I’ve been thinking about pursuing again soon. Besides my studio practice, I’ve also worn many hats in the design world selling, merchandising, photographing, and refinishing high-end vintage and contemporary furniture.

What brought you here? What attracted you to Painting?

I think a number of different factors brought me to art. Like many others, I had a natural inclination to draw, and from an early age, it appeared I had a talent for it. I also was lucky to have my parents and grandmother who had pursued both fine and commercial art before me, so there was a unique support system in place. In another way, it was a very conscious logical choice to pursue art. I have a very specific memory from about age 16 where one night while playing guitar (not so well), I thought to myself, “I can either keep doing this and probably be a mediocre musician or follow this other thing that I already seem to have a knack for and maybe do something substantial with it.” From then on, I mostly put all my effort into drawing and painting.

Where are you now, and what are you doing?

I live in Bushwick, Brooklyn, where I’ve been for a little over a decade now. I also have a studio here that I share with my wife and fellow artist Krista-Louise Smith. After focusing solely on making drawings for several years, I’ve just begun to get back into oil painting which feels really fresh and exciting again.

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Best memory of your time at UIUC. Unofficial! Haha, no...my favorite memories now are pretty simple: the cool fall air and hearing cheers from a game at Memorial Stadium, riding my bike home after the studio late at night across campus and generally just hanging out with my other A&D cohort at the Flagg Hall studios. One night in particular stands out from my freshman year where I and a small group of other art students spent a night roaming the campus until dawn. Through several small acts of low stakes, quasi-artistic vandalism, we one-by-one pledged ourselves to what we named the ‘Dead Artist’s Society’ —a small friend group and artist collective. I don’t think it really amounted to much more collective or public art, but that night stands out as a sort of foundational experience in making new friends at UIUC and just the magic of young adulthood.

Proudest accomplishments—professional and/or personal.

Professionally, having my first solo show in NYC this past year definitely stands out as a proud moment. My opening was at a lower east side gallery named Alchemy Gallery and that felt like a real culmination of many years of hard work and perseverance. In a broader sense, but not unrelated, I’m also proud of just having lasted in NYC for 11 years now and the life I’ve crafted piece by piece as an artist here. It’s not an easy place to live and the temptation to move somewhere a little more forgiving or affordable is always present, but it’s worked out.

Upcoming or current projects that you’d like people to know about.

This fall I have work in two art fairs: Spring Break Art Show NYC 2023 and Art On Paper 2023. In the studio, I’m very eagerly working up about 12 new paintings which I’m very excited to see come to fruition—more on that via Instagram, haha.

Advice for those about to graduate.

Take time to savor your triumphs and be kind to yourself when it doesn’t go your way. Patience and fortitude will take you the distance.

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Alumni Spotlight Albert Stabler PhD 2018 Art Education

Tell us about yourself—where are you from, prior teaching or professional experience, education, etc.

I’m from Columbus, Ohio, and got an undergraduate degree at Oberlin College. I then went to the Columbus College of Art and Design, and after that, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I spent 17 years in Chicago, during which I was an art teacher, critic, curator, and maker. I spent ten years as a fulltime art teacher in the Chicago Public Schools, and almost all of that time at a neighborhood school on the southeast side, Bowen High School.

What brought you here? What attracted you to Art Education?

I came to UIUC because I was excited about working with my friend and art teacher role model Jorge Lucero. I had interviewed Jorge for my master’s thesis in art education, and his eloquent thoughts on the aesthetic and conceptual significance of creative work by young people in schools, as well as work by teachers, made an enormous impression on me.

Where are you now, and what are you doing?

I am an assistant professor of art education at Illinois State University. I teach a range of art teaching methods classes to graduate and undergraduate students, within and outside of art education. My writing interests focus on race, disability, and incarceration in the context of schooling and conceptual art. I don’t make much visual art at the moment, but my non-binary child and I have been doing some collaborative installations.

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Best memory of your time at UIUC. I had a wonderful time at UIUC. I was incredibly energized by taking part in organizing and outreach through organizations like the Education Justice Project, Build Programs Not Jails, and the Graduate Employees’ Organization. My wife Katie and I also curated exhibitions at a small house in our backyard, which we called the Outhaus, and this project was a source of a lot of excitement, beauty, and fun.

Proudest accomplishments—professional and/or personal.

While working with the Education Justice Project (EJP), I remain very honored to have been involved in the planning and implementation of a project called Community Anti-Violence Education, or CAVE, which was started by incarcerated EJP students at the Danville Correctional Center.

The purpose of the project is for experienced members of the community, in this case incarcerated men, usually older, to provide a planned and intentional space for other incarcerated men, usually younger, to talk about trauma and healing.

Upcoming or current projects that you’d like people to know about?.

I’m very happy about the blog I’m maintaining, entitled Institutional Model, through which I have been able to profile a number of brilliant disabled artists. I myself am severely nearsighted, and I identify as neurodivergent. As with other minoritized communities, art can be a strong platform through which disabled people can clearly and compellingly make statements on their own terms.

Advice for those about to graduate.

Find ways to keep doing what you care about doing.

Particularly in the arts, I feel that the reason to get an advanced degree is to find a practice and/or interest (which can encompass multiple practices and interests) that you intend to continue developing. But also, be ready for things to become challenging and complicated in new ways once you’re out of school.

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Alumni Accomplishments Bruce Fink (BFA 1962 Industrial Design).

College and graduate sculpture instructor at RISD and Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. Possibly the largest oneman foundry known. Keep writing and sharing to other artists around the world. facebook.com/bruce.fink.3. bpfink.com.

Kamila Glowacki (BFA 2013 Art Education & Painting, MA 2018 Art Education) is the 2023 IAEA Art Education Museum Educator of the Year.

Tom Goldenberg (BFA 1970 Sculpture) was in a group show “Material Sustenance & Family Snapshots” at the Re Institute, in Boston Corners, New York.

Ruthmony Michalsen (nee Hong) (BFA 2004 Crafts). I became an active member of the Romeoville Art Society in 2022.

Since then, I’ve done a couple of group exhibitions with the society. Additionally, I hosted a gratitude journaling workshop with collage at the West Chicago City Museum. rhongart.com.

Ruth A. Migdal (MFA 1958) was recently featured in the Chicago Sun Times and Chicago Tribune.

Sculptor Ruth Aizuss Migdal in her studio in East Garfield Park. Her latest sculpture celebrates the female form while protesting the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Photo

by Anthony Vazquez, Sun-Times.

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Jim Hopfensperger (MA 1983 Art Education). jimhopfensperger.net.

Taekyeom Lee (MFA 2014 Graphic Design) received a 2023 Design Incubation Communication Design Award in Scholarship: Creative Production with his entry, “Tangible Graphic Design.” Lee is an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. designincubation.com/publications/ awards/the-2023-design-incubationcommunication-design-awards. portfolio. taekyeom.com

Yvette Mayorga (BFA 2015 Painting) was recently featured in VOGUE magazine.

Mary Anna Pomonis (BFA 1995 Painting) was recently featured in Art & Cake.

Chitra Ramanathan (BFA 1993 Painting, MBA 1997 Human Resources & Arts Management/self-created concentration).

Selection as Visual Artist Member of the International Association of Art, USA, attached to global NGO IAA/AIAP partnered with the UNESCO. linkedin. com/in/chitrafineart

Archana Shekara (2010 MFA Graphic Design). Featured for AIGA’s One Designer, One Work. on/talks/archanashekara-one-designer-one-work. http://www.theherproject.art.

Pomonis Studio Portrait 2022; photo by Justin Stadel.

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New Administrator Patrick Hammie, Director’s Fellow Patrick Hammie, Studio Art Program Chair, has been named the inaugural Art & Design Director’s Fellow. In Hammie’s new role, he will learn the philosophical and practical components of leading/managing the School of Art & Design, including assembling, budgeting, developing, and supporting the school’s principles; staff and faculty duties and appointments; faculty governance; fundraising and gift procurement; and settling disputes, reporting, and liaising between School’s administration, College units, and Dean.

New Faculty Catalina Alzate, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design Catalina is a designer and researcher working on participatory and service design for community healthcare needs, with a special interest in Women’s Health and Reproductive Justice. Catalina is also involved in the study and mitigation of technology-facilitated genderbased violence, by collaborating as an advisor and graphic designer with international organizations. Her courses incorporate critical theory in design and participatory approaches to technology design.

Jennifer Bergmark, Assistant Professor of Art Education Dr. Jennifer Bergmark has been teaching in Art Education in the School of Art & Design since 2013 in various capacities and now joins the faculty as an assistant professor. Her research is concerned with culturally relevant pedagogy, arts integration, arts advocacy, community arts programming, public engagement, exhibition as creative practice, and visiting artists in K-12 schools. Her anchor project is a long-standing partnership with Stratton Elementary which includes The Everyday Arts Lab, an afterschool program that provides early field experience.

Her research in culturally relevant pedagogy includes research in Native American Art and art education with the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana and Myaamia Art and Culture through Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Her research in Art Exhibition Practices as a creative practice is ongoing through the Everyday Arts Lab, but the latest iteration of this research is in a new correspondence gallery project, to you to me gallery.

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Sharath Chandra Ramakrishnan, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and Studio Art Sharath Chandra Ramakrishnan (Sharath Chandra Ram)’s research at the Signal Cultures Lab, spans the fields of human-machine interaction design, cognitive psychology, auditory cognition, sound studies and the media arts. On one hand, it integrates methodologies from these fields to envision informational and assistive listening interfaces with the capacity to augment our perception and knowledge of the world using information sonification, multimodal interaction and sound. On the other hand, it deals with a socio-technical analysis of how technology design processes can encode values that affect society through technology policy decisions governing emerging technologies of human and machine listening. Extending upon his doctoral research at the University of Texas at Dallas (School of Arts, Technology and Emerging Communication), he seeks to establish new modes of transdisciplinary collaboration and community based design to overcome limitations imposed by the current industrial-medical model of innovation concerning augmented hearing technologies.

Previously, after having earned an MS in Artificial Intelligence with focus on HCI in virtual environments at the University of Edinburgh, School of Informatics, he was Research Associate, at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India in one of the nation’s first fMRI labs. Here, he studied the capacity limits of information processing and networks of multimodal cognition, in a project that was funded by the Dept. of Biotechnology, Govt of India. Subsequently, in a departure from clinical neuroscience, he was Faculty at the Srishti Manipal Institute of Art Design and Technology where he advanced a technical practice that integrated the cognitive arts and sciences.

His current research trajectory involves efforts that extend to more than a decade of being involved in community media networks, grassroot technology activism and communications technology design, catered particularly towards more admissible wireless telecom policy. This included setting up a technology policy and community lab at the Center for Internet and Society, Bangalore, India, and involvement in several networks in South Asia and South America (HONF Foundation in Indonesia, Bricolabs, Plato Hedro in Colombia, to name a few). As a licensed amateur radio broadcaster (callsign: VU3HPA) he continues to extend his creative technology and media arts practice as a ‘transmission artist’ in various international curations and forums, to engage the public while addressing contexts that bridge the worlds of media, science, and tech policy.

Guen Montgomery, Assistant Professor of Studio Art Guen Montgomery is an artist and performer whose work investigates identity through studies of material culture, gender, and family mythology. Montgomery’s work is located in the tactile intersections between printmaking, performance, and sculpture. Montgomery has exhibited nationally and internationally and has work in public collections including the Centre for Art and Design in Churchill, Australia; and Mushashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan. She’s completed multiple residencies, including the Vermont Studio Center, Pentaculum and Calumet residencies. Within the last year, Montgomery has exhibited in solo and two-person exhibitions in Flint, Michigan; St. Louis, Missouri; and Raleigh, North Carolina, with upcoming solo shows in Peoria and Springfield. Montgomery lives with her wife, dog, and two cats in Urbana, IL.

James Pilgrim, Assistant Professor of Art History James Pilgraim earned a BA at Colby College, an MA from Williams College, and a PhD from Johns Hopkins. He is an historian of early modern European art with a particular interest in cultural representations of the environment. His research has been supported by the Renaissance Society of America, the New York Public Library, The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Institute for Research in the Humanities, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA), where he was a Paul Mellon Predoctoral Fellow. His work has appeared in the Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, Grey Room, Renaissance Quarterly, and The Art Bulletin (forthcoming). Combining art history, ecocriticism, and environmental history, his current book project, “Pastoral’s End: Art, Agriculture, and Ecology in Jacopo Bassano’s Italy,” situates the work of this important sixteenth-century Italian painter within a context of aggressive agricultural expansion and industrialization on the Venetian mainland. Before coming to the University of Illinois, he was an NEH Postdoctoral Fellow at Vanderbilt University.

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New Specialized Faculty Somi Lee, Teaching Assistant Professor of Art Education Somi Lee holds a doctorate in education from the University of Calgary. Her research centers on collaborative conceptual artmaking in public spaces, emphasizing transdisciplinary learning and public pedagogy. She is also engaged in several research projects, one of which involves underrepresented graffiti artists within art education to explore public pedagogy, while another delves into areas beyond art education, such as Korean philosophy and its learning. Before joining UIUC, she taught art education at institutions in Canada including OISE University of Toronto, York University, and Western University.

Shannon Percoco, Adjunct Lecturer of Art Education is an artist and educator who holds a BFA in Painting and an MA in Art Education from the UIUC. She has been an art educator with Champaign Unit #4 schools for the past twenty-five years and additionally invests time and energy into the local arts community, showing her own work in a variety of local venues. She will be working as an Adjunct Lecturer within the Art Education department serving student teachers and community schools.

Cassandra Smith, Visiting Lecturer of Art History Dr. Cassandra Smith (BFA, University of Tulsa; MFA, MA, and PhD, University of Illinois at Chicago) is a Visiting Lecturer in Contemporary Art, with a particular focus on Indigenous Art. Dr. Smith’s area of specialization is Native American art, film, and performance, and she situates her research and pedagogy within the disciplinary and methodological frameworks of Indigenous studies, digital humanities, performance studies, gender studies, decolonial museum practices, and critical ethnographic studies.

Dr. Smith strongly believes that engagement with the arts is vital to the development of the analytical skills necessary to the formation of a more just and equitable world, and she encourages students to consider the significance of an arts education to the creation of an informed global citizenry. Her teaching and research engage with key cultural concepts such as land-based knowledge systems; community responsibility; themes of materiality, relationality, and performativity; and strategies of refusal—concerns that powerfully intersect with Feminist, Queer, Black, and Latinx art histories and practices and contribute to an expanding global and anti-colonial arthistorical discourse.

Dr. Smith previously served as the Tribal Archivist for the Pueblo of Isleta Department of Cultural and Historic Preservation, where she was the author and project lead for several grants, including a Mellon Foundation Community-Based Archives Grant, a Society of American Archivists Foundation Strategic Growth Grant, and a National Endowment for the Humanities Sustaining the Humanities Grant. She is the recipient of an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Digital Knowledge Sharing Fellowship at the American Philosophical Society Library and Museum Center for Native American and Indigenous Studies and an Indigenous Communities Research Fellowship at the American Philosophical Society Library and Museum.

This fall, Dr. Smith will travel to Halifax to present her research in the “Two-spirit/Indigiqueer Critique: A Look at the Contemporary Scholarship in the Visual Arts” session at the Native American Art Studies Association Conference.

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Marco Trevisani Montresor, Clinical Assistant Professor of Graphic Design and Architecture Marco Trevisani is a multi-media artist who designs and creates at the intersection of visual arts, sound, space, all linked by technology. His creative endeavors engage graphic and user-interface design, traditional and electronic music composition and performance, creative coding, and creative consulting. His broad and extensive training includes as an experimental improv pianist, musical composer, architect, and digital designer. Marco holds a joint appointment in graphic design and architecture.

Kendra Ward, Teaching Assistant Professor of Photography Kendra Ward is a photographer and educator. She earned her BFA in Photography from Syracuse University and her MFA from UIUC’s Studio Art Department. Kendra’s work has been exhibited internationally and was most recently included in PHmuseum’s annual photography festival in Bologna, Italy, and The Holland Project’s exhibition of Cinematic Photographs.

Kendra’s photography practice utilizes everyday and fantastical imagery to explore themes of domesticity, identity, and the fragility of perception. Her current body of work examines the ways in which we grapple with the unknown and unseen through the lens of narrative depictions of haunted houses.

She has previously worked as a freelance photo editor, editing images for publications such as The New Yorker, Vogue, and The Washington Post, and as a printmaker at Light Work, a nonprofit photography organization in Syracuse, NY.

Postgraduate Designers/ Researchers-in-Residence in Industrial Design William (Zhiwen) Chen William (Zhiwen) Chen brings a background in industrial design and photography to his teaching and research in Industrial Design. He earned a BFA in Industrial Design with a minor in Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology, and a Master of Design from the Institute of Design at Illinois Institute of Technology. He has experience at Siemens Healthineers and was an exhibition designer for the ID @85 Anniversary Exhibition in collaboration with the Design Museum of Chicago. His design practices currently focus on artifacts and experiences within larger spaces (both physically and conceptually), specifically related to acoustics and lighting. He specializes in bringing photographic storytelling to different stages of the design process, from user research to product showcases. His current ongoing research project focuses on using computation and simulation to help designers make acoustic-related design decisions and ultimately to bring awareness to the significance of the auditory sense in design.

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Savio Mukachirayil Savio joined the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2023. His current interest lies in exploring wearable technology for the advancement of human perception. Savio has designed works globally, specifically, London, Dubai, Essen, Chennai, and Singapore. His works are sometimes speculative in nature, and he finds them inspiring for innovative thinking.

Savio has travelled to South Korea annually since 2022, curating and managing a workshop on Speculative Design for students at Samsung Art & Design Institute, Technology University Korea, and Seoul Women’s University. He has curated and led a few international exchanges also. The first was between his peers at the RCA and design department at the Maharashtra Institute of Technology in Pune, and the second was with Uravu Bamboo Art and Craft centre in Kerala.

Savio holds an MA in Global Innovation Design from The Royal College of Art and an MSc in Global Innovation Design from Imperial College London. He holds a BA in Industrial Design & Technology from Loughborough University. He has also participated in international exchanges at both Tsinghua University and Nanyang Technology University.

Mania Taher Through studying commodities, buildings, and landscapes, Mania Taher’s research discusses the cultural histories of places and people manifested in their everyday place-making. Her research interests focus on intersectional identities to foreground the current histories of marginalized people and their spatial agencies to transform their occupied spaces. Everyday objects play an important role in her research investigating the cultural landscapes of new immigrants with queries of displacement, gender, and race. As part of Taher’s design, research, and teaching principles, she visits, documents, and analyzes the built environment and hears the user voices to draw a holistic experience of the larger social, cultural, historical, and ecological landscape.

Taher’s academic background lies at the intersection of architecture and urban design, and currently, she is a PhD candidate of Architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her dissertation research highlights the place construction of first-generation immigrant Bangladeshi women living in New York, mainly by examining their dwellings and a network of locations within their residential environments.

Taher analyzes her research participants’ physical and sensory ways of reconstructing spatial memories and their bodily experiences of transnational displacement through ethnographic studies. Her pedagogical principles directly address racial and ethnic inequalities at the background of anti-feminist framework and environmental injustices, which informed her teaching practices for the last twelve years in the United States and Bangladesh. In this process, she often collaborates with design professionals and organizations working in the field. Very recently, Taher collaborated with BNMO Architects towards an invited micro-exhibit at the Time Space Existence exhibition, organized by the European Cultural Center (ECC), in conjunction with the 2023 Venice Biennial.

The exhibit highlights the transition of immigrant living in the United States and their engagement in an already existing urban built landscape within the historic Devon Avenue neighborhood of Chicago. Taher’s broader research interest also focuses on architecture and urban histories of South Asia and the human-built environment relationship.

Mania Taher authored several book chapters and journals and contributed essays to a wide range of international publications. She is currently a fellowship recipient of the American Institute of Bangladesh Studies, and a serving member of the GSAC committee, the Society of Architectural Historians. She has been involved in professional architectural practice in Dhaka for several years. Taher taught at undergraduate and graduate architecture programs of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) and American International University- Bangladesh (AIUB).

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New Staff Tyler Porterfield, Education Technology Specialist Tyler joined the School of Art & Design in January 2023. He will primarily be focused on working with students in the 3D Fabrication Labs Sunday through Thursday evenings. Tyler will also be working in the Digital Output Lab and Checkout Window. He has a Bachelor of Science in Art Practices from Portland State University, and background in 3D making including computer-controlled machining.

Faculty Promotions Ben Grosser, Studio Art (New Media) to full Professor

Ryan Griffis, Studio Art (New Media) to full Professor

Lisa Mercer, Graphic Design/Design for Responsible Innovation to Associate Professor

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Staff Accomplishments Audra Weinstein, Administrative Aide and Assistant to the Director, was among one of sixteen recipients to receive a 2023 Chancellor’s Staff Excellence Award (CSEA).

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Faculty Accomplishments Eric Benson gave a visiting artist talk at the University of Iowa, September 2023, for exhibition and symposium: “Beyond Boundaries: Exploring All Facets of Graphic Design.”

Jennifer Bergmark presented From Mini to the Massive: Centering Art Exhibition as a Creative Practice at the 2023 National Art Education Association Conference in San Antonio and launched her new project: to you, to me gallery.

Cristóbal Bianchi Geisse was awarded a College of Fine & Applied Arts PROJECT COMPLETION GRANTS to work on exhibition “Look at the Sky Again: Bombing of Poems” at Palacio Pereira ś Art Gallery, Chile.

Anne Burkus-Chasson Translation into Chinese of Through a Forest of Chancellors: Fugitive Histories in Liu Yuan’s Lingyan ge, an Illustrated Book from Seventeenth-Century Suzhou (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2010).

Contracted in August 2022 by Jiangsu People’s Publishing in collaboration with Harvard University Press. Expected publication by August 2024.

Lynne Dearborn served as an invited juror for the 2023 Epidemic Urbanism Initiative Architectural Design Competition which seeks to promote health equity through holistic health promotion embedded in buildings and landscapes of Community Health Centers.

Kira Dominguez Hultgren Research Fellow/Artist Residency, Basque BioDesign Center, Bilbao, Spain.

Rachel Fein-Smolinski published “Something is Wrong” in Literature and Medicine Journal, Volume 41, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2023.

Ryan Griffis’ collaborative project “Over the Levee, Under the Plow: An Experiential Curriculum” (with Sarah Kanouse, Corinne Teed, Heather Parrish, and Jon Lund) was included in the exhibition Insurgent Ecologies at Antenna in New Orleans spring 2023.

Ben Grosser was a 2022–23 Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, where he is now an ongoing Faculty Associate.

Patrick Hammie External Grant, Yunes, Nicolas; et al. “Probing Extreme Gravity with Gravitational Waves,” National Science Foundation Grant, 2022-25, $525,227. A portion of the grant funds one year of exploratory research toward two years of a co-taught (Patrick Hammie, Jessica Raley, Nicolas Yunes) seminar/laboratory course (ARTS 299/PHYS 495: Art of Physics, Physics of Art) to examine the intersections of fine art and hard science, student artist-in-residence program, and interdisciplinary visiting speakers.

Laura Hetrick was awarded a 0% appointment/affiliation with the Beckman Institute

for Advanced Science and Technology. Her Beckman research is under the current Theme: Intelligent Systems, and more specifically with the Group: Cognition, Lifespan Engagement, Aging, and Resilience. She hopes to research such issues as the mechanisms and processes of autistic adult cognitive development; how an autistic’s activities contribute to resilience through the adult lifespan; the development and evaluation of costeffective and life-integrated autistic interventions using psychology, neuroscience, kinesiology, education and more; and the mechanisms underlying autistic intervention effects, including those related to behavioral, neural, emotional, motivational, and social processes. Additionally, she hopes to explore and understand various autistic health comorbidities from a cellular level, and as a result, advocate for improved medical care, prevention, and maintenance for autistic adults.

Karin Hodgin Jones Teaching Assistant Professor Karin Hodgin Jones’ case study of the sustainability of electronic device stewardship in production archives will be featured in the forthcoming journal article: Hodgin Jones, Karin, et al. “The Curricular Asset Warehouse at The University of Illinois: A Digital Archive’s Sustainability Case Study,” Journal of Digital Media Management (forthcoming, fall), 2023.

Laurie Hogin Two of Laurie Hogin’s works, “American Stories (with Bunny Protagonists): Ode to Romantic Love (Still Life with Beautiful Peaches, Queer Melons, and Wrathful Grapes” and “American Stories (with Bunny Protagonists): Allegory of American Fragility (Still Life with Fourth of July Cake)” were unveiled on July 20 as 2023 acquisitions in SeattleTacoma International Airport public collection and will remain on permanent display near Gate D2.

Emmy Lingscheit was selected to be one of six Visiting Artists in 2023–24 at St. Michael’s Printshop (SMP) in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Emmy will be in residence in June 2024. Each year St. Michael’s Printshop invites international and national applications for 6 one-month residencies.

Artists are paid a residency fee and granted full access to the printshop, and in return offer a workshop and supply to SMP two prints from each edition created during the residency.

Jorge Lucero was invited to deliver the keynote addresses at the Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee state art education conferences. He was also invited to deliver the keynote at the 84th Annual Kutztown Art Education Conference in Pennsylvania. Along with Dr. Sarah Travis and two of their grad students, Jorge has a book coming out through Routledge in early 2024.

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Deana McDonagh “Invention -> Innovation -> Commercialisation.” Invited presentation. SCALPELS (Surgeons Career and Leadership Professional Education Lecture Series) sponsored by the Association of Women Surgeons and Intuitive Surgical. Invited

by Dr Monica Jain, Surgical Innovation Officer, Dept.

Surgery, Cedars-Sinai, LA. 20 July 2023.

Lisa Mercer Mercer, Lisa, and Terresa Moses, “Racism Untaught: Theory to Practice,” AIGA National Conference, New York City, New York, (October 12–13).

Guen Montgomery, solo exhibition, Crawl Space, at Buckham Gallery in Flint, Michigan in February 2023.

In April Montgomery had a two-person exhibition, Here Goes Everything, with Sage Perrott at Artspace in Raleigh, NC. This fall she will have a solo exhibition at the Peoria Art Guild in Peoria, IL. David O’Brien Publishing the chapter “Vivant Denon’s Reliquary, Celebrity, and Napoleonic Memory,” in Imperial Material: Napoleon’s Troublesome Cultural Legacy, ed. Nicole Cochrane and Matilda Greig (London: Bloomsbury, forthcoming in 2024).

Melissa Pokorny is exhibiting two site-responsive sculptures in Lived In, the inaugural exhibition at NON STANDRD, a new project space on the campus of the National Building Arts Center, in metro St. Louis. The show was curated by Allison Lacher, Bruce Burton, and Sage Dawson and features the work of nine artists working in response to this stark industrial concrete bunker,

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once used for steel casting. It runs through October 31.

Stacey Robinson Residencies: October 1–6.

Audacious Black Freedom Dreams, Ewing Gallery of Art. Aug 22, 2023–Oct. 29, 2023. University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Inspired by Robin D.G. Kelley’s book Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, and Bettina L. Love’s book We Want to do More Than Survive, Audacious Black Freedom Dreams is a Black surreal space. BLACKMAU (Stacey “BLACKSTAR” Robinson and Kamau DJ “Kamaumau” Grantham) utilize digital collage aesthetics influenced by, and digitally mimic, the visual and sonic production methods of the music cultures that influenced us through collage.

Kristin Romberg A Russian translation of Kristin Romberg’s book Gan’s Constructivism: Aesthetic Theory for an Embedded Modernism will be published

by Academic Studies Press in 2024.

Juan Salamanca Publication of the research paper “Collaborating in Conceptual Spaces: How Data Visualization Facilitated

by JavaScript Can Improve Interdisciplinary Design Projects” in Dialectic, 4(1), (Fall 2022): 7-29. Dialectic is the academic journal of the AIGA. Suresh Sethi is invited to join the round table/panel discussion, “Education Balancing the Creative Equation: Harnessing the Power of Industrial Design in STEM” as part of the IDSA International Design Conference, IDC, in New York, August 25, 2023.

Cliff Shin SIT Furniture Design Award based in Switzerland, Winner, “Sorensen.” SIT Furniture Design Award is a program under the 3C Awards, a leading organization curating and promoting design across the globe and is part of Three C Group GmbH, a Swiss-registered company based in Grabenstrasse 15a, 6340 Baar, Switzerland. The company represents today’s diversity and innovation in Lighting Design, Furniture Design, Interior Design, and Architecture. Each brand is a symbol of design excellence around the world, showcasing Professional and Emerging designers’ work to over 100 expert jury members.

Angelica Sibrian Accepted at International Conference on Design Futures.

“Community-based learning in the design classroom: a space for exploring identity, culture, and honoring students’ lived experiences.”

Politecnico Di Milano, Italy (Presented 12/2/22).

Stephen Signa-Aviles This Place, Not Like It Was, a solo show at The Freeport Art Museum. October 27 thru December 30.

Lindsey Stirek was awarded the Provost’s Faculty Retreat Grant to design and implement teaching enhancements for the ARTJ 209: Chadō, The Way of Tea online course.

This project will provide a model for how experiencebased assignments can build a cohesive classroom community and facilitate deep, meaningful connections in an online space.

Sarah Travis published the following peer-reviewed journal articles: “Confessing Critical Frictions in the Arts and Education” in the Journal

of Cultural Research in Art Education (2022): «Critical Reflective Practice for Art Educators,” with Emily J. Hood in the journal Art Education (2023); and “Writing Letters by Hand: Critical Pedagogical Inquiry Through Inner and Outer Worlds,” with Emily J. Hood in the Journal of Curriculum and Pedagogy (2023).

Nekita Thomas Workshop Host, Brand Place: a participatory placemaking design workshop, Chicago Public Housing Museum, online, May 2023 (ongoing).

Chiara Vincenzi. 2023 School of Art & Design Specialized Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Hermann von Hesse Article published: “‘A Modest, but Peculiar Style’: Self-Fashioning, Atlantic Commerce, and the Culture of Adornment on the Urban Gold Coast.” The Journal of African History, 2023, –23. doi:10.1017/S002 1853723000294.

Deke Weaver CETACEAN (The Whale), a multi-pronged project culminated in live performances September 28-October 2, 2023. The process included workshops with over 800 students from Urbana, Centennial, and Central high schools, undergraduates, and graduate students from Interseminars, Art Education, Graphic Design, Studio Art, and the Sustainability program. A Center for Advanced Study Associate semester allowed for residencies at MacDowell and Centrum, performing the work-in-progress in New Orleans, Philadelphia, New Hampshire, Champaign, and Urbana, with field/museum work in Massachusett’s

Staying Connected Brenda Nardi Senior Director of Advancement, College of Fine and Applied Arts, Visual Arts When reviewing the past and looking at the future, it never ceases to amaze me how inextricably intertwined they are and how important it is for each of us to remember to glance in the rearview mirror from time to time. How did we get where we are? Who came before us? Who/what influenced the decisions we made in our lives? Who/what helped us reach our goals? Can I do something that will influence someone’s future based on what I’ve experienced in the past?

As I have previously shared, private financial support is provided to incoming and existing students in the School of Art & Design from multiple privately funded scholarships, fellowships, and student award funds that help us recruit and retain creative and talented students who may not otherwise be able to consider Illinois as an option. We also have alumni who offer internships, mentorship, networking, and providing feedback via portfolio review days and career fair participation. Outright giving, planned giving, sharing time and talent…there are myriad ways to “give back” and each potential commitment starts with a conversation.

As I enter my 17th year in my position as a major gift officer in College of Fine and Applied Arts Advancement, I look back fondly on interactions I’ve had with alumni and donors.

I’ve made friends. It’s impossible not to. Along the way, I met Paula Berlet Trehearne, BFA Design, 1959. I got to know her “Illinois Story” very well. Paula was a Chicago native and moved to California in the early 60s to pursue her dreams as a designer … and she didn’t forget to look back!

With a gift included in her estate, Paula established and endowed the “Paula Berlet Trehearne Art & Design Scholarship” intended to be awarded to an incoming freshman and provide scholarship support for four consecutive years for recipients remaining in good standing.

Paula passed away in April of 2023, and her gift has come to fruition. I am sad to have lost her and so happy to have known her.

She became a friend, and she was fabulous, and I miss her. There is comfort in knowing that with this scholarship her legacy will live on for generations to come and will make a difference for Art & Design students in perpetuity. She lives on at Illinois.

Planned Gifts If you are interested in exploring these and other existing funds to which you may make a gift to the school, please visit art.illinois.edu/alumni/give-a-gift or contact me directly to discuss other possibilities and options.

As always, I invite you to reach out simply to reconnect and share your “Illinois Story” with me. I am continually amazed by the accomplishments of our alumni, and I welcome the opportunity to meet and talk with you.

Brenda Nardi Senior Director of Advancement College of Fine and Applied Arts/Visual Arts bnardi@illinois.edu

Illinois is a part of your story, your experience, your place in this world. I invite you to look back, reach out, and share your “Illinois Story” with me. Let’s have a conversation!

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Events

Please know that you are always welcome back to campus to participate in our activities. (please check art.illinois.edu for updates) Thursday, October 19, 2023 5:30 p.m.

School of Art & Design Visitors Series: Irene Hsiao Krannert Art Museum, East Gallery & KAM Café, 500 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL Thursday, October 26, 2023 5:30 p.m.

School of Art & Design Visitors Series: Ben Denzer Room 62 Krannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL Monday, November 6, 2023 5:30 p.m.

School of Art & Design Visitors Series: Allison Morehead Room 331 Art & Design Bldg., 408 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL Thursday, November 9, 2023 5:30 p.m.

School of Art & Design Visitors Series: James Elkins Room 62 Krannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL Thursday, November 16, 2023 5:30 p.m.

School of Art & Design Visitors Series: Simon Kelly Room 62 Krannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL Thursday, March 21, 2024 5:30 p.m.

Distinguished Alumni talk and presentation Charlene Teters Plym Auditorium, Temple Buell Hall 611 Lorado Taft Dr, Champaign, IL Reception to follow in School of Art & Design Link Gallery 408 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL

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Friday, March 22, 2024 TAKEOVER VI School of Art & Design Link Gallery 408 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL Reception: 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Thursday, April 4, 2024. Time/location tbd.

School of Art & Design Visitors Series: Deana Ledezma Saturday, April 6, 2024 4:00 p.m.

School of Art & Design 2024 MFA Exhibition Opening Link Gallery, School of Art & Design 408 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL Krannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL Saturday, May 4, 2024 4:00 p.m.

School of Art & Design 2024 BFA Exhibition Opening Link Gallery, School of Art & Design 408 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL Krannert Art Museum, 500 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL Saturday, May 4, 2024 6:30 p.m.

School of Art & Design Re-Fashioned Fashion Show Siebel Center for Design, 1208 S 4th St, Champaign, IL Saturday, July 13 – Sunday, August 11 Art & Design Alumni Exhibition: James M. Smith Opening: Saturday, July 13, 5-7pm Link Gallery, School of Art & Design, 408 E. Peabody Drive, Champaign, IL

Keep in Touch Website art.illinois.edu Calendar illinois.edu/calendar/list/1447 Update your contact info forms.illinois.edu/sec/9411138 Alumni, keep in touch go.illinois.edu/ARTalumni Facebook facebook.com/ARTatIllinois Instagram instagram.com/illinois_artanddesign/ Graphic Design FB facebook.com/gdatillinois Art History FB facebook.com/ArtHistoryatUIUC Credits Editors: Alan Mette, Melissa Pokorny, Anne Jackson, Audra Weinstein Designer: Natalie Fiol

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