CoFA
CONNECTIONS Newsletter
l
Edition #5 l March 2016
PATTIN/MACCRAE PIANO DUO
Pattin Piano Fund Benefit
LEBARON RECITAL HALL MARCH 11, 7:30 P.M. Adults $25 l UM Fac/Staff & Sr. Citizens $15 l Students $10
College of Fine Arts Office of the Dean
Photo by Isaac Nunn
Davis Hall, Station 6663 Montevallo, AL 35115 205.665.6663
CONTENT
UPCOMING EVENTS
ART....................................................................3 COMMUNICATION.......................................... 4 MUSIC...............................................................7 THEATRE...........................................................8
Wind Ensemble Concert................................3/4 Honor Band Concert......................................3/6 Pattin/MacCrae Piano Duo...........................3/11 Annual Juried Foundations Show............3/17-24 Clybourne Park.......................................3/18-20 Honors Recital..............................................3/21
Faculty, Student, and Alumni News
in the month of March at CoFA
About CONNECTIONS
CONNECTIONS is a monthly e-publication of the Dean’s Office of the College of Fine Arts (CoFA). The newsletter is designed to feature faculty and staff achievements, student achievements and news from our alumni. This letter is also intended to make information from departments and the dean’s office more accessible and available in an easy format. We encourage all contributions that include photos of the topic or people themselves so we can get to know each other better. Submissions are due before the 15th of each month. Electronic submissions can be sent to Administrative Assistant JULIE MCENTEE at mcenteej@montevallo. edu. The COFA Office of the Dean is the academic administrative office at the College, and the personnel office of its undergraduate faculty. The dean’s office oversees faculty hiring and mentoring, reappointment, promotion, tenure, the performance and event season and instructional and support staff for academic departments and programs. Publication designed by: Amy Mathews ‘15, BFA Graphic Design and Printmaking
STAY CONNECTED
CoFA
CONNECTIONS
Alumni, where are you now? Please tell us what you’ve been up to and load your photo.
facebook.com/finearts.montevallo.edu @fineartsUM @UM_fineartsmoments
WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT WHAT IS HAPPENING IN
If you would like to receive a hard copy version of CoFA CONNECTIONS or to unsubscribe to this email list, please send an email to: cfa@montevallo.edu
the College of Fine Arts? For more information on upcoming events, please visit: montevallo.edu/cfa and click on the link to CoFA’s New Interactive 2015-2016 Perfomances and Events Calendar or use the following web address: http://www.montevallo. edu/fine-arts/college-of-fine-arts/performances-and-events/
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Department of
FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
STUDENT NEWS
Art
KATIE LANIER (BFA Photography) has completed a month-long photography internship working for Angela Kohler and Ithyle Griffiths Studio in Los Angeles, California. The studio is well known for directing TV commercials. Katie worked in the studio and on commercial sets, and she actually built a darkroom for their studio. She is a photographer for Shelby County Reporter.
KAREN GRAFFEO Graffeo’s photograph has been selected for the Barrett Arts Annual National Photography Exhibition by Karen Irvine, Curator and Associate Director at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago. The photograph, Let Us Now Praise the Roma, will be on display at the gallery March 19-April 30, 2016.
JEREMY BLACK (BFA) has been the Volunteer Photographer for The Birmingham Zoo, where he has photographed the Junior Vet Lab Event, Breakfast with Santa Event, and the Groundhog Day Event. These three events have helped him to expand his love for wildlife and incorporate people into the images promoting programs at the zoo. He is in the process of working with the Marketing Department at the Zoo and will have images displayed on a large scale in the Children’s area. Jeremy has been working with UM alum Clark Maxwell to have images displayed through the Zoo’s social media platform, too. One of Jeremy’s images was recently featured in The Original Alabaster Newsletter in an advertisement to help promote the Shelby County Camera Club.
DR. SCOTT MEYER is back in the classroom following his fall sabbatical. He had a solo exhibition of his new ceramic sculpture, “Scott Meyer: Crucibles and Icons of High Heat” at the Johnson Center for the Arts in Troy which ran through Feb. 21.
DR. KELLY WACKER just received confirmation her article, Plein Air Learning, was recently published online.
Photos by Jeremy Black from the Bimingham Zoo
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Department of
Communication
FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS DRS. BRUCE FINKLEA & SALLY HARDIG have announced the publication of their chapter, “Seen but Not Heard - Exploring Muted Group Theory in Pixar’s The Incredibles, WALL-E, and Brave,” in the new book, “Communication and Millennial Popular Culture: Essays and Applications.” Art major EMALEE BUTLER presents her painting of the university mascot to UM Athletic Director Mark Richard. Richard commissioned the new work for his office.
ALUMNI NEWS JENNIFER ALSABROOK-TURNER has been working in collaboration with UM student MARY CATHERINE FEHR. Jennifer’s photography business, Bang images, does marvelous and inventive portraits and weddings.
BROOK PRUITT recently installed eight energy-efficient LED lights in the Mass Communication Building TV studio. The lights were purchased through a UM Green Fund Grant that he co-wrote last year with Dr. Jay Cofield and Dr. Bruce Finklea. Mr. Pruitt also shot and edited a video about the new lights in the studio. It can be viewed on the MontevalloForYou YouTube channel.
Work by Mary Catherine Fehr
Collaboration between Mary Catherine Fehr and Jennifer Alsabrook-Turner New lights in the MC TV Studio
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Department of
Communication exemplify high scholarship, devotion to their chapters, and outstanding leadership on campus and in the community.
DRS. COFIELD, FINKLEA & MR. PRUITT Received news that their video projects were selected as finalists in the National Broadcasting Society professional production competition. Dr. Finklea’s and Mr. Pruitt’s Falcon Weekly Special Report on the Umpqua Community College shooting massacre is a finalist in the Video News category. That newscast featured live in-studio interviews with UM President Dr. John Stewart and UMPD Chief Chadd Adams. Dr. Finklea is also a finalist in the Video News category for his story about UM’s attempt to knit the world’s longest scarf and in the “Other” category for his Falcon Weekly special report on college campus safety. Dr. Cofield is a finalist in the Video Commercial/PSA category of the National Broadcasting Society’s professional production competition for his commercial, “The Rhythm of the University of Montevallo College of Fine Arts.”
DR. BRUCE FINKLEA wrote, shot, and edited a new commercial for the student-produced newscast, Falcon Weekly. The commercial was viewed more than 1,100 times in the first 24 hours it was online. You can watch the commercial by searching for “UM Falcon Weekly” on Facebook.
KALEY BLANKENSHIP (MC senior) is a national finalist in two student production competition categories at the upcoming National Broadcasting Society convention in Los Angeles. Her videos were selected for the Video Comedy Segment and Video Commercial categories.
ALUMNI NEWS
STUDENT NEWS
ERIC SANINOCENCIO (2003 MC) received the Nathalie Molton Gibbons Young Achiever’s Award from the University of Montevallo during homecoming festivities. Eric is the Director of Digital Media for the Houston Texans.
EMME LONG (COMS Senior) won the Dorothy Shaw Leadership Award. This award is the highest individual honor given to collegiate members of Alpha Delta Pi. Women chosen to receive this esteemed honor
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Department of
Communication necessary for successful storytelling through his new book, A Slice of Life, a collection of life stories and fictional tales that also mirror some of his own experiences.
HAYLEY SUGG (MC 2015) has recently been hired as a recipe editor for MyRecipes.com.
APRIL STONE (MC 1988) was featured in an article for the publication, 280 Living, which recognized her for her work as executive director of the South Shelby Chamber of Commerce.
LAURA POYTHRESS (MC 2015) has recently taken a job with Time Inc. Food Studios. Her new position entails editing and developing recipes, writing about food, scheduling and coordinating events, launching the company’s social media life, blogging, and overseeing accounting and budgeting.
BILLY ATCHISON (2004) and his wife CHASIDY CROSS ATCHISON (2003) have started a cold brew coffee business in Atlanta. Their products can be found at farmers’ markets, events, and in stores such as Whole Foods. Their company, Banjo Cold Brew Coffee, is part of the sustainable and local food-focused scene in Atlanta.
THOM GOSSOM, JR., (1981) fulfills the department mission of developing and applying functional knowledge of relevant theory
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Department of
STUDENT NEWS
FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Music
MILES JENKINS and LAURA THOMAS have been invited to participate in the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Summer Opera Studio Program in July 2016. The intensive program is a threeweek residency with one of the country’s top-ranked voice programs and an award-winning opera department. Miles studies voice with Dr. Roderick George and Laura studies with Dr. Charles Wood.
DR. CYNTHIA MACCRAE will once again join Professor Emeritus Dr. Anthony Pattin in a Piano Duo recital on Friday, March 11 in LeBaron Recital Hall. The recital is a benefit event for the Pattin Steinway Endowment Fund which will feature music by Rachmaninoff, Schumann, Copland, and Infante. Tickets may be purchased online at http://montevallotickets.universitytickets.com/ user_pages/event_listings.asp or at the door.
DR. RODERICK GEORGE was the featured soloist for the Celebration of George Washington’s Birthday held recently in Liberty Hall of the American Village.
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Seven Department of Music vocal students were selected as finalists in their respective categories at the 2016 Alabama Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Student Auditions held on the campus of Samford University, February 19-20. KRYSTEN RICHARDS – 1st Place (Second Year College Women) DEZMOND COLE – 3rd Place (Second Year College Men) LAURA THOMAS – 1st Place (Third Year College Women) CALLIOPE PETTIS – 5th Place (Third Year College Women) JASON MCCLURE – 5th Place (Third Year College Men) SAMANTHA ANSELMO – 2nd Place (Fourth Year College Women) DAVID POHLER – 4th Place (Third Year College Music Theater Men) Krysten, Dezmond and Samantha are students of Dr. Roderick George; Calliope and David are students of Dr. Melanie Williams, and Laura and Jason are both students of Dr. Charles Wood. Among the semi-finalists in their respective categories were JORDAN HARE, ALEXANDRA WOMACK, RACHEL PICKERING and CAITLYN REYNOLDS. The students were accompanied by Lynn Faulkner and Laurie Middaugh.
Department of
Theatre
FACULTY ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Red Mountain Theatre Company’s professional production of Next To Normal featured CHRIS SAMS and former Visiting Instructor CHAN HARRIS in the cast. Theatre alumni JIM GIBBS (1996) was stage manager and RICKY UMSTEAD, senior Theatre major, was the lighting board operator for Next To Normal. Clybourne Park, by Bruce Norris and directed by MICHAEL WALKER, is a savagely funny and provocative play that highlights the difficulties we continue to experience in our conversations about race. Walker says, “This production has proved to be an eye-opening experience for everyone involved and has provided the actors and myself the opportunity to explore topics such as white privilege, the evolution of civil rights, and discrimination in a way that we never had before.” This Mainstage production will include a Backstage Pass for audience members on Saturday evening with panelist Courtney Bentley and others. For show times and ticket information, call 205-665-6200.
ALUMNI NEWS
LINDSEY BRISTOL (BFA Musical Theatre) recently signed with an agent in NYC and is actively auditioning for productions.
EMILY GREENE continues to work for Laika productions, designing sets for their new film Kubo And The Two Strings (their follow up to Boxtrolls).
RACHEL REHOME DOZIER-EZELL is designing costumes for the upcoming production of Julius Caesar for NYC’s Classical Theatre of Harlem.
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JALEN BROWN and BARRINGTON MCQueen are performing in and touring Tuxedo Junction for Birmingham Children’s Theatre.