Edge - Summer 2013

the magazine of

The U ni v er siT y

of The

A rT s

edge

s u m m e r 2013

p r o f e s s o r j e a n n e j a f f e sculpture

S e a n T. B u f f i n g t o n president

L u c i ll e H u g h e s editor-in-chief v i c e p r e s i d e n t f o r a dva n c e m e n t

P a u l F. H e a l y editor associate vice president of universit y communications

E l y ss e R i c c i B FA ’ 0 8 art director & designer James Maurer production

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D a n a R o dr i g u e z contributing

editor

contributing

contributing

photographers

writers

Serge Ba bou J a s o n C h e n B FA ’ 0 8 K a t i e D a v i s B FA ’ 1 0

P a u l F. H e a l y S a r a M a c D o n a ld D a n a R o dr i g u e z Joanna Sung L a u r e n V i ll a n u e v a Mira Zergani

e ll e a i m e c r e a t i v e

Lori Hoffman C l a i r e I lt i s M a tth e w K a n b e r g s J e ss i M e l c e r B FA ’ 1 1 K o l a O sh a l u s i S t e v e S tr e i s g u th B FA ’ 0 9 R y a n T r e i t e l B FA ’ 0 8 th e y bkl y n

D o u g G a rth W i ll i a m s K e n Ya nov i a k cover

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processions,

2012 E va n T u r n e r ’ 1 3 Connor Senning ’13 ph o t o b y th e y bkl y n

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edge c/o University Communications,

The University of the Arts, 320 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA 19102 edge, Volume 1, Number 10 Edge is the magazine of the University of the Arts. Readers are encouraged to submit ideas for original articles about University students, faculty and alumni; advancements in arts and arts education; and visual, performing and media arts. The submission of artwork for reproduction is also encouraged. Please include contact information when submitting art. Unless requested, artwork will not be returned.

Please send all comments, kudos and criticisms to

edge c/o University Communications, Letters to the Editor, 320 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102; or email news@uarts.edu.

f o u r q u a r t e t s 2012 Interactive Installation

Photo by Ken Yanoviak

Their professional trajectories vary widely, and have taken them from the soft, red dust of Mars to the digital superhighways of the global news industry to the fashion runways of New York City. But though they work in vastly different ways and fields and places, each of these remarkable alumni will tell you the same thing: that their experiences at UArts equipped them with the artistic skills and entrepreneurial know-how they needed to succeed—in a very wide range of careers, both inside and outside the arts.

It is precisely this curiosity and drive exemplified by artists at the University of the Arts that attracted a professor at the renowned Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Jerry Wind sees arts pedagogy and curricula as powerful educational tools for business students and leaders— you’ll read about a program bringing Wharton students to UArts to learn about creativity and improvisation from faculty and students in our College of Performing Arts.

j a s o n c h e n ‘08

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” In this issue of Edge, we profile alumni who have heeded that advice—following unexpected or less-travelled roads to career success.

You’ll also learn in this issue about an extraordinary exhibition developed by UArts together with the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. “Wholly Unlooked For” focused on the work of the late Lenore Tawney, one of the world’s preeminent fiber artists. In conjunction with the exhibition, UArts students in two programs, Book Arts/Printmaking and Crafts/Fibers, made their own work in response to Tawney’s art. The students used objects collected by the artist and donated to the University by the Tawney Foundation, including old books, wooden containers, small bottles and thread.

Finally, you may note that Edge has a new look. We have re-designed the magazine from top to bottom—a change that reflects the transformation of our academic programs.

As always, I welcome your feedback and your suggestions for future stories.

Warm regards,

S e a n T. B u f f i n g T o n President, the University of the Arts

table of contents

Featured : A Million Roads to Success

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A Brisket Smokes in Brooklyn

From Sculpture Studio to Mars

‘Hennessy Youngman’ Puts the Art World on the Rocks

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Looking Good and Doing Good Go Hand in Hand

From Broad Street to Wall Street

Ice Cream with a Decidedly Different Twist

10 The Busines s of Improvisation 22 Lenore Tawney : Wholly Unlooke d For 62 From the Arc hives : The Surrealis t Ball of 1937

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Illustration by a n d r e a m i l l e r ’ 1 3 (illustration)

s t e v e n s t r e i s g u t h ‘09

feature

A Million Roads to Success More than ever before, art and design graduates can choose—or create— their own paths Mars rover driver for NASA. Television news executive.

Luxury real estate agent. Budding restaurateur who’s drawn raves from The New York Times. Rising-star fashion designer—on two continents.

What could these seemingly disparate individuals possibly have in common? They’re all UArts graduates who’ve found great success on unexpected career paths.

University of the Arts P r e S i d e n T S e a n B u f f “Many of those jobs don’t exist as they used to. That’s certainly a reason we developed our new academic plan and made the curricular changes that flow from it.

i ngTon.

“Our primary goal is to equip younger people to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing environment, and to provide them with knowledge of a variety of possible career paths,” he says. “Some will choose to become traditional artists and some will become innovators in other ways.”

“I’m sure there are any number of UArts graduates doing something different than what they majored in, and it’s the creative skillset they have that makes it work for them, the intense artistic process of learning a craft that allows them to focus creatively on just as many things outside their art as inside it.”

- Martin Brown BM ‘04 (Trumpet), MAT ‘05 (Music Education), co-founder of Little Baby’s Ice Cream (Read more on Martin and Little Baby’s on page 32)

Surveys of CEOs

by IBM and the Conference Board show that demand for the kind of creative, analytical processes that artists and designers bring to their work environments continues to increase.

Technology—and the expanding and evolving set of available tools it offers—brings with it both new pathways and greater ambiguity. That’s the conundrum: a million new opportunities within reach, just as long as we have the ability to recognize them.

O u r goa l i s to equ ip you ng people t o t h r ive i n a ra p i dly ch a n g i n g e n v i ro n m e nt .

They’re also examples of the kinds of creative opportunities available to young artists and designers beyond the more linear paths that art school graduates may have historically anticipated as they began their college years.

While many graduates of UArts and other arts institutions move into successful careers in the disciplines in which they majored, the playing field of the post-graduation working life is shifting—swiftly and continuously.

“The approach of training young artists for very specific jobs and careers is changing, and by necessity,” says

Deborah Obalil, executive director of AICAD (the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design, of which UArts is a member) agrees that the mixture of challenges and opportunities that new graduates face is a double-edged sword, but one that young artists are uniquely equipped to wield. “The days of a young painter holing up in a studio and hoping that a gallerist discovers him or her are gone,” she says.

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“The likelihood of that happening today is small. On the other hand, there is a multitude of ways to apply an arts background in and out of the art world. Young artists are grabbing hold of their own success. The range of skills and viewpoints they gain in school helps prepare them to craft their own future and not just wait for it to materialize.”

Marx says a key focus at UArts is helping students connect what they’re doing in the classroom with the possibilities outside the University’s walls. “We want them to be curious, to push borders, to not be afraid of being wrong,” she says. “It’s hard to take criticism in the work world if you’ve never faced it before.

Through the collaborative, constructive critique process, we want students to learn that if you fear imperfection, you’ll never take the risks you need to take to be creative and innovative.”

According to School of Music Professor Terry Applebaum, creative thinking has an uncanny resemblance to the way business entrepreneurs think. “Like artists, entrepreneurs have passion, commitment, persistence and can deal with rejection,” he says. “Both are very good at identifying opportunities. Artists and entrepreneurs see something where others see nothing. Neither will immediately accept a tradeoff as reality. Tell an artist or entrepreneur ‘You can’t do that,’ and you will likely hear, ‘Why not?’ Rather, they try to combine positive elements from each side of the tradeoff in search of a better solution.”

“I fell in love with real estate and I found quickly that my background as a visual artist could drive a lot of success. I still design most of my company’s marketing and advertising. And almost all of the properties I work with are very design-focused projects.”

- Laurie Phillips BFA ’78 (Painting/Drawing), top Philadelphia luxury-property agent (Read more about Laurie and “Luxury by Design” on page 40)

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According to Kristine Marx, co-director of the College of Art, Media & Design’s Core Studies program, that self-direction and entrepreneurial focus are keys to the University’s new academic approach. “Many academic structures are linear, using an outdated 19th-century model. Through the wide range of course options students choose from as part of our new curricula, students can take ownership of their education and design their own pathways.”

“What we’re doing is working to help students become creative entrepreneurs,” adds Buffington. “They’re already creative. We help provide them with techniques and with ways to understand the content that they make. The second critical part is expanding their thinking about what a creative person can do, and to feel empowered to see and to create opportunities to express their creativity in many different ways.”

AICAD’s Obalil agrees. “It’s not as if artists are unused to restraints,” she says. “The best art comes from pushing against boundaries. And today, with the issues we’re all facing, the skills and ideals that artists and designers bring to the table put them in a great position to help shape our future.”

kol a oshalusi

feature: a million roads to success

“Animation courses have helped me to understand garment and weight movements. I can tell at first sight what fabric will fit the garment’s shape that I need and I think it’s no coincidence!

Animation, Film and Photography courses have helped in the storytelling of my brand and made me self sufficient in the creative process.”

- Loza Maleombho BFA ’06 (Animation), award-winning fashion designer. (Read more on Loza and her international fashion line on page 26)

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news feature

Collaboration between UArts and Wharton helps MBA students develop their creativity.

The Business of Improvisation

Illustration by d a v i d c u r t i s ’ 1 3 (illustration)

in the classroom uarts & wharton mba students

r y a n t r e i t e l ’08

They shared the stage in the University of the Arts’ Caplan Center with the bucket drummers, the actors, the dancers and the singers. They learned stage technique, they performed and improvised. Just another day in the education of top-level MBA students.

At least it is for Professor Jerry Wind’s students at the renowned Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Through collaboration with UArts, students in Wind’s MBA classes and the Wharton Fellows program learn from faculty and students in the University’s College of Performing Arts (CPA) about the art of improvisation.

“For a long time, I’ve been taking lessons from art to help enhance the creativity of executives,” says Wind, an internationally recognized expert on marketing. “I’ve been teaching a course in creativity for MBA students for some time now, both to enhance the creativity of individual students and to help them learn how to develop a creative organization.

One tool is improvisation, and there’s no better way to teach it than to have students actually go through the experience.”

“Creativity is all around us. The clothing that we wear, the food that we eat, the cars that we drive.

It’s a merging of the artistic and the business of manufacturing that art. The paradigm is changing and we find ourselves on the same fertile soil.”

- Johnnie Hobbs, Associate Professor Ira Brind School of Theater Arts

President Sean Buffington says that the collaboration stems from an initial session on improvisation Wind presented with UArts faculty members for a meeting at a major wealth management firm. Wind then reached out last summer with a proposal to do more such events, this time for students from his Wharton Fellows program, a series of master classes for executives. Those Fellows hear from a series of guest lecturers—innovative individuals from a wide variety of fields, from art to psychology, medical research to engineering, architecture and more.

“Jerry has always been interested in the intersection of the arts and business, and translating the methodologies of the arts to the world of business,” says Buffington.

“We ended up putting together a more expansive version with a number of faculty members—Curt Haworth from the School of Dance, Johnnie Hobbs from the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts, Marc Dicciani from the School of Music—and students in the Rumble bucket-drum ensemble. There was hands-on work, a panel discussion with the faculty, a closing presentation and a Q-and-A over dinner. We then developed a modified version for Jerry’s MBA classes, with the students rotating through several disciplines and experiencing different approaches to improvisation.”

Wind agrees that there can be great value for business leaders in such explorations.

“Management education tends to focus on the evaluation of existing options and not enough on generating creative options,” he says. “Everyone can enhance their creativity if they understand the tools to use and have the courage to use them.”

“The workshops with CPA faculty and the Wharton Fellows were absolutely amazing,” says Hobbs. “I feel strongly that both institutions benefit from these creative encounters.

Through theater games, the Wharton Fellows activated their physical, mental and emotional personae. The important thing was to have fun while in pursuit of an objective.”

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r y a n t r e i t e l ’08

news feature

(above) Brind School of Theater Arts Associate Professor Johnnie Hobbs teaches Wharton School MBA students about the art of improvisation.

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in the classroom uarts & wharton mba students

MBA programs’ focus on the arts is increasingly mirrored at other institutions across the world. A recent Toronto Globe and Mail article pointed to the growing number of Canadian business schools that have introduced arts and creativity-related classes as required courses.

The rise in recognition of the value of creativity in business is a trend that’s real, according to author Lisa Phillips, CEO of Canada’s Academy of Stage and Studio Arts and a blogger for Americans for the Arts. She says that one of the consistent messages she hears from some of the world’s top business experts, including Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner, is the importance of creativity to the bottom line.

“Top CEOs around the world are seeking out new employees who can think creatively, be innovative in business development and marketing strategies, and show outstanding leadership qualities that will ‘wow’ clients,” she says. “This is what businesses need to compete in the global marketplace. In an era when businesses are constantly struggling to find creative ways to stay at the top of their market, arts education can be a powerful tool to nurture the creative abilities of our young people, ensuring they are ready for the skills that are in demand.”

But Wind points out that talking about creativity and actually fostering it are two different things. “A huge obstacle to innovation in large, complex organizations is their risk-averse cultures. In all aspects of business, unless there is room for experimentation, the business will not succeed—it has to be okay to fail, there must be tolerance for risk.

There’s no sense in selecting three sophisticated options for a solution if all three options are lousy.” In England’s The Guardian newspaper, Sally Taylor, executive director of the Culture Capital Exchange, a consortium of 10 London universities, sounded a similarly skeptical note recently. She raised the question of whether CEOs talk a better game than they play when it comes to encouraging creativity.

“It might be encouraged in the middle, or indeed recruited for in the lower echelons of a company,” she wrote, “but when push comes to shove, the driver for decision-making at board level is all about the bottom line. The finance men rule. If graduates have been recruited on criteria that require creative input, how long will they last in a company that does not nurture it?”

Dicciani, the School of Music’s director, agrees. “The world doesn’t just need another drummer, or maybe even another MBA. What it does need are creative, criticalthinking problem-solvers who are able to improvise and think on their feet,” he says.

“Being creative is a skill you develop from practicing and doing—it becomes a way of operating, thinking and being that saturates all that you do.”

For Wind, that nurturing of creativity, of the kind of risk-taking and “permission to fail” inherent in art and design education could be the answer to a wide range of social and economic issues. “Creativity is a critical piece to solving problems such as our K-12 education system—guess which country is ranked number 17 in math and science?” he says. “In fact, we could make things better in all major aspects of our society if leaders in business, public policy, education and healthcare were courageous enough to focus on enhancing creativity.”

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p r o f e s s o r p e t e r r o s e film/video

o d y s s e u s 2006 Video

profile

A Brisket Smokes in Brooklyn

mat thew kanbergs

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a m i l l i o n r o a d s t o s u cc e s s dan del aney bfa ’08

It was really a renaissance degree...

da n d e l a n e y B fa ’ 0 8 (M u lT i M e d i a) is quickly becoming the most acclaimed purveyor of authentic Texas barbeque this side of the Rio Grande. And the owner of new restaurants in Manhattan and Williamsburg, Brooklyn, took a winding road—literally—to where he is today.

Alumnus Dan Delaney’s authentic Texas barbecued brisket has received rave reviews in The New York Times, The Washington Post and Bon Appetit magazine.

After graduating from UArts, he started off on a two-year, cross-country journey creating video reviews of food trucks for his web-based series “VendrTV,” devising ways to generate revenue and offset his costs. That venture took him to Texas, where he fell in love with its unique smoked brisket. He eventually moved to New York City and began a new show. Along the way, he had become connected with a web publishing firm that presented large-scale street-food events at the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. They reached out to Delaney to organize those events, and when he drove back to New York, he was hauling an eight-foot long, professional wood-fired smoker—and his career as a brisket impresario had begun.

Over the course of this past summer, Delaney staged pop-up dining experiences around Brooklyn that he called “Brisketlab,” with customers pre-ordering via social media. That turned out to be a brilliant strategy: he sold 3,200 pounds of brisket in 48 hours at $25 per pound. “We went from zero dollars to almost $100,000. We spent the summer practicing, cooking 6,000 to 7,000 pounds of meat over 31 events in just 60 days. We went from a very disorganized event series to a product we were starting to become proud of.”

He then pre-sold more than 4,000 pounds of brisket in 24 hours for the opening of his permanent site. Additional help came from some prominent investors, which allowed him to sign a lease and open BrisketTown in November 2012. The restaurant has received positive reviews from The New York Times, Bon Appetit magazine, The Village Voice and others. The Washington Post described Delaney this way: “If he lived in California in the 1970s, Daniel Delaney might lead a cult. The guy is a fanatic—one of those types whose rock-hard devotion to the cause makes others want to follow him in hopes that he’ll show them the light. The light, in this case, is brisket, smoked low and slow over Texas post oak.”

And Delaney’s epicurean empire is expanding—he just opened a Manhattan location on the High Line in Chelsea. The outpost, called SmokeLine, features Central Texas-style barbecue sandwiches, an extensive pie program and a made-to-order soda bar.

He cites his Multimedia program experience as a great launching pad for his entrepreneurial journey. “It was really a renaissance degree,” he says. “We took business classes, math classes; there was a major emphasis on how to present what you’re doing and on the business, financial and monetary value of what you’re doing. I learned that it’s not really about your mode of implementation—a paintbrush, a keyboard or a spatula—it’s about your understanding.

“My life’s journey was unbelievably sculpted by my four years at UArts. There were so many small things the University allowed me to do. I was in the right place at the right time, and I’m eternally grateful.”

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From Sculpture Studio to Mars

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a m i l l i o n r o a d s t o s u cc e s s frank hartman bfa ’92

f r a n k H a r T M a n B f a ’ 9 2 ( S c u l P T u r e ) took his fine arts degree a long way after graduating from the University of the Arts—all the way to Mars.

Frank Hartman has now piloted three Mars rover missions for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratories.

Hartman, a native of Pitman, N.J., now calls NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratories (JPL) in California home, where he spends his days boldly going where no one has gone before: driving the rover Curiosity across the surface of the Red Planet, as he did for the past eight years with the rovers Spirit and Opportunity.

Although he’s worked hard for his success—earning a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford along the way—he says, “Some days I can’t believe people pay me to do this. I’m very lucky.”

Hartman started out as an engineering major at Drexel University, but decided he wanted a broader education and enrolled at UArts in the Sculpture program. “I also took one of the earliest computer graphics courses available back in the early ’90s,” he says.

“Then I started training myself in computer animation. I moved to California and got a job with an animation company, but that closed down. One of the guys who worked there knew someone at JPL; they needed a person who knew how to edit video, which I learned at UArts and through an internship at a Philly public access TV station, and they hired me.”

While working in JPL’s animation lab, Hartman eventually ended up creating animations for NASA IMAX movies, all the while working on his skills as a computer programmer.

He created what he calls a “video game” for a Mars rover, and his boss urged him to contact the directors of the first such mission, Pathfinder, which was just getting underway. He enrolled in the program, went through extensive training and spent the next eight years as a pilot of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, exploring the surface of Mars.

I understand and visualize forms.

And that is a tricky business: one false turn could ruin the $2.5 billion mission. Curiosity is 154 million miles away from its drivers and signals take 14 minutes to travel from one planet to the other— meaning the rover could go over a cliff before the driver even sees the edge coming—so he and his colleagues spend their long workdays programming the rover’s entire next day while it rests. “We look at the pictures shot with ‘stereo’ cameras through special glasses that create a 3-D view,” he says. “It’s breathtaking to go to work every morning and be the first human to ever see some of these features on Mars.”

Hartman says he could not be doing what he does today if it weren’t for his education in Sculpture at UArts. “One thing I’m able to do is interpret three-dimensionally what I’m seeing in these 2-D images,” he says. “My classes in Sculpture at UArts are what enabled me to do that, to understand and visualize forms.” In his spare time, Hartman still pursues his passion for art. “My wife and I have a ceramics studio in the garage.

I really do love sculpture.”

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featured alumni artist

g r e g p i z z o l i m f a ’ 0 9 (book arts/printmaking)

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t h e w a t e r m e l o n s e e d 2012 Book Illustration

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Lenore Tawney:

A collaborative exhibition with MICA celebrates the pioneering fiber artist.

dav i d at t i e

Wholly Unlooked For

in the gallery le nore tawney

Lenore Tawney was an artist whose pioneering work revolutionized fiber arts and who became well known for her collage and assemblage work. This winter, the University presented one half of an extraordinary two-venue exhibition—in tandem with the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)—showing Tawney’s weavings, drawings, installations and sculptures.

At UArts, her collages, assemblages and postcards were displayed side-by-side with her fiber art pieces in the University’s Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery. MICA’s exhibit featured Tawney’s line-based objects.

“To be an artist, you must be brave. You can’t let yourself be scared by a blank sheet of drawing paper or a white canvas.

But what you put on that paper or canvas must come from your deepest self, from a place you do not even know.”

- Lenore Tawney, 1992

Born in Ohio, Tawney attended the Institute of Design in Chicago and later studied tapestry at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. In 1957, she moved to New York and established her first studio.

Her work is in the permanent collections of many of the world’s top museums.

UArts presented two concurrent exhibitions that complemented the Tawney show, featuring works by students in the MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking and Crafts/Fibers programs. The students researched an extraordinary collection of objects from the Tawney Foundation, including old books and parts of old books, wood containers, small bottles and thread, which they incorporated and used as inspiration for their exhibition pieces.

j e s s i m e l c e r ’11

“Both programs, after researching and studying Tawney, created works, most incorporating Tawney’s materials, all responding to and inspired by her art,” says UArts Book Arts Program Director Susan Viguers. “Working with materials gathered by Tawney herself connected the artists with Tawney in an unprecedented and direct way.

Kathleen Mangan, executive director of the Foundation, wrote afterward how much she and others from the Foundation were impressed ‘with the quality and sensitivity of the students’ work with Lenore’s materials. She would be tremendously honored and touched by this celebration of her legacy.”

j e s s i m e l c e r ’11

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profile

‘Hennessy Youngman’

Puts the Art World on the Rocks

claire iltis

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a m i l l i o n r o a d s t o s u cc e s s j ay s o n m u s s o n bfa ’02

The headline in The New York Observer was direct, but in the end misleading: “Jayson Musson Is Not an Idiot, He Just Plays One on YouTube.”

Jayson Musson, as “Hennessy Youngman,” expounds on the art world in his YouTube “Art Thoughtz” pieces.

J a y S o n M u S S o n B f a ’ 0 2 ( P H o T o g r a P H y ) is best known as his hilarious alter-ego Hennessy Youngman, a straight-shooting “Def Comedy Jam” version of an art pundit, who caught the attention of the art world with his sophisticated and barbed criticisms of it, each coming wrapped in gold chains, delivered by a character who often calls himself “the pedagogic pimp.”

But few “idiots” would, as Interview magazine put it, muse on “Joseph Beuys and Jay-Z, why poststructuralism compensates for mediocre art (‘If you can’t make it, fake it—by over-explaining’), and how relational aesthetics are a ruse for awkward artists to make friends.”

Art in America calls him “Ali G with an MFA.”

Ali G with an MFA.

The Brooklyn-based artist’s “Art Thoughtz” videos—which have garnered almost two million views—are a hip-hop discourse on the powers and prejudices of the art world, delivered in an even-toned “street-speak” that makes it even more powerful when he proposes hammer-blow ideas, such as the propositions that talent is not a factor when it comes to art world success; that what you need to know about modernism is that it’s something white people can do and black people cannot; and that Bruce Nauman is most notable for being the guy who already did everything that you want to do, but in the 1970s.

The multitalented Musson went on from UArts to earn an MFA at the University of Pennsylvania and this past December, he returned to the city for a unique exhibition at Fleischer-Ollman Gallery. In this particular artistic incarnation, Musson cuts up the colorful/awful Coogi sweaters made famous in the 1980s by Bill Cosby in “The Cosby Show,” sewing them back together and stretching the finished work so it resembles a painting from a distance. The close-up view shows the intricate textures that create the illusion. The works were priced between $10,000 and $30,000 each.

In an unintended irony, Musson’s outsider persona has been his vehicle to insider status. The Huffington Post named him one of its “30 Black Artists Under 30 That You Should Know,” and he also gained a measure of pop culture status: his is the voice heard in the middle of the viral video phenomenon “The Harlem Shake,” sampled from a song by his former rap group, Plastic Little.

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profile

elle aime creative

Looking Good and Doing Good Go Hand in Hand

Loza Maleombho’s New York-based fashion line features culturally eclectic African “street-chic” styles.

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a m i l l i o n r o a d s t o s u cc e s s loza maleombho bfa ’06

The last few years have been a whirlwind ride for l o z a M a l e o M B H o B f a ’ 0 6 ( a n i M a T i o n ) . Since graduating from UArts, she’s become a rising star as an independent fashion designer. In 2009, she started her own clothing line, whose designs reflect her multicultural journey: born in Brazil, raised in Ivory Coast, West Africa, she spent her college years here in Philadelphia, and is now based in New York City. Recognized with the 2012 Emerging Designer of the Year Award by ARISE, Africa’s leading international style magazine, she has her own factory in Ivory Coast, and employs local women to help promote female empowerment and to create long-term social and economic solutions for the country’s economy.

serge babou

All of Malembho’s designs are produced at her factory in her native Ivory Coast.

“I’ve been drawing since I was 5 or 6 and designing since I was 13,” she says. “I went to college with a desire to explore the visual arts, learn to animate and work at Disney.

After graduating, my interest in fashion had grown stronger and I desired to explore different cultures around the world.” Maleombho interned with designers in New York City with the hope of being hired and travelling overseas to China and India where the designers produced their clothing.

“Unfortunately, I quickly got discouraged at the idea of giving up my own ideas to someone else’s credit, and sometimes at a poor salary,” she says.

“That’s when I started laying out ideas about creating my own brand.”

I can tell at first sight what fabric will fit the garment’s shape... it’s no coincidence.

Maleombho is currently working on her fall/winter 2013-14 collection, and she sees a momentum toward African fashion in the world of style right now. She also feels well prepared by her UArts experiences. “Surprisingly, the Animation courses have helped me to understand garment and weight movements,” she says. “I can tell at first sight what fabric will fit the garment’s shape that I need and I think it’s no coincidence. All those ‘30-drawings-per-second’ had something to do with understanding all of that. Same goes for garment construction and pattern making, when you find that understanding 3D is essential in creating the garment that fits. Animation, Film and Photography courses have helped in the storytelling of my brand and made me self sufficient in the creative process.”

That process is bringing her increasing notice. She and her fashions have been featured in Italian Vogue and in Vibe magazine’s hip Vibe Vixen publication, among others.

In December, she was invited to present her clothing line in a private viewing for spouses of members of international embassies in Ivory Coast.

For Maleombho, her greatest joy is her freedom to be creative. “Being able to freely conceive something in my mind and bring it to life is incomparable to me,” she says.

“To take charge in the process from beginning to end, finding solutions to the challenges I meet along the way and being able to cross the finish line is what drives me every day.”

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featured student artist

q i a n g g o n g ’ 1 3 (crafts)

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f i v e i n a r o w 2013 Rubber Bands

Photos by Ken Yanoviak

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From Broad Street to Wall Street

lori hoffman

Carolynn Fedor, celebrating her 20th year at Bloomberg News, manages a 15-person team of video journalists.

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a m i l l i o n r o a d s t o s u cc e s s c a r o ly n n f e d o r b f a ’75

How does a Fibers major end up as a manager at Bloomberg News, the 24-hour global news network? “It certainly wasn’t a linear path,” chuckles c a r o l y n n f e d o r B f a ’ 7 5 ( c r a f T S ) as she approaches her 20th anniversary at the business and financial news giant.

“When I graduated, I needed a job; it was pretty much that simple. I got one using my arts abilities making maps for a cartography firm near Washington, D.C. Then I got into doing photography, drawings and maps, mostly of water patterns, for an environmental consulting company. When that job went away, I learned that a local radio station needed a news reporter, so I trained for two months to be on the air and I became a radio reporter and news anchor. I ended up becoming the news director there and eventually worked for the Associated Press as broadcast editor.”

“When I began at Bloomberg 20 years ago, it was a startup company looking for creative people,” she says. “It has a unique online subscriber-based approach, and the past 10 years the changes in technology have made it very challenging—things move so quickly, there’s so much change in what we do.”

Now the manager of a 15-member team of video journalists at Bloomberg, Fedor says her experiences at UArts still play a significant role in her success.

As in art, you have to listen to your gut.

“I learned the importance of patience, organization and research,” she says. “I also learned the ability to evaluate what I’m doing and to defend it. We took a positive approach and learned not to be afraid to take risks: you’d often end up starting over, but that was okay, knowing that you always had to come out with an end product you were proud of.”

And she recalls a character-building moment. “I was always shy, and in a fibers class, I was struggling to create a sculptural project involving a mini theater set with wires and light bulbs— it was very different from the other students’ work, organic and off-the-wall—and maybe because I appeared to have things under control, the teacher didn’t give me much feedback,” Fedor says. “In the end, I didn’t get a great grade, and I felt I had put a lot of work and creativity into the project, so I told the teacher I didn’t agree and I defended my project. When she stopped and said ‘You know, you’re right,’ it was an ‘aha’ moment for me. That really helped me to develop confidence, and the ability to speak out and express what I feel.”

Confidence, creativity and flexibility are requirements for success in the world of global journalism, which continues evolving at lightning speed. “As in art, you have to listen to what your gut says intuitively is what you’re good at—then step back and refine your skills and apply them,” she says. “And skills I learned in school—to be tough as nails, patient and organized—are ones I’ve used my entire career.”

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profile

Ice Cream With a Decidedly Different Twist

doug garth williams

Uniquely creepy advertising videos helped thrust Little Baby’s Ice Cream onto the national scene, with links to the ads featured on The Huffington Post and other sites.

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a m i l l i o n r o a d s t o s u cc e s s martin brown b m ’0 4, m at ’0 5

mike persico

If you’re looking for a traditional vanilla cone at Little Baby’s Ice Cream in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood, boy, have you come to the wrong place.

You’ll find such unique flavors as Earl Grey Sriracha, Chocolate Teriyaki, Strawberry Pink Peppercorn, Panko-Fried Plantain and even Pizza. But if your heart’s still set on vanilla, you might want to give Birch Beer Vanilla Bean a try.

Propelled by an obsession with pushing the ice cream envelope and a fascinating/creepy ad campaign, Little Baby’s is the burgeoning brainchild of M a r T i n B r o w n B M ’ 0 4 ( T r u M P e T ) , M a T ’ 0 5 ( M u S i c e d u c a T i o n ) and two fellow musicians, Pete Angevine and Jeffrey Ziga. Launched in May 2011, Little Baby’s started out doing business from a custom-made freezer tricycle packed with tubs of ice cream.

The bizarre flavors sold out quickly, and Little Baby’s was born.

Little Baby’s began by selling ice cream from a custom-made freezer tricycle and is now opening its second store.

“One of my partners and I were musicians taking a hiatus from that business and we found that we had both taken up cooking,” says Brown. “I bought every kitchen gadget, especially an ice cream maker, and we had fun inviting guests over and impressing them with creative and weird ice cream flavors. We ended up sitting down and hashing out ideas for starting a business. Philly was lacking this kind of thing, and it sounded creative and like a lot of fun.”

We run the business more like a band than a Fortune 500 company.

One of the partners had a friend who created the now-famous videos (more than 3.5 million hits on YouTube and admiringly called “bizarre” by AdAge magazine); Philadelphia Weekly featured Little Baby’s on its cover, and the rest—thanks mostly to a lot of hard work—is history.

“We run the business more like a band than a Fortune 500 company,” says Brown.

“Our training and experience as musicians is a critical part of the success of Little Baby’s. There’s the inherent networking and self-promotion: musicians have to get a gig; we all had large networks of contacts in the city; we know how to put on an event; and we know it’s all about preparing in advance, practicing, getting equipment to a site, just like for musicians.”

He also cites a “natural punk-band rebelliousness. I went to seminars before we started the business. Others there were complaining about milkshakes costing more to make than people wanted to pay and saying you have to have a picture of a cow on the logo,” he says.

“I remember thinking ‘I’m not doing anything these people are doing—in fact, we’ll do the opposite—and there will NOT be a cow on the logo.

“I’m sure there are any number of UArts graduates doing something different than what they majored in and it’s the creative skill-set they have that makes it work for them, the intense artistic process of learning a craft that allows them to focus creatively on just as many things outside their art as inside it.”

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featured alumni artist

j a y s o n m u s s o n b f a ’ 0 2 (photography)

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(left) f a i n t e d w h e n t h e b o o k m e n t i o n e d m e 2012 Mercerized cotton stretched over cotton (below) p y g m a l i o n v i 2012 Mercerized cotton stretched over cotton

Photos by Claire Iltis

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news feature

Art Unleashed

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edge k a t i e d a v i s ’10

the big event

On Wednesday, April 10, art enthusiasts from around the region came together to celebrate the fifth annual Preview Party for Art Unleashed. The annual exhibition and sale, which ran from April 10 through 13, is the University’s primary fundraising event, showcasing the work of our talented students, alumni and faculty and benefitting the Sam. S. McKeel Promising Young Artists Scholarship Fund. This year, Art Unleashed raised more than $400,000 for scholarships, a record amount.

r y a n t r e i t e l ’08

art unleashed

The Preview Party set another record, with more than 700 registered guests enjoying great art, food, wine and entertainment. Guests were treated to a performance

by School of Music students in Solmssen Court, and to our bucket-drum ensemble Rumble, which welcomed attendees from the Hamilton Hall steps. Rumble also participated with Dance students in pop-up performances across the city for several weeks prior to Art Unleashed.

Those exciting events were chronicled by students from the UArts Film program.

Special thanks go to our hardworking Art Unleashed Committee, led by co-chairs S H e r r y e f f r o n , J i M f u lT o n ’ 72 (a rc H i T e c T u r e d e S i g n ) , J e n n i f e r r i c e and e r i c r y M S H a w ; and to Alumni Spotlight Artists d a n d a i l e y ' 6 9 ( c r a f T S ) and J e r r y P i n k n e y ' 6 0 ( a d v e r T i S i n g d e S i g n ) . This event was made possible by generous individual and corporate sponsors, including Lead Corporate Sponsor CRW Graphics and Exclusive Media Sponsor FOX 29 television.

r y a n t r e i t e l ’08

(top to bottom) Dan Dailey ‘69 Wonder, Individuals Series Jerry Pinkney ‘60 The Lion and the Mouse Book Cover

A large and complex event such as Art Unleashed has many moving parts, and we are grateful to everyone who contributed to making it such a success. Make sure to mark your calendars for April 2014 for the next edition of Art Unleashed. susan scovill

Art Unleashed Co-chairs (left to right) Eric Rymshaw Sherry Effron Jennifer Rice Jim Fulton ‘72

For more pictures from the recent event, please visit the Art Unleashed 2013 gallery on our Facebook page at uarts.edu/AUpics13 (you don’t have to have a Facebook account to view them).

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featured student artists

a d a m h o y a k ’ 1 3 (musical theater) c a m i l l e t r i n k a ’ 1 3 (musical theater)

s t u d e n t p e r f o r m a n c e : l e g a l ly b l o n d e

Photo by Jason Chen ‘08

profile

Luxury

by Design

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a million roads to success laurie phillips b fa ’78

l a u r i e P H i l l i P S B f a ’ 7 8 ( P a i n T i n g / d r a w i n g ) remembers the early days of her career as one of Philadelphia’s top luxury-property real estate agents like they were yesterday. And they weren’t easy.

“I was one of the first agents in Philadelphia selling high-end lofts and condos from either raw building space or abandoned office space,” she says. “One of the huge advantages I have is my art and design background. I remember climbing over old dentist chairs and office tables in dilapidated old spaces, envisioning for the clients what that mess could become. These are sophisticated clients with high expectations, very design driven, and to be able to incorporate my skills as an artist in 90 percent of my business is very satisfying.”

Phillips began selling advertising, then designing it, after graduation from UArts (known then as the Philadelphia College of Art), which she entered at the age of 16.

As she describes it, she continued to use her art education and her “eye,” and after six years, she had saved enough money to buy some property near Graduate Hospital.

Laurie Phillips used her background in art and design to build one of the top luxury real estate agencies in Philadelphia.

“I fell in love with real estate,” she says, “and I found quickly that my background as a visual artist could drive a lot of success. I still design most of my company’s marketing and advertising. And almost all of the properties I work with are very design-focused projects.”

Redefine how people use space.

She emphasizes that her background in design and the fine arts allows her to help “redefine how people use space,” and as a result, she has become the go-to agent for architects and developers coming to Philadelphia.

As a top agent with Prudential Fox & Roach Realtors, Phillips works with some of the highest-end properties in some of the toniest neighborhoods in Philadelphia, from Rittenhouse Square to Fitler Square, Washington Square, Old City and Society Hill.

Across her 32-year career, she has collected many of her firm’s awards as a leader in her field, including Top Producer (City of Philadelphia), Top Lister (Center City), Top Seller (Center City) and Top Overall Combined Volume (Center City). Prudential Fox & Roach named her one of its elite 100 agents nationally, and in 2012, she was recognized

by The Wall Street Journal as one of the country’s top real estate agents.

And she’s still painting and always looking at art. “Just today, in the middle of the day, I went to a gallery,” she says. “It’s still a major part of my life.”

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w h at ’s n e w

(to the right) Neil Gaiman ‘Make Good Art’

UArts News Around Campus University Honors Program Launched UArts has launched a new University Honors Program to offer academically exceptional and creatively gifted students an additional level of rigorous and enriching intellectual and artistic experience while pursuing their undergraduate degrees. The program provides an opportunity for students to be a part of a community of Honors Scholars with a high level of commitment to investigating the role of the performing, visual and writing arts in contemporary life. Coursework leading to the fulfillment of the University Honors Program will challenge Honors Scholars to expand the limits of their intellect, artistry and imagination.

"Honors Scholars at UArts will take their alreadydemanding work in the studio and the classroom to another level of challenge, enriching their communities and each other along the way,” said P r o v o S T k i r k e . P i l l o w . Application to the program can occur as part of the admissions process or after attending for one semester. Honors Scholars must maintain a 3.75 cumulative grade point average; do specific Honors coursework; complete 75 hours of community service; and participate in one field experience related to their major through practical professional experiences like internships.

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Neil Gaiman’s UArts 'Make Good Art' Speech Becomes Book The inspirational “make good art” speech given by award-winning author and graphic novelist Neil Gaiman at the University of the Arts’ May 2012 commencement ceremony is now a book. Make Good Art (HarperCollins), designed by renowned book designer Chip Kidd, is based on the Sandman and Coraline author’s first-ever university address. Called one of the best commencement speeches of 2012, the video instantly went viral and became an internet sensation, logging more than 530,000 views on Vimeo.

At press time, Gaiman was scheduled to attend a Q&A session and book signing at UArts on May 14, the book’s release date.

3 New Members Named to Board of Trustees at UArts The University of the Arts has named H o w a r d B e l k B f a ' 8 1 ( g r a P H i c d e S i g n ) , Jeffrey R. Seligsohn and Laurie Wagman to its Board of Trustees. Belk is co-president, CEO and CCO of Siegel+Gale, a global strategic branding firm. A prominent figure in the industry, Belk has led global branding programs in every sector. Seligsohn is a founding partner of SSH Real Estate, one of the largest full-service commercial real estate firms in the Philadelphia region. During his 20 years in the real estate industry, he has grown SSH to a 75-person firm offering brokerage, management and investment services. Wagman is the founder and chairman of American Theater for Youth, Inc., an educational organization that presents professional theater to school students as an extension of classroom curriculum. For more than four decades, youth nationwide have benefited from Wagman’s contributions to education.

Student News CAMD Announces School Directors

Music Students Perform with Top Jazz Orchestra

Two new leaders in the College of Art, Media & Design have been named: Grant Donesky has been appointed director of the School of Design and Film/Video Associate P r o f e S S o r w e n d y w e i n B e r g has taken on the role of interim director of the School of Film. Donesky, currently chair of Design at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, will join UArts on July 1. Weinberg is an Oscar-nominated filmmaker and recipient of the 2009 Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Instrumental Performance majors S e a n M a r k S ’ 1 3 (S a xo P H o n e) , J o n l ac y ’ 1 3 ( Tro M B o n e) a n d J o e a n d e r S o n ’ 1 3 ( T r u M P e T ) were selected for the 2013 Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Jazz Orchestra (MACJO), recognized as the premier orchestra for the East Coast’s finest college jazz musicians.

Now in its fifth year, and students were chosen from colleges throughout the Mid-Atlantic states to perform in the prestigious honors ensemble under the direction of renowned composer, arranger, conductor, trombonist and educator Eric Richards. This is the second year that Marks was chosen. In January, Marks, Anderson and Lacy—selected as the ensemble’s lead trombonist— performed with the MACJO orchestra at St. Peter's “Jazz” Church in New York City, and in April, they headlined the Cumberland (Md.) Jazz Society’s “Weekend of Jazz in Downtown Cumberland.”

University Common Curriculum Director Appointed Multidisciplinary Fine Arts Professor M a r a a d a M i T z S c r u P e has been appointed director of the newly established University Common Curriculum that will be a shared experience for all UArts undergraduates. She will lead the program with guidance from an advisory panel of faculty representing the College of Art, Media & Design, the College of Performing Arts and the Division of Liberal Arts.

Multimedia Senior Wins PhillyPitch! Screenwriting Competition University of the Arts senior M a r c u S o ' l e a r y ’ 1 3 ( M u l T i M e d i a ) was named the winner of the 2012 PhillyPitch! competition sponsored by the Greater Philadelphia Film Office. The program is part of the Film Office’s annual “Shoot in Philadelphia” screenwriting competition, co-sponsored by UArts, incorporating the exploration of story structure, pitch coaching, audience presentation and the chance to pitch story ideas to a panel of high-powered industry professionals and a live audience. O’Leary’s winning screenplay, “Reading Terminal Romance,” was chosen from among 30 food-themed story ideas that were pitched in September. Eight finalists moved onto the PhillyPitch! final competition, held during the 21st Annual Philadelphia Film Festival, where he was crowned the winner.

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An essay by Camille Paglia is featured in the book David Bowie Is.

Our Faculty Theater Professor Awarded Directing, Teaching Prize Associate P r o f e S S o r a M y f e i n B e r g , head of the Directing, Playwriting & Production program at the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts, was recognized with two awards at this year’s Region II Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). She received a plaque as director of the Brind School production “The Walls,” selected to be performed at the festival, and was the recipient of the KCACTF's first Innovative Teaching Prize, co-sponsored with the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.

Creative Writing Professor’s Essay Featured in ‘Good Housekeeping’ A nonfiction piece by e l i S e J u S k a , Liberal Arts faculty member and Creative Writing program director, appeared in the February 2013 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine. The essay focused on her grandparents’ World War II love letters and their enduring relationship.

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Faculty Member/Alumnus Illustrates Cover of ‘3x3 Magazine’ An illustration by award-winning illustrator, UArts lecturer and alumnus J o n a T H a n B a r T l e T T B f a ' 0 7 ( i l l u S T r a T i o n ) graced the cover of the February 2013 issue of 3x3: The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration. Bartlett, who was tasked with creating a cover with the theme “the education of the illustrator,” was also interviewed for the feature story.

Professor’s Essay Featured in David Bowie Book An essay on gender and decadence by c a M i l l e P a g l i a , University Professor of Humanities & Media Studies, is included in the recently released book about music icon David Bowie. David Bowie Is (V&A Publishing/distributed by Abrams) coincides with a major exhibit of the same name running through July 28 at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Alumni Notes

Share your news with us for the next issue of Edge! Send a short note about your recent projects, upcoming exhibitions and performances and accomplishments to alumni@uarts.edu.

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

Alumni Notes

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Work by Ruth Ann Risser Vasilik Robert Burridge

s

a l a n k l awa n S ’ 5 4 ( a d verTiSing d e S i g n ) exhibited his work in “Patterns & Meaning” at the Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville, N.J., from November 9 to December 2, 2012.

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(left to right) Work by Jerry Pinkney

munity Foundation. He is one of the oldest African-American painters living and is a legend who is always proud to recognize his UArts degree. More info at eugenegrigsbyart.com.

s

“Witness: The Art of Jerry Pinkney,” a traveling retrospective exhibition honoring illustrator Je r ry P i n k n ey di Pl ’60 (a dv erT iSi ng d e Sig n), was on display at the Hudson River Museum from September 29, 2012, to January 13, 2013, and at the African American Museum in Dallas from March through May 2013. The show then travels

to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where it will run from June through September, making its last stop at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta from October 12, 2013, to January 5, 2014. In February, Pinkney spoke at the Independence Visitor Center in Philadelphia at a program titled “The Underground Railroad: Through the Eyes and Art of Jerry Pinkney.” The event included an artist talk, question- and-answer session, book signing and children’s art activities.

a lv i n SH er Bfa ’64 ( S c u l P T u r e ) exhibited his work at the Sculptors Guild Gallery in Brooklyn, N.Y., from December 4, 2012, to January 26, 2013. The Philadelphia native, who now lives in Niantic, Conn., was interviewed in the January 6 issue of local Connecticut newspaper The Day, where he talked about his work and how he became a sculptor.

r u T H a n n r i S S e r va S i l i k B fa ’6 3 ( i l l u S T r a T i o n ) was the featured artist at the North Carolina Arboretum’s “A Painter’s Journey” exhibit, which ran from January 26 to May 19, 2013.

( a r T e d u c a T i o n ) is 94, is still working in his studio and active on several boards in Phoenix, Ariz. He had an exhibition of his art that opened in January 2013 at the Arizona Com-

JefferS g r i g S By,

o n

Jr.

eugene d fa ’6 5

roBe rT Bu r r i dge BS ’66 ( i n d u S T r i a l d e S i g n ) had a solo exhibition titled “I Change My Mind: Robert Burridge Exhibition of Paintings” at the Elverhoj Museum of History and Art in California from November 10, 2012, to January 27, 2013. Burridge is an award-winning industrial designer who, after 25 years in the corporate design world, focused his new life to painting every day. He attributes his success in part to his education at UArts. He is the inventor of the first electronic desktop calculator and the two-paddle defibrillator. He is the honorary president of the International Society of Acrylic Painters and a signature member of the Philadelphia Water Color Society. His honors include the prestigious Crest Medal for Achievement in the Arts and Franklin Mint awards. His works hang in the permanent collections of embassies, corporations, colleges and galleries. Burridge’s studio is located in California’s central coast in Arroyo Grande.

f r a n g a l l u n B fa ’6 8 ( P H o T o g r a P H y ) exhibited work in “Imagined Israel: Mixed Media Paintings by Fran Gallun” through April 15 at the Philadelphia Museum of Jewish Art.

(left to right) Work by Wayne Michaud Work by Lesia Sochor (below) Work by Eileen Neff

ST ev e we i n e r BM ’68 ( T r u M P e T ) started his teaching career working in the Philadelphia and Willingboro, N.J., public school systems. Moving to Las Vegas in 1973 with a new bride and baby, he taught music for the Clark County school district. Further increasing his education in school leadership, he earned a Doctorate in Education from the University of Nevada, Reno. He then became a dean of students, assistant principal and principal over the course of the next 10 years. He retired for four years and then returned to public education, teaching special education and serving as the director of Music for the Nye County school district. He retired after a total of 32 years in public education. In the field of music, Weiner has played in Vegas show bands with Les Elgart, Count Basie, the Motown Circuit, Wan-en Covington, Joe Henderson, Blood Sweat & Tears, M i c H a e l P e dic i n BM ’68 (c oM P o Si T ion), STa nl e y c l a r k e ’ 71 (Ba S S), Michael Brecker, Horace Silver and Randy Brecker. Currently, he is working and playing on the CD “Resurrection.” The Mike Pedicin Quintet that Weiner has played with has won the Villanova, St. Louis, Ohio, Quinnipiac and Miami Collegiate Jazz festivals, earning outstanding performance awards for Pedicin and the late J a M e S P a x S o n B M ’ 7 5 (P e rc uS Sion). i va n Ba r n e T T B fa ’69 ( i l l u S T r a T i o n ) , owner of

the Patina Gallery in Santa Fe, N.M., was profiled in the Harvard Business Review article “Running a Gallery: An HBR Small Business Interview.”

Ja n i S g oBe r M a n Bfa ’ 6 9 ( i l l u S T r a T i o n ) writes, “I started my business in 1986 as an independent creative consultant specializing in the cosmetic/ beauty industry. Janis Goberman Design has grown into a boutique design consultancy with a diverse team of professionals. We are a source for all phases of brand visualization, in all channels of distribution (specialty, department, mass and TV). We guide our entrepreneurial and international clients through the process seamlessly, effortlessly. Our expertise in virtually every phase of the creative process—from concept, design and development through launch—ensures the success for our clients’ products in the global market.” More info at janisgobermandesign.com.

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H owa r d g o l d B e rg B fa ’ 7 1 ( f i l M ) finished post-production on a new feature film that he wrote and directed called “Jake Squared,” starring Elias Koteas, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Virginia Madsen, Jane Seymour and Mike Vogel. “Jake Squared” is a surreal comedy about a filmmaker who decides to make a movie as a way to help figure out how he’s managed to screw up every relationship he’s ever had. But, the filming spirals out of his control and he has what’s either a mystical experience, a total nervous

breakdown, or both, as his past selves and past loves literally and hysterically catch up with him. A Sundance Institute Fellow, Goldberg had a feature film, “Eden,” which was developed in the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and was in the Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Festival.

sign. My newest venture is an extensive line of hand-knotted rugs made in Tibet, Nepal, Pakistan and India. My upholstery fabrics continue to be made domestically.

All of my products are sold to the industry, therefore, I am behind the scenes. This means we do not sell to the public or to the trade.

By selling to the industry, we sell our fabrics to either the furniture manufacturers (like Henredon, Drexel Heritage, Ethan Allen, etc.) or to the decorative jobbers (like Kravet, Robert Allen, Lee Jofa, etc.). This means that when these companies purchase my textiles, they put their names onto the product. In the past, we also dominated the domestic bedding industry until that market moved overseas. It is safe to say that I have designed more fabrics for residential use than any other designer (over 22,000).”

antebellum days through the New Deal era, the book features the work of Willis as a photographic historian as well as the work of slavery historian Barbara Krauthamer. The authors display the impact of emancipation on African Americans born before and after the Emancipation Proclamation.

l e S i a S o c H o r B fa ’ 74 ( P a i n T i n g ) had her work in an exhibit titled “Threads” at Pace Gallery, Freyberg Academy (Maine) from February 11 to March 16, 2013.

silly little pictures drawn on the iPad.”

M a rT H a k e rc H B fa ’ 78 ( P r i n T M a k i n g ) writes, “I am a media design specialist for Evonik Industries, a leading specialty chemicals manufacturer headquartered in Germany. I am a designer of print collateral, advertising, event graphics and media for the Americas, and a staff photographer for FOLIO magazine. I continue to be active as a fine artist in both traditional and digital media and am currently working on a book project (‘Animal Rescue’) of simple, sweet,

way n e M i c H a u d B fa ’ 7 1 ( i l l u S T r a T i o n ) has been painting pet portraits since 2007 as the artist for Green Mountain Pet Portraits. More info at greenmountainpetportraits.com.

Following his retirement after 25 years as a principal at UJMN Architects+Designers in Philadelphia, J o e n i c H o l S o n BS ’71 (i n duST r i a l deS i g n ) has formed a new studio called studioMUSarx LLC. The studio of architects, exhibit designers and graphic designers focuses on museum planning, architecture and exhibit design for a broad range of museum and visitor center clients nationwide.

Currently the studio is designing the Birthplace of Country Music Museum—a Smithsonian Institution affiliate—in Bristol, Va., and recently completed a buildings and exhibits master plan for

the Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum in Meridian. After receiving a MA degree with Merit in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester in the U.K., he expanded the scope of his museum planning practice, consulting with other design professionals and museum directors both locally and nationally on issues ranging from operations to design. In 2012, he was named trustee emeritus at the Woodmere Art Museum in Philadelphia after serving as a trustee for 15 years, during which time he served two terms as board president. More info at studiomusarx.com.

M aur een dr da k B fa ’ 7 5 ( P a i n T i n g ) had a solo exhibition at the Towson University Asian Art and Culture Center. The exhibition, which featured new work incorporating her Fulbright synthesis of repoussé and painting, opened in April 2013. Important collector John Gilmore Ford is curating Drdak's work. It is one of two solo exhibitions under the rubric of “Passage from India,” which features the work of another Fulbright Fellow, Siona Benjamin. Drdak also presented her work at the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore in April 2013.

ToM Ju dd Bfa ’ 75 ( P a i n T i n g ) exhibited work at the Julie Nester Gallery in Utah from November 23 to December 24, 2012, in a exhibition titled “Michelle Jader and Tom Judd.”

ei leen nef f Bfa ’72 ( P a i n T i n g ) exhibited her work at the Bridgette Mayer Gallery in Philadelphia. The solo exhibition was titled “Three or Four Clouds” and ran October 3–27, 2012. we S l e y M a n c i n i B fa ’ 74 (a rT e d u c aT i o n) writes, “My company Wesley Mancini, Ltd is celebrating its 30th year. I have designed the Home Fabrics by Wesley Mancini line for the same amount of time. We are contracted by mills to design their lines of fabrics.

Recently, I received the Arts & Science Councils’ Honors Award for lifetime achievement in de-

deB williS Bfa ’75 ( P H o T o g r a P H y ) was the author of a November 2012 feature in The New York Times commemorating the centennial of photographer Gordon Parks’ birth.

Parks was the first African-American staff photographer for Life and the first African American to direct a major motion picture.

Willis is the chairwoman of the Photography and Imaging department at New York University and was inspired by Parks. She also recently had a book signing for her latest book, “Envisioning Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery,” at the International Center of Photography. With 150 photographs from

M e g c a l l a H a n B fa ’ 7 9 ( c r a f T S ) wrote “I’m currently producing a line of jewelry that I’m in the process of putting up on Etsy under the name of my business, which is CallahansPlanet. All the pieces are designed and created by me.” More info at etsy.com/shop/callahansplanet.

Joa n MoSkow i Tz BS ’79 (induSTrial d e Sig n) writes, “I am currently the principal of Moskowitz Design, consulting and designing environmental graphic design, print and communications programs. I live and work in Nevada City, Calif. (in the Sierra foothills), with my husband, David Lewin, and our two children.”

Jennifer (BarreTT) o ’ c o n n e l l B fa ’ 7 9 ( i l l u S T r a T i o n ) has written and illustrated a new picture book titled The Eye of the Whale, set for release in May 2013. It tells the true story of a whale rescue with a remarkable outcome that took place off the coast of California in 2005. To research the book, she traveled to San Francisco and rode the rescue boat to the area where the events in the book occurred. This experience fueled her inspiration as she created the words and images to tell this extraordinary story.

O’Connell is the New York Times bestselling author and illustrator of the picture book Ten Timid Ghosts. She is the author of It’s Halloween Night! and the illustrator of A Garden of Whales, among others, and also creates illustrations for book covers and other publications. More info at JenniferOConnellArt.com.

Calhoun School, particularly as their shared investment in sitebased and experiential education continues to expand and overlap.

(left to right) Work by Jennifer (Barrett) O’Connell Philip Fierlinger

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a n na fi n e foer Bfa ’ 8 0 ( f i B e r S ) had her collage “The Tower of Babble” featured on the front cover of ArtScope, a New England arts journal.

Marie ciroTTi levine B fa ’ 85 ( i l l u S T r aT i o n) writes, “I have my own design business, MarieCirottiLevine Design. For the past 15 years, I have been teaching both in the Illustration department as well as the Graphic Design department at UArts.”

(left to right) Work by Brian Sanders Photo by Eric Nagy

STayc e e P e a r l B fa ’ 8 6 ( d a n c e ) was featured in Pittsburgh Magazine for her show “… on being…” that was performed in the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater in February. After graduation, she danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and the CORE Performance Company of Atlanta, Ga., before returning to New York to pursue a career as a solo performing artist. Pearl relocated to Pittsburgh in 2000 and shortly thereafter, began her tenure as artistic director of Xpressions Contemporary Dance Company, where she premiered original works and worked with celebrated choreographers. In 2009, Pearl graduated with a degree in Studio Art and a minor in Africana Studies from the University of Pittsburgh. She has since shown at Space Gallery, Sweetwater Center for the Arts and the August Wilson Center for African American Culture. She first debuted her most recent endeavor, STAYCEE PEARL dance project, at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater in 2010 and has since been honored to serve as the resident company of the theater.

e r ic doy l e Bfa ’88 ( g r a P H i c d e S i g n ) writes, “I’m currently an independent graphic design consultant operating as Rubicon Design Associates. My client base is primarily large, national and international nonprofit organizations based in New York, Connecticut and California.”

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n i k i c o u S i n e au B fa ’ 9 2 ( d a n c e ) co-directs Subcircle, a performance art company, with her husband, Jorge. In addition to her work with Subcircle, she is a theater choreographer and choreographed the Arden Theatre’s “Next to Normal.” Subcircle combines the talents and compelling vision of Cousineau and her husband in site-specific work that is visually arresting and emotionally powerful. On November 10, 2012, Subcircle held its annual benefit titled “15” to celebrate 15 years of Subcircle. The evening included performances from noted Philadelphia dancers, actors and musicians. UArts student J e S e o k ko o ’15 (Mu lT i M e d i a ) co-designed a video installation for the event.

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a n T H o n y S H o S Ta k B fa ’ 9 0 ( Pa i n T i n g / d r aw i n g) organized the exhibition “Starstruck: The Fine Art of Astrophotography” and edited its attendant catalogue for the Bates College Museum of Art, where he has been employed as curator of education for nearly 20 years.

“Starstruck” is the first major exhibition to examine astrophotography as a genre of the fine arts and closed at Bates in December 2012. a n n i e SoM erv i lle-Bell B fa ’ 91 ( P H o T o g r a P H y) writes, “I’m currently living in Spring Valley, Colo., with my husband, Bruce, and 6-year-old daughter, Frances, four dogs and a gerbil. I manage the advertising for American Seminar Institute, a company that arranges continuing education seminars for medical and dental professionals, with offices in Carbondale, Colo., Albuquerque, N.M., and Ojai, Calif.” g a ry J o S e P H c o H e n B fa ’ 9 2 ( P H o T o g r a P H y ) had his photographs selected by the international pianist Lang Lang and Sony Music to commemorate the release of “The Chopin Al-

PHiliP fierlinger BS ’ 92 (i n duST r i a l d e Sig n) was featured in Forbes magazine as an up-and-coming entrepreneur. Fierlinger is the founder of Xero, an online accounting software development company.

He interned in Silicon Valley for General Magic, working on handheld digital gadgets. In 1994, he teamed with brother Peter to start the digital marketing company Turntable. Early clients included Apple, DreamWorks and Sony.

Xero was founded in 2006 with the lofty goal of making accounting software elegant. Its online platform and sleek design make accounting, payroll and financial reporting simple and user-friendly. The cloud-based system allows co-workers to see changes in real time and transfers easily from laptops to smartphones. Xero currently has 200,000 users in 100 countries.

M a M i k aTo Bfa ’87 ( S c u l P T u r e ) exhibited work in “Altered Spaces” from December 6, 2012, to January 25, 2013, at the Center for Emerging Visual Artists in Philadelphia.

Q u i n n Te T T e rTo n Bfa ’ 8 7 ( i l l u S T r a T i o n ) consults in the areas of executive creative producing, CG art direction, animation direction and UX design. Over the past 20 years, he has created and held positions including producer, writer, animation director, creative director, experience designer and entrepreneur. His clients have included Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney Interactive, Vivendi Universal, MTV Virtual Worlds, Electronic Arts, Fox, Activision, Mattel, Atari, the Discovery Channel and Ogilvy PR Worldwide. As an executive creative producer, Tetterton has liaised between marketing executives at Sony Wonder, Sony Home Entertainment, Lionsgate, Mattel, March Entertainment, MGA Entertainment, Neopets and MTV Virtual Worlds.

bum.” He also served as a teacher-ranger in the Badlands National Park for the 2012 summer. His duties included leading national park initiatives such as resource education and interpretation, visitor services and safety, and curriculum development to be implemented in reservation schools and at the Calhoun School, where he currently teaches. He also programmed stewardship/park resource events in NYC classrooms during National Parks Week, while in full ranger uniform. He sees it as an unparalleled opportunity to further develop a lasting relationship between the Badlands National Park and the

B r i a n Sa n d e r S B fa ’ 9 2 ( M o d e r n d a n c e ) is the founder of Brian Sanders’ JUNK, a Philadelphia-based dance company. The organization held its annual winter benefit this past January in UArts’ Solmssen Court with the theme “Snowball.” The one-night fundraiser featured a live performance of new work by JUNK and hors d’oeuvres from Christina Wilson, winner of Gordon Ramsay’s “Hell’s Kitchen.” A silent auction featured artwork and lighting made from found objects curated by Snyderman-Works Gallery. Since 1992, Sanders and his company have left audiences spellbound by the

intricacies and daredevil risks of his ingenious choreography.

Dance critics have hailed JUNK as “accessible, technically flawless and thrilling,” and declare Sanders as “the city’s most exciting choreographer” and “a national treasure.”

Te d l awSon Bfa ’ 93 ( S c u l P T u r e ) had his work at the SCOPE Art Show in Miami, Fla., December 4–9, 2012. With over a decade of art shows and nonprofit initiatives in contemporary art, design, music and fashion, SCOPE Art Shows have garnered critical acclaim and numerous visitors. c ry S Ta l ni c H o l a S Bfa ’ 9 3 ( Pa i n T i n g / d r aw i n g) exhibited her paintings at Gallery in ILLE Arts in Amagansett, N.Y. JuST y na Ba dac H Bfa ’ 9 4 ( P H o T o g r a P H y ) is the photographer behind “Bachelor Portraits,” a solo exhibition that ran from November 1 to December 2, 2012, at Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, Ore. She was also a keynote speaker at the Society for Photographic Education Northwest Conference in November 2012.

M a r i e S i va k Bfa ’ 9 4 ( S c u l P T u r e ) exhibited her work in “Oracle” at the Archer Gallery of Clark College in Vancouver, B.C., from February 20 to March 16, 2013. e r i c n a g y B S ’ 9 5 ( i n d u S T r i a l d e S i g n ) is a Philadelphia graphic designer and photographer, whose “hybrid photos” were featured in Philadelphia magazine. His photos feature historical scenes and present-day shots at iconic Philly locations. Nagy uses a simple point-and-click digital camera as well as his iPhone 5 to take the new photos and Photoshop to blend the shots. More info at phillyhybrid.artistwebsites.com.

eva n Pa l a z z o B fa ’ 9 6 ( a c T i n g ) is still acting in NYC, and his band the Hot Sardines has taken off! Their recent gigs include playing for 20,000 in Paris, 7,000 back at Lincoln Center's “MidSummer Night’s Swing,” three sold-out shows at Joe’s Pub and being the official band of the Turner Classic Movie Cruise. He is married to actress Jennifer weedon ’99 ( a c T i n g ) and the proud father of a 2 year old. na d i n e Say l o r B fa ’ 9 6 (P HoTo g r a P H y) featured her work at the Main Line Art Center’s 2012 Holiday Fine Craft Sale in Haverford, Pa. Ti f fa n y Ba rTok B fa ’ 9 7 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) has a production company named Vinyl Foote, and they just re-launched their website vinylfoote.com.

M a r i a n n e Ba S c e l l i B fa ’ 9 7 ( i l l u S T r a T i o n ) left her position with the City of Phil-

adelphia to pursue a full-time career as a holistic health coach as of September 2012. She is also reevaluating her original goals concerning art and is taking steps to make that a major part of her life once again. More info at theartofholisticwellness.com. a n n e c o o P e r B fa ’ 9 9 (illuSTraTion), yu M i ko To M o B e B f a ’ 0 2 (PrinTMaking), rex kaleHoff Bfa ’04 (S c u l P T u r e), naT H a n i e l B u T l e r B fa ’ 0 8 (S c u l P T u r e), l i n d Say g i l Be rT B fa ’ 0 9 (S c u l P T u r e) , SaManTHa kanelSTein B fa ’10 (S c u l P T u r e) , c o l i n o ’ n e i l l B fa ’11 (S c u l P T u r e), Tr e y S o n d u n l a P B fa ’1 2 (S c u l P T u r e), cory e SPi noSa B fa ’1 2 (M u lT i d i S c i P l i n a r y f i n e a r T S ) and ro n a l d ku S T ru P B fa ’12 ( Pa i n T i n g) , M aT ’ 1 3 ( v i S u a l a r T S ) were featured artists in the “FIDEM USA: Emerging Voices” exhibit from February 9 to March 23, 2013, at the Medialia…Rack and Hamper Gallery in New York City.

a r T S / P r i n T M a k i n g ) . The artists have been invited to speak about the book production and launch it at Typo Berlin in Germany in May 2013. More info at vswtp.org. er i n BreSe Bfa ’01 ( T H e a T e r ) has returned to acting following the birth of her son, Everett, with husband, Pau l Pag l i a B fa ’ 9 9 ( T H e a T e r ) , owner of Garfield Realty in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Since her return, Brese has starred in numerous commercial campaigns, as well as print modeling and voice-over projects.

Recent clients include Windows Phones, NBC, Nickelodeon, Good Morning America, Capital One, Hellmann's and Charles P. Rogers.

Ju S T i n Mc M i l l a n Bfa ’ 0 1 ( a n i M a T i o n ) writes, “I’m currently a project manager for a toy/collectible company in Los Angeles. I shepherd high-end consumer products from concept to production.”

TH o M a S r a i n e y B fa ’ 01 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) was cast in Florida Studio Theatre’s “Smokey Joe’s Café,” which ran through January 2013.

J o n a H B i r n S B fa ’ 0 2 ( M u l T i M e d i a ) writes, “I’m currently living in Brooklyn, N.Y., working as a freelance graphic designer/art director and as a co-owner/creative director of the Red Hook Crit, the world’s premier unsanctioned track bike criterium.” More info at jonahbirns.com.

Jac k S o n g ay B fa ’ 9 9 ( a c T i n g ) was featured in The New York Times as a leading female director. She cites Jennifer Tipton from the Yale School of Drama as an influential mentor who helps her remember why she wanted to direct in the first place. Gay is directing “Barcelona” for the People’s Light & Theatre Company in Malvern, Pa. The show runs May 29–June 23, 2013. c l i f T o n wa l k e r B fa ’ 9 9 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) performed with legends Chita Rivera and Rita Moreno as one of the “11 dancing/singing boys” at “Latino Inaugural 2013: In Performance” at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. (above) Jackson Gay (left to right) Daniel Robaire Work by Jonathan Bartlett

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M e l a n i e B i l e n k e r B fa ’ 0 0 ( c r a f T S ) was featured in the Renwick Gallery exhibit “40 Under 40: Craft Futures.”

The gallery is a branch of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. Tr i c i a Tr e ac y ’S M fa ’ 0 0 ( B o o k a rT S / P r i n TM a k i ng) Kickstarter project “touch: the vista sans wood-type project book.” The project was a funded limited-edition art book of experimental typography and printmaking techniques by 21 emerging international letterpress artists and studios. The project includes the work of a n g e l a d r i S c o l l M fa ’ 0 4 (Bo ok a rT S / P r i n T M a ki ng), M acy cH a dw ick M fa ’ 0 4 ( B o o k a rT S / P r i n T M a k i n g ) and y u k a P e T z M fa ’11 ( B o o k

M i c H a e l d ro l e T B fa ’ 0 2 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) recently finished the North American tour of “Wicked.” Prior to that, he was seen in the Broadway Company as well as the Los Angeles Company as Boq. Other credits include the national tour of “Saturday Night Fever” as Vinnie, the Dorset Theatre Festival's production of “Peter Pan” as Peter Pan, Disneyland’s premier of “Snow White: An Enchanting Musical” as Dopey, the Palace Theatre’s “Of Mice and Men” as Curly, Opera Grand Rapids’ production of “West Side Story” as A-rab, the Fulton Opera House’s world premier of “Cyrano de Bergerac” and performing on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”

Ta l l i a B r i n S o n B fa ’ 0 4 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) is a cast member of the national tour of “The Book of Mormon.”

M arT i n Brow n BM ’04 ( Tru M P e T) , M aT ’05 ( M u S i c e d u c a T i o n ) of Little Baby’s Ice Cream in Philadelphia was part of a video feature for the Philadelphia Business Journal Expo.

B i l ly B u S Ta M a n T e B fa ’ 0 4 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) finished assistant directing the NYC Lab of “Ella Minnow Pea” starring Rebecca Luker. He was cast as Bun Foo in the Paper Mill production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” Bustamante directed the reading of “The Tale of Murasaki – An Ancient Musical” at Ripley-Grier Studios. Aside from owning his own business, he is now an official photographer for the New York Musical Theatre Festival, FringeNYC, NY Resident magazine and VENÜ magazine.

Ju l i a c ag n i n e l l i Bfa ’04 (illuSTraTion) writes, “I have been living in Italy for the last three years freelancing for several companies in the Milan area. Just recently, I came back home to NYC to collaborate here and am looking to find the right balance to be able to go back and forth. Because of my passion for typography and illustration, I am constantly creating personal projects as well.” More info at juliacagninelli.com. r i c k y wH i T f i e l d B fa ’ 0 4 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) is touring the U.K. with “Madagascar Live.”

oBi ageli nna di Bfa ’ 0 5 ( a n i M a T i o n ) writes, “I currently work within distribution at National Public Radio and also have a blog, Fashion. A r t.Craf ts-Etcetera (fashionartcrafts-etc.com), that I started back in 2010. I've been trying to locate fellow alumni who would like to be featured on Fashion.Art.Crafts-Etcetera.

So, I'd love to connect with any fellow alumni working creatively within fashion, the arts and any crafters, etc., out there. Last but not least, I got a MA in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins University, with a focus in Digital Media, Fundraising & Development and Intellectual Properties.”

cHiP k loSe Bfa ’02 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) is the associate director for the Broadway-bound musical “In Transit,” working alongside recent Tony winner Christopher Gattelli.

Klose directed a developmental reading of musical “Nine Wives” at Goodspeed, which received its first reading at UArts last summer.

STePHanie Brownell B fa ’ 03 (M u lT i M e d i a) writes, “I have been working at GlaxoSmithKline for the past five years, managing clinical trials for late-phase oncology studies. I also work part-time at a local Whole Foods and am very active in the CrossFit community in the Philadelphia suburbs.”

Ta r a Bru no Bfa ’ 03 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) was cast in the “House of Von Macrame” at the award-winning Bushwick Starr theater in Brooklyn, N.Y. The show was reviewed by The New York Times in an article titled “Models in Killer Shoes Totter Along a Runway to Death.”

In December 2012, d a n i e l ro B a i r e B fa ’ 05 (ac Ti n g ) released the first three episodes of his web series “In Development,” where he can be seen in a leading role as “Josh,” Michael Bay’s “slo-mo intern.” Robaire also won Best Actor at the John Rosenfeld Short Film Festival for his self-produced short film “Lemonade,” starring him and his 12-year-old actor cousin Benjamin Holtzman. More info at danielrobaire.com.

e M i ly d o n a H u e B fa ’ 0 6 ( c r a f T S ) writes, “I am currently working on a Master of Arts in Sustainable International Development at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University in Massachusetts. I returned in December 2011 from serving in the Peace Corps in Morocco as a small-business volunteer.” k aT i ( ly l e S) d o n ova n B fa ’ 0 6 (M u S i c a l TH e a T e r ) had a baby, August Elliot Donovan, with husband, r o r y d o n ova n B fa ’ 10 (M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) in February 2013.

Ben k r a M er Bfa ’06 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) cowrote “Steamwerkz: the Musical,” which is going to the Gay Theater Festival in Dublin. ca i T li n (r ei l oa f M a n n B fa ’ 0 6 Sical TH e aT e r) Grace Farrell in “Annie” Beck Center and recently to Weehawken, N.J.

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M a ry S c H o l z B fa ’ 0 6 (MuSical THeaTer) wrapped filming on the madefor-TV Christmas movie “Naughty or Nice” with Hilarie Burton, Matt Dallas and Gabriel Tigerman. It aired on the Hallmark Channel during the 2012 holiday season. She is currently working on material for her next album and has two music videos in post-production to be released soon. In the meantime, she has been releasing free downloads of her project “My Life Under the Covers.” More info at maryscholz.com/wp/blog.

Jay n e S u r r e n a B fa ’ 0 6 (Pa i n T i ng / d r aw i ng), M aT ’10 ( vi S ua l a rT S) writes, “I recently had my first private New York show at Whiskey Park at Trump Plaza, hosted by thewallbreakers.com. My work was also featured in HAHA magazine, was an Art Takes Times Square finalist and on the cover for the third issue of Park magazine.” k elli Ba r r eT T ’07 ( Pa i n T i n g / d r aw i n g) is in Los Angeles for three months through the end of pilot season.

Throughout her stint there, she flies back and forth to Chicago for a recurring role on NBC’s “Chicago Fire” as Renee Whaley, the emotionally troubled ex-fiancée of lead character Kelly Severide, played by Taylor Kinney.

Her character begins airing in the 15th episode. She recently portrayed McKena in the reading of “Somewhere in Time” with music by Doug Katsaros, lyrics by Amanda Yesnowitz and book by Ken Davenport.

J o n aT H a n Ba rT l e T T B fa ’ 0 7 ( i l l u S T r a T i o n ) is a merit winner in the Editorial cat-

egory of the Illustration ProShow Annual by 3x3: The Magazine of Contemporary Illustration.

(left to right) Alex Keiper (middle) Kyra Bromberg (left)

PaT r i c k B l a k e B fa ’ 0 7 (P HoTogr a PH y) writes, “Since graduating, I’ve worked in both the fine art and commercial art worlds, in everything from gallery assistant to owning my own media company. Currently, I am the co-owner of Leveler Media, a Philadelphia-based creative media production company. I also continue to make and show art that is separate from my work life and often represents itself in the form of drawings.” eoi n Bu r k e Bfa ’07 ( S c u l P T u r e ) and J i M d e S S i c i n o B fa ’ 0 7 (S c u l P T u r e ) exhibited work in “The Figure Eight Exhibition,” from February 9 to March 16, 2013, at Artspace in New Haven, Conn.

B r i a n c ow d e n B fa ’ 0 7 ( a c T i n g ) starred in the Walnut Street Theatre production of “Vincent in Brixton,” which portrays the young Vincent Van Gogh. It ran from February 19 to March 10, 2013. The four-act piece debuted in 2003 at London’s National Theatre, capturing that year’s Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play and a Tony Award nomination for Best Play. In an interview with the South Philly Review, Cowden speaks of how his time at UArts impacted his decision to pursue theater. “I came to love the immediacy of theater more. I felt as if I could gain more of a sense of what motivates people and channels their energy.” Cowden was in the Walnut Theatre’s “The Eclectic Society” in 2009 and has worked for the Arden, Mauckingbird, Pig Iron, Azuka and People’s Light & Theatre companies in the Philadelphia area. He is also a teacher and stage combat instructor at Center City’s MacGuffin Theatre & Film Co., where he encourages his 12- to 17-year-old students to be as adamant about being emotive as he is when attacking a script.

Cowden is also a mixed martial artist and is working on a web series “My Ruined Life.” More info at myruinedlife.com.

M a r a J i l l H e r M a n B fa ’ 0 7 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) monitored the BFA Unified Auditions for UArts at Pearl Studios and enjoyed quality time with faculty member Patty Raine and d a n o ’ n e i l B f a ’ 1 0 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) . She performed a duet at BMI for the songwriting team Randy Klein and Matthew Hardy and appeared in her second cabaret with Artistic Pride Productions entitled “Love Is a Drag.” On the writing front, So You Wanna Be A Superstar? made the Young Adult Library Services Association list for Popular Paperback at the annual Librarian's Association of America Mid-Winter conference. Herman also originated the role of Debbie in the New York premiere of “Mr. Irresistible” with La MaMa E.T.C. and is excited to share the stage with n i c k Pa r k B fa ’ 0 0 (M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) . Herman is now a client of the Meg Pantera Agency and in her greatest role to date, she is a proud aunt to Liam Cody Lippman! More info at facebook.com/superstarbook. a l e x k e i P e r B fa ’ 0 7 (MuSical THeaTer) opened “Cinderella” at the Arden Theatre, and on Valentine’s Day, she was a part of a cabaret at the National Constitution Cen-

ter called “My Bloody Valentine” with B e n d i B B l e B f a ’ 0 0 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) and Ja M i S o n f o r e M a n B fa ’ 0 9 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r).

In March, she did another 11th Hour Concert, this time of Lippa’s “The Wild Party,” where she played Kate. Keiper also appeared on the demo recording of Dan Kazemi’s new musical “The Tapioca Miracle” with n i c k P a r k B fa ’ 0 9 (M u S i c a l TH e a T e r ) . She has been a part of the project for four years now and is so glad to be involved in this huge step. Keiper closed out the season back at the Arden in late April, playing Petra in their production of “A Little Night Music.” She is also a recipient of the 2013 Independence Foundation Fellowship, which will allow her to attend a summer intensive that is focused on voice and speech training, as well as text analysis.

o l i v e r l i d e rT B fa ’ 0 7 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) recently finished his first year of his PhD on Afro American Aesthetics and the Performance of the Riff in Musical Theater. In January 2013, he joined the first West End cast of “The Book of Mormon” (Swing, Mafala cover). Lidert has also taken his first steps to creating his own small theater company called the West End Cabaret Company. The goal is to bring American-style cabaret to the West End. Lidert encourages any alum to reach out if they are interested in moving to the U.K. or if they just want to pop by for a holiday. More info at oliverlidert.com. l u k e M a d e i r a B fa ’ 0 7 ( P a i n T i n g ) is currently doing freelance graphic and web design as well as caricatures.

He recently designed and helped over 30 volunteers from Campbell's Soup to paint a mural at the Promise Neighborhood Family Success Center in Camden, N.J. He also completed a website for a new yoga studio, bi k ra myo g aw y n ne wo o d . c om , along with designing their Facebook page, Twitter page, logo, and updating their blog and print materials. He also designed the website for James Beard Award-winning chef Marc Vetri (allaspinaphilly.com), along with Ja S o n Q u i n T i n B fa ’ 05 (Mu lT i M e d i a). g a B r i e l “a l e J a n d r o ” MoraleS Bfa ’07 (wriTing for filM & T e l e v i S i o n ) was featured in Philadelphia magazine for his upcoming film project “Jesus & Johnny.” He also hosted a comedy fundraiser in November 2012 with other comedians and improv groups titled “Comedian Deconstruction Presents: A Real Piece of Work.” a n dr e My e r S Bfa ’07 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) filmed a KFC national commercial. He is currently gearing up to shoot his first music video for his solo

pop album. His clothing line Nine Menswear is taking off, being pulled for fashion shoots, television shows and celebrity stylings. His clothing is available online and at La Maison de Fashions in Los Angeles. More info at andredarnellmyers.com and ninemenswearonline.com.

P H u o n g P H a M M fa ’ 0 7 (PrinTMaking/Book

a r T S ) is the general collections technician at the Smithsonian and single handedly conserves all general collection books of the institution’s libraries. Pham came to the Smithsonian after working with a collection while at UArts.

Her mission is to “promote access” while preserving the collection. Pham’s work was profiled in The Washington Post in November 2012. kerri roSe (Je n k i n S) B fa ’ 0 7 (M u S i c a l TH e a T e r ) appeared in “The Music Man” and “Grease” at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. She did her first national commercial for EZ Lashes. Otherwise, she is still club dancing and teaching jazz and lyrical at Viva Ballroom studio in Trenton, N.J. da M i a n S H e M B e l B fa ’ 0 7 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) finished shooting a short film, “Damsel,” in which he played Sir Landrin. Prior to that, he shot a feature film in Connecticut called “Janie Charismanic,” playing the role of Rob. devin Sidell BS ’07 (induSTrial deSign) writes, “I was employed at Lasko Products Inc. for five and a half years as a model maker and industrial designer. I managed to get two products to market: a personal space heater for Lowe’s and a tower fan for Walmart. I am now currently employed at DesignThink Studios as a senior industrial designer.”

P H o e B e S i lva B fa ’ 0 7 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) was called for a second audition for the Broadway production of “Once.” She appeared in “Mass,” a new all-female rock opera at the Brick Theater in Brooklyn that ran April 11–28. Silva also launched her own clothing/ jewelry design business on Etsy (etsy.com/shop/OMpop). Using mostly repurposed and recycled materials, she designs and builds one-of-a-kind T-shirts and accessories. She will soon be launching a spin-off custom wedding accessory design business after designing and building all the wedding party accessories (including cloth and feather flower bouquets, corsages and boutonnieres) for the wedding of M o l l y M a r i e wa l S H B fa ’ 0 6 ( M u S i c a l TH e aT e r).

g r a H a M wa T S o n M f a ’ 07 ( B o o k a rT S / P r i n TM a k i n g ) is a book artist and photographer who draws inspiration from the natural sciences, music and design. His work was featured in the UArts Printmaking Gallery from November 19 to December 14, 2012, alongside the work of printmaker, book artist and papermaker Georgia Deal.

ky r a B ro M B e rg B fa ’ 0 8 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) is out on the road with Two Beans Productions/Theatreworks USA’s “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.” She is playing the title role of Alexander and got her hair chopped to look like a 6-year-old boy. She played the role of the Little Red Lighthouse as part of New York Restoration Project’s Little Red Lighthouse Festival. She also had the privilege to be part of a playback theater performance for the Asian Women’s Leadership Network with her company Village Playback Theater. You can support the work of the Village Playback Theater by helping to fund the pro bono work they do for the underserved and socially underrepresented. More info at indiegogo.com/vpt.

M aT Bu r row Bfa ’ 0 8 (MuSical TH e aT er) has his latest video “License to Fill” on YouTube at youtu.be/vTJYe8y2_YQ. r i c H a r d c e r aT o B fa ’ 0 8 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) won a Broadway World Award, finished a rad new musical reading, and in March through July will be Doody in “Grease” at the Riverside Theatre and Walnut Street Theatre with k e r r i ro S e J e n k i n S B fa ’ 0 7 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) and B r a d g r e e r B fa ’ 0 9 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r).

B r a n d o n c ox B fa ’ 0 8 ( P r i n T M a k i n g ) and partner Duron Jackson exhibited work in “ain't pressed” at the Reginald Ingraham Gallery in Los Angeles, Calif. from November 1 through December 20, 2012.

In his latest work, Cox uses the “PAID” stamp to create photorealistic drawings with reference to the control of the black body.

This embodies the ultimate purpose and symbol of the mark itself: capitalism. The white paper serves as both light and context, and critically addresses white supremacy. The symbiotic relationship between image and ground perpetuate an ongoing dialogue where both artists deal with the black body.

Sea n eli aS Bfa ’08 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) is working at Apple and will play Joseph in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” with Pleasant Valley Productions in New Jersey.

ky l e g a rv i n B fa ’ 0 8 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) appeared in the National Tour of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”

(left to right) Clutch by Melissa Nannen Max Vasapoli

a S H l e y k e M P B fa ’ 0 8 ( J a z z d a n c e ) has performed aerial work in Hong Kong Disneyland, was dance captain for Stiletto Entertainment aboard two Holland America Line ships and premiered four Matt Davenport Production shows, including a national tour. She was also featured on GAC’s television special “Christmas in the Black Hills” with country hosts Big & Rich.

Recently, Kemp coached/judged for UDA, performed with Atlantic City’s hottest female band Almost Angels and enjoyed the Halloween season as a dancer/actor in MDP’s Monster Stomp. She is currently living and auditioning in New York City while working performance, promotional, modeling and teaching jobs on the East Coast. More info at ashleynkemp.com.

To n i M c i n T y r e B f a ’ 0 8 (wriTing for filM & T e l e v i S i o n ) writes, “I graduated from American University in D.C. with my MFA in Creative Writing in 2012. While I was in D.C., I interned with the National Endowment for the Arts. In spring 2012, I won Honorable Mention in American Writers and Poets Intro Journals Contest for my nonfiction story ‘Python Heart,’ which will be published in ‘First Inkling’ magazine this spring. After graduation, I interned with Neiman, an ad agency in Philadelphia, which was followed by freelance copywriting jobs. I'm currently a full-time copywriter for Post University.

My non-fiction story ‘Namesake’ was recently published in the win-

M e l i S S a na n n e n M fa ’ 0 8 ( S T u d i o a r T ) had one of her Etsy products, the Lena Clutch, in the November 2012 issue of Woman’s Day magazine. More info at etsy.com/shop/goodmarvin.

Ja k e B l o u c H B fa ’ 0 9 ( a c T i n g ) was in “Assistance” at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia from January 2 to February 3, 2013.

l au r e n Pa l M e r i Bfa ’ 0 8 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) appeared in the ensemble of the National Tour of “Elf.” M a x va S a P o l i B f a ’ 0 8 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) is the current marketing associate for the highly celebrated Theatre Exile. Also, as a marketing project coordinator with Off-Broad Street Theatre consortium, Vasapoli will help seven of Philadelphia’s most vibrant theaters collaborate on a mobile app downloadable in summer of 2013. Vasapoli also performs with the Opera Company of Philadelphia and acts as the Supernumerary Captain and a soldier in the East Coast premiere of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Silent Night.”

SH a n e M icH a el vi dau rri B fa ’ 0 8 ( i l l u S T r a T i o n ) wrote and illustrated the graphic novel Iron: Or, the War After. A reviewer’s comments read, “Vidaurri’s art is so beautiful and so delicate, that even silent panels warrant closer inspection. In ‘Iron,’ Vidaurri has shown the kind of creative restraint that many seasoned veterans seem to overlook, sometimes less truly is more.” Vidaurri’s graphic novel can be purchased through Amazon.com or Barnesandnoble.com.

(left to right) Illustration & Novel by Shane Michael Vidaurri Illustration & Book by Greg Pizzoli

and have since been working as a high school social studies teacher in a high-need public school in Brooklyn, N.Y. I am thrilled to go to work every day and tell stories from the past, empower teens creatively and academically, work with new technology, and work to make a change.”

ter edition of ‘Wilderness House Literary Review.’”

J e n n y we l S H B fa ’ 0 8 (S c u l P T u r e) , M aT ’10 ( v i S u a l a r T S ) is the programs manager of the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym, which was featured on theartblog.org and in The Philadelphia Inquirer as a unique resource where Philadelphia sculptors gather to hone their craft. The Philadelphia Sculpture Gym was a recipient of a $20,000 Knight Arts Challenge Grant in 2011, which established its current operations.

l au r e n M i l l e r B fa ’ 0 8 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) is a part of the Amios Directors Lab, a group of four directors who are working on the same text each month. They start with a one-line play and move up in length each month until they work on four versions of the same one-act play.

This month, a l y S o n g o o d M a n B fa ’ 0 8 (ac T i n g) a n d a M B e wi l l i a M S B fa ’ 0 9 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) will be performing “Quickly! To The Dirigible!” Other than that, Miller is continuing her work with TACT/The Actors Company Theatre and heading up their newTACTics readings.

e lyS e wi l S on Bfa ’ 0 8 ( c o M M u n i c a T i o n S ) writes, “For the first two years after graduating, I worked in casting and development for reality TV programming for Leopard Films and Two Cats Productions in NYC, pitching shows to top cable networks including HGTV, Food Network, MTV and VH1. Taking inspiration from my senior documentary project ‘Come You Happy Children,’ which profiled a community school in a low-income neighborhood in North Philadelphia, I decided to change career paths in 2010 and join the NYC Teaching Fellows. I pursued my Masters in Special Education

Joey c on T r e r a S Bfa ’ 0 9 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) was in two spring workshop productions of his musical “All the Kids Are Doing It” with the Steinhardt School at New York University and Illinois Wesleyan University. Written with librettist/lyricist Kate Thomas, the musical follows the story of an ambitious small-town girl who uses and exploits a sex-fueled fraternity tradition in order to advance her dreams of a writing career. The musical played at the Provincetown Playhouse through the end of March. Contreras also collaborated with Yasmine Lever and Sarah Hirsch on a new 10-minute musical “Illicit,” featured in Prospect Theatre Company’s 6th Annual Music Theatre Lab presentation “Portraits” in February. Contreras contributed arrangements to “The TRL Generation: Broadway Loves Britney” concert, a one-night-only event packed with Broadway talent celebrating the Grammy award-winning pop artist Britney Spears.

Contreras plans to begin production on a new album (following up “Love Me, Love Me Not: The Music of Joey Contreras”) in the coming months. More info at joeycontreras.com.

da n i e l f i S H e l B fa ’ 0 9 ( i l l u S T r a T i o n ) was a panel member of the Society of Illustrators’ discussion with talented young working illustrators. The lecture titled “The First Four Years” featured illustrators who had graduated in the last four years and were ready to answer questions about life after art school. The talk was geared towards illustration students and recent graduates. au B r e y g r a n T B fa ’ 0 9 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) is currently working for Norwegian Cruise Lines aboard the GEM out of NYC as a production cast singer, as well as performing his cabaret of cover and original songs on every cruise.

Br a d g r e e r Bfa ’09 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) recently made his 54 Below debut with the Broadway Boys and will travel to Illinois and Indiana to perform with the group. In March, he traveled to Florida to begin rehearsals for “Grease,” a co-production between Riverside Theatre and Walnut Street Theatre. He is thrilled to be playing Johnny Casino/Danny understudy alongside his roommate r i c H a r d c e r aT o B fa ’ 0 8 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) as Doody. a i M é d o n n a k e l ly B fa ’ 0 9 ( a c T i n g ) played the role of ambivalent administrative officer Shonda Cox, caught in the crossfire of the impending national emergency in Theatre Exile’s Philadelphia premiere of “The North Plan” by Jason Wells. Her recent credits include 1812’s “This Is the Week That Is,” “Macbeth” with Epic Theatre Ensemble, “Dividing the Estate” at Peoples Light & Theater, “Run

Mourner Run” at Flashpoint Theater Company and “Othello” with Epic Theatre Ensemble. Kelly is a senior teaching artist with Philadelphia Young Playwrights and will premiere her play “Planta me en la Tierra” with Flashpoint Theater Company this June. e M M a o r e l ov e B fa ’ 0 9 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) played Juliet in a production of “Romeo and Juliet” with an Italian theater company called Teatro Delle Due with performances in Reggio Emilia and Bologna. It also starred fellow alumni a d a M d e r e M e r B fa ’ 0 7 (ac Ti ng), Brandon SMiTH B f a ’ 0 7 ( a c T i n g ) and k e v i n M c g u i r e B fa ’ 0 7 (ac T i ng). n i c k Pa r k B fa ’ 0 9 (M u T H e a T e r ) played the part of Burt in the Equity Showcase production of “BEDBUGS: The Comedy Sci-Fi Thriller Rock Musical!” There is hope for an Off-Broadway transfer in fall of 2013! Since the new year, Park has been keeping up with his job at Alice’s Tea Cup and still hosts his weekly karaoke night, Humpday Karaoke at XES Lounge. Park also joined M a r a J i l l H e r M a n B fa ’ 0 7 (M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) in the New York premiere of “Mr. Irresistible.”

Then it’s back to Philadelphia to join 11th Hour Theatre Company for their summer production of “Altar Boyz.”

Sical

g r e g P i z z o l i M fa ’ 0 9 (Bo ok a rT S / P r i n T M a ki n g ) is the first-time author and illustrator of The Watermelon Seed, a picture book published in May by Disney Hyperion. He has taught undergraduate and Continuing Education screenprinting

courses, as well as Illustration courses at UArts since 2009.

r y a n To u H e y B f a ’ 0 9 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) music directed “Threepenny Opera” for the REP at the University of Delaware. He also music directed a new revue at Florida Studio Theater called “By Gershwin!,” which opened in March. He also music directed “Dreamgirls” in NYC for Brooklyn’s Gallery Players and will return to Philly to finish out the season at the Arden, serving as assistant music director on “A Little Night Music.”

M eg a n wi l de Bfa ’ 0 9 ( g r a P H i c d e S i g n ) writes, “I’m working as a designer for Hey, an advertising agency located in downtown Seattle. Hey is a start-up that’s only been around for about three years, started by two former DDBers, but we're growing pretty rapidly. We do a little bit of everything, so it keeps me on my toes design-wise, having to switch from project to project. I am really enjoying it.” More info at hey.us.com. a M Be wi l l i a M S Bfa ’ 0 9 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) opened “African Drum,” a shadow-puppet musical, with the

Shadow Box Theater and the National Black Theater in NYC. She also booked “Doubt” at the Greenbrier Valley Theater in Lewisburg, W.V. Williams will be playing the role of Mrs. Muller and receiving her equity card. She will also appear in their production of the musical “Quilters” as one of the daughters. She is happily living, loving and working in NYC.

2010 (left to right) Greg Nix (right) Work by Veronica Bruce (below) Alyssa DiPalma (left)

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l au r a a H r e n S Bfa ’10 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) appeared on “Long Island Medium,” which featured a segment in her yoga class. She completed training in a yoga program in Chicago, and in January 2013, Ahrens hosted a yoga retreat in Mexico at Amansala Eco Chic Retreat & Spa. Contact Ahrens at laurahrens@gmail.com.

M a r k c a S e rTa Bfa ’10 ( B a l l e T ) is a member of Complexions Contemporary Ballet in New York. His November performance at the Joyce Theater in “Memories,” choreographed by Camille A. Brown, is praised in a dance review by The New York Times. nick coSTa BM ’10 ( P e rc u S S i o n) , M aT ’11 ( M u S i c e d u c a T i o n ) was a feature story in Not So Modern Drummer magazine. k e n n eT H dav i S M fa ’10 (MuSeu M P l a n n i ng e x H i Bi T ion & d e Sig n) writes, “Currently, I work as a media/exhibit planner for the National Park Service (NPS) at the Harpers Ferry Center (HFC) in Harpers Ferry, W.V. At HFC, I work with several national parks and government contractors in an effort to develop and design NPS indoor and outdoor exhibits and interpretive audio-visual programs. Some of the new NPS exhibit projects I have worked on include exhibits at the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Tuskegee, Ala., Booker T. Washington National Monument in Hardy, Va., Colonial National Historical Park in Yorktown, Va., and Acadia National Park in Bar Harbor, Maine.”

M i c H a e l d o H e rT y B fa ’ 10 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) played Henry in the Arden Theatre Company’s “Next to Normal” and played Justin in the Wilma Theater’s “Assistance.”

He will play Max in Act II Playhouse’s “Lend Me a Tenor,” May 7 to June 2, 2013, and he couldn't be more excited. d o n n a g l o B u S M fa ’10 (Bo ok a rT S / P r i n T M a ki n g ) exhibited her work at the Free Library of Philadelphia in “Constructive Narratives by Donna Globus” from January 14 to March 10, 2013.

MicHael linden B fa ’ 10 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) is appearing in the national tour of “Hair,” playing the roles of Hubert/Principal/John Wilkes Booth and made his debut as Woof, a role that he covers. He is eagerly anticipating taking the show to Tokyo in May/June. He also participated in another reading of the musical “Mister Chickee’s Funny Money” with music by Motown legend Lamont Dozier and produced by Atlantic Theater Company.

g r e g n i x B fa ’10 (M u Sical TH e aT e r) closed “This Is the Week That Is” with 1812 Productions, on which he worked as co-head writer and associate director. Next, he appeared in “Plaid Tidings” at the Walnut Street Theatre before moving to Los Angeles to pursue a career in TV writing. He’d love to meet any L.A. alumni! Contact Nix at nix.gregory@gmail.com.

ve ro n i c a B ru c e M fa ’ 1 1 ( P a i n T i n g ) is a painter, sculptor and arts educator based in Chicago. Her sculptures, paintings and installations take on a construction zone feeling of labor, building and structure, intermixed with a spontaneous sense of arrangement and fragility. Bruce is traveling to Lithuania in May 2013 to participate in an artist residency at NIDA Art Colony in Nida, Lithuania. Her work was recently acquired by DePaul University for the Arts and Letters Hall. She won first place in the ArtSlant competition and will have an exhibition at Aqua Art Miami.

c l a r e o ’M a l l e y B fa ’ 10 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) appeared in James Joyce’s “The Dead” at the Abbey in Dublin. c H r i S Pa P Pa S B fa ’ 10 (MuSical T H e a T e r ) is one of eight acting interns at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in Montgomery, Ala. They performed “Twelfth Night” and “Macbeth,” traveling to schools around the state and the South, as well as playing minor roles/ understudying in the mainstage shows. He was in the ensemble of “To Kill a Mockingbird” and played Sid Sawyer/Doc Robinson in “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” Caithness/Murderer 3 in “Macbeth” and Sir Andrew in “Twelfth Night.” He will return to New York in June as a member of Actor’s Equity.

S e r e n a P o M e r a n T z B fa ’ 10 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) is loving the vibrant Chicago theater scene! Some of her exciting credits this past year included

vi n n y c e l e i ro B fa ’11 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) placed in the Top 3 as Nomi SaS in “So You Think You Can Drag: Season 3.” Nomi is now a regular cast member at Lady B’s “A Face Full” at New World Stages every Wednesday at 10:30.

Like her Facebook page for pictures from the competition, videos and performance updates at facebook.com/doyounomi.sas.

community outreach initiatives.

My degree is in Museum Communication, so eventually I plan to head back into the museum community, but for now, my work is fun and rewarding!”

M aT T H e w k e l ly M aT ’ 1 1 ( v i S u a l a r T S ) is a fulltime art teacher and varsity soccer coach at a middle/high school in Jacksonville, Fla. a S H ly n ST o n e r k i n d B e rg B fa ’11 (M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) has been very busy the past few months: she married the love of her life, performed with her a cappella group Veritas at a special concert alongside vocalists from “The Sing Off,” recorded a spot for Google Maps + Audi (youtu.be/EwTsp5eg2iw) and signed on as Synergy Talent's newest voiceover client (having previously been with Idiom Talent Agency). Next, Kindberg will tackle the role of co-producer, alongside her husband, for the film “Sing Over Me,” a documentary chronicling Christian songwriter Dennis Jernigan’s music and ministry. The film began shooting in March in Oklahoma. More info at singovermemovie.com. g r e g l au c e l l a B fa ’11 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) played the role of Sonny in “In the Heights” at Westchester Broadway Theatre. This incredible cast comprises members of the Broadway, first and second national tours. Performances ran through March 17, 2013.

M ac k e n z i e P i k a a rT B fa ’ 1 1 ( c r a f T S ) had a solo exhibition at the Paradigm Gallery + Studio titled “Connections with Strangers.” Pikaart successful-

“Jersey Shore: The Musical” and “Pirates of Penzance” aboard an actual pirate ship to rave reviews throughout the city. She also wrote, produced and performed her solo cabaret "Should I Be Sweet?" and is currently coaching high school students auditioning for BFA theater programs.

JJ Se r e day Bfa ’10 (Mu lT i M e d i a) writes, “I recently took my part-time freelance job and turned it into a fulltime production. I just finished designing and animating the pilot courses for a new web startup called Autism Express, which helps individuals with autism learn to use the web. I am now working on a short documentary for a Kickstarter campaign to turn a nonprofit skatepark organization into a community center with a focus in mentoring.” More info at jsaycreative.com.

Jac k i e STa r k e r BS ’10 ( i n d u S T r i a l d e S i g n ) was featured in the December 2012 issue of Martha Stewart Living as the founder of Pupcakes Bits & Pieces. Her company was an American Made Audience Choice Award finalist. Pupcakes Bits & Pieces sells homemade gourmet dog treats made with all-natural, human-grade ingredients and are baked fresh to order. More info at etsy.com/shop/PupcakesTreats. caSSie weiTzel cerT ’ 1 0 ( d a n c e ) is a Cinderella character actress at Walt Disney World. k aT H ry n Bor Ba S Bfa ’ 1 1 ( P H o T o g r a P H y ) had a solo exhibition at the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia titled “In Light of the Lens: Withdrawn” from November 2 to December 16, 2012.

a ly S S a d i Pa l M a B fa ’ 11 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) is currently appearing in the first international/second national tour of Green Day’s “American Idiot” in the role of Whatsername.

They performed in Philadelphia at UArts’ own Merriam Theater in February. a l e x g n a fa k i S M a ’11 (MuSeuM coMMunicaT i o n S ) writes, “I’m currently special projects coordinator at Wesley Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing developer in Alexandria, Va. I’m the company’s primary graphic designer, and I also plan and manage our yearly fundraising events and numerous

ly raised nearly $2,000 through Kickstarter to fund the exhibition, which was an art installation that covered the walls of the gallery with 15,000 buttons.

M aT T e o S c a M M e l l B fa ’ 1 1 ( a c T i n g ) was in the Arden Theatre Company’s “Cinderella” from November 28, 2012, to February 3, 2013.

M ic H e l l e ve z i lJ Bfa ’ 11 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) was cast in the tour of “Spank!

The Fifty Shades Parody” as Tasha (known as Anastasia in the trilogy). She rehearsed in her hometown of Toronto and is having a blast. Next, she played

Brooke Wyndham in Midtown Art Center's production of “Legally Blonde.” She is also continuing work on her own music and is planning to release a CD. aSHleigH wHiTworTH B f a ’ 1 1 ( d a n c e ) is the new assistant artistic director of the Georgia Metropolitan Dance Theatre in Marietta, Ga. Whitworth grew up dancing at the theater since she was 7 years old.

In a Marietta Daily Journal feature, Whitworth says, “It’s very unique and special to me to see everything come full circle. It’s my chance to give back to an organization that raised me.”

Jarrod ian MarkMan B fa ’ 1 2 (M u S i c a l TH e a T e r ) is a directing/literary assistant at Philadelphia Theatre Company for their play festival PTC@Play. He was asked to join Philadelphia’s Simpatico Theatre Project as a company artist.

This spring, he spent two months touring the country with the children's musical “We the People” with American Family Theatre. luc y M i ddl eTon Bfa ’ 1 2 ( d a n c e ) has been performing for Disney Cruise Lines aboard the Disney Dream cruise ship since graduation.

Ashleigh Whitworth (below) Work by Jason Piperberg

rya n c ov e l l B fa ’1 2 ( i l l u S T r a T i o n ) writes, “I'm currently working as a designer for Nuthouse Hardware in NYC and also doing freelance design and illustration. If it wasn’t for my UArts professors and peers, I wouldn’t have been able to solve and tackle all of the jobs that I have been pursuing.”

ky l e M i r ro B fa ’1 2 ( M u l T i M e d i a ) is working as the lead UX designer for a company called Learning Ally and has successfully completed a full UX redesign of a major site (learningally.org) as well as a major product launch of Teacher Ally that he fully designed.

Teacher Ally is a way for educators to distribute audiobooks to students and view progress data.

c o ry e S P i n o S a B fa ’1 2 (Mu lT i d i S c i P l i na ry f i n e a r T S ) writes, “After graduating, I received an internship and worked my way to full-time as creative director at Obama for America’s Pennsylvania headquarters. Along with these duties, I was also the staff photographer, doing clicks for guests such as Bill Clinton and Bruce Springsteen.

Currently, fellow UArts alumni J o H n ku c z y kow S k i B fa ’12 (g r a P H ic d e Sig n) and I are continuing an art/design venture and collaboration called MANIFEST.”

Sa M nagel Bfa ’12 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) appeared in the Philadelphia premiere production of “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” as Henry Clay. Nagel is also a Phillybased photographer. More info at SamNagelPhotography.com. c u rT i S n o u c H i B fa ’1 2 ( c r a f T S ) is currently in the Los Angeles area working freelance in various movie production-related jobs.

n i c o l e k i n z e l B fa ’1 2 ( M u S i c a l T H e a T e r ) spent her summer working at Theatre West Virginia, playing Allafair McCoy in “The Feud of Hatfields and McCoys,” while also starring in “Honey and the Rock” and “Rocket Boys: The Musical.”

She returned to South Florida to play Grace Farrell in “Annie.”

She was also cast in productions of “Twelfth Night” and “Legally Blonde” as Brooke Wyndham.

Ja Son P i Pe r Be rg Bfa ’ 1 2 ( i l l u S T r a T i o n ) writes, “Currently, I’m working on some projects for Grayhaven Comics.

I've created a T-shirt for Eastern State Penitentiary’s Halloween event, “Terror Behind the Walls,” and I’ve continued creating stories for C.O.P.O.U.T Artists, a comics collective I helped cofound in my junior year with several other students. We release a new comic every first Friday both online and in print.”

l i z e T T e Q u i n T e ro B fa ’12 (g r a P H ic d e Sig n) writes, “I’m currently working at Alpine Brokerage in Marlton, N.J., as an in-house designer. I have the title of marketing coordinator and I have redesigned all office documents and new carrier packets for clients. I also handle all social media and e-mail blasts as well as the company website.”

S H a n n o n r e M l e y B fa ’ 1 2 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) made the big move to NYC and finished the touring children’s theater production of “Virtually Me.” Remley also appeared in “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” as Rachel Jackson at Plays and Players in Philadelphia.

Next, she headed to Ohio to play Judy in Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” at La Comedia Dinner Theatre.

M egH a n Se a M a n Bfa ’ 1 2 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) closed “A Chorus Line” (Maggie) in Boston, staged by the Martie Ramm, dance captain of the first national tour and London cast. She was also cast in “Jesus Christ Superstar,” which ran through April 2013. Seaman is also teaching Zumba and trained for the Boston Marathon, where she counseled children with upper-limb deficiencies and promoted confidence, kindness and good health. Next, she sang for Harvard Law School in April 2013 and is excited to resume her video blog “One Girl, One Hand.”

Sa r a H S Pa n g e n B e rg B fa ’ 1 2 (M u S i c a l TH e aT e r) has been having so much fun post graduation. She went on a mad adventure to Scranton, performing in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with REV Theatre Company, along with S a M n a g e l B fa ’ 1 2 (M u S i c a l TH e a T e r ) , in the inaugural season of the Scranton Shakespeare Festival. She returned to Philadelphia to understudy Natalie in “Next to Normal” at the Arden.

She also joined the cast of “A Stoop on Orchard Street” at the National Museum of American Jewish History.

In Memoriam Al Paul Lefton, Jr. a l P a u l l e f T o n , J r . of Gladwyne, Pa., passed away on February 5, 2013, at the age of 84. Lefton was a longtime trustee of the University of the Arts and the former president and CEO of the Al Paul Lefton Co. advertising agency in Philadelphia. Lefton’s father founded the agency in 1928, and the younger Lefton started working there in 1950 after graduating from Yale University. In 1964, Lefton succeeded his father, becoming president and CEO, a role he held until his retirement in 2010. During that time, the Lefton Company grew to become one of the Top 100 ad agencies in the U.S. Al Paul Lefton Co. was one of the oldest independent Philadelphia advertising agencies when it was acquired by Aloysius Butler & Clark in 2010. The company’s clients included Schmidt’s beer, Brillo, English Leather, Mac Trucks, Mazda, Michelin and RCA. Lefton also served on the board of the Women’s Medical College, the Mann Music Center and the Northern Home for Children. He is survived by his wife, Amarilice; two daughters, Alice and Marie; a son, Terry, who is editor-at-large at the Sports Business Journal and a former Brandweek reporter; and five grandchildren.

Francis Tucker f r a n c i S T u c k e r of Philadelphia, a former Painting faculty member at the University of the Arts, passed away at his home on December 21, 2012, at the age of 80. A Korean War veteran who served in the U.S. Army, Tucker taught generations of UArts students up until his retirement in the spring of 2012. He was an artist who loved to paint landscapes, as well as a custom frame maker. Tucker kept a studio open where he shared his knowledge and expertise with his students. He also loved traveling the world to visit with his students. Born in 1931 and raised in Bolivar, N.Y., he painted full-time after graduating in 1954 until 1957, when he was employed by Carl Laughlin of Laughlin Frames, where he learned carving, gilding and preparation of museum mounts and care of artwork.

In 1967, he joined the faculty of the Philadelphia College of Art, now the University of the Arts. Tucker was instrumental in turning the Painting program into a full Painting department, which employed three Painting and Drawing instructors. He created a formal curriculum for Fine Art students in materials and methods. He remained at UArts until 1978.

In 1977, he was employed by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where he worked to upgrade the quality and expertise of installing works of art. In 1982, he left the museum for the Samuel S. Fleisher Art Memorial, where he was the building supervisor and an instructor. He returned to teaching at UArts in 2006. Tucker’s paintings are in many art museums and homes across the United States and Europe. He was the husband of Mary Ann Tucker for 35 years; father to the late Jean Barker and Kathleen (Steven) Longwith of Erial, N.J.; grandfather of Jamie DaSilva, Rodney Miller, Jr. and Dennis (Abby) Uhl; great-grandfather of Gabrielle and Alexis; and brother of Daniel Tucker of South Korea.

John Charles “Jack” Andrews J o H n c H a r l e S “ J a c k ” a n d r e w S , former chairman of the Industrial Design department at UArts, passed away on February 9, 2013.

Andrews graduated from Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, N.Y.) in 1959 with a BS in Industrial Design. He worked as a member of the product development department at General Motors in Detroit, and as a designer on GM’s exhibit for the 1964 World’s Fair. Andrews was recruited to establish the Industrial Design program at Detroit’s Society of Arts and Crafts, now the Center for Creative Studies, where he began his career in higher education. He then moved to assume the position of ID department chairman at UArts. He wrote and published five books on the craft of blacksmithing through his company SkipJack Press. Andrews and his wife retired to Ocean Pines, Md., in 1995; they relocated to Willow Valley Retirement Communities in 2011. Andrews is survived by his wife of 56 years, Betty Jean (Mitchell) Andrews, two children and two grandchildren.

Phyllis Ruth Llewellyn P H y l l i S r u T H l l e w e l ly n B fa ’4 9 ( a r T e d u c aT i o n) of Philadelphia passed away on February 15, 2013, at age 85. She taught art for many years in the Philadelphia School District and at Interac. She is preceded in death by her husband and is survived by her two sons, a daughter and a granddaughter.

Gladys Miller Cohen g l a d y S M i l l e r c o H e n B f a ’ 5 1 ( a r T e d u c a T i o n ) of Devon, Pa., passed away on October 29, 2012. After graduating, she went on to teach fifth grade before marrying in 1955, and fostered learning in others throughout her life. She raised four children in a home filled with art, music, literature and theater, and imbued their lives with her art, from meticulously sewn original Halloween costumes—handed down to grandchildren—to whimsically collaged letters to summer camp. Cohen also loved to cook and had as much creativity in the kitchen as she did at an easel or with fiber arts. She was a graduate of the Barnes Foundation under Violetta DeMazia at the original Merion, Pa., location, and went on to become a docent at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA). She remained an active and valued PMA guide for almost 30 years, eventually becoming a graduate guide. During her life, Cohen explored many art

forms, including quilting, painting and jewelry-making. She traveled extensively to places including Italy, Asia, Israel, Cuba and Africa, absorbing the cultures to share with family when she returned. She was an avid reader and subscribed to many theater and musical venues. She was still attending shows and concerts, painting, and keeping sketchbooks up to her sudden and unexpected death. In addition to her husband and other family members, she is survived by her sister M a r l e n e e . M i l l e r B f a ’ 5 6 ( i l l u S T r a T i o n ) and daughter l e S l i e r o g a l S k i B f a ’ 7 8 ( i l l u S T r a T i o n ) , both UArts alumni. If you have memories or photos to share of Gladys, please contact leslierogalski@gmail. com.

Ruth A. New ton

r u T H a . n e w T o n B f a ’ 5 3 ( P a i n T i n g ) of Bordentown, N.J., passed away on November 5, 2012. She illustrated for children's periodicals, including Jack and Jill magazine and Curtis Publishing Company. Later she earned a teaching certificate at Glassboro State College and taught elementary art for North Hanover Township Schools at Maguire Air Force Base until she retired in 1993. She is survived by her husband, three children, two grandchildren and a great-grandson.

Arthur L. Friedman a rT H u r l . fr i e dM a n BS ’56 (i n duST r i a l d e Sig n) passed away on January 12, 2013, in Miami, at the age of 78. Friedman headed a prominent Philadelphia exhibit design firm and was an adjunct instructor in the University’s MFA in Museum Exhibition Planning & Design program. He was the president and creative sparkplug for more than 30 years at General Exhibits Inc., which created trade show exhibits and other attractions for a diverse array of commercial, government, museum, educational and other clients. He was regarded as a pioneer in the adaptation of advanced technology, including computerization, videography and modern sound techniques to the exhibits produced by the firm.

Commercial clients included Pan American World Airways, Polaroid, US Surgical and Subaru of America. The firm also produced attractions for the Baltimore Aquarium, the New York Aquarium, the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and the Nautilus Museum in Groton, Conn. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., he was an expert yachtsman whose log included numerous long-distance sails along the Atlantic coast and in inland waterways. He competed often in the grueling yachting race run annually from Marion, Mass., to Bermuda, and was a longtime member and director of the Delaware River Yacht Club (DRYC). Friedman was active in the promotion of boating and environmental affairs. He was the DRYC’s liaison with Sea Scout Ship 484, which is used to train young people in sailing and nautical skills, and was a director of the Pennsylvania Boating Association, which represents boating interests with the state government and legislature in Harrisburg, Pa. Friedman is survived by his three children and one grandson.

Kenneth T. Fortney k e n n e T H T . f o r T n e y B f a ’ 6 4 ( a r T e d u c a T i o n ) of York, Pa., passed away on September 1, 2012. Fortney is survived by a brother, sister-in-law, nephew, great-nephew and two great-great-nieces.

Jessica Reed J e S S i c a r e e d B fa ’ 0 8 ( TH e aT e r d e S i g n & Te c H n o l o g y ) passed away on January 23, 2013. A talented and hard-working costume designer who worked with many of the small theaters in Philly, Reed faced significant health challenges through her adult life and astonished all who knew her with her indomitable spirit and her refusal to be daunted by those challenges. Nick Embree, head of the Design Tech program at UArts, remembers Reed as one of the best students he ever had. A Shakespeare quote posted on her Facebook wall by one of her friends captures Reed’s spirit perfectly: "And though she be but little, she is fierce." Her sister, c a i T l i n r e e d B f a ’ 1 0 ( d i r e c T i n g , P r o d u c i n g & P l a y w r i T i n g ) is also a UArts alumna.

news feature

From the Archives :

The Surrealist Ball of 1937

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i n t h e vau lt the surrealist ball

On Friday, March 19, 1937, the Alumni Association of the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art (PMSIA, now the UArts College of Art, Media and .Design) held a well-photographed Surrealist Ball at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. We know it was well-photographed because these photos (and more) were found at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania’s photo collection from the now-defunct Philadelphia Record.

The PMSIA annual report of the 193637 school year notes a number of school trips to New York to see exhibitions, including a Salvador Dalí solo exhibition at the Julien Lévy Gallery, a major American showcase for the Surrealists in the 1930s and ’40s. Students also visited a show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art titled “Surrealism: Art of the Marvelous” (January 30, 1937—March 1, 1937).

Part of the festivities at the ball was a Surreal version of Romeo and Juliet called Shakespeare Paranoically Speaking, written by student N o n n y G a rd n e r ( C l a ss o f 1 9 3 6 ) .

Some of the photos shown here were part of that play.

(left) A chorus line like you've never seen.

The students are identified, left to right, as George Morfesis (1937), Brooke Flickinger, Farrell Yesner, John Graber, Hughes Brooks, and John Haiggard.

(right) Another future faculty member, Sol Mednick (Class of 1939), appears to have thoroughly enjoyed the Surrealist Ball.

His costume defies description, but the student magazine says he is dressed as Julius Caesar.

In the Spring 1937 copy of The Sketch Book, a student publication, we find the following description of the ball: s u rr e a l i st b a ll d e p a rt m e n t

And now we come to that much-discussed ball. But no matter how much discussion goes on, either pro or con, everyone says that it was a huge success. Incidentally, it turned out better than the alumni or the student committee ever hoped, for Mr. Warwick’s presence pleased everyone more than anything else. We were afraid he might not be able to come, but he managed it, and we hope he had a good time. We think he did.

Thanks mostly to Nonny Gardener, the play went over in a big way, and as Mr. Rushton said later, “It was surprisingly easy to follow, considering all that Surrealist dialogue. What was not surprising was the complete attentiveness of the crowd throughout the show.” We are puzzled, however, as to what Mr. Rushton did with that sweatshirt he was wearing. He ought to bequeath it to somebody, if anybody is around who would like it to be bequeathed.

Albrecht’s costume was one of the most amazing and Dick Cummins did right well, too. Mr. Merrick stole the show with his version of Juliet and he deserves hearty congratulations. He was simply swell. Sol Mednick gave a nice performance of Julius Caesar a la Paul Webb, but his evening ended in calamity when someone caved in the topper he was wearing. And it was borrowed, at that. MacNamee came out of the elevator with some liquid refreshments under his arm, and as he raised his arm in friendly salutation, the bottle fell to the tile floor. He didn’t bother to pick it up.

Cavaliera had a swell costume, which led us to remark, “Pardon me, but is that a knife in your back?” Somebody stole the bust of George Washington, and all we hope is that he got a damn good scare when he woke up the next morning and and saw it on the floor or the dresser or what have you.

The place was literally crawling with photographers, and Coplin, whose exhibition was recently up in the hall, failed to sell his candids to Life because “there’s too much Surrealism.

The public’s getting tired of it.” Do tell. Morfesis and Yesser put on a nice little act which included a drum, a pair of loose hips and an appreciative audience. The chorus in the play was divine. Giney took all the honors, especially when he was late and had to dance faster to catch up with the rest. Joe Gehring became a matinee idol for a night as he portrayed Homer. Dali left the mike in the middle of the stage as the show opened and had to go back for it. Spink Lowry deserves credit for his “Ariel.” His costume was most appropriate. That bulbous growth on [Irving] Penn’s head was nice, too. The audience seemed to like the idea of Shakespeare’s dropping eggs every now and then. We’re glad the show didn’t lay one.

— If you’d like to see the other Philadelphia Record photos from the ball, visit http://digitallibrary.hsp.org/index.php and search for Surrealist ball.

Questions or comments? Please contact Sara MacDonald, UArts Public Services Librarian, at smacdonald@uarts.edu. Photos provided by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

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