Crystal Starks – a 2004 graduate of Music Education is achieving success. She auditioned for American Idol in New York City and made the final cut . She has appeared on the Tonight Show, the Today Show and performed on the Regis and Kelly Show. Congratulations Crystal!
Ari Sandel - a 1998 graduate of Media Arts picked up the Academy Award for 'Best Live Action Short' at the Oscars! His short film, WEST BANK STORY, was one of five nominated films. Congratulations Ari!
Craig Walsh’s composition "Chaconnesque"(2003), for clarinet, viola, and piano, was premiered on January 28, 2007 at the Hayti Cultural Center in Durham, NC by the Mallarme Chamber Players, a nationally acclaimed ensemble that commissions and performers new music.
Dr. Mikelle Omari’s book “Manipulating the Sacred” has been nominated for the prestigious Arnold G. Rubin book award, which will be announced at the 14th Triennial Symposium on African Art in Gainesville, Florida U of FL.
Associate Professor Ellen McMahon (Visual Communication Division) was awarded a J. William Fulbright U.S. Scholar Grant for the fall of 2007 to conduct creative research in Mexico. She will be a part of an interdisciplinary team centered at CEDO (The Center for the Study of Oceans), which works to create an eco-corridor to preserve the area's natural resources and to support local culture and economic development.
Volume 1, Issue 8
March 2007
Andrea Duchene and Michael Gravitt, Editors
Susan Underwood, Production Manager
Media Arts BFA alumnus (2006) Jonathan Pulley has been selected to screen his senior thesis film “Move Me” in the 2007 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Program. “Move Me”, produced in the Department of Media Arts BFA program, was written and directed by Pulley, produced by Media Arts alumnus (2006) Miguel Jimenez, and crewed by Media Arts students.
71 short films were selected out of 4,445 American and international submissions. The short films chosen this year represent the creativity and technological innovation of a genre that focuses on diversity and eclecticism. The selected films represent a creative departure from the norms of film production.
Jim Le, a Department of Media Arts BFA senior, was one of 140 students accepted into the highly competitive American Pavilion Student Filmmaker Program. As an intern at the Cannes International Film Festival in May 2007, he will participate in educational workshops, seminars, pitch sessions, roundtable discussions and screenings and work 6 hour shifts at The American Pavilion, in various roles. Le will be departing on his two-week internship after his May graduation with a BFA in Media Arts and BA in French. He will visit the thousand-plus film production and distribution offices and see films in official competitions, neither of these opportunities are open to the general public.
Four School of Art students, Danielle Lynn Mehen Gilliland and Angelina Rose Jones, Art History; Amber Lee Roberts, Art education; and Marilyn Volkman, Studio Art received Undergraduate Research Grants from the Honors College. They presented their projects at the 20th Undergraduate Research Forum on February 14, 2007. Danelle’s project “Uncovering the Maghrebien Population" was supervised by Professor Stacie Widdifield. Angelina’s project “A Study of Gothic Art Conventions through Fiber Art Processes” was directed by Professor Alfred Quiroz. Amber’s project, “Multi-Sensory Art education” was supervised by Professor Lynn Beudert. And Marilyn’s project “German Expressionism and the Psychological Impact of Modern Society” was directed by Chuck Hitner.
Patrick Roddy, Producer-in-Residence and Professor in the Department of Media Arts, recently garnered four Accolade Film awards (Feature Film, Leading Actor [Gary Shannon], Art Direction, and Direction) and high praise for his independent and self-distributed film, “Mercy” that he wrote, produced, directed and shot. A striking black and white journey through an ex-con’s paranoiac, lonely and haunting life after prison, “Mercy” presents a desolate portrait of a man imprisoned and torn apart by guilt. “Videoscope Magazine” touted “Mercy” as ‘the psycho sleeper of the season.’ The respected Accolade Competition recognizes professionals who demonstrate exceptional achievement in craft and creativity.
"Mercy" won three awards at the Peoria Film Festival; best feature, best actor, and runner up for best overeall film.
School of Dance Professor Douglas Nielsen has been selected to receive the prestigious 2007 Balasaraswati/Joy Ann Dewey Beinecke Endowed Chair for Distinguished Teaching Award at the American Dance Festival. The award is the premier teaching honor given at the nation's leading dance festival, held each summer at Duke University. Nielsen has been associated with the festival on a national and international level since 1987. He received the 2003 Lester Horton Dance Educator Award for excellence in teaching and has been an adjudicator for the American College Dance Festival in Virginia, Texas, Idaho, Kansas, Connecticut and California.
The interdisciplinary nature of art helps one to visualize things that we could only dream about and as the UA Lunar and Planetary Science Department dreamt of the mission to Mars they thought of collaborating with the UA School of Art by commissioning a mural as an artistic celebration of the Phoenix Mission. UA is the first university to lead a mission to Mars. Art faculty Alfred Quiroz Professor in Painting and Drawing and his students created the mural, which covers a 20 feet-by-60 foot space in the Phoenix Mission building at 1415 N. Sixth Ave. The mural was funded through the NASA Mars mission project funds.
Damien Solomon joins the Treistman Center as the new Design/Production Manager. Damien has been working closely with Mike Holcomb and Michael Wyman, whom he replaces, to become familiar with budgets, personnel, in-process projects, etc. Damien is a skilled and experienced new media production expert and project manager. He has worked for a number of high profile-firms providing interactive design, content management systems, eCommerce solutions, motion graphics, 3D modeling, custom audio, video production and corporate identity.