Department of Art & Art History graduate student, Abigail Martin, has been awarded a Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship to study Chinese Language for six weeks of intensive study at Nankai University, one of the most prestigious universities in China.  Nankai University is located in Tianjin, China’s fourth largest city and 90 minutes away by train to Beijing. 

“I am extremely lucky to have this opportunity to be submerged in new art, language, and culture”, said Martin. “It is experiences like these that help shape a person and make life more interesting.  I have been lucky enough to do many study abroad programs for French– Montreal, France, and Switzerland (where I lived for a year), so I wasn’t hesitant to travel to China.”

The Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowships program provides academic year and summer fellowships to institutions of higher education to assist meritorious undergraduate and graduate students undergoing training in modern foreign languages and related area or international studies.   Winston Kyan, Assistant Professor in the Art History area said of the importance of the award, “The discipline of art history is becoming increasingly internationalized. The FLAS award allows our students to take part in this trend by generously supporting the study of language and works of art in their original contexts.”

FLAS Fellows receive tuition reimbursement, a stipend for their period of study, as well as flight awards to study abroad participants. The University of Utah has awarded 24 FLAS Fellowship awards for the Summer 2013 semester and 2013-2014 Academic Year. Students awarded are from various majors, including Art History.

Martin will study Mandarin for six weeks at Nankai University. And after, she will travel to Beijing, Xi’an, and Dunhuang where she will be working on her thesis research on Chinese Buddhist art in the Mogao Caves.   After receiving an undergraduate degree in French with a minor in Art History, Martin decided to continue in graduate studies in Art History with a focus on Chinese art.   The College of Fine Arts is proud to have such dedicated scholars as Abby and wish her the best on her travels.

The University of Utah has awarded 24 FLAS Fellowship awards for the Summer 2013 semester and 2013-2014 Academic Year.
Students awarded are from various majors, including:

Art History
Asian Studies
Chinese
Communications
Economics
Environmental Studies
International Studies
Japanese
Linguistics
MIAGE
Operations
Pre-architecture
Russian

FLAS Fellows receive tuition reimbursement, a stipend for their period of study, as well as flight awards to study abroad participants.

More information on the FLAS program can be found here:

Congratulations to the University of Utah School of Music Graduate String Quartet on being accepted into the Julliard String Quartet Seminar – one of the most prestigious in the country- for the weeklong intensive May 20-24, 2013!  The U of U quartet was chosen among applicants from around the world by submitting an audio recording of selected works. 

“This particular constellation of players seemed to have the talent and drive to try out for something this ambitious,” said director, Hasse Borup, Associate Professor and String Area Head who encouraged them to apply.  “This quartet is a symbiosis of four highly talented and accomplished string students, who has hit a very successful combination of ambition and ability. I am very proud of their achievements and desire to perform some of the greatest repertoire written at the highest level.”

During the seminar, the quartet will receive intensive coaching and mentoring with members of the Juilliard String Quartet, have a rehearsal studio, and perform in a public concert at Juilliard.  The Juilliard Quartet is the longest serving and most illustrious quartet, and the knowledge they stand to gain from this experience is irreplaceable and will shape them as musicians. Members Melissa Combe, Violin, Jakob Hofer, Violin, Sunny Johnson, Viola, and Lauren Posey, Cello are elated at the opportunity.  “Its like working with music celebrities,” said Combe, “we’ll come back a much better group.”

 

 
Started in 2008, the School of Music Graduate String Quartet program offers dedicated string players serious quartet experience and the chance to log extensive performance opportunities on and off campus as musical ambassadors for the U of U.  Combe, Hofer, Johnson, Posey have been playing together since August of 2012, and say this group “just works.”

 
 
 
The quartet has worked hard to secure funds for the trip, as they are responsible for their own accommodations, meals, and incidental expenses while in New York City.  But it will be well worth it. “Spending an entire week with such the Juilliard Quartet is amazing,” said Combe, “Usually you only get a one-time coaching, but an entire week will really help us get dig into the pieces we are working on.”
 
Find out more about the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar

The quartet will return to Salt Lake City in time to work with renowned Emerson Quartet violinist Philip Setzer at the School of Music Chamber Music Workshop June 16-20.  The summer Chamber Music Workshop has a long history of bringing distinguished artists to campus and Setzer is at the top of the list.   Setzer will perform in concert June 18^th at 7:30pm in Libby Gardner Concert Hall.  Accompanied by Jason Hardink, piano and Hasse Borup, violin Setzer will perform works by Bartok, Ravel and Beethoven.   

For more information on the Chamber Music Workshop click here. 

Rachel was selected from a “pool of highly qualified nominations” by the awards committee after receiving the nomination from Dr. Liz Leckie, Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Affairs in the College of Fine Arts.
 
“I am extremely honored and humbled to be the 2013 Student Mentor of the Year. This award means so much to me, as it validates that people feel comfortable approaching me with their comments, questions and concerns, knowing that I have the desire and capacity to hear their thoughts and assist them in any way possible.
 
I am so thankful to those who nominated me for their constant encouragement and support.”

One of the highlights of Rachel’s leadership efforts include her work with connecting students in her home department.  Rachel sought out College of Fine Arts’ Emerging Leader funding to organize the Department of Ballet Mentorship Program.  To create this program, she organized focus groups to learn about her peers’ needs and concerns; met regularly with administrators to ensure she could provide her peers with accurate and timely information; and developed a year-long curriculum, so returning ballet students had the information needed to mentor incoming students.
 

CONGRATULATIONS RACHEL!

The University of Utah Department of Art & Art History is proud to announce J. Morgan Puett as the 2014 artist-in-residence for the Marva and John Warnock Endowed Visiting Artist Residency Program. Her work has been critically acclaimed in the New York Times, Art in America, Art Forum, London Telegraph and Kunstforum International.  She will be bringing her creative forces to Salt Lake City to work directly with College of Fine Arts students and faculty in the Department of Art & Art History in the spring of 2014.

Mildred’s Lane comes to the U

Known for her work in fashion, architecture and conceptual installation, Puett will bring her latest installation model, ‘Mildred’s Lane’ to Utah which she describes as, “A home and experimental school interested in fostering new modes of social engagement in the world, with the environment and people in mind.”

Whitney Tassie, Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts says of Puett, “She in interested in the connection between herself, others and the larger environment. Her practice is a practice of ‘being’ that she hopes will help create a new 21^st century artistic paradigm.”

Brian Snapp, Chair of the Department of Art & Art History eagerly looks forward to Puett’s time working and creating with students and faculty as she brings a practice of investigating the synthesis of many disciplines, pushing the boundaries of contemporary art.  He says, “Puett’s work is very timely in the ways in which alternative ideas of art, community and education are currently being explored with relational aesthetics.  The work she develops creates an environment for people to participate in forms of new ideation.”

Puett is the third artist selected for this bi-annual residency program that aims to expose University of Utah students to new, innovative and diverse contemporary art practices, while providing an opportunity for trilateral exchange among students, faculty, and the public at large.

Her work has been shown/experienced in venues throughout the United States and internationally, most recently at the Tbilisi Triennial: Offside Effect, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia; to MoMA Studio:Common Senses, at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City; and then to the exhibition, Cartographies of Hope: Change Narratives, at the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague, Czech Republic.   Previous artists of the Warnock residency are Ernesto Pujol, (2010) and Andrea Bowers, (2012).

Puett, who says she is “so thrilled, so honored to receive this invitation,” will be teaching an interdisciplinary special topics course in Spring 2014, with open enrollment for students in the College of Fine Arts. The course will be about implementing a course of study – like Mildred’s Lane – that emerges as a publically engaged (art) installation that IS the special topics course – The Emergent Event.

The selection committee and faculty of the Department of Art & Art HIstory feels very fortunate to have  J. Morgan Puett as the third Marva and John Warnock Endowed Visiting Artist. They are grateful to Marva and John Warnock for their generous support that allows the Department of Art & Art History to have ongoing opportunities to engage over the course of a semester with artists of this stature to further important, contemporary art practices and dialogue.

Click here for more on the Warnock Artist In Residence Program 

Congratulations to Miriam and Sonia Albert Sobrino, graduate students in the Department of Film & Media Arts.

Their most recent short film “The Executioner’s Vacation” has been nominated to a Galician Academy Award in the category of “Best Short Film.”

The members of the Academy chose 4 films among the 25 presented, one of them ours.  This is already an award for us. This year the Academy eliminated the “Experimental” category making it more difficult to our film to actually be nominated, therefore, this is for us a success!  Miriam and Sonia.

See info about the Executioners Vacation here 

CUAC (Art Gallery Downtown SLC) will be showcasing some of Miriam and Sonia’s films along with Jan Andrews’ and Matt Glass’ work April 18th-May 4th.

This is a great opportunity to see their work for the first time to Salt Lake City and to help in funding their feature length film they will be filming in Galicia, Spain over the summer. 

This special showing at the CUAC center has been made possible thanks to Anne Peterson, and CUAC Board member and Facilitator Adam Bateman.

Sobrino Sisters website

MORE GOOD NEWS!!   Their film “Recurrence” has been selected in the “2013 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.”

This is one of the most important film festivals of its kind in the US.   Curiously enough, Mira Nair will screen her latest film in the same film festival.     More info about the Film Festival Line-up here: http://www.indianfilmfestival.org/newsdesc.php?pid=52

Check out the trailer of RECURRENCE here

See Miriam and Sonia’s list of awards and check out the trailer for their film O Olláparo 

A huge congratulations to Lauren Gallaspy, faculty member of the Art & Art History Department Ceramics Area who has been selected as a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant!

The Foundation acknowledges artists creating work of exceptional quality with a cash award of $25,000.

 
Brian Snapp, Chair of the Art & Art History Department, recently stated, “We are extremely proud of Lauren receiving this prestigious award.” He noted the award’s cachet, adding, “The Joan Mitchell Grant is well known as one of the more important recognitions for artists in this country. This is Lauren’s first year teaching for us at the University of Utah and we are thrilled to have her as a member of our faculty.”

 Teratoma

Upon hearing of her selection, Gallaspy said, “It feels, of course, gratifying and empowering to be recognized in this way, in particular, as an artist working primarily in a medium that is often overlooked by the broader art world.” Gallaspy, who received her BFA in ceramics at the University of Georgia and her MFA from Alfred University in Alfred, New York has been an active artist with a rigorous studio practice in both sculptural and functional ceramics.

Bone Spurned

Gallaspy Website

Read full Press Release here

February 2, 2013    3:00-5:00PM

The mural, titled Nexus, is a 25-foot by 30-foot acrylic painting in the Peterson Heritage Center dining room with striking imagery of nature, humans and the environment with a bright red apple at the top. The public is invited to join the University in celebrating the third mural in the building and to revisit the previous two works, completed in 2012, that were also created by students in the Art & Art History Department.

Nexus was created by the Painting Special Topics class lead by Associate Professor V. Kim Martinez in the Department of Art & Art History.

“This class gives students an opportunity to apply what they learn in the classroom in a way that will be celebrated and enjoyed by students for years to come,” Martinez said. “This is my second class to paint a mural in the PHC dining room, and it has always been an amazing applied learning experience for the students.”

The student artists who designed the image include Kyle Odland, Cayley Rasmussen, Hailey Emerson, I-Hsi Fu, Lindsay Frei, Lindsey Howard, Whitney Kevern, Mikey Litizzette and Dawn Oughton.

“The concept behind the site-specific mural is a fusion of art, science and history,” said Cayley Rasmussen.  “It is about the elemental breakdown of everything that surrounds humans–from our food, to our environment, to the history beneath our feet. When all of these things are broken down into their compositional elements, the results are astoundingly similar. Take a human being and an apple.  Humans are composed of approximately 70% water, an apple contains about 75%; over 90% of the human body is composed of hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, calcium, phosphorus and nitrogen, and surprisingly, apples are as well. Using the apple to symbolize these comparisons elicits connections that cross the boundaries of different areas of study. Not only is an apple a source of nourishment, it references ‘the fruit of knowledge,’ Newton’s apple, and proverbial sayings like, ‘an apple a day…’”]

Above the apple is a depiction of a sequence of 60 carbon atoms, discovered by Buckminster Fuller, known as a “Bucky Ball.” The ball sits above everything, like the foliage of a tree raining elemental fruits and leaves upon the world below. The ground is an underground cross-section, complete with geological layers of Utah and hexagonal patterns that not only relate to cell structures, but act as a subtle nod to the Beehive State. The layers as a whole represent time passage, composition and decomposition, with brick figures, whose classical Greek style allude to the Peterson Heritage Center’s connection to the Olympics, deeply rooted in the heritage of everything that encompasses humans and the world.

“We have enjoyed watching this mural come to completion,” said Mark Morrison, PHC dining room director. “This space revolves around students and is a place where they meet to make lifelong friends while enjoying food together, and it’s great to see the space become a place where students can also explore their academic pursuits while others can witness the artistic process and watch the mural grow into a finished piece.”

The Peterson Heritage Center is the community hub to the 2,400 students that live on campus in Heritage Commons, which served as the 2002 Winter Olympic Athlete’s Village. The mural is located on the second floor of the building in the dining room, managed by University Dining Services, operated by Chartwells.

The process began with each of the student artists presenting their designs to the residents, who then had the opportunity to vote for their favorite.  “The mural is really fun, interesting and creative,” said one resident. “It captures a lot of what the University of Utah is about!”

The Peterson Heritage Center is located at 110 South Fort Douglas Boulevard, on the University of Utah Campus, Salt Lake City, UT 84113. Information about the Peterson Heritage Center and driving directions can be found at http://housing.utah.edu/life/PHC.php

More information on projects from the Painting Special Topics class and the Department of Art & Art History.

In 2011 Willam Christensen’s children, Roxanne Lazzara and Lee Christensen, donated the Willam Christensen Ballet West Archives to the J. Willard Marriott Library.

In celebrating this fine collection, The Friends of the Marriott Library will be hosting a presentation on Jan. 27 at 3:00 pm in the library’s Gould Auditorium (level 1).
 
Ken Verdoia of KUER will moderate the session and presenters will include: Adam Sklute, Bruce Caldwell, Barbara Hamblin, and Roxanne Lazzara (daughter of Willam Christensen).
 
This event is free and open to the public.
 
Additionally, an exhibition of Ballet West materials will be on display in the library’s Special Collections Reading Room (level 4) from Jan. 14 – Mar. 1. Refreshments and a tour of the exhibition will follow the presentation.

Get parking and additional  event information here

 
 
 
Christensen (1902 – 2001) was a noted dancer, teacher, and founder of the San Francisco Ballet Company. He returned to his native Utah and in 1951 founded at the University of Utah one of the first ballet programs at an American university. As faculty was developed and the curriculum grew, the excellence of the program served as the foundation for other university ballet programs.

Congratulations to Sarah Shippobotham, Professor in the Theatre Department, 

on her work as dialect coach on Peter Jackson’s Hobbit Trilogy!

Sarah Shippobotham, associate professor and head of the Actor Training Program in the University of Utah’s Department of Theatre recently returned from living in the Shire for eight months.
 
While hobnobbing with hobbits and wizards, Sarah’s job was to be a coach in several British accents as well as an expert in the languages of Elvish, Dwarvish, and Black Speech.
 
Sarah was chosen as a dialect coach for Peter Jackson’s Hobbit Trilogy starting with The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey opening Dec. 14th.  She most often worked on the second unit, directed by Andy Serkis, yes, Gollum himself.  “It was an amazing experience to work on such a huge production,” said Sarah. “This was the first film I have worked on and the sets were incredible. I am used to elaborate sets at the Shaw Festival, but nothing like what I experienced with The Hobbit.”

Read the entire RedThread blog here

The Raymond C. Morales Fellowship Program was created to hire Postdoctorate/Post MFA fellows for 2 year positions that would serve to bring diversity and additional areas of expertise to our college. We had over 120 applicants in all areas of our College, Art & Art History, Ballet, Film & Media Arts, Modern Dance, Music and Theatre, and we brought five finalists to campus.

 
The three emerging educators/artists we hired are truly amazing and we are excited to have them here to work with our students and faculty for the next two years. Congratulations to our first fellows!
 

Jessica Pearson, Horton Technique, Department of Modern Dance

Jessica received her M.F.A. in Dance with a focus in Dance Wellness from the University of Colorado Boulder in 2012.

She received her B.F.A. from Towson University in Dance Performance in 2002 (Cum Laude). During her undergraduate degree, she danced the works of David Parson, Peter Pucci, Juan Carlos Rincones, Stephanie Powell, Troy Powell, Mark Taylor and lead dancer in Geoffrey Holder’s Dougla.

Jessica is a former senior member of the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble and served as rehearsal assistant and danced of many notable choreographers that include Christopher L. Huggins, Roger C. Jeffery, Kevin Iega Jeff, Nejila Y. Yakin and Chester Whitmore, among others.

U Violinist Found – and Will Premiere – Lost Sonata of Vincent Persichetti 

 
Hasse Borup, who is associate professor and head of string and chamber music studies at the U’s School of Music, has uncovered a lost, 70-year old sonata by American composer Vincent Persichetti (1915-1987).
 
The piece, “Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano,” was composed in 1941 and has never been heard in public. In fact, until Borup retrieved it in 2010, it had languished for decades in the storage archives of the New York Public Library.
 
Read full story here
 

Read article in The Strad
 
 Read Article in the Deseret News

• Whitlock (2500 South) and 200 East, South Salt Lake City
• Mural Dedication Thursday June 21, 2012 6:00-7:00

The University of Utah’s Tanner Humanities Center, partnering with the Department of Art & Art History and the City of South Salt Lake, is proud to award funds through the Center’s “Professors Off Campus” initiative toward creating a socially engaged site-specific community mural.  This two-week intensive arts-based project connects 18 community youth, University of Utah art teaching students and faculty, lead by Professor V. Kim Martinez.

Martinez is the first professor to be awarded funds through the “Professors Off-Campus” program which looks to bridge the divide between the University and community by encouraging scholars to go “on site” into the community and develop research and service projects in schools, churches, government offices, and public interest groups.  Martinez’s  focus is to use visual arts, specifically the design and creation of a mural, as a way for the participants to connect the South Salt Lake community with the University.   Participants have been actively collaborating since February 2012 to develop the imagery for the mural through various workshops held in the community.  The “Tree of Life” mural features images developed by youth 12-17 years, university students, and faculty.

The South Salt Lake youth are residents of the Hser Ner Moo Community Center and members of the South Salt Lake Police Athletic League (PAL).  The Hser Ner Moo Community youth come from all over the world: Burma, Thailand, Nepal, the Congo, Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, South and Central America, Syria, and the United States.  The PAL Program is a positive youth development organization that utilizes educational, athletic and recreational activities to create trust and understanding between community members.

For more information on the “Professors Off-Campus” Initiative see the Tanner Humanities Center website. And for more on the Murals projects from the Department of Art & Art History go here.

See the new Murals class website for history and locations of the projects.

The Murals Class, created and taught by Associate Professor V. Kim Martinez, has been painting murals in the greater Salt Lake Area since 2003.   They have launched a new site that will highlight ongoing projects, past projects, entries for each mural by the students and more.

“People get excited about work that actually happens. You can spend years talking about the intent, but until it comes to life it doesn’t mean anything to people. When murals come to life, it gets community members and other artists excited because their work becomes part of the community. Actually showcasing this work that otherwise is underground and behind the scenes is important to me as an educator. It’s important to make it into something real, something with recognition.”

There will also be a permanent link to this site under the “COMMUNITY” column on the College of Fine Arts homepage.

The Utah Dance Education Organization honored Mary Ann Lee with a Lifetime Achievement Award at their 2012 Spring Conference for her tremendous contributions to the world of dance and especially the education of young dancers.

Mary Ann assumed artistic direction of the University of Utah Tanner Dance Program in 1979 after the passing of founder Virginia Tanner. Since that time, she has worked diligently to infuse dance and beauty into the lives of countless Utahns.

Mary Ann is also an Associate Professor-Lecturer in the Department of Modern Dance where she teaches modern dance students courses in pedagogy, and directs student internships with the Virginia Tanner Creative Dance Program
Congratulations Mary Ann!

Mary Ann Lee  trained with Virginia Tanner and was a member of Children’s Dance Theatre. She received master’s degrees in dance and French from Mills College and the University of Cincinnati, respectively. She performed professionally with the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company and Moveable Feast Dance Company in San Francisco and with the Contemporary Dance Theatre in Ohio.

Ms. Lee was a dance specialist for the National Endowment for the Arts’ Artists-in-Schools program and taught throughout the United States. She has been an invited guest teacher in China, Japan, The Netherlands, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, England, Finland, Canada, and Brazil. Ms. Lee continues to teach at the University of Utah in the Departments of Modern Dance and Education and in the Tanner Dance Program. She teaches throughout Utah, nationally, and internationally.

The Distinguished Innovation and Impact Award (DIIA) recognizes outstanding faculty innovators for contributions that improved the lives of people. The DIIA recognizes contributions by faculty from all academic disciplines, including health care, energy, environment, business, law, communications, technology, or the arts. Awards are given each year to one or two outstanding tenure-track faculty members who distinguished themselves and the University through entrepreneurial activities that resulted in innovations with a measurable societal impact. This award demonstrates the University’s commitment to recognize the impact that creative, scholarly and innovative activities
 
Bromberg said of the announcement, “I’m thrilled and can’t believe it, really. What a great day for the Arts on campus…to be acknowledged in this manner.  Steve [Koester, Chair of the Modern Dance Department], wrote a beautiful letter talking about the impact and innovation in the arts and how they affect people’s lives. I feel like I share this award with all of us in the College!”
 
Read more about the award here and here 
 

Ellen Bromberg
Associate Professor; B.F.A and M.F.A University of Arizona, Tuscon
 
Professor Bromberg, a 2006 Guggenheim Fellow, has been creating dances for companies and solo artists for over 30 years. She has received numerous awards for her work including two Isadora Duncan Dance Awards; one for outstanding achievement in choreography and a second for her work with Douglas Rosenberg on Singing Myself A Lullaby. She was also honored with a Bonnie Bird American Choreographer Award, a Pew National Dance/Media Fellowship and with grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Arizona Commission on the Arts, the George Soros Foundation, among others. Her choreography has been performed in the United Kingdom, China, Korea, Japan, and throughout the United States. She has created a number of works for the screen which have been broadcast by KQED TV in San Francisco, Wisconsin Public Television, and nationally on PBS Television’s Alive From Off Center. She has just completed a documentary: Molissa Fenley and Peter Boal, The Re-staging of State of Darkness. Professor Bromberg teaches composition, technology/media, theory,and mentors students in teaching and choreography.

Congratulations to Dr. Paul “Monty” Paret who has been appointed the new Associate Dean of the Honors College.
 
Monty is an Associate Professor in the Department  of Art & Art History where he also serves as the Director of Graduate Studies for Art History.
 
Sylvia Torti, Dean of the Honors College said of the appointment, “He [Monty] brings to the position a strong record of scholarly achievement, curricular innovation, engaged and dedicated student advising, and a deep commitment to the student experience.”
 
Through his research, teaching and community engagement, Monty translates the value of critical art history and visual studies to a wide range of students and the broader public.
 
“It’s an exciting position for me. The Honors College is already doing so many terrific things and I’m really looking forward to working with Dean Sylvia Torti and all the fabulous students, faculty and staff involved with Honors.”
 
Dr. Paret’s appointment began March 15.