uconn school of fine arts prospectus
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Explore the programs of University of Connecticut's School of Fine Arts, including Art & Art History, Digital Media & Design, Dramatic Arts, and Music.TRANSCRIPT
ART & ART HISTORY / DIGITAL MEDIA & DESIGN / DRAMATIC ARTS / MUSIC
We balance innovative learning with creative practice. Our teaching philosophy is based on creating
fluid connections among disciplines and providing professional opportunities for our students.
We offer a vast array of creative specialties in four departments—Art & Art History, Digital Media &
Design, Dramatic Arts, and Music—that prepare our students for success.
We reach out to our entire student body, and to the larger community, both nationally and
internationally. We are committed to reflecting the cultural of our world through our educational
philosophy and our creative practice.
We engage entrepreneurially with the arts. As a community of energetic theorists and practitioners,
our faculty and students actively produce art in all its varieties, for commerce and for culture.
We map the past, create the present, and visualize the future of the arts.
sfa.uconn.edu
“
THE ARTSWE ARE
“The School of Fine Arts fosters artistic and cultural
legacies with innovative approaches and techniques of
contemporary art to serve University of Connecticut
students in both their educational and professional
development. Our teaching philosophy emphasizes various
forms of experiential learning and creates intersections
between our classrooms and the creative industries crucial
to today’s economy. Not only do we offer professional
opportunities to students on our Storrs campus, but our
location between two of the east coast’s major cultural
hubs supports faculty and institutional engagement with
the professional arts world beyond the university.”
Bríd Grant
Dean, School of Fine Arts
publishers such as SEGA, Electronic Arts, and Activision. His video games have earned multiple popular and critical awards.
Samantha Olschan (Assistant Professor, Animation) received her BFA from Carnegie Mellon and her MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
She has designed, animated, and composited commercial and creative projects for national clients and taught at Pratt Institute, Wesleyan University, Quinnipiac University, Columbia College, New York Film Academy, and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She continues to experiment with all forms of storytelling through short films, animation and interactivity, with recent exhibitions and screenings at film festivals and arts foundations around the world.
DRAMATIC ARTSGreg Webster (Assistant Professor, Movement) focuses on teaching Movement Theatre and the pedagogy of the renowned French
theatre master Jacques Lecoq. Greg is also the Movement coach and the resident fight choreographer for the Connecticut Repertory Theatre. As a performer, choreographer, and teacher, Greg has worked from Broadway to the West End. He is a founding member of the Split Knuckle Theatre Company, an intentionally acclaimed company that creates dynamic, physical, and visually striking theatre from simple materials.
Dale Edwards (Assistant Professor, Arts Administration & Marketing Director of the School of Fine Arts) has a BS in Communications from
Ohio University, and an MFA from Brooklyn College. His career in New York City began in the marketing department of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater before moving to Disney Theatrical Productions, Manhattan Theatre Club, entertainment advertising agency SpotCo, and most recently as the Associate Director of Marketing and Advertising for the Metropolitan Opera.
MUSICDionne Jackson (Associate Professor, Flute) received her bachelor’s degree in flute performance from Indiana University, and went on to study at
Julliard and the Paris Conservatory of Music, where she won the prestigious First Prize in Flute.
She comes to UConn from Chicago, where she was Assistant Principal Flute of the Lyric Opera for fourteen years, held a one-year position with the Chicago Symphony, and was a frequent guest artist of the Chicago Chamber Musicians. Dionne served on faculty of Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of the Performing Arts from 2005 to 2014.
Solomiya Ivakhiv (Assistant Professor, Violin and Viola) graduated from the world-renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and
holds a DMA from Stony Brook University. She currently enjoys an international career as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe, North America, and China.
Prior to joining UConn, Solomiya taught at Ohio University and collaborated with prestigious universities in the US and China. She taught at Mannes College of Music, and has served as Artistic Director of the concert series MATI (Music at the Institute) for the past three seasons.
NEW FACULTY FACESThe School of Fine Arts is always eager to recruit the best and brightest faculty members from a wide range of experiences and expertise. Here are few of our more recent members.
ART & ART HISTORY Alison Paul (Lecturer, Illustration/Animation) is known for two widely-acclaimed books for children, The Crow (A Not-So-Scary Story) and Sunday Love. She is also
a noted animator who has exhibited stop-motion animations, including “The Rabbit Hole,” an original take on Lewis Carroll’s classic, at national film festivals.
Yan Geng (Assistant Professor, Art History & Asian American Studies) received her BA from Peking University in China and MA from Northwestern
University. She completed her PhD in East Asian Art History at Heidelberg University in Germany in 2012. Her research focus is on modern and contemporary Chinese art, with particular emphasis on political discourse and transcultural studies.
Currently, she is completing her book manuscript on the representation of Mao Zedong in the early People’s Republic of China, examing the turbulent careers of modern Chinese artists and their diverse responses to the historical transition to the communist period. Her next research project concerns liminal space, urban architecture, and politics in modern China.
DIGITAL MEDIA & DESIGN
Ken Bowen (Assistant Professor, Game Design & Mechanics) earned two BS degrees, in Management and Electronic Media, Arts, & Communications, and an
MS in Human Computer Interaction from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Before joining UConn, Ken worked in the game industry for eight years, using game development tools, directing projects, and working on blockbuster franchises with
Majors Communication Design
Illustration/Animation
Individualized Study
Painting
Photography
Printmaking
Sculpture & Ceramic Art
Art History
Performance Units
The William Benton Museum of Art
Contemporary Art Galleries
Counterproof Press
Visual Arts Installation Space
ART &ART HISTORY
The Art & Art History Department
offers the best of both worlds:
the creative excitement of an art
school and the intellectual energy of
a major research university. Whatever
you’re interested in—
literature or history,
physics or animal
science—you can
pursue that interest
and combine it with
your passion for art.
Our faculty has won
major international
honors and awards,
from Fulbright
Scholarships to
Getty Foundation
Fellowships to
National Endowment
for the Humanities
Grants. They
exhibit in major art
centers globally
and publish with
premier academic presses. All of their
knowledge, creativity, and professional
expertise are available to students in
and out of the classroom.
We have expanded and improved our
facilities over the past two years. The
new Bishop Center Studios include
stellar printmaking and book arts
facilities and labs for Communication
Design, Illustration and Animation. In
the main Art Building,
we have established the
Digital Arts Services
Lab to support digital
photography and other 2D
digital arts with state-of-
the-art equipment. We’ve
installed a large gas kiln
in the ceramics studios
and opened a Digital Arts
Materials Lab to support
digital work in sculpture,
printmaking, and other
media.
Our alumni experience a
high degree of professional
and creative success. They
go on to leading graduate
and professional programs.
They work in museums and
galleries, animation studios, design firms,
fashion labels, and publishing houses.
They teach at colleges and universities
across the United States, and exhibit their
artwork nationally and internationally.
“Our students are able
to lay the foundation
for a successful career
in the arts and grow as
individuals—creatively,
intellectually, and
personally.”
Anne D’Alleva
Head of Art & Art History
“
Deborah Dancy (Professor, Painting/Drawing) is a painter whose abstract work describes unusual invented spaces and structures. She exhibits
regularly in New York City, as well as nationally and internationally. Her work is included in numerous private and public collections, including museums in Boston, Baltimore, Detroit, and Birmingham. She has received numerous honors and awards, including a John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, an NEA Artist Grant, and a Nexus Press Artist Book Project Award.
Alexis Boylan (Assistant Professor, Art History & Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies) specializes in art and gender in the United
States at the turn of the twentieth century, and contemporary art and popular culture. She edited Thomas Kinkade: The Artist in the Mall (Duke University Press, 2011), and has a forthcoming book, Man on the Street: Masculinity, Urbanism, and Ashcan Art.
Edvin Yegir (Associate Professor, Design) directs Design Center, the main studio that serves as a professional training ground for our undergraduates. As a
designer, his specialty is strategic visual communication for culture and commerce, and his clients include Amnesty International, GE Foundation, Harvard University, Tufts Medical Center, and UNICEF. His work was recently included in the national traveling exhibition “We the Designers: Reframing Political Issues in the Obama Era.”
The William Benton Museum
of Art is the Connecticut
State Art Museum and brings
the history of art to life at
UConn, featuring over 6000
works in its permanent
collection and eight special
exhibitions each year. Its work
is interdisciplinary, addressing
themes and issues of interest to
many departments on campus.
Through student jobs and
internships, the Benton is an
important training ground for
budding art historians and arts
professionals.
The Contemporary Art
Galleries bring cutting-edge
contemporary art and culture
to the Storrs campus with four
exhibitions each year, plus
symposia and visiting artists.
CAG’s reach is global, with
recent visiting artists from
Sweden, Australia, and New
Zealand.
Year-Round Study Abroad
Programs offer students a
chance to engage with art in a
global destination.
• Each Fall, our Florence
program immerses students
in art and its history in a city
where culture has been at the
center of civic life for centuries.
• Every Spring, our Design
faculty work alongside our
counterparts at Central St.
Martins in London, engaging in
practice and study in a center of
contemporary design.
• Each Summer, Professor
Jean Givens brings students to
Copenhagen for a short-term
focus on architecture and urban
environments.
• Over the brief Winter term,
Fulbright artist and Professor
Kathryn Myers shares her
knowledge of India’s creative
traditions and contemporary
artists with students.
ONLY AT UCONN
FEATURED FACULTY
Majors 2D Animation – Motion Graphics, Animation & Visualization
3D Animation & Visualization
Digital Game Design & Development
Digital Media Strategies for Business
Digital Humanities
Web Design & Development
Performance Units
Digital Media Center
Digital Humanities
-ATION, Student Agency
DIGITAL & MEDIA DESIGN
The Digital Media & Design
Department is a dynamic
department focused on preparing
students to become makers of the
revolution in communication and the
arts. Digital media
is the result of the
creative convergence
of digital arts,
science, technology,
and business;
which has opened
a dazzling array of
previously unimagined
communication,
visualization,
entertainment, and
social interaction
possibilities. It has
become vital for
presenting complex
ideas with simplicity,
and for crafting highly
original messages with
exceptional impact.
The department is
committed to all areas of digital education
and research.
Under the guidance of faculty who
are all experienced professionals and
practitioners, students work in our
state-of-the-art labs and studios using
leading-edge hardware and software
systems. The department’s experiential
learning model makes classrooms into
collaborative workspaces.
Each of our concentrations
fosters collaborations with
outside business leaders
to address creative,
intellectual, technological,
and production challenges
as part of our outcome-
driven commitment to
education. Within this
cooperative learning
environment, students,
faculty and third-party
companies come together
to tackle creative
challenges, leading to
the development and
implementation of new
ideas and methodologies.
The combination of
classroom study and real-
world experience prepares our students
for challenging and rewarding careers in
one of the fastest-growing employment
sectors in the United States.
““DMD’s strong
curriculum,
experiential learning
opportunities, and
research initiatives are
establishing UConn as
a state and national
leader in this evolving
industry.”
Tim Hunter
Head of Digital Media & Design
Tom Scheinfeldt (Associate Professor, Digital Media and Design & Director of Digital Humanities in the Digital Media Center) received his AB in
History and Science from Harvard, and his graduate degrees from Oxford. Formerly Managing Director of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media at George Mason University, Scheinfeldt brings more than a decade of leadership in digital humanities research and management to UConn. Scheinfeldt’s award-winning, grant-funded research projects include groundbreaking experiments in digital scholarly open-source software projects, generative web events, and efforts in scholarly communication.
Perry Harovas (Associate Professor in Residence, 3D Animation & Visualization) studied Film & Television at Emerson College, and began his career when
legendary producer Roger Corman hired his company to create digital visual effects for several of his films. He then started working as a VFX supervisor for television and film features for studios such as Universal, Trimark, and Capital Arts. He’s directed animated children’s shows, co-authored the best-selling book Mastering Maya, and speaks regularly on the subjects of animation and visual effects across the country.
Bill Congdon (Assistance Professor in Residence, Digital & Social Media Strategies) graduated with a BS in Marketing from UConn and an MBA in Marketing/Finance
from Cornell. He worked as an account manager and a marketing manager at Golf Digest before joining the Hearst Corporation, where he was promoted to Publisher/Chief Revenue Officer of the Popular Mechanics brand. In 2013, Bill returned UConn.
The Digital Media Center, the
research unit of the digital media
program at UConn, allows faculty
and students to collaborate in the
rapidly expanding discipline of
digital media ideation, production,
and new product development.
By partnering extramural digital
industry leaders with faculty and
students, we are able to address
a broad landscape of creative
challenges in a unique, holistic
fashion yielding new artifacts,
instruments, and processes for
the digital community.
Paid Internship Programs
are a required component of our
eight-semester plan of study.
The department recognizes the
value of cooperative learning
through paid internships, allowing
students to acquire real-world
experience, and companies to
meet high-achieving innovators
of tomorrow. One of our most
high-profile collaborations is with
Cigna, which engages students
in the development of health-
oriented communication game
and digital marketing strategies
they then deploy in support
of their partners and clients.
Relationships built through
internships during an academic
career can, and often do, lead
to career opportunities with the
hosting companies following
graduation.
Special Projects place
students and faculty at the
forefront of creative research
and development. Together, they
have collaborated on the concept,
technology, programming, and
creative content for a motion
media-based experience for
children with emotional and
physical challenges at Boston
Children’s Hospital. This two-story
high interactive LED video wall
will premiere in the hospital’s
lobby in October 2014.
ONLY AT UCONN
FEATURED FACULTY
Majors Acting
Arts Administration
Design & Technical Theatre Set Design Costume Design Sound Design Technical Direction
Puppet Arts
Theatre Studies Theatre History Playwriting Directing Dramaturgy Stage Management
Performance Units
Connecticut Repertory Theatre Harriet Jorgensen Theatre Nafe Katter Theatre Studio/Mobius Theatre
Nutmeg Summer Theatre
Ballard Institute & Museum of Puppetry
DRAMATIC ARTS
The Department of Dramatic Arts
brings together celebrated theatre
faculty, professionals, and students
from all over the world to prepare student
practitioners for professional careers in the
theatre and related entertainment fields,
as well as to prepare
young scholars for an
intellectually rigorous
life devoted to research
and new knowledge. The
department is student-
centered, dedicated
to hands-on learning
experiences in our
studios, classrooms,
and our three stages.
Our academic programs
and production
activities provide the
finest preparation
through classroom
instruction in a dynamic
research university,
conservatory-style
studio training, and
professional level production experiences.
The department is in the design phase of
a new, state-of-the-art production facility.
Slated to open in 2016, the new building
will house shops for scenery, lighting,
props, paints, and costumes. Our three
theatres are the 500-seat Harriet S.
Jorgensen Theatre, the 100-seat Studio-
Mobius Theatre, and the 235-seat Nafe
Katter Thrust Theatre, new in 2004. Other
facilities include design
studios for graduate and
undergraduates, a lighting
design laboratory, and a
suite dedicated to Theatre
Studies students. The Puppet
Arts program occupies a
recently renovated space
on our Depot Campus with
specialized labs, shops,
studios, and rehearsal rooms.
Our alumni find
employment worldwide in the
highest levels of the industry,
and in top-ranked graduate
programs. Recent alumni
of note include Emmy-
winning lighting designer
Dan Rousseau, actor Brooks
Brantley (War Horse), and
puppeteer Ulysses Jones (Spiderman:
Turn Off the Dark). We are committed to
supporting our students and alumni in their
transition into the profession.
““By training the next
generation of theatre
artists alongside the
professionals at CRT, we
know that our students
gain a competitive edge
when entering the job
market.”
Vincent J. Cardinal
Head of Dramatic Arts & Artistic Director of Connecticut
Repertory Theatre
Michael Bradford (Associate Professor, Playwriting & Director of Theatre Studies) is an award-winning writer, director, and designer
whose work has been produced Off-Broadway as well as across the nation. The recipient of multiple awards, writing fellowships, and residencies in New York, he is considered one of the most promising African American playwrights today.
Laura Crow (Professor, Costume Design) designs costumes seen in more than 300 productions around the world. Best known to New Yorkers through
her designs for Lanford Wilson’s Broadway productions and as the resident designer for Circle Rep, her work has won dozens of national and regional awards. She has represented American Theatre Design at the Prague Quadrennial five times. Recognized as a Distinguished Professor by the School of Fine Arts in 2011, she has also been rewarded with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Bart Roccoberton, Jr. (Professor, Puppet Arts & Director of the Puppet Arts Program) has a BA from Monclair State College and a MFA from UConn. He has worked as
professional Puppet Artist since 1972 and has toured with his own troupe, The Pandemonium Puppet Company, and UConn students for 15 years. Recognized worldwide as a leading advocate for Puppet Arts, he serves as a counselor for the Professional Training Commission of the Union Internationale de la Marionenette, and was recently elected to the Board of Trustees of UNIMA-USA.
ONLY AT UCONN
Connecticut Repertory Theatre
is the professional producing arm
of the Department of Dramatic Arts
and connects with our classroom
instruction as institutional partner.
CRT, an Actor’s Equity Regional
Theater, stages an array of the
best in theatre, from classic plays
and musicals to premieres of the
latest contemporary work, with
the highest professional standards.
In production, the department’s
most promising students work
side-by-side with the nation’s finest
theatre professionals, forging career
alliances that last a lifetime.
Summer Nutmeg Series is
CRT’s summer series, and draws its
company from the most talented
university students as well as
professional actors like Terrence
Mann, Leslie Uggams, Jerry Adler,
Richard Kline, and Liz Larsen.
The Ballard Institute and
Museum of Puppetry is an
international center for material
performance, with an extensive
collection of puppets, artworks, and
audio-visual materials. Directed
by internationally recognized
puppet scholar Dr. John Bell, the
institute hosts rotating exhibitions,
performances, lectures, workshops,
symposia, and forums. BIMP
offers a vibrant public extension
of departmental studies and
performance, with numerous
internship opportunities for
puppetry studies, museum studies,
and arts management.
Study Abroad Programs offer two
distinct opportunities for students:
• Each Fall, third-year BFA actors
travel to London to study with
leading teachers from the Royal
Shakespeare Company, the National
Theatre, and the Globe.
• During the Winter Term, students
focus on the thriving theatre culture
of Cuba. Students work directly with
Cuban master teachers in all areas
of the dramatic arts.
FEATURED FACULTY
Majors
Composition
General Music
Jazz Studies
Music History
Music Theory
Music Education (Integrated Bachelor’s/Master’s)
Performance Instrumental Vocal
Performance Units
von der Mehden Recital Hall Instrumental Ensembles Marching Band Jazz Ensemble Percussion Ensemble Symphonic & Concert Bands Symphony Orchestra Wind Ensemble Vocal Ensembles Choirs Collegium Musicum Earthtones
MUSIC
The UConn Department of Music
has a proud tradition of preparing
future performers, composers,
and teachers while also enriching the
life of the campus and wider community.
Students are UConn’s first priority, and
individual advisement
informs each student’s
academic and musical
progress. A competitive
audition process allows
the best and brightest
to learn with and from
each other, and small
class sizes permit
faculty to devote careful
attention to students’
abilities and needs.
More than 40
outstanding faculty
educators, performers,
and scholars create
an unmatched
environment for musical
study and performance,
and our facilities
include ample practice rooms, an electronic
music lab, a recording studio, and multiple
performance venues. All of our programs
stress the development of fundamental
skills necessary for all musicians, as well as
the discipline and rigor for advanced study
and performance.
The department’s public performances
present exciting new music as well as
re-examinations of the musical tradition
in light of current
practices and research.
Professionally engaged
faculty members ensure
the availability of scholarly
works, performances, and
discussions that stimulate
and enlighten. Guest
artists, master classes, and
lectures bring additional
awareness of and exposure
to the “real world” of
music, as does working
with other learners—older
and younger—in UConn’s
Community School of the
Arts and in Connecticut’s
public schools.
Music alumni credit
their success to the start
they received at UConn, prizing both the
focus given to their specialties and the
opportunities to experience new, often
path-changing instruction and events.
““Our comprehensive
program lays the
ground work for
a career in any
aspect of music
and also explores
intersections with
other disciplines.”
Eric Rice
Head of Music
Louis Hanzlik (Associate Professor, Trumpet & Coordinator of Applied Instrumental Studies) has established himself as an accomplished chamber musician,
orchestral player, and educator. He is a member of the Grammy Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the American Brass Quintet. As an educator, he promotes chamber music as an important component of a musician’s education. His research examines chamber music’s unique social attributes and suggests that chamber music classrooms foster artist-citizenry in addition to advanced musicianship.
Alain Frogley (Professor, Music History & Director of Research and Creative Practices) is a specialist in the music of the late nineteenth and twentieth century, particularly
in Britain and America. He has also worked extensively on Beethoven. His research centers on sketch studies, reception history, and the cultural contexts of musical nationalism. His most recent work includes research into the reception of British music in Nazi Germany, racial Anglo-Saxonism in music, and post-colonial issues in musicology.
Jamie Spillane (Associate Professor, Music & Director of Choral Studies) directs numerous choirs and teaches undergraduate and graduate choral
conducting and choral literature. He is an active festival conductor, adjudicator, and clinician who enjoys working with choirs of all ages. He has conducted All-State or honor choirs in Connecticut, Colorado, New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, Indiana, Missouri, Arizona, North Dakota, Nebraska, Rhode Island, and Iowa, and has presented interest sessions at state and divisional conventions.
Music Education IB/M Program
is an integrated bachelor’s/
master’s degree program in
music education offered in
collaboration with the Neag
School of Education. Graduates
of this program earn a BA in
Music, a BS in Education, and
a MA in Education with a focus
on Curriculum and Instruction.
Graduates are certified to teach
vocal and instrumental music for
K-12 students.
Our Metropolitan Opera
Program offers students the
opportunity to interact with
performers and technicians, tour
backstage, and attend rehearsals
and performances. Thanks to our
special affiliation with the Met,
trips from the Storrs campus
occur four times each academic
year, and UConn students
have been regularly awarded
prestigious internships at the Met
after graduation.
ONLY AT UCONN
FEATURED FACULTY
The Metropolitan Opera
The Raymond and Beverly
Sackler Prize in Composition
is the largest prize for music
composition offered by an
institute of higher education in
the US. The winning composer
creates a piece for one of UConn’s
student ensembles, which then
performs and records the work.
Students have an unparalleled
opportunity to interact with
composers during the rehearsal
process, and to observe
collaborations between composers
and faculty conductors.
We invite you to learn more by visiting sfa.uconn.edu, where you can link to all our departments, venues, and programs. We hold open houses every
Fall and Spring semesters, and we welcome your visit.
For inquiries, please email one of the following departments:
Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry is an international center for material performance, with an extensive collection of puppets, artworks, and audio-visual materials.
William Benton Museum of Art is the Connecticut State Art Museum and brings the history of art to life at UConn, featuring over 6000 works in its permanent collection and eight special exhibitions each year.
Community School of the Arts is an interdisciplinary arts education program focusing on linking the University to the communities of Eastern Connecticut.
Contemporary Art Galleries bring cutting-edge contemporary art and culture to the Storrs campus with four exhibitions each year, plus symposia and visiting artists. CAG’s reach is global, with recent visiting artists from Sweden, Australia, and New Zealand.
Connecticut Repertory Theatre, the professional producing arm of the Department of Dramatic Arts, is an Actor’s Equity Regional Theater. CRT stages an array of the best in theatre, from classic plays and musicals to premieres of the latest contemporary work, with the highest professional standards.
Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts, the largest college-based presenting program in New England, presents 25-30 nationally and internationally acclaimed artists and ensembles annually.
UConn School of Fine Arts830 Bolton Road, Unit 1128, Storrs, CT 06269-1128
sfa.uconn.edu /UConnSFA @UConnArts #wearethearts
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