School Highlights

2025

May

April

In “Art History = Jobs” on April 10, School of Art History alums Bryanna Kirsten-Knotts Denby, Audrey Molloy, Nicholas McCullough and Whitney Sheets and moderator Jennifer Saracino  shared “inspiring stories of their journeys and hard work.” Several students said “how good it felt to be connected to our community of art historians,” said faculty organizer Irene Bald Romano. Some highlights:

March

The Wildcat Saturday Art School for K-6 children began March 29 with an engaging, hands-on program that explores the connection between sound and visual arts through creative projects, storytelling and play-based learning. The school continued April 5, 12, 19, 26 and May 3 at the School of Art. The non-profit program provides hands-on teaching experience for advanced undergraduate and graduate Art & Visual Culture Education students. The school will hold a special Open Studios activity on May 3 from noon to 1 p.m., inviting parents and children to celebrate the culmination of their work. Each grade level will focus on unique themes: Grades K-1 and Grades 2-3 and Grades 4-6

Texas-based artist José Villalobos gave the final 2024-25 VASE lecture at the Center for Creative Photography on March 20: “Un(Masc)ing Masculinities within the Norteño Landscape.” Villalobos told personal stories about their queer identity and their experience navigating Mexican American traditions, particularly the challenge of self acceptance within a culture that is prideful in masculinity or machismo. Within their work, Villalobos uses traditional materials including leather, boots, sombreros and more. Photos

February

Nearly 30 students presented their work at the School of Art’s annual Donor & Scholars event at the SOA lobby on Feb. 26. This year, Director Colin Blakely said the School of Art awarded 53 scholarships for a total of just over $172,000 to students. Click on this Google gallery to see photos and the slideshow.

Rujeko Hockley, a Whitney Museum curator, was the third presenter in the School of Art’s 2024-25 VASE lecture series on Feb. 17 at the Center for Creative Photography. She spoke about her curatorial process as well as her passion for bringing together a diverse group of artists. Her show, “We wanted A Revolution: Black Radical Women,” was her favorite to organize, Hockley said. Hockley, who was born in Harare, Zimbabwe, and relocated with her family to Washington, D.C., at age 2, co-curated the 2019 Whitney Biennial and worked on the upcoming exhibition, “Amy Sherald: American Sublime.” Photos

Professor Karen Zimmermann hosted a printmaking workshop in early February for Tohono O’odham Community College students at the School of Art’s Book Art and Letterpress Lab. “The lab was an incredible space for the students to not only see, but actually work in,” said TOCC art instructor Susanna Battin, who accompanied them on the visit. “I know that the experience has opened them up to thinking about the broader possibilities of printmaking.” The students made a “beautiful” Himdag O’odham poster and Risograph collection, which Battin said they would show off at their TOCC campus in Sells, Arizona. Photos and Battin’s website

January

2024

November

Students in Assistant Professor Jennifer Saracino‘s Art of Colonial Latin America presented their research to the docents and staff of Tucson Museum of Art on works from both the permanent collection and the traveling exhibition “Paintings from Spanish America (1600-1800).” Photos

Faculty members Simon Hinchliffe, Kelly Leslie, Ilayda Altuntas Nott and Pooja Venkatachalam Kumar reviewed over 40 portfolios from high school and community college students during the Oct. 26 National Portfolio Day, hosted by the School of Art. The annual event, held in Tucson for the first time in a while, featured 18 colleges and university art schools from across the nation. Kimberly Moore with the College of Fine Arts talked to parents and students about scholarships and financial aid. Photos and More details

Students in Visiting Professor Kate Collins‘ Community, Culture and Art Education class hosted a community pop-up event with Ben’s Bells on Nov. 14 in the School of Art courtyard. Students and the public painted and created ceramic ornaments that later will be hung randomly throughout the community for people to find and take home as a reminder to practice intentional kindness. Earlier, Collins’ class visited Ben’s Bells on University Boulevard. Kimberly Moore with the College of Fine Arts talked to parents and students about scholarships and financial aid.In August, Collins met with Ben’s Bells founder Jeannette Maré, who started the nonprofit educational program more than 20 years ago after her son, Ben, died just before his third birthday. Photos at Ben’s Bells and Pop-up event photos.

October

Asking students in the audience to raise their hands, Ala Ebtekar kicked off the school’s 2024-25 Visiting Artists and Scholars (VASE) lecture series on Oct. 10 by giving insight into three of his poetry-inspired projects at the Center for Creative Photography — including how he uses photographs exposed by moonlight and starlight in his art. Photos, videos

Art education scholar Patty Bode, co-founder of the Remember Love Recovery Project, led an Oct. 8 workshop for students in Visiting Associate Professor Kate Collins’ Community, Culture and Art Education (ARE 420) class. The East Coast-based project aims to destigmatize addiction disorder by cultivating community, transforming awareness and spreading accurate information through arts and education. Bode helped start the project in memory of her son, Ryan Bode Moriarty, 33, who died of an accidental heroin overdose in 2018.

September

The Western Museums Association’s (WMA) Annual Meeting, “Balance,” featured School of Art students, faculty and staff, as well as alums connected with the University of Arizona Museum of Art. The Sept. 25-28 event was held at the Lowes Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson. Participants included Olivia Miller, Chelsea Farrar and Violet Rose Arma (UAMA); Galleries Director lydia see, Associate Prof. Carissa DiCindio and Prof. Irene Bald Romano, School of Art; and Jenna Green (PhD student AVCE), Linda Garcia Escobar (Undergraduate student AVCE), Alyssa Moorman (MA student Art History and Museum Studies Program), Sirilak Rottler (MA student AVCE) and Phoebe Charpentier (MA student Art History and Museum Studies Program). Moorman, Rottler, Charpentier and Arma presented posters, while see gave a roundtable talk about student engagement. Other UA undergraduate and graduate students volunteered at the information desk and in the sessions. Sara Swayden, UAMA Archivist also participated. Photos and presentation titles

With faculty and grad students looking on, MFA student Claire Fall Blanchette introduced her living art installation — “Ruins”​ — during the Arizona Institute for Resilience’s Fall Fest on Sept. 12 at the Environment and Natural Resources 2 Building Courtyard, 1064 E. Lowell St. The sculpture, which is on display through December, features two interacting walls of bricks that Blanchette “grew” with mycelium — the invisible part of mushrooms whose roots consist of minuscule fungal threads called hyphae. “Ruins” was part of her 2023 Marcia Grand Centennial Sculpture Prize project. Photos and website. Also, read this earlier story.

The 2024 Welcome Art Cats event on Sept. 11 featured screen-printed aprons, useful tips for new students, campus group tables, a raffle — and eegee’s. Before the party in the SOA lobby and courtyard, Director Colin Blakely, Academic Adviser Ashley Rubin, Assistant Professor Yana Payusova, scholarship guru Kim Moore and College of Fine Arts Dean Andy Schulz talked to new and transfer students at the music building’s Holsclaw Hall. Cream Design & Print did the apron screen printing, using two cool designs by undergraduates Zuly Bustamante and Ava Sheppard. Campus groups included Arizona Arts Live, CFA Art administration, CFA Equity for the Arts and CFA ambassadors, Campus Health, Think Tank, Thrive Center, UAMA, Sienna Collective, AGHSA and the Art History Club, UA Adobe, CFA trainer and nutritionist, SOA advising, Startup Wildcats and Student-Made, and Honors College. Photos

Celebrating its 18^th season, the University of Arizona School of Art’s Visiting Artists and Scholars Endowment (VASE) series will feature acclaimed artists and educators Ala Ebtekar (Oct. 10, 2024), Ronald Rael (Nov. 14, 2024), Rujeko Hockley (Feb. 13, 2025) and José Villalobos (March 20, 2025). The free VASE presentations will be held on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. at the Center for Creative Photography, 1030 N. Olive Road. “Our 2024-2025 guests will tackle critical issues such as the social, political, and environmental impacts of architecture, borders and migration, as well as the intersection of identity, place and memory,” Regents Professor Sama Alshaibi says. Meet the artists and Story

The School of Art is hosting National Portfolio Day in Tucson on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the School of Art building, 1031 N. Olive Road. Nationwide university representatives from 18 art schools will review high school and community college students’ portfolios, offer constructive feedback and discuss their art programs. More details and registration

August

As fall 2024 classes began Aug. 26, students walking up the new Olive Road stairs caught a glimpse of the new canopy outside the Joseph Gross Gallery — part of the “Arts Alley” project. Faculty and staff are eager to take advantage of the renovated space as they host school and community events at the School of Art building.

June

The School of Art’s Illustration, Design and Animation program is ranked 10^th in the nation in Illustration among public schools, according to the 2024 Animation Career Review. “We emphasize storytelling, and our program uniquely blends pathways within a studio setting exposing students to experiential learning through partnerships in a diversity of borderlands projects,” Assistant Professor Nicole Antebi said. Story

May

School of Art students were featured in an Arizona Arts video celebrating the 2024 College of Fine Arts graduates, including Anita Maksimiuk (MFA), Grayson Agrella (BA Art History) and Sarah Greenwall-Scott (PhD). Watch the video

April

Wildcat Art, a K-12 program taught by our Art & Visual Culture Education (AVCE) graduate and undergraduate students, celebrated its 29th year with multiple Saturday workshops and a closing exhibition with families on April 27 at the Lionel Rombach Gallery. Photos and website

Students, faculty and staff enjoyed the solar eclipse on the morning of April 8, watching the sky from several areas around the School of Art building. Photos 

March

Linda Garcia Escobar wants to be an art educator after growing up in a family of teachers and artists. Marcelino Flores hopes to expand his hobby of creating monster sculptures into a full-time venture, and he’s already showcasing his Godzilla work at toy shows. The two undergraduate students might have different career goals, but both are glad they pursued local internships this semester through the School of Art. Escobar, an Art & Visual Culture Education major, worked at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. Flores, a Studio Art major in 3DXM, interned at GeoDécor Fossils and Minerals. “Internships are important because they give you an insight into the work and career you want to pursue,” Linda said. Full story

Artist and educator Joey Fauerso gave an insightful VASE lecture March 28 at the Center for Creative Photography — after sharing her work and advice with our grad students earlier in the day. “Wait for It” — the final Visiting Scholars & Artists Endowment Lecture of the 2023-24 season — saw Fauerso discuss her studio practice and exhibitions over the last 10 years, exploring themes of gender, family, humor, history painting, utopian experiments and theatrical improvisation. She was a 2022 Guggenheim Fellow in the Fine Arts and the recipient of the 2023 Presidential Seminar Award from Texas State University, where she is a professor in the School of Art and Design.is the time. Photos/Videos of talk

Students gave presentations — pecha kucha-style — during our Donors & Scholars reception on March 20 in the School of Art lobby. “This event celebrates the great work of our students as well as the amazing generosity of our donors,” Director Colin Blakely said. Galleries Director lydia see added: “To be able to share a room together, to be joyful and to come as we are is a really special thing. I like this (rapid) format because it gives everyone a little slice of the life and practice of students.” Congrats to all the presenters, and thanks to all our donors! Scholarship recipients  and Slideshow and Photos of event.

Four School of Art graduate students presented their research as part of the 33rd annual Art History Symposium on March 15 at the University of Arizona Museum of Art’s Retablo Gallery. One of only 30 symposia in the country and the oldest of its kind, “Natural/Unnatural” covered various topics related to the boundaries and overlaps between “natural” and “unnatural” environments, societies and identities.

The four SOA students were Alyssa Moorman,“The American Landscape in Black and White: Social and Political Landscapes of George Washington’s Mount Vernon”; Audrey Molloy, “Semi-Tropical Simulacrum: Considering the Palm Tree” ; Jennifer Weiss, “Imaging Geologic Time: The Catastrophist-Uniformitarianist Debate in 19th Century American Landscape Paintings”; and Sarah Greenwell-Scott, “Decolonizing the Heteronormative Gaze: Gender in Contemporary Indigenous Photography.” 

Keynote speaker Dr. John-Michael H. Warner, Joanna Platt (Temple), Francesca Butterfield (Princeton), Jackie Streker (Temple), Caitlin La Dolce (Georgia) and Teresa Margaret Fleming (Cal Irvine) also participated. SOA Director Colin Blakely and College of Fine Arts Dean Andrew Schulz opened the event, which also included an art exhibition reception at the Palo Verde Gallery (Grad Studios). Photos and more details

February

Graduate students, led by Printmaking Professor Cerese Vaden, presented their work at the “Print, Printed, Printing” mini-conference at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico in late February. The printmaking and book arts conference was hosted by printmaker and UA alumnus Todd Christensen and with organizational efforts. Photos

The School of Art welcomed the Scottsdale Arts’ Visions Program on Jan. 19 for its annual visit. Faculty members Martina Shenal (Photography), Nicole Antebi (Animation) and Kate Collins (Art and Visual Culture Education) led workshops for dozens of art students from diverse Maricopa County high schools. The students, who were welcomed by Director Colin Blakely, also toured the School of Art. Shenal showed the students professional studio lighting configurations and effects. The Visions Program is a yearlong initiative focusing on artistic skills, collaboration, and civic engagement. Activities include exhibitions, college visits, workshops, diversity discussions, and exhibiting their work. With strong community partnerships, the program has graduated over 1,000 students. More photos

Students in Associate Prof. Carissa DiCindio‘s fall course, ARE 425 & ARE 525: Theory and Practice in Art Museum Education, paired up with artists from ArtWorks to create portraits together and plan an exhibition. The Annual Art Show Face 2 Face exhibition ran Jan. 12-25 at at the Bio 5 Institute (1657 E. Helen St.). ArtWorks is an outreach program housed in the Sonoran Center for Excellence in Disabilities at the University of Arizona, Department of Family & Community Medicine. ArtWorks promotes community and mutual learning through creative and expressive arts interactions between adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities and University of Arizona students.

Assistant Professor Nicole Antebi and students did an animation collaboration with the Borderlands Restoration Network, made possible through a CUES Spanning Boundaries Challenge Grant. View the video

2023

December

Associate Professor Kelly Leslie and students in her “Clients in the Community” class continued to paint a desert mural Dec. 5 at the B’nai B’rith Covenant House of Tucson. KGUN9-TV, KVOA-TV, the Arizona Daily Star, the Jewish Post and El Inde Arizona interviewed Leslie, students, residents and Abbie Stone with the HUD-funded affordable housing community for older adults. Story and Video and Photos

November

Tour: Alums Josh Nistas, Mike Srsen and Lizzie Webster, who teach at Flowing Wells High School, brought 45 of their students to the School of Art on Nov. 17. Professor Karen Zimmermann welcomed the group, while student workers Alex Allen, Zuly Bustamante and Ava Sheppard gave tours, and Professor Martina Shenal showed them a photo lab! The students also visited the Center for Creative Photography, the University of Arizona Museum of Art and other campus spots. Photos

To help “create opportunities for all students across campus to have meaningful arts experiences,” the University of Arizona Museum of Art plans to open a new building in Spring 2027 at Speedway and Vine under the leadership of UAMA Director and School of Art alumna Olivia Miller, College of Fine Arts Dean Andrew Schulz and Tilghman H. Moyer, Arizona Arts executive director of development. Story

The Nov. 18-19 International Symposium on Korean Photography was co-organized by the School of Art and Assistant Professor Jeehey Kim, the Center for Creative Photography (CCP) and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA). Held at the CCP, the symposium focused on the state of contemporary Korean photography and was hosted in conjunction with the opening of a major exhibition, “Wonders and Witness: Contemporary Photography from Korea,” co-organized by CCP and MMCA. Photos

The Dusk Music Festival on Nov. 10-11 commissioned Associate Professor Joseph Farbrook and his 3D Animation students to create a large-scale installation that featured an inflatable terrarium with student-created 3D animations projected onto the structure. Participants could view the animations from the inside or outside. From the inside, the animations appeared nearly holographic, floating in air. The festival attracted several thousand people. Animators included: Olive Bingham, Isaac Davis, Lauren Estell, Garrett Icenhower, Gabrielle Loewen, Tori Pacheco, Mal Palacios, Ryan Pittner, Brianna Salazar, Nik Tollefson, Lyrissa Tuyin and Allisen Warner. Photos

Dr. Kim Cosier gave a Visiting Artists and Scholars (VASE) lecture on Nov. 2 at the Center for Creative Photography and led students and faculty in an Art Build the next morning in the school’s lobby. Sharing stories of her upbringing and craft, the art activist and professor of Art Education in the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee showed some stunning images last night of how she, other artists and community organizations partner to create artwork that makes visible messages of social transformation. Dr. Kim Cosier’s tip for avoiding burnout: “Be silly.”  She and students and faculty worked on three posters, including one for Arizona Arts‘ Racial Justice Studio. VASE Photos and Art Build Photos

October

National Portfolio Day: High school and transfer students had their portfolios reviewed by School of Art faculty members Alejandro Macias and Simon Hinchliffe at Mesa Community College on Oct. 21. Matt Denney, recruiting coordinator with the College of Fine Arts; and Ashley Rubin, Christina Beasley and Wilma Pinedo in Advising also helped students at the event, which drew 23 art colleges and schools from across the nation. Photos

SOA faculty members Nicole Antebi and Carissa DiCindio and alumna Meg Jackson Fox (PhD, ’16) are giving mini gallery talks Oct. 24 for the “Ways of Knowing, Ways of Being: Arts Research and Integration” exhibition at the Center for Creative Photography.

The school’s Art & Visual Culture Education program hosted the 2023 Art Education Research Institute (AERI) national symposium on Oct. 19-21. “The attendees and presenters were amazed by our preparation and organization of the event,” said Professor Ryan Shin, AERI’s program director. “I’ve received many positive and encouraging comments … about our faculty and graduate students.” Photos

Vincent Valdez kicked off the school’s 2023-24 Visiting Artists and Scholars (VASE) series on Oct. 18 at the Center for Creative Photography. Valdez finished his lecture by playing his trumpet and a video after showing images of his oil painting, “El Chavez Ravine,” done on a 1953 Good Humor ice cream truck to portray the forced removal of a predominantly Mexican American community for the construction of Dodger Stadium in the late 1950s. Valdez also thanked the School of Art graduate students he met in the morning. “I felt so inspired by each of you … and you remind me of why I began making images and why I began this creative path as an artist,” he said. Photos

Illustration, Design & Animation students contributed chalk drawings on Oct. 16 for the Eller Make A Difference Day (EMADD) weekend (Oct, 20-21). galen dara‘s Art 266 class,  and students in Drew Grella‘s ART 266 and Assistant Prof. Jenn Liv‘s ART 404 class participated in the event by drawing positive and encouraging messages around campus that were later colored in by EMADD volunteers. Photos and More Photos

September

The University of Arizona School of Art presented “Para Seguir Adelante: Stories of Migration” from Sept. 14 to Sept. 29 at the Lionel Rombach Gallery, an exhibition featuring artists Lisa Elmaleh, Luis Sotero, Moysés Zúñiga Santiago and Anahí González Terán. The school held a community roundtable on Sept. 21 with Elmaleh; Isabel Garcia, founder of La Coalición de Derechos Humanos; and Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith, founding director of the Binational Migration Institute.

ArtCats Welcome: More than 150 new and returning students attended the Sept. 7 event, which included a screen print demo with cool tote bags, shaved ice and prizes outside the University of Arizona School of Music and an orientation for new majors inside Holsclaw Hall. Photos

Celebrating its 16th season, our Visiting Artists and Scholars Endowment series will feature acclaimed artists and educators Vincent Valdez, Kim Cosier, Kelli Anderson and Suchitra Mattai in 2023-24. Go to https://vase.art.arizona.edu/ for more details about the free hour-long VASE presentations, which will be held on Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. at the Center for Creative Photography auditorium. Story

Adjunct instructor Trent Pechon‘s Art 287 sculpture class visited Alexander Calder’s “Blue Moon Over the Steeple” piece at the University of Arizona Museum of Art for inspiration on their steel fabricated mobile projects.

August

Faculty and staff, including Professors Karen Zimmermann and Paul Ivey and Galleries Director lydia see, welcomed our new and returning graduate students on Aug. 25 at the Joseph Gross Gallery. We broke into small groups, then everyone enjoyed lunch in the School of Art lobby! Photos

Guest speakers for fall 2023

Assistant Professor of Practice Simon Hinchliffe hosted these speakers: Maurice “Skip” Kimball, senior art director at ICON Creative Studio; Stephen Yeakley, co-founder of a boutique design studio that helps businesses grow by design; Andrew Shuta, artist and creative director working in design, illustration, animation, video production, motion graphics, audio production.

Associate Professor Angie Zielinski hosted these speakers: Rachel Walker, Design Director at Bedsure, an Amazon/dtc Chinese retailer, based in NYC; Kate Hodges & Ted Springer, Independent Artists, Co-founders of The Land With No Name Sanctuary; Ginger Shulick Porcella, Director, Creative Growth Art Cetner, Oakland, CA; Dwayne Manuel, Artist, Faculty at Tohono O’odham Community College; Raymond Noelle, Senior Designer/Art Director for WeightWatchers, based in NYC; and Paul LaJeunesse, Painter, muralist, Public art consultant/project manager.

Graduate assistant galen dara hosted these speakers: Chris Bondante & Joyce Peters: Process and techniques of Botanical illustrators; Kyle Author, UA Adobe Specialist; Assistant Professor Jenn Liv, editorial illustration and business practice for the freelancer; Jerald Zivic, UA Adobe Specialist; Chris Gall, illustrator and author.

Associate Professor Kelly Leslie hosted alum Jonny Black, “a.i., algae, brotox, rice barf, letterpress, devil’s lettuce … and other topics relevant to design, art, and life.” Black is co-founder of The Office of Ordinary Things (TOOOT), a climate, sustainability and social good-focused design studio based in San Francisco.

Assistant Professor Jenn Liv hosted these artists/illustrators: Mark Wang, Stephanie Singleton and Melissa Lee Johnson. Also: Nimit Malavia and Joan Chung.

Graduate assistant Claire Taylor hosted these speakers:John Roger Myers – Special Collections; Sarah Kortemeier – Poetry Center; and Rachel Castro – Catalyst Studios

Assistant Professor Nicole Antebi hosted these speakers: Shelley McMahon, Associate Professor of Practice, School of Plant Sciences Director, UA Herbarium; and Jordan Sene, Youth Education Assistant Program Manager at Borderlands Restoration Network

July 2023

Go behind the scenes with Arizona Arts videographer Gage Judd as 2023 MFA graduates Emily Kray, Jandey Shackelford and Mariel Miranda prepared for last spring’s MFA Thesis Exhibition. Please subscribe to the School of Art’s new YouTube page after watching. Video

May

Featuring works by local K-12 students, the 2023 Wildcat Art Exhibition was held May 6 in the Lionel Rombach Gallery. Now in its 28th year, Wildcat Art serves the Tucson community while providing hands-on teaching experience for advanced undergraduate and graduate art education students in our Art & Visual Culture Education (AVCE) program. The Wildcat Art program directors were Rachael Zollinger and Hillary Douglas. The teachers were Alexis Campos, Rhiannon Cox, Krysta Ellis, Bella Gracia, Rachel Huffman, Emma Kageyama, Thurwin Lane and Eva Wallen. School of Art Gallery Director lydia see curated the exhibition along with Kageyama, Huffman and Ellis. Photos

April

Carrying on a tradition that began in 1970, six School of Art graduate students are presenting their work in the 2023 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition in collaboration with the University of Arizona Museum of Art. The exhibition, with three installations in UAMA and three in the school’s Joseph Gross Gallery, ran from April 15 to May 13. An opening reception was held April 20 at the school’s atrium. The MFA Exhibition featured installations by Alain Co, Mariel Miranda and Gabrielle Walter in the Joseph Gross Gallery and Emily Kray, Jesus Sanchez-Alvarez and Jandey Shackelford in the UAMA Gallery.

Four School of Art graduates discussed their real-life trials and triumphs in “Life Lessons from Alumni” on April 25 — the final session (virtual) in our Student Development Series. The panel featured Brian Stauffer (BFA ’89, Graphic Design), Barbara Grygutis (BFA ’68, MFA ’71, Sculpture), Amy Wells (BFA ’04, Ceramics) and John Flint (BFA ’72, Painting). Zoom video

March

Artist Walid Raad presented images, stories and concepts from his three ongoing long-term projects as part of the School of Art’s Visiting Artists and Scholars Endowment (VASE) series on March 23 at the Center for Creative Photography. Raad is a Cooper Union professor; the projects he referenced were The Atlas Group (1989-2004); Scratching On Things I Could Disavow; and Sweet Talk: Beirut (Commissions). Raad website

Ph.D. student Sedona Heidinger was among six presenters at the March 17 “Collective” Art History Symposium at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. Other speakers were Barbie Kim, Bentley Brown, Shen Qu, Gabriel Quick and Dr. Gregory Sholette (keynote). Director Colin Blakely opened the event, which also included a Collective exhibition at the Palo Verde Gallery (Grad Studios). The School of Art’s Graduate Council and Art History Graduate Student Association organized the symposium and exhibition. Photos and more details.

Regents Professor Sama Alshaibi presented to a packed house March 18 in Denver as the closing speaker for the Society for Photographic Education (SPE) Conference. The day before, speakers Clare Benson (MFA ’13), Tomiko Jones (MFA ’08) and Kaitlyn Jo Smith (MFA ’20) and more alums joined Alshaibi and Prof. Martina Shenal, grad student Nathan Cordova and others at Henry’s Tavern for a reunion get-together. Photos

February

Bethany Collins shared the thoughts, processes and precedents that have influenced her multidisciplinary practice as part of the School of Art’s Visiting Artists and Scholars Endowment (VASE) series on Feb. 23 at the Center for Creative Photography. She discussed the influence of translation, post-apocalyptic literature and the Greek chorus within her recent work. Her works have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions nationwide, including the Studio Museum in Harlem, the High Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, and the Birmingham Museum of Art.

The school’s Donors and Scholars reception and exhibition on Feb. 11 featured 16 artists and student presentations by Danielle Hunt (3DXM, undergrad), Seoyeon Kim (AVCE, Ph.D.) and Grace Rhyne (2D, undergrad). Director Colin Blakely and Gallery Director lydia see welcomed guests, including School of Art Advisory Board members, and stressed the importance of scholarships. Students, meanwhile, made meaningful connections with donors and alums. Program

Students in Assistant Professor Jennifer Saracino‘s ARH-418/518 class spent a week in Special Collections studying the facsimiles of pre- and early colonial Mexican manuscripts of the Aztecs and Incas. Students then created their own autobiographical histories using the conventions and structures of the histories.

Students in Professor Karen Zimmerman’s “Art and Text” honors seminar studied prints from the UAMA collection that combine written and visual language in unique ways.

January

The school hosted the Visions Program from Scottsdale with a series of tours and workshops with faculty. The program brought together 42 art students from diverse Maricopa County high schools for a yearlong series of activities designed “to cultivate artistic skills, collaboration and civic engagement,” Visions said. Opening speeches from Colin Blakely, (School of Art Director), Karen Zimmerman (Associate Director), lydia see (Gallery Director) and Ashley Rubin (Art Advising) welcomed students and gave them a glimpse into the workings of the school. Visiting Profs. Danielle Jones (3DXM) and Erin DiGiovanni (2D) and Assistant Prof. Nicole Antebi (IDA/Animation) held workshops, while Denise Angulo (Administrative Associate) and student workers Kayla Bradshaw and Alex Allen led the tours.

Our Art and Visual Culture Education (AVCE) program welcomed Temple University Assistant Prof. David Herman Jr. as a guest speaker on Jan. 19. His talk, “Time and Understanding,” was held in Room 312. Bio

2022

December

The fall 2022 seniors in Prof. Simon Hinchliffe‘s Illustration & Design capstone class presented “Wait, Before I Go,” an online exhibition of thesis projects. The students were Harper Burklin, Kevin Callison, Kiana Chan, Damian Corrales, Megan Gray, Galadriel Gross, John Konrad, Jasmine Ma, Ryan O’Connor, Maddi Ritscher, Paola Roman, Robin Silverman, Ellenor Spencer, Gabriel Spencer, Hailey Jo Smith, Marmda Sun, Erika Tenorio and Ryan Thorne.

The Roads That Divide Us: Student artists Ben Tisdale and Branden Gosse held a reception for the street photography exhibition at the Lionel Rombach Gallery. Details

De/Compositional Logic: The Loft Cinema hosted a free screening of selected works from Artists’ Video 2022, organized and curated by Prof. Marcos Serafim‘s Fall 22 ART349 students. Details

Dec. 13

Ingrained: Animation I students presented their short film, “Ingrained,” at The Loft Cinema as part of TFTV Documentary students’ program “What’s Up Docs?” Students artfully documented the Nahua Cosmology and ceremonial practices around the growth of corn/cintli/maize/elote and process of making tortillas based on a workshop hosted by Flowers & Bullets community garden. Students and the garden stewards shared skills and stories and applied the ethos of community building to the assembly of the film. The project was made possible through a generous CUES Spanning Boundaries grant received by Prof. Nicole Antebi and the team of Community Stories of Sustainability and resilience. More details

Nov. 29

Silas Munro: Arizona Arts and the Racial Justice Studio, led by Prof. Amelia (Amy) Kraehe, co-sponsored a visit from Munro, a renowned graphic design artist and scholar, as part of the Black Faculty Speaker Series. In a fireside chat and lunch with students and a public lecture at the Student Union, Munro related how his journey to find himself as a Queer, Black designer in the past also shaped potential futures for practice, teaching and life. Through poetic research, written scholarship, and visual art Munro questioned the often-unaddressed post-colonial relationship between design and marginalized communities. Munro bio

Nov. 18

Photography and Southeast Asia / History and Practice: The virtual symposium was the final of three in a series organized by Prof. Jeehey Kim. This symposium examined how photography in Southeast Asia is intertwined with the colonial history of the region, with European photographers opening their studios in local cities. Among other topics, iI addressed what impact the Vietnam War had on photographic practices in Asia. More details

Nov. 17

Myra Greene / VASE Lecture: In her presentation, “Underpinnings,” Greene shared the thoughts, processes and precedents that have influenced her artistic career as part of the School of Art’s Visiting Artists and Scholars Endowment (VASE) series. She talked about how she uses both photographic materials as well as hand-crafted textiles to articulate her thoughts about seeing, being and race. More details and Photos

Nov. 12

Art Days: High school students and their parents attended our Art Days at the School of Art. Profs. Jim Cook, Lawrence Gipe, Kelly Leslie, Martina Shenal and Karen Zimmermann reviewed students’ portfolios, while Profs. Carissa DiCindio and Sarah Moore gave presentations about the school’s Art & Visual Culture Education (AVCE) and Art History programs. Alumna Denise Angulo (the school’s administrative associate), Max Jackson (recruiting coordinator for the College of Fine Arts) and Maria Del Rocio Sanchez (assistant to director) also helped answer questions for students. Photos

Nov. 8-22

Place of Painting: Students in instructor Jonathan Marquis‘ ART 380B class held their reception on Nov. 17 for “The Place of Painting” at the Lionel Rombach Gallery. Students were Fatema Abizar, Joseph Barraza, Krysta Ellis, Linda M. Garcia Escobar, Julie Fan, Rachael Huffman, Sophia Laing, Jon Savarese, Ana Paula Monobe, Erika Elizabeth Moreno, Isabel Orozco-Anguiano, Casaundra Rodriguez, Gracie Thomas and Allisen Warner. More details and Photos

Nov. 3-5

Emerging Conversations: Grad students Napur Sachdeva and Meghan Hipple organized the 10th annual “Emerging Conversations,” for the school’s Art & Visual Culture Education program. This year’s hybrid event featured nearly 30 speakers with the theme, “(Un)framing Borders: sharing knowledge across boundaries of art, visual culture and education.” The virtual and in-person sessions included a presentation with School of Art Prof. Nicole Antebi and San Diego State Prof. Emerita Norma V. Iglesias-Prieto. They discussed “The Other Side of the Line: Tijuana-San Diego Crossed Gazes,” a trinational project; and Antebi’s co-created workshop, where she led children and dressmakers from Colonia Martin Lopez, Chihuahua, Mexico, in making puppets for a participatory stop motion animation.  More details and Photos.

Oct. 31-Nov. 1

Día de Muertos: Students, faculty and staff contributed to a beautiful offrenda outside the Fred Fox Faculty of Music to honor loved ones no longer with us. Art Prof. Carissa DiCindio and Music Prof. Gabriela Ocádiz organized the event, helping participants create their memorials in Art Room 241 with photos, flowers, colorful tissue paper, notes and candles. The ofrenda is an Indigenous pre-Hispanic tradition (primarily Aztec) that merged with Catholic beliefs and traditions during colonization in Mexico, but it continues to bring people together today to remember loved ones. Photos

Oct. 22

National Portfolio Day: Profs. Karen Zimmermann and Simon Hinchliffe reviewed high school students’ work — for four straight hours! — during National Portfolio Day at Mesa Community College. Max Jackson, recruiting coordinator for the College of Fine Arts; Wilma Pinedo, School of Art program coordinator; and graduate student Deb Ruiz also helped out at the event, which drew 20 art schools from across the nation. Photos

Oct. 13

Tarrah Krajnak / VASE Lecture: In her presentation, “On Photography, Visibility and Psychic Histories, Krajnak explained how she has used expanded forms of documentary practice to question the role of photography in shaping history. Spanning the political, personal, and institutional, she talked about her recent and ongoing projects, as well as how the role of educator continues to shape her studio practice, as part of the School of Art’s Visiting Artists and Scholars Endowment (VASE) series at the Center for Creative Photography. More details and Photos

Oct. 11

Lonnie Holley: The acclaimed artist gave a free art-making workshop to 20 students in Room 119 of the School of Art. Inspired by Holley’s assemblage sculptures on view at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in the exhibition “The Relevance of Your Data,” the artist led participants in creating individual and collectively-built sculptures using found and recycled materials. Holley’s critically admired art practice spans painting, drawing, assemblage sculpture, sandstone carvings, and performance that combines experimental music and poetry. His work is represented in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and many other museums. Photos

Sept. 29

Delivery Systems: The exhibition opened at the Joseph Gross Gallery. Sixteen artists from across the United States exhibited their work alongside the materials, mechanisms and collateral they used to ship that work to the gallery and plan their installation. Co-curators were  lydia see, the school’s gallery director, and Eli Blasko. The show ran through Nov. 18. Photos. The artists:

• Eric Charlton (he/him/his) Jackson, MS | ericdcharlton.com // @ric.charl
• Jaquelee Chit Yu Chau (she/her) Athens, OH |wixsite.com/home-en/ // @jaqueleec
• Chalet Comellas (she/her) Nashville, TN | chaletcomellas.com
• Morgan Hale (she/her) Brooklyn, NY | morgan-hale.com // @m.h.a.l.e
• Chantal Lesley (she/her) Cedar Park, TX | https://chantallesley.com/ // @chantallesley
• Michael Lorsung (he/him) Muncie, IN | http://www.justanassembler.com
• Joetta Maue (she/her) Somerville, MA | joettamaue.com // @joettamaue
• Annie Narrigan (none) Brooklyn, NY | annie-narrigan.com // @paper.cutes
• Julie Rae Powers (they/she) Brooklyn, NY | julieraepowers.com // @julieraepowers
• Diana Jean Puglisi (she/her)  Rutherford, NJ | dianapuglisi.com // @dianajpuglisi
• Catherine Reinhart (she/her) Ames, IA | catherinereinhart.com // @catherine_reinhart_studio
• Javier Robelo (he/him/his) Williamstown, MA | javierrobelo.com // @javierrrobelo
• Dale Small (they/them) Wichita, KS | dalesmall.com // @dalesmall
• Marisa Stratton (she/her) Arlington, VA | mariastratton.com // @marisareads
• Lex Turnbull (they/them/theirs) Asheville, NC | lexturnbull.com // @hahahahahahastop
• Emma Welty (she/they) Woodbury, CT | emmawelty.com // @emma_welty

Sept. 8

New Student Welcome: The School greeted first-year and transfer students at the School of Art courtyard and lobby, where faculty, staff and students enjoyed screen printing, crafts and snacks. Grad student Gabrielle Walter  — who created two cool bandana designs — helped students, along with Visiting Prof. Erin DiGiovanni and her 2D crew of grad students Deborah Ruiz and Jandey Shackelford and undergrad Nina Pida. Earlier at Holsclaw Hall, Director Colin Blakely, Ph.D. student Ricardo Chavez, academic adviser Ashley Rubin, Tioni Collins (Fine Arts Admin) and undergrads Kaila Hines and Danielle Hunt gave students an overview of the school. Dean Andy Schultz of the College of Fine Arts and faculty also welcomed students. Assistant Director Karen Zimmermann organized the event with help from Wilma Pinedo (program coordinator), David Huber (digital studio) and John Nelfs (photography). Photos

April 29

New Gallery Director: The School of Art announced that lydia see had been named the new Gallery Director and inaugural Joseph F. Gross Endowed Curator. She relocated to the desert from lower Appalachia (unceded Cherokee and Yuchi land). As an artist who works across making, teaching, and curatorial practice both in and outside the institution, lydia is passionate about the intersections of art and cultural labor with social justice and civic engagement. As a serial collaborator, most of lydia’s work relies on co-creative relationships with artistic and curatorial peers, students, and members of impacted communities. Recent exhibitions include Connecting Legacies: A First Look at the Dreier Black Mountain College Archive at Asheville Art Museum, Coco Villa: How to Turn Poison into a Meal at Elizabeth Holden Gallery, and Carolina Record Shop, an installation at Buncombe County Special Collections with Engaging Collections Resident Artist Honey Simone celebrating the Black cultural history and legacy of the region.

April 16-May 14

2022 Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition: Graduating MFA students presented their work at the Joseph Gross Gallery and University of Arizona Museum of Art, with a reception on April 21. The students:

• • Ariana Sturr – Installation photos

• • Daniel Newman – Installation photos

• • David Baboila – Installation photos

• • Kenni Dankert – Installation photos

• • Florence von Grote – Installation photos

• • Jesse Hinson

• • Olivia Richardson 

• • Perla Segovia Chumbez – Installation photos

• • Raven Moffett – Installation photos

• • Tehan Ketema 

• • Woodlin Latocki – Installation photos

• • Katie Watson – Installation photos

• • Venessa Ball – Installation photos

April 7-9

Photography and Taiwan / History and Practice: The virtual symposium was the second of three in a series organized by Prof. Jeehey Kim. This symposium examined how Japanese colonialism structured photographic practices and culture in Taiwan from 1895 to 1945.

March 30

Distinguished Alumni Award: The school and its Art Advisory Board honored alumna Julie Sasse (Ph.D. Art History and Education, ’13) at a reception at the Stevie Eller Dance Theater.

March 29

Ashurbanipal, P.T. Barnum, Royal Eunuchs and Fat-tailed Sheep: A virtual event, detailing the “Surprising Journey of a Fragmentary Sculpture from Ancient Mesopotamia to the Arizona State Museum,” feature Dr. Irene Bald Romano, curator of Mediterranean archaeology, professor of art history, anthropology, and affiliated faculty in the department of religious studies and classics.

March 14-April 5

BFA Exhibition: Featuring 135 works by 65 students, the exhibition was the first in-person show in the renovated Lionel Rombach Gallery and refreshed Joseph Gross Gallery in three years. The show, which takes place annually each spring semester to highlight the work of the school’s BFA studio and AVCE undergraduates, had its reception on March 31. See photos: Series 1 and Series 2 and Series 3 and Series 4 and Series 5.

Feb. 24-26

Photography and Korea / History and Practice: The virtual symposium was the first of three in a series organized by Prof. Jeehey Kim. This symposium examined the introduction of photography in Korea, which was considered part of an enlightenment effort by the royal court and the intelligentsia as it incorporated advances in scientific knowledge and technological developments.

Feb. 10

Analia Saban / VASE Lecture: The artist and scholar gave a comprehensive talk at the Center for Creative Photography about her art practice during the last 16 years, since her days as a graduate student until today. She spoke about her interest in materiality, technology, and how the history of materials influences Art History as part of the School of Art’s Visiting Artists and Scholars Endowment (VASE) series.