Yaqui artist Augustine Fernando Lopez, a Photography/Video/Imaging graduating senior, presented his project “The Silent Distress” (photo, above) in regards to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG), and boarding school epidemics, on Dec. 8 the CESL Auditorium. A reception followed in the Arizona State Museum lobby. Watch the presentation

Amanda Lipp, an Art History major, was named the Outstanding Senior for fall 2022 by the entire College of Fine Arts and the School of Art. The undergrad student, who minored in Art and Visual Culture Education, earned accolades for her research into the Mexican talavera jar (photo, above) and the history of all-women art exhibitions. “This is the kind of research practice we expect of our grad students,” Professor Stacie Widdifield said. Read Story

Ryann Squires was named the spring 2002 Outstanding Senior for the School of Art and College of Fine Arts. From her nomination letter, “Ryann is the finest art history undergraduate major the current faculty has had the pleasure of teaching and mentoring in recent memory. Professor Paul Ivey affirms she has the potential to be one of the best of visual scholars of her generation. Ryann has shown an exemplary commitment to social justice issues, especially LGBTQ+, women’s rights, and civil rights, displayed in nearly every research paper she has written and in her extracurricular activities.” More details

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 event, Nov. 3-5, featured nearly 30 speakers with the theme, “(Un)framing Borders: sharing knowledge across boundaries of art, visual culture and education.” More details and Photos.

Senior Erika Tenorio saw one of her designs chosen by the university’s Indigenous Cats Association to mark Indigenous People’s Day on Oct. 10. Tenorio, who hails from three indigenous cultures, read the Land Acknowledgement at the Pima County Board of Supervisors’ Nov. 15 meeting. Tenorio, a double major in Studio Art Illustration and Latin American Studies, is honoring her heritage and grandmother with her art. Read story

MFA student Jacqueline Arias, an artist and filmmaker, saw her short documentary, “Panama Narratives,” featured in the Arizona Underground Film Festival on Sept. 18 at The Screening Room downtown. Read story 

MFA candidate and illustrator Woodlin Latocki had only just begun to dip her toes in the world of animation when she was approached to animate the next Wonder video for the University of Arizona brand campaign. Latocki used rotoscoping – tracing over live-action footage frame-byframe — to make School of Dance alumnus Taylor Bradley’s performance video come to life in animation, earning a Creative Achievement Award.

Grad students Jacqueline Arias and Mariel Miranda were selected by the Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry as awardees for the Border Lab Graduate Fellowship program, made possible with funding from the Office of the Provost and University of Arizona HSI Initiatives. This program aims to advance the mission of the Border Lab initiative, an effort to develop the university’s U.S. and Mexico borderland studies and research. “With the support granted by this fellowship I will be able to activate a series of science fiction workshops at Tijuana in the neighborhood where I grew up and lived in since 1993,” said Miranda.

Amber Coleman, a doctoral student studying art and visual culture education, was committed to sharing the kinds of stories that too often don’t get told. Coleman worked on passion projects illustrating the histories of Tucson’s Dunbar school and the Buffalo Soldiers as part of her role as a student developer with the Center for Digital Humanities.

K. Lynn Robinson, a third-year PhD student, was selected from a list of distinguished graduate students as a recipient of the 2022-23 Dr. Maria Teresa Velez Diversity Leadership Scholarship. This award is given annually to a doctoral student at the University of Arizona who has demonstrated a commitment to furthering diversity in education, higher education, and the community at large. Read story

Molly Kalkstein, Ph.D. candidate in art history and the Marti and Ed Slowik Curatorial Intern, curated a gallery in the UAMA exhibition “The Art of Food: From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” which featured the entire exhibition “A Book Like Hundred Flower Garden: Walasse Ting’s 1¢ LIFE.”

BFA students Grace Ryne and Ellenor Spenser were selected to design a mural as part of a national team competing in the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Solar District Cup. The mural is part of an on-going Solar Commons Project with Professor Ellen McMahon and alums Dorsey Kaufmann and Karlito Miller Espinosa. The community research project aims to bring solar energy to underserved populations.

Artist and educator Anupam Singh joined the 2021-22 cohort for the prestigious University Fellows program. Singh is a PhD student studying Art History and Education with a focus on Art and Visual Cultural Education. Prior to Tucson, Singh was teaching English.

The school welcomed first-year student Emily Miu in the fall. Miu received scholarships after attending the @visionsteens program offered by @scottsdalearts. “The scholarship opportunities I gained from this program made me change my major in college and goals for my academic future,” Miu said. More details

Lauren Paun, who graduated in the spring with her BFA in Art & Visual Culture Education (emphasis on Community and Museums) and 3D Art, was a student employee in the School of Art for two years, working with social media accounts. More details

Adri Boudrieau, a triple major in Art History, Classics and Anthropology, was named the College of Humanities Outstanding Senior of spring 2022. More details

Collaborations

In the 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 from April 16 to May 14, with a reception on April 21. The students:

Students in instructor Jonathan Marquis’ ART 380B class held their exhibition, “The Place of Painting,” at the Lionel Rombach Gallery from Nov. 9 to Nov. 22. 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

Prof. Marcos Serafim’s Fall ART 349 students producedDE/COMPOSITIONAL LOGIC on Dec. 8 at The Loft Cinema — a free screening of selected works from Artists’ Video 2022. The students were: Lizzie Bell, Kimberly Calles, Mckenzie Campas, Amber Cole, Dietz, Ary Frank, Tucker Grams, Kendall Grant, Stuart Kieren, Stasia Mazza, Yesenia Meraz, Tanya Robles, Quinn Standley and Ariana Valencia. De/compositional Logic included bursts of delirium, ambiguous explorations of feeling and perception, altered physical and mental states, and expositions of the alluring, decomposing pollution of the capitalist spectacle. What follows is the possibility of engagement with the moving image as a critical tool, as an extension of our mind-bodies, and as a subject that impacts culture.

Prof. Nicole Antebi’s Fall Animation 1 students worked on several projects, including a character turnaround and xxxxxxxx. The students were: Truman Adams, Kayla Bradshaw, Kiana Chan, Isaac Davis, Isabella DeFine, Kaya Glasner, Rene Harter, John Konrad, Malaquias Palacios, Madai Palacios, Alisha Stadler, Jihye Tak, Saedi Wadman and Maya Wong.

FASO, an exhibition created for Grad Critique, led by Prof. Lawrence Gipe, held its reception on Nov. 18 at the Graduate Gallery. Student artists: Student artists: Austin Caswell, Galen Dara, Drew Grella, Tessa Laslo, Deborah Ruiz, Vanessa Saavedra and Mehraveh Vahediyan.

Prof. Nicole Antebi’s spring motion arts students were so enthralled by the ants during their class visit to Biosphere 2 that they created a short film, “Who Put These Ants in my Biosphere?”. The animated film is shown from the perspective of an ant colony exploring Biosphere 2 and was screened at The Loft Cinema for the School of Theatre, Film & Television’s Magic Hour. Eight motion arts students were then selected to dive deeper into focused animation work that reflects Biosphere 2 and Arizona Institutes for Resilient Ecosystems and Societies (AIRES) research through a Science in Motion 2022 Summer Residency in Animation. Students included Caroline Berkey, Andrea Flores, Sharon Grumbles, Ashley Gutierrez, Danielle Hunt, Kat McGee, Robin Silverman and Gabe Spencer.

Featuring 135 works by 65 students, the BFA exhibition March 14 to April 5 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.