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Home › News & Events › News › UT-Austin names alumna Varela early career fellow

UT-Austin names alumna Varela early career fellow

November 7, 2022

University of Arizona School of Art master’a alumna Bella Maria Varela has been named a prestigious Early Career Fellow at the University of Texas at Austin as part of its Expanding Approaches to American Arts initiative.

For the next two years, the 2021 Master of Fine Arts graduate in Photo, Video and Imaging will receive research funding, studio space and robust mentorship at UT-Austin to help prepare for a career in academia.

Varela moved to El Paso, Texas, after graduation to attend the Border Art Residency (BAR), where she helped establish a new arts and philosophy program — Transformative Learning Communities — in elChamizal, a barrio on the U.S.-Mexico Border.

Bella Maria Varela

The artist uses video and cultural objects to explore the intersections of immigration, sexuality and gender identity. At UT-Austin, her teaching focuses on combining found objects, digital, photography, green screen performances, and experimental video into non-traditional and virtual classroom environments to guide students to explore their relationship with space, culture and community.

“We are thrilled to welcome Bella . . . into our community of artists and scholars,” said Raquel Monroe, a College of Fine Arts associate dean at UT-Austin. “(Her) curiosity and transdisciplinary methodologies are inspiring.”

Varela, whose parents were Guatemalan immigrants, grew up in inner-city Washington D.C. At the University of Arizona, Varela served as a facilitator with the Common Ground Alliance and QTPOC (Queer and Trans People of Color). Using photography, video and installation work, Varela’s artwork explored her identity as a first-generation Latinx women exploring and reclaiming American landscapes.

“I cut and reconfigure iconic material to skewer mainstream anti-immigration rhetoric, subvert the appropriation of Latinx culture and queer mythologies of Americanness,” Varela said.

Her practice is rooted in the resourceful legacy of immigrant hustlers, which has compelled her to not only collect but also corrupt and alter found objects and images to amplify the power dynamics inherent within it.

In April 2022, during her Border Art Residency in El Paso, she presented a mixed media installation at a Las Cruces, New Mexico, gallery entitled “@Border Becky,” which she also exhibited at the University of Arizona Museum of Art during her studies. It combined photography and two videos with fleece blanket assemblages to explore the intersection of immigration and gender identity through the lens of contemporary pop culture and mass media.

At the University of Arizona, she received first place in the 5 Minute Film Festival at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) Tucson for her work titled “Triathlon” and was accepted into the Mellon-Fronteridades Graduate Fellowship Program. Varela attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, where she majored in Mass Communication and minored in Photography. After receiving her undergrad degree, she returned to Washington to serve as a museum assistant at the Phillips Collection, assistant manager at the Renwick Gallery Store, and as arts program coordinator with All Our Kids DC.

 

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University of Arizona School of Art
16 hours ago
University of Arizona School of Art

Congrats to new Assistant Professor Jenn Liv, who was awarded the Silver Medal in the advertising category for this year's Society Of Illustrators 66th Annual Competition. She was honored for a three-color risograph illustration series commissioned by the Japanese airline All Nippon Airways and art directed by VIRTUE NY. She'll receive the award this spring at a ceremony in New York. Go to www.jennliv.com/ and Jenn Liv Illustration to see more of Jenn's work. Arizona Arts The University of Arizona University of Arizona Museum of Art All Nippon Airways ... See MoreSee Less

Congrats to new Assistant Professor Jenn Liv, who was awarded the Silver Medal in the advertising category for this years Society Of Illustrators 66th Annual Competition. She was honored for a three-color risograph illustration series commissioned by the Japanese airline All Nippon Airways and art directed by VIRTUE NY. Shell receive the award this spring at a ceremony in New York. Go to https://www.jennliv.com/ and Jenn Liv Illustration to see more of Jenns work. Arizona Arts The University of Arizona University of Arizona Museum of Art All Nippon AirwaysImage attachmentImage attachment+5Image attachment
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University of Arizona School of Art
2 days ago
University of Arizona School of Art

Come work with us! The School of Art is conducting searches for FOUR faculty positions. Click on the links below to apply.

2D Printmaking: arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/18304?c=Arizona

First Year Experience (FYE): arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/18306?c=arizona

Art & Visual Culture Education (AVCE): arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/18305?c=arizona

Illustration, Design & Animation (IDA): arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/18307?c=arizona

Arizona Arts University of Arizona Museum of Art The University of Arizona
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Come work with us! The School of Art is conducting searches for FOUR faculty positions. Click on the links below to apply. 

2D Printmaking: https://arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/18304?c=Arizona

First Year Experience (FYE): https://arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/18306?c=arizona

Art & Visual Culture Education (AVCE): https://arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/18305?c=arizona

Illustration, Design & Animation (IDA): https://arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/18307?c=arizona

Arizona Arts University of Arizona Museum of Art The University of Arizona
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University of Arizona School of Art
2 days ago
University of Arizona School of Art

KVOA-TV, the local NBC affiliate, profiled our "Clients in the Community" class yesterday! www.kvoa.com/video/ua-students-paints-mural-at-bnai-brith-covenant-house/video_45d8b73e-c3c9-55bf...

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UA students paints mural at B'nai B'rith Covenant House

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Click here to view this video from kvoa.com.
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University of Arizona School of Art
3 days ago
University of Arizona School of Art

Associate Professor Kelly Leslie and students in her "Clients in the Community" class continued to paint a desert mural this afternoon 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, so look out for their stories! Read more at tinyurl.com/SOAmural

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Associate Professor Kelly Leslie and students in her Clients in the Community class continued to paint a desert mural this afternoon at the Bnai Brith 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, so look out for their stories! Read more at https://tinyurl.com/SOAmural

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University of Arizona School of Art
3 days ago
University of Arizona School of Art

For one show only, 17 undergraduate students studying at the University of Arizona School of Art will present “Folding” – a compilation of short video artworks produced in the Fall of 2023. "Folding" explores visual and emotive reverberations in video, tracing the intricate contours of time, space and the human experience.

Under the mentorship of artist and Photography, Video and Imaging professor Sama Alshaibi, the students produced all the technical, aesthetic, and conceptual components in their final projects. “Folding” is a realization of a semester of storyboarding, performance, lighting, shooting, editing and scoring. The themes explored include motherhood, fatherhood, memory, abandonment, separation, displacement, boundaries, identity, discrimination, depression, trauma, discipline, limits and overcoming.

Join us at the Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway, Dec 13, 2023
12 pm -2 pm

Free and open to the public. (Dir. by Various, 2023, USA, approximately 100 mins, not rated)

All videos were produced in 2023.

Artists:
Jaime Abarca “A Heart and Wild Tongue”
Sara Apostolik “How Do You Recall the Past 5 Years?”
Mallory Barry “Drain”
Sylvia Bermudez “Set Myself Free”
Rew Charoensiri “Problem of Being a Minority in America”
Tyler Dunham “Approaching Discipline”
Braden Hale “Gifts from Dad”
Jesus Hernandez “Y La Novia?”
Ananya Kommu “In the Between”
Sofia Maldonado “Untitled”
Belen Muro “Displacement”
Nicholas Owen “Vacant”
Genevieve Schroeder “Holding Lightly”
Lexy Scott “Preserves”
Rose Singdee “White Noise”
Haejee Stolz “Touchable Music”
Brooks Thibault “Distant”

Photo credit: Belen Muro.

Arizona Arts The University of Arizona Center for Creative Photography The Loft Cinema
... See MoreSee Less

For one show only, 17 undergraduate students studying at the University of Arizona School of Art will present “Folding” – a compilation of short video artworks produced in the Fall of 2023. Folding explores visual and emotive reverberations in video, tracing the intricate contours of time, space and the human experience.

Under the mentorship of artist and Photography, Video and Imaging professor Sama Alshaibi, the students produced all the technical, aesthetic, and conceptual components in their final projects. “Folding” is a realization of a semester of storyboarding, performance, lighting, shooting, editing and scoring. The themes explored include motherhood, fatherhood, memory, abandonment, separation, displacement, boundaries, identity, discrimination, depression, trauma, discipline, limits and overcoming.

Join us at the Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway, Dec 13, 2023
12 pm -2 pm

Free and open to the public. (Dir. by Various, 2023, USA, approximately 100 mins, not rated)

All videos were produced in 2023.

Artists:
Jaime Abarca “A Heart and Wild Tongue”
Sara Apostolik “How Do You Recall the Past 5 Years?”
Mallory Barry “Drain”
Sylvia Bermudez “Set Myself Free”
Rew Charoensiri “Problem of Being a Minority in America”
Tyler Dunham “Approaching Discipline”
Braden Hale “Gifts from Dad”
Jesus Hernandez “Y La Novia?”
Ananya Kommu “In the Between”
Sofia Maldonado “Untitled”
Belen Muro “Displacement”
Nicholas Owen “Vacant”
Genevieve Schroeder “Holding Lightly”
Lexy Scott “Preserves”
Rose Singdee “White Noise”
Haejee Stolz “Touchable Music”
Brooks Thibault “Distant”

Photo credit: Belen Muro.

Arizona Arts The University of Arizona Center for Creative Photography The Loft Cinema
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University of Arizona School of Art
1 week ago
University of Arizona School of Art

Congrats to School of Art senior Grayson Agrella, who has been named a Centennial Achievement Undergraduate Award recipient — one of the highest honors a student can achieve at the University of Arizona. Grayson, a triple major in Art History, Anthropology and French, will be recognized Tuesday by the Dean of Students Office at a luncheon.

“Grayson is one of those rare intellects … who has impressed the Art History faculty with the depth of his passion for the arts and his achievement in every class,” wrote School of Art History Professors Irene Bald Romano and Paul Ivey, who nominated Agrella for the award. “He has made a strong commitment to LGBTQ+ rights and issues — profoundly expressed in his research.” tinyurl.com/SOAgrayson

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Senior Agrella receives prestigious Centennial Achievement Award – School of Art

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Senior Agrella receives prestigious Centennial Achievement Award November 30, 2023 By Michael Chesnick School of Art Senior Grayson Agrella, a triple major in Art History, Anthropology and French whos...
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Congratulations, Grayson!!

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