News from the University of the Arts

May 2013

Art Unleashed 2013 Sets Fundraising, Attendance Records

Art Unleashed 2013 The fifth annual Art Unleashed exhibition and sale, held April 10 - 13 in Hamilton Hall, raised more than $400,000, a record amount that will benefit the Sam. S. McKeel Promising Young Artists Scholarship Fund. The Preview Party set another record, with more than 700 registered guests enjoying great art, food, wine and entertainment. With the diverse work of our talented students, alumni and faculty as a backdrop, this year's Art Unleashed Preview Party also featured performances by School of Music students in Solmssen Court and our bucket-drum ensemble Rumble, who welcomed guests from the Hamilton Hall steps. Rumble also participated with Dance students in pop-up performances across the city for several weeks prior to Art Unleashed, chronicled by students in the Film/Video program.

Playwright Douglas Carter Beane Headlines 135th Commencement

Tony Award-nominated playwright and screenwriter Douglas Carter Beane [right] ("Cinderella," "Sister Act," "Xanadu") will be the keynote speaker at the University of the Arts' 135th Commencement ceremony, taking place May 16 at Philadelphia's Academy of Music. Beane will also receive an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts, as will Professor Emeritus Kenneth Hiebert, an innovative designer and educator who founded the University's Graphic Design department. Silver Star Alumni Awards will be presented to Kate Flannery BFA '87 (Acting), who has starred for the past decade as Meredith on NBC TV's hit comedy "The Office," and Jayson Scott Musson BFA '02 (Photography), best known as his YouTube alter ego "Hennessy Youngman."

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PIFA 2013 Features UArts Students, Faculty, Alumni

University of the Arts students, faculty and alumni were prominently featured at the 2013 Philadelphia International Festival of the Arts (PIFA), a month-long, city-wide arts festival held March 28 - April 27. Students in the School of Music's Vox and OcTonics vocal ensembles performed at PIFA's weekly "A Cappella Night," while the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts premiered its collaborative work "Time Machine: The Lost Hour." This ambitious project, created in partnership with the Kimmel Center and Philadelphia Young Playwrights, was directed by Master Lecturer David Bradley and featured students from the "Approaches to Multi-Generational Theater-Making" class, as well as Brind School alumna Aimé Kelly BFA '09 (Acting). Also in the spotlight was work by Je Seok Koo '13 (Multimedia), who programmed one of three installations for PIFA's interactive Time Machine, central to the festival's "If You Had a Time Machine..." theme.

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Above right: PIFA Time Machine photo by J. Fusco for GPTMC.

Winners of Senior Ely Illustration Awards Announced

Promo posters by Grace O'Neill '13 (Illustration)

Illustration senior Grace O'Neill took the top prize in the 2013 William H. Ely Excellence in Illustration Awards for her Academy of Natural Sciences promotional posters (right). Rita Carroll '13 (Illustration) and Greg Wright '13 (Illustration) were named second and third place winners, respectively, while honorable mentions were awarded to David Curtis '13 (Illustration), Michael Bednar '13 (Illustration) and Heather Vaughan '13 (Illustration). Winners of this annual juried competition are chosen from among submissions by the entire class of graduating Illustration majors, whose work is displayed in the Ely Senior Illustration Thesis Exhibition.

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View images of all winning work on Facebook (no login required) >>

Sculpture Professor/Alumna to Teach in China

Laura Frazure BFA '86 (Sculpture), an adjunct associate professor in the University's Sculpture program, has been invited to train professors from the eight principal art schools in China this summer. She spent last summer as a visiting professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Frazure, who teaches "Structure of the Figure" and "The Body as Form" in the School of Art, will help the Chinese introduce anatomy into their art curriculum.