Cover art by Lauren Findlay BFA '14 (Multidisciplinary Fine Arts)

John Brickley BFA '15 (Illustration)

Dear UArts Alumni,

Happy New Year! I hope that you've had a great holiday season. At UArts, we are in the swing of an exciting spring semester.

This month, we're thrilled to officially welcome President David Yager to campus and the UArts community. We are also very happy to welcome Tracy E. Smith as the director of Alumni & Parent Relations. David and Tracy bring a wealth of experience and vision to our University. We look forward to all that they will bring to the lives of our students and to us, UArts alumni.

The Alumni Council has been busy laying the groundwork for future mentoring events by collaborating with student-run organizations and various departments around campus. This will be a special opportunity for participation for both students and alumni. Stay tuned for more details!

Finally, we are gearing up for the 7th Annual Art Unleashed Exhibition & Sale, a landmark event that raises necessary scholarship funds for UArts students. The event will feature pieces by UArts students, alumni, faculty and staff. Mark your calendars for April 7-11, 2016 -- you won't want to miss this opportunity to buy fabulous art and support UArts!

Warmly,

Natasha Goldstein-Levitas BFA '00 (Dance Education)

Chair, UArts Alumni Council

A spotlight on alumni using their creative passion in pursuit of alternative careers: David Oldham BM '01 (Music Performance)

Improvisation is the perfect description for David Oldham BM '01 (Music Performance). Twists and turns -- spontaneous jazz rhythms -- define David's life. As a child, his family moved constantly, eventually landing in Philadelphia. As a student at the Governor's School for the Arts, he turned his focus from the trumpet to the bass. After graduating from UArts, he pursued a master's degree in Creative Arts in Therapy at Drexel University and worked in education administration. Then his life skipped another beat. He became fascinated with forensic psychology and forensic law leading him to dual degrees in Higher Education Administration and Organizational Management resulting in a law degree. Music continued to inspire David, remaining a constant presence in his life. On his desk at Morgan Stanley where he specializes in compliance testing, David keeps a music manuscript notebook. He continues to compose and play, unable to imagine the legal career he has embraced without his musical training. "It's my sanity," he says.

David believes it's imperative to support young people who risk so much for what they love. Recently, he's become aware of the ways in which the performing arts build community. "I've attended extraordinary performances at UArts with diverse audiences, and I can see how people come together around the arts." David is a generous donor to UArts, in part because he is nostalgic, remembering his time here as the "best of my life." He believes that studying the arts is valuable for students in any career they decide to pursue. "I would be heartbroken if the University of the Arts could not continue to inspire new generations of students as the school inspired me."

RSVP

For more information or to buy your tickets, visit artunleashed.uarts.edu.

LANDMARKS

WONDERS NEVER CEASE

Award-winning illustrator Charles Santore BFA '56 (Illustration) helped mark the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by releasing a reprint of the original manuscript titled Alice's Adventures Under Ground. Published this fall featuring 40 of Santore's original pencil drawings, this special collector's edition offers a preview into what the completed watercolors will look like in the soon-to-be-published anniversary edition of the beloved classic.

THE FINEST ACHIEVEMENTS

"Beneath the Surface: Life, Death and Gold in Ancient Panama," a University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology exhibition created by Polly McKenna-Cress MFA '95 (Museum Exhibition Planning + Design), associate professor and director of the MEPD program, and Master Lecturer Richard Cress, was nominated for a 2015 Global Fine Art Award in the Best Ancient Art Exhibition category. The exhibit was nominated along with entries from the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Getty Museum.

IN THE SPOTLIGHT!

UArts alumni were among the top winners at the 2015 Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre, Philadelphia's most prestigious theater honors, announced in November. The ceremony was presented by Theatre Philadelphia on November 2 at the University's Merriam Theater.

Retired Brind School faculty member Johnnie Hobbs, Jr., who taught at UArts for more than 30 years, received the Lifetime Achievement Award, while Adjunct Assistant Professor and alumnus Ben Dibble BFA '00 (Musical Theater) was named Outstanding Leading Actor in a Musical for his role as George in "Herringbone."

Double nominee Campbell Meaghan O'Hare BFA '14 (Acting) took home the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Play for "Rapture, Blister, Burn," the Wilma Theater production that also earned a nomination for its director, Joanna Settle, head of the Brind School.

Other winners included ILL DOOTS, an eight-piece musical group made up of UArts alumni, who received the Outstanding Original Music award for "Hands Up: 6 Playwrights, 6 Testaments," and Brind School faculty member Matt Pfeiffer, who earned the Barrymore for Outstanding Direction of a Play for "The Whale."

INTERSECTIONS

A dialogue between two alumni, one established, one emerging,

whose work is making an impact on the arts around the world.

PICTURE THIS! A GENEROUS FOCUS

Peter Olson BFA '77 (Photography) Jess Landau BFA '14 (Photography)

She could not believe her eyes -- the trunk was empty. Jess Landau BFA '14 (Photography) was unloading her gear at her apartment in South Philly when she realized it had all disappeared: cameras, lenses, film, everything she used to create her art and earn her living. "The theft stopped all of my photographic activity," says Jess. She did not lose focus. Jess had fine art photography projects in progress and freelance jobs scheduled, but she needed to purchase a new camera to proceed.

When Peter Olson BFA '77 (Photography) learned of the theft through the UArts Alumni Relations Office, he looked up Jess's work. "She needs to be shooting," he thought. Olson is a successful commercial photographer and a talented fine artist. He felt a sense of connection to Jess -- both of their work engages in the superimposition of fine photographic images onto recognizable objects through innovative techniques.

A UArts family is nothing new to Peter. He met wife Penelope Malish BFA '77 (Graphic Design) during their studies; daughter Skye Malish-Olson MFA '14 (Museum Exhibition Planning + Design) is the exhibition designer at the Dallas Museum of Art and his son, Eno, is a third-year student in Industrial Design. It was only natural that Peter considered Jess a member of his extended UArts family, and he wanted to ensure that she could keep working. He invited Jess to his home and studio and offered her a Canon 5D Mark III, the camera she had longed for but had not been able to afford. "I sent him a message to thank him for welcoming me so warmly and letting me borrow the camera," she says. "The camera is yours," he responded. "I know she'd do the same for someone else in the future," he says.

The tools are necessary, Peter acknowledges, but photography is about a way of seeing. "That's the critical lesson I learned at UArts," he says. "Photography documents the experience of history," says Jess. "At UArts, I learned that artists can create social change." It's not hard to see why Peter and Jess are kindred spirits in how they reflect the University's commitment to the development of expert technical skills in the service of a unique creative vision. Many other UArts alumni and friends offered to help as well, including Jess's thesis advisor John Carlano BFA '78 (Photography) and Kat Stein BM '14 (Piano Performance), who organized a fundraiser to help replace the remaining stolen gear and accessories.

Jess is embarking on an exciting career that includes an exhibit at Blick Art Materials in Philadelphia. Peter, whose images are seen every day across the country, is an accomplished professional artist with more than 40 years' experience. Peter and Jess have more than a UArts education and extraordinary talent in common -- both believe that how we see the world matters.

Top: Story art by Jess Landau BFA '14 (Photography).

Please send all comments, kudos and criticism to alumni@uarts.edu.

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