Alumni in the News

Pamela Ribon (BFA, Drama Production, 1997) has just released her latest novel, You Take It From Here. Pamela has written for several television comedies, most notably the Emmy Award-winning Samantha Who?. A national bestselling author, Pamela has adapted her popular novels for both film and television. She was an Oprah.com contributor, where her novel about divorce and roller derby, Going in Circles, was selected as an Oprah.com Book Club pick. She was also a flagship contributor to TelevisionWithoutPity.com. Using her loyal Internet fan base, Ribon sponsors book drives for libraries in need at DeweyDonationSystem.org. Visit her at pamie.com or follow her @pamelaribon.

Skye Ashbrook (BFA, Studio Art, 2012) will exhibit four videos of his work at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar location via co-production with Church of the Friendly Ghost on Sunday, July 22 at 9 pm.

Alumna Elizabeth Hill Boone (MA, Art History, 1974; Ph.D., Art History, 1977) was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and to the Academia Mexicana de la Historia, an affiliate of the Real Academia in Madrid, Spain.

Dr. Boone is currently the Martha and Donald Robertson Chair in Latin American Art at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Art and Art History alumnus Don Bacigalupi (Ph.D., Art History, 1993), was named one of AY Magazine's Powerful Men of 2012 in the Art category. Bacigalupi is currently the executive director of the Crystal Bridges Museum of Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.

He previously worked at the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio, the San Diego Museum of Art in San Diego, California, and the San Antonio Museum of Art in San Antonio, Texas.

This Friday, Gallery Black Lagoon will host the opening reception for Blurred Lines, their newest exhibition featuring multiple alumni from the College of Fine Arts. Cliona Gunter (BFA, 1989), David Lujan (BFA, 2008), and Stephen Schwake (Studio Art, 1999) are all participating in the exhibition featuring drawings and mixed media works.

Opening reception is Friday, July 13 from 7pm to 10pm. Exhibition runs through July 28 and is available for viewing Saturdays from 1pm to 5pm or by appointment. You can RSVP to the reception here.

Alumna Tamara Johnson (BFA, Studio Art, 2007), a graduate of the MFA program at the Rhode Island School of Design, recently curated a group exhibition as part of the NARS Foundation 2012 Emerging Curator Program. "Show Me Your Glands" will be available for viewing June 30 through July 29 in Brooklyn, NY at the NARS Foundation Gallery. Tamara Johnson will host a curator's talk in the gallery on Saturday, July 14 at 4 pm.

Additionally, Johnson is also curating and participating in a group alumni exhibition of RISD's MFA Sculpture department in NYC at the Rooster Gallery, opening July 12 and running until July 29. The opening reception will be Thursday, July 12 from 6 pm to 8 pm. 

Art and Art History Alumna Maxine Price (BFA, 1959) will be showing her work at the Bob Fowler Retrospective Benefit Sale and Silent Auction in Wimberley, Texas. Works will be available for viewing on Friday, July 6th from 5pm to 8pm and Saturday, July 7th from 10am to 3:30pm at the First Baptist Church. Maxine will be in attendance Friday from 5:30pm to 6:30pm signing posters featuring her painting. All proceeds from this sale and silent auction will go to the family of Bob Fowler, a late renowned artist who was killed in a tragic accident. 

Additionally, her work is now being represented in Dallas, Texas at the prestigious Blue Print Store. Started by five leading Dallas interior designers, the Blue Print Store features high-end furniture and original abstract art.

Art and Art History alum Dane Larsen (BFA, Studio Art, 2008) has joined with conceptual artist Scott Gleeson to create a new controversial Dallas-based public art project, Las Manos Negras (The Black Hands). Las Manos Negras is a grassroots initiative designed to facilitate communication between day laborers, contractors, and labor advocates and to empower workers to assert their legal and moral rights to social justice. To help further this project, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts has awarded Larsen and Gleeson a coveted 2012 Idea Fund Grant.

The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts awards ten $4,000 grants annually to support experimental public artworks. Las Manos Negras will use the grant funds to develop an audio archive of worker's narratives that have been recorded at varying Dallas construction site since August 2011. Workers stories will be available to the public through a bilingual proect website, www.lasmanosnegros.org.

In the coming weeks, Maxine Price, BFA '59, will be showing her contemporary original paintings in two Texas galleries. First, TASTE Wine + Art Kirchman Gallery in Johnson City is honoring Ms. Price from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 30 and again beginning at 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 8.  From July 14 through August 28, Ms. Price's work will be present at Art Fest Houston in Thornwood Gallery. http://www.thornwoodgallery.com/

On Friday, June 29th, alumna Thao Votang (BA, Art History, 2008) and her partner, Brian Willey, will reopen their gallery, Tiny Park, into a dedicated space at 1101 Navasota Street in Austin, Texas.

The opening will coincide with the opening of "Greatest Hits", a group exhibition featuring all of the artists previously featured in their home-based gallery. Featured artists include Michael Sieben, Sam Prekop, Deborah Stratman, Miguel Aragon, PJ Raval, Nick Brown, Leah Haney, David Culpepper, Stephanie Serpick and Rob Lomblad.

A reception will be held June 29th from 7pm to 11pm and the exhibition runs through July 28th. Viewing of the exhibition is available from 12pm to 5pm on Saturdays and by appointment.