Alumni in the News

Thao Votang (B.A., 2008, Art History), along with Brian Willey are opening Tiny Park, a new exhibition series and art space located at 607 1/2 Genard Street in Austin, TX. Their first exhibition will open on Friday, September 9 from 7-11 pm and feature works by Miguel Aragon (current M.F.A. student).

Aragon’s work was recently included in New Art in Austin: 15 to Watch at the Austin Museum of Art. Miguel will present works from a series that addresses, with a quiet and ghostly beauty, the violent drug war in Juarez.

The exhibition runs through September 24, 2011, and will be available for viewing 12 pm - 5 pm on Saturdays and by appointment.

ART LAB Contemporary Art Space presents works by Andrea Munoz Martinez (B.A., Studio Art, 2011) at Second Friday in Downtown Uvalde, Texas.  Borderlandia: Yo Soy La Cucaracha opens with performances, paintings, videos, food and dancing at Second Friday, August 12, 2011 at 227 N. Getty in Uvalde, Texas from 6 to 9 p.m.

Rebecca Hewett (M.A. 2004, Ph.D. 2010) has been awarded a 2011 American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Public Fellow at the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) as a Cultural Programs Specialist. The Public Fellows program is an ACLS initiative placing recent Ph.D.s in staff positions at partnering agencies in government and the non-profit sector, aiming to demonstrate that the capacities developed in the advanced study of the humanities have wide application, both within and beyond.

Following the release and success of recording artist David Cloyd’s (B.M., Music Performance, 1998) second album, I Could Disappear, Cloyd has been named Vice President of New York City record label Engine Company Records. While Cloyd is currently writing material for his next album, he and ECR are releasing a new worldwide single in August 2011, available on iTunes, Amazon, eMusic, and everywhere else music is sold. Visit the ECR website at www.EngineCompanyRecords.com for more information.

After returning from Iraq with what he describes as a foot "demolished" by gunfire, Robert Lee Aiken III (B.F.A., Studio Art, 2011) turned to art as a means of dramatizing the plight of fellow veterans. On July 4, 2011, Aiken was invited to lead attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance at an Independence Day celebration in College Station. There, he and his family were surprised with a new home thanks to Operation Finally Home. The home was in appreciation for his service to his country.

In February and March of 2011, UT COFA alumnus Ben Aqua (B.F.A., Design, 2005) was selected to be University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's inaugural artist-in-residence at their gallery space Figure One, in collaboration with the School of Art and Design’s annual lecture series. Aqua gave a public lecture to students and faculty, ran a hands-on portrait photography workshop with 12 university students, and continued his ongoing series of photographic portraits of local personalities while in Champaign. Aqua also participated in local outreach opportunities, including a presentation and interactive portrait demonstration with an AP Studio Art class at a local high school.

At the end of the residency and workshop, Aqua and his students collaborated on an exhibition of new works created during the workshop at Figure One.

Eric Vera (B.F.A., Theatre Studies, 2008) has just been named the Executive Artistic Director of The Camille Playhouse in Brownsville, Texas. It is a wonderful opportunity for Vera, as he returns to his hometown and leads the theatre that was integral to his early education.

Vera recently served on the Department of Theatre and Dance alumni committee for The Fantasticks 50th Anniversary. You can learn more about him on the alumni spotlight.

Fred Jones (B.A., Theatre and Dance, '08) and his acting partner, Paul Marino, were recently featured by The Wall Street Journal Online.  They are combing the subway lines underneath the streets of New York City in an interesting form of guerilla theatre – two-man scenes from Shakespeare.

Katherine Crawford Luber (M.A., Art History, ’85) has been appointed as the new director of the San Antonio Museum of Art.  She will begin her new position on July 1, 2011.  Katherine taught in the Department of Art and Art History from 1992 to 1993. 

Mel McCombie (Ph.D., Art History, ’92) was named a Fulbright Scholar for 2011-2012 to the American University in Cairo's American Studies Program. She is the first art historian to be awarded this fellowship.