Alumni in the News

John Sigmund has been hired as the new Manager of National Programs with the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers in New York, which administers The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

Lisa Becker will launch the grand opening of the new CU Art Museum on September 24th, a project she been working on for many years in beautiful Boulder, CO. Becker was recently honored by the Advisory Board who raised the naming funds and chose to name the lobby/entrance hall of the new CU Art Museum in Becker’s honor.

Becker has been very busy with a superb but small staff, planning and mounting inaugural exhibitions in the museum’s five new galleries. In addition to the galleries, the new museum also includes state-of-the-art collections storage, a collection study center, an education/workshop room and wonderful exhibition preparation facilities.

In addition to the new museum building, the new Visual Arts Complex also includes a second building with 165,000 square feet of studio and teaching space for the Department of Art and Art History at CU’s campus, and a large auditorium beneath the new CU Art Museum.

John Hopkins (Ph.D., ’10) was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Getty Research Institute to write a book on the genesis of Roman architecture and its effects on Roman art and society. Hopkins will be in residence at the Getty through 2011. John was also awarded the UT Outstanding Dissertation Award for the best dissertation in the Humanities and Fine Arts, a first for the Department of Art and Art History.

Melissa Recalde (M.F.A., ’10), recently graduated from UT and from her position as a voice coach through the Voice Studies Program. After graduating, Recalde was cast as an actor in Bug at Hyde Park Theatre, worked as a voice coach at Southwestern University for a summer theatre camp, and signed with The Atherton Group Talent Agency for commercial, television, and film in Texas.

Recalde’s immediate goals are to move to Los Angeles to begin working as an actor in television and film; and, Recalde would like to work in a university, magnet school, or studio setting to teach acting and voice.

Raymond Uhlir (B.F.A, ’02) recently showed work from his painting and drawing series Relatively Epic along with new work by fellow UT alum, Faith Gay, at D. Berman Gallery in Austin, Texas.

Sikes’ artwork will be on display from July 14 – Aug. 23 at Laguna Gloria’s Gatehouse Gallery, 3809 West 35th Street, Austin, TX. A reception will be held on July 22, 2010 from 6:00- 8:00 p.m. Gallery hours are 11:00 a.m- 3:00 p.m., Monday- Friday

Robert Schenkkan (B.F.A. in Drama, ’75) received two Emmy Award nominations for Best Writing, Miniseries for his work on The Pacific. The World War II drama tracks the intertwined real-life journeys of three U.S. Marines across the vast canvas of the Pacific Theater. The Pacific received a total of 24 Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Miniseries.

Schenkkan is the author of The Kentucky Cycle, Tony Award nominee and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In addition to his artistic achievements, Schenkkan has been recognized as a UT Distinguished Young Alumnus, and is a member of the Friar Society. Schenkkan is co-writer on episodes 4, 6, 8 and 10, and co-producer on all 10 episodes of The Pacific.

David Cloyd’s (B.M., ’98) second album, I Could Disappear, follows on the national success of his debut effort, Unhand Me, You Fiend!, delivering a powerful collection of performances unlike any in his past—solo, in the studio. Visit Cloyd’s new web site to learn about his albums and merchandise.

Mark Van Stone (Ph.D., ’05) has written a new book, 2012 – Science and Prophecy of the Ancient Maya. It is a full-color, 170-page book inspired by Maya inscriptions, astronomical knowledge, math, and myth. Van Stone has spent the last several years researching “What the ancient Maya actually said about 2012.” The result is based entirely on science, archaeology, decipherment, and PreColumbian art. To make this arcane material as accessible as possible, he examines aspects of this phenomenon in 38 short, digestible essays, which one can read in any order.

Constance Cortez (B.A., ’81; M.A., ’86) was granted tenure and promotion to Associate Professor at Texas Tech University in April 2009. She has two volumes coming out in September 2010: “Carmen Lomas Garza” (UCLA, A Ver Series) and a co-edited volume (with John Beusterien) “Death and the Afterlife in the Early Modern Hispanic World” (University of Minnesota Press, Hispanic Issues On-Line). She is currently co-organizing the 2nd Triennial for the Association of Latin American Art with Virginia Fields. The symposium will be held November 12-14 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.