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MEET OUR 2018 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI
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The College of Visual and Performing Arts
is pleased to announce the
2018 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients:
School of Art K
yle Webster BFA '99
School of Dance
Tiffany Rhynard BA '98
School of Music Vanessa Cornett-Murtada DMA '04
Jonathan Green DMA '92
School of Theatre Joseph Forbes BFA '76
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Kyle T. Webster is an international award-winning illustrator, living in North Carolina, who has drawn for The New Yorker, TIME, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Entertainment Weekly, Scholastic, ADOBE, Nike, IDEO, and many other distinguished editorial, advertising, publishing and institutional clients.
His illustration work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators, Communications Arts, and American Illustration. In 2009 and 2010, Kyle created two top 50 iPhone games.
He is known throughout the world as the founder of KyleBrush.com, the brand behind the world's best-selling Photoshop brushes for professional illustrators, animators, and designers. His brushes were the first to be officially licensed by Adobe for inclusion in the Adobe library of tools for Photoshop and Photoshop Sketch (iPad).
Kyle also currently teaches Life Drawing, Portraiture, and Digital Painting at the UNC School of the Arts.
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Tiffany Rhynard is an artist, dancer, and filmmaker compelled to make work that examines the consequences of human behavior in an effort to spark a conversation about current social justice issues. Her dance films have screened at festivals nationwide including ScreenDance Miami where she was awarded the First Prize for Invisible Queens(2015) and the jury prize for Black Stains (2018).
Rhynard's award winning documentary, Forbidden: Undocumented and Queer in Rural America, received a 2018 Television Academy Honor for its airing on LogoTV in partnership by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Forbidden was awarded the first ever Social Justice Film Award from the Southern Poverty Law Center, received the Freedom Award from Outfest Film Festival, and was featured on American Airlines as part of their summer 2017 Pride campaign for LGBTQ advocacy.
Rhynard holds a B.A. in Dance from UNC Greensboro, and an M.F.A. in Choreography from The Ohio State University, and currently teaches Dance and Technology in the School of Dance at Florida State University in Tallahassee.
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Vanessa Cornett-Murtada is the Director of Keyboard Studies and Associate Professor of
Piano and Piano Pedagogy at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis-St. Paul. She teaches
undergraduate and graduate courses in piano performance, piano pedagogy, piano literature, and
directed research.
A founding member of the St. Thomas Project for Mindfulness and Contemplation,
she also teaches honors seminars and faculty development workshops on mindfulness. She is a
scholar of performance psychology, contemplative practices in higher education, and performance
anxiety management for musicians.
Dr. Cornett is author of the forthcoming book The Mindful Musician: Mental Skills for Peak Performance
(Oxford University Press, spring 2019). The former Senior Editor of Clavier Companion, she now
oversees the magazine's regular column, "Healthy Playing, Healthy Teaching."
Dr. Cornett earned her DMA in piano performance from UNCG, and a B.M. in piano performance
and M.M. in piano pedagogy from West Virginia University. While in Greensboro, she taught at
UNCG, North Carolina A&T State University, and the Music Academy of North Carolina.
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Jonathan D. Green, is a native of upstate New York. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree
from the State University of New York at Fredonia in 1985 studying voice with David Evans.
He
received a Master of Music from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1987 as an Ornest
Fellow studying voice with Jon Humphrey and Dorothy Ornest and composition with Robert Stern
and Salvatore Macchia. He participated in a summer programs at Oxford University's Trinity College
and the Music School of Chautauqua Institution.
He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in
conducting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1992 where he was a University
Excellence Fellow. At UNCG, he studied conducting with Bill Carroll, Richard Cox, and Robert Gutter
and composition with Eddie Bass.
Prior to being named President at Susquehanna, he served as provost and dean of the faculty at
Illinois Wesleyan University for six years and prior to that he spent 15 years at Sweet Briar College in
VA, the last eight years of that service as Dean of the College and Vice President for Academic Affairs.
At Sweet Briar, he received the Excellence in Teaching award, and at Illinois Wesleyan he was named
the first recipient of the Outstanding Advisor Award.
Green is an award-winning composer of over 150 musical works and the author of seven reference
books.
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Joseph Forbes
has had a long career as a professional Scenic Artist working in New York on projects ranging
from theatre, ballet, film, television, to theme parks, restaurant interiors and permanent displays.
Joe started at Nolan's Scenery Studio, painting on many of the iconic productions of that era; Annie,
Cats, A Chorus Line and Evita
. His credits in film are Ghost Busters, Crocodile Dundee, The Money Pit,
and The Old Gringo (starring Gregory Peck and Jane Fonda).
In 1994, Forbes founded Scenic Art
Studios, which has become the premier scene painting studio for Broadway shows. The company
has painted over 300 Broadway productions, including many Tony award winning shows such as
Carousel, Once on This Island, SpongeBob and The Band's Visit.
Joe founded the Studio and Forum of Scenic Art in 2004 a non-for-profit school. Joe modeled the
School after the legendary Polakov Studio (formally known as The Studio and Forum of Stage
Design) which was run by the designer and teacher Lester Polakov from 1958-1993. Working closely
with the students is important to Joe - not only critiquing their work, but teaching them how to think
about their skills, from going over story and plot points, the physical space they have to work with
and more.
"Paying it forward" is a quote Joe follows and he "pays it forward" every chance he gets, including
but not limited to donating backdrops to a company called Unshattered, a social enterprise
employing women who are winning their fight against addiction.
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CHINA:
CVPA'S EAST-WEST CONNECTION GROWS
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Associate Dean Lawrence Jenkens has a busy travel schedule this month in China and Korea. His trip to China, with stops in Beijing, Shanghai, Wuxi, Nanjing, Shenzhen and Chengdu, is intended to engage with our partner universities there.
In Beijing he will meet with faculty at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) to discuss an exchange of faculty exhibitions in 2020 and sign an MOU with the Beijing Dance Academy, marking the beginning of what we think will be a terrifice relationship with the later.
Lawrence is meeting with UNCG bound art students at East China Normal University and lecturing on art in Renaissance Rome in Chengdu. His trip ends up in Seoul, South Korea, where we hope to partner with Sangmyung University on student and faculty exchanges.
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WASHINGTON, DC:
CVPA'S NEW FRONTIER FOR ARTS TRIPS
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For the past five years, Dean Peter Alexander, working with the staff, has taken CVPA donors and other friends of the College, including many university trustees, on a spring trip to New York for events featuring our alumni - Broadway shows, Metropolitan Opera House Performances and the Theatre Industry Showcase with our soon-to-be theatre graduates.
This year, the College launched a new arts trip to Washington DC. Friends of CVPA explored the Phillips Collection, Glenstone Museum and the National Gallery of Art. They also took in a performance of the National Symphony at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and had a talkback with a recent graduate of our Arts Administration program, Thomas Breeden, who is the communications associate for The Richmond Forum and has launched a podcast
"Artists at Work"
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NEW YORK CITY:
SCHOOL OF DANCE SHOWING
& ARTS ALUMNI BRUNCH
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School of Theatre Director Janet Lilly and Professor Duane Cyrus took a group of students to New York in October for a rehearsal and an evening showcase that combined UNCG students and students from the NYU Dance Program.
The piece they re-staged, Freedom of Information Section III by Arnie Zane and Bill T. Jones, will be performed at Fall Dances on November 16 and 17 at UNCG.
While in NYC, the students also took special dance classes, visited MoMA and saw Sankora Danzatro at The Joyce Theatre.
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Also in New York last month....
Alumni from all arts disciplines and class years attended a CVPA lunch where they reminisced and networked and enjoyed large servings of laughter and great Italian food. See more photos here.
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ALUMNI NEWS AND NOTES
Alumni news and notes are compiled from individual submissions
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Carla Gannis (BA Art '92) recently had her art displayed on the electronic billboards in Times Square in New York. Read more here.
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Congratulations to Beth Leavel (MFA Acting '80) starring in The Prom which just opened in previews on Broadway at the end of October.
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Daniel Garrett (BFA Art Ed '71) is featured in Seasons Magazine, which calls his antique and art shop a "hidden gem" in Greensboro.
Read the article here.
Karen Enloe (BFA Dance '78) teaches for the NYC Parks and Recreation Department Shape Up NYC program, specializing in yoga and Feldenkrais floor class
Laureen Kirk (Med Arts Education '90) had her work featured by the Artist League of the Sandhills. Read more.
Eric Tysinger (BFA Theatre '03) has been named Stage Manager for the National Tour of Hamilton.
Bradley Brown (MFA Acting '08) has been named managing director of the Nashville Shakespeare Festival and oversees administrative and operational management of the festival and its marketing, development and accounting departments.
Jonathan Brady (BA Theatre '08, MFA Theatre '11) Founding Artistic Director of The Bartlett Theater, is opening The Flick, a live theatre performance in a movie theatre space. Read about this creative use of new performance space
here.
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Margaret Carpenter Haigh (BM '11) is co-founder of L'Academie du Roi Soleil, an ensemble specializing in French music from the time of Louis XIV, is teaching voice at UNC-Charlotte, and directs the women's ensemble Nova Voce.
Emma Elliott (BFA Dance '13) created Emma Elliott Dance (her contemporary dance company) in New York City in November 2015. Her company is performing their new show "More Than Me" on Saturday, November 17th, 2018 at 7:30 pm at The Abrons Arts Center in the Experimental Theater (466 Grand Street, New York, NY 10002). Please use this link for show information and tickets.
William Kelley (BM Piano Performance '14) made his conducting debut with the Prague Radio Symphony on October 8. Earlier this season, he made his debut in the Lucerne Festival with a world premiere of a new opera, "The Office of Death Affairs."
Jennifer Mann (BFA Acting '16) is shooting a film in Harlan, KY. She plays a Pentecostal woman in The Evening Hour, a film based on the book by Carter Sickels.
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CELEBRATING DECADES OF DEDICATION
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John Locke,
Director of Bands and Founder & Director of the UNCG Summer Music Camp, will retire in December 2018 after more than 36 years as a member of the UNCG faculty and over 44 years of teaching in higher education.
We invite friends and former students join us on November 17 and 18, 2018 as we celebrate Dr. Locke and his accomplishments.
For more information on the schedule of events and to register to attend, click here.
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The College of Visual and Performing Arts
has a full schedule of events still ahead!
Jazz Ensemble II
November 9 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Recital Hall, 100 McIver St
NC Dance Festival at Greensboro Project Space
November 9 @ 8:00 pm - 9:30 pm
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse
November 10 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
UNCG Taylor Theatre, 406 Tate St
University and Symphonic Bands
November 14 @ 7:30 pm - 9:30 pm
UNCG Auditorium, 408 Tate Street
Symphony Orchestra - Jacob Warren, saxophone
November 16 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm
UNCG Auditorium, 408 Tate Street
Fall Dances
November 16 @ 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
School of Dance Theater, Coleman Building,1408 Walker Avenue
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