BYU art students received recognition and scholarships during the department’s annual awards night on Wednesday, April 17. A total of 91 awards were granted to current students and incoming freshmen, including many half or full scholarships. Julian Harper (BFA), Annelise Duque (BFA) and Chloe Welch (Art Education) were recognized as this year’s outstanding seniors. Three juror’s choice awards for the student show were selected by Laurie Sloan, associate professor of art at the University of Connecticut. The recipients were Annelise Duque, Laurel Galli-Graves and Annie Wing. Six additional students received honorable mentions from Sloan for their work, including Gwen Davis-Barrios, Samuel Everett, Rachel Henriksen, Bette Benson, Steven Stallings and Ricey Wright. At the end of the night, the following five students were granted open studio cash awards by the faculty: Annie Wing, Rachel Henriksen, Carrie Jube Everett, Gwen Davis-Barrios and Fiona Barney. Read the full story at art.byu.edu

Bergman will represent 5,000 trumpet players across 64 countries

Every fall and winter art education students in their final semester of the program complete student teaching in local schools. Paired with innovative mentors who offer authentic full-time teaching experiences, students have the opportunity to practice the theory they have learned in their coursework over the years. Chloe Welch, one of six student teachers this semester, gradually assumed responsibility for Bart Francis’ high school art classes until she became the primary teacher. Outside the classroom, however, they continue to meet regularly for coaching, assessing and brainstorming lesson plans. Early in the semester, Welch shared an idea about visualizing data as art, inspired by the project Dear Data, and Francis made the connection to a lesson he had previously taught on routines. Together they researched other artists who incorporate data collection and routines into their work and designed a lesson plan. For the assignment, students collected data for seven days on one aspect of their life, then documented that data in an artwork that included a legend to help viewers decipher their image. In February, Welch and Francis presented their experience at the Utah Art Education Association conference. One outcome that resulted from the data collection project was that students were able to make meaningful connections between their art and their life. Read the full story at art.byu.edu.

Brandon Gunn graduated from BYU empowered to continue exploring and combining multiple personal interests in a powerful way. Rather than pursue a one-dimensional career, he learned he could be an artist, a master printer and a teacher simultaneously. With the strong technical and conceptual foundation provided by his undergraduate education at BYU, Gunn went on to receive an MFA in printmaking at Illinois State University, followed by an intense two-year study of lithography at Tamarind Institute in New Mexico to become a master printer. Gunn described the institute as “really competitive, and the only school like it in the world for printmaking,” so he was excited to receive a letter of acceptance to the eight-person program. “I was over the moon,” Gunn recalled. “The thing I thought I had no chance at was the one I’d gotten.” After teaching printmaking and collaboration for eight years at Concordia University in Quebec and then at Indiana University Bloomington, Gunn was asked to return to Tamarind, where he has served as the education director for three years. In this current capacity, Gunn is responsible for preparing first-year students to become the best printers in the world. Read the full story at art.byu.edu.

With a focus on pushing the frontiers of contemporary dance, Portland-based dance company NW Dance Project is one of the premier groups pioneering new choreography and methods in the American contemporary dance scene. BYU dance students and faculty were excited to learn from the company's innovative approach to current dance trends in a masterclass with members of the ensemble during their recent campus visit. “The professors in the contemporary area have a philosophy that we want to model for our students,” said contemporary dance professor Kate Monson. “Taking opportunities to learn from different sources is really important. That includes a physical embodiment and not just watching.”

In a new digital sculpture class taught by Associate Professor Collin Bradford, students explore the material, formal and conceptual potential of sculpture using new technologies. Digital 3D: Sculpture with Digital Tools is one of two new courses offered as part of the Art and Technology track within the BA degree. Students enrolled in digital sculpture learn the basics of 3D modeling, 3D rendering and creating physical objects from digital models using a 3D printer, laser cutter and a CNC machine (also called a CNC router). Continue reading on the Department of Art’s website.

Forty years ago, a group of Brigham Young University student performers traveled to China and put on a show that made history. This summer, the University is celebrating that anniversary with a return tour that highlights the relationship BYU and China have shared since 1979. Following the aftermath of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, BYU’s initial tour made the Young Ambassadors and Living Legends among the first Western performing arts groups to enter the country. The tour was the idea of then-BYU President Dallin H. Oaks, who had met with President Spencer W. Kimball of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1978. President Kimball spoke highly of China’s high standards and family values and upon returning from the meeting, President Oaks asked BYU officials to begin making plans for a performing arts group to go to China, despite no established U.S.-Chinese diplomatic relations at that time. But the diplomatic relations did happen in early 1979 and the show fell into place. Newly-launched China Central Television asked to broadcast BYU’s live performance and, even after the group had left the country, the channel continued to rebroadcast the performance. In the past 39 years, BYU performing groups have returned to China 28 more times. Read the full story at news.byu.edu.

“When art does a good job, . . . it makes the world less lonely,” says Leslie Whyte Graff (BS ’96, MS ’01). “It makes it more meaningful.” Many of her generation-spanning images depict women performing domestic tasks. Society today “sees domestic work as something to be avoided, and so people become unhappy—not because the tasks are inherently lacking meaning, but because we hear the message, ‘You shouldn’t like this,’” she notes. Read more at BYU Magazine.

BYU’s BRAVO! Professional Performing Arts Series will continue its mission to inspire and educate student and community audiences with a new season of guest artists, performers and ensembles that represent a wide range of backgrounds and genres.

All along his artistic journey, David M. Habben (BFA ’06), a BYU assistant professor of design, has been trying new things—new media, new subjects, and new styles. Amid all that variety, he says his message is consistent: “There is a world of ideas and experiences around each of us and inside us that is worth exploring.” Read more on BYU Magazine’s website.

Sampson rehearsed and played with Canadian Brass in a recent BRAVO! masterclass Students in the School of Music recently met and performed with renowned quintet Canadian Brass. While the masterclass was one of many presented by guest artists through BYU’s BRAVO! Performing Arts Series, it proved to be a once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunity for music education major and tuba player Jared Sampson. As a performer himself, Sampson hopes to combat stigmas directed at tuba players. He was grateful for the example of Chuck Daellenbach’s musicality and showmanship on an instrument that is sometimes misunderstood and devalued in the music world.

The convocation ceremonies were held on April 26 in the Harris Fine Arts Center (HFAC)