BYU News Media Student Lands Front-Page Spot in the Deseret News

Four BYU seniors in the School of Communication's advertising program — Lorien Pereyra, Pablo Perez, Erin Gazdik and Jessica Nugent -— were selected for the Most Promising Multicultural Students Program class of 2019 by the American Advertising Federation (AAF).

Some majors direct their student into a specific career path, but that isn’t the case for those who pursue a degree in communications. BYU School of Communications alumna Siovhan Johnson is learning this lesson as she makes the transition from broadcast news to strategic communications. Read Johnson's full story on the School of Communications website.

The lecture will take place on Thursday, April 4 at 11 a.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall

Dance professor Marin Roper discussed how she applies somatic dance practices to the gospel in March’s Faith + Works lecture

BYU’s Museum of Art (MOA) welcomes Danae Mattes to discuss her current exhibition, “Where the River Widens,” with students, faculty and members of the community. The lecture will take place Thursday, March 14 at 5 p.m. Like most of Mattes’ work, “Where the River Widens” is composed of natural materials. This specific piece explores how water and earth mix and the human reaction to that phenomenon. “I have come to view my work as a synthesis of the experiences I have when walking through landscape; a culmination of my observations and perceptions of nature,” said Mattes. According to the MOA’s website, Mattes feels that a river’s state of flux is “a metaphor for life, as change is a constant of the human experience.” This flux is demonstrated in her piece, which transformed over a few months as the water evaporated and the materials settled. Not only will Mattes’ lecture explore “Where the River Widens,” but it will also give attendees insight into her journey as an artist — a journey that has taken her and her art across the world, including to Germany, Chile and Japan. For more information about the lecture, visit the MOA’s Facebook page, where the lecture will be livestreamed.

Everyone has a bad day once in a while, but design professor David Habben’s newest children's book “Mr. Sherman's Cloud” takes a look at how those bad days can be turned around. Habben, who goes by the pen name HABBENINK, hopes the book will help people walk away with a new perspective on how to handle difficulties in life and open up discussions about mental health. “I wanted to put an emphasis on the need for us to control our responses to challenges in life,” said Habben. “Even if we have a time in our life where we feel like there’s a storm cloud above us, in the end it can work out. It will be okay.” He continued, “We talk about mental health issues and how we need to be more vocal about them and avoid creating a stigma around having a dark time in life. I wanted this story to speak to the idea that we’re not alone in our journey and we can be honest about the fact that we’re having a rough day and allow other people into our lives to help us resolve that in whatever way it needs to be resolved.” The original inspiration for the book was one of Habben’s sketches that features a man huddled under a rain cloud. The idea to turn the sketch into a book was born when a publisher approached Habben after seeing his work online. “It’s the phone call every artist hopes to get as often as they can,” said Habben of the experience. “It feels great.” Although Habben has illustrated various children’s books, “Mr. Sherman’s Cloud” is the first book he has both authored and wrote. “There’s something nice about being able to craft a story that says what you want it to say and matching your story with the illustration style that you like to do,” said Habben. “A lot of times for illustrators, there’s another party involved, like an art director, that’s putting everything together. It’s nice to tell your own story in your own way.” While characteristic of Habben’s trademark fantastical style, the book also introduces some new stylistic elements that came about during Habben’s latest stylistic shift. His current style focuses on finding a balance between reality and the abstract. “I think every artist should try to speak their own truth,” said Habben. “For me, the way I look at the world, there’s a lot of ambiguity and ridiculous things that go on. I try to approach some of that in the way I make art. If I draw something too exact, it feels less accurate in a way; it doesn’t express the true nature of something. The more I allow my interpretation to come through, the more I’m being truthful about my own perspective.” For Habben, his colorful approach to art is a way of putting a positive spin on the difficult aspects of life — something he hopes comes through in the book. “You can’t take everything so seriously to the point that it becomes a negative part of your life,” said Habben. “I hope people get the sense that they can overcome a bad day and get a better perspective. I want it to help people. I want them to connect with the book in a way that helps them feel positive and make progress in their own lives.” Habben will be holding a book signing at The King’s English in Salt Lake City on May 18 at 11 a.m. For more information about Habben’s other upcoming events and new work, follow him on social media @HABBENINK.

Music is much more than simply playing notes according to the award-winning Danish String Quartet. Fredrik Sjolin and Frederik Oland shared their insights on bringing music to life and seeing music as a conversation in a masterclass with students from the School of Music.

Students and faculty from the School of Music will explore the themes of two current BYU Museum of Art (MOA) exhibitions — “Windswept” by Patrick Dougherty and “Where the River Widens” by Danae Mattes — during “Nature Transformed: Musical Experience at the MOA, a concert on Thursday, March 7, at 7 p.m. The event will feature three original compositions performed by their respective composers: “Wave Lapse” by Asher Bay, “Fire Festival” by Scott Nelson and “Woven” by music professors Steve Ricks and Christian Asplund, known by their stage name Ricksplund. Ricks sees the concert as an “intersection between different art forms.” Each piece will feature the artists’ interpretation of an aspect of nature through electronic music. “Wave Lapse” layers live audio from museum patron members and video to comment on the layered complexities of Mattes and Dougherty’s work. Similarly, “Fire Festival” will include video representations of the natural world, including fire, and pair them with live electric guitar and pre-recorded sounds. Ricks says the complementary juxtaposition of the electronic music pieces and Mattes and Dougherty's exhibits was not coincidental. The artists’ approaches to their respective pieces is similar to how electronic music is created. “I’m taking natural sounds and changing them into something else, something unexpected,” said Ricks. “Mattes and Dougherty also took something natural and put it into an artificial space. This inspires people to think about nature and creativity in a new way.” Ricks and Asplund’s piece weaves together Asplund’s viola with Ricks’ use of a MIDI controller pad, which allows him to trigger and control sounds, including their speed, pitch and volume. “It’s like an orchestra in a box, where the orchestra can play any sound you could imagine” said Ricks. The finished product “Woven” features interlocking lines and patterns to create rich textures that reflect the surfaces in Mattes and Dougherty’s work. For more information about the concert, visit the MOA’s Facebook page.

College of Fine Arts and Communications classes allow students to use their artistic abilities to help populations in need

Four BYU Vocal Students Eligible for National Competition After Placing at Regional NATS

Each year, BYU’s Barlow Endowment for Music Composition hosts three competitions for composers around the world. One of their 2015 Latter-day Saint commission recipients, Lansing McLoskey, wrote the concert-length choral oratorio “Zealot Canticles,” which was performed by The Crossing and won a 2019 Grammy for Best Choral Performance. “My immediate reaction while sitting there at the Grammys was almost numbness,” said McLoskey. “I saw it with my eyes and heard the announcement with my ears, but my mind couldn't process that it was real. Then I was flooded with feelings of joy, pride, gratitude; I felt honored and humbled. I do not write music for awards or recognition, yet it's a humbling and rewarding experience when a work like this is recognized by my peers.” Ethan Wickman, the executive director of the Barlow Endowment, said the Grammy reflects well on the endowment and its mission, which is to encourage the creation of great music. “While there are many marvelous works that have been supported by Barlow over the years that won’t win awards in such a public venue, it is a reminder that without the Endowment’s support, this work—and so many others—probably wouldn’t have come to be,” said Wickman. “All of the new music that the endowment supports plays some small part in making the world a better, richer, more fulfilling place.” McLoskey was one of about 500 composers that judges reviewed during the selection process for the the Barlow Endowment. The judges then selected 13 composers and performers — one Barlow Prize winner and 12 LDS and General commision winners — to receive a commission. Wickman said, “Commissions are the lifeblood of new music; they provide the financial means for a composer to dedicate the time needed to create.” The endowment is one of only a handful of major commissioning competitions in the world, which means the aid it provides is vital to composers, performers and other music aficionados around the world. “I would argue that there is scarcely a corner of the globe with a community of composers of concert music who have not heard of the Barlow Endowment,” said Wickman. McLoskey echoed Wickman’s sentiment, stating that he applied because “the Barlow Endowment is one of the most important and significant organizations that funds commissions of new music by composers in the country — the world, really.” Wickman said that one of the things that sets the Barlow Endowment apart from similar competitions is that fact that a portion of the money is specifically dedicated to Latter-day Saint composers, something the endowment’s co-founder Milton Barlow was passionate about. “These LDS compositions are pieces of artistically valuable music that often do not enjoy the same mass-market, economic benefits as pieces of popular or commercial music,” said Wickman. “That’s why the work we do is so important to developing a high culture within music by LDS composers.” For McLoskey and other LDS composers, the LDS portion of the endowment opens doors that may otherwise remain closed. McLoskey says his great experiences with “Zealot Canticles” — including collaborating with the performers and their conductor, Donald Nally; releasing a CD with Innova Records; and, of course their Grammy for Best Choral Performance — all began with the Barlow Endowment making it possible for him to write the piece in the first place. McLoskey pointed out that historically there hasn’t been a lot of support for LDS art and music that wasn’t strictly conservative or traditional. “The importance of having an LDS (though technically not Church-owned) foundation that specifically promotes, advocates for and supports the creation of music by LDS composers, regardless of how 'traditional' it is and irrespective of whether it's ever heard within the walls of an LDS building or promoted by the Church, cannot be overstated, said McLoskey. “What an invaluable resource for composers — LDS and otherwise.”