Season posters for the 2016-17 BYU Theatre and Media Arts productions have received several top awards at three prestigious competitions. BYU ARTS Creative is no stranger to winning awards. This year their work has garnered several top awards in regional and national competitions. BYU ARTS Creative won the Copper Ingot Award for the third year in a row at the AIGA Salt Lake City 100 Show and received a Grand Gold Award at the national CASE Circle of Excellence Awards. The Salt Lake City chapter of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, hosts the AIGA SLC 100 Show each year. The show is known as Salt Lake City’s “most prestigious juried competition,” with 100 entries selected and judged by nationally recognized judges on “craft, concept, and aesthetic achievement.” BYU ARTS Creative won its third Copper Ingot Award for the BYU Theatre and Media Arts Season Posters. The Copper Ingot Award is presented to the top 10 pieces of the show. BYU also received Merit Awards for the BYU School of Music’s American Piano Quartet Poster, the University Chorale Poster and the BYU Arts 2016-17 Season Brochure. The show put the design team against difficult competition “It’s important to take into consideration that we are going up against design and marketing studios in the region with full-time designers, and we do it with part-time student graphic designers,” said BYU ARTS Creative Art Director, Nick Mendoza. On the national level, the BYU Theatre and Media Arts Season Posters received a Grand Gold Award at the Council for Advancement and Support of Education Circle of Excellence Awards (CASE). After receiving Gold and Grand Gold Awards at the district level, the posters went on to receive 1 of 16 Grand Gold Awards given at the national level. CASE Judges for the BYU season posters noted that the posters had “excellent minimalistic interpretations of season shows” as well as “strong typographical treatment.” Additionally, judges said the poster’s “consistent color palette added immense impact to the overall look and feel.” Sue Cunningham, president and CEO of CASE, said in a news release that the 2017 CASE competition was the most competitive year ever with over 3,364 entries and only 366 awards given. But the awards don’t stop there. The season posters will also be included in the September/October issue of Communications Arts magazine. Mendoza entered BYU ARTS Creative pieces into the Communications Arts 2017 design competition, the “most prestigious competition for creativity in graphic design.” Winners receive “important exposure” in print and digital editions of their magazine and on commarts.com. “It is a great honor to be recognized in these competitions. It validates all the hard work and thought that goes into all the things we produce here at BYU ARTS Creative,” Mendoza said. “It is great that the students get recognition for their work and I hope that our clients can see them as designers and not merely as student workers.” Student collaborators who helped to produce the designs: Andrew Galloway (BFA Graphic Design 2016) BYU Theatre and Media Arts Season Posters Keegan Black (BFA Graphic Design 2017) American Piano Quartet Poster Stephanie McAllister (BFA Graphic Design 2017) University Chorale Poster

Nokbak is the third BYU-created video game in five years to be nominated as a finalist in E3’s College Game Competition.

A team of BYU students took the top prize in the country’s most competitive student advertising competition — for a project they did not for a class or client, but for fun. It was summer and they had a little extra time, so the crew set out to create “something big and cool and different,” said senior Taylor Dahl. Their finished product — a whimsically illustrated and filmed Vespa commercial — took national best of show at Saturday’s Student American Advertising Awards Competition (commonly referred to as the ADDYs). Awards committee chair George Riddell called the competition a “showcase of bright new talent” that provides “a glimpse at the advertising industry of tomorrow.” The best of show award, one of eight national ADDYs BYU received, is a high point in a season of high points for BYU’s ad program. Click here to read more...

A team of BYU students took the top prize in the country’s most competitive student advertising competition — for a project they did not for a class or client, but for fun.

Diane Reich, Associate Professor of Vocal Performance and Division Coordinator for Classical Voice in the BYU School of Music, will deliver the Devotional address on June 6, 2017. With doctoral and master’s degrees from Indiana University, Reich has had an impressive career, winning numerous accolades and performing both across the nation and overseas. Reich was hired at BYU in 2007, where—in addition to her position as Division Coordinator—she teaches Vocal and Opera Literature. Read more…

Associate Dance Department Chair Curt Holman has been selected as the new BYU Department of Dance Chair, effective June 1, 2017. In his almost 25 years as a dance faculty member at BYU, Holman has served on numerous department, college and university committees, including Ballroom Area administrator, associate Dance Department chair and Ballroom Dance Company artistic director. Holman and his wife Sharon are former professional ballroom dance competitors, U.S. National Cabaret finalists and invited competitors at the British Championships in Blackpool, England and the World Championships in the Netherlands. “Holman has developed a deep understanding of the touring and performance aspects, as well as the curricular and education issues of the department,” CFAC Dean Ed Adams said. “He has been an integral part of the prestigious awards garnered by the Ballroom Dance Company, both nationally and internationally.” Holman replaces Marilyn Berrett who has served in this position since Dec. 2010. Berrett’s choreography has been featured in main stage productions and award winning films across the US and in Africa, Asia, Europe and South America. She serves on the BYU ARTS Partnership coordinating council, the dance and the Child international board of directors and is a past-president of the Utah Dance Education Organization. “Berrett’s commitment as chair has been extraordinary and she has endeavored to ensure that students, faculty, and staff in the department achieve the fullest measure of their abilities,” Adams said. The Department of Dance provides a broad base for professional training in both the classroom and the studio. The versatile undergraduate program includes four degrees: Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Dance, Bachelor of Arts (BA) in K-12 Dance Education, Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Dance and Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Music Dance Theatre. The Department of Dance is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Dance. “My greatest joy has been witnessing the personal and collective successes of faculty and students,” Berrett said. “I stand in awe as BYU Dance faculty and students collaborate and create together and so pleased when they win academic, teaching and performance acclaim at conferences, festivals, and competitions. I am grateful for the support of the university, college, our donors, alumni, and colleagues.” Writer: Bailey Fruit

“Advertising is creative problem solving,” said Sheets, acknowledging that advertising also has the power to persuade for both positive and negative.

Divine providence brought Ernst Zimmermann’s Christ in the Temple to the BYU Museum of Art’s (MOA) permanent collection, says director Mark A. Magleby (BA ’89). After being considered lost for most of its existence, the painting emerged on the market just as the MOA prepared a new exhibit contemplating the Savior. Now, thanks to a generous donor, the MOA’s newest religious acquisition is a focal point of not only the exhibit To Magnify the Lord: Six Centuries of Art and Devotion, on display until 2019, but of the museum’s entire collection.

The BYU Department of Design and the Department of Art have each renewed their department chairs for another term. Gary Barton continues on as the Department of Art chair as well as Eric Gillett as the Department of Design chair. Curt Holman, recently selected as the new Department of Dance chair, replaces Marilyn Berrett, effective June 1, 2017. Gillett, was appointed as chair of Department of Design in 2015 when the Department of Visual Arts split to become the Department of Art and the Department of Design. He graduated from BYU in 1991 with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design and completed an MFA in design from the University of Utah. Gillett is a professor of graphic design. Gillett’s work is regularly featured in national and international design publications including Communication Arts, Print, How, Eye, Creative Quarterly, Graphis, NY Art Director’s Club and The One Show. His commissioned work as a designer, art director and creative director has included commissions for many Fortune 500 companies. His research focus relates to design systems, branding and typography. Barton became the chair of the BYU Art Department in 2015 following the division of the Department of Visual Arts. Barton graduated from BYU in 1989 with a bachelor’s in printmaking and received his master’s degree from Ohio State University. Barton works primarily in two-dimensional media including painting, printmaking and mixed media. While at BYU, Barton has served as the 2-D studio area coordinator, associate chair of the Department of Visual Arts and has been the director or associate director of several study abroad programs. He has also served on the Gordon B. Hinckley Presidential Scholarship Committee, the London Center Study Abroad Committee and the University Rank and Status Council. Holman graduated from BYU in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in communications and again in 1996 with a master’s degree in dance. Holman and his wife are former professional ballroom dance competitors, U.S. National Cabaret finalists and invited competitors at the British Championships in Blackpool, England and the World Championships in the Netherlands. In his 25 years at BYU Holman has served on numerous department, college and university committees, including Ballroom Area administrator, associate department chair and Ballroom Dance Company artistic director. Writer: Bailey Fruit

Photography major and Alabamian Jordan Layton was originally recruited to come to BYU to play soccer. Growing up, Layton never felt he was talented in art or music. However, four years ago when introduced to a friend’s camera Layton discovered photography and was hooked. After being admitted to the program, Layton went on a class trip to Los Angeles where the students met with commercial photographers and visited their studios. This experience solidified Layton’s decision to pursue commercial photography as a career. Layton sets himself apart with the sensitivity and attention to detail he brings to every project. Recently Layton and his professor Paul Adams, the Head of BYU Photography, embarked on a project they later named “Vanishing Voices.” While surfing the web, Layton came across a website illustrating endangered languages around the world including critically endangered languages with only one to three speakers left. “I was amazed at how many endangered languages there were even within our own country,” Layton said. “Looking into these tribes and people it really amazed me how hard they are fighting to hold onto their cultures and their languages that will ultimately die off soon.” Layton decided to document these individuals with a process called wet plate collodion tintype. This is an intensive process that was popularized in the 1850s and 60s around the time of the Civil War. One picture takes approximately an hour and a half to set up and another hour and a half to break down. “The wet plate collodion process is one of the most archival processes ever invented, so the plate could be around much longer than these languages and cultures will be,” Layton said. To create the 20-inch by 24-inch tintypes, Layton had to use a camera of that size. Layton and Adams had so much equipment they had to rent a trailer to take to California where Layton had located a few people for their visit through a number of cold calls. “Vanishing Voices” was displayed at the Harris Fine Arts Center at BYU, but Layton will continuing working on the project after graduation. Following his graduation this month, Layton and his wife Miriam are moving to New York City where Miriam will begin a new job and Layton will complete an internship with professional fashion photographer John Moe.

Two-dimensional studio art major Emily Holt loves painting, cooking, four-wheeling and plans to become a teacher after graduation. Holt will speak in the April convocation for the Department of Art, where she will discuss the importance of creativity in day-to-day life. Holt grew up on a farm in Enterprise, Utah with her five younger brothers. Holt and her family grew hay, potatoes, corn and raised dairy cows. From a very young age, Holt loved art. “I used to get in trouble when I was only three years old, because I would draw on every surface,” Holt said. “The chairs, tables and walls—I used everything for art.” Holt now prides herself on pushing her limits in her art. Holt feels that actively creating gives her the ability to become someone new. “I enjoy the discomfort of doing things outside the norm, just pushing boundaries through art and teaching and making people think in new ways to see things they never expected before,” Holt said. In her time at BYU Holt attended the BYU Jerusalem study abroad, worked as a TA, co-curated an exhibition at Alpine Village, worked as an artist’s assistant for Irish artist Joanna Kidney and received both a grant and scholarship for art projects. While at BYU Holt has been a part of the licensure program, giving her the opportunity to student teach for nine weeks at Providence Junior High as well as nine weeks at Harvest Elementary School. Holt will speak in convocation about the intersection of the creative process of finding oneself. “We aren’t going to figure out who we are during our first day at BYU, we become that through a process and once we graduate we continue that process,” Holt said. “Everything we do in life is a becoming process.” For Holt, art has been integral in that becoming process. Click here to the view the graduation live stream.

Studio Art student Jane Christensen loves thinking creatively. Christensen will speak at the April BYU Art Convocation this month. Following graduation, Christensen will intern in Los Angeles with artist Monique Prieto. Born and raised in NYC, Christensen moved to Utah when she was 16. Christensen was exposed to art at a young age as her father is an artist and her mother enjoyed theater and her school was across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. “I would go to the MET once a week with my school, so I’ve always been very attracted to art and I’ve found a lot of comfort in the arts,” Christensen said. At BYU, Christensen was accepted into the Bachelor of Fine Arts track where she was given studio space to devote to her art. In 2016, Christensen received an Orca grant to travel to Spain and Morocco where she worked on her artwork and presented a show upon returning home. While in Morocco, Christensen visited with local craftspeople and learned traditional forms of art. Her goal was to learn more about Islamic patterns in art and architecture and the relationships with meditation and ritual. In Spain, Christensen had a studio space where she produced work for her ORCA project. Recently, Christensen received a grant to work on a series of videos that she has created while traveling around Utah, southern California and the desert. Christensen enjoys working in a variety of mediums including painting, video and photography. Click here to the view the graduation live stream.