Awards and Achievements

The Kennedy Center for International Studies has chosen its Kennedy Research Fellows for fall semester 2022. This program has for some time provided research funding for students doing research on international topics; Fall 2022 is the first time the fellowships have also been made available to faculty as well. …

For BYU Homecoming each year, descendants of George H. Brimhall sponsor an essay contest honoring a BYU founder. The 2021 honored founder was longtime BYU Program Bureau director Janie Thompson. Below is an excerpt from the winning essay, by design major Shannon G. Spencer (’23).

The BYU Art Department announced student recipients of scholarships and awards on April 8

Audrey Hancock wins the 2021 AIGA national Command X competition

Madison Casagranda submitted photos from her project, The Black Stories Project, to Communication Arts magazine and placed as a finalist

Hunter Young’s design video illustrating the words of a poem won the CA typography award. This is his second award from Communications Arts.

Emma Squire is a freshman at BYU with a passion for telling new, unique stories BYU freshman Emma Squire is a photographer, a storyteller and a finalist of the Fujifilms Students of Storytelling competition. Squire’s photo series about the history of prosperity is now being displayed on her own personal Fujifilms profile page. “The idea came during an art history class. I noticed in some paintings that items which symbolized wealth a couple hundred years ago are much cheaper and easier to come by today,” Squire said. “It started with just one specific image in mind, but it soon turned into a series.” Squire’s photo series was done in two parts. First, she researched different periods of history in various countries to identify items that portrayed wealth and status. She then photographed her interpretation of the modern equivalents of those items. Then, Squire shot images of modern prosperity, after interviewing individuals to get a feel for current symbols of affluence. “My art is either telling a story or trying to make a statement. I want the viewers to be caught up in the narrative, or to reflect on the message the image is trying to convey,” Squire said. Squire is one of 600 students to submit a project proposal to the contest. The 30 applicants who were chosen each received equipment to use in the preparation for their photo stories. Fujifilms held this contest as a way of discovering America’s next great storytellers. “I hope to be able to create work that I care about and can make a living off of. I don’t know what that looks like yet, but my ultimate goal is to create meaningful art that I’m proud of,” Squire said.

Hansen’s winning piece “Scale the Globe with Help from the Gilman Scholarship” was chosen as one of 300 winners from 8,700 submissions

BYU vocal grads Jonah Hoskins and Dylan Glenn spotlighted as finalists in prestigious national vocal competition

Borja’s winning piece “Fish Out of Water” was inspired by her experience adjusting to a new culture

BYU Art alumni Jane Christensen and Bryan Hutchison have been named by the Utah Division of Arts & Museums as visual arts fellows for 2020. As two of four Utah artists awarded this recognition, Christensen and Hutchison each received $5,000 to support their careers. “These fellowships are intensely competitive,” said Art Department Chair Gary Barton. “Jane and Bryan represent a long list of BYU alumni who have received this prestigious award over the years.” For Hutchison (BFA ’13), whose work spans various mediums and formats— including photography, installation, sculpture, sound and video — the fellowship feels like a stamp of approval. Read the full article by Abby Weidmer at art.byu.edu.

Graduating photography student’s winning shot will be published in acclaimed Photo District News magazine

Designers explain the thought process behind their project “Unity & Division”

Florence Pestrikoff flew from her remote home in Akhiok on Alaska’s Kodiak Island to have her picture taken. Her BYU photographers came even farther—driving more than 40 hours and riding a ferry for 10. And now her image is on display 3,500 miles away in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. Pestrikoff is one of the last speakers of Alutiiq, an endangered language in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, and one of 16 people photographed so far by recent BYU photography grad Jordan K. Layton (BFA ’17) and professor Paul S. Adams (BFA ’94) for their ongoing project, Vanishing Voices. Vanishing Voices began as Layton’s capstone project, inspired by his realization that hundreds of languages are disappearing in North America alone. Read more at magazine.byu.edu http://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=_1tll0J8GCY&feature=emb_logo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=_1tll0J8GCY This fall a new exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum features 46 portraits taken from photographers all across the country. But only one of the 46 pieces of art displays not one, but two artist names: Paul Adams, a BYU professor, and Jordan Layton, a former photography student. Their work will be presented in “The Outwin 2019: American Portraiture Today,” a major exhibition premiering at the National Portrait Gallery. Every three years, artists living and working in the United States are invited to submit one of their recent portraits to a panel of experts chosen by the museum. The works of this year’s 46 finalists were selected from over 2,600 entries. The BYU duo’s portrait that is accepted for display in the Smithsonian is called Florence, one of the last speakers of Alutiq. It is a piece from their project “Vanishing Voices” and will hang in the National Portrait Gallery for a year and a half before going on tour for two years. Read more at news.byu.edu

https://vimeo.com/295876694 BYU’s highly esteemed Center for Animation became even more reputable when the short film “Grendel,” directed and produced by BYU animation students, recently won its sixth Student Academy Award. This year, the Student Academy Awards competition received a total of 1,615 entries from 255 domestic and 105 international colleges and universities. Only 16 entries received an award. Student director Kalee McCollaum and student producer Austin Rodriguez worked with approximately 40 students to make this film a reality. Thousands of hours went into the project which was supervised by professors Kelly Loosli and R. Brent Adams. The story of “Grendel” is a reverse telling of the classic Beowulf tale where Grendel, the friendly monster in the film, is joined by rowdy Viking neighbors who harass him. He slowly starts to retaliate until he realizes he’s the one who has become the monster. This realization spikes a change in character as he chooses to help save the Vikings from other creatures. Read more at news.byu.edu, sltrib.com or usatoday.com

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

Ainsley Rose Romero, a senior at Brigham Young University graduating in graphic design, beat out students and young professional graphic designers from around the country to win Command X, the graphic design equivalent of Chopped, American Idol or The Great British Baking Show. CommandX is sponsored by AIGA, the largest professional association for design in the United States, and was held at its annual design conference in Pasadena, CA, earlier this month. Finish reading the story at BYU News.