Awards and Achievements

A final project of Sarah Hill, a student in the Department of Visual Arts, is on display in the Harold B. Lee Library (HBLL) through June 27. Her photographs depict the commitment, love and difficulties of mothers in Africa.

Graduates Rebecca Sorge and Miranda Meeks, and former BYU student Kari Christensen had fantasy work accepted into the Spectrum 21 Annual Juried Fantasy Art Competition.

Ethan Parry was selected to be the 2014-2015 VP of Public Relations for PRSSA.

This past weekend marked the local American Advertising Awards Gala, formerly known as the Addys. BYU advertising students brought home a total of ten awards from the event.

Randy Boothe, singer, pianist music maker and director of the BYU Young Ambassadors, was featured in January’s issue of Utah Valley Magazine.

A series of BYU connections in Hollywood yields extraordinary opportunity Every Christmas season since 2006, The Killers have released a new single. In tune with the season of giving, the proceeds from sales go entirely to charity. This year, Killers frontman Brandon Flowers went to personal friend, BYU alum and director of Napoleon Dynamite Jared Hess to produce a music video to go with the song. Hess pointed Flowers to BYU, suggesting students could create it. Despite a window of just three weeks to plan, shoot and edit a live action animation video, BYU animation program director Kelly Loosli couldn’t pass up the opportunity. “With the high-profile nature of the project and the value that it would bring to students, plus the chance to participate in raising money for charity, we just couldn't pass this up,” Loosli said. Loosli turned to his first-year animation students who had been in the program for less than a semester, and even some pre-major students, to work on the video. He couldn’t afford to pull junior and senior students away from other large group films, so it was the youngsters who found themselves with the chance to work on a music video for a platinum-record rock band. “Working on a Killers music video was pretty surreal, especially because the opportunity came in my first semester,” said BYU animation student Josh Poulsen. “It was a lot of work, and we put in some crazy-late hours. It was the funnest and most enthusiastic group I’ve ever worked with, and the process was exhausting.” The majority of man-hours for the production of the video took place in Provo. BYU media arts and animation students worked tirelessly on the postproduction. It was a meticulous process for the students to comb over video, transforming filmed elements into animated elements and transitioning within the video from live action to animation. “Seeing the end product, it was really rewarding,” said BYU film student Cassie Hiatt. “When we were in the process, we thought it was something that was never going to end. It really took a lot of work and managing our time well. But now that it’s done, it’s awesome to look back at and think ‘Wow we did that.’” Before the project got to the BYU campus, the actual filming took place in Los Angeles. The team had one day to shoot the video, and three hours with the lead character, Owen Wilson. Wilson’s involvement in the project came because of a relationship with Flowers. Loosli needed to pull together a crew to shoot the video in LA quickly. He started by calling a few former students and some of his former classmates who are now working in the industry. Those calls immediately paid off and the crew came together quicker than expected, thanks to the BYU connections. All of the BYU students, professors and alums donated their time on the project. Even the record label, iTunes, the band and the actors donated their time and resources, meaning 100 percent of the proceeds from sales of the single go to (RED), a charity founded by Bono which is supported by numerous musicians and works to fight against AIDS in Africa. The cinematographer on the project was BYU alum Bengt Jonsson. A number of BYU faculty were involved: Mike Warner and Seth Holladay did visual effects; Cynthia Hogan was heavily involved in the animation; and Brent Adams, Tom Lefler and Kyle Stapley helped manage the project and resources. Key students involved in the project were Hiatt, Poulsen, Nick Dixon, Jordan Hunter, John Jackson and Stephanie Tse. Source: BYU News Back to Magazine Home

BYU graduate Madalyne Marie Hymas recently won one of the 12 awards of excellence and a $2,000 prize in the Kennedy Center’s 2013 VSA/Volkswagen Group of America Exhibition Program. The program aims to showcase and support emerging artists with disabilities, and Hymas’ artwork, “The Dyslexic Advantage,” will appear alongside the works of the 15 other finalists in the exhibition In/finite Earth, showcased at the Smithsonian Institution’s S. Dillon Ripley Center in Washington, D.C., this fall.

Due to its students growing success in the animation world, the BYU Center for Animation has recently received a lot of recognition and attention from the media. Read The New York Times feature on BYU's computer-animation program in 'When Hollywood Wants Good, Clean Fun, It Goes to Mormon Country.'

Comedic animated short caps 10 years of national accomplishment for the programRecent animation grad Lauren Taylor will add to the well-stocked BYU Center for Animation trophy case after winning first place in the animation category last weekend for Estefan at the 34th College Television Awards.It’s the 12th College Television Award, commonly called a “student Emmy,” in the last 10 years for the animation program.During that decade BYU students were awarded for other animated favorites like Pajama Gladiator, Kites and DreamGiver, providing a tradition of excellence for future students to follow.“Winning an Emmy is awesome,” said Taylor, producer of Estefan. “The animation program has a long history of entering the student Emmys. It’s kind of a relief that we can continue that tradition and heritage and hit that benchmark that we set for ourselves.”Estefan is a six-minute 3D animated short. The production was a senior project that took two years in the making and included the work of anywhere from 25-40 different students at any given time.Some of the past BYU animation films have had much heavier thematic elements, but Estefan’s lightheartedness allowed the animators to go much more over the top.“Animation lends itself to exaggeration, and Estefan is all about exaggeration,” said story and layout lead Lauren Oppenlander.Estefan the character, Oppenlander’s brainchild, is a Spanish hairdresser. But more than that, he’s an artiste. He’s the best hairdresser in the world, and he knows it. In the short, Estefan is faced with a challenge he’s never faced before when a woman walks into his salon and has no hair. His search for a solution for her takes some outside-the-box thinking on his part and makes for some entertaining viewing.In preparing to animate Estefan, the students examined film of flamenco dancing to capture certain movements and expressions. They also looked at bull fighters. Every little aspect was scrutinized.“People are always surprised that a five-minute film could take two years to make,” Taylor said. “But because we’re not filming live action, we need to create a person and an environment and all of the little objects that are in their environment.”The process of creating Estefan was an invaluable learning experience for the students as they were able to mirror how a professional studio would work. In fact, DreamWorks, Pixar and Sony served as mentors on the project. Recruiters from all three studios asked if they could help after seeing Estefanand worked very closely with the students, providing feedback and coaching.According to Kelly Loosli, head of the animation program and theatre and media arts assistant professor, this sort of experience is setting his students up for success in the future. The program has a history of placing graduates consistently in the top studios in the business. He said the key is in the collaboration. Students are able to work together, as a team extensively, putting away egos and working for a common goal.In Estefan, Loosli said he saw the group come together quickly, work extremely hard and have a lot of fun in the process.“I think there are a number of factors that make it an emmy winner,” Loosli said. “I think this is probably the best character animation we’ve ever put into an animated film, which is unique for us because we don’t really focus on character animation in our program. And then secondarily, I think it’s the most solid story in terms of the way that it’s structured, the way it sets up, builds and then pays off.” About the BYU Center for Animation Established in 2008, the BYU Center for Animation operates under the direction of two colleges–the College of Fine Arts and Communications and the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. The animation major is intended to provide students with the skill sets necessary for success in the animation, live-action, special effects and game industry with emphasis on both the artistic and technological avenues. The computer science animation emphasis gives students the opportunity to learn both the technical and artistic side of creating and implementing digital animation and games, preparing them for technical careers with animation and game programming studios.Source: BYU News

BYU Illustration students have had a successful semester. This winter, eleven pieces of artwork by eight BYU students were accepted into the Society of Illustrators 2013 Student Scholarship Competition. Of the pieces that were accepted, Hana Soljee Lee’s piece Jinxed (gel pens, digital) also received the $500 Norman Rockwell Museum scholarship.

In the summer of 2012, Anna Lenhart, a French horn performance major attended the Aspen Music Festival for a second year in a row. Lenhart participated in lessons and master classes and played in the festival orchestras and chamber groups.

Under the direction of Project Director, Dr. Sabiha Al Khemir, the Brigham Young University Museum of Art (MOA) organized and opened Beauty and Belief: Crossing Bridges with the Arts of Islamic Culture, the largest traveling survey exhibition of Islamic art ever assembled in the United States. As a part of the exhibition, BYU students from the Laycock Center for Creative Collaboration in the Arts experienced hands on professional experience and worked with staff members at the MOA to create digital elements that enhanced the museum visitor’s learning experience. More than 150,000 guests visited the exhibition while it was open at the Museum of Art.

From April 30 to May 5, 2012, Darrell Babidge coached Jennifer Welch-Babidge as she rehearsed and performed the Poulenc Gloria and the Mozart Requiem at the Sydney Opera House with David Zinman and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. On May 3, Darrell Babidge and Jennifer Welch-Babidge gave a master class together at the Sydney Music Conservatorium in Sydney, Australia.

First major study to examine Weir family's collective artistic production Marian Wardle, curator of American Art for the Brigham Young University Museum of Art, has received the W.E. Fischelis Award from the Victorian Society in America for her work as editor and co-author of the book, 'The Weir Family, 1820-1920: Expanding the Traditions of American Art.'

Brigham Young University Broadcasting received a Regional Emmy Award at ceremonies in Phoenix, Ariz., for its program 'Nexos' which airs Saturdays on BYUtv International.

For book to accompany upcoming exhibit on the Weir Family

by Brooke Eddington

by Brooke Eddington