Faculty and Staff

Justin Kunz, an alumnus of BYU’s illustration program and an assistant professor in the BYU Department of Design, recently received the “Most Original Award of Excellence” in the Associate Signature Division from the 24th National Juried Exhibition of the Oil Painters of America (OPA) for one of his paintings. OPA is a not-for-profit organization representing more than 4,000 artists throughout North America. Its mission is to advance the cause of traditional, representational fine art by providing a forum in which artists can display their art in regional and national competitions. Their National Juried Exhibition is one of the field’s most prestigious competitions. “The OPA National Exhibition is an important juried venue for representational painters,” said Kunz. “I had a piece juried into the show last year, but this is the first time I’ve won one of the awards.” Kunz’s award-winning piece, The Days Were Accomplished, is a 10” x 8” oil on linen representation of Mary as she admires the sleeping baby Jesus in her arms. Kunz says the title comes from Luke 2:6, 'And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.'The piece is currently on display in St. Augustine, Florida along with other awardees from this year’s National Exhibition. Owing much to the university he graduated from and with it being a motivating factor behind his work, Kunz had this to say about his love for BYU, “In all the time I've worked here, I have been very impressed with the high caliber of students, faculty and alumni. So many of them are doing remarkable things, striving for excellence in their fields, and making an impact for good in the world.” Kunz’s talents are not solely confined to painting. Along with working on a multi-figure painting of Christ raising the daughter of Jairus, he is also currently developing a movie. He has recently completed commissioned work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a series of numismatic designs for the United States Mint, including a gold coin and a quarter in the “America the Beautiful” series. To view more of Kunz’s work, click here.

The School of Communications welcomes Dr. Ed Carter as its new director. Carter replaces Dr. Ed Adams, who served as director for the last three years. Carter’s three-year term begins on June 1, 2015. Before accepting this position, Carter worked as an associate professor and an associate dean for the College of Fine Arts and Communications. He received his bachelor’s degree in journalism from BYU and earned a master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. Carter attended the J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU, and served as a law clerk for Judge Ruggero J. Aldisert. Later, he became a full-time faculty member of BYU’s Communication Department. During Adams' time as director, the Department of Communication became the School of Communications. In 2005, the Adlab was created and in 2008, the Bradley Lab went from a student run agency to a fully integrated public relations firm. Carter comes highly recommended by both his colleagues and the faculty. “Many names were submitted and considered for this position,” said Dean Stephen Jones. “The name that was most often mentioned was Dr. Ed Carter’s and over time it became clear that he was the right choice for this position. We appreciate Dr. Carter’s willingness to accept the position as Director of the School of Communications and wish him and his colleagues every success moving forward.” For Carter, this is a thrilling opportunity to serve both the students and the faculty of the School of Communications and he feels that there are many amazing possibilities on the horizon. “I look forward to the future and I know that there are challenges ahead but I choose to focus on the opportunities and the great things we can and will do together,” said Carter.

Each year the Utah Division of Arts & Museums awards $10,000 fellowships to two individuals in recognition of their artistic excellence. This year, BYU professor Daniel Everett has been chosen for his work across a broad range of media including photography, video, sculpture, and installation. Everett is an artist and assistant professor of new genres in Brigham Young University’s Department of Art. Over the past few years, his work has been featured across the United States and Europe, bringing international and national attention back to Utah and BYU. “What the Utah Division of Arts & Museums does for artists is incredible and I'm extremely grateful to be a recipient of this award,” said Everett. “Utah has not always been such a welcoming place for contemporary art, but right now there is a growing group of very involved people working to change that. I think what they're doing is wonderful.” Artists practicing in a variety of media such as painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, sculpture, craft, and new genres apply for the fellowship each year. By only selecting two winners, this award shows the professionalism and quality demonstrated through the winners’ work. “I was quite surprised by the announcement,” said Everett. “I'm not exactly sure why I was chosen, as there are certainly a range of equally qualified artists. All I can say is that I take art seriously and work very hard at what I do.” In addition to awarding for excellence, the fellowship is also a way to encourage the careers of the winners. Everett hopes to use the award money to finalize two new bodies of work for exhibition. “My only real aspirations as an artist are to continue working in a sincere and dedicated way and pushing myself forward. I hope to be a part of a larger dialogue and one of the ways I see to achieve that is through exhibitions.”

When Lora Beth Brown left her job as a BYU professor to become a wife and mother, she never expected that two short years later she would be a widow with four step sons, a baby and one on the way. Surely no one would fault Brown for hiding from the world, which she did for a while. Some how in the midst of her grief, Brown remembered her love of teaching and education, which started her back on the path toward BYU. “I had to make a decision to say ‘ok the adventure continues.’ Even now I’ll say, ‘go for the adventure,’” said Brown, a professor of nutrition, dietetics and food science. Accepting life as an adventure and education as part of that adventure is not always an easy decision when faced with the realities of life. But a group of women at BYU want to show that the path of education is always possible. A new web series, “By Study, By Faith,” produced by BYU Theatre and Media Arts Department in association with the BYU Faculty Women’s Association, features 10 women who work at BYU and how the pursuit of learning has influenced and shaped their lives. In addition to Brown, the women interviewed for the web series are mostly faculty members from a variety of departments and disciplines: History Associate Professor Jenny Pulsipher, Mechanical Engineering Associate Professor Julie Crockett, Microbiology and Molecular Biology Assistant Professor Julianne Grose, Sociology Department Professor Renata Forste, Ancient Scripture Professor Camille Fronk Olson, University Spokesperson and Assistant to the President Carri Jenkins, McKay School of Education Professor Roni Jo Draper, Health Science Assistant Professor Chantel Sloan and School of Music Professor April Clayton. You Can Move Forward The BYU Faculty Women’s Association, an organization for female faculty dedicated to promoting a sense of community and supporting women to be successful in their work, wanted to create a way to encourage female students at BYU to finish their schooling. “There are several types of challenges such as health, family roles, academic difficulties, resources, and personal needs. Sometimes circumstances imply, ‘you can’t move forward,’ and I wanted to be the voice that said, ‘you can move forward and there are wonderful women here at BYU who can inspire you,’” said Faculty Women’s Association President and Associate Professor in the McKay School of Education Barbara Smith. Smith and the Faculty Women’s Association wanted to contribute to creating an understanding that every effort to gain an education will be beneficial to you and to others. There is no particular path or timeline, and there are countless ways to get there, Smith said. In addition to the 10 films, FWA wrote 25 print stories on more inspiring faculty women on campus. They are available on the website. Everyone Has a Purpose Starting with an idea tell the stories of the women at BYU that might be inspirational to students, Smith went to Executive Producers and Faculty Mentors Amy Jensen and Tom Lefler to ask for help to tell those stories in a compelling way. Jensen jumped at the chance to involve some of the very talented female film students on campus in this project. Nine students were able to direct, produce and edit the project. In a way, says Jensen, those filmmakers are much as part of the project as the women featured in the web series. “The students were the conceptualizers, they were the ones who looked at the footage we took of each women and determined what story would be best to tell,” she said. The students couldn’t help but be inspired in the process; one student even decided to apply for grad school because of the influence of the women in the project. “When I began working on this project, I was looking for this kind of mentoring and I didn’t know how to express that,” said Director and Editor Coco Mack, “And I realized that I could do more than I imagined myself doing. And I was able to find the counsel and courage that I needed through these videos.” The filmmakers easily caught the vision of the project set out by the Faculty Women’s Association and the Department of Theatre and Media Arts: to teach young women how to navigate their lives around continuing education, and how their community can help them get there. “It’s a really important story that needs to be told,” said Director and Producer Cassie Hiatt. “Heavenly Father does not forget about you, and everyone is on this earth for a specific purpose.” Stories that Could Change Lives Everyone involved in the filming hopes that this message will be conveyed through the project. And that many will be inspired and influenced by the stories. “It’s all about the sharing. I hope that faculty and employees will share these videos with their students who really need to hear these stories so they can start thinking about what their path is going to be,” said Jenny Pulsipher, this associate professor in History featured in the series. “I hope that a lot of people hear these stories, because it could change their lives.” Health Science Assistant Professor Chantal Sloan agrees. “People need to hear this, because it can answer questions of the heart,” she said. The films and stories can be viewed at bystudybyfaith.byu.edu. /wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Carri-1.jpg /wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Julie-1.png /wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Julianne-1.png /wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Jenny-1.png /wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Chantel-2.png /wp-content/uploads/2015/02/April-3.jpg /wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Lora-Beth-1.png Source: BYU News

Encompassed by the cold of winter’s night, soldiers on both sides of the line gradually peered beyond their own trenches, captivated by a violinist’s tune of “Silent Night.” One hundred years ago, a series of widespread but unofficial ceasefires along the Western Front of World War I led to what is now known as the Christmas Truce of 1914. In commemoration of this historic centennial, the work of Brigham Young University Illustration professor Robert T. Barrett has been chosen to bring to life what happened that Christmas as part of a worldwide peace initiative called the Christmas Truce and Flanders Peace Field Project. As part of the initiative, eleven of Barrett’s illustrations have been presented to the mayor and people of Messines, Belgium. “Most people think that the Christmas truce was a small, incidental event,” Barrett said. “But it actually went about two thirds up the militant line, all the way into Germany, France and Belgium. It was a massive showing of Christmas spirit, with Messines as the epicenter.” Having found motivation and meaning from his own family’s relationship with the events surrounding World War I, Barrett encapsulates the sober background of war-torn Europe with the powerful and poignant story of soldiers who laid down their weapons to exchange gifts and special holiday traditions. “If you can make the project personal to you, you will see it reach more people and it will be much more meaningful. My family’s ties to World War I did that for me on these illustrations,” Barrett said. “The thought of a German soldier standing up to play the violin when he could have been shot touched me. That kind of message reaches people.” Barrett first developed the illustrations for a children’s book, “Silent Night, Holy Night,” which includes choral additions from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and narration from Walter Cronkite. “It’s not often that your illustrations have a second life,” he said. The illustrations have since been used for additional harmonious celebrations such as Peace Quest, an organization that seeks to mark the anniversaries of World War I with commemorations that emphasize peace. Soon the eleven original pieces will be permanently installed in the crypt of St. Nicolas Cathedral in Messines, Belgium. It was in the crypt of St. Nicolas that Adolf Hitler recovered from wounds he received at the “Bethlehem Farm,” a farmhouse that continues to stand erect in Messines. Although he was based in Messines at the time, Hitler refused to take part in the spontaneous Christmas truce because he considered it dishonorable. Don Mullan, the force behind the Christmas Truce and Flanders Peace Field Project, said about the history and hope of Messines, “We intend to make Messines the antithesis of all that Hitler represented. And, as we remember World War I, commemorate peace.” Barrett hopes this project will illustrate the truce for what it really was, an epoch of peace in a time of war, inspired by a sense of common humanity and the Christmas spirit.

On Thursday, September 11, the HFAC will host a one-of-a-kind reception of faculty artwork from 5-9pm in the B.F. Larsen Gallery.

Jeff Martin, Arts Manager of BYU Arts Production, was recently quoted in Inside Arts, a magazine published by the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. APAP is the trade organization of presenters in the United States. In the article, Martin talks about how the OFF THE MAP theatre festival came to be.

Museum of Art director Mark Magleby speaks about exhibit at devotional

Come support Art History and Curatorial Studies professor and Museum director Mark Magleby tomorrow during his BYU devotional address!

The Department of Dance lost a beloved member of their faculty on Monday, April 28, 2014.

Dr. Dan leads students to transform, inspire and create new artistic connections By Sarah Ostler Hill Printmaking, beads, sewing, film, book binding, painting, photography, bread – Dr. Daniel Barney doesn’t let his medium define him as an artist. He is an art omnivore, immersing himself in various media, processes and their cultural contexts as a way to discover how and what people learn through artmaking. Today, as a professor in BYU’s Department of Visual Arts, he serves as educator, researcher and artist. Barney has always been interested in finding answers, and perhaps that was one reason he was initially drawn to the sciences. He had taken some art classes, but it was only the encouragement from his future wife, Cassandra Christensen, that led him to apply for a scholarship in the arts. He was pleasantly surprised when he won that scholarship. The arts encouraged and expanded that initial interest in finding answers. At first, Barney didn’t considering pursuing a career as an educator, even though Christensen was working on her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting with licensure in K-12 Art Education. “Teachers don’t always get the respect they deserve,” he laughs. “Cassandra was working on her teacher certification, so I began to substitute teach for her. That’s when I began to rethink my reticence towards teaching.” Art as a Process Once Barney graduated, he didn’t have access to the printmaking equipment found at BYU, so he moved into more traditional materials like painting and drawing. Barney began teaching at Timpview High School in Provo and was asked to teach a crafts class. He laughs as he says “crafts” with a tone that implies he wasn’t about to teach kids how to make friendship bracelets or paper mache. It was his class to teach, so he began to explore beyond technique to the philosophies that deal with a process and then materiality. “I’m not intensely interested in making, but what can be learned through the making,” he explains. Barney says his students were attracted to making beads, so he took it a step farther to learn the art from a historical and cultural perspective. He talks about wood, bone and shell beads, Egyptian faience beads, and 2700-year-old Zhou Dynasty and Warring States period beads, and what they mean to different cultures and times. Barney’s extensive research on technique led to some extraordinary lampwork beadmaking. His work has been exhibited and sold throughout North America. “I did glasswork and jewelry making for 10 years just because I was teaching and interacting with high school students,” he says, as if anyone could gain national recognition after being asked to teach a beginning art class. When students expressed an interest in clothing, Barney threw himself into analyzing dress as an artistic process. Clothing intrigues him, he says, particularly how it relates to politics and ethics, such as power, modesty and oppression. Much of his early scholarly writing is focused on dress as an artistic, albeit problematic, concept. Barney’s most recent self-proclaimed obsession has been making bread. He says he makes four loaves a day using only wild yeast, flour, water and salt. Most people would say they bake bread, but Barney examines the entire process. “I have no idea how it will relate to my artistic practice just yet,” he muses. “But I’m seeing what happens when the conditions are set for great things to happen, but don’t force it. Most of the time, the resting is doing the work.” Barney’s many successes perhaps emerge from his drive to learn new things. After teaching high school for about nine years, Barney decided to get his master’s degree in art education at BYU. He continued to work at Timpview High School until he went to the University of British Columbia to get his doctorate in curriculum studies. As he was finishing his coursework, he saw a position at a highly selective New York art school was coming open. While he considered this the perfect fit for what he had been studying, he hadn’t yet finished his research so he knew it was a long shot. He was shocked when he was shortlisted. He was further stunned when he was shortlisted by another prestigious art school. Then, both schools made him offers. “That’s when I thought maybe I’d have a chance at BYU,” Barney says. He contacted BYU faculty members, a call for applications was opened, and BYU offered him a position as well. He had three very attractive offers, all when he was still just a PhD candidate, meaning his dissertation research was only in the initial phases. He had to write his dissertation while he was a full-time instructor at BYU. “Ultimately, BYU was the right fit for my family,” Barney says. “Everyone has been really supportive and thinks outside what I thought was BYU’s box. As a student, I had a different idea of what the faculty was thinking.” From Beadmaking to BYU As a professor at BYU, Barney has had some unique experiences in teaching and learning from students. Sometimes he presents project ideas, but then lets students apply their own voice. He doesn’t believe that learning is always best when everyone follows the same assignment. Teaching students to create their own assignments is a foundational art skill for which Barney strongly advocates. Barney recently instructed students they would be doing a project in canning. Conventional canning involves preserving things that are physically sustaining. This project would involve putting something spiritually or emotionally sustaining into a mason jar. Barney was moved by the work his students came back with. Some were incredibly personal, he says, relating to their own life experience or culture. “I cry all the time in my classes,” Barney admits, almost resignedly. “I get overwhelmed to be here and to have these conversations with the students.” While most of his students are LDS, they bring different life experiences from across the world. Their common faith lends to some redundancies not necessarily visible at other institutions. Barney highlights this because he believes his LDS perspective helps him make connections as an artist he wouldn’t otherwise make. “The concept that we need to be taught by the Spirit doesn’t really exist outside Mormonism,” he says, and then elaborates by talking about how humility plays a large role in learning more. “Before you can learn more, and become an expert, you have to humble yourself. It has helped me transform my practice from one who knows to one who knows provisionally, tentative to the contextual insights of the Spirit.” Absorbing and Sharing Influences One of the greatest influences on Barney’s artistic life has been his father-in-law, an artist in his own right. Though their approaches to art differ, he saw early on that being an artist is acceptable and legitimate. “He has shown me I can be a positive force for our community and abroad,” Barney says. “Knowing there’s a person in my life who is successful in his career, family and community has made a huge impact in my life.” On a grander scale, Barney is inspired by artists such as Alfredo Jaar, Eduardo Kac, Vic Muniz and Tom Friedman. He is intrigued by Andrea Zittel’s motto “liberation through limitation” and how this might play out in art educational settings. From these artists, and his research, Barney has developed his own motto: Curriculum is an improvisation within a scene of constraint. He points out the constraints that surround us on a daily basis: classrooms, institutions, workplaces and political entities. But with these limitations come a lot of agency and the ability to make choices. “What can we do within these boundaries, and when do we need to trespass those boundaries?” he asks. “We engage in the world artistically and wonder what we can learn from such engagement. Through our collective inquiry, we can be transformed and learn more than we would have independently.” Barney’s teaching style seems more collaborative than usually found in a classroom. Long ago he dismissed the notion that students passively learn from teachers. He views his role as both teacher and learner and believes students should come to class with the same mentality. “It’s not that one person is smarter and one is lacking,” he explains. “We just have a different set of experiences and together we’ll learn and teach. I want to be surprised. I want to learn when I teach. I want students to come in thinking it is as much their responsibility as mine to teach.” In 2012, Barney collaborated with a former high school student who was working on her master’s of fine arts degree in creative writing. Ashley Mae Hoiland was frustrated by the amount of negativity she saw on billboards during her commute. With Barney, they initiated the Billboard Poetry Project, funded by the Laycock Center for Creative Collaboration in the Arts. They presented poetic messages on several billboards, along with other artistic and pedagogical interventions, within the Wasatch Front to inspire community members to think and act differently. Barney doesn’t let his medium define him as an artist. His constant curiosity and desire to know more drive him in his discovery for why and how people create and what such creation incites. He looks forward to teaching and learning from students in the upcoming school year.

Two faculty members in the Department of Visual Arts and a BYU alumna received awards at the 2014 Utah Art Education Association (UAEA) Conference on February 21. The UAEA promotes “the quality of visual arts education through professional development, collaboration, and leadership opportunities.” Each year, a conference is held to commemorate fantastic art educators in the state. Diane Asay has taught in the Art Education Department at BYU for over 20 years. Her efforts and contributions to the art education community resulted in her receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award. Christine Palmer, an adjunct faculty member, received recognition for her work in higher education. Palmer has been teaching art for nearly 20 years, including time working with elementary, junior high and high school students. Molly Neves, who graduated from BYU with a degree in studio arts in 2009, was recognized as Elementary Art Educator of the Year for her work at Summit Academy Elementary, a charter school in Draper. She has been teaching there for five years, and is the art specialist for children in grades kindergarten through sixth grade.

PHOTO: Robert Barrett with Gale Halverson, the real 'Candy Bomber' featured in Christmas from Heaven. Robert T. Barrett, a professor of visual arts at Brigham Young University, has four illustrations that have been accepted into the Society of Illustrators 52nd Illustration West Competition.

The Young Ambassadors are well known throughout the world, traveling throughout the world singing and dancing Broadway hits. The master behind the successful group, director Randy Boothe, was recognized on Saturday with a Star Award at the SCERA theatre for his contribution in theatre.

The Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University will host its next House of Learning Lecture, titled “Arthur Rackham: Scaring Children Out of the Nursery and the Contemporary Artists that Follow Him,” Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 2 p.m. in the library auditorium on level one. Admission is free.

With sadness, the BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications notes the passing of Dr. Douglas E. “Doug” Bush, Professor of Organ in the School of Music. He joined the faculty at BYU in 1978 and was a renown concert organist and musical scholar as well as a beloved teacher and friend. Bush leaves a profound legacy as a mentor and colleague at BYU. Over the years, many have been touched by his kindness and inspired by his knowledge and wisdom. When Lance Montgomery (BM ’09) took a second semester civilization class from Bush, Montgomery was impressed by more than just the fact that Bush lectured without notes. “I cried so many times in his class,” Montgomery recalled. “Whether it was a piece of art, music, or literature, he talked about it in such a passionate way where you felt intimate with the work itself.” Claudine Bigelow, Associate Director of the School of Music, also noted the way in which Bush’s kindness spread across the entire School of Music. “He was welcoming as a teacher, so sensitive to the lost sheep, and very inclusive of every music student, even those outside his area,” she said. In addition to touching the lives of many students, Bush was also loved as a colleague, not the least of which for his generosity in sharing fine German chocolate, which he regularly brought back from his European concert trips. “I will miss his quiet good humor and gentle kindness,” said April Clayton, Associate Professor of Flute. Bush was born in March of 1947 in western Montana. He completed bachelors and master’s degrees from BYU in 1972 and 1974, followed by a doctoral degree from The University of Texas at Austin in 1982. Bush concertized extensively in the United States, Mexico, and Europe and was a featured soloist in several concert series. In summer of 2013, Bush was honored as the Convocation Speaker at BYU’s College of Fine Arts and Communications graduation. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Tuesday, October 15, 2013 at the Provo Central Stake Center, 450 North 1220 West, Provo, Utah. Friends may call at the Berg Mortuary of Provo, 185 East Center Street, Monday from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. and at the church Tuesday from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m. prior to services. Interment, Provo City Cemetery. Read his full obituary. View or sign the tribute wall. Douglas Bush spoke at the August 2013 convocation speech. Listen to the speech here (MP3).

Associate Chair of the Department of Communications Dale Cressman's intriguing article, The Year That Changed America, has been published in High Life, British Airway's in-flight Magazine. From the emotional highs of Martin Luther King's iconic speech to the devastation wreaked by JFK's assassination, nothing would be the same for the United States after 1963. In this article, Dr. Cressman explains why 1963 was the beginning of 'The Sixties.' The entire article can be accessed by clicking here. Dr. Cressman also discussed 1963: The Year That Changed America on BYU Radio on July 12, 2013.

Starting this Fall semester, a familiar face will be seen around the Brimhall building. Michelle King, long-time anchor with Salt Lake City station KUTV and a BYU alumna, will be teaching the Department of Communications’ Broadcast Performance class. King was lead anchorwoman at KUTV for 23 years, making her the longest-tenured woman to hold that position at any station in the state of Utah. During the span of her career, she reported on the first artificial heart implantation, interviewed Kitty Dukakis and Barbara and Laura Bush, traveled to East German Republic to report on the first LDS temple built behind the “Iron Curtain,” and covered three national political conventions. While at BYU, King spent approximately two years anchoring and producing theNewsroom 11 show. She was able to intern at KSL in Salt Lake City during the summer following her junior year as well as at UPI in New York City after graduation. During her junior year, she was crowned Homecoming Queen after being persuaded by roommates to run for the title. King currently hosts Mormon Times TV, which airs Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. on KSL. Students interested in signing up for the Broadcast Performance class, also known as Comms 326, can request a permission to add code from the department office in 360 BRMB. Source: Department of Communications