Gerald R. Molen Receives
Honorary Doctorate
Acclaimed film producer Gerald Molen was awarded the honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree at this year’s graduation ceremony.
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| Jerry Molen and his wife Patricia are flanked by daughter Lori and son Steve in the lobby of the UM Performing Arts and Radio Television Center during the reception held in Molen’s honor. |
Faculty from the School of Fine Arts and the Media Arts program joined in the celebration. Molen has been a friend of the School’s Media Arts program for the past several years and serves onits Advisory Board.
“Media Arts is a new program here at The University of Montana. It deals with story and its realization through new technologies such as the digital video, audio and motion graphic design,” says Michael Murphy, the Director of Media Arts. “As the program began to develop over the course of the last four years, it became clear to us that we needed to look for people from outside the world of the School, who could be of value to our students, who believed in the same principles we did, and who could assist us in answering the critical questions we would need to address as the program grew. When we met Gerald Molen, we knew we had found our man.”
Molen’s list of credits is impressive, particularly given the road he took to arrive at the top of his profession. Born in Great Falls, his family originally farmed in the Fairfield area. When they lost the farm, they moved to Great Falls. When Molen was twelve years old, his father moved the family to Los Angeles, where he started a hot dog stand/luncheonette across from Republic Studios. From the first time Molen sneaked onto the lot and watched the making of early Roy Rogers movies, he became hooked on the business. Thirty years later, he found himself accepting the Academy Award for Best Picture for his work on Schindler’s List.
The time between these two events illustrates Molen’s amazing ability to survive and adapt in a business that can be quite unforgiving.
Originally thinking he might work behind a camera, or in make-up, Molen ended up in the transportation end of the process, organizing the massive movements of vehicles needed in the creation of a movie. His organizational abilities were considerable, but what really moved him forward was his grasp of the link between understanding the needs of a story and the ability to envision the right combination of artists and technicians to make that vision a reality. Molen’s exceptional skills were recognized. He became a production manager and, finally, a producer.
Working with numerous Hollywood directors of note, including Hal Ashby, Sydney Pollack and Steven Spielberg, Molen has amassed an incredible list of film credits, including: The Postman Always Rings Twice, Tootsie, A Soldier’s Story, The Color Purple, Days of Thunder, A Far Off Place, Twister, Rain Man, Hook, Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, and Lost World-Jurassic Park.
While at UM to receive the honorary Doctorate, Molen spent time with students in Media Arts discussing the future of the entertainment industry, as well as the nature of his work and the importance of the fundamental process of story construction and how it relates to production and budget issues. In addition, a reception in his honor was held in the lobby of the PARTV building.
During the gift presentation at the reception, Dean Shirley Howell offered the following quote from British aviator Beryl Markham to sum up the achievements of Jerry Molen: “If a man has any greatness in him, it comes to light not in one flamboyant hour, but in the ledger of his daily work.” Howell concluded by saying, “Jerry Molen has written boldly and brilliantly in his life’s ledger. He is an inspiration and example for us all.”
Congratulations, and thanks to Gerald R. Molen from the students, faculty and staff of the UM School of Fine Arts.
Message From the Dean
On behalf of the School of Fine Arts faculty, staff and students, I extend to you our warmest greetings. We are pleased to share with you news regarding the people and events
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| Shirley Howell |
involved in the arts at The University of Montana, and also to send updates about alumni and friends throughout the nation. My personal thanks are extended to those of you who wrote letters and e-mailed us in response to our last newsletter. We received more than one hundred cards, letters and e-mails, excerpts of which are included with this issue. We appreciate your interest in and support of the School of Fine Arts, and your willingness to take time to bring us up to date on your whereabouts and activities.
Eleven months have elapsed since I arrived at The University of Montana to become the sixth permanent dean of the School of Fine Arts. As you can imagine, this has been an exciting, interesting and busy time. I have enjoyed learning about the University and the School of Fine Arts, our many programs, wonderful faculty and talented students. The depth and breadth of the arts programs at The University of Montana are noteworthy, as you will see from this issue. We have always known this and were delighted to have our beliefs confirmed by the recent Northwest Regional Accreditation review.
Special guests this summer have included Carroll and Nancy Fields O’Connor, for whom the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West has been named. Carroll has honored us by bringing his wonderful acting, directing, producing and writing expertise to the classroom for the entire summer. He is teaching a course titled “Writing the Movie,” a highly popular and successful offering. You may have noticed in the national press that Carroll’s “star” has been installed in the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and his new movie, Return to Me, was just released this spring. Nancy has provided her gracious guidance to the Museum of Fine Arts. We also were delighted in May to confer an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts on Hollywood motion picture producer Gerald R. Molen, a Montana native and a member of the SFA Media Arts Advisory Council. Jerry Molen’s credits are monumental, and I know you’ll enjoy reading the feature story about him in this issue.
Daily, I hear success stories about our graduates and see first hand the significant accomplishments of our students. The high caliber of this student body is reflected in honors and recognition at national peer competitions and in the career successes of UM graduates. We have had actors, dancers and designers competing for honors at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C. Ensembles and soloists have been invited to perform at national and international conferences, and visual artists have been invited to exhibit at national and international art shows. Alumni are singing and acting throughout the United States and abroad, performing on television, on Broadway and in national touring companies. You share in these successes by virtue of your support, interest and enthusiasm for UM arts programs.
Generous scholarship endowments for students in the arts have been established this year by Ron and Nancy Erickson, Bill and Avis Mitchell, Sutton West Gallery, Mott Family Ranch, George and Louise Caras, and Dean and Gini Vinal. A memorial endowment also has been initiated in the name of artist and teacher Scott Bardsley. Significant bequests for scholarships and other purposes have been received from the estates of John Cowan and Mary Cardell Moore. In addition to scholarships, gifts have addressed facilities, visiting artists, equipment and operations. Total charitable giving to the School of Fine Arts from July 1999 through June 2000 exceeded $1,435,000. These gifts confirm what I had been told when I arrived here: caring and generous people in this state and region believe in the arts and put that belief into action. You will read more about these and other gifts in this issue.
Finally, I want to conclude this note with special thanks to all those of you who sent contributions to the School of Fine Arts during this past academic year. I don’t need to tell you that state support has been markedly reduced during the past decade. Private gifts have become the decisive factor in our ability to continue to attract talented students, to provide exceptional programs—competitive with some of the best in the nation, and to maintain our place in the national spotlight as a significant place to study the arts today. Your gifts truly make a difference.
Again, the faculty and staff join me in sending you our best wishes.
Sincerely,
Shirley Howell, Dean
School of Fine Arts
The University of Montana
Writing the Movie With Carroll O’Connor
When people hear the name Carroll O’Connor, the first thing they think of is
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| Carroll O'Connor |
Archie Bunker, a 1970s television icon who made us laugh (and made us think) with his self-righteous working-class diatribes. There is a lot more to O’Connor than Archie Bunker, however. He has worked both in front of the camera and behind the scenes as writer, executive producer and star of another TV series, In the Heat of the Night. With more than 30 movie roles to his credit, he recently played the grandfather in a new motion picture, Return to Me. On St. Patrick’s Day, 2000, he was honored with the installation of a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
O’Connor has brought his vast knowledge of the broadcast industry to The University of Montana in his two-part class, Writing the Movie, which he is teaching this summer. The class is being held in the University Center’s newly remodeled Alumni Board Room, which is a perfect setting for the round table discussion format of the class. The class is limited to twelve students, allowing O’Connor to do what he seems to like to do best: interact with students, listen to their ideas and then help them mold and shape those ideas into a screenplay format.
At the end of the first summer session, students will have outlines of their screenplays, as well as one fully developed act—but they will walk away with much more. One student said, “Just the opportunity to learn a small part of what he knows is invaluable. And watching the way he picks apart stories is a great learning experience for me.”
Will any of the students’ work make it to the big screen? “Well, sure they can,” says O’Connor. The first thing any writer should do after completing a script is to submit it to the Writer’s Guild. You can check out this and more by visiting O’Connor’s website at www.carroll.oconnor.net or the UM Media Arts page at www.sfa.umt.edu/mart
Memories Become Vision Charitable
Bequests Benefit School of Fine Arts
The Department of Music and the Department of Drama/Dance recently
received two very generous bequests from grateful alumni, Mary Cardell Moore and John R. Cowan Jr.
Moore, class of 1930, left a provision in her will to establish a $123,500 endowed scholarship in her own and her parents’ name, The Mary Cardell Moore, Robert and Florence Cardell Memorial Endowment in Music. She also established a similarly named $123,500 endowed scholarship for Drama.
Cowan, who received his bachelor’s degree in 1951 and his Master of Music degree in 1952, left a gift of more than $170,000 that provided equally for two funds, The John R. Cowan, Jr. Scholarship in Music and the University Theatre Renovation Fund. Mr. Cowan also bequeathed his Steinway grand piano and more than $47,000 for the Department of Music’s keyboard renovation fund.
Gifts such as these truly make a difference in the opportunities available for UM students. We appreciate our alumni and friends who, through foresight, planning and fond memories of UM, create a lasting gift to the School. These two donors have helped to increase the School of Fine Arts Endowment Funds to almost four million dollars, a tremendous start toward our goal of Ten Million in Ten Years.
Scholarships Honor Dedication
Since announcing the “Ten Million in Ten Years” goal for School of Fine Arts endowments last fall, the School has seen significant growth in the area of endowed scholarships. Arts patrons, families of former students, and alumni have designated SFA scholarship funds as a way of perpetuating their interest in and commitment to the arts.
• The Mott Family Ranch Scholarship in the Arts was established by Diane West-Mott and Edward C. Mott to provide scholarships for deserving students at UM who are pursuing a major or a minor in one of the performing or visual arts. The student must be an incoming freshman from Simms, a school district near the Mott family’s ranch.
• The Nancy and Ron Erickson Scholarship in Art provides a scholarship for a female graduate student pursuing an MA or MFA in two-dimensional studio work.
• The Bill and Avis Mitchell Charitable Remainder Annuity Trust has been established to create the Bill and Avis Mitchell Scholarship in Music. The fund will be used to provide aid to deserving students majoring in music who are from eastern Montana.
• The Sutton West Art Endowment was created by Geoffrey J. Sutton to provide awards to deserving BFA and MFA students in the UM Art Department to help defray the costs of mounting and exhibiting thesis exhibits.
• George and Louis Caras Endowment—George and Louise Caras have intitiated an endowment Scholarship for the School of Fine Arts.
For information about any of these funds or about establishing a new fund, contact Linda Lafavour Lussy at 406.243.4971, or e-mail lussy@selway.umt.edu
Montana Tax Incentives Encourage Endowment Gifts
To encourage gifts to endowments in Montana, the 1997 Legislature enacted a law to provide a state income tax credit for certain contributions by individuals, corporations, and estates to permanent endowment funds held by Montana charitable organizations, such as The University of Montana Foundation. The time is at hand for promoting endowment growth, as the tax credit is in effect through December 2001.
The law offers an incentive of 50 percent of a qualifying contribution, to a maximum of $10,000 per year per individual, for irrevocable planned gifts. Gift types that qualify include: current and deferred charitable gift annuities; charitable remainder and lead trusts; life estate agreements (gifts of a home or farm), paid-up life insurance policies; or gifts to the Foundation’s pooled income fund.
The credit also applies to both outright and planned gifts from Montana corporations, small business corporations, partnerships or estates made to permanent endowments.
Now, Montana taxpayers of all income levels can save on their tax bill and provide for a continuing income source for themselves while supporting an organization they value, such as the School of Fine Arts.
Endowments to benefit the Fine Arts are managed by The University of Montana Foundation. The gift given is invested in perpetuity and a portion of the income generated is made available to the school each year for spending. The income beyond the spending allocation, as well as any additional gifts made to the fund, are reinvested for fund growth. The Foundation charges a minimal management fee for its services.
Talent awards for deserving students represent a high priority for the School of Fine Arts. Toward that goal, Dean Howell and the School of Fine Arts are embarking on a scholarship drive to increase both annual and endowed scholarships to provide adequate funds to recruit and retain talented students.
Scholarship endowments begin at $20,000 or more. Separate non-scholarship endowments, which can be named for the donor or someone they wish to honor or memorialize, can be established with gifts of $10,000 or more. Endowments may be funded by an outright gift or pledged over a period of five years.
If you would like more information about the tax credit or the School of Fine Arts priorities, please contact Linda Lefavour Lussy at The University of Montana School of Fine Arts, or Dean Shirley Howell (406-243-4970).
Scott Bardsley Memorial Scholarship
The newly established Scott Bardsley Memorial Scholarship was created by Kadin Bardsley in memory of his father Scott, who was employed by the Butte School District for more than fifteen years as an art teacher and coach. Scott Bardsley earned his undergraduate degree from The University of Montana, and, at the time of his death, was on leave of absence from his job pursuing a master’s degree in art at UM. Bardsley was a great promoter of art throughout his community and was successful in his personal art-making. He is remembered for his outgoing personality, interest in and kindness to others, and for his generosity. His love of teaching and commitment to the success of his students is the motivation for this scholarship. His son, Kadin, is also a graduate of the University, with dual degrees in art and mathematics.
The School of Fine Arts is grateful for this generous memorial scholarship, which will benefit an incoming freshman from Butte High School majoring in visual arts.
Henry Named Distinguished SFA Faculty Member
The School of Fine Arts has named Patti Henry as its Distinguished Faculty Member for 1999-2000. Henry joined the UM Department of Drama/Dance faculty in 1995 and teaches Scenic Design and Scenic Painting, along with mentoring students on design assignments for drama and dance productions. Randy Bolton, department co-chair, called Henry an exemplary professor and an incredible inspiration to her students and to her faculty colleagues.
She received her MFA degree in Scenic Design from The University of Montana in 1980. Since that time, she has designed and taught theatre design at four other major universities in the nation. Henry has also designed scenery and lights professionally for many theaters in Seattle. Her professional and university design credits include The Three Penny Opera, Camelot, Three Sisters and Under Milkwood.
Dean and Gini Vinal Establish Gift Annuities
Music alumni Dean ’42 and Gini Young Vinal ’48 have provided handsomely for the Department of Music through planned gifts that give the Vinals not only the satisfaction of benefiting the department and UM students but also provides them tax advantages, including the Montana Endowment Tax Credit for contributing to an endowed fund. Proceeds from their gift annuities established in 1999 and 2000—together totaling $37,000—will support music education scholarships.
School of Fine Arts: Jewel in The UM Crown
The Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges conducted an on-site evaluation of the University of Montana in April, 2000.
After spending considerable time with the students, faculty and administration of the School of Fine Arts, the authors of the Accreditation report wrote, “The School of Fine Arts is a jewel in the crown of The University of Montana-Missoula and provides artistic and cultural leadership for the state of Montana.”
The report goes on to say that the School, with 800 full-time students, has a rich history and extensive traditions, and has long been committed to the highest standards of artistic development, teaching and learning. SFA was further commended for its processes for keeping current in curricula and programs, its student assessment, and for its contributions to the entire campus through arts components in the general education program. The merits of the faculty were also praised. Student comments were quoted, expressing admiration and respect for their teachers, and often indicating that their selection of the UM School of Fine Arts was based primarily on the teaching and artistic faculty.
The accreditation team expressed concern for the School in funding matters, saying, “The School appears to have been under-funded for some time and has had to be creative in its response to identify external and internal financial support for its extensive and comprehensive program.”
It concluded: “The University of Montana is commended for its emphasis on the importance of artistic activities and the quality of those activities on campus, including the high level of student work in the arts. The University is also commended for the extensive artistic outreach efforts throughout the state of Montana and for its artistic and cultural leadership in the state.”
Goodbye
James G. Todd, Jr. retired from The University of Montana this spring, after thirty years of distinguished service. A recipient of both undergraduate and graduate degrees from UM, he was Professor of Humanities from 1970-80. He has been Professor of Art since 1980, serving as Chair of the Department from 1980-88.
Well respected by students and colleagues for his knowledge and artistic accomplishments, Professor Todd taught painting, printmaking, art criticism, social theory and history of art. He initiated and coordinated the first academic student/faculty art exchange with the People’s Republic of China. Todd has had articles published widely in journals such as Art & Academe, Journal of American Studies, In These Times, and the College of Arts and Sciences Forum. He has had prints published in catalogues world-wide and has written numerous catalogue essays, as well.
He is an Associate Member of the Royal Society of Painters/Printmakers of London, England, has been listed in Who’s Who in Art, Who’s Who in the West, Who’s Who in American Education, and Who’s Who in American Art.
Todd received the Outstanding Alumni award from the Department of Art in 1994. He has received commissions and exhibited his work regionally, nationally and internationally, receiving numerous awards and professional recognition for his paintings and prints. His work has been featured in numerous private as well as public collections all over the world.
Previous to his tenure at UM, Todd worked as Extension Humanities Director for Montana State Prison, at Walton Jr. College in Florida, and as an art and English instructor in Germany.
New Faculty in the Department of Art
Elizabeth Dove is the new Assistant Professor in
printmaking/photography. She has taught at the University of Maine and was an instructor and researcher at the Canadian School for Non-Toxic Printmaking. Her work has been exhibited nationally and she has given numerous workshops throughout the United States. Dove received her MFA from Vermont College.
Valerie Hedquist is the new adjunct Assistant Professor in Art Criticism. She received her Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Kansas and has taught for more than ten years at Central College in Iowa. Hedquist has been published in numerous journals.
Department of Art News
James Bailey was an invited artist as part of the Aesthetics of Water Portfolio, and his work was exhibited in eight exhibitions this past year including “Artists’ Books: Visual Literary Expressions,” and “Western Montana Artists” in Washington State. This summer he will teach in the Creative Pulse, an integrated arts and education program, and has been invited once again to present a week-long workshop with Carmine Chickadel of the Richard Hugo House in Seattle in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts. He will also be the juror for the national exhibition The Painted Page; Art of the Book.
Art History Resource Center
The Department of Art has acquired the old linguis- tics area on the second floor of the Fine Arts Building. The space has been converted into a student library, and also features an expanded slide library, a seminar room and additional faculty offices.
The Friends of Printmaking are collaborating with artist Jaune Quick-To-See Smith to feature Montana Native American Artists in a series of print intensive workshops over the course of the next two years. Participating artists will work with printmaking professor
James Bailey and his students to produce a series of limited-edition prints. The student Artist Collective held its annual Beaux Arts Ball for the graduating seniors, and continues to sponsor several juried art exhibitions, sales and events annually.
Visiting Artist Program
The Jim and Jane Dew Visiting Artist Program remains a vital component of the art curriculum. This past year the program brought in several nationally and internationally known artists who presented lectures on their work, and also interacted with many of the students through workshops and through individual and group critiques with both undergraduate and graduate students. This year the department hosted Manuel Ocampo, John Torreano, Pat Zentz, Faith Wilding, James Drake and Art Chantry.
Paxson’s Sacajawea Restored
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| Edward Paxson’s Sacajawea |
As part of the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial, The Museum of Fine Arts is reproducing a limited edition of Edgar Paxson’s famous painting of Sacajawea.The Museum, working with Claire Munzenrider, Chief Conservator of the Museum of New Mexico, will oversee the cleaning of the nine foot canvas. Don Beatty, nationally recognized photographer of Bozeman and Stamford, Connecticut, will photograph the Sacajawea for the Museum. This special edition print is expected to be available for sale by January, 2001.
Museum of Fine
Arts Calendar for 2000-2001
August 11 - September 9: Hard Words: Peter Koch and Griffith Williams
September 15 - October 13: The Wild Rockies Rendezvous, A Regional Invitational
October 16 - November 4: The Great Montana Dog and Pony Show—Best of the West Art Auction
November 17 - December 31: Native Voices: A Celebration of Indigenous Artists
The Museum’s summer institute, sponsored in conjunction with the Richard Hugo House in Seattle, serves youth from the Missoula Youth Homes, a residential care agency for young people who have been removed from their homes by the courts or other agencies that deal with youth and domestic turbulence. Carmine Chickadel, a well-known and respected American poet from Hugo House, will be in residence at the Museum from June 19 until June 30. He will work with Art Department Chair, James Bailey, and Museum Director Maggie Mudd to team teach the weeklong experience in poetry and printmaking. This year’s program is sponsored by the Charles Engelhard Foundation and Friends of the Museum of Fine Arts.
Plans continue for the fall Museum fundraiser, “The Great Montana Dog and Pony Show and Best of the West Art Auction” on November 4. An evening of great dining, dancing and entertainment will set the stage for a unique auction of dogs, ponies and Montana art of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. Business Director Kim Lugthart and Exhibits Coordinator Professor Mary Ann Bonjorni head up the auction team, together with Bob Chaney, President of the Friends of the Museum of Fine Arts.
Proceeds from the auction will assist with a myriad of museum programs and exhibits and, most especially, with ongoing efforts to conserve and preserve historic portions of the collection. The auction event will also introduce the public to the Museum expansion plans approved by the 1999 Montana State Legislature.
Mark your calendar to be in Missoula on November 4th for an evening of great food, art and entertainment!
For reservations call 406.243.2019.
Jerry Rankin Retrospective
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| Artist Jerry Rankin and staff assistant Taryn Coles at the opening of his exhibit presented at The Museum of Fine Arts Graduation Showcase. |
The Museum of Fine Arts closed its academic schedule with the Graduation Showcase of the work of Jerome Rankin, a 1972 MFA graduate of The University of Montana in printmaking. Each year, the Museum presents an exhibit of a distinguished alum of the School of Fine Arts to add to the graduation activities of the University. This year’s choice, Jerry Rankin, joins a growing list of important and influential Montana artists who have received their professional training at the University. Rankin’s retrospective will run through mid-June.
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| Don Beatty, left, nationally recognized photographer and installation design expert, and Jerry Rankin. |
Department of Drama/Dance
Our continuing tradition of diversity provides students with a variety of experiences and creative challenges in performance, choreography and costume, set and lighting design--and offers audiences the finest in live theatre and dance.
In addition to their busy production schedule this year, UM Drama/Dance students and faculty took part in a number of theatrical outreach projects, sharing their expertise and excitement with middle school and high school students.
- Professor Jillian Dean worked with Big Sky High School students, giving participants the opportunity to explore important social issues through improvisational acting.
- UM Drama/Dance faculty, staff and students helped Meadow Hill Middle School's eighth grade class prepare for their trip to see Phantom of the Opera in Spokane. In addition to learning about the collaborative process that makes theatre such an exciting, vital art form, the eighth graders toured the PAR/TV Center to get a behind-the-scenes look at a working theatre.
- In February, the department hosted the Montana Thespian Conference, offering students from all over the state the opportunity to showcase their current high school productions and attend a number of workshops in technical theatre, acting and dance.
Educational projects such as these are an enjoyable and fulfilling aspect of our department1s outreach to the community and the state.
"Fine performances... inventive light and sound design and breathtaking timing." The Missoulian
Mo-Trans - The Montana Transport Company
Our modern dance touring company has had an active year.
Mo-Trans presented its first concert in November featuring works by guest artists from New York and San Francisco and the performance of a humorous work about parenting created by Utah choreographer Erik Stern. They premiered a several-year-long project by Amy Ragsdale, using a projection of a video landscape shot near Ovando as backdrop.
In addition to evening concerts, Mo-Trans presented a public performance of Education Director Karen Kaufmann1s K-6 school piece, "Moving Words." For the opening of the Mansfield Conference, they performed excerpts from their older school piece, "Dancing Waters."
They then toured to On The Boards in Seattle and to communities in Western Montana and Eastern Oregon, presenting both school programs and evening concerts.
Mo-Trans is presently mounting an ambitious fundraising campaign through grant writing and soliciting private donations in the hope of being able, finally, to pay their dancers. Contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations are most welcome. Please contact Amy Ragsdale in the
Department of Drama/Dance Alumni: Please send us your news.
Department of Drama/Dance, The University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812
(406) 243-4481, e-mail: drama@selway.umt.edu
Our upcoming season offers comedy, romance and an award-winning musical. We'll take audiences from a festive Christmas celebration in pre-World War II Atlanta to nineteenth-century New York1s elite Washington Square district...from a fantastic desert island to the secret rooms where Anne Frank's family hid as the Holocaust raged about them...
Department of Drama/Dance
Calendar for Fall 2000
The Last Night of Ballyhoo
By Alfred Uhry
October 10-14, 17-21
It's Christmas 1939, and Atlanta's affluent Jewish community is preparing for the social event of the season, Ballyhoo. This Tony Award-winning comedy-drama from the author of Driving Miss Daisy explores themes of family, snobbery and intra-racial prejudice.
Mo-Trans Dance Concert
October 18-21
Presented by Montana1s only professional touring modern dance company, this concert features professional dancers, faculty dancers and the best of our student dancers in choreography by local as well as nationally-known choreographers.
The Heiress
By Ruth Goetz and Augustus Goetz
Suggested by the Henry James novel, Washington Square
November 7-11
Set in New York City's elite Washington Square district in the 1850s, The Heiress is the story of a wealthy, naive young woman who falls in love with a dashing playboy. A compelling tale of love, betrayal, revenge and redemption, this play was an enormous success on Broadway.
Fall Dance Showcase
November 14-18
The Diary of Anne Frank
By Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett,
newly adapted by Wendy Kesselman
December 5-9, 12-16
Experience the dramatic impact of this Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play, the true story of a young girl1s courage in the face of the Holocaust. This adaptation includes excerpts from Anne's diary which were omitted from the original production.
Department of Drama/Dance
Calendar for Spring 2001
The Tempest
By William Shakespeare
February 27-March 3, March 6-10
Seeking revenge, an exiled duke employs his powers of sorcery to shipwreck his enemies. The Tempest, perhaps the Bard's most beautiful and profound play, combines romance, drama, farce and magical illusion against the backdrop of a remote tropical island.
The House of Bernarda Alba
By Federico Garcìa Lorca
March 29-31, April 3-7
Turn-of-the-century Spain provides the setting for this powerful drama, which explores taboos regarding sexuality and women's self-determination. Intending to protect the family reputation, a newly-widowed mother forces a repressive, eight-year mourning period upon her five daughters.
Spring Dance Showcase
April 3-7
Sweeney Todd
The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
A Musical Thriller
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
From an adaptation by Christopher Bond
April 17-21, 24-28
In nineteenth-century London, an unjustly imprisoned barber returns home swearing revenge. Sondheim's brilliant, Tony Award-winning musical masterpiece of vengeance and pointed social comment is both comedic and powerful.
Spring Dance Concert
May 9-12
Chosen from the best student, faculty and guest choreographers, this evening offers splendid dancers, supported by beautiful lighting and costumes, performing on the Montana stage to the delight of our ever-growing dance audiences.
Montana Repertory Theatre
The Rep tells the great stories of
our world to an ever-expanding community.
The Montana Rep's 2001 presentation, THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK
, will travel throughout the country to more than fifty communities, bringing this story of a young girl's simple and p
rofound heroism to tens of thousands of viewers. In addition, The Rep's production of It's a Wonderful Life embarks on its third national tour, a testament to the quality of the production and the popularity of this timeless American story. The Rep continues its Montana Storytelling Project with the help of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, USWest, The Cultural and Aesthetic Coal Tax Fund, the Montana State Legislature and the Montana Arts Council. Middle and high school students interview their communities' older residents and, with assistance from The Rep, these historic storiesbecome artistic productions.
Lolo Middle School participants in the Montana Storytelling Project. Next year's theme, literature and memoirs of World War II, will incorporate The Diary of Anne Frank.
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| Jazz artist and historian Dr. Billy Taylor, a guest at the University in February 2000, presented a lecture titled Jazz as a Metaphor for Democracy, in conjunction with the President’s Lecture Series. He worked with The University of Montana music students in a variety of settings and, with his trio, performed to a packed University Theatre audience on February 2nd. |
The Inaugural Buddy DeFranco
Jazz Festival • April 21-22
World-renowned jazz clarinetist Buddy DeFranco (a part-time Whitefish resident) was on hand to launch the Jazz Festival, newly renamed in his honor, as well as to perform at both evening concerts. Also on hand were jazz greats and DeFranco friends Peter Erskine (drums), Terry Gibbs (vibraphone), Bill Prince (trumpet, saxophone, clarinet, and flute), and Tom Ranier (piano) who performed, presented clinic sessions, and paid tribute to their mentor and the Festival’s new namesake.
In addition to the two evening concerts with UM’s Jazz Band I and guest artists, the two-day festival featured daytime clinic sessions and performances by UM Jazz Bands II and III and twenty high school jazz bands and ensembles from Montana, Idaho, and Washington. Each visiting group received valuable critiques and was treated to a “hands-on” workshop with one of this year’s guest clinicians.
Lance Boyd, UM’s Director of Jazz Studies, says he could not have been more pleased with the outcome. “We had terrific audience response, inspiring performances and outstanding educational opportunities for visiting students, UM student-musicians, and the public,” he said.
Vienna Experience
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| The University of Montana Chamber Chorale performs The Mozart Requiem with the Mozart Orchestra in the Konzerthaus in Vienna, Austria on May 13, 2000. Mozart Orchestra in 18th Century Costume. |
Spearheaded by UM choral director Gary Funk, the Vienna Experience program offered forty UM music students an exciting European educational opportunity. The program, started in 1980 by Professor Don Carey, continues to develop and flourish, providing student participants what some have called “a life-changing experience” once every three years.
Members of the UM Chamber Chorale made up the nucleus of the study/performance group in the Vienna Experience program. Music lessons and course work began on UM’s Missoulacampus and continued throughout the ten-week residence in Vienna. Other classes took place totally on site in the museums and art galleries of the Austrian capital city. The ensemble rehearsed and performed throughout the semester, presenting numerous concerts in th
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| Vienna Experience: The University of Montana Chamber Chorale waits to perform at the “AD UNA CORDA” Choral Festival in Pezinok, Slovakia. |
e Missoula area prior to departure and offering more than twenty performances in Vienna.
This year, UM music faculty members Fern Glass Boyd and Maxine Ramey taught in the program for the first time. They provided instruction both in Missoula and in Vienna in music history and literature course work. Everyone involved called the Vienna Experience an incredible success.
The Department of Music holds an annual concerto/aria performance on theMissoula campus. This year’s competition winners were flutist Beth Anne Morgan, soprano Delight M. Scheck, and pianist
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| Beth Anne Morgan, flutist |
Mary Amo.The winners, accompanied by the University Orchestra, presented a gala performance to more than 400 scholarship donors, family and friends on May 3, 2000. The concert was followed by a reception to honor all SFA scholarship recipients and donors.
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| Delight Michelle Scheck, soprano |
Competition winner Beth Ann Morgan will be a sophomore music performance major this fall and is from Bozeman. Delight Scheck will be a senior. She is also majoring in performance and is a native of Helena. Mary Amo studies piano at the graduate level. Their UM music faculty instructors are Margaret Schuberg, Anne Basinski, and Steven Hesla, respectively.
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| Mary Amo, pianist |
UM Music Scholarship
Audition Dates for 2000-2001
On-campus dates:
Monday, November 27, 2000 Friday, February 9, 2001
Saturday, February 24, 2001
Faculty will be traveling to Billings, Great Falls, and Spokane to conduct auditions on Saturday, February 3rd.
All interested students are invited to participate.Graduating high school seniors are urged to contact the Music Department Office for information at 406.243.6880.
The Department of Music is pleased to
announce the following appointments:
James Anderson has been appointed as Director of Orchestra and Assistant Professor of Music, beginning fall semester 2000. Anderson holds both the Master of Music and Bachelor of Arts in Music degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is currently completing the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Orchestral Conducting at the Eastman School of Music. He will be conducting the University Orchestra and teaching music theory at The University of Montana.
Dr. Mary Jane Belz has been appointed to a permanent position as Music Education Specialist and Assistant Professor of Music. Her credentials include degrees from Augustana College (Sioux Falls, SD), Columbia University Teachers College, and the University of Minnesota.
Music Faculty News
Robert LedBetter, percussion instructor and director of the University’s Big Sky Winds Marching Band, will be taking a one-semester sabbatical to write a percussion textbook. During LedBetter’s absence, his duties will be assumed by Tom Dell’Omo. Dell’Omo comes to UM from a teaching career in Texas. His credentials include both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the University of North Texas at Denton.
Margaret Baldridge (violin) and Steven Hesla (piano) traveled to Vienna, Austria, this spring to join Fern Glass (cello) in performances in Austria and Germany by the Montana Piano Trio, a resident faculty ensemble. Glass was already in Vienna as an instructor participating in the Department’s Vienna Experience. Earlier, Maxine Ramey was in Vienna, serving as a teacher in the program.
Nancy Cooper (organ) performed two off-campus spring recitals, one at Montavilla United Methodist Church, in Portland, (co-sponsored by the Portland chapter of the American Guild of Organists) and the other at Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Corvallis, Oregon.
Scott Billadeau (music technology) wrote a proposal to the UM Student Computer Fee fund, resulting in the award of a $13,000 allocation for student computer needs in the Music Tech Lab. Billadeau also served as master of ceremonies for the Yamaha Clavinova Festival on April 8th at the Missoula Children’s Theatre. More than 90 students performed on the Clavinova using MIDI and sequencing accompaniment.
Stephen Kalm (voice) was off campus in February singing the title role in John Carbon’s Benjamin at Franklin and Marshall College. Anne Basinski (voice) served as guest director for Bozeman’s Opera Chorus. Esther England (voice) participated in a pedagogy panel for the Music Teachers National Association national conference in Minneapolis.
Steve Bolstad led the brass/percussion ensemble through three commencement ceremony performances as part of UM commencement activities. The next day, he flew to Canada to serve a six-day stint as adjudicator for the Alberta Band Festival, held in Red Deer. He also adjudicated at the Utah State Band Festival in Orem, participated in the Northwest/West combined regional conference of the College Band Directors National Association, held in Reno, Nevada, and made a convention presentation during the “Chosen Gems” session.
Jody Graves attended the Music Teachers National Association national conference in Minneapolis. As part of the convention, she participated in meetings of the committees on Musiclink and Collaborative Arts as well as special sessions with the Pedagogy Forums. Also, she adjudicated the MTNA spring festival piano auditions held in Wenatchee, WA. While there, she presented a guest artist recital as a special feature of the festival. The following week, Graves did the same in Spokane. In addition, she was invited to make a presentation to the Piano Pedagogy class at the Eastman School of Music and spoke to the Performance Class of her former teacher, Fernando Laires.
Department of Art Alumni
Paul A. Beaufait, 1977 bachelor’s degree in art and 1986 master’s degree in French, is living with his wife and children in Kumamoto, Japan, where he is teaching at the Prefectural University of Kumamoto (PUK). He is actively working to raise human rights awareness with regard to artists and educators in Japan. If any of you would like more information, you may contact him at the following e-mail address: PABeaufait@netscape.net
Dulcie Ferguson Belanger, 1997 BA, is the owner of Prairie Fire Clay Works in Choteau, MT, which opened in March 1999. This is a clay studio where she teaches throwing and hand-building with clay. She and her husband, who is the educational coordinator for the Nature Conservancy, just finished their finest collaborative piece, a baby boy named Finn Belanger who was born September 13, 1999.
Maxine Morse Blackmer, 1960 MFA, a retired professor emeritus from the Department of Art, is living in Missoula, MT, with her husband, Franklin.
Dana Boussard, 1966 BA, lives in Arlee, MT. This past year she has been busy with art installations at Rocky Mountain College in Billings and the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis. She presented her new video, Montana Defined by Images, at the UM seminar in Heidelberg, Germany, and represented Montana in an exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.
Kimberly Ann Kins Dixon, 1984 BA, is an art teacher at East Middle School in Butte, MT. In addition to teaching, she is raising her two children, Kayla, 13, and Michael, 10. She and her sister coach the Butte High School Cheerleaders. As she says, “All this keeps me plenty busy.”
Monte Dolack lives in Missoula with his wife, Mary Beth Percival, 1968 BA. They have an art gallery in downtown Missoula. Both are world-renowned painters and lithographers with work in national and international collections. Monte has expanded his work to include artwork on buses in both Missoula and our sister city, Kumamoto, Japan.
Molly Viola Dressel, 1998 BFA, is teaching art in Perrysburg, OH. She recently received her license to teach Art K-12 from the University of Toledo. She states, “Ohio is my home, but Montana is always on my mind.”
Nancy Erickson, 1968 MA, lives in Missoula, MT. Owner of the Dancing Rabbit Studios, she is a quilter and painter of national repute. Some of her works have been purchased by UM and are displayed in university buildings.
Cindy Eve, 1992 BA, opened her own studio, Eve Pottery, last September in Great Falls, MT. She is making pots and selling them as well as teaching classes to both adults and children. She says, “I’m having a blast!”
John “Jack” R. Ferriter, 1981 bachelor’s degree, is currently living and working in Helena, MT. He has been freelancing as an illustrator and watercolorist as a sideline ever since he left UM. He completed a master’s degree in Technology in Education from Lesley College in 1996 with the hopes of combining his two degrees. He is looking for opportunities in digital art, publishing and web development.
Patricia Forsberg, 1981 master’s degree, is a Missoula, MT, artist who received the 1999-2000 Montana Arts Council Visual Artist Fellowship in painting. She had a two-person show at the Phillips Gallery in Salt Lake City, UT, in April 1999. She is currently studying violin with Dr. Margaret Nichols Baldridge and playing with the Missoula Symphony Orchestra.
Naomi Simecek Fox, 1997 BFA, is a third year graduate student in Art History in the Department of Art. She is studying with Professor Rafael Chacón. She and her two children went to Bali this winter with Amy Ragsdale from the UM Department of Drama/Dance. While there she worked on her thesis concerning the role of art in maintaining the balance and healing of that island. This past spring, she participated in the Spring Dance Showcase in a dance piece called Offerings in which she painted abstract movements of the dancers on a canvas to the side of the stage. She states, “I am always enthusiastic to participate in interdisciplinary art.”
Marian Geil, 1955 bachelor’s degree, retired as Assistant Librarian from the Hearst Free Library in Anaconda, MT. She authored a book entitled, Anaconda’s Treasure: The Hearst Free Library, which was published by the Library in commemoration of its 100th anniversary.
Toni Gies, 1967 BFA, teaches art in Roundup, MT.
James Hatley, 1976 master’s degree in art and 1981 master’s degree in philosophy, received his PhD in Philosophy ten years ago from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His graduate studies included a two-year stint at the University of Tuebingen under the auspices of a Fulbright Scholarship and an exchange fellowship. He is now teaching philosophy, including aesthetics, ethics, environmental philosophy, Jewish studies and phenomenology, at Salisbury State University in Maryland. His book, Suffering Witness: The Quandary of Responsibility after the Irreparable, is being published by SUNY Press and will appear this May. It is about the ethical situation of witnessing the Holocaust and includes chapters on the poetry of Paul Celan, as well as the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas. He has taught ethics for summer school at The University of Montana several times and would love to return some day to the state.
Jill Helfrich-Moe, 1992 BA, is living in Seattle, WA.
Sandy P. Kitts, 1974 bachelor’s degree, has lived in Spain for the last 23 years. She is a professional Spanish dancer who has performed in many different countries. Her Spanish-born husband is from Cordova. They have a dance studio in Benalmadena Costa, Malaga, in southern Spain.
Dyna Kuehnle, 1997 MFA, lives in Missoula, MT. She received a Percent for Art commission for the State Hospital in Warm Springs, MT. She was featured in a solo exhibition at the Art Museum of Missoula in February 2000, and will present a solo exhibition at the Beall Park Art Center in Bozeman, MT, this coming September.
David Mai, 1982 MFA, teaches elementary art in Emporia, KS. When not teaching, he continues his artistic endeavors as a sculptor in fused and assembled glass. He is married to Susan “Su J” Mai, who is also a UM alumna.
George Montgomery, a native of Great Falls, MT, is best known for his movies, but his paintings and sculptures are sought by collectors everywhere.
Antonette “Tonie” L. Moore, 1961 BA in Fine Art, lives in Roundup, MT. The
last of her five children graduated in May 1998. She has gone from being a full-time mother to spending more time drawing and writing story picture coloring books. Carousel animals are a favorite subject for these children’s books.
Birgess Moore, 1997 BFA, moved to San Francisco two years ago. He is pursuing a career in meetings and events planning, but still creates artwork in his spare time.
Gary Nock, 1972 bachelor’s degree, is living in Ephrata, WA.
David Smith, 1985 MFA, a ceramicist with pieces in national collections, is Associate Professor in Art at Edgewood College, Madison, WI. He has served as adjunct faculty at UM since 1995, teaching summer courses in wood firing in the Anagama kiln he built at Lubrecht Forest while he was a student here. He led the redesign and construction of that kiln during the summer, 1999. He is married to Renée Gouaux.
Leonard R. Stach, 1965 master’s degree, retired as professor emeritus from the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, after 32 years of teaching college and university students, mostly the area of ceramics. The last 27 years were at UW-LaCrosse, where he continues to make his home.
Mike Stark, 1983 BA and 1999 MIS, is an art teacher in Darby, MT. He just
completed his post-graduate degree in the Creative Pulse summer master teachers program at UM and is “sharing the humanity of that experience with teenagers.”
Thomas Sternal, 1966 master’s degree, lives in Todd, NC. He and his wife started an art center in an old school building called the Elkland School Art Center. He is producing custom designed furniture and carved stone sinks these days.
Kathleen “Katie” Stockmeyer-Schnee, 1995 BA, moved to Great Falls, MT, for two years where she exhibited in the Norman T. Dahl Gallery, at the State Fair and most recently at the Art Equinox at Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art (a juried exhibition). She married Mark Schnee on August 28, 1999, and had a baby girl on October 24, 1999. She and her family moved to Valier, MT, where she teaches 7-12 art classes.
Michael J. Wall is a commissioned portraitist in Salt Lake City, UT.
Department of Drama/Dance Alumni
J.D. Ackman, 1984 MFA, is an Associate Professor of Communications Studies and Theatre, at South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD, where he has been employed for the last six years. He states, “My avocational pursuits include walleye fishing, travel, and flirtation. Honest to a fault and a damned fine specimen overall!”
Terry Bartlett, 1996 BFA, is dancing with a major New York dance company called Streb Dance.
Brooke Broadhurst, 1994 BFA, is dancing with the David Neuman and the Douglas Dunn Co. in New York City, NY.
Jim Caron, 1977 MA, is the founder and director of the internationally known Missoula Children’s Theatre. He and his wife, Nancy McIntosh Caron, 1982 BM, have one daughter.
Kevin Cuba, 1995 BFA, is Program Operations Manager and Technical Director at the University of Washington-Seattle, Department of Public Performing Arts in Meany Hall. Prior to this position, he worked as the Assistant Technical Director at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle.
Bess Snyder Fredlund, 1974 BFA, is the Educational Director at the Alberta Bair Theater in Billings, MT. She received her MFA from Cal Arts in 1979. Before moving back to Montana in 1983, she taught, choreographed and danced in the Los Angeles area. She is married and raising two teenagers. She has been at the Alberta Bair Theater since 1997 and she “loves” working there.
Carolan Addams Guernsey-Hary, 1998 MFA, and Douglas Hary, 1997 BFA, are living in Louisville, KY. They were married on August 21, 1999. They are both currently touring as actors with the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival.
Pattie Swoboda Hunter, 1970 BA in English, is a US Administrative Law Judge for the Social Security Administration in Santa Barbara, CA. After working as a trial attorney for the National Labor Relations Board for eighteen years in Seattle, she moved to Santa Barbara two years ago. Her husband is an artist and they have a fifteen year old daughter.
Casey Kriley, 1994 BFA, is an editor for Nickelodeon in the Los Angeles, CA, area.
Colleen Kriley, 1998 BFA, is a lighting technician for many CBS sitcoms in Los Angeles, CA.
Jodi Lahti, 1995 BFA, is a registered nurse at Community Hospital in Missoula, MT. She works in Medical, Surgical, Orthopedics, ICU, OB, Rehab, and sometimes fills in as the charge nurse. She became an aunt for the first time on December 19, 1999. She also took a ten day trip to Hawaii last October. “That was great!” she says.
Michael J. Lewis, 1985 BFA, has been living in Manhattan for the last twelve years pursuing his acting career. He has worked for various theater groups such as the Synchronicity Theatre Group, Primary Stages, New York Theatre Workshop, West End Theatre, North Shore Music Theatre, Cincinnati Playhouse, the San Diego Rep, Papermill Playhouse, Barter Theatre, and most recently, he performed in a production of Alfred Uhry’s Last Night of Ballyhoo at Hilton Head, SC. Television and film credits have included The Guiding Light, American Playhouse’s Darrow, and the feature film Signs of Life. He mentions that he “. . . eagerly awaits the growth of the Montana based actor-clique of New York which is currently rather small.” He’s very interested in the activities of UM Department of Drama/Dance alumni.
Susan “Su J” Mai, 1982 MFA, is an Associate Professor in Theatre Arts and Design at Emporia State University in Emporia, KS. She is married to UM alumnus, David Mai, 1982 MFA in Art.
Pam Morrison, 1994 BFA, is a lecturer at Western Washington University in the Dance Program. She lives in Bellingham, WA.
Michelle Olson, 1992 BFA, is a dancer with the Douglas Dunn Co. in New York City.
Mike Post, 1995 MFA, is working for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival Co.
Amy J. Sennett, 1992 BFA, is the Rehearsal Director for Spectrum Theater in Seattle, WA. She says, “Hello and Welcome to the beautiful University of Montana. I have been busy dancing with this local professional contemporary dance company. I have recently debuted my own choreography at the Jazz World Congress in 1999 in New York.”
Laura Sewrey, 1993 BFA, is a costumer for MTV.
John Shaffner, 1974 BFA, is living and working in Los Angeles, CA, with his partner Joe Stewart. They are Emmy award winning set designers for such sitcoms as Friends, The Drew Carey Show, The Norm Show, and Veronica’s Closet. They also produce the sets for the David Copperfield television specials and the Radio City Music Hall Christmas specials, among others.
Palmer West, 1998 BFA, and his wife, Alison Macdonald, 1998 BFA, are living in New York. Palmer has produced two films, one of which was accepted in the LA Film Festival. Alison is pursuing post-graduate studies and assists Palmer with his production company.
Department of Music Alumni
Eric Askeland, 1998 BME, is teaching band at Forsyth, MT, and his spouse, Alison Jurica, 1998 BME and BM, is teaching choral and band at Colstrip, MT.
Diana Pacini Bauer, 1978 BME, is currently a graduate teaching assistant at The University of Montana, completing a master’s degree in Music Education. She accompanies two choirs in the Department of Music, and spent this spring in Vienna with the Chamber Chorale.
Pauline Oberg Bayers, 1953 bachelor’s degree, is a rancher living in Twin Bridges, MT. She stays active playing the viola in the Butte Symphony Orchestra, directing the church choir, and is a Jubilate at a special yearly retreat and workshops for the Arts in Worship. She also is involved in ranching and publishing a paper entitled “Hereford America,” with her husband. Her three children are all grown and “launched” in their own businesses.
Greg Bolin, 1996 BM, completed all requirements in May for the Master of Music degree in Composition at the University of Arizona. He plans to continue his education in a doctoral program yet to be determined.
Judith Patton Brenner, 1954 bachelor’s degree, is living in Gallatin Gateway, MT. She taught music for three years after she graduated from UM, then used her minor in Business as a government employee. In her spare time she sold Avon products for the last 35 years. She has finally retired to spend her winters in Arizona. She has been active in her church, teaching Sunday school, playing the piano, and singing both in the choir and as a soloist. She is hoping to continue her musical endeavors in Arizona during the warm winter months.
Alan Caldwell, 1969 BME, lives in Columbia, MD. He has been a middle school band director for the last 31 years. He has played the baritone saxophone, clarinet, flute, and bass clarinet for the Baltimore Symphony Pops since 1982. He has also played in several big bands in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area since he has been there.
Cathy Champion-Predmore, 1985 BM, lives in Helena, MT, where she is presently teaching 30 piano students in her “lovely pink studio.” She earned National Certification from the Music Teachers National Association in March of 1999. She has been “happily married to Dan Predmore for 169 months.”
Lucille Sweeney Chesbro, 1940 bachelor’s degree, lives in Belt, MT, where she continues to teach private piano lessons and still remains active in the GFMTA-MSMTA. She is a liturgist and organist at St. Mark’s Catholic Church. Lucille is also the District II musician for the VFW Auxiliary. She and her husband attended all of the home Grizzly football games in Missoula.
Dr. Donald J. Echelard, 1959 BME, 1965 MME, and 1970 PhD in Education, is
retired and living in Winona, MN. He is the founder/director of the Musica Dolce Early Music Ensemble in which he performs on the cornetto, shawm, crumhorn, and recorder.
Ann Bennett Edwards, 1993 BA, teaches flute in Birmingham, AL, area. She began playing with the Celebration Winds Wind Ensemble this past January. She performed with the orchestra for the national touring company of Peter Pan starring Cathy Rigby during the fall of 1998.
Randolph Elliott, 1978 BME, is directing the St. Croix Valley Orchestra in Lindstrom, MN. He states, “The orchestra is now in its eighth season and keeping me so busy I’m doing more conducting and arranging than playing now.”
Jim Gemmell, 1957 BME and 1967 MME, is the retired chairman for a performing arts organization in the Santa Barbara, CA, area. He states, “Heavy duty play mode while good health and finances allow.”
Riscilla Bergen Grimshaw, 1976 BME, teaches elementary general music to grades 1 through 4 in Polson, MT, at both Cherry Valley and Linderman Grade Schools.
Susan C. Hove-Pabst, 1968 BME, is an Associate Professor in music education at the Black Hills State University in Spearfish, SD. She is the founder of the Black Hills Folk Festival.
John E. Howell, 1957 bachelor’s degree, is a retired ranch worker living in Bozeman, MT. Since October 30, 1999, he has been recovering from a heart attack, which necessitated surgery at Providence St. Vincent Hospital in Portland, OR.
Steve Jacobs, 1997 BA, is running his own sound production company, called “Sound Creations,” in Missoula, MT. In addition he performs in a number of local bands.
Henry Kiichli, 1985 BM, is the principal bass/baritone for Oldenburg Opera in Oldenburg, Germany.
Tonya King, 1994 BA, received two MM’s from the New England Conservatory in performance and vocal pedagogy. She has been assistant to the Provost for the last three years with the responsibility of scheduling all of the recitals and concerts.
Kiel Klaphake, 1994 BM, is playing the lead in the Hamburg production of the Phantom of the Opera and has done other musicals.
Shauna Kron, 1993 BME, is living in Anchorage, AK, and teaching music over the Web in a long-distance learning environment. She actively performs in a newly formed Steel Band and a Pipe and Drum Band.
Helen Faulkner Laine, 1943 bachelor’s degree, is retired and living in Missoula, MT. She earned her master’s degree from the University of Illinois. She taught voice at both universities and continued to teach privately for 27 years. She also directed the Junior Choir at the Episcopal Church for 25 years.
Peggy Brown Leonardi, 1984 BM and 1994 MME, has been the choral director for both the Hamilton High School and Westview Junior High School since 1984. She does a lot of guest conducting and judging at music festivals throughout the northwest. In 1995, she was a finalist for the Montana Teacher of the Year award. Her select ensemble toured Europe last summer with the American Celebration of Music in Italy Festival.
Tomoko Makuuchi, 1996 BM, was the winner of the Netherlands Song Competition-Royal Dutch Opera award. She is currently a member of the Paris Opera Studio.
Karen Whittet Mannoni, 1953 BME and 1954 MM, is retired and living in Hattiesburg, MS, with her husband, Raymond Mannoni.
H. Lynn (French) Mito, 1985 BM, is a full-time mom in Morgan Hill, CA. She has three boys, ages 2 to 9, who take up most of her time. She sings with the San Jose Symphonic Choir as an alto and occasionally as a soloist.
Fredrick J. Nelson, 1952 BME and 1956 MME, is retired and living in Missoula, MT. He was the Sentinel High School band director for many years. He is founder and chairman of the UM Alumni Marching Band that performs (and marches!) at every UM Homecoming. For this and more contributions, he was awarded the UM Town & Gown Award this spring for outstanding service to the University. He is also in demand as a guest conductor and adjudicator at music festivals throughout the northwest.
Lorna Mikelson Nelson, 1963 BM, lives in Bozeman, MT, where she is an adjunct faculty member teaching oboe at Montana State University. She has a large private studio and is a member of the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra, the Gallatin Woodwind Quintet, the Montana Ballet Orchestra, and the Intermountain Opera Orchestra. She plays the organ at St. James Episcopal Church.
Richard Nicaise, 1971 BME and 1976 MA in Education, lives in Broomfield, CO, with his wife, Cheryl. He retired from his position as principal in Deer Lodge, MT, in 1987, when he and his wife moved to Broomfield. He currently is a sales representative with Horace Mann Insurance and co-owner with his wife in a childcare pre-school.
Cassie Norville, 1994 BM, is an opera singer in Frankfurt, Germany.
Jerry Nuzum, 1998 BME, is a general music teacher at Missoula’s Hellgate elementary and middle schools.
Curtis Olds, 1994 BM, performed the lead role in the Hamburg, Germany production of Cats and other musicals. He is currently on Broadway and also works with the Opera Omaha and the Utah Opera.
Mike O’Leary, 1997 BME, teaches general music at Bonner, MT.
Ron O’Leary, 1996 BME, is teaching band in Billings, MT.
Peter Park, 1995 BME, is the choral director at Frenchtown High School.
Elizabeth E. Paul, 1936 bachelor’s degree, is retired and living in Hamilton, MT, near her daughter, Judith Ann Sine, the owner of the Music Box. Judith earned her MME from UM as well.
Lisa Melina Pyron, 1993 BA, has been a soloist with the Seattle, Tacoma, Sarasota and Spokane opera companies. Currently she is a member of the prestigious Chicago Lyric Opera Studio.
Tim Sands, 1989 BME, is living in Milwaukie, OR, where he is a chef at The Old Spaghetti Factory. After he graduated from UM, he taught K-12 music in Flaxville, MT, for three years, and then for one year in Power, MT. In 1984, he moved to Portland, OR, to attend the Western Culinary Institute and received his degree in Culinary Arts in 1995. He keeps active musically at his church where he sings in the choir, plays clarinet and piano, and fills in occasionally when the organist is gone. He and his piano duet partner perform regularly at church, in two amateur music groups, and also in an ecumenical church choir.
Shirley Leffler Saunders, 1954 bachelor’s degree, is retired and living during the winters in Litchfield Park, AZ. She states, “We summer in Bigfork, MT; would enjoy seeing classmates who come to our area.”
J.K. Simmons, 1978 BA, has been cast in several New York Broadway shows such as Guys and Dolls, OZ, and For the Love of the Game. Television appearances include a role on Law and Order, and most recently as the voice of “Yellow” in the M&M commercials.
Chad Simons, 1997 BME, has completed his first year towards the MM in Conducting at Oklahoma State University. Chad is the Graduate Assistant in Bands and studies conducting with Joseph Missal. Prior to autumn of 1999, he taught for two years in Forsyth, MT.
Bonita Smith, 1965 BME, is a music teacher in Victoria, British Columbia, who was named the 1999 recipient of the British Columbia Music Educators’ Elementary Professional Music Educator Award. She became immersed in the pedagogy and techniques of the Doane Ukulele method and brought this knowledge back to the west coast where she established the program throughout BC and beyond. In 1979, Bonnie became the Elementary Helping Teacher for SD61. She worked tirelessly to encourage music programs in the elementary schools, establishing District Ukulele concerts, Victoria Sings concerts and coordinating fine arts events for K-12. In addition to her public school teaching, she has taught music education courses at the University of Victoria, The University of Montana and the Hawaii State Department of Education. Post-secondary courses that she has taught include Jazz Bands, Ukulele, and Computers in Music. Bonnie has recently co-written a Fine Arts 11 program for on-line delivery with Dr. Dale McIntosh.
Ellen Wallin Smith, 1950 bachelor’s degree, lives in Broadus, MT, with her rancher/husband and their son and daughter-in-law. She stays musically active in both the church and in the community. For the past several years, she has been performing in the Christmas Cantata.
John Sweeney, 1984 BA, lives and sings in Altenmark, Austria. He sang Choregas in Harrison Burtwhistle’s Punch and Judy in Graz. His other performance credits include Dr. Bartolo in Hof, Germany, Stravinsky’s Les Noces, in Vienna’s Konzerthaus, and two evenings of Kurt Weill’s songs, Mahogany Song Cycle and Firebrand Over Florence.
Hildegarde Weisberg Turner, 1927 bachelor’s degrees in music and French, is living in Sequim, WA, and has endowed a scholarship in her name to the Music Department.
Terry Vermillion, 1986 BM, completed his DA degree at the University of Northern Colorado under the direction of Gray Barrier and Gene Aitken, and returned to his position at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, MN. He is currently an assistant professor in percussion and has just received tenure. He keeps busy with his percussion studio, playing with the St. Cloud Symphony, SCSU Percussion Collective, freelancing, and of course, his new baby girl, Catherine. He can be reached at: http://www.stcloudstate.edu/~perccoll
Madison H. Vick, 1951 BME, is a retired music educator and an active violinist in the Chelan, WA, area. He is happily remarried after eight years as a widower. He is a member of the Lake Chelan Bach Festival board, Lake Chelan Rotary Club, the Wenatchee Symphony, the Okanogan Valley Orchestra, and the Lake Chelan Bach Festival Orchestra and Chorus. He spends two weeks every year in Cancun at the Royal Caribbean Resort, two to three weeks at Sunriver, OR, cross country skiing at Mt. Bachelor, and plays tennis whenever he gets a chance. As he says, “A great life!!”
Chrade Younkin, 1991 BM, lives in Indianapolis, IN. He is currently working with a wonderful organization called Noble that provides services to adults with developmental disabilities. After leaving UM, he moved to Des Moines, IA, where he was pursuing an MM degree. While there, he maintained an active music career, both performing and teaching. He had several opportunities to perform with symphonies in the midwest, and held down four jobs at once: high school choir director, voice professor at Drake University, voice professor at Des Moines Community College, and the youth choir director position at his church. He is taking voice lessons again and hopes to be cast in the Indianapolis Opera this coming season. He says, “The four years that I spent at UM in the undergraduate music program were some of the finest of my life. I most certainly look back on those years fondly.”
School of Fine Arts
Dean: Shirley Howell
Associate Dean: Esther England
Assistant to the Dean:
Maggie Mudd
Linda LeFavour Lussy
Department Chairs
Art: James Bailey
Drama/Dance: Randy Bolton and
Christine Milodragovich
Music: Tom Cook
Program Directors
Media Arts
Michael Murphy
Museum of Fine Arts
Maggie Mudd
Montana Repertory Theatre
Greg Johnson
Montana Transport Company
Amy Ragsdale
SFA Administrative Officer
Bryan Spellman
SFA Program Assistant
Linda Lynn
The University of Montana
School of Fine Arts
Advisory Council Spring 2000
Lela Autio • Missoula, MT
Laura Barrett • Bigfork, MT
Jean Baucus • Helena, MT
Robert Chaney • Missoula, MT
Joan Datsopoulos • Missoula, MT
Advisory Council President
Monte Dolack • Missoula, MT
Susan Estep • Missoula, MT
Jacqueline Gran • Polson, MT
William Kliber • Missoula, MT
Millicent “Mickey” Hawkins • Missoula, MT
Barbara D. Hylton • Billings, MT
Helen Guthrie Miller • Butte, MT
Gilbert Millikan • Missoula, MT
Kenneth Ott • Los Angeles, CA
Advisory Council
Vice President
John Shaffner • Los Angeles, CA
Gayle Shanahan • Helena, MT
Jenanne Solberg • Billings, MT
Sue Stanaway • Billings, MT
Mark Staples • Helena, MT
Ray Steele • Polson, MT
John Talbot • Missoula, MT
James Thompson • Billings, MT
Bryan Thornton • Missoula, MT
Evonne Wells • Missoula, MT
What’s New with You?
Please let us know where you are and what you’re up to.
Fill out this form and return it to the address below or
e-mail us at: lussy@selway.umt.edu
Name
Graduation Year
Degree
Bring us up to date on your life and career:
Yes! I’d like to help.
Please accept my/our gift to the
School of Fine Arts Scholarship Fund: $_________
If you prefer you may designate your contribution to:
_____Art _____Drama _____Dance _____Music
_____Media Arts _____Museum Studies
Name
Address
City, State, Zip
Day Phone
Evening Phone
My company will match this gift. Company name
Amount Enclosed
_____Check (made payable to the UM Foundation)
_____Visa _____MasterCard
credit card #
Signature
Send me more information
about the School of Fine Arts Events _________
Return form to:
Linda Lefavour Lussy
School of Fine Arts
The University of Montana Foundation
Missoula, MT 59812-8208
(406) 243-4970
