 School of Fine Arts Welcomes the O’Connors Nancy, a 1951 Drama and English graduate, visited with Art Chair James Bailey and Museum Director Maggie Mudd to discuss the progress of the Museum’s permanent collection initiatives and gallery expansion, and the continuing work of the Jane and Jim Dew Visiting Artist Fund established by the O’Connors to provide for visiting artists to the School of Fine Arts. Nancy, an emeritus member of the School of Fine Arts Advisory Board, is well acquainted with the issues facing both the department of art and the Museum of Fine Arts and offered invaluable advice to both. The O’Connors both spoke to a standing room only group at the old Milwaukee Station, the O’Connor Center’s home, where Carroll outlined his vision of the center as “a place to produce things of value to the nation and the whole world.” Both O’Connors expressed pride in having such a significant resource for UM named in their honor. They both reiterated their commitment to the programs of the School of Fine Arts and its students. Author of numerous articles, manuals and texts on subjects ranging from public relations to programmed ear training, she was the principal author and project director for a $2.6 million grant from the Colorado Commission on Higher Education and a $600,000 National Endowment for the Arts Challenge III matching grant. These grants funded the establishment of the Music Technology Center at the University of Northern Colorado. She was a major contributor to the development of UNC’s new $3 million music library, which opened in 1997. In 1998, she coauthored a successful $309,000 proposal to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education for UNC’s Department of Theatre Arts and Dance. Titled the STAR Program (Shaping the Arts Reality), the fully funded grant provided advanced technology for costume design, lighting, sound, set design, and a variety of technical enhancements, as well as for guest artists and student support. In addition to university arts administration, Dr. Howell’s professional experience includes teaching, arts management, arts marketing and development activities. She has served as a clinician, consultant and accreditation site visitor for many colleges and universities during the past decade. She has been honored extensively for her contributions to excellence in education. Dr. Howell holds a Doctor of Arts degree in arts administration and music history and literature from the University of Northern Colorado, a Master of Education degree from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington, and a Bachelor of Science from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. Fine Arts Distinguished Alumna She was project manager for the “Be All That You Can Be” army ad campaign and held public affairs positions at NATO in Belgium and the Pentagon. During her army career, she tested more than two dozen military aircraft, including the Cobra helicopter gunship. “Good artists have delicate trigger fingers, I guess,” said DuMoulin. A former ceramics student of Rudy Autio’s, she never lost her interest in the arts. Upon her return to the Pacific Northwest, she was hired by the Puyallup Indian Headquarters to create the art department at their new Medicine Creek Tribal College near Tacoma, Washington. Subsequently she was appointed Dean of Humanities at the same college, her current position. DuMoulin also continues to serve as Editor of the Women in Military Aviation Newsletter. Media Arts Palmer West, movie producer and graduate of the UM Drama/Dance Dept., visited the program in Spring 1999 and interacted with the students. UM faculty members are now talking with him about the possibility of bringing a cinematographer from one of his films to campus next Spring. Lou Florimonte, head of the film/theatre directing program at CalArts, also is a strong contributor to the Media Arts program, working with UM students on a regular basis. Talent Award Fund Established Scholarship support at UM is approximately 20% of the national average when compared with UM national peers (see figure 1).When UM Arts are compared to those schools at the 95th percentile, the statistics are even more alarming. In real terms, this means that only 14% of UM Arts students receive any scholarship support, and those few students receive an average of $808 per year, or less than 1/3 of tuition per year. Many of the School’s competitors offer full tuition scholarships plus additional talent awards. Is it any wonder that so many of the best prospective students are lost to institutions able to offer greater financial support? In the months ahead you will hear more about the Talent Award campaign. If you would like to be among the first to join this effort, please phone Linda Lefavour Lussy at 406-243-2593 or email lussy@ selway.umt.edu for more information. Department of Art The Jim and Jane Dew Visiting Artist Fund brings numerous internationally known artists to campus, including Miriam Schapiro, Richard Mock, Terry Allen, Jo Harvey Allen, Doug Jeck, Melissa Miller, Antonia Contro and Juane Quick-To-See
Graduates of the Art Department are teaching in public and private schools, living as professional artists, and exhibiting widely. UM alumni you may recognize are Dana Boussard, Monte Dolack, Nancy Erickson, Dusty Deschamps, and Nancy Fields (Mrs. Carroll) O’Connor. Facilities Face Lifts. The second floor of the Fine Arts Building is undergoing renovation for Art Department use, and the Fine Arts Building roof repairs are on the University’s schedule for 1999-2000. The Anagama Kiln in Lubrecht Forest has been rebuilt by students of UM alumnus and original builder, David Smith. The Faculty Exhibition was a successful inaugural event this Fall in the Gallery of Visual Arts. The Department of Art has welcomed new faculty member Valerie Hedquist. She works in the Core Curriculum program (The Arts in Culture). Valerie holds a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas, with teaching experience at Central College, Pella, IA, and Washington and Lee University, Lexington, VA. Jim Bailey was appointed Chair of the Art Department. His work has been featured in shows in Hopkins, MN, and Philadelphia, PA, and is included in the collection of the New York Public Library, and in Transformations in the Art of the Book, published by the University of Wyoming. Marilyn Bruya was awarded a commission for an 8' x 16' painting to go in the Adams Center (Field House). Rafael Chacón was named Distinguished Faculty Member in the School of Fine Arts. He wrote the catalog essay for Harnessing the Divine. Marty Fromm was featured in a solo show at the Art Museum of Missoula. The work of Beth Lo graced the cover of American Craft magazine, June/July ’99 issue. Bobby Tilton was featured in a solo exhibition at Weber State University, Ogden, UT. She worked with her students to make a herd of 80 zebras for the Wild Walk as part of the International Wild Life Film Festival parade held in Missoula. James Todd presented a paper on Art at the Millennium at the New York Art Institute Workshop in Lithuania. The student Artist Collective Activities have included Day of the Dead, Life Modeling, and an Art Sale in December in cooperation with ceramics students. The University Center Gallery, located on the second floor of the UC by the lounge, has begun a student sales gallery. Department of Drama/Dance The Montana Repertory Theatre, and its adjunct The Missoula Colony—a symposium for writers who want to write scripts, continue to bring skilled professional actors, directors, designers and writers to Missoula. This past summer, the Rep took an original play, It Just Catches, to the H
The Rep returns this fall with a national tour of It’s a Wonderful Life, and will present an evening of Rodgers and Hammerstein songs, A Grand Night for Singing, in February. This production was featured in September in a Dinner Theatre benefit for the newly opened Western Montana Scottish Rite Language Disorders Clinic at UM. Mo-Trans, the resident professional dance troupe in the S
In Production
For tickets call the the Drama/Dance Box Office After twenty-five years of exemplary service to the arts, to UM and to Montana, Juliette Crump retired from the Dance faculty this past May. Juliette plans to continue travelling and teaching—focusing especially on the impact of modernization on traditional cultures in Asia and around the world. Following a national search, Karen Kaufmann was hired as Juliette Crump’s replacement. Department of Music The Music Recital Hall is newly renovated, and the University Theatre has been rebuilt, with an outstanding acoustical shell on stage. The Vienna Experience, now under the direction of Gary Funk, occurs every third year and will take place this spring, when the Chamber Chorale spends 10 weeks studying and performing in Vienna. Students will also travel to Florence, Venice, Salzburg, and Kecskemet, Hungary, to visit museums and attend classes at the Orff Institute and the Kodaly Institute. The Vienna Program immerses 40 students from throughout the School in the heart of the European classical music scene. The group performs more than a dozen concerts across central Europe. Joseph Henry retired in June 1999. He continues to direct the Missoula Symphony Orchestra.
Alumni Band Homecoming Alert! Museum of Fine Arts Working with members of the Dance program, the Museum commissioned an original dance work to be presented in conjunction with drawings by a ballerina with the Atlanta Ballet. Juried exhib
The Legislature has approved a capital campaign to expand the museum, providing more adequate space for exhibits and museum studies programs. An addition of more than 15,000 sq. ft. is anticipated. This facility will be built on the east side of the PARTV Building. The Museum has presented a number of special events in collaboration with many of the academic departments and centers on campus, including the Dance program, the Mansfield Center, and the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West. Outreach efforts have included Salish Kootenai College and the College of Art at Medicine Hut, Alberta. An artist-in-residence program, beginning in the spring of 2000 as part of the Perceptual Paradigms program, will explore the role of art as a mediator of meaning in the modern world. A new Museum Studies program has been proposed. The program is intended to serve as a certifying program for museum professionals in many discipline areas including, but not limited to, the arts. A collaboration with Carmine Chickadel, a Poet-in-Residence from the Richard Hugo House in Seattle, was inaugurated in the summer of 1999. The writing and printmaking institute for at-risk youth from Missoula Youth Homes will be a yearly event at the Museum. The Department of Art collaborated in this project. A new space has been renovated for the Paxson Gallery, now called the Paxson Corridor Gallery, located across the lobby from the Dean’s Office. This space opened formally on Friday, October 8, 1999 with a collection of photographs by Lisa Law called Tribal Visions. A new textile collection will arrive this semester. More than 600 Southeast Asian works have been donated to the Museum of Fine Arts collection by Helen Cappadocia of Toronto, Ontario. The Museum’s permanent collection now exceeds 9,000 works.
School of Fine Arts The University of Montana
What’s New with You? Please let us know where you are and what you’re up to. Linda Lefavour Lussy
Shirley
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