Alumni Spotlight: Fall 2021
School of the Arts and Architecture alumni from all four academic departments – Architecture and Urban Design (AUD), Art, Design Media Arts (DMA, and World Arts and Cultures/Dance (WACD) – submitted updates about their work and accomplishments since graduating from UCLA. This column features their achievements, awards, publications, and other honors, as well as upcoming exhibitions of their work.
Achievements
David Applebaum ‘84, M.Arch, was the subject of a profile in Texas A&M University’s alumni publication, focusing on his architecture career.
Irene Borger ‘81, M.A. Dance Ethnology, was honored with The Herb Alpert Foundation’s creation of the Irene Borger Endowed Scholarship in Creative Writing at CalArts. The Borger Scholarship is awarded to students who demonstrate both enormous creative potential and financial need. A teaching artist, Borger founded the Writing Workshop at AIDS Project Los Angeles where she served as writer-in-residence for ten years. Through her work as director of the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts, she has supported the work of dozens of daring mid-career artists over the past 27 years. Borger received her M.A. in Dance Ethnology, studying with Professor Allegra Fuller Snyder.
Laura Perloff ‘73, B.A. Dance, created an endowment in support of music therapy at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland. Perloff is on the UC Berkeley Foundation’s Board of Trustees, working with Art + Design to create a Music Therapy Graduate program.
Kristen Sloan ‘06, B.A. Art, is a ceramics artist whose work was highlighted in the May/June 2021 print edition of LUXE Interiors + Design.
Kevin Sherrod ‘17, M.Arch II, and fellow AUD alums Chris Doerr and Wayne Thomas, work at Gensler and designed Gallery 90220, a Black-owned and operated art gallery in South LA.
Upcoming Exhibitions and Performances
Monica Majoli, ‘89, B.A. and ‘92, M.F.A. Art, curated “Houseguest: Shadows Fall Down,” drawn from the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts collection at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, on view at the Hammer through January 2, 2022.
Eamon Ore-Giron ‘06, M.F.A. Art, “Eamon Ore-Giron: Non Plus Ultra,” the Anderson Collection at Stanford University, September 23, 2021 - February 20, 2022.
Meleko Mokgosi ‘11, M.F.A. Art, “Meleko Mokgosi: Scripto-visual,” The Current, Stowe, Vermont, through November 13, 2021.
Carmen Argote ‘00, B.A. and ‘07, M.F.A. Art, has a drawing called “Digesting Scroll—Feb, March, April (2020),” the first work of art made during the pandemic to enter the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles’s collection, included in the exhibition “Evidence: Selections from the Permanent Collection” at MOCA, through February 21, 2022.
EJ Hill ‘13, M.F.A. Art, has work in the group show “Radical Empathy,” Compound, Long Beach, California, through January 2022.
rafa esparza '11, B.A. Art, and veronique d’entremont ‘12, M.F.A. Art, are included in the group exhibition “I Like LA and LA Likes Me: Joseph Beuys at 100,” Track 16 Gallery, Bendix Building, Los Angeles, through September 12, 2021.
Madelon Jones ‘65, B.A. Art, “Weightless,” Ceres Gallery, New York, September 7 - October 3, 2021.
Ruby Neri ‘98, M.F.A. Art, Jasmine Little ‘07, B.A. Art, and Alex Anderson ‘18, M.F.A. Art, are included in the group exhibition “Clay Pop” at Jeffrey Deitch New York, September 10 - October 30, 2021.
Kyla Barkin ‘96, B.A. Dance, “Accidental Suite,” Byrdcliffe Theater in Woodstock, NY, September 18, 2021 and Arts On Site in Manhattan, NYC, October 8-9, 2021.
Diana Nawi ‘06, B.A. Art, co-artistic director (with fellow UCLA alum Naima J. Keith) of “Prospect.5: Yesterday we said tomorrow,” New Orleans, October 23, 2021 - January 23, 2022.
Michael C. McMillen ‘73 M.A. and M.F.A., Art, “The Central Meridian (aka The Garage)” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, through at least 2023.
Carla Jay Harris ‘15, M.F.A. Art, “A Season in the Wilderness,” at Luis De Jesus Los Angeles through October 30, 2021 and the Armory Show at the Javits Center in New York, September 9-12, 2021.
Hanna Hur ‘19, M.F.A. Art, “Red Ecstatic” at Kristina Kite Gallery in Los Angeles, September 11 - November 6, 2021.
Elliott Hundley ‘05, M.F.A. Art, “Balcony,” KASMIN Gallery, New York, September 9 - October 23, 2021.
UuDam Tran Nguyen ‘02, B.A. Art, “Serpents' Tail,” Asian Art Biennial 2021 - National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts, opening October 30, 2021.
Elyse Wyman ‘72, B.A. Art, "Anything But Normal" at TAG Gallery, Los Angeles, through September 18, 2021.
Rachel Ungerer ‘11, B.A. Art, “The Art of Disability Culture,” Palo Alto Art Center, September 11 - December 11, 2021.
Ebrahim Poustinchi ‘14, M.Arch II, curator and designer of digital VR + web-based exhibit “One Object at a Time,” A+D Museum, Los Angeles. Ongoing.
Jae Hwan Lim ‘20, M.F.A. Art, screening of “Mt. Kumgang: Nature of the Peninsula,” Helen J Gallery, followed by a panel discussion, September 16, 2021 at 6 pm PST.
Awards
Nikita Gale ‘16, M.F.A. Art, received the Graham Foundation’s 2021 Organization Grant with LAXART for an exhibition, as yet untitled.
Monica Majoli ‘89, B.A. and ‘92, M.F.A. Art, received the Mohn Award’s Career Achievement Award honoring brilliance and resilience from The Hammer Museum.
Yushan Men ‘20, M.Arch I, “PORO-City: Colorful, Porous Milk Crates,” winner of the 2021 2x8 Exhibition Design Competition, sponsored by the AIA (American Institute of Architects) Los Angeles, opening November 6, 2021.
Brian Yung ‘19, B.A. Design Media Arts, won the Webby Awards People's Voice award in the category "Websites and Mobile Sites: Weird" for the project “Can I Binge?," a website designed to help you calculate how long it'd take to binge a TV show.
Mayee Futterman ‘93, M.Arch II, was selected by BMW Motorsport as one of four winners in an international creative competition to design the new BMW M4 GT4. Futterman’s design, called “Fluid Power,” expresses the essence of Chinese brush painting: the dynamic interplay of contrasting elements in harmony. Futterman leads the Chinese Brush Painting program at UCLA Extension.
Valery Augustin ‘02, I II, and her firm DNA Architecture + Design, Inc. was awarded a Merit Award in the Temporary Housing Category at the 2021 AIA (American Institute of Architects) LA Residential Architecture Awards. The firm partnered with Hope of the Valley Mission to serve Los Angeles’ most vulnerable populations by designing a homeless shelter in North Hollywood as part of Mayor Eric Garcetti’s A Bridge Home initiative.
Paulina Quintana ‘95, B.A. Art, won the Sustainability Award from the International Furnishing and Design Association’s New York Chapter in Summer 2021. Quintana is the founder of ( r e ) ˣ, a Los Angeles-based design studio focused on reducing single-use plastics through better design and conscious manufacturing.
Fred (Alfred W.) Schriever ‘88, M.Arch II, and his firm Urban Form - Canada were named BIM & 3D Computer Modelling Expert of the Year (Canada) by BUILD Architecture Awards.
Hank Koning ‘80, M.Arch II, and Julie Eizenberg ‘81, M.Arch II, are the founding principals of Koning Eizenberg Architecture and received one of four 2021 Architecture Awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Calvin Hu ‘16, VAPAE minor, is one of 10 up and coming photographers in the world selected by Adobe Lightroom for their Rising Stars feature in 2021.
Alex Anderson ‘18, M.F.A. Art, has been named the 2021 John S. Knudsen Prize recipient by The Crocker Art Museum.
Heidi Duckler ‘88, M.A. Dance, received a grant from the 2021 New Music USA Organization Development Fund. Her Los Angeles-based dance company Heidi Duckler Dance recently premiered "The Chandelier" at The Wallis Annenberg Performing Arts Center.
Mora Nabi ‘12, M.Arch I, and Sean Boyd ‘12, M.Arch I, of architecture and design practice Nabi Boyd, received the 2021 AIA (American Institute of Architects) LA Residential Architecture Award for their Shepard Mesa Residence.
Alper Derinboğaz ‘08, M.Arch II, founder of the practice Salon Alper Derinbogaz in Turkey, which was named one of ArchDaily’s Best Young Practices of 2020.
Positions
Karla Aguiñiga ‘11, B.A. Art, was named Public Programs Manager at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.
Ann Gray ‘81, M.Arch I, was elected president of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors with her term beginning in November 2022.
China Adams ‘95, B.A. Art, was appointed assistant professor at USC Roski School of Art & Design.
CedarBough Saeji ‘12, Ph.D. Culture and Performance, was appointed assistant professor of Korean and East Asian Studies in the Department of Global Studies, Pusan National University.
Kyt Janae ‘14, M.F.A. Media Arts, has been named Director of Collector Relations at Foundation, an NFT platform.
Billie Tsien '77, M.Arch I, a partner at Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, was named by President Joe Biden to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts.
Projects
Kat Ko, ‘07, B.A. Art, created Dururu Studio, an accessories and apparel store on Etsy.
Kristin Reiber Harris ‘68, B.A. Art, recently completed a short animated documentary called “CityTREES:Partners in Breathing.”
Sagar Chavan ‘00, M.Arch II, managed and co-designed the Marina Beach Improvements Project for the County of Los Angeles.
Burcu Yasemin Türkay ‘19, B.A. Architectural Studies, designed – with Pattu Architecture – artist and poet Etel Adnan's first retrospective exhibition in Turkey, at the Peta Museum in Istanbul.
Nate Mohler ‘19, B.A. Design Media Arts, designed “Culver Current,” a mixed-media sculpture at Culver City’s City Hall.
Ileana D. Vasquez ‘91, B.A. Art, is a producer in pre-production on the feature film “Perfidious.”
Jesse Silver ‘75, B.A. Art, was the color supervisor on season 3 of the animated TV show “Harley Quinn” on HBO Max.
Alexis Readinger ‘99, M.Arch I, designed the restaurant Caboco, the first international outpost for famed São Paulo chef Rodrigo Oliviera, in LA’s Arts District.
Gage Nguyen ‘14, B.A. Design Media Arts, is a co-founder of All Power Books, a community space, bookstore, and mutual aid hub in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles.
Daniel Ordoñez ‘11, B.A. Design Media Arts, owns Saints, a boutique, barbershop, and gallery near Venice, California. The store is releasing a new brand, “Honor The Gift,” created by fellow Bruin alum and Los Angeles Lakers point guard Russell Westbrook.
Wen Jack Pai ‘01, M.Arch I, led the architectural design team as design manager/architect at the Taiwan Land Development Corporation (TLDC) for a shopping mall complex in Hualien, Taiwan.
Edmund Einy ‘86, M.Arch II, principal and design director of HKS Architects, designed the award-winning Songdo Severance Hospital in Songdo City, South Korea.
Publications
Alessandra Williams ‘13, M.A. and ‘16, Ph.D. Culture and Performance, is co-editor of “Dancing Transnational Feminisms: Ananya Dance Theatre and the Art of Social Justice” (University of Washington Press, 2021).
Per-Johan Dahl ‘12, Ph.D. Architecture, authored “Indiscernibility and form: The design of Unit C as a critical inquiry into the guidelines for historical preservation,” an applied research project on ADU architecture, in SPOOL.
Sharna Fabiano ‘14, M.F.A. Dance, wrote “Lead & Follow: The Dance of Inspired Teamwork Dance” (Koehler Books, 2021).
Anna Chang ‘19, B.A. World Arts and Cultures, launched the podcast “TurnOntheAC” with fellow UCLA alum Alex Coustar. The podcast amplifies the voices of artists from underrepresented groups by providing a space for authentic expression and agency.
HEADER IMAGE: Madelon Jones, Kaleidoscope, 2021, mixed media collage, 30"x40".
Stay engaged. Use #UCLAarts to stay connected.
