Alumni Spotlight: Fall 2022
UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture alumni from all four academic departments—Architecture and Urban Design, Art, Design Media Arts, and World Arts and Cultures/Dance—and from our Visual and Performing Arts Education minor—submitted updates about their work and accomplishments since graduating from UCLA. This column features their recent achievements, awards, publications, and other honors; as well as upcoming events related to their work.
Achievements
Makayla Bailey '16, B.A. Art, was appointed co-executive director of Rhizome, an organization affiliated with New York’s New Museum that champions art and culture through commissions, exhibitions, and digital preservation.
Lucas Blalock '13, M.F.A. Art, started a new position as Assistant Professor of Photography at Bard College.
Tyson Evans '05, B.A. Design Media Arts, started as Chief Product and Brand Officer at ProPublica, a nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism.
Zachary Macias '13, B.A Design Media Arts, was selected by the SYFY Channel through Tongal to direct and animate a stop-motion animated short film about self, identity, and relationship to genre for this year's Pride Month!
athena quispe, Psychic Warp. Steel, torched wood, incense, cochineal, ink, bodily fluids, pulverized rose quartz, and glitter on canvas. 86 x 27 x 11 inches. 2022.
athena quispe '22, B.A. Art, has been welcomed as a studio fellow at NXTHVN, a 10-month program focusing on mentorship and professional development to cultivate individual art practices within a collaborative, community-driven context.
Mychele Sims '01, B.A. World Arts & Cultures, is a featured pilates instructor at Flexia Pilates and Pilates Anytime.
Upcoming Exhibitions and Performances
Leyla Cárdenas '04, M.F.A. Art, has work included in La Biennale de Lyon, manifesto of fragility, on view from September 14 through December 31, 2022.
Krysten Cunningham, "Little Wing", Photo by SKA Studios LLC, courtesy of Los Angeles World Airports and City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Krysten Cunningham '03, M.F.A. Art, has an installation "Little Wing," on view at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in Terminal 2, through Spring 2024.
EJ Hill '13, M.F.A. Art, has a solo show, Brake Run Helix, on view at Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) starting October 30, 2022.
Beverly Mendheim '70, B.A. World Arts & Cultures, announces the Ritchie Valens exhibit opening on September 15th, 2022 at the San Fernando Museum.
Filip Petkovski, "An elegy in five breaths," Photo by Ivana Mojsovska. Still from the dance performance.
Filip Petkovski '21, Ph.D. World Arts & Cultures, directed and choreographed “An elegy in five breaths” based on motifs from verses of poetry by various Macedonian poets. It premiered on June 13th at the J.H. Dzinot Theater in Veles, North Macedonia, and it is now available on youtube.
Job Piston '10, M.F.A. Art, curated Excelsior, a selection of videos and films by Asian and Asian diaspora artists who defy adversity and stereotypes through cinematic dreamscapes. This screening launches the presentation of Excelsior on the platform NOWNESS online from September 7 - 20, 2022.
Jocelyn Reyes '17, B.A. Dance, directs LASOS, a new work of film and live performance exploring the links between childhood trauma and chronic pain within the context of Latin American culture and traditions, on September 29th - October 1st, 2022.
Shana Reyes '05, M.F.A. Art, hosts Witch's Kitchen, a series expands on the generative intersection of performance, exile, and communal nourishment through the legacy of performer Valeska Gert (1892-1978). It is on view October 12th and November 12th and 13th, 2022.
Paul Mpagi Sepuya, "Twilight Studio (0X5A4174)," 2022, 13 x 9 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles.
Paul Mpagi Sepuya '16, M.F.A. Art, has a solo show, Daylight Studio / Dark Room Studio, on view at Vielmetter Los Angeles through October 22, 2022.
Rachel Ungerer, Photo of original paintings by Rachel Ungerer, which will be featured in the juried group show, Opulent Mobility.
Rachel Ungerer '11, B.A. Art, curated Power in Pride Celebration for Disability Pride Month. Digital art show still available for online viewing. Rachel’s show, Opulent Mobility, is also on view at Antelope Valley College Gallery in Lancaster, CA from October 9, 2022 - November 6, 2022.
Kevin Williamson '14, M.F.A. Art, & Marina Magalhaes '10, B.A. World Arts & Cultures/Dance, performs at an evening of dance at Scripps College, on September 17th. Kevin Williamson will be presenting a live performance of the installation to get there from here and Marina Magalhaes performs in Body as a Crossroads.
Awards
Anna Boyiazis. Swim instructor Chema, 17, snaps her fingers as she disappears underwater in Nungwi, Zanzibar. From the long-term project, Finding Freedom in the Water.
Anna Boyiazis '89, B.A. Design, has been awarded the Michel du Cille Fellowship from the National Press Photographers Foundation. The du Cille Fellowship is awarded to a visual journalist who reflects du Cille’s life-long compassion and respect for the people and stories he photographed.
Rui Hu '17, M.F.A Design Media Arts, has been awarded with the Best Experimental Animation Award at the 60th Ann Arbor Film Festival and was a Finalist at the IFVA Award and Festival at the Hong Kong Arts Centre.
Jeremy Peretz '20, Ph.D. World Arts & Cultures, has just been recognized by the Caribbean Studies Association with the Best Dissertation Award of 2022 for the historical ethnographic exploration of Komfa, a Guyanese ritual performed largely by Afro-descendant women.
Kayla Tange '21, B.A. Art, was awarded the 2022 4th Annual AHL Artist Fellowship to showcase their work in a group exhibition in New York in October 2022. Tange also co-organized the show, “Dear Mother,” which was on view at LA Artcore in August 2022.
Noré Winter '72, M.Arch, Urban Design, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Alliance of Preservation Commissions.
Projects
Kim Ye '12, M.F.A. Art, performed "Thank You for your Service" as part of the "Dear Mother" show at LA Artcore. The work is commemorated by a permanent installation on the north end of the LA Artcore property located at 120 Judge John Aliso St. in Los Angeles. The piece is accessible during gallery hours (Thursday-Sunday from 12-4pm).
Publications
Todd Gannon. Figments of the Architectural Imagination. Softbound, 284pp, September 2022, 6” x 9” Portrait.
Todd Gannon '11, Ph.D. Architecture & Urban Design, is author of Figments of the Architectural Imagination (Applied Research and Design Publishing, 2022). AUD will host a book launch for Gannon’s book on Oct. 17.
Fangfei Miao '19, Ph.D. Dance, published Mis-step as Global Encounter: The American Dance Festival in Reform Era China in Dance Research Journal.
Mei Sze Phung '15, B.A. World Arts & Culture, is in the process of writing her book World Peace: A Fantasy Family Memoir WWII to Millennials.
Interviews
Jamie Schwartzman '86, B.A. Design & '90 M.F.A. Art, has launched Vistity, a new SaaS platform that combines high resolution drone photography with maps and integrated content to showcase major US cities.
Rachel Ungerer '11, B.A. Art, shined a spotlight on invisible disabilities through art in the curation of “Power in Pride Celebration for Disability Pride Month.”
HEADER IMAGE: Paul Mpagi Sepuya, "Twilight Studio (0X5A4174)," 2022, 13 x 9 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Vielmetter Los Angeles.
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