Alumni Spotlight: Winter 2024
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 — 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 and exhibitions.
Achievements and Awards
Donald Miralle, second from left, at the Lucie Awards where he received a lifetime achievement award. (Courtesy of Donald Miralle)
Donald Miralle '96 (Art) was awarded a Lucie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sports Photography at Carnegie Hall in New York City on Oct. 30, 2023. The presentation of the award is viewable here. The Lucie Awards was launched in 2003 as part of the Lucie Foundation’s mission to honor master photographers, discover and cultivate emerging talent, and promote the appreciation of photography worldwide. This annual event honors the greatest achievements in photography.
Janet Kusnick '65 (Art) received the Art Directors Guild (ADG) Lifetime Achievement Award by the Illustrators and Matte Artists (IMA) Council in February 2024. Kusnick’s extensive resume includes Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Vol. 2, Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, F. Gary Gray’s The Italian Job, Scott Derrickson’s The Day the Earth Stood Still, and John Hillcoat’s The Road. Kusnick was self-taught, falling in love with storyboarding after training in sculpture and painting.
Joe Smoke '92 (Art) on January 1, 2024, celebrated 26 years as Director of Community Grant Programs for the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA). Smoke recently added an international exchange grant category to the DCA portfolio, in anticipation of the expanded-networking wanted before the L.A. Region begins to host some significant global events (e.g. the FIFA World Cup and the Summer Olympics + Paralympic Games).
The Ford Calumet Environmental Center in Chicago designed by Valerio Dewalt Train. (Courtesy of Joe Valerio)
Joe Valerio M.Arch. '73 (Architecture and Urban Design), the founding principal of Valerio Dewalt Train (VDT), and his team completed the design and construction of the Ford Calumet Environmental Center (FCEC) in Chicago in June 2021. The Chicago Park District asked VDT to design a 9,300-square-foot environmental center that would serve as an education and information hub and as a gateway to eco-recreation opportunities throughout the region. In 2023, the FCEC was awarded an AIA Chicago Distinguished Building Honor Award, and was featured in a major article in Metropolis magazine.
José Gámez Ph.D. '18 (Architecture and Urban Design) was appointed dean of the College of Arts + Architecture, effective July 1, 2024, at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He currently serves as interim dean of the college. Gámez joined the College of Arts + Architecture in 2002 as an assistant professor of architecture and has served in multiple leadership positions.
Kim Hager '03 (Design Media Arts) was nominated for Outstanding Main Title and Graphic Design at the 50th Daytime Creative Arts & Lifestyle Emmy Awards. Alongside Brandon Thomas Irwin, Hager was nominated for her work on Car Masters: Rust to Riches.
Kim Ye M.F.A. '12 (Art) was awarded Stanford University's Mellon Arts Fellowship to develop Mother F*cker, an experimental three-act film that examines entanglements between East Asian femininity, portrayals of domesticity, and apocalyptic fantasy in the United States. She was also selected to receive the California Arts Council’s CA Creative Corps Fellowship. The year-long fellowship supports Ye's Sex Workers Guide to Parenting, a community publishing and filmmaking project realized in partnership with Sex Workers Outreach Project Los Angeles. In December, Ye, alongside Wei Si Nic Yiu, Lauren Levitt, Kimberly Fuentes, and Ashley Madness, published "Challenging dominant narratives, interrupting objectification, and queer creativity: Queer sex worker art in Los Angeles" in the Journal of Lesbian Studies.
Zipporah Lax Yamamoto Ph.D. '11 (World Arts and Cultures/Dance) has recently been promoted to Deputy Executive Officer at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) where she oversees the Metro Art program. In her new role, she directs the agency’s percent for art portfolio, exhibitions, cultural programming, and collections management, and is leading the development of immersive public art experiences at stations being built to serve the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games venues and beyond (including a new station serving the UCLA campus).
Exhibitions, Events, and Performances
Alex Anderson's Daisy Chain, 2024, earthenware, glaze, gold luster. (Courtesy of Sargent’s Daughters)
Alex Anderson M.F.A. '18 (Art) has a solo exhibition, Everything is made of light, at Sargent’s Daughter in Los Angeles. This latest body of work moves Anderson’s virtuosic ceramic forms into novel and expansive directions. Delving into the artist’s recent research on metaphysical concepts, the exhibition pushes the medium of ceramics into the realm of universal experience. Everything is made of light is on view through Sunday, April 6.
Danielle Eubank M.F.A. '94 (Art) currently has a solo exhibition, Ripple Effect, at Pamela Walsh Gallery in Palo Alto, Calif. Renowned for her dedication to capturing the essence of the world's oceans and waterways, Bay Area native Eubank returns to her roots and embarks on a captivating exploration of the San Francisco Bay. Ripple Effect delves into the fluidity and abstraction of water, drawing attention to both its dynamic movement and the environmental impact of pollution. The exhibition will be on view through Saturday, April 27.
Installation view of Mae Noland's My Love of Everlasting Things at Five Times Two. (Courtesy of Five Times Two)
Eliza Blakemore '23 (Art) recently opened Five Times Two, an exhibition and performance space in West Hollywood. The inaugural exhibition, My Love of Everlasting Things, was a solo show for Mae Noland ‘23 (Art). A candlelit reading was held to celebrate the works. Five writers, including other UCLA alumni Audrey Harrison ‘23 (Art), Francisco García ‘21 (Art), and Priya Kanneboyina ‘23 (Mathematics), were invited to read something in conversation with the paintings. The result being an intimate evening with Noland’s work illuminated by flickering lights and activated by spoken word.
Heidi Duckler M.A. '88 (World Arts and Cultures/Dance) and Heidi Duckler Dance (HDD) present Herald In, Examine Throughout on Saturday, May 18, 6–9 p.m. HDD will shut down Broadway St. for a site-specific activation of the historical Proper Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles, where audience members will be immersed in six unique performances, beginning with roller skating dancers gliding in ball gowns, building to a climatic performance.
The installation Dunya (Unity 3D software, gaming computer, scent diffuser, and found objects) at Killscreen. (Courtesy of Henrik Soederstroem / Yuchi Ma)
Henrik Soederstroem M.F.A. '23 (Design Media Arts) currently has his first solo exhibition, Spirit Interface, at Killscreen in Los Angeles. The exhibition is an immersive spatial installation of audiovisual custom software works and found objects. It combines media critiques and questions of virtuality and reality with concepts and aesthetics drawn from speculative fiction and horror. On Saturday, March 16, Soederstroem will have a panel talk (over Zoom) with Danish artist and researcher Mikkel Rørbo, a Ph.D. candidate at the Peter-Weibel Research Institute for Digital Cultures, on digital demonology and magic in the virtual realm. Spirit Interface is on view through Saturday, March 23.
Jan Wurm '72 (Art) curated the exhibition Staying Power: Women Artists Forging Through the Decades at SHOH Gallery in Berkeley, Calif., last fall. The exhibition featured artworks from 8 local artists. Wurm also produced a catalog and video documentation of the installation and two separate round table discussions with the artists. Her work was also included in exhibitions at Jackson Junge Gallery in Chicago and currently at the Masur Museum of Art in Monroe, Louisiana, through May 2024.
Malia Lam '18 (World Arts and Cultures/Dance) is producing and choreographing her first evening length show, Depth Deception. It will premiere May 31 and June 1 at Triskelion Arts in Brooklyn, New York.
Performance shot of Mita Ghosal's Lost on a Loom. (Courtesy of Mita Ghosal)
Mita Ghosal M.F.A. '04 (World Arts and Cultures/Dance) will premiere the evening length dance theater work Lost on a Loom on Friday, May 17, and Saturday, May 18, at Kelly Strayhorn Theater’s Alloy Studios in Pittsburgh, Penn. Lost on a Loom uses dance, storytelling, video imagery, familial narratives, and recollections of the past to draw parallels to the movement of material, the movement(s) of people, and economic and social disparities that continue to remain etched into the fabric of modern history. Ghosal was also the first place winner in the Performance Art category for Envisioning a Just Pittsburgh, an inclusive call for art that encouraged artists throughout southwestern Pennsylvania to share their visions for a just and equitable Pittsburgh.
Mitsuko Brooks M.F.A. '17 (Art) currently has a solo show, Mail Art Paintings, at PAGE (NYC) through Saturday, March 16. Mail art, historically found in the worlds of zines and conceptual practices, often resides in the scale limitations of the mailbox. In this series of paintings by Brooks, everything is blown up, giving the symbols and formats of letterheads and stamps powerful symbolic strength, reimagined as a tour de force.
Oscar Magallanes '17 (Art) is a member of 3B, an artist collective formed by four undergraduate art students during their time at UCLA. Since then, they have created various public art pieces across California, Texas, and Mexico. Currently, they are working with artisans in Mexico for an upcoming exhibition, Highway Hypnosis, at the Craft Contemporary — their first museum exhibition in Los Angeles. Highway Hypnosis opens Sunday, May 26, and will be on view through Sunday, Sept. 8.
Installation view of Paul Mpagi Sepuya's Exposure at Nottingham Contemporary. (Courtesy of Paul Mpagi Sepuya)
Paul Mpagi Sepuya M.F.A. '16 (Art) has a solo exhibition, Exposure, at the Nottingham Contemporary through Sunday, May 5. This is his first institutional presentation of his work in the United Kingdom. Opening Tuesday, April 9, Paul will be part of a group exhibition at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles titled Nineteenth-Century Photography Now through Sunday, July 7. His work is also currently featured in a group exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, titled Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines, through Sunday, March 31. Paul's next solo show will be at Document in Chicago, scheduled to open Friday, April 12, and will feature new work.
Perry Picasshoe '22 (Art) had their first solo show, RED THOUGHTS, at BLVE ROSE Gallery in November 2023. RED THOUGHTS invited viewers to celebrate the rich tapestry of culture and identity. Picasshoe was also recently commissioned to make the key art for a play in New York City, titled BATHHOUSE.PPTX.
Priscilla Mars '14 (Art) has photographs in the annual 35 x 35 Exhibition by the Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles through its Mexican Center for Culture and Cinematic Arts. The exhibition brings together visual artists 35 and under in the County of Los Angeles and provides a platform to present the work of emerging visual artists, while also creating opportunities for creators to meet and interact with other young art professionals. It opens Saturday, March 14.
Rachel Berkowitz '16 (Art) had a solo painting exhibition, Eternal Bouquets, at Great Art Space in Beverly Hills. She is currently teaching fine arts to kids at various LAUSD and MBUSD schools through the Art Box Academy. Berkowitz also illustrated the children’s book, Henry the Hypoplastic Hippo, which takes us through Henry’s journey with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome.
Rachel Ungerer, center, at the opening of Sexy As We Are, Access Needs and All at STRUT. (Courtesy of Rachel Ungerer)
Rachel Ungerer '11 (Art) has her first solo show, Sexy As We Are, Access Needs and All, at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation at STRUT. Ungerer’s art disrupts discriminatory views by celebrating disabled, queer people as sexy, as they are. Mutual care is a core theme in her work, which challenges the perception of disabled people as a burden. Her paintings depict people with visible and invisible disabilities caring for each other and even their able-bodied partners. Sexy As We Are, Access Needs and All is on view through Sunday, March 31.
Raymundo T. Reynoso M.F.A. '01 (Design Media Arts) has an upcoming solo exhibition, Spooky Action at a Distance, at the Luckman Gallery at Cal State L.A. The exhibition explores the intersections of migration, labor, and urban life. Incorporating paintings and prints on found surfaces, the works reflect on the fabric of the city and present narratives of resistance, resilience, and existence that are evident yet often unseen in a city such as Los Angeles. The opening reception is Saturday, March 16, at 6 p.m.
Saj Issa M.F.A. '23 (Art), alongside Basil Kincaid and Ronald Young, was selected from a pool of 96 applicants to be awarded $20,000 and an exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (CAM). This annual initiative between CAM and the Gateway Foundation recognizes and celebrates artistic talent in the St. Louis region. The exhibition will be on display at CAM from September 6, 2024, to February 9, 2025.
Projects
Interior view of MUD, an open-access member’s ceramics studio in Bellingham, Wash. (Courtesy of MUD)
Austin Danson '15 (Art) and his wife opened a pottery studio, MUD, in Bellingham, Wash. MUD offers classes to the public and 24-hour access to members. Some of Danson’s most cherished memories were spent after hours at the UCLA art studios, working on and chatting about art with friends. MUD hopes to create those moments for more people. Follow MUD’s Instagram to see Danson throw cream cheese on a pottery wheel to see if, in fact, it feels like porcelain.
Brandon Harper M.A. '14 (Architecture and Urban Design) worked on the upcoming James Cameron docuseries OceanXplorers, which will be released summer 2024. Harper led the design for the HoloLab, which ingests all sorts of data types to then reconstruct a mixed reality 3D visualization for scientists and crew members to use prior and during their missions out on the water.
Emily Meehan '03 (Art) wrote, directed, produced, and edited a feature film last year called Sneaking Around, which is now on the market for sales. It was filmed in San Francisco from 2021-22. Sneaking Around is set in freewheeling San Francisco, where Frances Cunningham is newly attracted to women after years of being married to a man who is having an affair. On the brink of taking her investment startup to an IPO, she woos young, free-spirited women and tries to impose her values on them.
Fortune’s August/September 2021 cover image by pplpleasr, which intersperses icons of various DeFi projects with symbols of traditional “OldFi” finance. (Courtesy of pplpleasr)
Emily Yang (pplpleasr) '15 (Design Media Arts) has had work grace the cover of Fortune and Vogue and has collaborated with Steve Aoki, Bruce Lee, and Linkin Park. In 2022, she was included in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Art & Style list and ranks in the top 5 of Fortune’s NFTy 50, a list of the most influential figures in the NFT space. She has donated more than $1.5 million to charity with her NFT sales and created the Stand with Asians Community Fund. In 2022, she co-founded Shibuya with Maciej Kuciara, a web3 content studio and creator platform.
Job Piston M.F.A. '10 (Art) presented the solo photo exhibition Estate Sale at Villa Madrid in Los Angeles in February 2024. Piston is also the ARCAthens Spring Curatorial Fellow, where he will be continuing his research from Athens, Greece, from March-April, 2024. Piston was also selected as one of the Spring BANFF Centre Artists in Residence. He will be working on a photography monograph in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada. He is also the guest curator of Dallas Contemporary in Texas, where he will commission a new museum-wide performance scheduled for November 2024.
An image from the award-winning documentary Ink & Linda. (Courtesy of Linda Lack)
Linda Lack M.A. '76 (World Arts and Cultures/Dance) and the artist known as INKSAP are featured in the award-winning, feature-length documentary Ink & Linda by Stuart Paul. Ink & Linda chronicles the unexpected friendship and collaboration between Inksap, a Vietnamese American urban artist in his 20s, and Linda, an elder stateswoman of the modern dance scene in her 70s, as they team up to form L.A.’s most unlikely street art duo. The documentary has been airing nationally on PBS since 2023 and will be available for streaming on Sunday, April 7, on Apple TV, Amazon, AT&T U-Verse, DirecTV, YouTube Movies, and more.
Pablo Sepúlveda M.Arch. II '14 (Architecture and Urban Design) recently founded zlvas, a startup focused on the architectural engineering and construction industry. The startup is an urban-tech platform that allows for advanced urban analytics and seeks to simplify the complexities of New York City zoning regulations. While zoning plays a pivotal role in shaping urban development, its impact diminishes when the general public lacks comprehension. Zlvas aims to bridge this gap through their interactive map, simplifying zoning complexities and making it accessible to everyone.
The interior of Jubinav Chadha Fashion Design Studio in New Delhi, India, designed by Pratinav Chadha Architects. (Courtesy of Pratinav Chadha Architects / Mohit Chadha)
Pratinav Chadha M.Arch. '19 (Architecture and Urban Design) returned to India after graduation and started his own firm in 2022, Pratinav Chadha Architects. With only two years into practice, the firm has completed 20 projects —19 in India and one in Canada. In New Delhi, India, completed projects include Pratinav Chadha Architects Office, Eknaam Packaging Office, and Jubinav Chadha Fashion Design Studio.
Rainy Consuelo Demerson '02 (World Arts and Cultures/Dance) is currently a dance lecturer at the University of the West Indies at Cave Hill in Barbados, where she recently developed a new B.F.A. in Dance centering traditional and experimental Caribbean dances as well as critical dance studies from an Africanist perspective. She was also recently appointed the Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed journal Dance Chronicle where she is collaborating with John Hunte to co-edit a special issue on dance in the Caribbean with submissions due Monday, April 1.
Sarah Shirley outside of her art gallery, The Shirley Project Space. (Courtesy of Sarah Shirley)
Sarah Shirley '94 (Art) opened the art gallery The Shirley Project Space in Brooklyn, New York, in 2022. It grew from a series of living room salon events — nights of readings, music, and artist talks. The gallery focuses on mid-career artists with an emphasis on innovative abstraction and site-specific installations. Current exhibition Smooth Confident Perfection features the work of Allison Kaufman and explores the performance, hope, and vulnerability experienced by both sellers and consumers in a capitalist society.
Vani Gundara '01 (Design Media Arts) launched a clothing and accessories brand, AniVani, that features Vani and her special needs daughter's art. Aanika was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 3 and later with ADHD. In 2023, a breakthrough occurred when doctors identified a rare genetic disorder, Phelan-McDermid Syndrome. There are roughly 3500 cases globally. The mother-daughter team’s art is available on clothing, bags, and blankets.
Virginia Martinsen '02 (Art) is the owner and director of Los Angeles gallery Lowell Ryan Projects. The gallery recently celebrated its five year anniversary and remains devoted to artists who are creating new narratives in their work with sincere investigations that often cross disciplinary boundaries. Their latest exhibition Icons, featuring work of French-Canadian artist Marc Séguin, opened Saturday, March 9, and is on view through Saturday, April 13.
Publications
Full cover of Being Work, edited by Dorothy Dubrule. (Courtesy of Dorothy Dubrule / Insert Press)
Dorothy Dubrule M.F.A. '16 (World Arts and Cultures/Dance) recently published a book of essays by delegated performers called Being Work. The book offers access to varied experiences of performing in live exhibitions and captures a spectrum of mundane and profound moments that arise within performance gig work. She’ll be hosting book launch events on Thursday, March 14, at the Center for Performance Research in Brooklyn, New York, and on Saturday, March 16, at the Art Department at Parkway Central Library in Philadelphia.
Fangfei Miao Ph.D. '19 (World Arts and Cultures/Dance) is now Assistant Professor of Dance at the University of Michigan and is editing a special issue "Mobility, Dance, and China" for Dance Research Journal, the leading journal in dance studies. In the summer of 2023, Dr. Miao toured her dance works, which premiered in the U.S. in the winter of 2023, to China and directed two evening-length concerts in Shanghai and Harbin.
The cover of Julia Rockwell's Mothering Earth: The Busy Family's Guide to Saving the Planet. (Courtesy of Julia Rockwell)
Julia (Ferguson) Rockwell '05 (World Arts and Cultures/Dance) is the founder of The Mothering Earth Project, an organization dedicated to helping people live more sustainably. She recently published the book, Mothering Earth: The Busy Family's Guide to Saving the Planet, which offers accessible tools and tips to fight climate change, reduce plastics, and limit overall waste — while also building connection, calm, and joy.
Noushin Ehsan M.Arch. '72 (Architecture and Urban Design) recently published her memoir, NOUSHIN, a Memoir: The Making of a Woman Architect. The memoir chronicles her remarkable journey and contributions to architecture and beyond, sparking engaging discussions in book talks at universities and libraries. Ehsan has never shied away from reinventing herself and opening new doors. She continues to evolve both personally and professionally, displaying her fearless determination to live her life to its fullest potential.
Rosemary Candelario Ph.D. '11 (World Arts and Cultures/Dance) recently published Dance Research Methodologies: Ethics, Orientations, and Practices, which Candelario co-edited with Matthew Henley. Dance Research Methodologies features a chapter by UCLA Ph.D. candidate MiRi Park, a chapter by Ana Paula Höfling Ph.D. (World Arts and Cultures/Dance), a chapter by Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance Chair and Professor Janet O'Shea, and a chapter co-written by Candelario and three other UCLA alumni: Harmony Bench Ph.D. '09 (World Arts and Cultures/Dance), J. Lorenzo Perillo Ph.D. (World Arts and Cultures/Dance), and Cristina Rosa Ph.D. '10 (World Arts and Cultures/Dance).
Interview
Jonathan Moody, left, and Curt Moody. (Courtesy of Sam Brown / Madame Architect)
Jonathan Moody M.Arch. '08 (Architecture and Urban Design) and his father, Curt Moody, were interviewed by Madame Architect. Curt Moody opened Moody and Associates. Curt then joined forces with the late engineer, Howard E. Nolan, who shared Curt’s ambition and ideals. Together, they created Moody Nolan, a firm founded on diversity, inclusion, and representation, and that continuously pushed back against the prevailing belief of the time that minority firms couldn’t design and deliver major projects. In 2020, Jonathan Moody was named CEO, catalyzing the next era of design innovation.
Maria Katticaran M.Arch. II '16 (Architecture and Urban Design) was interviewed by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) California. "Architecture is not just about constructing buildings; it’s about creating spaces that dictate how we relate to one another,” Katticaran told AIA California. Katticaran was also selected as a Health Leader by the Urban Land Institute. This recognition reflects Katticaran’s interest in and commitment to improving health and social equity through her professional work. Lastly, she will presenting about Community Centered Planning and Design at the AIA National Conference in Washington D.C. on Wedesnday, June 5.
Header image: Installation view of 3B’s Highways & Byways at Residency in Inglewood, Calif. (Courtesy of Oscar Magallenes / Elon Schoenholz)
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