News from the University of the Arts

October 2016

UArts Celebrates 140 Years of Making with Grammy- Style Gala and Dynamic Inauguration Ceremony

This weekend, the University of the Arts kicks off a yearlong series of events with a sold out creative black tie gala and the inauguration of President David Yager.

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140th Anniversary Gala

We're honoring 140 years of making with a sold out creative black tie gala featuring a very special performance by Leslie Odom, Jr. , winner of Grammy and Tony Awards for his role as Aaron Burr in the Broadway smash Hamilton . We will also toast our esteemed makers and honor UArts' longtime trustee and benefactor Eleanor Davis , Professor Emeritus Stephen Tarantal , and others for their accomplishments in the arts. The entire night is studded with exciting student, alumni, and faculty performances, including the UArts "Z" Big Band, Alita Moses BM '15 (Vocal Performance), Elizabeth Radigonda MM '07 (Jazz), and students from the School of Dance and the Ira Brind School of Theater Arts, just to name a few. Proceeds from the gala support UArts students and programs.

Inauguration of President David Yager

UArts has thrown out the rule book for this one-of-a-kind presidential inauguration ceremony, which will feature dance, music and theater performances, remarks by Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney, as well as the awarding of Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees to Marvel Comics' Stan Lee (video presentation), film producer Ron Yerxa ( Little Miss Sunshine, Cold Mountain) and educator Freeman Hrabowski III, president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Free and open to the public; reservations are required.

October 17
Inauguration Ceremony: 12 p.m.

Merriam Theater
250 South Broad Street

Reception: 2 p.m.

Hamilton Hall
320 South Broad Street

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Making It 2016 Opening Reception
Saturday, October 15, 5 - 7:30 PM

This year, Making It , the annual young alumni exhibition expands in celebration of 140 years of making at UArts. The special exhibition Making It: Decades features a diverse range of work by notable alumni from the 1920s to today of the institution including "the dean of American craftsmen" and the founder of the current Studio Furniture Movement, Wharton Esherick , one of the "original mad men" of the advertising industry, Mac Conner '38 (Advertising Design) , Deborah Willis BFA '75 (Photography), an artist-educator who is leading the charge in the investigation and recovery of the legacy of African-American photography, and Whitney Biennial artist, Dan Walsh BFA '83 (Painting).

The exhibition is capped by exemplary and accomplished alumni including Lila Asher '43 (Advertising Design) , Sidney Goodman '58 (Illustration) , Jerry Pinkney '60 (Advertising Design) , Matthew Suib BFA '95 (Photography) and Nadia Hironaka BFA '97 (Film) , Jayson Musson BFA '02 (Photography) , and Caitlin McCormack BFA '10 (Illustration) .

Pictured (L-R): The work of Caitlin McCormack, Matthew Suib & Nadia Hironaka, and Dan Walsh

Saturday, October 15

5 - 7:30 PM

Hamilton Hall
320 South Broad Street

Pictured: Measuring Cup, Necker Cube

Zeke Berman

Studio Instructions: Photographs Since 1979

Zeke Berman BFA '73 (Sculpture) is the Spotlight Artist for this year's Making It exhibition. Studio Instructions: Photographs Since 1979 is also part of a yearlong series of events celebrating the University's 140th anniversary .

Berman has been making singular, studio-based photographs since the late 1970s. The formal range of his work and his sculptural use of materials is varied, original and idiosyncratic. His photos reflect a long-standing interest in the evolution of visual cognition, the deep mystery of optics and an intersection between sculpture, photography and drawing. If an artist can be said to possess esthetic values, his would best be described as epistemological. Writing in the New Yorker magazine, Vince Aletti says: "Berman's meticulously constructed, cleverly confusing photographs echo Cubist collage and anticipate digital manipulation. Using simple materials, he introduces Braque to Jasper Johns in a fun house."

Berman's work has been collected, exhibited and published widely by museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim, Metropolitan and Whitney Museum. His awards include Guggenheim, NEA, NYFA and McDowell and Yaddo colony fellowships.

Reception: October 15, 5 - 7:30 p.m.

Hamilton Hall (320 South Broad Street)

Lecture: October 18, 1 p.m.
Connelly Auditorium
Terra Hall, 211 South Broad Street