Detail of a work presented by Lisa Franko during the 2013 BFA Thesis Exhibition I

by Angela Riddel

This spring, The University of Toledo College of Visual and Performing Arts recognized its outstanding students at a program in their honor. The Dean’s Prize was awarded to two students – Lisa Franko (BFA 2013) and Kelly McGuire (Film & Communications 2013).  Each received a certificate and $500 award.

Lisa Franko received a Dean’s Prize for her BFA Thesis Exhibition, held during the Spring 2013 semester in the CVA Gallery.  Art Professors Barb Miner and Arturo Rodriguez, who nominated her, called her exhibition a “superb set of works that contemplate pattern as both geometric form and enigmatic growth.”  They also say she has been one of the most hardworking and committed artists they have had in recent memory.

Kelly McGuire was awarded a Dean’s Prize for her paper, ‘Dancer in the Dark,’ The Anti-Musical Musical: A Success Story on Breaking Rules in Order to Break New Ground. In his letter of support, her nominator Assistant Professor of Film, Matt Yockey, said that the assignment in European Cinema asked students to choose a film not screened in class, and explain how it relates to an “existing national, political, economic and cultural identity.”  Kelly did this by focusing on filmmaker Von Trier as an auteur, and by mapping the ways in which he employed his stated aesthetic agenda.  Matt concluded, “Her explanation of how Von Trier and his peers have engaged with Hollywood from the distance of Denmark was particularly insightful.”

A total of 63 students were expected to graduate from the College in the 2012-2013 academic year. Of those, nearly half will have graduated with University honors – an incredible achievement. Each department within the College also honored three top students in its programs with Departmental Honors. In the Department of Art, Departmental Honors were presented to Kristin Evans (Bachelor of Education in Art Education 2013, cum laude), Kelcie Monson (Bachelor of Art – Art History 2013), and Jessica Ostrander (Bachelor of Fine Arts – New Media, Film Minor 2013, magna cum laude).

The Department of Music presented Departmental Honors to Laura Conley (Bachelor of Education in Music Education 2012, summa cum laude), Qing Deng (Bachelor of Arts in Music 2013, magna cum laude), and Megan Lesle (Bachelor of Education in Music Education 2013, magna cum laude).

Departmental Honors in the Department of Theatre & Film were awarded to Lynnette Bates (Bachelor of Arts in Theatre 2013, summa cum laude), Sylvia Keller (Bachelor of Arts in Film 2013, magna cum laude), and Jeremy Pellington (Bachelor of Arts in Film and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art 2013, magna cum laude).

In addition, a total of 93 scholarships were also awarded – 17 in Art, 65 in Music, and 11 in Theatre & Film.

Artist & UT Art Alumna, Leslie Adams

Suffering a stroke is a life-altering event for any person, but for Leslie Adams, the talented portrait artist who has painted such notable public figures as Governor Bob Taft, Senate President Bill Harris, Chief Justice Thomas Moyer and others, suffering a mini-stroke created inspiration. (Read More)

Self portrait of UT Art Alumna, Leslie Adams

Leslie Adams, who graduated from the University of Toledo with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio  Art in 1989, entered and was chosen as a finalist in the 2013 Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. According to the Smithsonian web site, her self portrait, “Sensazione,” which also earned her a solo exhibition earlier this year with the Toledo Museum of Art, will hang in the National Portrait Gallery through February 2014. Her work is one of 48 chosen from thousands which were entered.

The Toledo Free Press featured Leslie’s story in a recent issue.