Alumni

Patrick Earl Hammie, Contributor, “The Lunar Codex,” Earth’s Moon, Sol System, Orion Arm, Milky Way Galaxy, July, 2023. Curator: Samuel Peralta, physicist, author, composer, film producer. The Lunar Codex is four time capsules holding digital archives that feature 30,000 artists, writers, musicians, and filmmakers from 157 countries. It will travel to the moon between 2023 and 2026 as part of The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program where it will permanently reside. Reproductions of my artwork with interviews and reviews that were originally published in PoetsArtists Magazine are included. Dr. Peralta said, "Our hope is that future travelers who find these time capsules will discover some of the richness of our world today... It speaks to the idea that, despite wars and pandemics and climate upheaval, humankind found time to dream, time to create art.” https://www.lunarcodex.com New York Times ARTnews  

1995 BFA in Painting alumna, Mary Anna Pomonis, was recently featured in Art & Cake.

1958 MFA alumna, Ruth A. Migdal was recently featured in the Chicago Sun Times and Chicago Tribune.  

Alumnus Tom Goldenberg, BFA 1970 Sculpture will be in a group show "Material Sustenance & Family Snapshots" at the Re Institute. The Re Institute 1395 Corners Road Boston Corners, New York May 27th to July 15th. Opening is May 27th from 4 to 6

Studio Art: New Media Associate Professor, Ben Grosser, was featured on April 19, 2023 of the New York Times. "The Future of Social Media Is a Lot Less Social" by Brian X. Chen.  

My Electric Genealogy. A performance by Sarah Kanouse, Professor at Northeastern University and A&D MFA alum (2004) When: Tuesday February 14, 5:30pm - 7pm Where: Art & Design Building, room 331 What: Part storytelling, part lecture, and part live documentary film, Sarah Kanouse’s solo performance “My Electric Genealogy” explores the shifting cultures and politics of energy in Los Angeles through the lens of her own family. For nearly forty years, her grandfather designed, planned, and supervised the spider-vein network of lines connecting the city to its distant sources of power: rivers that are now drying up and power plants that are finally coming down. This physical infrastructure subtended diffuse “infrastructures of feeling” that included assumptions of perpetual growth and closely held beliefs about nature, gender, race, and progress. The performance weaves together signal moments in the city’s history, episodes of her grandfather’s life, anxious fantasies about a climate-challenged future, and stories of resistance and reinvention in the face of extraction. “My Electric Genealogy” is an essayistic working-through of energy as a personal and collective inheritance at a moment of eco-political reckoning. Written, produced and performed by Sarah Kanouse Sound design by Jacob Ross LA-based musician and sonic artist Jacob Ross contributed original music and sound design for “My Electric Genealogy.” Ross has worked with wide variety of filmmakers and performers including Lucky Pierre, Terri Kapsalis, Deke Weaver, Deborah Stratman, and Califone. Sarah Kanouse is a Boston-based interdisciplinary artist, writer, and filmmaker whose solo and collaborative work has been presented at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Documenta 13, the Museum of Contemporary Art-Chicago, The Cooper Union, The Smart Museum, and numerous film festivals, academic institutions and artist-run spaces nationwide.

Art History alumna María del Mar González-González was recently featured in an article at Southwest Contemporary. Read the article here.

John Avila's firm recently joined The Change Agencies. Avila graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in graphic design in 1984. He has been professionally affiliated with the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and STA (Society of Typographic Arts) in the past and often juries the International ARC Awards in New York. With a passion for typography, John also designs and prints artwork on letterpress with antique wood fonts. He is an avid runner and is on the Board of Directors for Proud to Run and Frontrunners Chicago. The Change Agencies are the first and only national network of independently-owned public relations firms focused on inclusive and authentic communications to multicultural and LGBTQ communities. They help businesses and organizations identify, assess and address DEI communications challenges and opportunities. Read the article here.

Leo Segedin was recently featured in the Chicago Tribune, "Memories of the West Side: Artist Leo Segedin’s work depicts the vanished neighborhood of his youth," by By Ron Grossman. Born in Chicago in 1927, Segedin grew up on the west side and attended Gregory Elementary School (which would show up 60 years later in a series of paintings) and Crane Tech High School. He received his BFA in 1948 and his MFA in 1950 (the first ever awarded for painting by the University of Illinois).

Christina S. Chae's journey writing her book, which can be ordered in Korea at https://bit.ly/3fh0amO A quote from her about her journey writing the book... "The biggest project I took on this year, and the most challenging launch I experienced to date, is finally shipped 100% to Korea! The book is about work cultures I've learned during my times in Silicon Valley – It is 50/50 tips and my personal stories as examples. The title came from the questions I got during the coffee chats I had with Korean leaders in Tech. "How does Silicon Valley do ___?"  

Illini Union Art Gallery, 1401 W Green St, Urbana, IL Wednesday, October 6 – Sunday, October 30, 2022 Opening Reception: Friday, October 14, 2022 | 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. Organized by alumnus Howard Kanter, and Jennifer Bergmark, this exhibition features alumni art and work by students enrolled in ARTE 475, Art Exhibition Practices, to honor a shared history and to continue a shared future.

Roger Colombik (BFA 1984 Sculpture) was recently interviewed at CanvasRebel Magazine. The interview may be found here. More on Roger Colombik: www.rogercolombik.com

Join us for a screening of the documentary, Still Life in Lodz (Poland, 2019; 75 minutes), followed by an online discussion with its co-creators Lilka Elbaum and Paul Celler, and a slide presentation by HGMS graduate and artist Tamar Segev. The film tells the story of the vibrant life of Lodz Jewish community before the war, its destruction during the holocaust, and its post-war halting rebirth. All told through the history of ownership of one painting, a still life, that hung in the same apartment for over 70 years. Tamar's paintings explore the connections between familial memory, historical narratives, and contemporary culture, as they are embedded in the architectural surfaces of the former Lodz ghetto.   Register in advance: https://illinois.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUvf--rpzopGdImzk563yJUZPNVsYJQ2JFr   Hosted by the Initiative in Holocaust, Genocide, Memory Studies, University of Illinois

David Reisman (MFA 1982 Painting) will have his video Office Window Au Revoir screened at the Millennium Film Workshop: "Nighttime" NYC at MOMA on Thursday, February 17, 2022. MoMA https://www.moma.org/calendar/events/7534 Thu, Feb 17, 7:00 p.m. MoMA, Floor T2/T1, Theater 2 The Roy and Niuta Titus Theater 2

Deana McDonagh (Professor of Industrial Design + Designer in Residence at the Beckman Institute) and Amanda Henderson (ID Alumni) have reimagined the East Wing of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. They have brought in playful elements to create a more welcoming environment. This is a long-term project with the Beckman utilizing empathic design research to energize their working environments.

Robert Cumming, MFA 1967, passed away December 16, 2021. Desert Hot Springs, CA — Robert Cumming, an artist of exceptional versatility who could work in several media simultaneously and was a leading proponent of conceptual photography in the 1970s, has died at age 78. The cause of death reported by his partner of 33 years Margaret Irwin-Brandon was complications of Parkinson's disease. Cumming left his mark on modern art as a multidisciplined contrarian, who viewed life with an eye for the quixotic, absurd, mind-expanding, and amusing, translating his observations through painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and photography into engaging visual essays touched with Surrealism and always tugging at the boundaries of what is real and what is artifice. A brilliant draftsman, he started making art at age 5 with small, precise renderings of different scenes that sometimes won prizes awarded by his local newspaper-- precision and clarity of line remained a hallmark of his graphic work for the rest of his life. His paintings, always representational and often large in scale, probed the perplexities of life and art and such complex themes as the interweaving of vision and imagination. It is Cumming's photography from the 1970s and 80s, however, that constitutes his greatest legacy. Black and white prints distinguished by acute detail made possible by large negatives were his stock in trade, and he was at his best as a provocateur in scenes he constructed himself with an intention to tease, trick, or stimulate the mind. Crazy quilts of patterns, a slice of bread embedded in a watermelon, movie sets as uncanny stand-ins for reality, and plays on negative and positive relationships are just some of the head-scratching tableaux that populate his work with both wit and philosophy. Robert Cumming was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1943. Always interested in art and especially draftsmanship, he earned his BA in 1965 at the Massachusetts College of Art and his MFA in 1967 at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, with a concentration on painting, drawing, and printmaking. After graduation he taught studio art at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, where he began working with conceptual art of different forms including mail art, illogical sculptures, and performance skits. In 1970 Cumming took a teaching position at California State University, Fullerton, and occasionally taught at other colleges around Los Angeles. Surrounded by a creative arts community in Southern California with a trend toward conceptual work, and influenced by Hollywood set photography, he developed his own strain of conceptual photography, with a sensibility reminiscent of the satire, irony, and linguistic play of Marcel Duchamp. He first exhibited his photography in 1973 at California State College, Long Beach, and group shows followed at such prestigious institutions as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. By the end of the 1970s, Cumming's interests began to shift again toward painting and drawing, and while he continued his photography, it was mostly of a documentary nature. In 1978 he moved back to New England with a teaching job at the Hartford Art School in Connecticut, and he later established a studio in Whately, Massachusetts. In the later 1980s he met Irwin- Brandon, who was teaching at Mount Holyoke College in the music department, and they became life partners. Her specialty is Baroque music, and after having founded Arcadia Players, a period instrument orchestra based in Northampton, Mass., she decided to move back to her home state of California in 2013, where she purchased a house in Desert Hot Springs, California, near Palm Springs. Before long, Cumming joined her, and he happily lived out his life with her in that desert community in pleasant seclusion. Cumming's work is included in many art museum collections across the country, and it appeared in numerous group exhibitions as well as solo shows, both in the United States and abroad. He was the recipient of three National Endowment for the Arts grants (1972,1975,1979) and a Guggenheim Fellowship (1981). He is survived by his sister, Virginia, and brother, Edward, both of Southborough, Mass., nephews Andrew and Christopher Cumming, and extended family. Published by Daily Hampshire Gazette on Jan. 7, 2022.   https://www.palmspringslife.com/robert-cumming-artist/ https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-12-21/robert-cumming-photographer-obituary      

Gloria Pagliarulo Johnson Rohr of Hilton Head Island died October 13, 2021. Gloria was born January 8, 1927, in Wilmette, Illinois and was the daughter of Nietta and Dominic Pagliarulo. She was graduated from the University of Illinois summa cum laude with a BFA degree in Industrial Design in 1948. She was also Bronze Tablet and a member of Gamma Phi Beta Sorority. Gloria was involved in the interior design of St Francis by the Sea Catholic Church in Hilton Head where she designed the alter, the stain glass windows and the 14 Stations of the Cross. As a loyal alumna of the University of Illinois, Gloria established a Charitable Gift Annuity at the University of Illinois Foundation in support of the School of Art & Design. It provided income to her in her lifetime and upon her passing, the remainder of the annuity was placed in the Friends of the School of Art & Design Fund and will provide unrestricted support to the School.

Jennifer Bergmark with alumna Stephanie Danker (Associate Professor at Miami University) recently had their article “Race-based mascots: Reflecting on university–community conversations” published in the International Journal of Education Through Art, Volume 18 Number 1.    

Elizabeth Jane (Manley) Delacruz, 69, of Champaign, died the morning of Dec 9, 2021. She was known to her family and close friends by her nickname, Betsy. The core of her being was her love for her daughters. Her daughters returned this love by caring for her in her final days at home in hospice care. She passed in comfort and peace surrounded by her daughters, her close family members, and her best friend. She grew up in Rantoul, IL where she graduated from Rantoul Township High School Class of 1970. She has resided in Champaign for the last several decades. Betsy received a BFA and MA in Art Education from the University of Illinois and received her licensure as an art teacher from University of Florida. She taught K-12 art across several schools in Illinois and Florida. She was passionate about the vital role creativity and artistic expression play in life and her mission as an art educator was affirming to students that creativity and the ability to make art exists in everyone. She also took joy in supporting students and opening her classroom as a space to come talk or just hangout if they needed. She joked that her only request was that they bring a piece of trash from the school grounds as an entrance fee. After completing her doctoral degree at Florida State University, she was hired by the University of Illinois Art & Design Department and spent 24 years as a Professor of Art Education teaching students in the US and from around the world how to become art teachers. She mentored many students through the doctoral program and cared deeply about supporting young researchers, writers, and teachers. During her time at the University, she served as the Chair of Art Education, editor of Visual Arts Research, a leading scholarly journal in art education, and was active in publishing research. Her scholarly interests included art traditions of culturally diverse societies, new digital and multimedia art forms in contemporary culture, the convergence of technology and education, and how art education practices advance social justice and civil society. She was a nationally recognized professor receiving multiple national awards including NAEA Higher Education Art Educator of the Year. After retirement she continued mentoring and teaching students in online graduate programs for the University of Florida and Eastern Illinois University. To her, art education was a vessel for engagement: with art, with people, and with the world. Her loved ones, friends, colleagues, and anyone who met her will never forget her playful and vibrant nature that she brought to everything she did. She enjoyed spending hours on Saturday mornings tending to her large side garden and chatting with passersby who would stop and admire it. She ran an antique store in Rantoul called the Crystal Ship in her young adulthood and has always been an avid thrifter. She had a full and adventurous spirit, always looking for new projects to take on and creatively make her own. She loved fixing stuff up (she joked her tool of choice was duct tape) and restoring and painting old furniture. Her faith and the McKinley Presbyterian Church community were also very important parts of her life. She was caring and generous and always sought out opportunities to help and give back to those around her. It was not uncommon for her to open her house to people needing a place to stay. She will always be remembered for her open and willing spirit, courage to be exactly who she was, and immense strength through the challenges she faced. She is survived by her daughters Emily and Grace, her sister Margaret Greenway, brother-in-law Roger, and her brother Lynn Manley. She was preceded in death by her parents Warren and Lois Manley and her brother John Manley. A Memorial Service will be January 29^th, 11 a.m., at McKinley Memorial Presbyterian Church, 809 S 5^th St., Champaign IL 61820. A virtual option will be available through Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/McKinleyChurch A reception will follow, pending Covid restrictions. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to McKinley Memorial Presbyterian Church: https://tithe.ly/give_new/www/#/tithely/give-one-time/2133263 Condolences and messages for the family may be sent to the following address: Delacruz Family, in care of McKinley Presbyterian Church, 809 S 5^th St., Champaign IL 61820

The New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) has announced University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumnus John Hrehov (BFA 1985 Painting) as the 2021 recipient of its Recharge New Surrealist Prize. The $7,000 award was created for painters living in the U.S. and U.S. Territories who are working in the New Surrealist Style. Hrehov, who lives in Fort Wayne, IN, portrays objects and scenes from his home and neighborhood in paintings and drawings that underscore the miraculous in the everyday. The Recharge New Surrealist Prize is supported by funding granted to NYFA by the Gu Family of The Recharge Foundation, a private non-profit organization that aims to promote cross-cultural craftsmanship preservation and create dialogues between antiques, high jewelry, fine arts, and technology. For more information: https://www.nyfa.org/blog/introducing-john-hrehov-receives-2021-recharge-new-surrealist-prize/ https://johnhrehov.com/