News @ the Peck School of the Arts

Vets invited to learn guitar at UWM

UWM News
December 20, 2012

Jada Reynolds and Christopher Horsley are two of the veterans participating in the Guitars for Vets program at UWM.

Bev Belfer is welcoming all military veterans to participate in a beginner’s guitar class held at 3:30 p.m. on Tuesdays at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM). With “guest status,” vets do not receive class credit and must be certified through the Military Education Benefits Office (MEBO), located in Mellencamp Hall, room 168A...

Visit UWM News to read the full article.

Teen musician, 17, graduates from UWM

By Karen Herzog
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
December 18, 2011

Most people would think it's a big deal to graduate from college at 17.

Not Macyn Taylor.

College is just another gig for the unassuming Town of Waterford teen, whose passion for guitar led her to the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a bachelor of fine arts degree in fingerstyle guitar, which she started plucking away at in seventh grade.

Taylor, whose first name is pronounced "Mason," was the youngest UWM graduate to cross the stage Sunday at the U.S. Cellular Arena, one of 1,468 bachelor's degree recipients at the university's midyear commencement. UWM also awarded 716 master's degrees and 110 doctorates.

Finishing a college degree at 17 is rare, according to UWM officials, who could remember only one other graduate so young - a 16-year-old math whiz who raced through high school curriculum so fast in the 1970s there was nothing left for him to take by the time he was 11 or 12...

Visit the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to read the full article.

Teen musician, 17, graduates from UWM

By Karen Herzog
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
December 18, 2011

Most people would think it's a big deal to graduate from college at 17.

Not Macyn Taylor.

College is just another gig for the unassuming Town of Waterford teen, whose passion for guitar led her to the Peck School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a bachelor of fine arts degree in fingerstyle guitar, which she started plucking away at in seventh grade.

Taylor, whose first name is pronounced "Mason," was the youngest UWM graduate to cross the stage Sunday at the U.S. Cellular Arena, one of 1,468 bachelor's degree recipients at the university's midyear commencement. UWM also awarded 716 master's degrees and 110 doctorates.

Finishing a college degree at 17 is rare, according to UWM officials, who could remember only one other graduate so young - a 16-year-old math whiz who raced through high school curriculum so fast in the 1970s there was nothing left for him to take by the time he was 11 or 12...

Visit the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to read the full article.

UWM Inova Gallery: Expanded Cinema

By Ryan Findley
ThirdCoast Digest
December 15, 2011

Wiping away boundaries between art and film at Inova. All photos by Kirsten Mueller.

In cinema, we’re accustomed to easily discernible narrative arcs and characters. But film can be so much more. Input/Output: Expanded Cinema, is Bruce Charlesworth’s answer to that situation. Charlesworth, a professor in UWM’s Film/Video/New Genres MFA program, co-curated the show with Bruce Knackert. It is open at the Inova Gallery, in the Kenilworth Building at Prospect and Kenilworth Avenues.

Work by 15 current or recent graduate students is on view. They are Ben Balcom, Tony Balko, Josh Baum, Kellie Bronikowski, Isaac Brooks, Lisa Danker, Ericka Frederick, Sean Kafer, Daniel Kelly, Brian McGuire, Giorgi Mrevlishvili, Ross Nugent, Michael Walsh, Josh Weissbach and Julie Wolterstorff. They work in a variety of genres and together draw an intriguing picture of the various ways that film can be art...

Visit ThirdCoast Digest to read the full article.

Filmmaker winning the West shot by shot

By Stanley A. Miller II
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
December 13, 2011

The West was won with blood, sweat, tears and an undeniable pioneer spirit.

Slapstick comedy also played a pivotal role.

So says the creative vision of Tommy Simms, creator, model-maker, set-builder, cameraman, editor and director of "The Legend of Leatherface Larry," a stop-motion animation piece premiering Friday at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Student Film and Video Festival.

The festival begins at 7 p.m. in the Union Theatre and includes 15 features in its lineup...

Visit the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to read the full article.

 

On Tap Today: Midweek stretch

By Jan Uebelherr
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
December 14, 2011

Greetings and welcome to Wednesday.

...Head to UW-Milwaukee for Arts+Tech Night, a showcase for the students in the arts-technology interdisciplinary prgram at UWM. The multi-media show -- featuring sculptures, installations, digital prints and more -- runs from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Peck School of the Arts' Kenilworth Building, 1925 E. Kenilworth Place...

Visit the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to read the full article.

Arts+Tech Night tonight

By Stanley A. Miller II
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
December 14, 2011

UWM's Arts+Tech Night boots up at 6 p.m. tonight at the Peck School of the Arts' Kenilworth building, and, as always, promises a creative and curious lineup of student projects.

It's always interesting to learn about the inspiration behind each student artists' work. Very often it's their every day observations of how technology is changing the world; for some, it's ironic commentary; others are are motivated by the technical challenges behind that they are trying to design.

Early intel on tonight's free exhibition, which runs until 9 p.m., suggests we should expect an array including digital prints, time-based media and kinetic installations.

For example, artist Alexandra Walker is planning an interactive installation (sample pictured above) that fades between before-and-after versions of retouched photographs. Brad Butterfield is designing an interactive light painting installation. And Kate Price is building a three-channel video piece that promises to meld different objects from the natural world. Want to learn more? I certainly do; so I hope I'll see you there.

 

Student Cinema Action Network (SCAN) announces line-up for Fall 2011 Student Film and Video Festival

The official lineup for the 61st Student Film & Video Festival is:

"106 River Road" - Josh Weissbach
"3 Miles East" - Sam Karow
"Dreamachine" - Tony Porter
"Shades of Pride" - Michael Viers
"La Isla Tropical" - Selene Jaouadi-Escalera
"Paper Wings" - Tobias Staffanson
"Evilest of Sorcerers" - Jon Elliott
"Untitled" - Bo McCollow
"Cat Waco" - Brooke Duckart
"The Legend of Leatherface Larry" - Tommy Simms
"Scuffle Deluxe" - Nate Brown
"Mothmen of Milwaukee" - Collaborative Film Class
"The Daytime of the Night" - Mark O'Neill
"The Brake-Up" - Aaron Alpert
"Kenton Sorenson Leather" - Carol Brandt

Congratulations to everyone whose work made it to the festival! The festivities begin this Friday at 7pm in the Union Theatre.

Making a Scene: Milwaukee's Avant-Garde

By Mary Louise Schumacher
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
December 12, 2011

A decade ago, Milwaukee’s art scene seemed to be having a moment.

Even the most cynical and pragmatic among us fell under the spell of hopefulness, the notion that Milwaukee, this flyover locale that was nowhere on the art-world map, was becoming an important, artistic frontier, to use artist David Robbins’ term.

Connective tissue began to form between disparate pockets of the art community. Underground, do-it-yourself art projects, galleries, art schools, academics, major institutions and culture makers of all kinds took note of one another and surfaced as one remarkable, indigenous scene...

Visit the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to read the full article.

Peck School Art & Design MFA grad Richard Taylor launches third exhibition at OK Harris in New York

Richard Taylor received his MFA in Painting in 1991 from the Peck School of the Arts Department of Art & Design.  His third exhibition at OK Harris, one of the most respected galleries in NYC, opened on December 10 and will run through January 20, 2012. According to the OK Harris web site, "Richard Taylor’s painted aluminum wall compositions and pillars are intersections of painting and sculpture. They are at once manifestations of his own persistent memories, an homage to those who have influenced his life and work, and crystallized expressions of unconscious emotion constructed into solid form."

Visit OK Harris online for more details.