News @ the Peck School of the Arts

FILM ALUM - Cream City Cinema: Tate Bunker

Milwaukee Film Blog
May 21, 2012

Tate Bunker won Milwaukee Film’s 2010 Filmmaker-In-Residence Award. He recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise $8,000 to finish his residency film, entitled Studies in Space. I exchanged some questions over email with Tate recently about his process for making films. Head over to Kickstarter now to view a short documentary on the project and, if you like, make a donation… only 15 days left to help make his goal!

You have made over 30 films in the last 10 years…do you ever sleep?
I love making films and have made many sacrifices to do so, like not owning anything or having kids, and working non-stop.  Plus I write, produce, direct, shoot, and edit my own films, which helps to speed up the process. 

You have directed several TV commercials--are there any people may have seen locally?
I shoot more than I direct, but have directed a few. The most well-known being "Living the Dream" for the Wisconsin Lottery where four Packer fans run around an empty Lambeau Field doing as they wish because they won four season tickets!  The best moment was when I watched it with over 70 thousand Packer fans on the Jumbotron during a game...

Visit the Milwaukee Film blog to read the full article.

Six UWM films to be presented at Cannes

By Duane Dudek
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
May 15, 2012

Six films from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee film department have been selected to be part of the Cannes Film Festival, which starts Wednesday and runs through May 27.

The films are part of the Court Metrage, or short film corner.

And two UWM students were selected as interns at the American pavilion, the first time the state has been represented in the post in 23 years...

Visit The Dudek Abides to read the full blog post.

Guitar prodigy Macyn Taylor's gift emerged from Brownie talent show

By Piet Levy
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
April 25, 2012

Many girls Macyn Taylor's age are stressing out this time of year, trying to figure out where to go to college.

That part of Taylor's life, remarkably, is already over and done with.

Taylor, 17, earned a bachelor's degree in fingerstyle guitar from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in December, the youngest graduate since the 1970s, according to UWM officials...

Visit the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to read the full story.

Kenilworth Open Studios April 21

By Beth Stafford
UWM News
April 16, 2012

It’s free! It’s fun! It has something for everyone!

Visitors to last year’s Open Studios toured one of Kenilworth’s art studios. (Photo by Alan Magayne-Roshak)

Kenilworth Open Studios is an opportunity for the entire community to celebrate and experience the work created by Peck School of the Arts faculty, alumni and students. The fun happens on Saturday, April 21, from 11a.m.-2 p.m. throughout the building at Kenilworth Square East, 1925 E. Kenilworth Pl.

Lively and hands-on, the event includes art and film exhibits, live music, dance, theatre performances and more...

Visit UWM News for the full article.

Open Studios: TCD’s Guide to Gallery Night

By Carly Rubach
ThirdCoast Digest
April 16, 2012

Get ready for Gallery Night with TCD’s hand-picked list for exhibits and events. Spring Gallery Night is Friday, April 20, and remember, the gallery gallivanting doesn’t have to stop on Friday night!

Be sure to check out the Peck School of the Arts‘ (PSOA) Kenilworth Open Studios event from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Gallery Day. The exhibit will be packed with five floors of action and will feature more than 100 artists.

“This is the best way to get a taste of everything the school has to offer,” says Ellen Schupper, Director of Marketing and Community Relations for the PSOA. “Students, faculty and alum will all be hosting, presenting and showing their work.”

Visit ThirdCoast Digest to read the full article.

UWM Peck School of the Arts Film Department has large presence at the 2012 Wisconsin Film Festival

The Wisconsin Film Festival starts next week in Madison and the UWM Film Department is all over it. Films by faculty, graduates students, undergraduates, and alums are showing throughout the Festival's scheduled five days of the best in cinema. The Festival runs April 18-22.

Take a bow, Film Department! And congratulations Wisconsin Film Festival on another stellar year.

Peck School of the Art Film Department Affiliated Films:

Thursday, April 19, 9:30pm, Union South Marquee

Points of Interest
Jon Salimes & Anthony Lopez, alums

Recommendations for Gallery Night & Day

By Mary Louise Schumacher
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
April 12, 2012

...If you are planning to go to Gallery Night & Day this weekend and are readying your itinerary, I offer you a CliffsNotes-esque version of your options. Of the many exhibits and events you have to choose from, here are a few I’d recommend.

Brooke Thiele and UWM’s Kenilworth Building
2155 N. Prospect Ave.

Brooke Thiele, an adjunct professor of art at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, has been a deer hunter since she was 12 and an artist all of her life. For her “Serving Still Hunting” art installation, she brings the male-dominated sport into a domestic context, the cozy, sweet-smelling, cake-baking world often associated with women.

Present Music's Buffalo Nation to feature talent of Music alums and faculty

Recently, Present Music commissioned a new musical work from Peck School Music alum Jerome Kitzke titled Buffalo Nation (Bison bison). The work will be premiered on April 14 at the Indian Community School in Franklin as part of Present Music's Buffalo Nation concert. The performance will also include Kurt Ollmann, voice lecturer at the Peck School and Norman Moses, who received his BFA and MFA from the Music Department.

Visit Present Music online for more information about the concert.

FILM ALUM -- Disney/ABC TV Writing Program Gives 8 Diverse Participants the 'Golden Ticket' (Exclusive)

By Jethro Nededog
Hollywood Reporter
March 12, 2012

The writers are Erinne Dobson (Orleans, Mass.), Cindy Fang (Fremont, Calif.), Shannon Fopeano (Orleans, Mass.), Jason George (Memphis), Eric Haywood (Milwaukee, Peck School Film alum), Ryan Maldonado (Miami), Raamla Mohamed (Los Angeles) and Aaron Serna (McAllen, Texas).

“We’re looking for people who are first and foremost passionate about writing for television,” Disney/ABC Television Group’s vp talent development and diversity Tim McNeal tells The Hollywood Reporter. “And individuals who bring something new to the table, a unique perspective on storytelling.”

Chosen from more than 1,000 submissions, the writers will have the opportunity to work as staff on a Disney/ABC project, as well as take advantage of other resources provided to them through the program...

Visit the Hollywood Reporter to read the full article.

Film alum Bill Thelen and Team Lump at Green Gallery West

As part of the Riverwest Satellite Gallery Day & Night, Green Gallery curator Nicholas Frank is pleased to bring one neighborhood gallery to another. The Green Gallery West will host Team Lump, of the Lump Gallery in Raleigh, North Carolina. Lump is run by Bill Thelen, a former Milwaukeean and UW-Milwaukee Film Department Alum ('93). Team Lump will show a large-scale collage made in homage to Ray Johnson's time at North Carolina's Black Mountain College in the years just after WWII, in addition to a selection of recent work by Thelen. 

This exhibition finds Lump members ruminating on the wonders of suicide, madness and mass death. A collage by current Team Lump members Megan Sullivan, Rich McIssac, Tory Wright and Thelen celebrates Ray Johnson’s tenure at North Carolina’s Black Mountain College in the late 1940s. Also, a selection of recent work by Thelen takes a look at mass suicide cults (Heaven’s Gate), personal tragedies (Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell) and mania (Robert Crumb’s brother Charles).

Learn more at the Green Gallery web site.