Alumni Notes - 2022
Art History
Jordan Amirkhani, MA 2010 was recently appointed as Curator for the New Orleans-based Rivers Institute for Contemporary Art & Thought. Recent curatorial projects include Troy Montes Michie: Rock of Eye for the California African American Museum in LA.
Parker Calvert, BA 2008 Economics, and Clayton Calvert, BA Art History 2010, launched a gallery in the World Trade Center in 2021, the NYC Culture Club. It is an exhibition space offering opportunities for curators and artists to have exhibitions, free of charge.
Jane Pierce, BA 2013 recently left The Museum of Modern Art after over eight years, and started a new job as a Research Associate in the Modern and Contemporary Art department at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Suzanne Lago Arthur, BFA 1996 is an oil painter and the host and creator of the Creative Contemplation Podcast where she has discussions with creative professionals about their work, inspiration and practice. Available on Apple, Google, Amazon, Stitcher, Spotify.
Lydia Bodnar-Balahutrak, MFA 1977, was honored to receive a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to Poland for the 2022-2023 academic year. Her research project is a collaborative study of socially and politically informed art created by contemporary Ukrainian artists. Hosted by The Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts in Poznan, PL, Lydia will travel and engage directly with displaced refugee artists, as well as connect virtually with artists and institutions inside Ukraine. The project draws on her profession as artist and educator, her Ukrainian American background, and earlier projects with Ukraine. You can contact Lydia at [email protected]
James Bonilla, BFA 2014 recently began his new role as an Art Director at Rapt Studio in San Francisco, CA, where he leads the creation of graphic design and branding projects. He's also working on his second full-length album for his music project, Phantom Heir.
Vian Shamounki Borchert's (BFA 1996) artwork is in The SAM Museum in the Future Places exhibition. Moreover, Vian's art was in a digital billboard exhibit in Times Square - Broadway Plaza in NYC, June 2022.
Dane A. Criner (BFA 2009) is an award-winning full-service interior design firm based in Boston and Washington, D.C. Dane Austin leads a team of dedicated professionals who create inspired interiors for living well, living in beauty, and living deeply from the heart.
Ariane DuBois, BFA 1980 recently settled back into her love of drawing and the freedom of working with simple materials to explore difficult ideas.
Janet Dunphy, BFA 1982 is now "retired," which means that after exactly 40 years she gets to work on the projects she started in ‘third year' at the Corcoran!
Boston Globe says about Amy Heller, MFA 1991, "In a series of terrific (cyanotype) prints on silk mounted on light boxes...as vividly vertical as a classical Chinese landscape painting, a force in Chinese art through several dynasties."
Natalie Jackson, MA 2012, is currently one of the Dean of Students at BASIS DC Public Charter School. She likes to incorporate artistic practices in her approaches to discipline and teacher coaching.
Huey Preston, Grad Certificate 1976, worked as a scene painter at Arena Stage, then as a sign printer at Raleighs Stores and Garfinckel's. He later worked at Science magazine of The American Association for the Advancement of Science as an illustrator and graphic artist until he retired in 2016.
Mica Scalin, BFA 1999 helps executive leaders around the globe get creative through the learning programs she designs as Managing Partner of Another Limited Rebellion. Her artwork was shown at Mizuma & Kips Gallery NYC in July 2022.
Georgina Spengler, BFA 1982 moved to Rome, Italy upon graduating from Corcoran. She continues to paint and exhibit her work.
Jen Sterling opened her new art studio/gallery in Annapolis, MD. She also hung her third one-man show, this one of her larger works at the Chesapeake Arts Center in Brooklyn Park.
Virginia Robles-Villalba, BFA 1986, will be exhibiting work September through October, 2022, at the American Poetry Museum in Washington, DC. Pieces include Woman at the Window (oil, 28x28) and Enlightenment (watercolor, 12.75x17).
Sara J. Winston, BFA 2011 was recently published in Return to the Field edited by Gabriel Kruis and Martha Tuttle and published by Wendy's Subway, Brooklyn, NY.
Museum Studies
April Bryan, MA 2015, is an exhibition developer for the Air Zoo (Kalamazoo, MI). She takes pride in "peopling the planes" by deliberately highlighting underrepresented people to reflect the community and honor authentic aerospace heritage.
Luisa Dispenzirie, MA 2014 is the Supervisory Museum Curator at Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park and Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park.
Kara Hershorin, MA 2011, was listed in "40 under 40: Meet the People Shaping Alexandria's Future." Ms. Hershorin is currently the Membership Manager for George Washington's Mount Vernon estate. Under her leadership, the membership program has grown to over $2 million annually to support the estate. She gives back to the field by serving as a mentor for the DC Emerging Museum Professionals group.
Jeanine Nault, MA 2011 is team lead for Mass Digitization at the Smithsonian Digitization Program Office, where she focuses on increasing the quality and quantity of Smithsonian-wide collections digitization, aiming to create a vibrant digitization culture at Smithsonian Institute.
Theatre
Pamela Clay, BA 1981 works as a singer and actress in all mediums. Her French compositions have been featured on television’s Supernatural. Recent roles include Citizens United (2015), The Kominsky Method (2019), and Baby Elephants (2020). Pamela was the 1981 recipient of GW Theatre and Dance’s Paul Parady Memorial Award for Outstanding Contributions to the University Theatre.
Classical Acting
Travis Xavier, MFA 2022 is an adjunct Professor of Theatre at GW teaching beginning acting, while also continuing his career as a performer in the DMV.
Graphic Design
Richard Friend, BFA 1997 serves as Art Director at The Pew Charitable Trusts in Washington, DC. He has previously worked with Woodpile Studios, Smithsonian Institution, and Studio A.
Interior Architecture
Brittany Jepsen, MA 2010, is featured, along with her family and business, The House That Lars Built, in an episode of In With The Old, a home renovation show about old homes on Magnolia Network.
Decorative Arts & Design History
Eileen Garcia, MA 2009, is currently the Properties Director at the Santa Fe Opera.
Art and the Book
Lincoln Center presents the performance "Moving Memorials" of Chilean NYC based artist María Verónica San Martín, MA 2013. Her work captures spirits of displacement and remembrance, constructing complex multimedia book-sculptures evoking memory.