Spring semester!

Welcome to the spring semester at CVAD!  We are very exciting to have collaborated with Nick Cave, artist and CVAD alum, who is this year's Artist-in-Residence for UNT's Institute for the Advancement of the Arts.  Nick has been working this fall and spring with students and faculty in sculpture, fibers, fashion, core design, art education, dance and music along with volunteers in creating the costumes and choreography for the  two performances of "Heard" on March 29th,  on the quadrangle in front of the Art building on campus.  You can see the 12:30 performance on KERA's Art n Seek video. An exhibition at UNT on the Square opened February 24 and a special performance was  also scheduled at the Nasher Sculpture Center on Sunday, April 1.  The costumes were assembled in ART 231, designated the Nick Cave Project Studio this semester, and in homes and apartments throughout North Texas, as well as Cave's studios in Chicago!  Follow all of the activities of the Nick Cave Project on Facebook! 

The semester is wrapping up with celebrations of our award winning students, Artwear 2012 featured the works of 23 graduating seniors in Fashion Design. 

Fashion Design Seniors Celebrate Artwear 2012  

Jelyn Hobson, from Tyler, Texas, created a set of women's pants, skirts and shirts inspired by art deco style -- reminiscent of the iconic Empire State Building's architecture. He colleciton was featured in Artwear 2012

CVAD has a very illustrious past as well as an exciting future. I hope you were able to visit UNT on the Square earlier this spring to see Laying the Foundation: UNT Art Faculty 1890-1970.  Drawing on the college and private collections, the show featured the works of noted UNT faculty including Lorraine Berger, Mack Vaughn, Ray and Georgia Gough, Rudy Fuchs, Henry Whidden, Mike Cunningham, Wilfred Higgins Richard Laing and many others.  Publications by long time chair Cora Stafford are also included.

 Lightwell Gallery show

While the past is illustrious, the dynamic future of the college starts now!  For a calendar of exhibitions, lectures and other activities, be sure to subscribe to Stories from the Avant-Garde and see the February 2012 issue for our activities! 

Among the events that have highlighted the spring semester,  the  6th Annual UNT North Texas Medieval Graduate Student Symposium on April 12  and 13 provided an exciting venue for the presentation of graduate research in many disciplines from students from several countries and around the United States.

We are in the beginning of another major hiring cycle at the college. We have selected eight new faculty and participating in the iARTA research cluster hiring of two interdisciplinary artists who will join us in the fall.  We are also finishing up our recritment of new graduate students and welcoming our new and returning students for the fall.  Enrollment demand has been strong at CVAD and in response, we have initiated new levels of expectation for new undergraduate students for Fall 2012. CVAD admission standards are among the highest in the University and we are extremey proud of the accomplishments of our students and faculty.  

Artist Registry

I am especially happy that the University of North Texas has initiated an Art in Public Places program for the Denton campus.  The Art in Public Places Committee, which I chair with Tracee Robertson, our Gallery Director, oversees the campus art collection and the new Percent for Art Program which was initiated last year. Victoria DeCuir is the registrar for the collection. This is an exciting new opportunity for the campus and for artists in our region.  We hope, over time, to transform the campus with the creation of iconic spaces and the placement of contemporary works that will enhance the learning and working environments within the buildings and outside.  At present, we are working on two immediate projects which have budgets of $15,000 to $30,000  for purchase of works for the Willis Library and Discovery Park, the science and engineering park operated by the university.  Another  project upcoming in the next year is Sage Hall, which will have a budget of $20,000. We  anticipate projects in the $100,000 - $300,000 range with in 2012-2103  as new buildings come on line. 

In support of the Art in Public Places Program  we have created an Artist Registry.   We encourage artists (or their representatives to register! 

Support CVAD

You can find out more information about the activities of our faculty, students, alumni, institutes, galleries,  and departments on the CVAD webpages, by following CVAD on Facebook, by joining any of the CVAD groups and viewing the many student and department blogs, and by subscribing to Stories from the Avant-Garde, our monthly e-newsletter. We gratefully acknowledge the gifts and support of CVAD donors, without which we could not operate.  Along with scholarships and program support, in-kind gifts of furniture, equipment, materials, and services provide myriad ways for people to help our students.  We have opportunities for volunteers in our galleries and offices as well, so help us when you can as we continue to provide an excellent education for students and great resources for the community.

Please contact us to see how you can help CVAD and our students in our quests for excellence.  We are proud of their accomplishments and need your help to enhance their opportunities.  Visit the Support CVAD site on our home page and, if you can, contribute to our scholarships and operating endowments so that we can continue to help all of our students and community grow through art and design.

 Robert Milnes, Dean

College of Visual Arts and Design 
University of North Texas
April 21, 2012