Amanda Shrum, Author at BYU College of Fine Arts and Communications

Documentary by TMA professor premieres at international film festival

Amanda Shrum — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 19:41:20 +0000

Theatre and Media Arts professor Scott Christopherson’s documentary film, “The Insufferable Groo,” premiered at the Sheffield International Documentary Film Festival which took place June 7-12 in Sheffield, England. The documentary focuses on Provo independent filmmaker Stephen Groo, who is known for his eccentric and passionate approach to making movies. Groo’s films, though small in scale and budget, have gained fans from industry professionals including Jared Hess, Jermaine Clement and Jack Black, the latter of which starred in Groo’s film “The Unexpected Race.” Read more about “The Insufferable Groo” in The Hollywood Reporter, The Daily Herald and Deadline.

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BYU Faculty and Staff to present and perform at Mormon Arts Center Festival

Amanda Shrum — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 19:10:15 +0000

The second annual festival held by the Mormon Arts Center will take place June 28-30 at Columbia University in New York City. The festival will help fulfill the Mormon Arts Center’s mission to display, perform and promote Mormon art. More than two dozen events will be featured, including a keynote address by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich. BYU faculty and staff presenting at the festival include Christian Asplund from the School of Music, Amy Easton Flake from the College of Religious Education, associate librarian Trevor Alvord, Marin Leggat Roper from the Department of Dance, Lance Larsen from the Department of English, Jeff Parkin and Kelly Loosli from the Department of Theatre and Media Arts. The presenters will be joined by fellow Mormon artists from “Angola, Argentina, Canada, China, Kuwait, Spain, and across the United States,” according to Mormon Arts Center co-director Glen Nelson. A full list of events can be found here. A highlight of the festival will be a piano recital by professor Scott Holden from the School of Music. The performance, titled “A Century of Mormon Music,” will be held at the new recital space Zankel Hall in Carnegie Hall. Holden will also perform a recital on BYU’s campus on June 26. Visit the Mormon Arts Center for more information.

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BYU AdLab Wins Multiple Awards at 2018 Advertising Competitions

Amanda Shrum — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 21:42:49 +0000

The BYU AdLab team has been recognized by the One Club for Creativity, the 2018 Telly Awards and the American Advertising (ADDY) Awards. “The AdLab has won an unprecedented number of awards and continues to represent the best of BYU’s advertising program,” said Jeff Sheets, faculty advisor for the AdLab. The One Club for Creativity is a non-profit organization that promotes excellence in advertising. The One Club holds an annual conference called the Young Ones, which judges submissions from art and design schools and programs from around the world. The four categories are the Art Directors Club (ADC), One Show, Young Ones Portfolio and Client Pitch Competition. BYU won three gold, three silver and five bronze Young Ones Cubes as well as two merits from the Art Directors Club, which judges open briefs for Best Creative Work in Advertising. BYU won one silver and one bronze Young Ones Pencils and five merits for brief-based assignments for a client and social cause. BYU also won First Place in the Client Brief competition. BYU performed especially well in the Young Ones Portfolio competition, winning three Advertising portfolio awards and one Film/Television/Video portfolio award. The BYU AdLab was the only school awarded in each of these two categories and was ranked as the number one school for portfolio work. Overall, BYU was ranked as the second best program in the world. To see BYU’s award-winning work, visit the One Club website. The BYU AdLab also did well at the 2018 Telly Awards, which honors the best in commercial advertising for television and web. The AdLab won two Gold and one Bronze awards in the General-Student category for Online Commercials. The winning commercials were “Ooh La La” for La Croix, “One More Giant Leap” for GE and “Earth Day” Vivint Solar, all of which can be seen on the Telly Award website. Most recently, the American Advertising Federation recognized the BYU AdLab’s work at the American Advertising Awards, often called the ADDY Awards. The ADDY Awards are the largest advertising competition in the U.S. and aim to recognize the creative spirit of excellence in advertising. “One More Giant Leap” won Best of Show for Cinematography. The BYU AdLab also won five Student Gold and two Student Silver Awards. The full list of winners can be found here.

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Robert Barrett Speaks on Necessity of Preparation

Amanda Shrum — Wed, 09 May 2018 22:32:32 +0000

BYU illustration professor Robert Barrett spoke at the BYU Devotional on Tuesday, May 8. He focused on the importance of preparation, not just in art, but in all aspects of life. “The Lord expects His children to do their homework on a problem, consider the options, and then make a decision,” said Barrett. “Then, and only then, are they able to take their decisions to the Lord and ask Him if what they have decided to do is right.” Visit BYU News to read more about Robert Barrett and the May 8 devotional.

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BYU Theatre Students Build Characters with Actors from the London Stage

Amanda Shrum — Wed, 02 May 2018 16:35:27 +0000

Advanced theatre students attended a workshop taught by Shakespearean actor Chris Donnelly focusing on character motivations and acting from moment to moment Theatre students taking advanced acting at BYU were treated to a workshop taught by Chris Donnelly, a member of the Actors From the London Stage touring company. The five-member group recently performed “The Taming of the Shrew” on campus as part of the BRAVO! Professional Performing Arts series. Donnelly started off the class with a series of drama games. Though the games may appear to be silly to outsiders, Donnelly emphasized why they are so important for actors. “If you are wrong,” Donnelly said, “be wrong with confidence.” He urged the actors to act without hesitation, be brave and “talk from the part of the brain that doesn’t process information, but is silly and irrational.” After warming up, the students performed the two-person scenes they worked on winter semester. The scenes were taken from various advanced plays by Anton Chekhov, Tennessee Williams and others. Donnelly took time with each scene, critiquing and re-working specific moments, often having students try out different approaches. “Play it like it has never happened before,” was advice Donnelly gave often. In order to bring the theory into reality, he demonstrated how the actor’s body should physicalize what the character is feeling before any words are ever spoken. This helps convince the audience that they are not watching actors, but real people living from moment to moment. Donnelly also emphasized how everything done on stage is for the benefit of the audience. “No matter how personal it is,” he said, “it is for the audience. Think of the greatest actors and how they give everything by seeming to do nothing.” These actions could be small or large but should always actively portray the character’s desires and tell the story. Stephen Moore, a student who acted a scene from “Uncle Vanya” opposite scene partner Brando White, shared his thoughts on the experience: “We were all able to find a greater depth of character, but also a greater understanding of acting as a whole. We received an outside perspective from someone who is very skilled which helped me take a step back and re-evaluate what my process is as an actor as well as some of my bad habits.” During Moore’s work session, Donnelly focused on relying on the text to guide choices and discover meaning. He told the class that the clues are all in the text and that the scripts of classic plays are too good ever to fight against or perform lazily. He also said to not “swallow the words. Therein lie the pictures and the psychology.” “The workshop with Chris Donnelly was an amazing experience,” Moore said. “It felt very in depth and I also felt like I got to meet someone that was such a fun person. I hope BRAVO! continues to provide fantastic experiences like this for students.”

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Kyle Stapley Accepts New Position as Media Arts Administrator

Amanda Shrum — Tue, 01 May 2018 21:38:25 +0000

Kyle Stapley has accepted the Media Arts Administrator position in the College of Fine Arts and Communications. Stapley has previously served as the Media Arts Coordinator and Internship Coordinator in the Department of Theatre and Media Arts. Stapley graduated from BYU in 2008 with a degree in Sociology before receiving a Master’s degree in Public Administration. In 2017, Stapley was awarded a Staff and Employee Recognition Award (SAERA) for demonstrating excellence in teamwork. Originally from Lake Stevens, Washington, Stapley has three children with his wife, Laura. Read the original announcement made by Wade Hollingshaus in the April 23 issue of The Sound and the Fury department newsletter.

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Directors and Chairs in College of Fine Arts and Communications Reappointed

Amanda Shrum — Tue, 01 May 2018 21:34:17 +0000

The directors and chair were re-appointed with overwhelming support College of Fine Arts and Communications’ Dean Ed Adams announced the reappointment of two school directors and department chair for the college. Ed Carter will continue as director of the School of Communications, Kirt Saville as director of the School of Music and Wade Hollingshaus as chair of the Department of Theatre and Media Arts. “All three received strong support from their respective faculty and staff members,” said Dean Adams in an announcement. “They all had overwhelming support from the dean’s office for the work they’ve done and for their reappointment.” Carter, Saville and Hollingshaus were originally appointed to their positions as directors and chair in the summer of 2015. The reappointment is for another term of three years. All three continue their work as professors in their respective schools and department.

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Illustration Professor Robert Barrett to Speak at Devotional

Amanda Shrum — Tue, 01 May 2018 21:13:57 +0000

The devotional will take place at 11 a.m. in the de Jong Concert Hall of the Harris Fine Arts Center. Robert Barrett, professor of illustration in the Department of Design will be speaking at the Spring BYU Devotional on May 8. Barrett has taught at BYU for over 30 years. During his time teaching, he has also served as Associate Dean and won several awards including the Karl G. Maeser Award for Teaching Excellence in 1995, the Karl G. Maeser Research and Creative Arts Award in 2004 and the University Professorship Award in 2014. In addition to teaching, Barrett’s extensive professional career has included being selected to illustrate the children books “Obama: Only in America” and “Michelle Obama: First Lady” in 2010. Barrett also illustrated “Silent Night, Holy Night: The True Story of the Christmas Truce.” In 2014, 11 of the illustrations in the book were installed in the St. Nicholas Cathedral in Messines, Belgium as a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the truce. Many of Barrett’s works have been created for the LDS Church. His paintings can be found on BYU’s campus, in church magazines and in numerous temples. Visit Robert Barrett’s official website for more information.

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Department of Dance, School of Music, Department of Theatre and Media Arts and Music Dance Theatre Program Convocation Highlights

Amanda Shrum — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 19:09:26 +0000

Speakers focused on the transformative power of collaboration in the arts The 2018 convocation for the Department of Dance, School of Music, Department of Theatre and Media Arts and the Music Dance Theatre Program took place on April 27. Here are some of the highlights of the event. The convocation took place at 11 a.m. in the de Jong concert hall and was conducted by Ed Adams, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communications. Craig Hart, the Associate Academic Vice President, served as the university representative. Mary Hoskins performed a stunning vocal rendition of “O Divine Redeemer” by Charles Gounod. She was accompanied by Christi Leman on piano. Tessa Homer, a dance education major, spoke about the different seasons of our lives. She began by saying she wished she could “just dance the speech” before discussing how her experiences at BYU transformed her as a dancer and as an individual. Homer had the opportunity to study and teach dance outside the United States. The first time, she attended a study abroad in China where combining two cultural traditions took her dancing to a place she could not have taken it to by herself. Homer then traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark, with Kinnect, a contemporary dance student outreach program. Homer taught dance to elementary school students and said she didn’t need a common language as she could see the same joy on the faces of the children in Copenhagen as she did in Utah and that “No audience will make you feel more talented than elementary students.” The last transformative experience Homer spoke on was her senior project, which involved choreographing and teaching dances to less experienced dancers. She expressed how she initially felt limited by their beginner abilities, but soon realized the experience was not about how well she could teach, but about the individuals she taught and being able to see possibilities in things she cannot control. Homer finished her speech by returning to her theme of seasons, taken from Ecclesiastes 3:1, saying there is a time and a season for everything. She added her own saying her time at BYU was a “time to prepare, a time to explore and a time to transform.” Soren Barker, a theatre education major, spoke on how theatre can create change in the world. He listed three different ways he believes theatre can make an impact, using examples from his education. The first way theatre can change the world is through collaboration. Barker shared an experience he had writing and directing a new play. At one point, the actors he was working with suggested a major change in the script, which Barker chose to accept.. The change made the show much more impactful. Barker talked about another experience he had creating a piece of theatre with his friend Ben Featherstone, who is deaf. Barker believes the production emphasized the importance of being inclusive and gave him experience in a world he would have not understood otherwise. “Listening to others and including them in the process,” he said, is what collaboration is all about. Responsibility is the second way Barker believes theatre can create change. “The best people inside and outside of the theater are the most responsible,” Barker said after discussing an experience with a microburst theatre production that required diligence from the actors. Empathy is the last attribute Barker suggested can change the world. While co-directing a production at Hillcrest High School, Barker noticed how the students made emotional bonds with their characters and were able to see the world from a different perspective. Audiences are also able to experience the emotional journey of another person. “If the world had more empathy and collaboration,” Barker concluded, “it would be more beautiful.” A group of students graduating from the Music Theatre Dance Program followed the speakers. The group performed “Ready” by Joey Contreras, accompanied by Mark Johnson. The ceremony ended with the presentation of the graduates.

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Early diagnosis catalyst to student’s music career

Amanda Shrum — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 16:40:17 +0000

Graduating music performance major Kaden Larson may have never pursued a music career if he had not been diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis at the age of two. “The diagnosis was a catalyst, but it’s not a leash,” said Larson. “We can be given a challenge or something that seems unfair or something that seems insurmountable, but that is often just our way into something else.” Read more about Larson’s experience studying music on BYU News.

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