Hixson-Lied Graduate Fellows
CLASS
OF 2003-2006
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Alejandro Lozado (DMA in Clarinet Performance) Alejandro completed the Master of Music degree at Michigan State University in clarinet performance with a 3.71 GPA. He has served as principal clarinetist in the Jose Maria Vargas Symphony Orchestra and as a clarinetist in the professional bands Banda Marital Caracas and Concert Band Moises Moleiro in Venezuela. He won solo competitions with the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida and performs regularly as a soloist and chamber musician. |
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Nelson Neves (DMA in Piano Performance) Nelson received his Master of Music degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia with a 3.75 GPA. As a classical pianist, he has appeared in concert throughout his native Brazil and elsewhere in South America. He was the featured performer in Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue at the Twenty-sixth International Festival of Culture in Boyaca, Colombia. He has captured top prizes in numerous competitions, including the National Piano Competition at the University of Bahia and the Young Interpreters of Brazilian Music Competition in Rio de Janeiro. |
CLASS
OF 2004-2007
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Andrew Beck (MFA in Acting). Andrew received his undergraduate degree in Theatre from the University of Oregon, where he appeared in eight mainstage plays during his career. He has twice been nominated for the Irene Ryan Acting Competition through the American College Theatre Festival. He made his professional acting debut as Young Siward in a production of Macbeth at Ludlow Castle in Ludlow, England. Additionally, he has served as an assistant director for Jack Watson at the Pocket Playhouse, served on the board of the Pocket Playhouse, and served an a T.A. (as an undergraduate) for Acting I-V courses and Introduction to Directing at the University of Oregon. He has also had training in stage combat. |
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Jennifer Brandt (MFA in Studio Art). Jennifer received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with an emphasis in ceramics from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (UWW) in 2002. She spent two summer sessions at the Penland School of Crafts, working with ideas in contemporary ceramics, utilitarian pottery and hand-built porcelain sculpture. She received two undergraduate research grants from UWW for two projects, "Becoming an Artist: Socialization Processes in Four Art Programs" and "Using Water Soluble Metal Salts on Porcelain." |
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Michael Burton (MFA in Studio Art). Michael received his Bachelor of Fine Arts cum laude from Green Mountain College in 1999. He also attended the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth. He received an Academic Achievement Award from Green Mountain College in 1999. Burton received an Opportunity Grant from the Vermont Arts Council in 2000 and a Partial Fellowship Grant from the Vermont Studio Center in 2000. He was a Resident Artist at the Weir Farm Trust in 2004, Peter's Valley Craft Center in 2001, and the Vermont Studio Center in 2000. His exhibitions include the Dragonfly Gallery in Oak Bluffs, Mass.; Kennedy Studios in Vineyard Haven, Mass.; New Art on Newbury in Boston; and the Limner Gallery in New York City. |
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Rachel Charlop-Powers (MFA in Acting). Rachel received her undergraduate degree in Drama and Theatre Studies from McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She has worked at professional theatres in Montreal, Melbourne, New York, New Hampshire and North Carolina. In addition, she has worked in staff positions at the Interlochen Arts Camp, the Quebec Drama Federation, TNC Theatre in Montreal and a theatre in Melbourne, Australia. She also was a member of the McGill University Women's Chorale and danced for 10 years with the Mid-Atlantic ballet Company and trained at the American Academy of Ballet. |
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Javier Montilla (DMA in Flute Performance). Javier received a bachelor's degree in his native Venezuela and completed a Master's degree at the University of Colorado, where he was a member of the resident graduate woodwind quintet. He was also a flutist with the Greeley Philharmonic from 2001-2003. He was a member of the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra from 1994-2000. He has also performed six concertos with groups at the University of Colorado and with the Venezuelan Symphony Orchestra. |
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Cassie Vorbach (MFA in Design). Vorbach received her undergraduate degree at Texas State University at San Marcos. She was the lighting designer for three productions at Texas State: "Metamorphoses," "Transposing Shakespeare" and "Oracle of the Balcones." Vorbach participated in the KC/ACTF Barbizon Regional Design Competition last year, where she placed second for her lighting design of "Transposing Shakespeare." |
CLASS
OF 2005-2008
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Xanthe Isbister (MFA in Studio Art) Xanthe received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with honors in ceramics from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Her exhibitions include her "Ceramics Thesis" exhibition at The Annex Gallery in Winnipeg in May 2004; the "Western Canadian Ceramic Student Show" in September 2003; the "Annual Juried Student Exhibition" at Ace Art Inc. in Winnipeg in May 2003; and the "Layer Upon Layer" solo show at the Adelaide McDermot Gallery in Winnipeg in February 2003. Isbister had a summer residency in 2003 at the Watershed Center for Ceramic Arts in New Castle, Maine. |
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Cecilia Lee (DMA in Piano Performance) Cecilia received her Master of Music degree from the University of Kansas, and her Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Toronto. She was a Fellow at the inaugural UNL School of Music Chamber Music Institute in the summer of 2004. Lee is an active chamber musician, having participated in master classes with the Tokyo Quartet, the St. Lawrence Quartet, Pamela Frank, Lydia Wong and Peter Longworth. Vocal collaboration is also a major interest for Lee, and she has worked in the studios of Darryl Edwards, Joyce Castle and Lynn Blaser, with a major performance in collaboration with acclaimed soprano Sumi Jo. |
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Matthew Moehle (Ph.D in Educational Studies) Matthew received his Master of Arts degree in music education from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and his Bachelor of Music degree in music education from Ohio Wesleyan University. His work and research has focused on technology in education, special learners, comprehensive musicianship, the use of appreciative inquiry in education and the integration of subjects across the school curriculum. |
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Denis Plutalov (DMA in Piano Performance) Denis is a musician and pianist who came from Russia to the United States in 2002 to continue his musical education. He received his Bachelor's degree from the Russian Gnessins Academy of Music in Moscow in 2001 and hisMaster of Music degree in 2003 from the North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA). He recently completed an Professional Artist Certificate program at NCSA. His Professional Artist project was the cycle of all the piano works of Dmitry Shostakovich. He has been a semi-finalist at the Missouri Southern International Piano Competition, and has won the NCSA Concerto Competition. In 1999, he became a diploma winner at the 1st International Franz Liszt Competition in Wrozlav, Poland. |
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Anne Ruehrmund (MFA in Studio Art) Anne graduated magna cum laude from the University of Richmond in May 2004 with a Bachelor's degree in studio art and minors in art history and classical civilizations. She has also studied abroad at the Curtin Institute of Technology in Perth, Australia, and has been a library instructional assistant and clerical supervisor at Cape Henry Collegiate School in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Her exhibitions include the "Cape Henry Collegiate School Alumni Art" exhibition this summer and the "17th Annual McNeese National Works on Paper" exhibition at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in the spring of 2004. |
CLASS
OF 2006-2009
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Sarah Blitz (Department of Art and Art History, M.F.A.) Sarah Blitz will serve as a Hixson-Lied Fellow at the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden at UNL, where she will promote exhibitions and facilitate relationships between students, faculty and the Sheldon's collection and staff. She will also work with the student docent program with Sheldon Curator of Education Karen Janovy. Sarah received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in ceramics from Alfred University's New York State College of Ceramics, where she also received her New York state certification in art education, K-12. She also attended Syracuse University. She participated in a ceramics graduate seminar, gave a throwing demonstration to an intermediate ceramics class and assisted with an installation of an exhibition while a special student at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Sarah has taught high school art at Vestal Central School in Vestal, N.Y. and Wellsville Central School in Wellsville, N.Y. and completed her student teaching at Greenwood Central School in Greenwood, N.Y. ''' Her most recent exhibitions include the San Joaquin Potters Guild 'Visions in Clay 2005' juried show in Stockton, Calif., Bedford Gallery's 'Pots:' Objects of Virtue' juried show, where she received a Bedford Gallery Cash Award in 2005 in Walnut Creek, Calif., and the Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design's 'Obsessions into Form' group show in December 2003 in Lakewood, Colo. |
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Leonardo Lebas (School of Music, D.M.A.) Leonardo Lebas received Master of Music degrees from The Penn State University in Orchestral Conducting, and The Catholic University of Argentina in both Choral Conducting and Composition. His Master's Thesis was entitled 'String Harmonics in Ravel's Orchestral Works' and offered solutions for difficult cases of string harmonics notation in Ravel's orchestral works. It is a practical handbook to help orchestral conductors to find real sounds for all the string harmonics notation instances in Ravel's orchestral output. Leonardo has attended Conductor Training Workshops, including the Wheaton Conductor Training Workshop in 2006. His publications include Donde Estas? (mixed choir a cappella) in 1995 and Pero Que Te Pueda Ver (missed choir a cappella) in 2006. He has written more than 25 compositions, including Ronda (mixed choir a cappella) in 2005, Victor Manuel (mixed choir a cappella) in 2005, and The Locust (female choir, orchestra) in 2004-2005. He conducted The Choral Society in 2005 and served as an Assistant Conductor for the Penn State Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestras from 2002-2005. He has also served as the Bellefonte United Methodist Church Choir Director in 2002-2003 and the Catholic University Choir Assistant Conductor from 1993-2001. |
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Kelly Manning (Department of Art and Art History, M.F.A.) Kelly Manning received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in studio art with a primary emphasis in painting and a secondary emphasis in drawing from the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where she also obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. Her recent exhibitions included a senior exhibition in the Fall 2005 and Kappa Pi Juried Exhibitions in the Spring of 2004 and 2005 at the Walker Gallery at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She won a gold in two-dimensional work in the Spring 2004 exhibition and two silvers in two-dimensional and canvas works in the Spring 2005 exhibition. She is a member of the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden in Lincoln, and Joslyn Museum of Art in Omaha. |
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Jewel Noll (Department of Art and Art History, M.F.A.) Jewel Noll received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. In 2005, she was a summer studio assistant at the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gaitlinburg, Tenn. and a gallery intern at the Carlsten Art Gallery at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Some of her recent exhibitions include 'The B.F.A. Show 2006' and 'Student Juried Exhibition' at the Carlsten Art Gallery and the 'Flake-Out Festival' in the Wisconsin Dells in 2006; 'Jewel Noll:' Fractions in Time' at the Centercase for Art at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, 'Jewel Noll:' Bearing Sticks and Cream' and 'Print:' Traditions to Intuition' at the Schneider Gallery at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the Northern Arts Council 14th National Art Competition at Nicolet College in Rhinelander, Wis., and the 18th Parkside National Small Print Exhibition at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in 2005. Noll received 1st Place Media's Choice Award, 2nd Place People's Choice Award and 2nd Place Overall for her 8' x 6' x 6' snow sculpture she co-designed and fabricated for the Flake-Out Festival in 2005. She was also the recipient of an ArtsBash Scholarship and Dean's Distinguished Achievement Award in 2006 from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Her collections include the Sereina Meloit private collection, Team Schierl Companies, Faulconer Galler at Grinnell College in Iowa, the Edna Carlsten Gallery and the Works on Paper Archives in the Department of Art and Design at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and the permanent archives of the Mid-America Print Council's exchange portfolio at UNL. She is a member of the Mid America Print Council, Southern Graphics Print Council and the American Craft Council. |
