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The Arts tend to be underfunded, but the University of South Florida's College of the Arts (COTA) is determined to enrich its students' experiences by raising money through fundraisers and accepting donations in order to provide scholarships, endowments and master classes taught by renowned artists. Click Read More >> below for Jamie Oakes' article. For Jill Case's article about the long-awaited, new music building and a slideshow by Thayesha Lewin click here. |
Thursday, November 4, 2010
USF College of the Arts may be down, but not out
View from the bottom: new building is long anticipated
By Jill Case
TAMPA, Fla. -- The University of South Florida music majors will finally have a new place to call home. The new school of music building is set to be finished in the spring semester of 2011.
The vice president of COTA is senior vocal performance major Chris Sgammato. Sgammato is an individual in every sense of the word; he is a playwright, a student, a teacher, a musician, an actor and a leader.
He is also just one individual who says the new building is long awaited.
Sgammato blames this long wait on disproportionate money distribution.
The school of music was promised a new building 40 years ago when the first set of music classes filled past capacity.
Since then, many problems have been apparent to Sgammato.
“The practice rooms are full of harmful debris, lovely for vocal performance majors,” says Sgammato. “Given the amount of time spent in the tiny broom closets everyday, we are learning and practicing in an environment that is so harmful to our health that it should probably be illegal.”
Sgammato says that a typical music major must practice at least three hours a day and most of them usually exceed that amount.
Up-to-date and working equipment is necessary for any artists. There are broken down instruments thrown into the corners of practice rooms, cramping space even more.
“There are practice rooms with two computers to record a rehearsal session, but only one of them has ever worked,” says Sgammato.
He points out that both of the machines date back to the 1980s and that the only place to record in the school of music is the Recital Hall FAH 101, which is always booked for recitals or concerts.
“I think the lack of funding for the arts comes from a lack of understanding of art’s importance,” says Sgammato.” Art, the way I like to see it and use it, is a form of social commentary. It’s a way of keeping ourselves in check, so to speak.”
Sgammato says that he thinks the people pulling the university’s purse strings are those empirical, methodical and rational heads who see art as frou-frou.
In terms of what Sgammato would like to see different, he is very vocal.
“I would like to see more support for and funds flowing to the arts,” says Sgammato.
“I would like to see less athletics bullshit, which has absolutely nothing to do with anyone’s education and everything to do with this bizarre college mentality of over-emphasizing the importance of football, otherwise known as two opposing teams of juggernauts struggling to bring a spheroid across a white line.”
Slideshow by Thayesha Lewin
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Jazz up October
The Monday Night Jazz Series on Oct. 25 at USF Tampa will have talented jazz guitarist Fred Hamilton as a guest star. Hamilton will perform alongside USF's own music students and faculty. Click Read More >> below for Jill Case's article.
Music program alumni talks life after graduation
by Jamie Oakes
TAMPA, Fla.--Daniel Harrison, USF alumni of the Monday Night Jazz Series, was only a sophomore in high school, but he was well aware of what he wanted to do with his life—to be a musician.
Harrison, 23, first discovered his love of music when he and his friends would play music in high school. Although he did well in academia, he was bored with it. After all, he was a creative. It finally clicked for him. Harrison wanted to go to school for what he loved doing: playing the guitar. His parents thought otherwise.
“[My parents] definitely questioned my decision,” Harrison said. “They asked why not medical or law school? I told them it just wasn’t for me.”
Harrison has been playing the guitar since he was 13 years old. Originally from St. Petersburg, Florida, he went to USF where he graduated with a double major in jazz studies and music composition.
Despite what one may think of majoring in the music program, Harrison said it’s hardly a walk-in-the-park degree.
“It’s extremely stressful program. It’s probably at the level of pre-med and electrical engineering, yet it’s such a lucrative field,” said Harrison. “You have to keep working outside of class, unlike other majors, like, accounting and business.”
Jim Hall and Peter Berstein, both jazz guitarists, are just a couple of his musical influences. His (and their) specialty is straight-ahead jazz, which is a style of jazz that encompasses the period of bebop and the 1960s.
“However, that’s not to be confused with smooth jazz,” he said. “That’s old-lady jazz, elevator music.”
Harrison is still living in the Tampa area, teaching and playing music at Tampa Guitar, though he detests the state in which he’s deemed “Mickey Mouse Land.” He plans on attending graduate school out-of-state.
“I decided to take a year off from school before jumping right into it again,” he said. “I’ve seen too many people burn out when they don’t take some time off. A break was definitely needed.”
Ideally, he would like to attend either University of Missouri, Kansas City or the University of Colorado, Boulder for composition and music theory. Instead of going to a larger, more prestigious school, such as Columbia, he wants to attend a smaller school. It isn’t too big of a campus where it would make him uncomfortable. Plus, he thinks attending a school that only accepts 50 students per semester, there’s a more likelihood of playing, recording, and getting heard.
All four years, he had been preparing for the recital, the big project for graduating seniors. When the students perform one last time for the panel of professors and get critiqued on their work. It’s either a pass or fail—no As, Bs, or Cs.
“It was extremely nerve wracking to perform in front of everyone, but I was happy when I saw the result. Now, I can’t wait to get out of Florida,” Harrison said.
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| Daniel Harrison. Contributed Picture |
Harrison, 23, first discovered his love of music when he and his friends would play music in high school. Although he did well in academia, he was bored with it. After all, he was a creative. It finally clicked for him. Harrison wanted to go to school for what he loved doing: playing the guitar. His parents thought otherwise.
“[My parents] definitely questioned my decision,” Harrison said. “They asked why not medical or law school? I told them it just wasn’t for me.”
Harrison has been playing the guitar since he was 13 years old. Originally from St. Petersburg, Florida, he went to USF where he graduated with a double major in jazz studies and music composition.
Despite what one may think of majoring in the music program, Harrison said it’s hardly a walk-in-the-park degree.
“It’s extremely stressful program. It’s probably at the level of pre-med and electrical engineering, yet it’s such a lucrative field,” said Harrison. “You have to keep working outside of class, unlike other majors, like, accounting and business.”
Jim Hall and Peter Berstein, both jazz guitarists, are just a couple of his musical influences. His (and their) specialty is straight-ahead jazz, which is a style of jazz that encompasses the period of bebop and the 1960s.
“However, that’s not to be confused with smooth jazz,” he said. “That’s old-lady jazz, elevator music.”
Harrison is still living in the Tampa area, teaching and playing music at Tampa Guitar, though he detests the state in which he’s deemed “Mickey Mouse Land.” He plans on attending graduate school out-of-state.
“I decided to take a year off from school before jumping right into it again,” he said. “I’ve seen too many people burn out when they don’t take some time off. A break was definitely needed.”
Ideally, he would like to attend either University of Missouri, Kansas City or the University of Colorado, Boulder for composition and music theory. Instead of going to a larger, more prestigious school, such as Columbia, he wants to attend a smaller school. It isn’t too big of a campus where it would make him uncomfortable. Plus, he thinks attending a school that only accepts 50 students per semester, there’s a more likelihood of playing, recording, and getting heard.
All four years, he had been preparing for the recital, the big project for graduating seniors. When the students perform one last time for the panel of professors and get critiqued on their work. It’s either a pass or fail—no As, Bs, or Cs.
“It was extremely nerve wracking to perform in front of everyone, but I was happy when I saw the result. Now, I can’t wait to get out of Florida,” Harrison said.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Support USF art research by starting your own (affordable) art collection
The University of South Florida's Graphicstudio is holding its annual Benefit Sale with discounted art by contemporary artists. Find out where it is and why you should go.
For Milca Rivera's spotlight on Trenton Hancock click here.
For Milca Rivera's spotlight on Trenton Hancock click here.
GRAPHICSTUDIO ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: TRENTON DOYLE HANCOCK
By Milca Rivera
TAMPA, Fla. – Fantastical, symbolic, colorful, narrative and abstract are just a few of the words that have been used to describe the work of Trenton Doyle Hancock.
Hancock, 36, said on Wednesday that making a mark on a piece of paper at the age of 2 or 3 got him interested in creating art.
Around the age of 3 or 4, Hancock realized he was skilled at art when people began to call his work “abnormal.” Compared to other children his age, he said, his cows looked like actual cows. From that moment on, what inspired Hancock to create art changed.
“When I realized I was good at it, it became about recording, remembering the things I saw – characters from movies, interesting animals,” Hancock said. “The more you draw, the more you add to your library of images.”
As an undergraduate at Texas A&M University, Hancock added to his library of images the work he is most well-known for today.
“When I was around 20, 21, I started figure drawing and trying to search a way to draw figure images that were important to me,” Hancock said. “I started plucking limbs off people and they became bowling pins, which turned into Mounds.”
Hancock said he started to add cosmetically to the Mounds and tried to figure out what Mounds were.
The unfolding saga of the half-animal, half-plant creatures called Mounds has evolved into an epic narrative that has come to include Vegans, the Mounds antagonists; Torpedo Boy, the mounds’ protector that has an inflated ego; Painter, a mothering energy; and Loid, a paternal energy.
“It morphed into something I truly didn’t anticipate,” Hancock said.
In 2006, Hancock was invited to work at USF’s Graphicstudio. Over the last four years, Hancock has collaborated with Graphicstudio to create several sculptural and printed projects.
A piece on display at Graphicstudio is Hancock’s “Flower Bed II: A Prelude to Damnation.” The work, a glow-in-the-dark sheet of wallpaper that is 27 inches tall by 5 yards wide, is a vibrant display of color and text that depicts the massacre of hundreds of baby Mounds.
Hancock said he created the work because he’s always been interested in environments and creating something that people can walk into.
“Wallpaper furthers images and allows me to make a module that I can replicate that creates an environment,” Hancock said. “Wallpaper does that successfully, and it is also a more expedient way to cover wall.”
Of “Flower Bed II,” Hancock said, “[It] allowed me to experiment with different ink, create blacklight and work with 3-D elements.”
Those planning to attend the studio’s benefit sale on Oct. 8 can view “Flower Bed II” through the 3-D glasses located on the table in front of the work.
Several of Hancock’s pieces are currently on display at Graphicstudio, and in January visitors to USF’s Contemporary Art Museum will be able to view a full collection of Hancock’s work.
For more information about Hancock visit the PBS ART:21 and Graphicstudio websites.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Exploring the public art and artists of USF
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| The Icon II is a piece of public art from the 1970s in front of the performing arts theatres. |
Most of the University of South Florida community are unaware of their campus that's full of art. Reporter, Milca Rivera, explores the reasoning behind the lack of awareness of the public art. While reporter, Thayesha Lewin, interviews artist Adam Kitzerow, one of the many artists displaying their work on campus.
Click here for Thayesha Lewin's story.
Click here for Thayesha Lewin's story.
He showed them his, they showed him theirs, and now the public gets to see them all
Newest exhibition at the USF Centre Gallery showcases yearlong collaborative project
by Thayesha Lewin
TAMPA, Fla.―The flyers printed for the “I’ll Show You Mine, You Show Me Yours” art exhibition in the Centre Gallery shows artist Adam Kitzerow in a comical photo where he flashes open his trench coat at a shocked young woman reading on a park bench. The image matches the humorous, edgy and surprising characteristics of his collaborative project that involves artists from all over the country.
The Centre Gallery, located on the second floor of the Marshall Student Center at USF, will showcase a portion of Kitzerow’s long-term project until Oct. 1. The reception will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 24.
The project began in the fall of 2009 when Kitzerow created a series of identical foam sculptures on top of a round canvas and colored with acrylic paint. A medium he has used in previous works that were featured at the USF Contemporary Art Museum, foam is a material he finds interesting to shape and work with.
“It almost always creates unique and organic shapes. It is also very versatile in that it can be painted on, carved up, and added to,” said Kitzerow.
Once he completed the sculptures, he shipped them off to artist friends across the U.S. who wanted to get involved in the project. They were encouraged to alter the sculpture however they wanted. There were no rules or limitations. Finally, the artists sent the sculptures back to Kitzerow. One piece was shipped all the way from Alaska. Others didn’t have to travel too far.
“Some local Tampa artists gave them back to me in person,” said Kitzerow.
The pieces range from simple and fun to bizarre and elaborate. While one altered sculpture is adorned with precious handcrafted flowers and rhinestones, another is placed on top of a pedestal made of penises. The works contrast each other, an element that Kitzerow strives for in his own art.
According to the artist's statement on his website, AdamKitzerow.com, he believes art can be “both funny and mean, well crafted and sloppy, beautiful and ugly.” The transformed pieces are different than the original and separate from one another, an example of the creative diversity of human minds.
Kitzerow hopes the show will “create interesting discussions on where the project could go and what it means to each individual.”
He has been a board member for the Arts Council of Hillsborough County, and is currently the executive director of SuperTest, a non-profit arts organization in Tampa Bay. Kitzerow received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Maine College of Art in 2004 and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of South Florida in 2008.
He believes that USF has an excellent art program but wishes that like Portland, Maine, the city of Tampa had “a collection of galleries that are within walking distance” in order “to allow art lovers to travel to all of the galleries and enjoy as much art as possible without too much hassle.”
Newest exhibition at the USF Centre Gallery showcases yearlong collaborative project
by Thayesha Lewin
TAMPA, Fla.―The flyers printed for the “I’ll Show You Mine, You Show Me Yours” art exhibition in the Centre Gallery shows artist Adam Kitzerow in a comical photo where he flashes open his trench coat at a shocked young woman reading on a park bench. The image matches the humorous, edgy and surprising characteristics of his collaborative project that involves artists from all over the country.
The Centre Gallery, located on the second floor of the Marshall Student Center at USF, will showcase a portion of Kitzerow’s long-term project until Oct. 1. The reception will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 24.
The project began in the fall of 2009 when Kitzerow created a series of identical foam sculptures on top of a round canvas and colored with acrylic paint. A medium he has used in previous works that were featured at the USF Contemporary Art Museum, foam is a material he finds interesting to shape and work with.
“It almost always creates unique and organic shapes. It is also very versatile in that it can be painted on, carved up, and added to,” said Kitzerow.
Once he completed the sculptures, he shipped them off to artist friends across the U.S. who wanted to get involved in the project. They were encouraged to alter the sculpture however they wanted. There were no rules or limitations. Finally, the artists sent the sculptures back to Kitzerow. One piece was shipped all the way from Alaska. Others didn’t have to travel too far.
“Some local Tampa artists gave them back to me in person,” said Kitzerow.
The pieces range from simple and fun to bizarre and elaborate. While one altered sculpture is adorned with precious handcrafted flowers and rhinestones, another is placed on top of a pedestal made of penises. The works contrast each other, an element that Kitzerow strives for in his own art.
According to the artist's statement on his website, AdamKitzerow.com, he believes art can be “both funny and mean, well crafted and sloppy, beautiful and ugly.” The transformed pieces are different than the original and separate from one another, an example of the creative diversity of human minds.
Kitzerow hopes the show will “create interesting discussions on where the project could go and what it means to each individual.”
He has been a board member for the Arts Council of Hillsborough County, and is currently the executive director of SuperTest, a non-profit arts organization in Tampa Bay. Kitzerow received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Maine College of Art in 2004 and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of South Florida in 2008.
He believes that USF has an excellent art program but wishes that like Portland, Maine, the city of Tampa had “a collection of galleries that are within walking distance” in order “to allow art lovers to travel to all of the galleries and enjoy as much art as possible without too much hassle.”
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