UA art and art history alumni are studying and working in prestigious programs and positions at home and around the world. Here is an update on just a few of them, from the fall/winter 2023 issue of The Loupe:
- Julie Weber (MA 2023, art history) has accepted a position as a curatorial assistant for photography and exhibitions planning coordinator at the Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City.
- Parker Hunt (MFA 2023, ceramics) is teaching art to ninth through twelfth graders at Central High School in Tuscaloosa. His students created work for the Paul R. Jones Museum exhibition WITHIN.
- Ella Smyth (BFA 2023, studio art) held a solo exhibition, Interwoven, at Bells Gallery in Dothan, Alabama.
- Ryan Akers (MFA 2023, painting) held a solo exhibition at the Gadsden (AL) Museum of Art in November and was in Unstuck in Time: St. EOM, Pasaquan, Here, Now, at the Bo Bartlett Center, Columbus, GA, curated by the Fuel & Lumber Company.
- René Thompson (MFA 2022, painting; certificate, museum studies) is an assistant professor of drawing and painting at Alabama A&M University in Huntsville.
- Sarah Dittmann (MFA 2021, printmaking) held a solo exhibition at the Oberreich Gallery on the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, Fond du Lac campus, where she is a lecturer in art.
- Anna Sella (BFA 2020), a senior art director at GRO Marketing in Tuscaloosa, visited Jonathan Cumberland’s graphic design portfolio class in December and talked to students about how to prepare for job interviews. Sella also met with students individually to discuss their portfolios.
- Alex Green (BFA 2017, studio art) has accepted a position as registrar and collections manager at Johnson Lowe Gallery in Atlanta. Green interned at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale in the U.S. Pavilion to support the exhibition Everlasting Plastics.
- Stephen Watson (MFA 2013, painting) has accepted a position as assistant to the pastor focusing on student and family ministries at Millbrook (AL) Presbyterian Church. Since 2014, Watson has taught art at Samford University in Birmingham, most recently as associate professor of art.
- Raymond Gaddy (MFA 2000, painting) is a professor of foundations at Savannah College of Art and Design. Since 2017, Gaddy has taught art at Georgia Southern University (Savannah), most recently as associate professor of painting and drawing and director of the Armstrong Gallery of Art. In fall 2023, he held a solo exhibition at the Avett Center for the Arts, Statesboro, GA, and will have another solo show in 2024 at USC Beaufort.
If you are a UA Art and Art History alum and have updates or new information, we would love to hear from you. Please email art@ua.edu or contact one of your old professors and let us know!