Summer Faculty Successes

VCD Chair Dr Haig David-West discussing Cuban artist Manuel Mendive's imagery at the 2012 International Image Conference in Poznan, Poland.

Allen Etter, Visiting Instructor of Video and Intermedia, won First Place in the Fort Wayne Museum of Art (FWMoA) Chalk Walk 2012.

James Gabbard, Continuing Lecturer of Imaging and Photography, won the 2012 IPFW Community Advisory Board's Service-to-Students Award. Mr. Gabbard (left) after receiving his award from Walter Branson (center) Acting Chancellor and George McClellan (right) Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs.

2012

During April, 2012 the newly formed IPFW Multi-Media Ensemble presented its first performance in Rhinehart Recital Hall. The ensemble is a collaboration of assistant professor Christopher Rutkowski’s music sequencing class, and  visual communication and design assistant professors Allen Etter (film and video) and Andres Montenegro (animation). Live electronic music was performed using a wide variety of computer programs and electronic instruments, as well as live video and animation and live dance.

The cover of the new 2012 Visual Communication and Design student handbook featured a photographic floral image by Jacqueline Warfield. Warfield is the VCD secretary and IPFW student.

Continuing lecturer in music Kenneth Johnson, D.M.A., was one of two 2012 recipients of the Distant Education Coordinating Committee Award for Innovative Online Teaching. The award, given by the Division of Continuing Studies, carries a stipend of $1,000 to be used for professional development. The selection committee made its decision based Johnson’s innovativeness, quality of course design, learning satisfaction and enhanced student learning outcomes.

The art work of Visual Communication and Design associate faculty Jim Martin was featured at Fort Wayne Cinema Center from June, 2012 during the run of Stephen Spielberg's War of the Worlds. Martin, a local industrial designer and concept artist had featured more than 30 works done in a variety of mediums.

With the help of continuing lecturer Jim Gabbard and photography students from the Department of Visual Communication and Design, student clinicians from the Department of Communication Science Disorders further developed their skills in working with gerontology clients who had suffered strokes and helped them make improvements in their speech. Photography as a Language was a collaborative project that helps stroke victims communicate again and was one of the methods that CSD students learned in order to assist their clients.

In March, 2012 photography instructor Jim Gabbard was asked by the IPFW nursing and dental hygiene programs to do both still photography and video documenting of the work being done by IPFW students and faculty in conjunction with the Barnabas task group and the University in Santiago-Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra. There he documented sheer abject poverty, the lack of even the basic comforts most of us enjoy every day, while completely surrounded by the lush beauty and rain forests of the Dominican Republic. Gabbard had three photographs accepted in the 2012 National Juried Art Exhibition at the Great Frame Up Gallery in Longmont, Colorado. Two of the images were taken during the trip to Cien Fuegos in the Dominican Republic.

Andres Montenegro was invited to meet with Patricio Sanhueza Vivanco, the rector (president) of Universidad de Playa Ancha in Valparaiso, Chile, in April, 2012 to formalize an official academic exchange and cooperation agreement between the two universities. Montenegro received a New Frontier Travel Exploration Grant from Indiana University and additional financial support from VPA and VCD to create a collaborative animation called A Convergence Between Two Traditional Storyline Legends. Montenegro was also scheduled to present the first version of the animated project at IPFW in December 2012.  

James Gabbard, Continuing Lecturer of Imaging and Photography, won the 2012 IPFW Community Advisory Board's Service-to-Students Award.

Faculty and alumni were among the winners at Artlink’s 2nd Annual Visual Art Awards party held at the Auer Center for Arts and Culture in February 2012. Winners included Fine Arts associate professor Christopher Ganz in the drawing category, Visual Communication and Design continuing lecturer Jim Williams in the graphic art category, Fine Arts faculty member Sayaka Ganz in the sculpture category, and Fine Arts alumnus Eric Tarr (’04) in the mixed media category. All winning artists received the coveted AVA Award designed by Fort Wayne ceramist George Morrison, along with a cash prize.

Imaging and Photography instructor James Gabbard was awarded the 2012 Horace Chase Memorial Award by the Professional Photographers of Indiana. This award was presented to the highest scoring wedding album in its category to photographers who creatively told the story of a wedding.

Allen Etter, Visiting Instructor of Video and Intermedia, won First Place in the Fort Wayne Museum of Art (FWMoA) Chalk Walk 2012.

The art work of VCD associate faculty Jim Martin will be featured at Fort Wayne Cinema Center from June 15 – 19, 2012 during the run of Stephen Spielberg's War of the Worlds. Martin is a local industrial designer and concept artist and the display will feature more than 30 works done in a variety of mediums. The exhibition will launch with a short reception from 8 – 9 p.m. on Friday, June 15, prior to the showing of the film.

Alma Hoffman, assistant professor of graphic design, participated in an online design discussion hosted by Diane Gibbs, assistant professor of graphic design at the University of South Alabama in June, 2012. The focus of the webcast was “the importance of doodling and sketching.”

The work of Sayaka Ganz was featured in High Touch: Tactile Design and Visual Explorations, a new 224-page book released in August 2012. High Touch is a powerful tactile design collection that examines the three-dimensional look of today’s visual culture being shaped by techniques and styles from fine art and handicraft. High Touch documents an inspiring range of material objects and spatial orchestrations that meld craft and fine art with techniques of more traditional art forms such as installation, sculpture, collage, photography, and illustration.

Mikhael Antone, VCD assistant professor in imaging and photography, had her photographic work Train Yard published by 3200K, producing both a weekly online magazine and quarterly printed journal. 3200K seeks to create exhibition opportunities for emerging artists and features works made with light-based media employing traditional analog photographic methods.

The Women’s Bureau successfully helped educate the public on issues regarding sexual assault in October, 2012 as IPFW students in the Department of Visual Communication and Design were able to help aid them in accomplishing those messages. Students from the Photography V Special Projects course, taught by continuing lecturer Jim Gabbard and students from Graphic Design III Publication Design, taught by continuing lecturer John Motz, teamed up to create an educational brochure. Photographs generated by the students were given to student designers to create a brochure designed to educate the public about sexual assault and the effect it had on individuals.

VCD photography majors again are participating in Using Photography as Language, a gerontology practicum for the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD).  CSD students, through practical experience, learn to help geriatric clients with compromised communication to more effectively communicate using photographs that are meaningful to the client.  VCD students Brittany Wilcoxson and Sarah Slatton, along with continuing lecturer Jim Gabbard, will work directly with the CSD students to increase their skills in photography as an effective way to communicate. 

2011

Assistant Professor Andres Montenegro with the Department of Visual Communication and Design has been selected to receive a New Frontiers in the Arts and Humanities Exploration Traveling Fellowship in the amount of $2,500. The funds, awarded by Indiana University Vice President Jorge José, will assist in his continued research of the practical exploration of the synergetic effort of animators. The project will involve animators in two locations significantly distant from each other as they explore and create an animated narrative. The animation techniques, developed by using 2D and 3D digital graphics, will be based on two stories that will bridge oral traditions and legends related to Valparaiso, Chile, and Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Visual Communication and Design Assistant Professor Alma Hoffmann was recently presented with the 2011 American Graphic Design Award by Graphic Design USA, a news magazine for graphic designers and other creative professionals. Each year, roughly 1,000 pieces representing all media appear in the competition.

Chalk it up to Alan Etter, visiting instructor of video and media, as he continues his journey in sidewalk art. Etter was featured as a guest artist at the Hancock County Arts and Cultural Council’s 4th Annual Chalk Fest hosted by the Creative Arts and Event Center in Greenfield, Ind. Etter’s contribution to the chalk art extravaganza was a portrait of author James Whitcomb Riley, a Greenfield native and the author of Little Orphan Annie.

Continuing Lecturer Jim Gabbard’s photograph entitled "Those Eyes" received first place in the portrait category, along with special recognition, in the Wassenberg Art Center's 34th Annual Photography Exhibit.

2009

Continuing lecturer Jim Gabbard was awarded a blue ribbon prize for his photograph “Lady in Red” in the Michiana Professional Photographers Exhibition. In the 2008 Juried Photography Exhibit at the Wassenberg Art Center in Van Wert, Ohio, Gabbard’s image “Soft Shadows” was awarded firstplace in the portrait category, and his “Flower #35” was awarded first-place in the plants category.

The feature-length movie Darkness Aftermath was created by students from IPFW, ITT Technical Institute, with artists from England and Scotland. The project was written and directed by Visiting Professor Allen Etter and Ted Tiefel. The double disc DVD was released in January 2009. For more information, visit the Darkness Aftermath blog.

Vido Afro Latina, a news and views Web site by and about black Latinos, has published “Expression of Indigenous African Iconography In Contemporary AfroCuban Visual Art,” an article by Department of Visual Communication and Design Chair Haig David-West. For more information, visit Vido Afro Latina.

Jim Williams opened 1832 Studio and Gallery in September. The gallery is located at 1832 S. Calhoun Street in Fort Wayne, next to The Oyster Bar. More than 300 people attended the opening. The Fort Wayne Museum of Art purchased two of Williams’ paintings for the museum’s exhibition collection. At Artlink, he exhibited pieces in the faculty exhibit, the life drawing exhibit, and the self-portrait exhibit.

Assistant Professor Richard Elaver will have several pieces of work on display at the National Ornamental Metals Museum in Memphis, Tenn., as part of an exhibition on Cranbrook alumni. The exhibition runs through April 13, and features the work generated by Cranbrook alumni who studied under Gary Griffin, former artist in residence and head of the metalsmithing department at Cranbrook. In addition, he recently presented a lecture on generative digital design at the third annual meeting of CADlaboration in Philadelphia.

Faculty and alumni were among the winners at Artlink’s 2nd Annual Visual Art Awards party held at the Auer Center for Arts and Culture in February 2012. Winners included Fine Arts associate professor Christopher Ganz in the drawing category, Visual Communication and Design continuing lecturer Jim Williams in the graphic art category, Fine Arts faculty member Sayaka Ganz in the sculpture category, and Fine Arts alumnus Eric Tarr (’04) in the mixed media category. All winning artists received the coveted AVA Award designed by Fort Wayne ceramist George Morrison, along with a cash prize.