Julian F. Abele (1881-1950)
PMSIA Class of 1898, Certificate in Architectural Drawing.
Architect
Frederick Graff Prize of $25.00 for work in architectural design, evening class students, 1898.
[sic: Julian is misspelled as Julius in the commencement program]
Julian F. Abele was a prominent architect and chief designer for Horace Trumbauer's architectural firm. Abele attended PMSIA and received a certificate in Architectural Drawing before attending University of Pennsylvania and becoming the first African American graduate of its Architecture program. Hired by Trumbauer following his graduation, Abele contributed to the design of more than four hundred buildings, including Philadelphia landmarks such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Free Library of Philadelphia's Central Library.
Image Source: Wikipedia.org
Stephen Albert (1941-1992)
PMA Class of 1962, BM, Composition
Composer
Pulitzer Prize in Music for Symphony, RiverRun, 1985
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1989.
Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition, Albert: Cello Concerto, 1995.
Stephen Joel Albert was an American composer. He was born in New York City and studied at the Eastman School of Music, the Philadelphia Musical Academy, the University of Pennsylvania and, after being awarded a Rome Fellowship in 1967, the American Academy in Rome. Albert won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1985 for his First Symphony, RiverRun. From 1985-1988 he was the Seattle Symphony's composer-in-residence. Following his sudden death in 1992, he posthumously won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition for his Cello Concerto, performed by Yo-Yo Ma and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, as conducted by David Zinman.
Image Source: http://www.bruceduffie.com/albert.html
Laura Jean Allen (1916-2003)
PMSIA Class of 1939, Diploma
Designer, Illustrator
1938: Award for work in water color
Laura Jean Allen was a designer of ceramics and textiles for the Associated American Artists. Allen also illustrated twenty-one covers for The New Yorker between 1965 and 1987. Additionally, Allen was the illustrator of several children's books, including the Rollo and Tweedy series.
Above: The New Yorker November 21, 1970.
Image Source: The New Yorker
Richard Amsel (1947-1985)
PCA Class of 1969, BFA, Illustration
Illustrator, Graphic Designer
Award of Excellence, Philadelphia First -- Art Directors 44th Annual, 1980.
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 2009.
Society of Illustrators in New York Hall Of Fame Inductee, 2023.
In a career spanning just 15 years, Richard Amsel created illustrations for movies and television that became part of the cultural language of the 1970s and '80s. A 1969 graduate of the Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts), Amsel created some of the most recognizable, iconic imagery of the late 20th century. He created artwork for more than 30 major motion picture posters, close to 40 TV Guide cover illustrations, and numerous album covers and concert posters.
Amsel's professional career began while still an undergraduate at the University when he won a contest to design a poster for the film "Hello Dolly!" Through the '70s and '80s, his work could be seen everywhere and included posters for films such as "Raiders of the Lost Ark," "The Sting," "Chinatown" and "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome," and album covers for Bette Midler. His Time Magazine cover of Lily Tomlin is in the Smithsonian Institution's permanent collection and he won numerous awards for his work, including a Grammy for insert art for a London Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Choir release of The Who's "Tommy."
- University of the Arts Commencement Program, 2009
Image Source: University of the Arts Digital Collections
Ronne Arnold (1938-2020)
PMA Class of 1959, Bachelor of Music (Dance major, earned through the Philadelphia Dance Academy's college program at the PMA)
Dancer
Taught at the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association, 1986-2003.
Ronne Arnold was a dancer and educator who began dancing at the age of seven at the PMA, taught by Nadia Chilkovsky. After earning his Bachelor’s Degree from the PMA, Arnold traveled to Australia, where he taught jazz and modern dance in addition to working for the famous Sydney nightclub, Chequers, where he choreographed dance sequences. Arnold founded the Contemporary Dance Company of Australia in 1967 and was the academic course director at the National Aboriginal and Islander Skills Development Association College from 1986 until 2003 and a teacher at Wesley Institute in Sydney.
Image Source: University of the Arts Digital Collections
Lydia Artymiw
PMA Class of 1973, BM, Piano
Pianist
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1991.
Lydia Artymiw is a concert pianist and professor. She was born in Philadelphia and began studying piano at age four. Following her graduation from the Philadelphia Musical Academy, Artymiw has performed as a soloist around the world. She is also a Professor Emeritus of Piano at the University of Minnesota.
Image Source: University of the Arts Digital Collections
Dotty Attie
PMCA Class of 1959, BFA, Art Education
Painter
Anonymous Was A Woman grant, 2018.
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 2023.
Dotty Attie BFA '59 (Art Education) was born in 1938 in Pennsauken, New Jersey, and is an acclaimed painter and one of the founders of A.I.R. Gallery, one of the first all-female cooperative art galleries in the U.S. Her work has been widely exhibited and is in many major museum collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the National Gallery in London and many other institutions.
Attie attended the Philadelphia College of Art (now University of the Arts), from which she graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Following her time there, she continued her education through fellowships at the Brooklyn Museum Art School in 1960 and the Art Students League in 1967.
In 1972, she co-founded A.I.R., a nonprofit cooperative gallery and one of the first to exclusively feature the work of women artists. As an early artist-member, Attie helped the group choose a gallery space and recruit members. She also had her first solo show at the gallery in 1972. Later, she was an integral part of the gallery's establishment of an international presence and helped to secure shows in Paris, Israel and Japan.
Attie's personal style has remained fairly consistent throughout her career. She typically deconstructs existing images—such as Old Master paintings and early 20th century black-and-white photographs—and her works often includes text to create a narrative. Some of these pictures have been taken from the backgrounds of earlier work, bringing new perspectives to features that might have been formerly overshadowed. That approach produces a quality of differing scale, paired with short segments of text, which creates a cinematic quality throughout. The text and pictures are related but do not contribute to a clear narrative, allowing the viewer to fill in the blanks. Because Attie, at times, has meticulously repainted well-known works but presented them in fragments or with other modifications, her work has addressed the concepts of originality and reproduction.
Attie has received multiple grants, such as the Creative Artist Public Service Grant in 1967-1977 and the National Endowment for the Arts Grant, which she won in 1976-1977 and 1983-1984. She also was awarded an exchange grant to Japan, where she spent six months in 1985.
In addition to numerous honors in the art world, including her induction into the National Academy in 2013, Attie has the unusual distinction of having a punk band named after her: the female-led quartet Dottie Attie, which formed in 2013 and has since disbanded. Since 1959, Attie has lived and worked in New York City with her current partner, David Olan, a classical composer. She is represented by PPOW Gallery
- University of the Arts 145th Commencement Program, 2023
Image Source: UArts.edu
Vernon Howe Bailey (1874-1953)
PMSIA Class of 1892, Certificate, Drawing
Illustrator
First prize of ten dollars for best design for diploma for the Regular Department, 1889.
Vernon Howe Bailey was an illustrator who attended PMSIA at the age of 15. Following receipt of a certificate in drawing he went on to study at the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts, London Royal College of Art, Académie Delécluse and Académie Bilouil. He worked for the Philadelphia Times and the Boston Herald as a staff artist and also contributed illustrations to Scribner's, Harper's, The Century, The Harper's Weekly, Leslies Weekly and Colliers. During World War I and World War II, Bailey was authorized by the US Navy to make drawings of naval equipment and facilities.
Image Source: Wikipedia.org
M. Louise Baker (1872-1962)
PMSIA Class of 1902
Illustrator
Certificate A, Industrial Drawing, 1901.
First Prize, Mayer Pottery Company Prizes for Designs for Printed Table Ware, 1901.
Prize Scholarship for School Year 1901-1902.
Illustration certificate, 1902.
Commendation, Henry Perry Leland Prize for illustration, 1902.
Prize scholarship for School Year 1902-1903.
Certificate in Industrial Drawing Teacher's Course, 1902.
M. Louise Baker was an illustrator who attended PMSIA from 1900-1902. Following her graduation Baker first worked as an illustrator for the archaeologist C.B. Moore before securing a position at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology where she worked as a prolific and well-regarded archaeological illustrator.
Above: Illustration by M. Louise Baker while enrolled at PMSIA
Image Source: University of the Arts Digital Collections
Raymond A. Ballinger (1907-1985)
PMSIA Class of 1931, Diploma
Advertising Designer
Joseph E. Temple Prize for Second Year Work, 1929.
First Prize for Advertising Design, Third Year Work 1930.
Second Prize for Advertising Design, Fourth Year Work, 1931.
Distinguished Rating, Art Department, 1931.
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1956.
Raymond A. Ballinger was born in Philadelphia. He was widely recognized as a graphic designer, art educator and author. He worked for such distinguished clients as the Aluminum Company of America, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Mutual Assurance Company. He was a professor of Graphic Design from 1932 to 1967 and held the title of Emeritus Professor at his alma mater. He won numerous awards from such associations as the Art Directors' Club and the Printing Week Exhibitions, and was president of the former organization. He wrote several books, including Layout and Graphic Design, which is still considered a classic, Lettering Art in Modern Use, and Sign, Symbol and Form (co-authored with his wife, Louise Bowen Ballinger).
- Silver Star Alumni Award Exhibition
Image Source: Cover of Layout, Van Nostrand Reinhold, NY, 1956. From Silver Star Alumni Exhibition
Jabari Banks
UArts Class of 2020, BFA, Musical Theater
Actor, Musician
Jabari Banks was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After graduating from UArts in 2020, Banks secured the lead role on the Peacock Original series Bel Air. In 2023 Banks signed with Epic Records and released his first single, Something Else.
Image Source: Rolling Stone (Clarks)
Kim Y. Bears-Bailey
PCPA Class of 1984, BFA, Dance
Dancer
New York Dance and Performance Award ("Bessie" award) recipient, 1992.
UArts Mary Louise Beitzel Award for Distinguished Teaching, 2011.
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 2016.
Kim is a 1984 (B.F.A.) graduate of The University of Arts. Hailed from Washington, DC – a Proud Alum of Duke Ellington School of Performing Arts – Ms. Bears-Bailey is currently the Artistic Director with The Philadelphia Dance Company/PHILADANCO. Kim joined PHILADANCO in 1981 and retired from the stage in 2000. Kim represented PHILADANCO at the 1988 American Dance Festival as a soloist where she performed two works by Dr. Pearl Primus. Kim is one of few artists granted permission to remount the works of many world-renowned choreographers including Talley Beatty, Pearl Primus, Gene Hill Sagan and Louis Johnson. Under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield (Dean) and support from the School of Dance Ms. Bears-Bailey produced, reconstructed and directed two evening length showcases; “Celebrating the Legacy of African-American Dance Pioneer Pearl Primus" and 'Celebrating Master Choreographer Louis Johnson', both with performances and panel discussions as part of an American Masterpieces Project. She received the Mary Louise Beitzel Award for Distinguished Teaching and the Silver Star Alumni Award from UArts. Kim choreographs, directs and produces an annual ‘Dancing with the Stars of Philadelphia’ event. Kim received the 2017 ‘Bring it to the Marley’ Icon Award and the 2018 ‘Legacy Award’ from DCNS Dance.
Image Source: University of the Arts
Irene Bedard
UArts Class of 1991, BFA, Theater
Actress
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1999.
As the voice of Walt Disney's Pocahontas, Irene Bedard has laid claim to a form of cultural immortality, just as Snow White's voice remains a part of our cultural landscape. Equally significant, the drawings for the film were based on Bedard's finely-chiseled facial features and animated persona.
The links with storytelling extend far back for Bedard. As a child in Anchorage, Alaska, she drew on her Cree, Inupiat, and French-Canadian roots to create plays for neighborhood children. She grew up visiting ceremonial dances and potlatches (feasts), and was inspired by her father's political activism in Native American issues. She continued her intersets in history, culture, and drama in community theater in high school, and—after earning her BFA from The University of the Arts—secured stage roles in Philadelphia and New York productions. In an early television role, she starred in TNT's Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee as real-life author Mary Crow Dog, work that earned her a Golden Globe nomination. For that work, she was also honored by the American Indian Film Festival, the First American in the Arts Award, and the Cowboy Hall of Fame. In addition, that role led to her discovery by Disney, and her role in that studio's Squanto, A Warrior's Tale. In 1998, she starred in the well-received independent film, Smoke Signals, director Chris Eyre's adaptation of Sherman Alexie's novel, which dealt realistically with the lives of Native Americans. Since "becoming Pocahontas," Bedard has remained busy in her Ojai, California home, where she is also a founding member of Guardians of Sacred Lands, an environmental organization active in Southern California.
- University of the Arts Commencement Program, 1999
Image Source: By Super Festivals from Ft. Lauderdale, USA
Alfred Bendiner (1899-1964)
PMSIA Class of 1918, Certificate, Industrial Drawing
Architect, Artist
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1964.
Al Bendiner was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He received both a BA and and MA in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and he attented the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Arts (now the University of the Arts) and the American Academy in Rome, Italy. He was an architect, artist and author who was called "the Hirschfield of Philadelphia" due to his humorous celebrity caricatures. He opened his own architectural firm in Philadelphia in 1929; among his architectural designs are the original offices of the Blue Cross of Greater Philadelphia. His illustrations of local concerts and plays were published in the Philadelphia Evening and Sunday Bulletin from 1938 to 1946, and he wrote and illustrated humorous books and articles based on his personal experiences and travels. He was awarded numerous mural commissions, including one from Gimbel Brothers in 1952 for the mural at the Academy of Music. He was assigned a staff position as an artist on the University of Pennsylvania archaeological expeditions to Iraq in 1936 and Guatemala in 1960.
- Silver Star Alumni Award Exhibition
Image Source: Oklahoma illustration, c. 1940s-1950s. From Silver Star Alumni Exhibition
Morris Berd (1914-2007)
PMSIA Class of 1936, Diploma, Advertising Design
Artist
First Year Class Awards for Drawing, Nature Study, and Design, 1933.
Distinguished Work in Drawing, Fourth Year student, 1936.
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1967.
Morris Berd was born in Philadelphia in 1914. He received a BFA from the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art in 1935 and began teaching there in 1941. During his tenure of more that 40 years, he had over 20 solo exhibitions. In 1952, he won the Philadelphia Murals Competition sponsored by Gimbel Brothers. He retired from full-time teaching in 1979 and continued to teach part-time until 1985. He was awarded Professor Emeritus in 1986. His work was obtained by numerous corporations and private collectors, as well as the important Philadelphia museums and other institutions around the country. In 1988, the American College in Bryn Mawr exhibited a retrospective of his Lancaster County landscapes, the series for which he is best known. His last solo exhibition, Works on Paper, at the University of the Arts in 2001, featured abstract geometric watercolors done between 1990 and 2000.
- Silver Star Alumni Award Exhibition
Image Source: University of the Arts Digital Collections
Janice Berenstain (1923-2012)
PMSIA Class of 1945
Stanley Berenstain (1923-2005)
PMSIA Class of 1945
Writers, Illustrators
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1998.
Janice and Stanley Berenstain were both born in Philadelphia in 1923 They met on the first day of art school at the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art in 1941, and married in 1946. They both enjoyed cartooning and, soon after they married, they began submitting cartoons to magazines. The Saturday Evening Post and Collier's regularly published their cartoons, and they produced the comic strip Sister from 1953 through 1955. The first book featuring the Berenstain Bears family, The Big Honey Hunt, was published in 1962. Stan and Jan went on to write and illustrate more than 250 books featuring the Berenstain Bears; more than 260 million of these books have been sold over the years. Their sons, Michael and Leo, have also helped illustrate many of the books. The Bear family is featured in many children's museum exhibits including a permanent one at the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York.
- Silver Star Alumni Award Exhibition
Image Source: University of the Arts Digital Collections
Adam W. Blackstone
UArts Class of 2004, BM, Instrumental Performance
Songwriter, Musician
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 2014.
Adam W. Blackstone began playing drums when he was 6 years old and took up the bass guitar in high school "because no one else wanted to play the instrument." Today, he is one of the music industry's most sought-after bassists, and has added top producer and musical director to his resume as well. He has worked with the biggest stars in contemporary popular music, with playing, production and/or musical director credits with industry superstars such as Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Maroon 5, Jill Scott and Joss Stone. Blackstone played a sold-out Madison Square Garden with Jay-Z and Beyoncé on what was then billed as the hip-hop mogul's farewell tour; with Rihanna on NBC's "Saturday Night Life"; and with Justin Timberlake at the 2014 Grammy Awards ceremony. He is the founder, along with his wife, of BASSic Black Entertainment, which provides live music production, music staffing, artist development and studio production, and whose clients include Eminem, Drake, Kanye West, John Legend, Pharrell Williams, Nicki Minaj, LL Cool J and many others.
- UArts Commencement Program, 2014.
Image Source: University of the Arts Digital Collections
Warren Blair
PMSIA Class of 1947, Advertising Design
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1959.
Warren Blair attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art where he received awards for distinguished achievement in design in 1947 and the Alumni Award in 1959. In addition, he received the Graphic Arts Industry of the Delaware Valley award in 1975 and the Man of the Year Award by the Art Directors' Club of Philadelphia in 1984. He served as president of the Art Directors Club and is a lifetime honorary member. He is a member of the prestigious American Watercolor Society and a lifetime honorary member of the Philadelphia Watercolor Club. He has exhibited widely, and most recently had a solo show in 2006 at The Goggleworks in Reading, Pennsylvania. He is internationally recognized for his 32 years of service as Corporate Design Director of SmithKline Corporation (now Glaxo) headquartered in Philadelphia. Blair has been retired for many years, and now lives at The Highlands of Wyomissing in Reading.
- Silver Star Alumni Award Exhibition
Image Source: University of the Arts Digital Collections
Marc Blitzstein (1905-1964)
PCM Class of 1921
Musician, Composer
Philadelphia Conservatory of Music Gold Medal, 1921.
Marc Blitzstein was born in Philadelphia in 1905 and exhibited talent for the piano at a young age. He studied under Alexander Siloti and attended the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music and the Curtis Institute of Music before continuing his studies overseas. His most notable achievement was his pro-union musical, The Cradle Will Rock, the inaugural performance of which was directed by Orson Welles and shut down by the Works Progress Administration (who funded the piece) before opening night. Blitzstein composed several other musicals and operas, including a translation of Bertolt Brecht's famous operetta, The Threepenny Opera.
Image Source: Wikipedia.org
Julius T. Bloch (1888-1966)
PMSIA Class of 1906, Certificate A, Industrial Drawing
Painter
Prize scholarship, 1906-1907.
Honorable mention, Henry Perry Leland Prize for best work in illustration, 1907.
Honorable mention, Henry Perry Leland prize for best work in illustration, 1908.
Julius T. Bloch was born in Germany and immigrated with his family to Philadelphia at a young age. Bloch attended the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art as well as the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts before serving in World War I. When Bloch returned to Philadelphia he studied at the Barnes Foundation. Bloch was best known for his social realist paintings of working class and African American life in Philadelphia and the United States. His work attracted the attention of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and the Works Project Administration, leading to his work being showcased around the world.
Image Source: Head Study (Self Portrait) c. 1940. Collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Musa Brooker
UArts Class of 1995, BFA, Animation
Director, Animator, Writer, Producer
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 2022.
Musa Brooker (that's "moo-say") is a Los Angeles-based director, animator, writer and producer who has worked for clients such as MTV, McDonalds, Disney, Hasbro, Target, Honda, Netflix, Paypal and Google. When he's not tinkering on projects at his own small studio (Platypus Pictureworks), Brooker can be found at the award-winning animation house Six Point Harness, where he serves as creative director. Along with his degree from University of the Arts, Brooker holds an MFA in Experimental Animation from California Institute of the Arts, where he was a Jacob K. Javits Fellow.
Throughout his career, Brooker has animated, supervised or directed various elves, trolls, cake, cars, cereal, corn dogs, a sponge named Bob, a mystery-solving dog, tumbling leaves, cybernetic fowl, celebrities fighting to the death, a talking tree, a group of Bratz, a town of cougars, a tower of taste buds, robots in disguise, a super-powered sandwich, an aerobic egg, an atomic-powered super lizard, a pickled diva, a former First Lady, a Sith Lord and a Wookie. He has had the pleasure of animating sequences for The Simpsons, Community, the feature film Elf and a standup comedy special by Tig Notaro, in addition to commercials for Sonic Drive-in, Chipotle and Nabisco. He has directed animation sequences for ABC's black-ish, the Netflix Original series Waffles + Mochi, and an upcoming sequence for a returning hit Amazon Original series, as well as directing spots for Ziploc, Play-Doh and Lyft.
Brooker has been a selection committee member for the New York Animation Festival and the Annie Awards for ASIFA-Hollywood. He has written for The Animation Journal, appeared as a panelist at Comic Con, been a presenter at the Society for Animation Studies Annual Conference, and lectured at the Pictoplasma Conference and Festival of Contemporary Character Design and Art. Since 2010, Brooker has also been a faculty member at University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts in the John C. Hench Division of Animation and Digital Arts
- UArts Commencement Program, 2022.
Image Source: University of the Arts Digital Collections
John William Brown
PMSA Class of 1950, Advertising Design
Raymond A. Hollis Award of the W.H. Hoedt Studio for Excellence in Advertising Design, 1950.
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1960.
Samuel Joseph Brown (1907-1994)
PMSIA Class of 1930, Diploma, Art
Painter, Printmaker
Samuel Joseph Brown, Jr. was born in North Carolina and moved to Philadelphia with his family in 1917. After graduating from the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art in 1930, Brown earned his MFA at the University of Pennsylvania. Following his graduation, Brown worked as an artist and sign-painter before becoming the first African American artist selected for the Public Works of Art Program, the first federal employment program for artists. Later, Brown worked for the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project while teaching art in public schools in Camden and Philadelphia. Brown exhibited many works throughout the country with a particular focus on the lives of African Americans in the United States, and his art is held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the National Gallery of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, among many others.
Image Source: Wikipedia.org
Frederick Sands Brunner (1886-1954)
PMSIA Class of 1909, Diploma, Illustration
Illustrator
Certificate A, Industrial Drawing, 1906.
Henry Leland Prize, $25.00, offered by Mrs. John Harrison for the best work in illustration, 1907.
Certificate C, Illustration, 1908.
First honorable mention, Emma S. Crozer prize for best work in drawing, 1908.
First mention, Emma S. Crozer prize for best work in drawing, 1909.
Frederick Sands Brunner was born outside of Philadelphia in Boyertown, PA. After graduating from the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, Brunner studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. Brunner then went on to become a prolific illustrator for magazine articles and covers as well as advertisements. Brunner created illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post, The Ladies Home Journal, Coca Cola and many others. Brunner also created many paintings during World War II to support the war effort.
Image Source: Red Cross Serving the Children of the World, 1942. From collection of American Illustrators Gallery
Tom Butter
PCA Class of 1975, BFA, Printmaking
Sculptor
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1996.
Tom Butter was born in Long Island, New York in 1952. He received a BFA from the Philadelphia College of Art in 1975 and an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri in 1977. He has been living and working in New York City since 1977. He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions nationally and internationally, and his exhibitions have been reviewed in many major publications, including Art in America, Artforum, Arts, The New York Times, and The New Yorker. He received three National Endowment Grants and two New York Foundation for the Arts Grants. His work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the Walker Art Center, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Butter teaches in the MFA Fine Arts Program at Parsons, the New School for Design, and in the Sculpture Department at Brooklyn College. He has also taught at RISD, Tyler, The University of the Arts, Harvard, Yale, Brandeis and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Recently, Butter has been conducting a series of in-depth artist interviews for Whitehot Magazine, an internet publication.
- Silver Star Alumni Award Exhibition
Image Source: S Machine, 2008. From Silver Star Alumni Award Exhibition
Robert Capanna (1952-2018)
PMA Class of 1973, BM, Composition
Composer, Settlement Music School Executive Director
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1987.
Robert Capanna was born in Camden, New Jersey. After attending the Philadelphia Musical Academy he worked as a composer in addition to becoming director of the Kardon-Northeast branch of the Settlement Music School in 1976. In 1982 he became executive director of Settlement and expanded the school throughout Philadelphia until his retirement from the position in 2009.
Image Source: Clem Murray, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Janine Cappello
PCPA Class of 1986, BFA, Modern Dance
Dancer, Educator
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1996.
Dancer Janine Cappello earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts in 1986. During that time, Cappello danced with the Philadelphia Civic Ballet, Ballet South of New Jersey, the New Jersey National Ballet, and Group Motion Multi-Media Dance Theatre. In Philadelphia, she studied with her mentor, Pat Thomas, as well as Ruth Andrien, Alexei Yudenich, Barbara Sandonato, Judith Jamison, and many other leaders in the field. In recognition of her talent, she subsequently earned a full scholarship for study at Peridance and a similar scholarship at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance, both in New York. In 1990, Cappello was one of only two Americans accepted for study at London's Royal Academy of Dancing, where she earned her certification to teach the Academy's internationally-recognized curriculum of dance. She has taught at the Philadelphia Civic Ballet, The Children's Professional School in Connecticut, Villanova University, and Rutger's Camden College of Arts and Sciences. Returning to Philadelphia, she recently discussed career options in dance on a professional panel during Career Day ath the University of the Arts School of Dance, and also completed a choreographic residency at Point Breeze School in Turnersville, New Jersey, and institution unique for its orientation toward serious technique and concert dance, and for not participating in competitions.
Ken Carbone
PCA Class of 1973, Graphic Design
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1989.
Ken Carbone was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the Philadelphia College of Art. He is the Chief Creative Director at the Carbone Smolan Agency and is among the nation's top graphic designers. He has worked with such noted corporations as Herman Miller, Christie's the W Hotel Group, Taubman, W.L. Gore, Morgan Stanley, Nonesuch Records, PBS and Tiffany & Co. In addition, his portfolio includes designs for the Musée du Louvre, MoMA, The Pierpont Morgan Library, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and The High Museum of Art in Atlanta among other culturally revered institutions. Carbone is also the author of The Virtuoso: Face to Face with 40 Extraordinary Talents; he regularly lectures and has been featured in numerous articles internationally. He is presently an adjunct professor at the School of Visual Arts in New York and is a featured blogger for FastCompany.com. In addition to his design career, Carbone has been an avid guitarist for more than 40 years.
- Silver Star Alumni Award Exhibition
Image Source: University of the Arts Digital Collections
Jennifer Childs
UArts Class of 1990, BFA, Theater
Theater Director, Co-Founder of 1812 Productions
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 2003.
Since her graduation from The University of the Arts Theater program only a dozen years ago, Ms. Childs has already achieved considerable recognition for her performances with numerous regional theater companies, including the Arden Theater, the Annenberg Center and the Contemporary American Theater Company. In 1996, she was awarded a Barrymore for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the Wilma Theater's production of Escape from Happiness. She has also received the F. Otto Haas Award for an Emerging Theater Artist, "Best of Philly - Actress" awarded by Philadelphia Magazine, and "Artist to Watch" awarded by Seven Arts Magazine.
Ms. Childs is also the co-founder and co-artistic director of 1812 Productions, a Philadelphia-based theater company dedicated to comedy. She does extensive work with public school outreach programs and has taught at her alma mater, The University of the Arts, as well as the Arden Theater Company, the Walnut Street Theatre and the Freedom Theater.
Image Source: University of the Arts
Donald Chittum (1930-2020)
PCM Class of 1963, DM, Theory
PCM, Class of 1957, MM
PCM Class of 1956, BM
Instrumentalist, Music Theorist
University of the Arts Faculty Emeritus
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 2004.
Dr. Donald R. Chittum received a Doctor for Music degree from the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music in 1963, and has remained connected to his alma mater for fifty-two years. Over that time, he has excelled as both a student and a teacher of music, working with Vincent Persichetti and Boris Koutzen, among others. Professor Chittum has participated in and influenced almost every step of the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music's transformation into the School of Music of The University of the Arts, in the capacity of Chairman of Composition and Theory, Director of Graduate Studies, Director of the School of Music, and esteemed faculty member.
In addition to his work at UArts, Professor Chittum has served as President of the Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association, Eastern Division President of the Music Teachers Association, National Chairman for Theory/Composition of the same Association, President of the Pennsylvania Center for Excellence in Education, and Director of the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Arts, where he is now Director Emeritus. Professor Chittum continues to serve as a consultant to the State department of education and other educational institutions.
Professor Chittum's books and numerous articles on music theory and education have been published widely. His awards include Teacher of the Year from the Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association and the Beitzel Award for outstanding teaching from The University of the Arts.
Known to students and colleagues as "Doc," Professor Chittum is loved and revered by the UArts community.
Image Source: University of the Arts Digital Collections
Claude Clark (1915-2001)
PMSIA Class of 1939, Diploma, Industrial Art
Artist, Educator
Fourth Year student award in painting, 1938.
Claude Clark was born in Georgia in 1915 and moved to Philadelphia with his parents in 1923. In 1935 Clark attended the Philadelphia Museum School at art and following his graduation in 1939 received a fellowship at the Barnes Foundation. From 1939 until 1942 Clark worked with the Works Progress Administration in a graphic arts shop along with Raymond Steth and Dox Thrash. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s Clark's work was in many solo and group shows, including being the second African American to have work displayed at the Barnes Foundation and winning a Carnegie Fellowship in 1950. Clark also began teaching art at Talladega College in Alabama before moving with his family to California, where he received an undergraduate degree from Sacramento State University in 1958 and his MA at University of California at Berkeley in 1962. For the remainder of his career Clark taught at Merritt College in Oakland while continuing to paint and write. Clark's work is held in prestigious collections such as the National Gallery of Art, the National Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian Institution and many others.
Image Source: Artist's Website
Hilary Clark
UArts Class of 1998, BFA, Dance
Faculty Recognition Award, 1998.
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 2012.
Hilary Clark is a dancer, teacher and choreographer, performing in pivotal experimental dance and theater based work, touring nationally and internationally. She received a New York Dance and Performance Award (2008) for her work with Tere O’Connor (2004-2014), luciana achugar (2005- 2015), and Fiona Marcotty. She has also worked with Luke George, Jen Rosenblit, Miguel Gutierrez and the Powerful People, Young Jean Lee Theater Company, Jon Kinzel, Chemeki and Lerner, Larissa Velez Jackson, Keyon Gaskin and Gerard and Kelly. As a 2015 Artist in Residence at collective address (NYC), she explored the role and work of the dancer as well as developing Duet for/with/including Jen. Other creative residencies include Fresh Tracks and Studio Series (Dance Theater Workshop), and Dance and Process (The Kitchen). Her work has been shown at Roulette, Aunts, Danspace Project, The Kitchen, Dixon Place, Mt. Tremper Arts, Bennington College, DTW, and Painted Bride in Philadelphia. In 2013, she was invited by Stockholm University of the Arts, University of Dance and Circus (DOCH) in Stockholm, Sweden, to participate in the academic conference “Dancer as Agent.” Her work as performer and choreographer is documented in Jenn Joy’s book The Choreographic (MIT, 2014). Clark has taught at Chunky Move (Australia), Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, Pacific NorthWest College of Art (Oregon), Velocity Dance Center (Seattle, WA) Northern Vermont University and Movement Research (NYC). She is the owner of Citrine Pilates & Wellness and received a MFA at Bennington College.
Image Source: Royal Academy of Dance
Stanley Clarke
PMA Class of 1971, BM, Bass
Bassist, Composer
Grammy Award, Best Jazz Performance by a Group, "No Mystery", 1975.
BMI Film Music Award, Boyz n the Hood, 1992.
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1993.
Grammy Award, Best Contemporary Jazz Album, "The Stanley Clarke Band", 2010.
Grammy Award, Best Jazz Instrumental Album, "Forever", 2011.
Stanley Clarke was born in Philadelphia and started playing music at a very young age. After studying violin and cello for a short period of time, Clarke began taking lessons in double bass at the Settlement Music School. He played his first jazz show at fifteen years old and eventually studied music at the Philadelphia Musical Academy. After leaving PMA, Clarke moved to New York City where he played bass with jazz greats before eventually forming the jazz fusion group Return to Forever with keyboardist Chick Corea. Return to Forever received many critical accolades as well as several Grammy Award nominations and two wins. Clarke has also had a prolific solo career both as an award winning solo musician as well as a composer for several films and television shows such as Pee Wee's Playhouse (1986), Boyz n the Hood (1991)–for which he won a BMI Film Music Award–Poetic Justice (1993) and The Transporter (2002) among many others.
Image Source: University of the Arts Digital Collection
Edward Colker
PMSA Class of 1949, Diploma
Artist, Printmaker, Academic
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1991.
Ed Colker was born in Philadelphia in 1927 and graduated from the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art and New York University. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a Florsheim Fund grantee, among other distinctions. His prints and portfolio editions, exhibited throughout the United States and internationally, are represented in collections including those of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Harvard, Columbia and Yale universities, among others. A retrospective of his work, along with the catalogue Five Decades in Print, organized by the University of Arizona Museum of Art, toured the United States in 1998 and 1999 with final exhibitions in New York in 2003 and 2004. Most recent appreciations appeared in American Letters & Commentary, 2008, featuring his art in collaboration with poet Michael Anania. He has served as a founding provost of the University of the Arts, provost of the Cooper Union, provost of Pratt Institute and has been a consultant to universities, state boards, the National Endowment for the Arts, the United States Information Agency/Department of State and the State of Israel's Council for Higher Education.
- Silver Star Alumni Award Exhibition
Image Source: University of the Arts Digital Collections
McCauley "Mac" Conner (1913-2019)
PMSIA Class of 1937, Diploma
Commercial Illustrator
Fourth Year Award for Outstanding Work in Illustration and Decoration, 1937.
McCauley "Mac" Conner was born in New Jersey and attended the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art. While still a teenager, Conner had an illustration on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post. During World War II, Conner was drafted and spent the war in New York City, where he illustrated training materials. After the war, Conner remained in New York City creating illustrations for publishing and advertising clients with the studio Neeley Associates that he co-created with William Neeley. While there, Conner created illustrations for Ladies' Home Journal, Cosmopolitan, United Airlines, General Motors, and many others.
Above: Illustration by Mac Conner
Image Source: University of the Arts Digital Collections
Jeannine Cook
UArts Class of 2005, BFA, Communications.
UArts Class of 2014, MFA, Art Education.
Writer, Educator, Bookstore Owner
UArts Alumni Service Award, 2023.
Jeannine Cook was born in Brooklyn, NY. In addition to the BFA and MFA Cook received from the University of the Arts, she also earned an MFA at Drexel University. In 2020 Cook published her first book of short stories and opened Harriett's Bookshop in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia. In 2021 she opened Ida's Bookshop in Collingswood, NJ. Her stated goal for both of these establishments is to highlight and celebrate women authors, artists, and activists.
Image Source: University of the Arts
Evelyn Copelman Spivak
PMSIA Class of 1941, Illustration
Illustrator
Henry Perry Leland Fund Award for Pen and Ink and Black and White Mediums, 1941.
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1980.
Evelyn Copelman Spivak graduated from the Philadelphia College of Art and later served on the Board of the college. She had a long career in children's book illustration, and was a young artist at the Harrison advertising agency when Mr. Harrison literally threw a copy of L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz on her desk and told her to get to work making new drawings. Her now famous illustrations were published in 1944, and in a revised edition in 1956. In 1995, she was made an honorary member of the International Wizard of Oz Club at the group's annual Munchkin Convention. Her illustrations also appeared in the Our New Friends books featuring Dick and Jane and We Were There with Florence Nightingale in the Crimea, along with dozens of other books. After retiring from illustration in the 1960s, she became an interior designer.
- Silver Star Alumni Award Exhibition
Image Source: The Wizard of Oz frontispiece, Bobbs-Merrill Company c. 1956. From Silver Star Alumni Award Exhibition
Alex Da Corte
UArts Class of 2004, BFA, Printmaking
Conceptual Artist
The American Color Print Society Award, 2004.
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 2021.
Alex Da Corte was born in 1980 in Camden, New Jersey and grew up in Venezuela before moving to Philadelphia to attend the University of the Arts. After graduating in 2004, Da Corte received his MFA from Yale in 2010. Since graduating, Da Corte has had many solo and group exhibitions throughout the world and has collaborated with artists such as fellow UArts alumnus Jayson Musson, Dev Hynes, and St. Vincent.
Image Source: Art21
Dan Dailey
PCA Class of 1969, BFA, Fine Art
Sculptor
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 2007.
Dan Dailey was born in Philadelphia in 1947. In 1972 he received a Fullbright Fellowship to Italy where he worked at the Venini Glass Factory on the island of Murano. He has also received felloships from both the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. For 30 years, he has been an independent artist/designer for Cristallierie Daum, France. In 2000, he was honored with the Libensky Award, the fifth Artist Series release, by Chateau Ste. Michelle Vineyards and Winery, and in 2001 he was awarded the Master of the Medium Award by the James Renwick Alliance. Since 1971, he has participated in over 300 group juried and invitational exhibits and has had numerous solo exhibitions. He has completed more than 60 architectural commissions for various institutions and private residences, and his work is represented in more than 50 museum and public collections in the United States, Europe, Australia and Japan. He works primarily in his Kensington, New Hampshire studio with the help of his staff of assistants, and he is a professor at the Massachusetts College of Art where he founded the Glass Department in 1973.
- Silver Star Alumni Award Exhibition
Image Source: University of the Arts Digital Collections
Joe Dante
PCA Class of 1968, BFA, Photography (Motion Picture)
Film Director
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1993.
Joseph James "Joe" Dante was born in 1946 in Morristown, New Jersey. He studied at the Philadelphia College of Art and after graduating, he became a film critic for the Film Bulletin newspaper for which he later became the managing editor. He worked as an editor for such films as Grand Theft Auto before co-directing Hollywood Boulevard with Allan Arkush. His first full feature film, Piranha, was released in 1978. After the release of The Howling in 1981, he was noticed by Steven Spielberg for whom he directed the third segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie in 1983. His first really big hit, Gremlins, which was also produced by Steven Spielberg, was released in 1984. Dante would work with Spielberg again on Innerspace and Gremlins 2. Subsequent releases include Amazon Women on the Moon (1987), Small Soldiers (1998), and Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003). He was creative consultant on the TV series Eerie, Indiana (1991-1992) and directed five episodes; he played himself in the series finale. He also directed the Halloween 2007 episode of CSI: New York. Dante's latest film, the 3-D thriller The Hole, is slated to be released in 2010.
- Silver Star Alumni Award Exhibition
Image Source: The Movie Database
Nicola D'Ascenzo (1871-1954)
Attended PMSIA 1891-1893
Stained Glass Artist
Nicola D'Ascenzo was born in Torricella Peligna, Italy and immigrated with his family to Philadelphia in 1882. He painted murals and attended night classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts before attending the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Art in 1891. After his graduation he taught at PMSIA for a year where he met his wife, Myrtle Dell Goodwin. D'Ascenzo and Goodwin moved to Rome, Italy after their marriage, at which time D'Ascenzo opened D'Ascenzo Studios, which did interior design work for Horn & Hardart automats. In the early 1900s, D'Ascenzo was commissioned for stained glass installations, the craft for which he is most well-known. D'Ascenzo created stained glass windows for the Shakespeare Library and the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.; St. Mark's Episcopal Church and St. Francis de Sales Church in Philadelphia; and Washington Memorial Chapel in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, where D'Ascenzo and his family are buried.
Image Source: Philadelphia Architects and Buildings. D'Ascenzo Studio Archives.
John E. Davis (1947-2023)
PMA Class of 1972, BM, Music Theory
Musician
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1995.
John E. Davis was born in Philadelphia. After enlisting in the US Naval Academy with the Naval Academy Band, Davis attended the Philadelphia Musical Academy and graduated in 1972. Davis went on to be part of MFSB, the collective of studio musicians for Sigma Sound Studios who pioneered "The Sound of Philadelphia" with record producers Gamble and Huff. Davis also formed The John Davis Monster Orchestra which was best known for the disco song "Up Jumped the Devil."
Image Source: soulstrutter.blogspot.com
Osceola Davis-Smith
PMA Class of 1970, BM/BMED, Voice
Soprano
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 2021
Osceola Davis-Smith was born in Camden, New Jersey. After graduating from the Philadelphia Musical Academy, Davis-Smith taught at public schools in Camden as well as Philadelphia. She was then invited to take part in the Metropolitan Opera Studio, a program for young opera artists to tour and perform at schools and festivals. Next, Davis-Smith made her debut at the Gärtnerplatztheater in Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" as Rosina. Following rave reviews in Europe, Davis-Smith became the first African-American Coloratura to perform the role of Queen of the Night in "The Magic Flute" on the Metropolitan Opera's stage.
Image Source: Watchfire Music
Emil DeJohn
PMCA Class of 1959
Fashion Designer
Philadelphia Fashion Week Charlie Scott Award for Excellence, 2011.
Emil DeJohn was born in Philadelphia. He studied art from a young age and eventually studied fashion at the Philadelphia Museum College of Art. After graduation, DeJohn traveled to New York City, where he worked as a designer for stars like Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, and Nancy Reagan's '"Just Say No" campaign. He work was sold at Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, and was frequently featured in Vogue, The New York Times and other national publications. In 1976, DeJohn began teaching fashion design at Moore College of Art & Design, Drexel University, and the Art Institute of Philadelphia.
Image Source: Chestnut Hill Local
Boris Drucker
PMSIA Class of 1942, Advertising Design
Cartoonist
UArts Silver Star Alumni Award, 1961.
Boris Drucker was born in Philadelphia, and graduated from the Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial Arts. He served in the Army during World War II, and after his discharge, interviewed at an advertising agency in Philadelphia where an executive advised him he was a cartoonist, not a graphic designer. His prolific career included published work in the Saturday Evening Post, Playboy, Family Circle and The New Yorker, as well as advertising campaigns for many corporate clients such as Bell Telephone and Philadelphia Savings Bank. In addition to cartooning, Drucker taught advertising and commercial art at his alma mater in the 1960s. He contributed to The New Yorker for three decades beginning in 1966, and eventually opened a studio in New York. His Archive, including hundreds of published works and approximately 12,000 rough drawings, is housed at Syracuse University's Special Collections Resource Center.
- Silver Star Alumni Award Exhibition
Image Source: "So far so good. Let's hope we win." 1988. From Silver Star Alumni Award Exhibition
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