Alumni

Visual Arts graduates often take professional positions in both the arts and production communities, and many go on to graduate school. Institutions and agencies that employ UMBC Visual Arts alumni include:

  • School of the Art Institute of Chicago
  • Pratt Institute
  • The Smithsonian Institution
  • Pixar Animation Studios
  • Rockstar Games
  • Baltimore Ravens
  • American Visionary Art Museum

With more than 3,600 alumni throughout the United States, the Department of Visual Arts has been a national center for learning and discovery for more than a quarter century.

To strengthen this new tradition, you can support the Visual Arts at UMBC by designating your tax-deductible contribution to the Department of Visual Arts.

Your contributions help us to:

  • Enhance our Visiting Artist Lecture Series
  • Offer scholarships
  • Upgrade essential hardware and software
  • Welcome events for our incoming students
  • Art bus trips for students to visit museums and artist studios in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
  • Awards for our most dedicated and creative sophomores, juniors, and seniors
  • Entry fees for project submissions to art competitions and art exhibitions

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. SUPPORT VISUAL ARTS AT UMBC.

Alumni Achievements

Adam J. Kurtz Alumni Book Release
1 Page at a Time: A Daily Creative Companion
http://www.adamjkurtz.com/book

Alumna A. Moon IMDA ’99 Wins Fulbright
Fulbright Scholar Research Award to Turkey
http://www.iie.org/en/Fulbright/

Alumna Angel Kristi’s (’05) Film Project
Cinema Arts Alumna Angel Kristi Directs a New Movie
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/seed-spark-fundraising-campaign-for-young-female-coming-of-age-film-charlotte

Amy Berbert Photo/Graphic Design ’17 Documentary Award
Campus Movie Fest
http://campusmoviefest.com/movies/58236-growing-up-in-the-ghetto 

Amy Berbert Photo/Graphic Design ’17 on NPR
http://www.npr.org/2017/07/13/536452552/stains-on-the-sidewalk-photographer-remembers-year-of-murders-in-baltimore

Andy Hsu & Sean Lake Win Tellys
Andy Hsu & Sean Lake Win Multiple Tellys
http://www.tellyawards.com/

Art History Alums
Art History Alums Accomplishments

BMA Selects Baltimore Artists Rahne Alexander & Jaimes Mayhew for one-year Commons Collaboration
10 Art Museum Dr, Baltimore, MD 21218
http://www.enginesofthefuture.com/

Brian Dannelly Directs HBO Film
’97 Cinematic Arts Alumnus to direct a new HBO comedy
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118030600

Carmelo Torres Receives Fellowship
Visual Arts BA (’10) Receives WW-RBF Fellowship
http://www.woodrow.org/teaching%2Dfellowships/wwrbf/

City Paper Top 10 Art Shows
Faculty and Grads in Top Ten Baltimore Art Shows of 2012
http://citypaper.com/news/2012-top-ten-art-shows-1.1414976?

Cyndi Amerman Photo Alumna
Getty Images Favorite Images for 2016
http://stories.gettyimages.com/getty-images-creative-team-picks-their-favorite-images-from-2016/

Dean Alexander ’88
Baltimore Sun: Take 10 Feature on Fashion Photographer Dean Alexander
http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/fashion-style/bs-lt-take-10-dean-alexander-20160721-story.html

Diana Jeon, IMDA ’03
(IMDA ’03) prints and videos on exhibit
http://www.bonitamuseum.org/

Diana Nicholette Jeon IMDA ’06
The Photography Gala Awards
https://www.thegalaawards.com/11th-jmca-digital-manipulation-collage

Dr. Tiffany Holmes M.F.A. ’99
Outstanding Alumna of the Year — Visual and Performing Arts

Elena DeBold, IMDA MFA ’16, Directed Rock Video
Kristina by Natural Velvet

Eric Smallwood & Linda Dusman in Baltimore Sun
Interview: Octava Project Maryland Innovation Initiative Grant
http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/arts/artsmash/bs-ae-octava-20150619-story.html#page=1

Eric Smallwood Invited to ISEA 2015
Octava Project Presentation at ISEA 2015
http://isea2015.org/

Feature Story About UMBC Gaming
Bmore online magazine interviews UMBC faculty
http://www.bmoremedia.com/features/umbcgamingprogram042611.aspx

Franc Nunoo-Quarcoo Honorable Mention
Franc Nunoo-Quarcoo and VA Alumna Emily Wilson Design
http://www.artbook.com/9781890761127.html

Gary Kachadourian Tulsa Art Fellowship
http://www.tulsaartistfellowship.org/portfolio-posts/gary-kachadourian/

Guenet Abraham and Kelley Bell win Publications Design Competition
2012 AAM Museum Publications Design Competition
http://www.aam-us.org/getinvolved/nominate/pubcomp.cfm

Hadi Gharabaghi Awarded Scholarship
Art History & Theory ’06
Received Prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Graduate Scholarship

Hadieh Shafie IMDA ’04: Outstanding Alumna
http://umbcalumni.wordpress.com/2014/10/01/outstanding-alumna-hadieh-shafie-04/?socialpromo

Hadieh Shafie Wins Baker Award
IMDA ’04 Alumna
http://www.umbc.edu/research/photolink_Hadieh_Shafie.html

 Hadieh Shafie Wins Bader Award
http://www.baderfund.org/grantees_alpha/shafie_12005.htm 

Ivy Parsons IMDA ’05, Baltimore Community Fellow

Baltimore Community Fellowship from Open Society Institute

Jaimes Mayhew IMDA ’11 Receives Fulbright Award
9 Month Iceland Social Art Project
http://enginesofthefuture.com/

Jaimes Mayhew & Rahne Alexander Awarded Fellowship 

 IMDA alumnus, Johns Hopkins Film Incubator

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2016/04/26/johns-hopkins-university-launches-afilm-incubator.html

Josh Sinn Photo ’13
Secrets Lingering in the Shadows of Baltimore
http://www.featureshoot.com/2017/01/secrets-lingering-shadows-baltimore/

Jovan James, CA Alumni ’12 Wins Film Award
Best Narrative Short at Outfest Los Angeles Film Festival

Maryland State Arts Council Announces Individual Artist Award Recipients
More than $200,000 in Fellowships awarded to 96 Outstanding Maryland artists

Marian Glebes, IMDA ’09
RUBYS 2015 Artist Grantee
http://www.baltimoreculture.org/programs/grants-and-awards/rubys-artist-project-grants/rubys-2015-literary-and-visual-arts-grantees

Mina Cheon MFA ’02 Publishes Book
Mina Cheon, IMDA Graduate Alumna (M.F.A. ’02) earned her PhD and published a new book, SHAMANISM + CYBERSPACE (2009)
http://www.minacheon.com/book.html

Monica Gallagher ’01
Vis Arts alumna Monica Gallagher on National Public Radio
http://www.npr.org/2016/07/27/485864440/minicomics-may-be-small-but-they-pack-big-thrills

Monica Gallagher AIM ’01
Monica Gallagher (AIM ’01) in UMBC Magazine
http://www.umbc.edu/magazine/winter12/monicagallagher.html

Monica Gallagher Alumna Interview
Monica Gallagher Interviewed by thenoobnews.com
eatyourlipstick.com

MSAC Artist Awards
MSAC Individual Artist Awards given to Faculty and Alumni
http://www.msac.org/iaa2012

Nathan Duncan FV/Photo ’06
Alumnus edited award-winning film
http://www.fourbirdspictures.com/ocean/athingasbigastheocean.htm

New Video Channel on Vimeo
UMBC Visual Arts channel
https://vimeo.com/umbcvarts

Nick Prevas ’03 New Position with Ravens
Design Manager for Baltimore Ravens

Parastoo Aslanbeik MFA Thesis Award
https://www.parastooaslanbeik.com/

Phil Davis IMDA ’07 Music Video
Animated Music Video for The Spinto Band
http://www.npr.org/blogs/allsongs/2012/05/15/152731324/spinto-band-the-living-things-adventures-in-the-primordial-ooze

Robert Pawloski Screenplay
Screenplay ‘Bronze’ Named Finalist in Screenwriting Competition
http://www.sunscreenfilmfestival.com/entry/screenplay-contest-finalists-announced.html

Rolando Vargas IMDA ’11 at Documentary Festival
Kasseler Dokfest
Kasseler, Germany
http://www.filmladen.de/dokfest/program-2011/monitoring-4/exhibition/intro/?lang=en

Shannon Young (IMDA ’08) Receives PhD Scholarship
PhD Research Scholarship at La Trobe University, Australia
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/

Shelly Kuzniarek ’99 Award by Print Magazine
Top 10 Finest Letterpress Studios In The World
http://frenchpressonline.com/

Steven Fischer ’98 VPAF
Steven Fischer, Filmmaker

Soundheim Semi-finalists
http://artscape.org/visual-arts/visual-arts-detail/16

Trawick Prize Finalists Cazabon and Hughes
http://www.bethesda.org/bethesda/finalists

Ugo Ubgor Receives Ph.D.
Graphic Design ’98 Received a PH.D. from the
Vienna University of Technology

Victor Torres IMDA MFA Directs Gallery
LIGHTHOLE
http://bmoreart.com/2016/02/modern-mythologies.html

Vincent Carney ’08 Alum
Photography Alum Featured in CMYK Design Magazine
http://www.cmykmag.com/site.cfm?page_id=92§_id=22&entry=325&type=2&issue=43

Visual Arts Alumni & IRC Staff at ISEA2008 Singapore
This year the 14th International Symposium on Electronic Art was held in Singapore from July 15 – August 3, 2008. UMBC was well represented by Visual Arts alumni and a former IRC staff member.
http://www.isea2008singapore.org/

2008 Alums Produced HD Videos For Our Website

The Visual Arts website has new video interviews of our faculty and staff, in order to provide viewers a more personal insight of the department. The videos are available by going to the Faculty/Staff section and clicking on each person’s name to view their bio and video.

Thomas Desimon and Sam Janesko, both UMBC Visual Arts graduates of 2008 with a Film/Video concentration, produced the first 17 faculty video portraits in the Spring of 2008 under the supervision of Associate Professor Vin Grabill. Sam and Thomas were enrolled in the department’s upper-level High Definition video course, and all portraits were shot and edited in HD video. This new technology produces digital videos which have superior visual clarity and resolution.

Thomas and Sam are continuing their interest in media production following graduation. Thomas reports, My interest in video is to treat it like a work of graphic design to yield non-narrative, abstract textures. The application of such works, I believe, is deeply embedded in pop culture and advertisements, and is now emerging in a new art form, VJing; the act of live video editing to the harmony and rhythm of music. My most immediate goals in this field are to build a repertoire of video textures and continue to learn the necessary software.

Sam states I am currently freelancing in the video field and as of right now, have the intention of strengthening and progressing my business shooting music videos, weddings, events, helping film crews, and editing. I try to stay open to all roads as I continue to expand the other side of my video experience, that being my personal time-based art projects to show at film festivals.

Grad and Undergrad Alums Win Awards at Rosebud
2008 Rosebud Awards go to Renee Shaw (M.F.A. 2005)
and Scott Mueller (B.A. 1999) with Eric Cheevers .
Steven Fischer (B.A. 1998) won Best of Show.
http://www.rosebudact.org/rose4.html 

’07 IMDA MFA Alumnus: Exceptional Graduate
Brendan Howell, IMDA ’07