UCF School of Visual Arts and Design

🎨 Welcome back, UCF School of Visual Arts & Design Knights! 🖌️

We’re thrilled to embark on another creative and inspiring year with all of you. Whether you’re returning to campus or joining us online, we can’t wait to see the incredible art, designs, and ideas you’ll bring to life this year. Let’s make this semester one to remember!

Graduating Kenyan Artist Uses Work to Advocate for Change Multidisciplinary artist Njeri Kinuthia is making waves with her empowering feminist art and community activism.

NOW ON YOUTUBE! Inspired by Deaf Republic, Ilya Kaminsky’s 2019 book of poems, ✨Dr. Keri Watson, Associate Professor of Art History and Assistant Director of the School of Visual Arts & Design✨ at University of Central Florida examines how artists with disabilities have explored war and how art has participated in protesting global conflict. 👇🏾

Watch video: https://youtu.be/zNw1TZqZDAY?si=puQqDm1jswzoXm8p

Delve into works from Rollins Museum of Art’s permanent collection by artists such as:
🎨 Shawn Theodore
🎨 Margaret Bourke-White
🎨Yinka Shonibare
🎨Yoan Capote

View the 2024 ❄️ Winter Season exhibition that inspired this lecture, Silent Protest: Perspectives on War and Disability, co-curated by Dr. Watson and RMA’s Dr. Gisela Carbonell.
https://matterport.com/discover/space/pqzxRzt2npC

This program was funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts

PHOTOS: Reflecting on UCF Celebrates the Arts 2024 A look back on the 10th annual UCF Celebrates the Arts, which included concerts, lectures, interactive visual art displays, kid-friendly events and more.

UCF Art Graduates to Make a Difference Through FPEP Program Utilizing art and their life experiences with incarceration, Alexander Alvarez ’24MFA and Jim Wysolmierski ’24MFA are looking to inspire incarcerated students.

"One of the ways the team helps build confidence is through its Gamified Training Program which is made possible by some of the brilliant minds and professors at UCF’s School of Visual Arts and Design and the School of Communication and Media."

Disney Grants Fund Life-Changing Tech in Florida - Disney in Florida Disney grants for innovative technology help support and empower nonprofits in the state of Florida. Learn about these efforts here.

UCF-based company Limbitless Solutions continues pushing limits through its latest endeavor: generative artificial intelligence. ✨

Founded in 2014, Limbitless has outfitted over fifty "Bionic Kids" with the help of more than 50 students from across various majors including animation, art and graphic design. Generative artificial intelligence will help to streamline this work even further.

✨ "When our research team is thinking about what the next arm is going to look like, or what will work and won't work, AI helps speed that up a little bit so we don't have to go in, 3D model something, paint it, look at it physically and then go 'Oops, we're not using that,'" adds Limbitless Solutions creative director and School of Visual Arts and Design Professor Matt Dombrowski.✨

Currently, Limbitless only works with Arnold Palmer Hospital to give children and teens these arms as part of clinical trials. However, their goal is to get FDA approval so anyone with a prescription can go to Limbitless for the custom bionic arm of their dreams.

Find the full story. ➡️ http://tinyurl.com/32x4z4ar

A special shoutout to our SVAD faculty honored at the Faculty Authors' Celebrations: Ilenia Colón Mendoza, Keri Watson and Margaret Ann Zaho! Read the full list ⬇️

53 Faculty Scholars Honored at 4th Biennial Faculty Authors’ Celebration | University of Central Florida News This year’s celebration recognized faculty from across eight colleges, the library and the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning.

Congratulations to Character Animation alum Trey Buongiorno ’13!!

Award-winning Alumni 🏆 ⚔️✨

UCF Animation Alum Trey Buongiorno has just won a Children’s and Family Emmy award for Best Animated Special for Moon Girl Landing, a special episode of Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, which he co-directed alongside Christine Liu, director of Disney TV Animation.

Buongiorno, who studied the character animation track for his bachelor’s degree program, urges students to explore their creative outlets and maintain curiosity beyond graduation, underlining the perpetual learning essential in the ever-evolving animation industry.

✨ “There’s still so much to learn, even ten years into this business. You should be prepared to continue learning even after you leave college to continue honing your craft,” Buongiorno says. ✨

See Buongiorno’s contributions in Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur on Disney+ now and his work as a storyboard artist in the theatrical release of Kung Fu Panda 4 on March 8.

Read the full star-studded article here ➡️ http://tinyurl.com/244kvrtc

Special shoutout to our SVAD faculty involved with these winning projects! Keri Watson, assistant director of SVAD and associate professor of art history and Matt Dombrowski ’05 ’08MFA, assistant director of SVAD and associate professor of emerging media!

2 Teams Win 2023 Pabst Steinmetz Foundation Arts and Wellness Innovation Awards for Projects to Unlock Potential | University of Central Florida News This year’s winning projects focused on collaboration within diverse communities through the intersection of arts and wellness.

We're Hiring! We have three positions left that we're hiring for. The graphic design position closes tonight! 📣

More info & to apply: https://svad.cah.ucf.edu/

SVAD alumni Mär Martinez will be featured in an upcoming dual exhibition, QUARTER LIFE/ CRISIS!, alongside fellow artist Leah Sandler. Attend the free opening reception on January 27th, 6-9pm at the Casselberry Sculpture House.

Find more announcements and news in our seasonal segment: Art Bytes, celebrating the accomplishments of our SVAD students, alumni, and faculty.��

Art Bytes: Winter 2023 - CAH News SVAD celebrates the achievements of faculty, alumni and students. Join us in recognizing them for their efforts within the art field this winter.

SVAD lecturer and alumni Leeann Rae has been accepted into 3 art shows in 2024 🎉

The shows include:

Art Fields, Lake City, SC, April 26th - May 4th

Other-Worldly Drawing Competition, Foster Art Gallery, Westminster College, New Wilmington, PA, January 17th – February 18th

The New South 5, Kai Lin Art, Atlanta, GA, January 19th - March 1st
�Find more announcements and news in our seasonal segment: Art Bytes, celebrating the accomplishments of our SVAD students, alumni, and faculty.��

Art Bytes: Winter 2023 - CAH News SVAD celebrates the achievements of faculty, alumni and students. Join us in recognizing them for their efforts within the art field this winter.

'Type Out Loud' printed-arts exhibition opens at UCF Art Gallery Print's not dead — check out this history of the broadside

✨ We're Hiring! ✨

‼️ The "Assistant Professor, Drawing" job posting closes today (Jan. 4th): https://ucf.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/careers/job/Orlando-FL-Main-Campus/Assistant-Professor--Drawing_R106513

See more positions we're hiring for, here: https://svad.cah.ucf.edu/

School of Visual Arts and Design - School of Visual Arts and Design Skip to Section Pursue your passion Innovator. Change-maker. Collaborator. Problem-solver. Creator of emotion. Whatever you aspire to be, SVAD offers more than twenty programs and specializations in visual arts to help you get there. Where will you begin? Animation Architecture Art History Drawing &...

SVAD Associate Professor and Limbitless Solutions Creative Director Matt Dombrowski was featured in a recent WMFE article on embracing AI technology to customize prosthetic arms for children with limb differences. 🦾

"Limbitless started on what was, unfairly, called a disruptive technology with 3D printing," Dombrowski said. "Everyone thought that was scary. And so seeing what we can do with the next disruptive technology, like AI, gives us a lot of hope. It gives us a lot of creative fuel for the future."

Read the full story below ⬇️

'Arm Identity'? UCF company using 'AI' to personalize prosthetics The UCF research company, Limbitless Solutions, is embracing generative AI to allow kids to personalize their own prosthetics, adding personal identity to their arms.

SVAD alumni Ingrid Aguero was featured in Pegasus Magazine’s Fall 2023 edition for her work as environment director for the Electronic Arts (EA) SPORTS Madden NFL Franchise.

Read the full story here: https://www.ucf.edu/pegasus/behind-the-screens/

Find more announcements and news in our seasonal segment: Art Bytes, celebrating the accomplishments of our SVAD students, alumni, and faculty.

https://news.cah.ucf.edu/news/art-bytes-winter-2023/

UCF, FIEA Alum's Journey to EA SPORTS Leader How traditional artist and UCF alum Ingrid Aguero ’07 ’08MS became an accomplished creator and environment director for EA SPORTS.

UCF alumni Sara Parsons ’23 recently graduated with a double major, persevering through difficult medical challenges to finish her UCF journey with two bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Studio Art.

Read more about Sara’s journey to graduation at the link below ⬇️

UCF Double Major Shows Resilience, Dedication During Academic Career | University of Central Florida News Recent graduate Sara Parsons ’23 has made an impact in and out of the classroom while overcoming health challenges in the process.

UCF celebrates the life, career and legacy of sculptor Richard Hunt. As the first African-American artist to receive a solo retrospective at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, he was a prolific artist whose art transformed public spaces – including our campus. Thanks to a generous gift from the Kottemann family, generations of UCF students will be inspired by Hunt’s remarkable prints and sculptures.

“Sculpture is not a self-declaration but a voice of and for my people — overall, a rich fabric; under all, the dynamism of the African American people.” – Richard Hunt

Pictured: Artist Richard Hunt (1935-2023) with Fishcurve Hybrid, part of the UCF Public Art Collection.