| UVA Arts

Film Festival Highlights: Martha Plimpton, ‘Dopesick,’ and Wes Anderson’s Latest

"There is something truly special about a film festival environment, and about our festival, in particular, that goes beyond the films we show. It is about the community that is created through the sharing and celebration of this remarkable art form, and the chance to come together and experience such a diverse array of films on a wide variety of topics that run the gamut of our emotions and our experiences in the world today.”

https://news.virginia.edu/content/film-festival-highlights-martha-plimpton-dopesick-and-wes-andersons-latest

Story Drama

UVA Drama to Return to Theatres with a Diverse and Engaging 2021-2022 Season Examining Existential Challenges in Our Lives and for Our Shared Planet

October 1, 2021

Alumna Caky Winsett began writing her play, “Watch Me,” in 2019 when she was an undergraduate at UVA. (Contributed photo)

Watch Me’: How An Alumna’s New Play Sprouted From a Popular Media Studies Class

With a father hailing from a family of actors, Caky Winsett was exposed to the theater at a very young age. Yet she never had any interest in becoming an actor herself. However, as Winsett grew older, she realized that she had a love for all of the other elements of theater. That love then turned into a full-on passion at the University of Virginia.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/watch-me-how-alumnas-new-play-sprouted-popular-media-studies-class

After getting her master’s in architectural history at UVA, Niya Bates worked at Monticello full-time until last year and is now pursuing a Ph.D. (Photo courtesy of Thomas Jefferson Foundation)

Many Stories to Tell: Alumna Niya Bates Shares African American History and Culture

Niya Bates, a University of Virginia alumna who has worked at Monticello for several years, appeared on the recent Netflix series, “High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America,” to tell a story in episode three.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/many-stories-tell-alumna-niya-bates-shares-african-american-history-and-culture

With his sixth novel, “The Wrong End of the Telescope,” about to be released, the author, who is Lebanese American and was born in Jordan, brings his varied experience to the Grounds. (Photo by Dan Addison, University Communications)

Kapnick Visiting Writer Rabih Alameddine Brings International Perspective to Grounds

Author Rabih Alameddine has spent time “floating” between professions and continents since college. Concentrating on writing since his mid-30s, he is doing what he feels he is supposed to be doing, Alameddine said recently in an email.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/kapnick-visiting-writer-rabih-alameddine-brings-international-perspective-grounds

Nursing student Davon Okoro launched his fashion company, Guérison Global, during the pandemic. (Photos by Dan Addison, University Communications)

Nursing Student Davon Okoro Doubles as Fashion Designer

When University of Virginia School of Nursing student Davon Okoro recalls his first foray into fashion, he smells bleach. As a 16-year-old, he’d cut T-shirts in half and stitch the mismatches together at a vertical seam, experiment making distress marks and holes, and test the effects of applying bleach with a paintbrush or spray bottle to further alter his fabric canvasses.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/nursing-student-davon-okoro-doubles-fashion-designer

The architectural historians researching the sites listed in “The Negro Traveler’s Green Book” would like to raise awareness and therefore protect them. (Collage by Alex Angelich, University Communications)

Three UVA Alums Mapping the Green Books’ Legacy

Susan Hellman, Anne Bruder, and Catherine Zipf first met in UVA’s School of Architecture when they were pursuing master’s degrees in architectural history, graduating in 1996 or ’97. They kept in touch professionally and started exploring Green Book locations soon after they were digitized.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/three-uva-alums-mapping-green-books-legacy

Actor Dev Patel plays a young Gawain in the new David Lowery film, “The Green Knight.” (Photo courtesy of A24)

New Film Retells an Old Story From King Arthur’s Court

A trio of literary scholars at the University of Virginia are among those reacting to a new film dramatizing a British tale of King Arthur’s court, held for a year due to the pandemic and now in theaters. “The Green Knight,” released this summer, is based on “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” an English poem that has survived more than seven centuries.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/new-film-retells-old-story-king-arthurs-court

With seats suddenly empty, fine arts faculty and students at UVA had to find new ways to connect. (Photo by Sanjay Suchak, University Communications)

Arts Education in a Post-Pandemic World

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, University of Virginia faculty scrambled to find ways to deliver a traditional college education online. But as faculty in UVA’s College of Arts & Sciences worked to educate their students despite the obstacles presented by COVID-19, they found themselves creating the foundation for changes to the practice of art education – changes that may make it just a little better than it was before.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/arts-education-post-pandemic-world

Almost nothing about graduating in 2020 was normal, but this graduate did manage to don a cap and gown while watching the virtual commencement celebration on the Lawn. (Photo by Sanjay Suchak, University Communications)

Class of 2020’s Virtual Commencement Receives Emmy Nomination

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced the University of Virginia to send students home and later to cancel in-person Final Exercises last year, staff across the University began searching for new ways to safely celebrate the Class of 2020 and honor its accomplishments.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/class-2020s-virtual-commencement-receives-emmy-nomination

Subscribe to