The Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery was honored recently during a celebration of the 90th birthday of the renowned, late Ecuadorian artist Oswaldo Guayasamín at the Capilla del Hombre (Chapel of Man) in Quito, Ecuador. Given in recognition of Vanderbilt’s contributions to the legacy of Guayasamín that culminated in the national traveling exhibition Of Rage and Redemption: The Art of Oswaldo Guayasamín, Joseph Mella, director of the gallery, received a gift of an original serigraph by the artist for the Vanderbilt Fine Arts Collection.
The Blair School of Music placed six winners at the regional National Association of Teachers of Singing competition held at the University of Louisville. Winners included: Tom Mulder, first place, freshman men; Zachary Monroe, second place, freshman men; Nathaniel Chism, third place, freshman men; Natalie Taylor, first place, freshman women; Kathryn Heaton, second place, sophomore women; and Preston Orr, first place, junior men.
Kim Spurlock, BA’92, was the first-prize winner of the Charles and Lucille King Family Foundation Awards for Excellence in Filmmaking at New York University’s 67th annual First Run Film Festival, which premiers the work of some of the country’s top student films from the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at the Tisch School of the Arts. She won a prize of $10,000 for her entry Down in Number 5. In addition, she won the Wasserman Award for best directing.
This year’s festival screened more than 130 films, videos, and multimedia and animation projects. Spurlock, who recently completed her master of fine arts degree in film production, joins past recipients Spike Lee, Ang Lee and Nancy Savoca, among many others. A panel of industry professionals selected the winning films from a group of 14 finalists.
Judy Klass, lecturer in English, received a 2009 Edgar Award nomination for her play Cell. The play, about the investigation of the death of a crippled man being held by his brother in a locked room, was one of three nominees for best play in the awards named for writer Edgar Allen Poe. Cell was produced last summer at the International Mystery Writers Festival in Owensboro, Ky., and will be published by the Samuel French publishing company.