Arts Institute honors outstanding campus artists

Artists drawn from the ranks of UW–Madison faculty, along with a graduate student, will be honored with awards coordinated by the UW–Madison Arts Institute.

A committee of the Arts Institute chose the winners. They will be recognized at a reception in April. The winners are:

• Sonya Clark, assistant professor of environment textiles and design, Edna Weichers Arts in Wisconsin Award.
• Sara Freeman, Ph.D. candidate in theatre and drama, Lyman S.V. Johnson and Ellen MacKechnie Judson Student Award in the Creative Arts.
• Phil Hamilton, professor of art, Gerald A. Bartell Award in the Arts.
• Douglas Hill, professor of music, Emily Mead Baldwin Bell-Bascom Professorship in the Creative Arts.
• Uri Vardi, associate professor of music, Creative Arts Award.

Here is some background on each award winner.

Sonya Clark
Clark draws upon her African-American heritage to produce textile pieces such as “Whimsy Curl,’ a headdress on display recently as part of the Gallery of Design’s “State of the Art” show. Other Clark fiber sculptures exploring the relationship between hairstyling, scarification and textile art will be on view in her “Heads and Tales” exhibition at the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters through Tuesday, March 30.

In addition to her two most recent shows in Madison, Clark has exhibited her work in such venues as the Montreal Museum of Decorative Art, the Newark Museum, the Boise Art Museum, the University of California-Los Angeles’ Fowler Museum, the Natal Society of the Arts in Durban, South Africa and more. She plans to use her Weichers Award to create “The Beaded Blessings Project,” a collaborative, community-centered work based on the West African tradition of making protective amulets. When finished, the new piece will travel in a variety of configurations throughout Wisconsin.

Sara Freeman
Noted as an researcher and interpreter of drama, Freeman has worked as dramaturge on such University Theatre productions as last semester’s Brecht one-acts and “Fefu and Her Friends.” As a fine arts critics, she also is a regular contributor to Isthmus. At the moment, she is getting ready to direct at Brave Hearts Theatre in May. She says she will use her Johnson-Judson Award to travel to England as part of her dissertation research on British theater troupes.

Phil Hamilton
A champion of the role art plays in public life, Hamilton’s original designs are scattered far and wide across Dane County. They can be found in such public areas such as the county’s executive conference room and the City-County Building, which displays his original banners every summer — a tradition he helped establish more than 20 years ago.

The Dane County Regional Airport has decorated its terminal with Hamilton’s poster series, “Everybody’s Ethnic,” celebrating our rich and varied cultural heritage. State of Wisconsin telephone directory covers also have sported his designs. Hamilton’s instructional children’s books on graphic arts are part of the curriculum in many public schools.

As one of the creators of the Wisconsin Foundation for the Arts’ Governor’s Award in 1980, Hamilton still serves as a consultant to the program. Hamilton has been a member of the UW–Madison arts faculty since 1964. That same year, he and several colleagues in the art department established the department’s graphic design sequence. Today, the program trains about 200 graduate and undergraduate students every year. Currently, Hamilton is working on a millennium calendar for the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission and a millennium sketchbook mixing ink jet and letterpress printing techniques.

Douglas Hill
Standing squarely at the musical intersection of composition and education, Hill’s works have been performed throughout the world. Venues include CBS’s “Sunday Morning,” the United Nations and the White House.

His work often reflects Wisconsin and American history: Examples include the folk song-inspired “Americana Variations for Four Horns,” and “If I Were the Wind,” based on essays by Wisconsin conservationist Aldo Leopold. Hill composed the pieces for the state’s sesquicentennial celebration last year.

“A Place for Hawks” and “Homage to Thoreau” pay musical respects to Sauk City writer August Derleth and helped the UW–Madison School of Music commemorate its first 100 years.

Other musical paths have pointed Hill in the direction of the American West and its Indian tribes. And in 1981, Hill brought the American scene set to music to the People’s Republic of China. He was part of the first Western delegation to teach and perform in Peking and Shanghai.

A member of the School of Music’s Wisconsin Brass Quintet, Hill has recorded both solo and with other artists, and plans to use his Baldwin Bell-Bascom Award to produce two compact discs of his compositions.

Uri Vardi
Before joining the School of Music in 1990, Vardi was principal cellist of the Israel Sinfonietta, assistant principal cellist of the Israel Chamber Orchestra, and taught at the Jerusalem Music Center and the Israel Conservatory of Music. A son of Holocaust survivors, Vardi spent much of his childhood on a kibbutz in Israel, and today his concerts often feature Jewish and Israeli music.

At UW–Madison, Vardi teaches about 18 students every semester. In recent years he has researched the relationship between movement and the production of sound. These explorations led him to the Feldenkrais Method, an internationally recognized technique which emphasizes awareness of minute details of movement. Vardi says ever performing artist can benefit from the Feldenkrais Method. He plans to use his Creative Arts Award to undertake an intensive four-year Feldenkrais training program. Afterwards, he plans to develop an interdisciplinary course in movement and body awareness for UW–Madison performing arts students.