College of Visual Arts and Design
- CVAD Alum Carl Finch heads the two-time Grammy winning band, Brave Combo.
Did you know?
About CVAD
Art has been a vital part of UNT since it was first taught in 1894, just four years after the institution was founded. Dr. Cora Stafford, an imaginative leader who served on the faculty and as director for four decades before retiring in 1964, played a major role in guiding the art program to the reputation it maintains today. Determined to keep the program aligned with new ideas, she hired young innovators on the faculty. These included James Prestini and Gyorgy Kepes, two early proponents, in the United States, of the Bauhaus system which endeavored to relate a new design approach to the world of technology and craft. Also on the faculty were Carlos Merida, the internationally known Guatemalan painter and muralist, as well as Octavio Medellin, the celebrated Mexican sculptor and painter. Students included Ray Gough, who became a noted interior designer and UNT professor, and O'Neil Ford, who became one of Texas' most famous architects.
Masters degrees were initiated in the 1930s and the first MS degree in art was awarded in 1937 to Ms. Ann Bookman Williams, a long-time art teacher in the campus demonstration school. UNT's modern art program has been one of continual growth. After World War II, professional pograms in advertising art, fashion design and interior design supplemented traditional studio and art education programs. Following an extensive study of the arts in Texas by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board in the 1960s, North Texas was designated as a major visual arts program in the State and was approved to offer the BFA, MFA, and Ph.D. degrees beginning in 1971. With the Southwest's demographic population shift in the late 1970's and early 1980's, enrollment increased dramatically. At the same time, the department's comprehensive art programs were being recognized for their quality.
Our Alumni
Painter wants viewers to "want to laugh while taking a cold shower"
Born in Houston, Howard Sherman completed his MFA at the University of North Texas. Since graduating, Sherman has enjoyed critical successes, sold-out and near sold-out gallery shows. Mr. Sherman is two-time finalist for the highly coveted Hunting Prize; one of a very few emerging artists to make the final round of consideration amongst veteran Texas talent. He is a finalist for a slot in the ArtPace 2009 Residency program. Sherman's work has been printed in several art periodicals, including the juried regional New American Paintings book. This fall, the Museum of South East Texas in Beaumont, and the Galveston Arts Center will host a traveling solo exhibition of Sherman's paintings and drawings.
oil, acrylic and marker on canvas
80 X 70 inches
copyright 2008 Howard Sherman, courtesy Gerald Peters Gallery. Photo: Harrison Evans
Howard Sherman strives to make viewers "want to laugh while taking a cold shower". Sherman deftly infuses his work with wry humor. Urban modern iconography's heroic neo-Abstract Expressionist canvases pay subtle homage to some of art history's greatest masters. Francisco de Goya's powerful masterpiece "Saturn Devouring His Son", Francis Bacon's "Figure With Meat," Helen Frankenthaler and Morris Lewis' stained canvases, Wassily Kandinsky's lyrical use of line and color, as well as the gestural abstraction of Franz Kline, Wilhelm DeKooning, Jackson Pollack and Arshile Gorky live symbiotically within Sherman's contemporary context of narrative cartoon and vector-based mark making. Aggressive and physical brush strokes coupled with heightened color palettes bring attitude and life to the work.
Designing Man
Michael Faircloth's designs in one word are elegant. He fully understands the relationship of the woman and the design - the extension of the individual through the created garment. The statement Michael's designs make for his clientele is one of quiet assurance, grace. That intuitive pulse is intrinsic; the creations are impeccably tailored with 'flattering precision.' "My intention," says Michael "is to enhance a woman's own style and attitude." Michael established his first couture salon in Dallas in 1983 after graduating from the School of Visual Arts at North Texas, a place where examination of garments by designers such as Cristobal Balenciaga, Oscar de la Renta and Hubert de Givenchy in the Texas Fashion Collection provided him with an inner view to genius, the first architects of modern couture. "That was an experience that few Schools can provide at that level. The Collection is one of the most unique and impressive in the country," comments Faircloth. Michael Faircloth gained international recognition when asked to design the inaugural wardrobe for First Lady Laura Bush, a client for over 13 years. The gown made a strikingly beautiful statement about the incoming First Lady. This tradition of designing inaugural gowns is now being passed on to the first woman president of the University of North Texas, Dr. Gretchen Bataille. The upcoming inaugural for the new president on April 13th, 2007, will unveil a new Faircloth design. "This is a wonderful opportunity to create something for UNT's first woman president in its 116 year history. She is a beautiful, strong and creative individual, capturing that in the design is quite exciting." Following the inauguration, the gown will find its home in the Texas Fashion Collection. For more information about the Inaugural activities and to reserve a table for the Inaugural Emerald Ball, whose focus is the creation of new needs-based undergraduate scholarships, visit www.unt.edu. Join in the celebration.
CVAD Bloggers
The College of Visual Arts and Design welcomes links to alumni blogs. Send us your URLS!
Welcome to the fall semester!
This is an exciting time for our college and we want you to be part of the excitement!
NEW WEBSITE Thank you for visiting us on the web! Our new website, was designed by UNT alumni Emily and Jeff Charette of IOMATIX in San Francisco. We hope you like it - let us know! We will be updating it regularly.
NEW FACULTY This fall we are welcoming three new tenure-track faculty to the college. Dr. Jeffrey Broome in Art Education, Michele Wong Kung Fong in Communication Design, Elaine Pawlowicz in Drawing and Painting, and a new lecturer, Christi Egeland in Fashion Design. Visiting professors Terry Barrett, Mary Lamb, and Matt Sontheimer will also be joining us. CVAD is truly a collaborative environment with students and faculty engaged in new art forms, new scholarship, and new ways of helping people and communities live better, more creative lives.
NEW CLASSROOMS AND LABS New drawing facilities and new computer labs will greet the students and faculty this fall as we continue to enhance the facilities to meet and exceed national standards. We are now planning for a new Art Building on the Denton campus and new facilities in Dallas to meet the needs of future students.
NEW ACCREDITATION Last year, we were visited by an evaluation team from the National Association of Schools of Design. We were admitted as institutional members of NASAD in October, 2007.
Happening at CVAD
Featured Work
Artspace 111 Exhibition News: Paintings, Drawings and Prints by Ed Blackburn opens September 6, 2008Announcements
09/05/08 | News: Paintings, Drawings and Prints by Ed Blackburn opens September 6, 2008
09/04/08 | Visiting Artist Phyllis McGibbon Lecture, Tues, Sept 23, 5-6:30pm
09/01/08 | Boxed Nature, Works On and Of Paper by Andrew DeCaen Sept 2-30, 2008
07/21/08 | Call for Papers - Medieval Grad. Student Symposium, Jan. 30-31, 2009
07/26/08 Art History MA Program Roundtable on Sept. 19
09/05/08 Priddy Symposium in Advanced Arts Leadership - September 12-14
09/05/08 Art Historian Jose Luis Senra Public Lecture on Medieval Art Sept 26, 2008
Newsletters
Fall 2008 | Department of Studio Art Newsletter
2007-2008 | Department of Art Education and Art History Newsletter
October 2007 | Avant-Garde