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merce cunningham 1919 – 2009
dance ‘37 – ‘38
the cornish magazine

a message from the president
The Cornish community has always been one
in which creative collaboration prevails. It is in
this environment that our students blossom,
establishing the foundation for the future of
the arts. What happens here — a sequence
of inspiring interactions with teachers, with
fellow students, and with the local arts
community — is a microcosm of the creativity
essential for success in the world at large.
The training our students receive at Cornish
not only encourages a robust development
of identity, but also prepares them to engage
in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
The tough challenges imposed by the
economic downturn have in fact underscored
the importance of creative flexibility. Far from
being a peripheral luxury, an education in the
arts promotes discipline and innovation —
complementary qualities that are proving of
enormous advantage as the era of globalization
continues to evolve. Forward-thinking
businesses have been trying to outrace one
another in their bid to tap the kind of creative
intelligence that flourishes in the arts. Moreover,
the arts are recognized even in quantitative
terms as a substantial component of local
economic well-being across the nation. In
2007, in the most comprehensive study ever
conducted, the umbrella group Americans
for the Arts concluded that the nonprofit arts
and culture industry generates $166.2 billion
nationally in economic activity every year.
In the face of today’s economic uncertainties,
Cornish continues to promote its mission to
nurture creative and intellectual curiosity
and to prepare future citizens of the world.
We began this academic year with renewed
vigor and excitement, for it is always a joyful
inspiration to witness young men and women
pursuing their dreams. More than ever, the
courage and passionate commitment we
witness in our students create a positive feedback
within the entire community of Cornish,
fortifying our sense of mission.
The pursuit of an arts education becomes
contagious in the best possible sense. In
discovering how they can inspire each other,
our students cultivate a spirit of innovation that
is the engine driving the endeavor at Cornish.
What they strive for here adds to and enhances
the collaborative wisdom that encompasses
our students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees,
and the artistic community at large. In our
rapidly evolving global society, the stakes of
an arts education are greater than ever.
With warmest wishes,

Cover Image
Merce Cunningham. Image
by Mark Seliger. Courtesy
of the Cunningham Dance
Foundation.
table of contents
2 a legacy of dance merce cunningham
4 inspired by nature julie speidel
6 the new centurian hans altwies
8 a certain kind of normal ellen forney
10 artist, citizen, innovator richard e.t. white
12 dude, that is so analog!
14 the good people of szechwan
16 cornish (r)evolution
17 people to watch
gretta harley, corrie befort, roberta christenson,
dan webb, ezra dickinson, pinky estell, paris hurley
24 commencement
25 2009 cornish alumni reception
26 campaign for cornish, new trustee
27 faculty newswire
29 alumni newswire
33 in memoriam
1

a legacy of dance
merce cunningham dance ‘37–‘38
On July 27, 2009, choreographer Merce
Cunningham passed away at the age of 90.
As dance enthusiasts throughout the world
mourned his passing and celebrated his
legacy, we here at Cornish College of the
Arts felt the very personal loss of an alumnus,
a man whose life and work had a notable
influence not only upon the arts and the global
dance community but upon Cornish itself.
“It’s always great for a school to have a role
model, and Merce certainly was that, not only
for our dance department but for Cornish as
a whole,” says Cornish President Sergei
Tschernisch. “His collaboration with musicians
and artists set a tone for exactly the kind of
work we do at Cornish, and his example has
been a great asset to the College; a model
both for our students and for our initiatives.”
Perhaps unsurprisingly given the eventual
direction of his professional focus, Merce
Cunningham’s storied dance career began
at Cornish very much by chance. The
Centralia-born Cunningham came to what
was then the Cornish School in 1937 with
dreams of becoming an actor. A routine
meeting with founder Nellie Cornish changed
all of that. It was a story Cunningham loved
to relate in later years. “When she was making
out my schedule,” he explained, “she said,
‘Well, of course, you will do the modern dance.’
And I didn’t know one from the other. So I
said, ‘all right.’ It’s chance. And in the end, I
think for me it was very good chance.”
“I’m very grateful for it,”
Cunningham once said of his
experience at Cornish,
“because it brought me a
connection not with a single
art but with all of them.”
This theme of chance is one which would
dominate Cunningham’s work in the years
that followed. Tossing pennies or rolling dice
to determine which set of steps to incorporate,
choreographing entire pieces without ever
hearing the music which would accompany
them and separating the dance from the storyline
were all important elements of Cunningham’s
experimental and untraditional techniques.
The end results often led audiences to
examine and reinterpret their ideas about
performance. He “reinvented the dance,”
Mikhail Baryshnikov once said.
It was not just in that first modern dance class
that Cornish impacted the trajectory of Merce
Cunningham’s personal and professional
lives. It was here that Cunningham first met
composer John Cage, who would be both a
collaborator and a lifelong partner to
Cunningham until his death in 1992. It was
Cage who introduced him to the ideas of
measuring time and space, and it was with
Cage whom Cunningham would later work
on the novel ideas which would eventually
become the hallmark of his technique.
In over 150 works created over a period of
over 60 years, Cunningham sought to celebrate
human physical movement in a way that
shattered convention and occasionally startled
audiences. It was this idiosyncratic approach
to performance which eventually became
the hallmark of a Cunningham composition.
“Over a lifetime in dance, Cunningham
developed a distinct and recognizable move-
Merce Cunningham at
Cornish College of the Arts
in 1938
2
Marce Cunningham in
“Changeling.” Image by
Richard Rutledge. Courtesy
of the Cunningham Dance
Foundation.
Mikhail Baryshnikov &
Merce Cunningham with
President Sergei P.
Tschernisch at Cornish
College of the Arts.

ment language,” says Cornish Dance
Department Chair Kitty Daniels. “This movement
language was technically challenging, and
celebrated abstraction while exploring the
potential of the human body.”
Merce Cunningham received well over 50
prestigious honors and accolades for his
groundbreaking work, among them the Kennedy
Center Honors in 1985 and the National Medal
of Arts in 1990. Every bit as meaningful were
the honors bestowed upon him by his alma
matter, among them a Nellie Cornish Arts
Achievement Award in 1996 and an Honorary
Doctorate of Fine Arts in 2006. His niece,
Jody, fondly recalls accepting the Honorary
Doctorate on her uncle’s behalf. “It was really
emotional; so special and such an honor to
be there to represent Merce,” she says. “Cornish
opened up his world, and the rest is history.”
In addition to Cornish, the Northwest itself
held an important place in Cunningham’s
heart. A fine graphic artist, Cunningham
produced many sketches of local animals and
birds which reflected his love for the region
of his youth. “His roots remained very important
to him,” Jody explains. Equally important
was his love of family, an affection which was
returned in spades. “We had such a strong
appreciation for what he was able to do,”
Above
Merce Cunningham Dance
Company at Dia:Beacon.
Image by Anna Finke.
says Jody of her extended family; “...lots of
pride and admiration for him for becoming a
huge success and following his dream.”
It is a sentiment many at Cornish echo. “Merce
Cunningham was an artistic innovator
throughout his career. His explorations and
experiments influenced the development of
American modern dance profoundly and
made American dance respected around the
world,” says Kitty Daniels. “It was our deep
honor to listen to Merce share anecdotes
about the education that launched his career,
reminding us of our connection to this vital
dance lineage.”
Prior to Cunningham’s death, plans had
already been put into place to stage a
Cunningham MinEvent at Cornish during
the 2010 – 11 academic year. A continuous
performance of excerpts from the Cunningham
repertory staged for specific environments,
this MinEvent will now serve as an opportunity
for Cornish to commemorate and celebrate
the work and life of Merce Cunningham.
Former Cunningham dancer Patricia Lent
will stage the dance during a three-week
residency in Fall 2010 which will include
master classes for undergraduate dance
majors. There will also be collaboration
opportunities for the Cornish College Music
Department, who will create music for the dance,
and the Performance Production Department,
who will be responsible for costuming.
Cornish Dance Theater, the department’s
performing ensemble, will perform the
Cunningham MinEvent in November 2010.
Outreach activities will extend throughout
the 2010-11 academic year, and will include
a lecture-demonstration on Cunningham’s
creative methods and choreographic legacy,
performances on the Cornish campus, open
rehearsals and performance ticket distribution
to underserved communities. Please watch
for additional information about this exciting
and meaningful tribute to Merce Cunningham
and his work.
“I’m very grateful for it,” Cunningham once
said of his experience at Cornish, “because it
brought me a connection not with a single art
but with all of them.” The pioneering ways that
he utilized those connections over the course
of his renowned career now instruct and inspire
myriad other artists, at Cornish and beyond.
– Rebecca Tompkins
3

inspired by nature
julie speidel art ‘67–‘68
“What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place
like this?” reads the caption for a Seattle
Times pictorial depicting artist Julie Speidel
standing in the back of a pick-up truck,
collecting scrap metal for her sculptures. The
photograph was taken in 1972. Crafted from
bronze, stone and steel, and often taller than
the artist herself, Speidel’s iconic sculptures
have since seen wide exposure – from her
gallery affiliations in Seattle, New York, Sun
Valley, and San Francisco, to commissions
that site her work throughout the Pacific
Northwest and across the country.
In downtown Seattle, you’ll find one of Speidel’s
sculptures on Fifth Avenue: four nearly-square
bronze pieces sit in a row, their rounded
sides swelling. Measuring four feet wide by
four feet tall, each work has one or two curving
pieces cut out of it and then reattached.
Situated in front of what was once the Federal
Courthouse and across from the Koolhaus
library, these organically-shaped pieces offer
a bit of visual respite from all the surrounding
straight-edged architecture. They look a lot
like puzzle pieces or rocks that have begun to
crack and fall away from a larger stone formation.
shows its influence in her works, which often
bear the same time-smoothed, organic feel
as these monoliths, while also giving a nod
to the human form.
Speidel’s sculptures take organic forms within
sometimes stacked geometric shapes. She
is inspired by the standing stones found around
the world, which often bring a sense of the
spiritual to the physical realm. Often, these
monuments are ancient, and the stories behind
their creation have long been lost. Using
modern forms, and sometimes painting her
works in hues of primary blue or red, Speidel
brings a modern sensibility to what some might
consider her contemporary monuments.
Asked about her time at Cornish, Speidel
reminisces, “it was really wonderful, taking
classes in that beautiful old building on Capitol
Hill.” She studied painting and drawing with
the renowned Northwest artist, Bill Cumming,
at what was then called The Cornish Institute,
from 1967-1968. “He would get in and help
you with your sketch,” Speidel explained of
Cumming. “He would draw right on it. And
he would sign it, too, next to my name. It was
always lively. It was very permission-giving.”
Though these foundation classes took place
many years ago, Speidel’s experience with a
loose, open approach to art-making can still
be seen in her process. She possesses an
enormous amount of discipline, as well as a
sense of playfulness, both of which come
through in her artwork.
Today, Speidel heads up her own production
facility, where she works hands-on directing
the creation of her sculptures, from sketches
through models to the final pieces. Located on
a five-acre former strawberry farm on Vashon
Island, the workings of Speidel Studio
encompass the complete creative process
required to generate her larger-than-life
sculptures, from conception to completion.
Born in 1941, Julie Speidel was raised in Seattle
and spent part of her childhood in Great Britain,
exploring the sites of such ancient stone
monuments as Stonehenge and Avebury. “I
can’t remember seeing Indian totems as a
child, but every Sunday in boarding school
we would be taken on long walks, and once
we went to Avebury,” explains Speidel. “I
remember the shadows on the stones, being
in awe of them, walking around them.” Early
exposure to these archeological artifacts
Julie Speidel at her studio.
Image by Peter Mumford.
4

“I have had the incredible
fortune to be thrust into
these experiences, but also
to choose them.”
Her “clean room” is a studio with an enormous
table, many art books, and a collection of
natural objects that the artist manipulates to
generate ideas for the sculptural pieces that
take form in the machine shop, under the
welding torch, and in the cutting and polishing
of stone. Speidel will draft big, loopy sketches
from items like horns, a set of nesting salad
bowls, wooden children’s toys, or the spine
of some long-dead animal. Informed by her
lessons at Cornish, these sketches are the
jumping-off point for pieces that are then
realized in solid form. Even when the drawings
are made solid, first in wood or cardboard,
and then in pieces of copper or steel, it might
not be apparent how the parts will connect.
“There is a certain play in figuring it out,”
Speidel explains as she fits one metal shape
into another, balancing them, and then
Above
Braeval 2001; Bronze
Bench and Wall Sculptures;
Ketchum, Idaho
reversing the orientation. Speidel works with
expert machinists to craft her finely wrought
sculptures; and though she is no longer the
woman wielding the torch, she does not send
her sketches out to be fabricated off sight.
Speidel is very much in charge of all the
creative decisions that go into her final pieces,
as well as the many negotiations that go into
running a successful art business.
This summer Speidel visited Carnac, in
Brittany, France, to pay witness to the largest
megalithic site in the world. It possesses 3,000
prehistoric standing stones, and is said to date
to 3300 B.C. Speidel is working on a private
commission, and travel to this site will inform
her work on that project. “I have had the incredible
fortune to be thrust into these experiences,
but also to choose them,” Speidel remarks.
“Travel is always about exposing yourself.”
Although travel plays an integral role in the
generation of new work, Speidel keeps to a
rigorous production schedule. The artist
generally works four ten-hour days a week in
her studio, in preparation for an average of
two solo exhibits a year, as well as several
public art projects and commissions. Some
of Speidel’s pieces were recently exhibited at
San Francisco’s Caldwell Snyder Gallery, and
her work can be seen in Seattle at Winston
Wächter Fine Art gallery (as well as in that
gallery’s New York location), among other
venues. If you happen to be a patient at Swedish
Hospital’s orthopedic wing, look outside for
one of Speidel’s largest basalt sculptures: a
series of stone vertebrae laid out on the lawn,
creating an oversize asymmetrical spine.
Since 2005, Speidel has been an active member
of the Cornish Board of Trustees, serving
both as an artist and a businesswoman. “In
terms of Cornish,” Speidel explains,
“anything that is permission-giving in terms
of art is just incredibly important to me, and I
will support it in any way I can.”
– Adriana Grant
5

the new centurian
hans altwies theater ‘93–‘96
When Hans Altwies is on stage, something
thrilling happens. It’s that indescribable connection
an actor has with the text, his scene
partners and his own instrument that makes
a piece of theater so much more than the
words on the page or the world of the stage.
Hans completed his studies at Cornish in 1996,
followed by an internship at Seattle Children’s
Theater, where he met his future wife, Amy
Thone. From there, his post-Cornish career
has been a constant trajectory with lead roles
in every theater across town. Standout
performances over the course of his career
include Othello at Seattle Shakespeare
Company, where he played Iago alongside
Amy, and the recent Seafarer at the Seattle
Repertory Theatre. Upcoming shows include
The Rep’s spring show, Glenngary, Glenn Ross,
and Intiman Theatre’s Abe Lincoln in Illinois.
“I’m extremely proud to live in a city where
there are actors that are more skilled than I’ll
ever be,” Altwies muses. “If there was a
recognizable ceiling for an actor, then for
me, the thrashing toward greatness would
have very little point; but there they are —
Bob Wright, Amy Thone and Michael Winters,
among others — I see them, and I study them,
and I start thrashing along behind. How
lucky we are to have living examples to help
shape our paradigms?”
For many actors, the decision to act is the
singular passion they nurture for a lifetime.
Hans’s creative reach, however, extends
beyond acting. He is interested and engaged
with theater on every level, fueled by a larger
interest in storytelling and filmmaking. “I really
want to be part of something fresh, and be a
part of fostering culture in Seattle… making sure
that there is good live theater in our community.”
“I want to make sure to stay
awake and to identify which
are the pivotal moments
along the way that define
who we are and what kind
of theater we create.”
For anyone who saw the New Century Theatre
Company’s (NCTC) much lauded inaugural
show, The Adding Machine, it is clear that Hans,
co-founder of the company, is serious about
this mission. New Century Theatre Company
is made up of four noteworthy Cornish alums
(Peter O’Connor, Hans Altwies, Ray Gonzalez,
and MJ Sieber). Other well-known Seattle
theater artists rounding out the company include
Amy Thone (current Cornish acting teacher),
Jen Taylor, Michael Patten, Paul Stettler,
Stephanie Timm, Darragh Kennan, and Betsy
Schwartz. “I love collecting great people and
creating something provocative,” Altwies shares.
“In as much as we can be, we want to be a
revolutionary force. It’s something we strive for.
We have been asking ourselves the question:
how are we going to flip this idea of a functional
theater company at this point in history?”
The idea for the company began
germinating about four years ago with the
desire for creative empowerment. “A piece of
our mission is that we’re a theater of Seattle
for Seattle. We have all committed to living
here, and we hope that NCTC can reenergize
a culture of theater-going. I would
love for this theater in five years to have its
own space with a bar, to aid the culture of
theater-going, to make it fun to go to the
theater. We don’t want to be bigger than a
200-seat house… it’s important to keep it raw
and keep it good.”
On another level, they wanted to present a
huge production right out of the gate, and
they accomplished this brilliantly. “We had
the most ridiculously positive reviews. Each
one was a bona fide rave.”
But making theater relevant is more than just
choosing and crafting great shows. With the
rise of downloadable entertainment, the
following question sometimes arises, presenting
a challenge: What does theater offer today’s
audience? The answer in a word is
“immediacy.” Stella Adler said that theater is
the spiritual and social x-ray of its time, and
therein lies its value; it has the ability to connect
to its audience, to their immediate concerns,
their hopes and fears, in the most direct way
that an art form can. It’s an opportunity for
something to happen between those on the
stage and those in the seats. “One thing is
clear,” says Hans. “Theater in Seattle must
reinvent itself and nurture a new audience,
so it can be as relevant here as it is in other
cities and other cultures.”
6

“In our quest for longevity, we are committed
to putting on first-rate productions for half
the price, with the same casts, directors and
designers that audiences like to see at the
Rep and other big houses. Allison Narver will
be directing the next show. We also get to
present theater-goers with amazing talent they
haven’t seen a lot of before, like Ray Gonzalez,
a classmate of mine from Cornish. He is so
amazing, I can’t wait to share him with the
Seattle audience.”
Something else they have bandied about is
the idea of being a resident theater at a college.
Recently, the University of Washington
approached them and made it clear that they
want to work with the company. “To be honest,”
Hans reveals, “ if there was one thing I could
really dream for this company, it is that we
would be the resident theater company at
Cornish… that would be brilliant. Five of us
are from Cornish. Ray, Hans, Peter, MJ and
Amy teach there. We are deeply entrenched
in the Cornish vision.”
There is a clear focus as they develop their
identity as a company. “I want to make sure
to stay awake and to identify which are the
pivotal moments along the way that define
who we are and what kind of theater we create.
It’s really fascinating. At some point you
discover that you are what you have become,
and trying to shift from there is more difficult
than making sure in the moment you are
making choices that build toward your vision.”
When looking over his body of work to date, a
few things rise to the top that he is clearly most
proud of. “I look at my daughters, Charlotte
and Stella, and Amy and I think it’s impossible
that I should have found my way to be sitting
here with them. I truly couldn’t be more fortunate.”
– Lisa Halpern
Top
Hans Altwies in The Seafarer,
Seattle Repertory Theatre
(2009)
7

a certain kind of normal
ellen forney design faculty
Ellen Forney describes her life philosophy as
the old adage, “As one door closes, another
door opens.” It certainly rings true in regards
to her start as an artist. She graduated from
Wesleyan University in 1989 with a degree in
psychology, moved to Seattle, and began to
work in a voluntary psychiatric unit. Then, in
a burst of realization, she knew that she
needed to be an artist.
“My signature is to present
those kinds of lifestyles —
being queer, or a blacksmith,
or a pothead — and show
that they’re okay, that it’s a
certain kind of normal and
not so scary.”
Deciding to make the career switch, she
Top
Ellen Forney
Below
The Stranger covers
designed by Ellen Forney
took the opportunity to move to Taiwan
(where her brother was living), and volunteer
as a cartoonist at an English-speaking
newspaper to test the waters. She loved
being an artist, and moved back to Seattle
to the proverbial “another door.”
“This was all very emotionally charged and
frightening. So I guess I kind of exploded
into the field with a sense of immediacy and
excitement, and it felt like coming out to me
— this sense of self-discovery and this
whole world that I was really excited about. I
think that kind of enthusiasm and energy
really helped propel me pretty quickly.”
Ellen has designed covers for The Stranger,
in addition to drawing one of their weekly
personals ads (recently compiled into a
hardcover book, titled Lust). She has also
illustrated an award-winning novel by
Sherman Alexie, published her own
award-winning comic book, Monkey Food,
designs wedding invitations, has public
commissions, is working on her first
full-length graphic novel, teaches, and
serves on Seattle’s Capitol Hill Chamber of
Commerce, recently spearheading the new
Capitol Hill art walk, Blitz. Ellen has even
reached into a discipline not common
among cartoonists — performance. She has
turned stories from her books, I Love Led
Zeppelin and Monkey Food, into multimedia
shows and toured them in theaters,
bookstores and cafes around the country. I
Love Led Zeppelin was performed in front of a
sold out crowd at the Northwest Film Forum
and at Bumbershoot in the Bagley Wright
Theater as an epic, all-out performance, with a
burlesque show and a band.
Ellen’s work is often called edgy and
alternative; she writes and draws about people
who have had the courage to embrace who
they are in life, forging their own paths towards
what are often deemed “unconventional”
choices. I Love Led Zeppelin, published by
Fantagraphics Books, is a compilation of
comic strips featured in magazines and
newspapers, containing topics that range from
how-to tips on twirling tasseled pasties in
opposite directions, to a series titled “What the
Drugs Taught Me,” about one man’s
life-altering encounters with drugs.
8

“I sometimes forget that I live in the funky
outskirts of the mainstream, because my
world and a lot of people I know have a
tendency to be considered “alternative.”
My signature is to present those kinds of
lifestyles — being queer, or a blacksmith,
or a pothead — and show that they’re
okay, that it’s a certain kind of normal and
not so scary.”
This is what makes Ellen’s work so important;
the chance to see people outside of our
often-narrow social circles. She portrays and
presents her subject’s honesty in a way that
reminds us we all have something a little
different from everybody else inside of us.
Reading Ellen’s work begs the question of
why labels like “unconventional” exist. When
did not being honest about who you want to
be become the norm? Lack of exposure may
certainly be the answer for some of us… in
which case we are lucky to have Ellen’s work
to keep the lines of communication open.
“That’s what I like to do — build bridges and
communication and understanding to encourage
people to be open-minded, ask questions,
listen.” Ellen has often pulled material from
her own life, as well; her first book, Monkey
Food, brought together a weekly comic strip
about her childhood, I Was Seven in ‘75.
“It’s become a large part of my identity, being
a teacher, and in particular, honestly, being a
teacher at Cornish. For one, I love teaching
at the college level, and the skill level and
motivation of the students here are really
top-notch. It’s satisfying to me, as a professional,
to keep renewing my enthusiasm about how
comics work. Sometimes I can lose sight of
that while doing them on my own. In class,
we break things down to their parts, like visual
language, panel shape and size, and the
space between panels. That you learn from
your students is kind of a cliché, but very true.”
Ellen’s students learn about illustrating their
own stories and experiences, as well as the
more technical aspects of creating comics.
For next fall, Ellen has also developed a class
about the role graphic novels play in
contemporary and modern literature; the
class will be reading and studying several
graphic novels and the unique relationship
between the words and illustrations they contain.
Ellen continues to take private commissions
for custom items like wedding invitations and
portraits, and recently even completed a
small painting inside of a snow globe. She
sees these projects as a way to exercise her
skills as a cartoonist and artist, mini-collaborations
that still allow her creativity to breathe.
Additionally, Sound Public Transit selected
Ellen to create two murals for the light rail
station being built in Capitol Hill; the murals
will join the Capitol Hill landscape once the
station is finished in 2012.
– Nichole Rathburn
“I love teaching at the college
level, and the skill level and
motivation of the students
here are really top-notch.”
In 2002, another door opened for Ellen, just
as the field of illustration was changing and
the editorial work she had been doing
became harder to find. Having previously
taught, she decided to apply for a job at
Cornish teaching comics, a position that had
yet to be created. She got the job, and has
been teaching comics classes in the Design
Department ever since.
Walking Fingers. Public art design for the west entry of
Sound Transit’s Capitol Hill light rail station (due to open 2016).
9

It was a fateful encounter that paved the way
for his extraordinary life in the theater. By
chance, Richard took an acting class taught
by Eve Roberts. “She was a revelation to me.
I got a chance to see her walk the walk, which
is the kind of experience students have at
Cornish — working with active working professionals
who teach what they learned last
night as opposed to what they’ve taught for
years.” One day, Eve called him into her
office and informed him that, more than acting,
he was directing himself and everybody else
in the class. She strongly urged him to shift
gears and focus on directing.
He enjoyed his experience with theater as an
undergrad, but struggled with a growing sense
of social responsibility. One day, while walking
across campus, he came across the SF Mime
troupe performing a play called Rouzanti
Comes Home From the War, followed by a
puppet play called Lil’ Black Panther, which
was about racism. Richard was floored. “It
was right there… BOOM! SF mime troupe.
They were artists, citizens and innovators —
which, by the way, also happens to be the
main tenet of the Cornish mission statement.
Their skill level was very high, they were
cripplingly funny, it was brilliantly performed,
and it was about the world I lived in.”
In 1990, after a successful few years working
in regional theater, Richard signed up to be
a professor of English at Toin Yokohama
University and Resident Director at Tokyo’s
Theatre Company Subaru. The experience
in Japan proved to be life-changing as he
found great satisfaction in teaching. “The expeartist,
citizen & innovator
richard e.t. white theater department chair
It’s not uncommon to see a parade of people
coming and going through the office door of
Theater Department Chair Richard E.T. White.
Step through his door, and you’ll find the man
himself juggling faculty, students, scripts…
all the people and pieces that make up the
Cornish Theater Department. Stay awhile, and
it is easy to see the art and humanity that
infuses every aspect of his work and life. You
see it in the way he runs the department, in
his rapport with the faculty and students.
Richard is an award-winning director with a
long list of credits to his name, but more than
that he is a potent, creative force.
Recently, he directed a production of The
Phillistines at the American Conservatory
Theater in San Francisco, where he also
directed American Buffalo, The Goat and
Hedda Gabler. Richard has directed at regional
theaters throughout the U.S., including
the Old Globe Theatre, the Shakespeare Theatre
Company in Washington, D.C., the Oregon
Shakespeare Festival, Atlanta’s Alliance
Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, the
Berkeley Shakespeare Festival, the Berkeley
Repertory Theatre, the Seattle Repertory
Theatre, Intiman, and Seattle’s A Contemporary
Theatre. Additionally, he developed and directed
the electronic opera Slow Fire, with
librettist/performer Rinde Eckert and composer
Paul Dresher, a show that has been
produced throughout the United States and
Europe. Beyond directing, Richard has
served as Associate Artistic Director at The
Berkeley Rep and was Artistic Director of
San Francisco’s Eureka Theatre Company
and the Wisdom Bridge Theatre in Chicago.
He taught acting at UC Berkeley, the
Berkeley Shakespeare Festival Institute and
the Drama Studio London at Berkeley.
His life in the theater began the way many
great journeys begin — by accident, or so it
might seem. At the University of Washington
as an undergrad, Richard thought that his
future was in astronomy. He quickly realized,
however, that what he imagined as cold
lonely nights in the observatory looking at new
comets basically boiled down to a lot of
math. “It turns out I was more interested in
the poetry of astronomy,” he says, “than I
was in the actual, practical workings of it.”
Above
Shakespeare Santa Cruz’s 2009 production of
A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Richard E.T. White.
Image by R.R. Jones.
10

“I love my job. For this work,
you have to set up the optimal
conditions so that everyone
can be creative, and you
always have to maintain an
active sense of curiosity.”
rience of turning what I knew into something I
could communicate to other people was
eye-opening. It was interesting how transformational
we could be as teachers. I felt like
I was really making a difference.”
Three years later, Richard accepted the position
as Theater Department Chair at Cornish,
which took his love of teaching to the next
level. “I love my job. For this work, you have
to set up the optimal conditions so that
everyone can be creative, and you always
have to maintain an active sense of curiosity.
If we want our students to have that, we have
to model it. We can’t recycle. We have to
get out there. It’s a fascinating faculty here,
and the fact that we have substantive lives
as professionals outside of Cornish deepens
and enriches our ability to communicate with
our students and gives us a sense of what is
current and contemporary and urgent and
what is going on in the world.”
The entire faculty at Cornish shares the belief
that their job is to give a quality educational
experience to students. They believe that
their courses must work together synergistically.
“Most education is compartmentalized,”
White says. “Your geometry class doesn’t
have anything to do with your drama class,
which doesn’t have anything to do with your
English class. But one of the most important
things an artist has to do is synthesize, since
theater is the ultimate collaborative art form.
It’s really about ensemble, even if you’re doing
a solo performance.”
One of the things he is passionate about is
facilitating and encouraging faculty to work
together as much as possible. To that end,
students no longer have individual conferences
with each faculty member at the end of the
semester; instead, it’s a panel review. If one
teacher brings up an issue, another teacher
can reveal how that issue plays out in their
class. They can also disagree with each other
in a principled way — to say ‘that’s a
strength in my class.’ “There’s a sense that
it’s all part of the same thing,” White adds.
“And it’s subjective. It’s very important that
students get feedback that empowers them
to make choices.”
College is a critical time for the development
of an artist, and Cornish students are
fortunate to have their academic experience
safely in the heart and hands of Richard E.T.
White. “College infused in me the values and
ethics and things I care most about as a
human being, and that I try to express
through my art. And that’s my goal here. To
create the place where students can do that.
Once again, it comes back to the Cornish
mission statement — artist, citizen,
innovator. It’s the fact that we educate the
whole person.”
– Lisa Halpern
Above
Richard E.T. White. Image
by Michelle Smith Lewis.
11

dude, that is so analog!
musing on art in the analog-digital divide
jenifer ward associate provost
In the digital age, this gentle rebuke refers to
anything that is old-fashioned. It says less
about the object or concept being described
than it does about the person who is
employing the old school thing. And while it
is usually deployed in a harmless and joshing
manner, it does point to a seeming divide
between things, art, people, ideas, and
processes we line up on the side of “analog”
and those we put on the “digital” side. The
Analogues are portrayed as threatened by
the Digibots and the Digibots are claimed to
scoff at the nostalgic Analogues.
shifts in the means of production of culture.
Surely the oral storytellers blanched when
the first cave dweller scrawled ancient
graphic novels onto walls. No doubt the first
prints led to a gulp in the throat of many a
Chinese artist. Johannes Gutenberg perhaps
suffered a few withering glances from
monastic calligraphers when he churned out
Bibles with his printing press. No wonder
early photographs depict grim, resigned
faces, since the age of mechanical
reproduction was destined to mean the end
of art. Or was it?
Jenifer Ward
“The fact is that we still tell
stories. We still draw.
We still use analog cameras.
We still go to live theater.
We still sing and draw bows
across strings.”
But as with many divides, most of the
anxieties about what a “Digital Age” means
reside at the edges of the spectrum.
Extreme Analogues portend the end of
western civilization as we know it and decry
the rush to embrace new technologies just
because they are new. And extreme Digibots
fiddle with their new toys in alternate
realities, putting on and taking off identities
as they construct new avatars and projects
for themselves, ablaze with creativity, multitasking
their way into Brave New Worlds of
immediacy and excess.
And yet, most of us live and create far from
these stereotyped edges of the grayscale. Socalled
digital natives, those born after 1980, are
not as uniformly immersed in digital culture as
popular media would have us believe, and even
my lifelong photographer uncle—in his 70s—
has a Facebook page and works with Photoshop
as well as with chemicals and enlargers.
This is, of course, not the first time we have
found ourselves wringing our hands over
The fact is that we still tell stories. We still
paint. We still draw. We still use analog
cameras. We still go to live theater. We still
sing and draw bows across strings. What
has changed, perhaps, is that the pace of
change has accelerated to the extent that in
my lifetime, I have seen tools develop and
become extinct many times over. But the
alteration is in the TOOLS, not the impulse
to create and appreciate art, which is human
and not mechanical. And just as I would
choose a certain set of tools to build an
adobe house and a different set to build a
wooden house, my digital tools are not
helpful in designing and articulating certain
visions and my analog tools fail at others.
Just so, no digital experience can replicate
the texture of a live performance, and analog
does not serve to widen access the way
digital technology can. A couple of years
ago, I sat in on a final rehearsal for a dance
production. It was alternately moving, playful,
urgent, languid, powerful, and painful. It was
in the rehearsal studio in historic Kerry Hall,
12

Installation shot of
Paul Rucker’s Puzzle
Pieces, 2009.
Digital prints, glass jars
intimate, and I was in the thick of it. I had to
pull my legs back repeatedly, so as not to
trip someone. Necklaces of sweat lashed
“This is what it means to live
in watershed moments.
Analog per se is not threatened
by digital, nor will one
replace the other.”
me from more than one dancer. I smelled heat,
shampoo, laundry detergent, determination.
I heard the squeak of bare feet on the floor,
the music, the counting, the grunts of effort,
the propelling breaths. I witnessed focus and
grace and I thought of the generations of
feet that had leapt and been grounded on
those floors. I turned to my colleague, who
had choreographed one of the pieces, and
whispered to him: “I can barely keep from
weeping, this is so beautiful.”
This is the power of analog.
But just this week, I sat in the Main Gallery,
where artists Paul Rucker and Hans Teuber
led a group of us through terrain that
spanned disciplines and bridged digital and
analog production and performance. Paul
had used digital technology to create
graphic musical scores, which he then
printed and crafted into puzzles. He placed
the puzzle pieces into little containers and
invited the audience to choose a puzzle and
a tray, and assemble them. We placed the
completed puzzles on a table in front of Paul
on cello and Hans on saxophone, and they
then improvised—essence of analog—on
the impressions they gleaned from the
snippets of image score in front of them. In
the meantime, Paul and Hans and the
audience were chatting back and forth and
handing puzzles around, and I was snapping
photos with my iPhone of the proceedings
and e-mailing the images in real time to a
friend of mine 15 states away.
I confess that I am an unapologetic user of
digital social media; that I have bought a
print from Jen Bekman’s 20x200 digital arts
project; that I tweet and do everything but
buy flowers for my iPhone and my iMac and
my tiny Lumix camera. But some of my most
transcendent moments are standing in a
circle with a handful of other singers working
on a William Byrd Mass; I have been known
to spend the better part of a paycheck on a
drawing; and you will have to wrench my
dog-eared copy of Rilke’s Duino Elegies from
my cold, dead hands.
This is what it means to live in watershed
moments. Analog per se is not threatened by
digital, nor will one replace the other. But digital
technology does affect the way we study,
create, disseminate, critique, document, and
archive art in this new century. Our role as arts
educators is to support our students as they
navigate these ever-changing waters and to
model a fascination with the questions: to
challenge ourselves and them to explore the
current, where it is more treacherous and yet
more exhilarating than the safety of either
shore. Where they swim will depend on factors
beyond our knowing. But at least they will be
used to the water.
– Jenifer K. Ward
13

the good people of szechwan
r.n. sandberg & megan sandberg-zakian
As much as we want to direct our lives, some
of the best parts seem to have a life of their
own… even when you’re a director. In the
case of director/playwright/teacher R.N.
Sandberg (Bob), one of his favorite works of
art really does have a life of its own.
Megan Sandberg-Zakian, Bob’s daughter,
recently directed The Good Person of
Szechwan at Cornish, a show that Bob
directed here 25 years ago. As it turns out,
these two award-winning theater artists/
directors share more than similar tastes in
theater; they both seem to approach life and
craft with similar humanity and humor. For
both, 1978 was a banner year; Bob began
teaching at Cornish, and Megan was born.
Along with teaching, Bob also served as Chair
of the Theater Department from 1987-1995.
Today, he teaches playwriting, acting and
dramatic literature at Princeton University and
continues to write compelling plays that have
been produced in theaters throughout the
country. Recently, his play, The Judgment of
Bett, was part of the Kennedy Center’s New
Visions/New Voices program.
Megan, an insightful, generative artist in her
own right, is a graduate of Brown University
and MFA candidate at Goddard College. She
has worked as Associate Artistic Director of
The 52nd Street Project in New York and as
Associate Director at The Providence Black
Repertory Company in Rhode Island.
Broadway World said about her production of
Bug,“(it’s) as good as any regional theater
production I have seen.” Megan was awarded
a prestigious TCG Observership grant and
was a 2005 recipient of the Ann Shaw
Fellowship from The United States Center for
the International Association of Theater for
Children and Young People (ASSITEJ-USA).
“Cornish attracts good
human beings. The Cornish
education, in the best way,
is about people becoming
people with some sensitivity
for their fellow human
beings, and who want to do
good things in the world.”
So, was it something in the water over at the
Sandberg household, the atmosphere at
Cornish, or both that led Megan down the
theater path as well? Bob recalls an early
moment that indicated Megan’s innate interest
and understanding of theater. “When she was
four, I took her with me to text class at
Cornish. We were working on The Bald
Soprano. The students had no idea what it
was about, so Megan explained it to them.
Above
Megan Sandberg-Zakian
with her father R.N. Sandberg
Even then, she could see what was going on
underneath the surface.”
Though their experiences at Cornish are vastly
different, both agree that Cornish is a unique
environment. “Cornish,” Bob reflects, “really is
a special place in terms of the community
- both the faculty and students. The students
are very inventive, collaborative and risktaking,
and the faculty is completely dedicated
to serving the students and their education. At
Cornish, there was a sense of working with a
group to achieve a common goal; being
partners with the faculty members and the
students in a meaningful way.”
Megan nods. “I’ve been thinking a lot about
the aesthetic influence that dad and Cornish
have had on me,” she adds. “What he said
about Cornish being inventive and
collaborative… there’s something about the
generous spirit of the artistic aesthetic of
Cornish. I was lucky to be around all that…
it’s part of the reason those things have
always been inextricably linked for me.”
“Dad and I share a very similar aesthetic,”
Megan adds. “I like things that are dark and
dirty, but hopeful. I’m just realizing how much
my artistic identity was formed by Cornish
and those early productions. The funny thing
is, it really felt like coming home to work here.
Working with the students at Cornish felt
strangely familiar. They are a fantastic group of
human beings, inventive and generous,
talented and motivated.”
For Bob, this was a layered experience. “I
definitely had a bit of that full-circle feeling
14

The Good Person of
Szechwan, Cornish College
of the Arts, April 2009
when Richard hired Megan. The most
meaningful part of the experience, for me, was
having this wonderful ongoing conversation
with Megan throughout her process; hearing
about what she had done, what her challenges
were and how she solved them. On a personal
level, seeing the alumni ‘baby sitter row’ in the
audience – that was the part that felt like the
full-circle experience. Hal Ryder was marveling
about the alumni who came that night. ‘They’re
such good people,’ he said. And it’s really true.
Cornish attracts good human beings. The
Cornish education, in the best way, is about
people becoming people with some sensitivity
for their fellow human beings, and who want to
do good things in the world.”
For both Bob and Megan, working together is
a sought-after pleasure. “I prefer to have him
in the room to give me notes. Aside from the
fact that he’s an excellent director and writer,
he’s a teacher, and has been an expert in this
field for a long time, particularly in Brecht, so his
notes really gave me a baseline to work from.”
“Some of our conversations,” Bob says,
“were about how to deal with Brecht; how do
you get the audience to open their minds
about something so potentially alienating?
Other conversations focused on the needs of
the program and the actors.”
It is clear these two share a common vision
for life and art. “I think, ultimately, what Megan
and I have in common is that we both try to
combine the desire to do our art and the
desire to change the world.”
Megan agrees. “That is definitely my life’s
work. Another way I’m similar to dad is that
I’m interested in training; not just in teaching,
but in shaping a space for people to learn in.
I’m always coming to a group thinking they’re
all geniuses and my job is to make a space
for their individual and collective genius to
emerge. The dream for my life is to be part of
a training program. Like he said earlier,
working with people over time, building a
place where people can continue to
collaborate consistently and transform in
response to the world around them.”
It is clear that Bob and Megan have found
their unique way of blending artistic passion
with a bigger vision of transformation. “It’s
very much about gathering people together
and having a real passion for change,” Megan
reflects. “And taking joy in it, too… that’s one
of the things that I like about The Good
Person of Szechwan. Shen Te (the lead
character) understands that it’s not just about
doing the right thing. Shen Te says, ‘how
tempting it is to be generous. How wonderful
a kind word can sometimes feel.’ And I really
believe that transformation, change, doing
good, doesn’t have to be such a deep, dark,
heavy thing.”
In some ways, these two are, in fact, the
good people of Szechwan. Their work and
life center around doing the good, finding the
good, and trying to gather everyone together
to move forward in a positive way. “In a way,
that’s what my wife, Ginger, and I have tried
to do with our kids. It’s what I try to do with
my students, and that’s what I see Megan
trying to do all the time. It’s really about
transformation and bringing people together.”
– Lisa Halpern
15

cornish (r)evolution
cornish partners with TheFilmSchool
All art shares a common truth: ultimately, it
is about connections. Whether it is the artist
connecting with their work or their audience,
each art form has invisible threads to others,
as well as to other art forms. This interconnectivity
often translates into interdisciplinary
work as the pursuit of authentic artistic
expression is sought. Nowhere does this
idea of interconnectivity resonate more than
within the walls of Cornish — which
occasionally inspires exciting relationships
within the community.
to realize their aspirations. Cornish students
accepted to TheFilmSchool have the opportunity
to earn credits towards their degree at Cornish
with approval from their departments.
Jenifer Ward, Associate Provost at Cornish,
is thrilled with this development. “We’ve got
these two great arts organizations with connections
in the community,” she says. “Why
wouldn’t we foster that, take some of the
threads and begin to weave them together in a
way that serves both institutions and both sets
of students? Everything about it is appealing.”
John Jacobsen, co-founder of TheFilmSchool,
is passionate about the art of story. “We
don’t teach film production,” he shares. “It
goes to the root of filmmaking: the art of
storytelling. We offer a program that nurtures
individual voices, cultivates original stories,
while inspiring excellence in dramatic writing.”
From framing a shot to building a plot, the
multifaceted curriculum offered by TheFilmSchool
emphasizes self-exploration and the emotional
substance needed to tell powerful stories.
“Teaching the art of story in this form,” John
adds, “sets students up for filmmaking really
well. It’s important to learn the difference
between playwriting and film writing; they are
very different mediums with very different structures.”
Jacobsen agrees. “One of the extraordinary
things about Cornish is the sense of
craftsmanship the faculty instills. This is the
heart of where Cornish and TheFilmSchool
cross paths.”
Indeed, it seems to be a natural evolution for
Cornish. If a fine art institution only has the
grand old art forms, then Cornish would
only teach acoustic music; painting, not
design; ballet, not modern; and certainly no
performance production. But the truth is,
the world of art continues to transform daily,
as it should, with the times. It makes sense
for a visionary art institution to embrace and
engage with that change.
Ward also sees clearly how this partnership
supports the greater vision of Cornish.
“Cornish fosters interdisciplinary connection.
Since cinema spans the visual and the
verbal, temporal and spatial, performance
and narrative,” she says, “it intersects with
the art forms already present in the Cornish
curriculum. We are delighted to embark on
this partnership that both supports the
respective missions of our institutions and
contributes to the increasingly important
place of Seattle as a player in the film world.”
– Lisa Halpern
One such relationship is currently underway.
Recently, Cornish forged an exciting new
partnership with TheFilmSchool, a Seattlebased
institute focusing on the craft of
screenwriting. This uniquely positions both
schools to expand their creative communities
and provide students with a new set of skills
Clearly, this partnership opens wider the
artistic doors for students in all departments
at Cornish. “When considering the different
disciplines we offer,” Ward muses, “they all
share a similar aim; while not overtly about
story, they are about story — which makes
this a great pairing.”
16

people to watch
Above
Gretta Harley
Image by Michael Doucett
Below
We Are Golden artists Gretta
Harley and Sarah Rudinoff.
Image by Michael Doucett.
gretta harley music ‘02
Gretta Harley is a born musician. Growing up
in New York, she took classical and jazz
piano and voice lessons, and taught herself
guitar by listening to recordings of Joni Mitchell,
Frank Zappa, and Rickie Lee Jones. Gretta
completed a two-year degree in piano
performance after high school, and played
keyboards and guitar in various jazz, pop and
punk bands on Long Island, in New York City
and in London during the 1980s, even studying
mime for three years. After relocating to
Seattle in 1990, she continued to play in and
tour with several bands, as well as co-founding
Home Alive, an anti-violence nonprofit
organization that offers affordable self-defense
classes and provides public education and
awareness on violence prevention.
Gretta enrolled as a piano major at Cornish
in 1998, but soon suffered a serious hand
injury that left her virtually incapable of playing
instruments for the next few years. So
instead of performing, Gretta worked with
her limitations and chose to develop her
compositional skills by writing for injured
pianists, creating multi-media and electronic
works, and exploring adventurous vocal
techniques with Cornish alumnus Stephen
Fandrich’s (Music ’00) Seattle Harmonic
Voices. Gretta’s investigation into alternative
musical techniques also earned her a certificate
in Dalcroze Eurhythmics, with which she
established music/movement programs for
young children and teens at Seattle Emergency
Housing, First Place School, Giddens
School, and Seattle Conservatory of Music.
Since graduating from Cornish in 2002,
Gretta has gone on to compose music for
almost a dozen plays, and has new work
premiering this fall in Intiman Theatre’s Abe
Lincoln in Illinois, directed by former Cornish
Theater faculty member Sheila Daniels.
Gretta’s main goal for her theatrical work is
to help the director reach his or her vision
through music, crafting the compositions
throughout the rehearsal process to best
showcase each of the actors’ individual
talents. A collaborative style suits her well as
the Cornish Theater Department's de facto
“composer-in-residence,” , and in her work
with We Are Golden, her current project with
vocalist and actor Sarah Rudinoff.
Gretta and Sarah founded We Are Golden in
2007, and have since released a very wellreceived
five-song EP (with a full-length
album due out in spring 2010). They have
also performed on KEXP’s Audioasis and
Seattle Channel’s Art Zone, in addition to
headlining Seattle-area institutions like the
Triple Door and Bumbershoot. The sevenmember
ensemble’s music blends blues,
rock and pop elements with a dash of the
theatrical; and Gretta’s sensitive, melodic
phrasing helps unify the band’s unique
instrumental combination of voices, clarinet,
cello, piano, guitar, and upright bass.
Not content just composing for the theater
and collaborating with her band, Gretta always
reaches for more. She has twenty private
piano students, teaches cabaret classes at
Cornish, writes comics, and is currently
working on a science fiction-themed musical
with librettist Juliet Waller Pruzan.
What’s next for Gretta? It seems as though
the sky is the limit.
– Nichole Maiman Waterman
17

people to watch
Above
Starbucks Coffee
Company. Interior design
by Leslie Clark Edgerton.
Below
Quilt by Leslie Clark
Edgerton.
leslie clark edgerton design ‘85
When Leslie Clark Edgerton isn’t at the
office, she is often hard at work on her latest
quilting project. “I love the idea of quilts; an
historic craft that takes a practical need,
recycles used materials on hand, and
creates a beautiful object that outlasts the
maker,” she explains of her favorite hobby.
The piecing capabilities which make Leslie
an accomplished quilter are strikingly similar
to the skills which she utilizes in her professional
life. As Manager of Planning and Design for
Seattle’s Starbucks Corporate Facilities,
Leslie is regularly called upon to piece together
elements of space planning, analysis, and
interior design to create work spaces which
are both beautiful and highly functional.
And much like the challenges of putting
together a quilt, figuring out how to configure
Starbucks Coffee Company’s 950,000 square
feet of space and meet the needs of its
3,200 employees requires careful planning.
“It’s a huge 3-D puzzle where you are trying
to get groups of different sizes and different
space needs to fit into a given floor space,”
Leslie explains.
Responsible both for corporate headquarters
and Starbucks’ regional facilities, Leslie’s had
a lot of experience solving these puzzles
during her 14 year tenure with Starbucks.
While each location has its own unique demands
and challenges, Leslie utilizes a general
palate to bring together regional locations
under the Starbucks identity.
As an artist in a corporate environment, Leslie
counts herself fortunate to be able to use her
creativity on a daily basis. “I’m lucky in the sense
that Starbucks values good design because
that’s part of their image,” Leslie reflects.
First and foremost, Starbucks’ offices are a
workplace, but Leslie also thinks that it’s
important that there’s a good balance in her
designs. “It has to work for people, but it also
has to inspire,” she says. To blend these
elements of form and functionality, Leslie
frequently takes cues from the mobile office
environment and third place work opportunities
for which Starbucks’ retail stores are known.
“We try to build in a lot of open community
spaces; kitchens in all four corners with cafe
tables and the same kind of lounge seating
that can be found in our stores,” Leslie explains.
“Places where coworkers can bump into each
other and work casually together make it fun,
and bringing in that retail presence reminds
people of why we’re all there.” The end
result is a flexible, functional, and inspirational
work environment.
When Leslie’s looking for some inspiration of
her own, she thinks of Cornish professor
Jack Baker, who taught her how to cultivate
creativity using relaxed focus. “If you get too
tied up in trying to solve a design program
and work it too hard, it gets more muddled,”
she explains. “The idea is to step away,
concentrate on something else and then
come back. More often than not, the answer
will come to you. I do it a lot with quilting, too.”
And if that doesn’t work? Well, there’s
always a nice cup of Starbucks coffee.
– Rebecca Tompkins
18

Above
Corrie Befort. Image by
Laurent Ziegler.
corrie befort dance ‘99
Folks active in the Seattle dance community
know the vital influence that Cornish alumni
have in shaping and informing the language
of contemporary dance on a local level. One
such influence is dancer and choreographer,
Corrie Befort (DA ’99), whose recent return to
Seattle from a three-year residency in Japan
has refreshed Seattle dance audiences anew.
Home-schooled until high school by her
mother, Corrie grew up studying music, dance
and art intensively. It wasn’t until she enrolled
at the renowned Perpich Arts High School in
Minneapolis that Corrie had to actually choose
a specific discipline. Alternating between her
twin passions for music and dance, Corrie
ultimately decided on dance. She figured that
not only was music an integral part of dance,
but dance also had what she calls a “finite
timeframe,” given its physical impact and the
need for rigorous training while the body can
still absorb it.
At Cornish, what interested her most was
what she describes as “the best marriage of
a solid, technically demanding environment
that was also artistically generative.” Not
only would she grow as a dancer, but also
as a choreographer and artist.
In 1998, a year before graduating from Cornish,
Corrie began her life as a professional dancer,
becoming a founding member of the Scott/
Powell Performance dance ensemble. Within
a few years, she also started dancing with
local choreographer and improvisational
master, Sheri Cohen. Her work with Sheri
proved transformational, both in terms of her
choreographic development and in the bond
she formed with fellow dancer, Beth Graczyck.
She would go on to create the “dance/sound”
company, Salt Horse, with Beth and musician/
composer Angelina Baldoz.
Corrie’s primary artistic focus in recent years
has been filmmaking and her involvement in
Salt Horse. As a filmmaker, she is part of a
burgeoning movement of dancers exploring
the compelling outcome of merging cinema
and dance. Salt Horse, meanwhile, has
presented work in Japan, San Francisco,
Philadelphia and Seattle, and is currently a
resident dance company at Seattle’s historic
Washington Hall. In both film and on stage,
her work is genuine, pure, unembellished and
atmospheric. Her passion for music is
significantly present, and intentionally so.
“The entirety of a dance piece can be designed
by the music…. sonic environment so
determines what you are looking at,” she says.
As a performer, her authentic presence and
commanding technical skill captivates
audiences and viewers. Sandra Kurtz, Seattle
Weekly’s dance critic, observes, “Corrie
Befort can take small things — the ripple of
a wave, the shrug of a shoulder, the shift of
muscles in the back — and show them to us
as fresh and important. Even in moments of
great kinetic power, we recognize tiny details.”
This attention to detail is a manifestation of
her artistic approach. She strives to
generate work that is in her words, “simple,
yet complex,” creating a mode of communication
through movement reflected by
pattern, rhythm and timing.
Looking forward, Corrie will continue to
explore… through film, through Salt Horse,
and the many other projects that will engage
her along the way. She recently completed a
dance film about Alzheimer’s disease for the
Institute of Complex Adaptive Matter, and in
Spring 2010 she will return to Cornish to
create an original work for the Cornish
Dance Theater.
– Mari London
19

people to watch
roberta christensen performance production ‘96
When she graduated from South Kitsap High
School, Roberta Christensen had a plan.
She entered the Performance Production
Department at Cornish to become a lighting
designer. Costume design and sewing were
not in her future.
A year after completing her degree, she
headed down to Los Angeles with $500 and
a packed green Geo. Thanks to faculty member
Ron Erickson’s “strong” encouragement,
Roberta learned to sew in her final semester
at Cornish.
Ron’s wisdom helped her pay her first month’s
rent in L.A. — she was hired to help sew drapes
for the feature film, Casper. Since then, her
career has been non-stop, spanning stage
management, crew work, producing and
executive producing for film and television.
She also works in the L.A. theater scene,
and has designed and stage-managed for
the David Geffen Playhouse, the NoHo Arts
District and Hollywood’s Theatre Row.
The Performance Production Department’s
range of courses in lighting, costume and set
design, along with crew work and stage
management, influenced her career path to
her current work. “As a producer, you need
to think outside the box, be ready, and take
control. You’re really practicing Stage
Management 101.”
Her advice for Performance Production
graduates of 2009 is straightforward: “say
yes to every job; learn quickly if you didn’t
know something; and apply what you’ve
learned. The first steps you take as a
professional are key to who you become in
the industry.”
– Chris Stollery
Currently a producer for Mark Burnett Productions
and ABC, Roberta remains grateful
for the extraordinary attention and mentorship
she received at Cornish. “Cornish really prepared
me. I have a toolbox of skills and experiences
I could draw on in any situation.”
20

Above
Shroud (detail)
carved wood,
22" x 12" x 9" 2008
Below
Burned Dandelion
cast bronze,
26" x 21" x 14" 2008
dan webb art ‘91
As a child, Seattle-based sculptor Dan Webb
was fascinated by model airplanes, not in
and of themselves, but in the transformation
of a tree into a thing that flies away like a bird.
Though his childhood days of building model
airplanes are over, that same sense of wonder
at transformation can be seen in his use of
materials. Blocks of wood and bronze are
turned into things you would never imagine
they could be: flowers, leaves, roots, ripples
of water, wrinkled skin. “I still want my work
to be transformative in the way that a balsa
airplane is; made of familiar, unremarkable
materials, manipulated in such a way as to
make them unfamiliar and remarkable.”
Dan first delved into the art world by attending
the San Francisco Art Institute. He left after
realizing it wasn’t a good fit, and taking a year
off to work on his own led to the decision to
move to Seattle and attend Cornish in 1987.
Our communities influence and propel our art,
and Dan’s case is no exception. “Living in
Seattle has been key to developing the work
that I make. I think some of the instructors I
had at Cornish were able to help me — Jeffry
Mitchell and Ed Wicklander in particular. The
consensus that we, their many students,
seemed to draw from them in various ways
has to do with a cerebral kind of craftiness,
mixed with an unabashed ability to banish
irony in favor of a kind of vulnerability.”
Dan graduated from Cornish in 1991; since
then, he has established himself as a valuable
part of the Seattle art community. His piece,
‘’Little Cuts,’’ was featured in The Stranger’s
“The 25 Greatest Works of Art Ever Made in
Seattle,” and one of his public commission
works can be seen at the Bank of America
Tower in downtown Seattle. He is currently
putting together a solo show for his Seattle
gallery, Greg Kucera, and will be participating
in an upcoming group show at Ambach and
Rice in Ballard, “Joe, Jeff, Dan and Claude.”
The future also holds the completion of
commission pieces in Bellevue and Burien,
as well as an opportunity to delve into marble
carving.
Dan has also assumed another important
role in Seattle as a proponent of the
importance and power of public art, often
one of the first things to be criticized in times
of economic crisis. “Art beautifies, it edifies,
and it contextualizes. Which is to say, it
makes spaces more enjoyable to be in simply
by being beautiful. It can talk about specific
events, people or even complex ideas in a
narrative form, it can make manifest
complicated emotional states, and it
integrates the function of a space to the
people who use it.”
“During the Great Depression, the
government formed the Works Progress
Administration (WPA), which put artists,
designers and architects to work all across
America, creating a legacy that most of us
cherish to this day. In our current economic
hard times, what will be the legacy that we
will leave for others to interpret?”
– Nichole Rathburn
21

people to watch
ezra dickinson
dance ‘07
Ezra Dickinson with Belle Wolf in The Myth of Me and You,
Maureen Whiting Company. Image by Peter Mumford.
The length of Cornish dance alumnus Ezra
Dickinson’s to-do list makes one marvel at
his energy. Ezra has worked with a myriad of
performers in other disciplines, while
continuing to create his own choreography,
organize performances and create visual art.
“I get really worried when I’m not trying to do
something to further myself. If I’m not
building, then what am I doing?”
Ezra trained in classical ballet until an interest
in contemporary dance was sparked.
“Performance art, contemporary dance, was
what was exciting — I didn’t think I could
ever stop doing dance, because there was
so much to do.” Ezra has been dancing with
the Maureen Whiting Company since
Maureen asked him to join in 2006, after
seeing him perform.
Ezra’s interest in artistic growth can be seen
reflected throughout other collaborations and
projects. He is involved with an
improvisational music and dance group
called Radio Sound, and has created a
street-art sticker campaign, focusing on one
hand-drawn character for the past eight years.
Ezra’s interest in movement and the body
have given way to many experiments in
unconventional performance. One result
involves a drastic slowing down of
movements by the performer, aptly named a
slow walk. “It was like a reset button for your
body,” Ezra says of the first time it was
performed, in which performers walked only
eighteen feet in three hours. “It was amazing
how much it changed our perception and
our mode of movement.”
Ezra will be performing at the Moore Theater
in the fall, as well as in the premiere of
Bridging Wounds, which will be at the
Northwest Film Forum in September. To see
more images of Ezra’s work, visit flickr.com/
baldmanwatching.
– Nichole Rathburn
shawn “pinky” estell
performance production ‘07
Beggars Opera, Cornish College of the Arts. Technical
Director: Shawn Pinky Estell. Image by Dave Tosti-Lane.
Many of Shawn “Pinky” Estell’s best Cornish
experiences involved working alongside his
professors in local theatres. “The casual
conversations we had on breaks were
invaluable learning opportunities,” he says.
This kind of informal instruction was exactly
what Pinky had hoped to find at Cornish.
“Art really needs to be hands-on,” he
explains. The faculty’s theatre involvements
were a key indicator that, for Pinky, “there
was no other choice but Cornish.”
Two years after leaving Cornish with a
degree in Performance Production, Pinky is
now the one offering insight to others. As
Technical Director at San Francisco’s
American Conservatory Theater (ACT), Pinky
is responsible not only for main stage
productions, but also for ACT’s smaller
Second Stage shows.
Frequent student productions are also a
huge part of the job’s appeal. “The first ACT
show that I worked on was a Cabaret
production with high school kids,” Pinky
recalls. “It was an all-black set with lots of
flats and layered platforms, which I really like.
But the best part was working with the kids.
High-schoolers are such excited, intent
learners. It really made me think I’d like to
teach some day.”
With teaching a possible future goal, Pinky
continues to soak up his own learning
opportunities. “ACT has a real commitment
to education, and they want to make sure
that I succeed,” he says. With over 25 ACT
performances under his belt, all brought in at
or under-budget, he’s certainly on his way to
becoming a great role model.
– Rebecca Tompkins
22

paris hurley music ‘06
Paris Hurley began studying classical violin at
age four, but she has not become a
conventional string instrumentalist. Seamlessly
transitioning between myriad styles and
musical traditions, Paris is known today for her
chameleon-like abilities, adapting her strong,
classical technique to rock, gypsy, circus,
noise, fiddle and jazz music. What entity
changed an orchestral instrumentalist into a
genre-bending experimentalist? In one word:
Cornish. “I’m not a classical violinist,” asserts
Paris. “This was my transformation. This is
what Cornish did for me.”
When Paris first arrived at Cornish — after
making her Carnegie Hall debut at age fifteen
with the Tucson Youth Orchestra — she was
shocked to find herself the only violinist on
campus; there was no orchestra and not even
enough string players to form a quartet. A selfdescribed
“classical head,” she found her first
year of study difficult, but eventually realized
Cornish was the musical — and life —
transition she needed.
As the sole violinist in a music department full
of composers, Paris’s fellow students began
creating pieces just for her, and she began
discovering extended techniques previously
unexamined during her many years of classical
study. She met clarinetists Beth Fleenor (MU
’04) and Rosalynn DeRoos (MU ’05) and
pianist Tiffany Lin (MU ’08), and formed a
quartet debuting music written specifically for
their unique instrumental combination. Paris
also began playing with Music Department
faculty member Jarrad Powell (MU ’83) and the
Cornish Gamelan Ensemble, where she
experimented with non-Western tuning and
performance styles.
Paris joined the Degenerate Art Ensemble in
2005, and was further encouraged by the
hyper-experimental group to break away from
her traditional, classical training. The group’s
projects, from explosive rock club concerts to
large-scale dance and theater productions,
persuaded Paris to study improvisation and
composition with Cornish Music faculty
member Denney Goodhew during her final
semester.
After graduation, Paris quickly became known
in the area as a fearless improviser, and when
Seattle-based Balkan rock legends Kultur
Shock were looking for a new violinist, she was
the first person they called. She has now
performed with the group for tens-ofthousands
of fans on two European tours, and
was “completely involved” in the whole process
of making their latest album, Integration.
“I’ve had a fantastic experience with Kultur
Shock; it’s the first time I’ve been 100-percent
respected and honored for who I am, from
what I play and compose to what I wear and
how I act.”
Over the last few years, Paris has taken the
skills and confidence gained from her varied
artistic experiences and created her first evening-length
multimedia work, Bridging
Wounds. Premiered at the Northwest Film
Forum in September, this piece explores the
connection between words and perception,
integrating original music, movement and animation
by Paris, Ezra Dickinson (DA ’07),
designer Jamie Iacoli, Tilla Kuenzli (AR ’08),
filmmaker Amanda Moore, and Paurl Walsh
(MU ’05). In conjunction with this project, Paris
conducted “experience experiments” that allowed
people who think they aren’t creative to
participate in creative acts. The happenings —
including a spontaneous dance party outside a
Seattle retail store club and an amateur haircut
station at an outdoor music festival – spotlighted
how many people can experience the
same thing, each in their own way.
Paris will likely continue to experience things in
her own way, amplifying her creative voice to
develop myriad vibrant, artistic works in Seattle
and beyond.
–Nichole Maiman Waterman
23

commencement
On May 11, 2009 Cornish College celebrated its graduation
ceremony at Benaroya Hall. Theater artists Susan & Clayton
Corzatte, and visual artist John Frame, received Honorary
Degrees of Doctor in Fine Arts. The lively ceremony also
featured guest speaker Eric Liu, professor and author of
Guiding Lights: How to Mentor — and Find Life’s Purpose.
Top Left
Provost Lois Harris
Top Right
Chair of the board of trustees Carol Munro and honorary
recipients John Frame and Susan and Clayton Corzatte
Center Left
President Sergei P.
Tschernisch and commencement
speaker Eric Liu
Center Right
Student speaker Mariah
Caine Ware (TH ‘09)
Bottom
2009 Dance Department
graduates
24

2009 cornish alumni receptions
The 2009 Annual Seattle Alumni
Reception in March brought together
almost 100 Cornish alumni, faculty, staff,
and trustees from all disciplines and
generations at ACT (A Contemporary
Theatre), a great supporter of Cornish
alumni talent.
Reunited peers reconnected over their
Cornish experiences and latest
accomplishments. Delicious refreshments
were accompanied by a jazz trio lead by
current Music student Clark Gibson, and
guests received tours of ACT’s historical
theater spaces throughout the evening.
Alumni could also relate their college
experiences in the Cornish Story Nook, a
video booth confessional.
In an exciting addition to this year’s
festivities, Susan Hutchison, Executive
Director of the Charles Simonyi Fund for
Arts and Sciences, announced that the
Fund will match alumni giving, dollar-fordollar,
through May 31, 2010. Nate Brown
(Music ’99) further explained that the
match will be applied to the brand new
Cornish Alumni Scholarship Endowment
to help ensure that exceptional artists in all
disciplines can continue their studies and
follow in the footsteps of their alumni
predecessors. (To learn more about this
scholarship and the Simonyi Fund, please
see page 32.)
One month later, over 30 Cornish alumni
gathered at the home and studio of Jazzminh
Moore (Art ’00) for April’s New York
Alumni Reception. Director of
Development and Alumni Relations Chris
Stollery travelled to the Big Apple to meet
with former Cornish students and catch
up on all their news. Alumni from every
major and era admired displays of each
other’s artwork, while enjoying a great
spread of food and drink.
In addition to the official Cornish alumni
receptions, smaller, alumni-organized
reunions take place throughout the year. If
you’re interested in hosting a reunion —
either in Seattle or another city — please
contact Alumni Relations at alumni@
cornish.edu or 206.315.5839, and we’ll
do what we can to help!
Top Left
Jazz-Minh Moore (AR ‘00)
and Jake Hart (TH ‘02)
Top Right
Joseph Gray (A ‘99), Jon Mitten (TH ‘00), Dennis Raines
(AR ‘01), Omar Carrasco (AR ‘01) and Nate Brown (MU ‘99)
Bottom
Anya Ivanova (DE ‘08), Zlata Zubenko (DE ‘08), Faustino Lopez (DE ‘08), Ashley McRae (DE ‘08),
Jamie Drzayich (DE ‘08), Director of Development and Alumni Relations Chris Stollery
and Julie Woolsey (DE ‘07)
25

for the future of the arts
the campaign for cornish
The Campaign for Cornish is a multi-year, multiphase
campaign designed to ensure a vibrant
future for Cornish, and the arts in our region.
The Campaign is focused on two key priorities:
∙ Developing a State-of-the-Art Campus
∙ Building the Endowment
In 2002, Cornish embarked on a bold vision
of creating a new campus in the revitalized
Denny Triangle neighborhood in the heart of
urban Seattle. The new campus will serve
the evolving academic and creative needs of
our students and faculty now, and in the
generations to come.
The first two phases of the Campaign
resulted in the relocation of the Art, Design,
Humanities & Sciences, Performance
Production and Theater Departments, as
well as the Library, and college
administrative offices to the new Main
Campus Center near downtown Seattle. In
addition, Cornish acquired additional
adjacent properties to ensure strategic
growth of the campus, both in the near and
long term.
The third phase of the Campaign, launched
in Spring 2008, will unify the academic
campus with the creation of a new home for
the Dance and Music Departments. The new
Performing Arts Complex will house both the
administrative and academic functions for
these two departments, as well as providing
state-of-the-art studio, rehearsal and
performance spaces.
The success of the Campaign, and the
inspiring opportunities it provides for the
college and the community, would not be
possible without the exceptional generosity
of our donors. We thank the many donors
who have made meaningful gifts over the
years for their support and commitment to
our vision and the future of the arts.
Campaign Facts
Timeline: 2002 – 2012
Campaign Goal: $95,000,000
Raised To-date: $47,000,000
To learn more about The Campaign for
Cornish, or to make a gift, please contact VP
for Institutional Advancement, Jane Ewing at
206.726.5171.
new trustee
gloria j. burgess
Gloria J. Burgess is a former executive in the
computer software industry. In the mid-90s
she left that sector and founded Jazz, Inc.,
her consulting and executive coaching firm;
Jazz’s clients include AT&T, Boeing,
Microsoft, MSNBC, Vulcan, Providence
Health Systems, Girl Scouts of America,
International Coach Federation, and diverse
non-profits, including Casey Family
Programs, Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation, Helene Fuld Trust, and Noel
House. An Associate Professor at the
Saybrook Graduate School and Research
Center and former faculty at the University
of Washington, Gloria is also an awardwinning
poet, author, performing artist,
director, and inspirational speaker. She
counts among her many memorable
engagements an invitation by Switzerland’s
South African Embassy to present the
opening keynote honoring the 50th
anniversary of the historic anti-apartheid
Women’s March on the Government
Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa.
Gloria holds a PhD in Performance Studies
and an MBA in organizational behavior and
information systems from the University of
Southern California and graduate and
undergraduate degrees in speech, theater,
and education from the University of
Michigan, where early in her career she
was recognized and honored as a
Distinguished Scholar in both Theater and
Performance Studies.
26

faculty newswire
byron au yong (dance)
Byron Au Yong released the CD Kidnapping
Water: Bottled Operas, received a Creative
Capital Award for Stuck Elevator, and is part
of 4Culture’s Touring Arts Roster. In addition,
Au Yong serves on a Community Advisory
Committee for the Wing Luke Asian Museum
and is currently an Artist-in-Residence at NYU.
eric banks (music)
In addition to his teaching at Cornish and
work with The Esoterics, Eric is excited
about the premieres of several new works,
including: Twelve flowers (setting haiku by
Yosa Buson, commissioned by the Boston
Choral Ensemble), A new alphabet (setting a
poem by Nizar Qabbani for the Boston
Childrens Chorus), Voices (setting a poem
by Constantine Cavafy for the Yale Glee Club
in New Haven), as well as Approaching
ecstasy, a concert-length choral ballet featuring
The Esoterics, choreography by Olivier
Weavers, and the Saint Helens String Quartet.
john burrow (music)
The Cornish Music Series featured Music
Faculty John Burrow (MU ‘90) performing a
selection of his electro-acoustic works,
including the premiere of his light-hearted,
alternative ending to the Ramayana, You
Won’t Have This Avatar of Vishnu to Kick
Around Anymore, and a performance of
the remounted 2004 commission, Tennessee
Mermaid, for solo improvised clarinet
and processing.
jon gierlich (design)
I will be spending a week at the Island
Institute’s 25th anniversary Sitka Symposium.
This year’s topic is “FrameWork: Shaping an
Enduring Culture.” Faculty leads: Gary
Holthaus, Robin Kimmerer and poet Gary
Snyder. Faced with brutal wars across the
planet, it will be good to find a positive direction
in humankind’s self-destructive nature.
Arts to perform his work These Hills of Glory
for string quartet and improvising soloist. The
piece, presented by the Seattle Symphony
and the Earshot Jazz Festival, was performed
by odeonquartet with violin soloist
Carla Kihlstedt.
Wayne Horvitz
marya sea kaminski (theater)
Marya Sea Kaminski will be writing and
directing a new performance spectacle
called Condo Millennium, a fantastical
exploration of the politics, relationships and
stories collecting in the new landscapes of
our neighborhoods. Premiering at Seattle’s
Northwest Film Forum in May 2010.
natalie lerch (music)
Professor Natalie Lerch performed May 30th in
an evening of Latin American music with Julie
Cho, cello; Victoria Parker, violin and Oana Rusu
Tomai, piano at Good Shepherd Center. This
July and August, Natalie will sing with the
soprano quartet, Divalycious, at Julia’s on
Broadway in their new show: “Girls Gone Diva!”
choreographer of the Seattle Opera’s
production of The Marriage of Figaro along
with setting Garden Party for Cornish Dance
Theater. This summer Wade will be guest
teaching at Western Washington University
and also teaching for the 25th year at the
Boulder Jazz Dance Festival.
david nechak (art)
David Nechak will be attending The Jentel Artist
Residency Program for a month-long residency
on a thousand acre ranch in Wyoming.
roger nelson (music)
Roger Nelson conducted his Fiddle Tune
Medley for strings on Kauai in May with a
local orchestra. He conducted the Seattle
Chinese Orchestra at Folklife and in Bellevue
in June. In early August he will conduct,
teach, and perform at Midsummer Musical
Retreat in Walla Walla.
jovino santos neto (music)
Music faculty Jovino Santos Neto (MU ‘93–‘94)
has been nominated for a 2009 Latin
Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Album
for his work on Live at Caramoor. Featuring
recordings from a 2007 performance at the
Caramoor Jazz Festical in Katonah, New
York, this is Jovino’s third Grammy recognized
album, with previous nominations for Best
Jazz Album in 2004 and 2006.
wayne horvitz (music)
Music faculty Wayne Horvitz, supported by
Earshot Jazz, received the prestigious
American masterpieces: Chamber Music
grant from the National Endowment for the
wade madsen (dance)
Wade Madsen returned to Cornish College
of the Arts after taking a bereavement leave
for the fall. He performed a world premier
solo at Meydenbauer Center, and was
Jovino Santos Neto
27

faculty newswire continued
barbara noah (art)
Barbara Noah created a 100’ mural, Flying
Colors, for the Union Electric Gallery,
depicting a beanie in the Carina Nebula. It
ascended to improbable, transcendent
heights, in full-throttle can-do mode, wryly
reflective of the humor/pathos of the desire
for human achievement. Her work was also
in the “Art To Go” blog, and the Kirkland Art
Center’s Cut and Paste exhibition.
kathleen rabel (art)
Kathleen Rabel’s work was included the
exhibition, Impressions: Sixteen American
Print-makers, that opened in Wuhan, China
at The Hubei Institute of Fine Arts in
December 2008 and then opened in April,
2009 at the Wuhan Art Museum. Kathleen
has also been invited to exhibit work in the
Summer ‘09 Print Invitational Exhibit at the
Lucia Douglas Gallery in Bellingham.
kristen ramirez (art)
Art faculty Kristen Ramirez received a
Fremont Bridge residency to use one of the
bridge towers as a studio, developing a
public art project reflecting her experiences
there. The residency is part of an effort to
accentuate unique locations in the city of
Seattle. Kristen was selected by a jury based
on her work, as well as her interest in
historical research and art that interacts with
the public.
ruth marie tomlinson (art)
Ruth Marie Tomlinson currently has work in
two exhibits. The Seattle Municipal Tower
Gallery is showing Dipodies in More Than,
curated by Blake Haygood, and was
reviewed in the Seattle Weekly. The
Columbia City Gallery is showing work from
Two Dot Spot Project #1 in 5,280, curated
by Jim McDonald.
linda waterfall (music)
Linda Waterfall recently released a new
recording, Welcome to the Dark, and a video
called Way of Beauty. Video and sound clips
at http://www.myspace.com/lindawaterfall.
Her summer plans included the Juan de
Fuca Festival of the Arts, Summer Fishtrap
writer’s workshops and Gathering, and
producing a new recording for The
Righteous Mothers.
deborah wolf (dance)
Recent projects include being on the
producing team for Men in Dance’s seventh
festival, for which she also choreographed
The Hipdeep Family, a modern vaudeville
fusing contemporary dance, ballet, and silent
movie genres, with imagery suggested by
poems and illustrations of Edward Gorey.
Hipdeep repeated at the A.W.A.R.D.! Show
at On the Boards in December. Other
commissions include: Evoke Productions,
and Bellingham Repertory Dance Company.
Cornish alumni are giving back!
Remember what it was like to juggle
financial aid, scholarships, and part-time
jobs in order to complete your
education? If that sounds familiar, now’s
the time to pay it forward and make a
gift to the new Cornish Alumni Endowed
Scholarship.
Between now and May 31, 2010, all
gifts from alumni will be matched, dollar
for dollar, by a generous donor to create
the first-ever alumni-powered endowed
scholarship. Alumni from all eras and
departments have already given $8,000
in amounts ranging from $10 to $2500
– every gift helps!
You can sign up for monthly electronic
giving at
www.cornish.edu/alumnigiving, check
out our Facebook cause, or call
206.726.5064 to charge by phone or
send your check.
Thanks for helping emerging artists!
roberta russell (performance production)
Roberta Russell is designing the lighting for
two productions this summer: The Tempest
for Seattle Shakespeare Company, opening
early June, and Utopia, Ltd. for Seattle
Gilbert and Sullivan Society at the Bagley
Wright Theatre in early July.
dan d shafer (design)
Dan D Shafer coordinated a partnership
between the Seattle Center for Book Arts
and the Seattle Public Library offering free
bookbinding classes to teens in various
library branches throughout the city. Cornish
alumni Andre Martin (DE ‘09), Morgen Bell
(DE ‘09), and Nicole Stanton (DE ‘07) were
among the teachers featured in the program.
Free bookbinding class at the Seattle Public Library
we want to hear from you!
Thanks to all the Cornish alumni who
have befriended “Cornish Arts” or
become fans of “Cornish College of the
Arts-Alumni” on Facebook! We love
hearing all about your events, and we
want to help you promote them, too!
Make sure you send your performance
and exhibition announcements to
alumni@cornish.edu or fill out an Alumni
Events Calendar Submission Form at
www.cornish.edu/alumni so we can add
your events to the Cornish website.
28

alumni newswire
2009
St. Mark’s Gallery Choir premiered Psalm 31
for mixed voices by Sean Glenn (MU ’09),
and the St. Helens String Quartet performed
his Fantasia on a Lutheran Hymn at the
Second Summer Sundays in Snohomish
Series at the home and studio of alumna
Karen Guzak (AR ’76).
Religious Reich, the second studio album by
conceptual artist and performer Zoe Kaylor
(AR ’09), will be released this fall.
Joel Hathaway (DA ’08) currently dances
with Milwaukee Ballet II and teaches jazz at
Milwaukee Ballet School.
Heath Lambe (AR ’08) is the recipient of
the inaugural Conductive Garboil Grant, an
annual award established by the late Cornish
faculty member Su Jobs to honor those
artists who push the accepted limits of their
medium while engaging new audiences.
(PP ’07) and featured actors Ben Burris
(TH ’08) and Gavin McLean (TH ’08).
2008
Kimberly Almquist (DA ’08) choreographed
Something Stolen...Well, Borrowed, which
premiered at the Abrons Arts Center in New
York. The show, featuring dancers Jessica
Finn (DA ’08) and Nicole Mitchell (DA ’08),
combines dance, theater, comedy, and live
music to depict a wedding gone awry.
Something Stolen...Well, Borrowed
Celia Baker (DE ’08) recently had 26 fullcolor
illustrations published in Erik Korhel’s
children’s book, My Tooth Fell in My Soup.
Bed of Nails by Heath Lambe (AR ‘08)
Pianist and Artist Trust GAP recipient Tiffany
Lin (MU ’08) presented “Piano Racket:
Music for the Unconventional Piano,” a
concert of new and contemporary works, at
the Good Shepherd Center. The concert
featured two world premieres, including a
set of five modular and portable interludes
for toy pianos and ping pong balls by
Cornish faculty member Byron Au Yong.
The Rez as I Saw It
2007
Sarah Adamski (DA ’07) recently founded
the Serendipity Dance Brigade, where she
choreographs for and performs with fellow
Dance alumni Amy Daniel (DA ’07), Kate
Hart (DA ’07), and Cassie Wulff (DA ’06).
Kaz Nomura (MU ’07) (aka PWRFL Power)
released his newest CD, I am a Confident
Woman, and will be touring throughout
Japan this Fall.
Singer-songwriter Tai Shan (MU ’07)
released her second solo album, Tiny Planet,
with proceeds from online sales of the title
track going to Seattle’s People for Puget
Sound, an environmental, non-profit group
dedicated to the Sound’s restoration.
Thea Wolfe (AR ’07) published over 100 of
her paintings and illustrations in The Year of
the Wrong: Memoirs from the Rodeo.
2006
Sharon Arnold (DE ’06) is founder of the blog
and subscription project Artomaton/LxWxH,
an artist-driven public project based on the
promotion of locally-based art and literature.
My Tooth Fell in My Soup, illustated by Celia Baker (DE ‘08)
Tiffany Lin (MU ‘08)
The Backwards Ensemble Theatre Company
presented The Rez as I Saw It by playwright
Caleb Penn (TH ’08). The play, a
retrospective look at what it was like to grow
up as a white kid on the Suquamish Indian
reservation, was directed by Zac Eckstein
North Cascades National Park selected
Heather Biermann (AR ’06) as their spring
2009 Artist-in-Residence.
New kinetic pieces by Casey Curran (AR ’06)
were chosen for Bellevue Art Museum’s The
Book Borrowers, which presented books
transformed into sculptural works.
29

alumni newswire continued
Andrea Greenlee (PP ’06) is a graduate
student and graduate assistant in Art
Education at Pennsylvania’s Kutztown
University.
Mattie Iverson (AR ’06) exhibited new oil
paintings in Formulations, a solo show at La
Familia Artist Gallery.
Marcie Myrick (AR ’06) and Dennis
Raines (AR ’01) presented new works at
ArtsWest’s summer print exhibit, Pull This.
With an original score by Don Darryl Rivera
(TH ’06), Strawberry Theatre Workshop’s
summer production of The Elephant Man
featured the acting talents of MJ Sieber (TH
’01), lighting design by Reed Nakayama
(PP ’07), and production assistance from
Michael DellaValle (PP ’09) and Zac
Eckstein (PP ’07).
2004
Marjorie Armstong (TH ’04) will be
entering the MFA program this fall in
Ensemble-Based Physical Theatre at
California’s Dell’Arte International School.
Beth Fleenor (MU ‘04) and Paris Hurley
(MU ‘06) recently toured with Balkan punk
legends, Kultur Shock, including performances
athe the Creation of Peace estival
(Kazan, Russia) and Sayan Ring (Siberia).
Beth Fleenor on stage with Kultur Shock. Photo by Bruce Tom.
Rainbow Fletcher (DA ’04) is the Dance
Director/In-House Choreographer at Seattle’s
Can Can, as well as Co-Artistic Director/
Choreographer of the Offshore Project, a
collective of artists exploring the creative
process through dance, art and music.
Ann Koi (AR ’04) opened Catalyst Studios
in the Tacoma Arts Center.
San Francisco’s interdisciplinary
performance space The LAB presented a
staging of Suite for String Quartet by
Zachary Watkins (MU ’04) for their 25th
anniversary celebration. The work, scored
for strings and interactive electronics, was
accompanied by real-time digital animation
by Joseph Gray (AR ’99).
2003
An MFA candidate in Playwriting at Brown
University, Mallery Avidon (TH ’03) recently
had readings of her newest work, fracture/
mechanics, at Live Girls! Theater in Seattle
and The Management in New York. Chicago’s
Pavement Group premiered the play this
summer with David Perez (TH ’02) directing.
Joshua Conkel (TH ’03) directed New York
theater company The Management’s
presentation of Caitlin and the Swan, a story
inspired by the Greek myth of Leda and the
Swan.
Northwest Dance Syndrome – co-directed
by dancers/choreographers Teresa Cowan-
Kuist (DA ’03), Anne Motl (DA ’02) and
Maya Soto (DA ’03) – premiered
Junknation, with original music by Jeff
Huston (MU ’04).
The Elephant Man
Dawn Stechschulte (AR ’06) graduated
with her MFA in Painting at Ohio University
School of Art, where she interned with artist
Mark Dion and helped prepare his exhibition
at the Kennedy Museum of Art.
2005
Soul Kata – including alumni Josh Rawlings
(MU ’05), Katrina Kope (MU ’07), Nate
Omdal (MU ’04), Adam Kessler (MU ’06),
and Elijah Clark (MU ’09) – released their
second CD, Here I Am, in August at Seattle’s
Triple Door.
Lanise Antoine Shelley (TH ’04) appeared
in Shakespeare Santa Cruz’s summer
productions of Julius Caesar and A
Midsummer Night’s Dream, the latter
directed by Theater Department Chair
Richard E.T. White.
Joe Stevens (MU ’04) – as half of the
musical duo Coyote Grace – released his
second studio album, Ear to the Ground.
Marked Woman Productions’ presentation
of Pretty Girls, directed by Elizabeth
Tanner (TH ’04), followed the rise and fall of
the “Church of Beauty” and featured actors
Caitlin Gilman (TH ’04) and Opal
Peachey (TH ’04).
Junknation
Amber Hubert (TH ’03) currently appears
in Point Break LIVE! at the Dragonfly in LA.
30

Chris Laxamana (TH ’03) stars in the
comedic Web series Every Other
Wednesday with Director/Director of
Photography Tim Evans (TH ’03).
Austin Plann Curley (AR ’03) received the
2009 – 10 Mellon Fellowship in Conservation
and an internship at California’s Huntington
Library, a research and educational center
for books, art, and horticulture spanning the
development of Western culture.
Justin Simcik (AR ’03) presented The
Tarmac Sequence, 21 large, square panels
made of industrial tapes, mesh, and
polyweave tarpaulin over wood, in Flying
Solo, a quarterly exhibition at the Nashville
International Airport.
Emily White (TH ’03) will begin graduate
school at the University of Michigan this fall
after living in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, for three
years, where she studied at the Institut Seni
Indonesia Yogyakarta on the Darmasiswa
Scholarship, practiced traditional mask
dance, and participated in many
interdisciplinary collaborations.
2002
Diem Chau (AR ’02) was commissioned by
Publicis and Hal Riney to collaborate on a
national US Cellular television commercial,
which incorporated her intricately-carved
crayon sculptures.
Self Portrait by Diem Chau (AR ‘02)
After completing residencies at the Millay
Colony for the Arts in New York,
Connecticut’s Center for Contemporary
Printmaking, and Artcroft in rural Kentucky,
Liz Tran (AR ’02) returned to Seattle for
solo and group shows at Monarch Studio,
Ouch My Eye, and SAM Gallery.
Across by Liz Tran (AR ‘02)
2001
Zack Bunker (PP ’01) was Assistant Art
Coordinator for Disney’s upcoming feature
film version of Alice in Wonderland. Zack
also worked in the art departments of James
Cameron’s Avatar and Bob Zemeckis’s A
Christmas Carol, both slated for release in
late 2009.
The Central Heating Lab at ACT and the
New Century Theatre Company presented
the Seattle premiere of Orange Flower
Water, featuring actors Ray Gonzalez (TH
’01) and former Theater student Hans
Altwies, as well as technical direction by
Peter Dylan O’Connor (TH ’94).
Benaiah Koskovich (TH ’01) is pursuing
an Entertainment Business degree through
Full Sail University.
2000
Neal Bashor (AR ’00) was one of only eight
artists admitted for graduate study this fall at
USC’s Roski School of Fine Art.
Davidson Galleries presented a 10-year
retrospective of highly-detailed etchings by
printmaker Ben Beres (AR ’00).
Stephen Fandrich (’00), one of the United
States’ leading composers and teachers of
Asian-style overtone singing and Director of
Seattle Harmonic Voices, recently gave a
solo performance of his musical techniques
at Seattle’s Sukha Yoga.
The Chimera Dance Theater premiered a
new work by choreographer Jessica
Hamblen-Klepper (DA ’00) with dancers
Kathryn Hubbard (DA ’02) and Tukwila
Zimmerman (DA ’04).
Erin Philips (TH ’00) is an MFA candidate in
Playwrighting and Assistant Instructor at the
University of Texas – Austin.
The North Bank Artists Gallery in Vancouver,
WA, presented Book Sort, an adventure in
photographs by Teresa Rae (AR ’00).
1999
Angela Anderson (AR ’99) recently
launched her new line of diaper bags and
totes, Boodlebags.
Psychoanalyst Joanna Goodman (AR ’99)
– who has studied Art Therapy and has a
Master of Social Work and a Doctorate in
Cultural Anthropology – sees many artists in
her private therapy practice, and is now
working on a solo art show at her new studio in
Pioneer Square.
Light Habersetzer (DE ’99) is Senior
Designer at DEI Creative, and has created
work for such varied clients as Vulcan Inc.,
Rain Fitness, and the Green Car Company.
Classical guitarist and financial advisor Sean
Owen (MU ’97) is currently writing a book
on financial planning for professional and
recreational artists.
Junko Yamamoto (AR ’99) presented
new works in Coro Coro, a solo show at
Gallery IMA.
31

alumni newswire continued
Amelia Zirin-Brown (TH ’99) recorded
“This Little Light of Mine” with Grammywinning
cellist Yo-Yo Ma for his newest CD,
Songs of Joy & Peace; other artists collaborating
with Ma on the album include James
Taylor, Renee Fleming, and Dave Brubeck.
1998
Live Girls! Theater, founded by Meghan
Arnette (TH ’98), presented Vrooommm!, a
high-energy “NASComedy” with an allfemale
cast, including Erin Stewart (TH ’03).
Heather Hart (AR ’98) received a
prestigious 2009 Artist’s Fellowship from the
New York Foundation for the Arts for her
knitted installation pieces.
Subway Cozie, L Train Red by Heather Hart
1997
Dawn Tottenham (DA ’97) received her MD
from the University of Tennessee College of
Medicine, and is now a first-year resident in
the Emergency Medicine Residency Program
at Stony Brook in New York.
1996
Jennifer McNeely (AR ’96) was selected to
be part of Jen¹¹: 11 artists named Jennifer, a
traveling exhibition exploring if “Jennifers”
unknowingly portray a similar artistic
sensibility or are individualistic creators of
culture.
Pamela Meek-Hohner (AR ’96) is
Associate Director of Advancement at
Spokane’s St. George’s School.
1995
Shelli Gonshorowski (PP ’95) produces
travel expert Peter Greenberg’s nationallysyndicated
radio program.
Christopher Goodson (TH ’95) played
Sancho in The Dawn of Quixote: Chapter the
First, a philosophical and musical exploration
of the first chapter of Don Quixote, at this
summer’s Edinburgh (Scotland) Fringe Festival.
The Dawn of Quixote by Christopher Goodson
HOW magazine recently featured Tony
Secolo (DE ’95), his graphic design work for
such clients as Death Cab for Cutie and the
City of Portland, and his Portland design
store, Office PDX.
1994
Greg Bennick (TH ’94) was interviewed by
NPR’s “Morning Edition” and “All Things
Considered” about his new film, The
Philosopher Kings.
Lorna Nakell (AR ’94) received an Oregon
Arts Commission Career Opportunity Grant
in support of her Grants Pass Museum of Art
exhibition of diptychs juxtaposing natural
formations in the environment with those
found in or on the human body.
1993
Erik Geschke (AR ’93) presented new
works this summer in exhibitions at Portland
State University and the Pacific Northwest
College of Art.
1992
Stacee Nault (DA ’92) retired as a musical
theater performer, and now teaches musical
theater dance and ballet for 5th Avenue
Theatre, Cascade Dance Academy, and
Village Theatre Kidstage.
1988
Joseph Park (’88) exhibited artwork,
memorabilia, sketches, video, and other
sources of inspiration from his personal
archives in Cornish Gallery’s The Hotness: A
Sort of Retrospective.
1987
Lisa Halpern (TH ’87) directed a reading of
the She Can’t Stay with Me at Theater Off
Jackson, and the FilmSchool will be
producing it again at ACT to inaugurate their
new screenplay reading series.
Julie McMurray (DA ’87) owns and directs
the Woodinville Dance Academy.
1986
Susan Senft (MU ’86) is the Artistic
Director of Seattle’s Pacifica Choirs, teaches
Kodály Method at Seattle Pacific University
and is Music Director of Woodland Park
United Methodist Church.
1983
Rose Cano (TH ’83) directed the premiere
of bilingual musical Callejon (The Alley) at the
Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center.
The show was produced by Rose’s African
ConeXion Project, which promotes unity
between Latino, African American and
African communities in Seattle.
1982
Kathleen McHugh (AR ’82) continues to
exhibit nationally and internationally, and her
work will be published this fall in The Book of
Contemporary Women Artists.
1996
NPR’s “Morning Edition” currently uses guitar
performances by Margaret Slovak (MU ’96)
as interlude music between program segments.
Eleuthera Lisch (TH ’93) is the Director of the
YMCA’s Alive and Free program, which trains
students in Seattle schools to eliminate violence
in their own lives and in their communities.
32

in memoriam
Cornish has lost three long-time friends who each played
significant roles in the Cornish community. Their influence
and contributions to Cornish will be enduring legacies for
decades to come.
Gwenn Barker
1929 – 2009
Max Gurvich
1915 – 2009
Peter F. Donnelly
1939 – 2009
Cornish hosted a tribute to Gwenn Barker
on May 3, 2009. Family members and
former colleagues filled the room to share
stories about Gwenn’s extraordinary
influence and accomplishments. Gwenn
served as director of the Cornish Preparatory
Dance Program from 1979 – 1990, and as
member of the faculty prior to retiring in
1996, Gwenn greatly expanded the
program’s curriculum and quality and was a
mentor to many young, talented dancers.
Gwenn began dancing as a child in London,
and continued her ballet training in
Washington and New York. Highlights of her
impressive professional career included
performing with the famed Ballet Russe de
Monte Carlo and the Radio City Music Hall
Ballet Company.
Gwenn’s spirit and influence will continue to
inspire growing dancers in the Cornish
Preparatory Dance Program through the
annual awarding of the Gwenn Barker
Endowed Scholarship. To find out how you
can contribute to this scholarship fund in
Gwenn’s memory, please contact the Office
of Advancement at 206.726.5064.
We also mourn the loss of arts patron and
philanthropist Max Gurvich, who set the
record for continuous years of service as a
trustee of Cornish. In his twenty-seven
years as a trustee, Max chaired the board
for two separate terms. He championed
key initiatives of the college, including its
fully-accredited four-year status in 1977,
the institution of the liberal arts curriculum,
the establishment of the Performance
Production Department, and the hiring of
President Sergei P. Tschernisch in 1994.
Along with the entire arts community in
Seattle, Cornish mourns the loss of Peter
Donnelly. One of the most significant voices
in the cultural life of Puget Sound for the
past four decades, Peter’s early leadership at
the Seattle Repertory Theatre created a
structure that allowed the company to grow
artistically and expand locally and nationally.
He then led the Corporate Council for the
Arts (now ArtsFund) through significant
growth, establishing a national model for
corporate funding of the arts.
A wonderful friend of Cornish, and a member
of the President’s Advisory Council, Peter
was awarded an honorary degree at the
2001 Cornish College of Arts Commencement
ceremony and gave a memorable speech to
the graduating class filled with his
characteristic charm and insight.
33

1000 Lenora Street Seattle WA 98121 www.cornish.edu
Credits
InSight is published annually by the
Office for Institutional Advancement
Meike Kaan
Director of Communications
206.726.5169
mkaan@cornish.edu
Contributors: Lisa Halpern, Mari London, Nichole Maiman
Waterman, Thomas May, Nichole Rathburn, Chris Stollery,
Rebecca Tompkins
Copy editor: Lauren J. Lee
Design: Emily Hooper
©2010 Cornish College of the Arts. All right reserved.
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