Celebrating 160 years & beyond! - Moore College of Art and Design

A L U M N A E N O T E S
Mary Katowitz ’00, Between, 2008
Deborah McCarthy ’99 had work
in two exhibitions. Evolution: Making Art for
Change, opened April 2008 in the North
Campus Duderstadt Gallery at the University
of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. This spring,
McCarthy also participated in Women Helping
Women, Stitch by Stitch.
Betsy Casanas ’00 is a founding
member of El Vejigante Arts initiative. The
first large event, on April 26, 2008, was
Recuperando el Barrio, designed to “raise the
spirit of the community by bringing art and
music” to create a block party. Scheduled
were drummers, dancers, poetry, arts and
craftvendors, and food, all with the help of
community members, organizations and
artists who volunteered their time and
resources. Two hundred of Casana's students
worked on 4 x 8-foot masonite flowers
that were wired to fences in a neglected
playground “to begin the process
of transformation.”
Marie Hutchinson Elçin ’00 In May,
Elçin assembled a collaborative quilt that was
exhibited in Environmental Distress, a group
exhibition by members of WCA and Women
Helping Women Stitch by Stitch. The quilt was
made by 38 American and Afghani artists,
members of the WCA and Rubia, an
organization dedicated to improving the
quality of life and economic viability of
women in Afghanistan. Three other
alumnae: Deborah McCarthy ’99,
Michelle Wilson ’00 and Heather
Sundquist ’07, participated in the
collaboration. After the exhibition in May at
the City Government Building in Wilmington,
DE, the quilt will go on tour. Elçin is
also co-chair of the Philadelphia Chapter of
Women’s Caucus for Art. She taught “From
Photo to Fiber” at the Perkins Art Center in
Collingswood, NJ. The class explores basic
embroidery techniques to translate photos
and sketches into freehand embroidery.
Mary Katowitz ’00 exhibited paintings
at the Bucks Gallery of Fine Art in
Newtown, PA. This fall, she will participate
in Dear Fleisher, an invitational biennial
exhibition to support the Samuel S. Fleisher
Art Memorial. She has recently received
emerging artists representation with
Hernandez-Contemporary in Scottsdale, AZ.
She is looking forward to showing new work
in the Bucks Gallery this September with a
two-person show. She writes, “Please visit me
in Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts 2009
annual MFA exhibition next spring!”
Michelle Ortiz ’00 was one of 24
artists selected in the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania to exhibit in Celebration of Visual
Traditions: New Work of Diverse Pennsylvania
Artists, a traveling biennial exhibition juried
by Faith Ringgold. Presented by the
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and The
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