Gestures W'06_07 FINAL 2.indd - Temple University

student news
Tyler’s 2006
Graduation Ceremony
The graduation ceremony was held on Thursday, May 18, 2006.
Hundreds of people eager for celebration gathered on the lawn
in front of Tyler Hall to watch the Class of 2006 receive their
diplomas.
Tyler’s Dean, Keith Morrison, gave the keynote address.
As a distinguished artist, art educator, curator, art critic and
administrator, his background covers most of the student’s
interest areas. He spoke of growing up in Jamaica and wanting
to study art, but
“A A C A R E E R PAT H
F O R A N A R T I S T I S
U N P R E D I C TA B L E A N D
A D V E N T U R O U S.”
- K E I T H M O R R I S O N
never thinking past
studying art to
pursuing a career in
art. He fi gured he
would simply head
back to Jamaica and
load bananas onto
boats at the docks.
A career path for an
artist is unpredictable
and adventurous.
Two seniors were nominated as student speakers and
happened to have a history of being college sweethearts. Julia
Davis graduated summa cum laude with a BFA in graphic and
interactive design and Bill Melone graduated with a BFA in
painting and art history. They met and became friends while
Graduation speakers, Bill Melone,
BFA ’06 and Julia Davis, BFA ’06.
Jessica Preston, BFA ’06, left, and her friend.
living in the dorms and through their involvement in the
Bible study, Tyler Christian Fellowship. They were married on
October 8, 2006 in Leola, Pennsylvania.
Melone remarked, “One of many things I learned during my
time at Tyler is that you don’t need to create art or live a life or
say a saying that absolutely defi es categorization and is totally
original. Take a cliché—something simple, known, perhaps
obvious, and add a new inch to it. You don’t need to jump ten
feet, you only need to jump an inch. You don’t stay with the
cliché but you add what you have to it.”
Davis continued, “Being an artist means that I have been
gifted with talents, and Tyler was a specifi c opportunity to
grow those talents. In the process of making art, we ourselves
are part of a larger process. We are living out these verbs of
creation, building visual worlds for ourselves while carrying this
responsibility of building into the bigger world around us.”
Following graduation, hundreds of students, parents, alumni,
faculty and friends gathered for a yearly tradition in Penrose
Hall. As part of the admissions requirements, each student
must create a self-portrait upon entering Tyler as a freshman
and then these same masterpieces re-emerge upon their
graduation.
TYLER GESTURES WINTER 2006 15