Putting Student Research Center Stage

• Watch the IRC Fellows’ award winning video

UMBC’s Visual Arts Imaging Research Center (IRC) Fellows recently won an animation competition presented by the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra. The Fellows created a video to accompany a five-minute contemporary violin composition, Try to Believe, by Randall Woolf, that was screened during the Orchestraís performances in New York in April.

Over 28 paper, foam core and mixed media sculptures were created to make a dizzying, surreal accompaniment to Woolf’s composition. The 10 Fellows in the Visual Symphony course, taught by Eric Dyer ‘95, assistant professor of visual arts, mixed the concept of the zoetrope – a pre-cinema optical toy – with digital video technology for this form of “live” animation. The visual content loosely follows a modern-day “Alice” through a  dream-like landscape – a narrative that, like Woolf’s music, is a balance between abstraction and the familiar.

“The IRC Fellows ran with this project from the start and they poured an enormous amount of smart creativity and enthusiasm into it,” said Dyer. “They managed to successfully visualize the music of a great contemporary composer while maintaining their own distinct artistic voice. We’re proud of them – the public presentation of their video in New York City is a well-deserved award.”

In addition, the Fellows will perform the animations live at the Baltimore Creative Alliance on May 13. They will be accompanied by violinist Martin Shultz of the Peabody Conservatory.

The Visual Arts Imaging Research Center (IRC) Fellows Program is a unique fellowship designed to recognize, reward and encourage students who have displayed exceptional  talent and skill in art and technology during their first two years as undergraduate art majors. Each semester, students in the program participate in a small specially designed seminar style course that focuses on aspects of emerging technologies, media criticism and related themes. These courses usually serve as electives within the student’s degree requirements. Often, the courses are unique offerings developed exclusively for IRC Fellows. For more information on the program, visit www.irc.umbc.edu/ircfellows/.

5/12/08

© 2007-08 University of Maryland, Baltimore County � 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250 � 410-455-1000 �