Boston University College of Fine Arts Magazine Spring 2021 Music for Change Kim Raver on Grey’s Anatomy in a Pandemic Celebrating Graphic Design Diversity Boston University College of Fine Arts Magazine Spring 2021 Dean Music for Change Kim Raver on Grey’s Anatomy Harvey Young CFA in a Pandemic Celebrating Graphic Design Magazine Diversity Assistant Dean, Development & Alumni Relations Spring Janna Schwartz 2021 Senior Associate, Development & Alumni Relations A NOTE FROM HARVEY Denise Savino (CAS‘11) Director of Communications Laurel Homer (CAS’98) Assistant Director of Communications ON THE COVER: Cellist Emily White My grandfather—“CY” to his friends—was my favorite person Kendall Ramseur (’12). Photo by Hannah Rose Editor when I was a kid. With his own hands, he built a house in South Osofsky Mara Sassoon Carolina. Later, he rode the last wave of the Great Migration to Art Director the industrial North. Together, we fished in the summers and he’d Published by Boston Lee Caulfield share his old man wisdom. Best of all: he kept two freezers filled University College 2 SHOWCASE Contributing Writers with ice cream of every flavor. A cape could not have made him of Fine Arts Marc Chalufour more of a hero. PAINTING WITH Produced by Boston Taylor Mendoza (CAS’18) But flying was his kryptonite. Hospitalized after a heart at- PURPOSE University Marketing & Doug Most Josué Rojas (’15) tack, he shared a regret. He had never flown to Florida, where his Communications Andrew Thurston represents his Latinx brother had lived for more than 50 years. He confided, “Life is too community in works short. Family is important.” If his health improved, he promised that blend classic that he finally would visit his brother’s home. He would dine at his techniques with brother’s table. street art CFA ON INSTAGRAM CY recovered. His laugh returned. His brush with death had given him a new outlook. He seemed to have a new lease on life. 8 COLLAGE I offered to fly with him.Let’s book that flight now. My grand- The World of CFA TRUE LIFE father hesitated. Weeks later, he told me a story about a plane DRAMA engine failing somewhere in the world. A few months after that, he 16 CONVERSATION Grey’s Anatomy actor decided that a car trip—nearly 24 hours—might be better despite Kim Raver (’91) on the his aching back. More months passed. Years. A bigger, more in- Cellists Laura show’s COVID-19 story tense cardiac episode claimed his life. He never made it to Florida. Metcalf (’04) and CY died 20 years ago. However, as the threat of the current pan- Kendall Ramseur line, filming scenes in PPE, (’12) discuss mak- demic ebbs, I find myself thinking about him more and more. It’s and honoring healthcare ing music during not just those stories of vaccinated grandparents hugging their workers the pandemic and grandkids after a too-long separation. It’s also the way people balancing work and talk about the things that they will do after the pandemic. parenthood I share this story because I hope that the perspectives gained PLAY ON and priorities newly realized over the past year will guide you for- 32 PROCESS US music education ward. Reconnect with friends and loved ones. Volunteer. Donate. Graphic designer is in a fragile space, Apply for that job. Mentor. Bake a cake. Learn a new language. Go Sarah Bassett’s (’15) but it could emerge to the opera. Book that flight. Become the person you want to be. creative process from COVID-19 more I invite you to join me in rebuilding the fine and performing arts. includes a treasure diverse, inclusive, and The arts need our help more than ever. If you would like to share chest of inspiration relevant than ever your goals for the future, please email me at [email protected]. and the occasional Did you know BU Bands turned 100 this year? cross-stitch #tbt to their final performance of their centen- nial year on Marsh Plaza in April! @buband offers Harvey Young, Dean of CFA 36 CLASS NOTES music-making opportunities for all students of the @bostonu community, including Athletic You’re painting, Bands, Concert Ensembles, sculpting, directing, Jazz Ensembles, and Chorus. performing, writing, #ProudtoBU teaching, composing WRITE: Share your thoughts ENGAGE: SCENE Victoria Paspalas (’21) on this issue—and anything else ffacebook.com/BUArts STATE OF ART CFA-related—at [email protected]. t @BUArts 41 MUSE Art dealer Arne Glimcher (’61) DESIGN DIVERSITY Scan the QR code to check out YSearch “Boston University Elvis inspires a short reflects on how the art world A traveling exhibition highlights a video about BU Bands College of Fine Arts” film about gender has changed, and where he work of African American artists Celyn Brazier; David Livingston/Getty Images; Tony Luong; Kevin Sturman Luong; Kevin Images; Tony Livingston/Getty Brazier; David Celyn Natasha Moustache identity sees it headed 2 0521 CFA Spring 2021 bu.edu/cfa 1 PAINTING WITH PURPOSE With a team of local Blending classic techniques with street art, Josué Rojas street artists, Josué Rojas (’15) painted represents his Latinx community with a unique voice Birds of the Americas in San Francisco’s By Marc Chalufour Mission District. Gabriela Hasbun 2 CFA Spring 2021 bu.edu/cfa 3 undreds of murals illustrate the streets and alleys of San Francisco’s Mission District where Josué Rojas works. They tell the stories of immi- Below: Homogenized grants to the historically Latinx neighbor- (2016) Acrylic and H mixed media on hood. They honor women and LGBTQIA+ canvas, 36 x 60 in. pioneers. And they give a voice to a commu- Right: La Palabra nity pushing back against police violence and y La Imagen (2016) gentrification. Graffiti and street art merge in Acrylic on canvas, 80 x 40 in. Both pieces this open-air gallery. appeared in Rojas’ Rojas (’15) has lived or worked in the show, ¡Gentromancer!, Mission since he was a toddler—his family set- which focused on the threat of tled here after fleeing El Salvador’s civil war— gentrification to the only leaving to spend two years at CFA. Since Mission. first picking up a paintbrush as a teenager, Rojas has developed into one of the communi- ty’s leading artistic voices, frequently exhibit- ing his work, painting murals, and encouraging other artists to tell their own stories. “In this community, art is the glue,” he says. The neighborhood that led him to art and continues to inspire him today has also given him the confidence to take a big leap: in 2021, he decided to strip away his other obligations—including running a local non- profit—and focus full time on his art. MASTERING THE LANGUAGE Rojas says his life could’ve gone in a very dif- ferent direction. His father died when he was 15, and he began acting out. “I started getting in trouble, writing graffiti.” But he also got a part- time job at Precita Eyes Muralists, a nonprofit that has promoted art in the Mission since the 1970s. Soon, he was learning to paint. “It was the first time I had found some- thing that I was actually good at,” he says. Small jobs followed: designing murals, illus- trating stories for the Pacific News Service, a publisher of independent journalism. Rojas began writing for them as well, continuing to report while he studied painting as an under- grad at the California College of the Arts. Reporting trips to Central America inspired his art and gave him the financial flexibility to pursue it. But when journalists began getting killed by gangs, Rojas reevalu- liked the idea of stepping away from home to comfortable with urban art and what’s under- abstract expressionism. “Now I feel very ated his plans. He learned about BU while see what he could accomplish when focused stood as Mexican heritage—classic murals comfortable being bilingual—I can speak East attending the Institute for Recruitment of entirely on his art. inspired by Diego Rivera and then evolving Coast and West Coast within American art.” Teachers at Phillips Andover Academy in Rojas speaks of art as a language and into the Chicano movement of the 1960s,” His thesis collection, The Joy of Exile, Andover, Mass., which promotes diversity says his decision to study at CFA helped he says. Two years in Boston allowed him to featured a series of paintings, but Rojas’ in teaching and educational leadership. He Rojas Josué of Courtesy him expand his vocabulary. “I felt very develop classic techniques and styles, like vision extended well beyond the canvas. He 4 CFA Spring 2021 bu.edu/cfa 5 pandemic, Rojas decided to coordinate a large And he couldn’t be in a better place to do Left: Rojas’ mural Enrique's Journey team project in fall 2020. Birds of the Ameri- so. Even as the Mission changes and longtime (2009) was inspired by cas, an 80-foot-wide and 25-foot-tall mural in residents are priced out, Rojas sees positive Sonia Nazario’s book the heart of the Mission, celebrates the lives signs. There are still more walls to paint and of the same name and is located at Balmy of four men, each depicted as a Central Amer- new galleries keep opening, allowing voices Alley in San Francisco. ican bird: El Salvador’s torogoz for Andres like his to continue to be heard. “It’s a revolu- Below: Joy of Exile: Guardado, a toucan for Sean “Tucan” Mon- tionary act,” he says, of his community’s insis- Mara Kid (2013) Oil terrosa, and Guatemala’s quetzal for Amilcar tence that art is important.