College of Fine and Applied Arts

Dr. Nina-Jo Moore, associate dean of the College of Fine and Applied Arts and professor of communication, received the John Shields award for her service to Pi Kappa Delta (PKD) National Honor Society.

The John Shields award is annually presented to a PKD member who has shown dedication and commitment to the mission of the organization. It honors those who display outstanding service to its activities.

“Nina-Jo Moore was honored by PKD with one of their most prestigious awards in recognition of her extremely outstanding service as editor of The Forensic, the organization’s scholarly journal, her professionalism in the communication discipline and forensics subdiscipline and her lifelong character of friendship, good cheer and commitment to the highest ideals of ‘the art of persuasion, beautiful and just,’” said Michael Bartanen, former editor of the Forensic and current PKD historian.

Moore recently completed two four-year terms as editor of PKD’s professional journal, The Forensic, and its newsletter, “The Key.” She also facilitated the development and maintenance of a PKD webpage, served as Nomination Committee Chairperson for six years and, prior to becoming editor, served as a tabulation room staff member at the National Convention and Tournament for 14 years.

Pi Kappa Delta is an honorary consisting of educators, students and alumni committed to encouraging the education of articulate citizens through a three part focus: the commitment to and promotion of ethical, humane and inclusive communication and educational practices; the commitment to and promotion of professional development of forensics educators; and the commitment to and promotion of comprehensive forensics programming. PKD will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2013.

A motorcylce built by industrial design student Hugh Owings has been featured in XS650chopper.com.

The motorcycle also will appear in Cycle Source magazine in January.

Broken Distinction Between Art and Life, featuring works by Nicola Mousa Bajalia II is the first abstract painting exhibition at the Robert F. Gilley Recording Studio Gallery in the Hayes School of Music building. The exhibition opened Nov. 16 and continues through Feb. 12, 2010.

Nicola Mousa Bajalia II works with a wide variety of mediums including paint, steel, wood and a multitude of mixed media. In Broken Distinction Between Art and Life, Bajalia focuses his efforts on abstract paintings that directly involve the subconscious. By acting out his feelings onto the canvas, Bajalia practices action painting, a popular term used by Abstract Expressionist artists. However Bajalia’s paintings are not a reaction to the Abstract Expressionist movement from the 1950’s, but are similar in process and content. With the removal of the figure and any recognizable imagery, Bajalia encourages viewers to recall past thoughts, experiences, and feelings to understand the abstraction in his art. He hopes to transcend the representational by expressing what is intangible, ephemeral, and transient through the act of painting. For Bajalia the final product is not as important as the process in making the work. We should then think of each work as an event, that the artist has performed for us and its end result is what is left for us to analyze.

Kyle Fisher, the curator of the exhibition, is interested in the “performance” between Bajalia and his paintings. An art history student at Appalachian State University, Fisher gained gallery experience at both the Catherine J. Smith Gallery and the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts. This is the first occasion where Fisher exhibits his skills as a curator at the Robert F. Gilley Recording Studio Gallery. Fisher’s main intentions for this exhibition are to help generate a discussion about abstract expression and encourage viewers to better experience Nicola Mousa Bajalia’ II series of work.

“Avon, NC” by John Scarlata

“Living In The Light,” a 35-year retrospective of John Scarlata’s work, will be on exhibit at the Wellington B. Gray Gallery at East Carolina University from Jan. 11 to Feb. 20.

“Over the past 35 years, I have exhibited photographic images in juried and individual museum and gallery exhibits throughout the world, including New Zealand, Cuba, China, and in the United States,” said Scarlata. “Unlike these more focused exhibits, this retrospective will allow me to exhibit a lifetime of creative work as a cohesive exhibition…from landscapes as metaphor, self-portraits delving into Jungian psychology, a historically based series of images of luminous surfaces, to the political and commercialization of the landscape. The exhibit will include vintage images from graduate school to images from recent years. It will also feature reinterpretations of work from different periods of my artistic career and images that have never previously been printed or displayed.”

Junior advertising major, Sarah Hostyk, won second place in the Nov. 6 “Pitch Your Idea in 90 Seconds” contest, sponsored by 3tailer of Charlotte and Magic Cycles of Boone, and coordinated by the Center for Entrepreneurship.

Hostyk made her 90-second pitch along with 20 other finalists selected out of 185 submissions. She received $500 and also received $250 for winning “The Best Presentation.”

Hostyk’s business is Shoe Residue Advertising Creative Company. Her advertising company uses an outdoor advertising medium with a creative, unique and eco-friendly twist to gain consumers’ attention. She plans to work in advertising and also start a few different business ventures after graduating.