College of Arts + Architecture

The Johnson Band Center, built for the UNC Charlotte “Pride of Niner Nation” Marching Band, has received two design awards. In May, the building received a 2016 Merit Award from the South Carolina chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). This month, the Charlotte chapter of the AIA also selected the band center for a 2016 Merit Award. 

The Johnson Band Center was dedicated on Oct. 21, 2015. It is named for Vickie and Gene Johnson, UNC Charlotte alumni whose generous support launched the “Pride of Niner Nation” Marching Band.

A quartet of UNC Charlotte music students will perform at two international conferences during the month of July: the International Conference for Music Perception and Cognition (ICMPC), which will take place July 5-9 in San Francisco, and the International Society for Music Education (ISME) 32nd World Conference on Music Education, which will be July 24-29 in Glasgow, Scotland. The participating students are Mitchell Stokes, Faith Foster, Kelsey Sexton and Dawn Carpenter. The quartet will be the only ensemble to perform at the ICMPC in San Francisco.

Andrew Hartley, Robinson Distinguished Professor of Shakespeare in the Department of Theatre, has written a new fantasy-adventure-mystery for young adult readers. “Steeplejack: A Novel” will be released by Tor Teen on June 14.

Set in 19th-century South Africa, the book has received glowing reviews, particularly for its young female protagonist. The monthly book review publication BookPage named it the “Top Teen Pick” for June 2016. Steeplejack is the first book in a series of three.

Music student Ben Shafer was accepted for Music House, an international music festival hosted by the Philadelphia Orchestra. This intensive training program, held on the campus of Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania from June 15 through July 1, provides college students and young professionals the opportunity to work directly with musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra in private lessons, master classes, seminars and orchestral rehearsals and performances.

Students in the School of Architecture’s AIAS “Freedom by Design” chapter recently completed the first of a two-phase project at the Cabarrus Bilingual Preschool, run by Families First in Cabarrus County, a nonprofit organization that serves low-income families through bilingual (Spanish and English) programs for children and parents.

The finished phase of the project includes a privacy fence weave of colorful nylon strips woven through the existing chain link fence, a series of interactive wooden panels attached to the fence and a large gardening area.

Carl DuPont, assistant professor of voice, will compete in the 20th International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition, which will take place in Leipzig, Germany, July 4-16. This competition is held in the categories of voice, organ and cello/Baroque cello and consists of four competitive rounds in each category. Participants were chosen in a juried pre-selection process this spring.

The Projective Eye Gallery at UNC Charlotte Center City will present “Digital Dialogues,” two multimedia installations that incorporate full-scale digital fabrication with a touch of the hand and a topographic perspective.  Newly formed collaborative teams of College of Arts + Architecture professors and students have expanded the creative process, removing the control of the solely autonomous artist. 

Five faculty members of the Department of Art and Art History will be part of the group exhibition “Pacts and Invocations: Magic and Ritual in Contemporary Art,” which opens Thursday, June 23, at the Spartanburg Art Museum.

Curated by Assistant Professor of Print Media Erik Waterkotte, “Pacts and Invocation” will feature work by 10 artists, including UNC Charlotte faculty members Malena Bergmann, Aspen Hochhalter, Anna Kenar, Janet Williams and Waterkotte.

Learn more about how the School of Architecture offers a well-rounded education for students.

The UNC Charlotte “Pride of Niner Nation” Marching Band has been selected as the official band to represent the United States in Normandy, France, in June 2018. The performance will mark the 74th anniversary of D-Day. Each year, one band is chosen to represent the United States at the D-Day commemoration. The honor was reserved historically for official military bands, but, in recent years, it has been assigned to university marching bands of distinction.