Music alumnus doing some incredible work during this time of COVID
Alumnus Ingela Onstad doing some incredible work during this time of COVID.
Ingela Onstad, who completed her M.M. In Voice Performance (2014) and her M.A. in Mental Health Counseling (2017) from UNM, recently launched a new business called Courageous Artistry. Through this new business, she works as an anxiety coach for performing artists. She has shared her expertise on overcoming performance anxiety at institutions such as Colby College, Tulane University, Fort Lewis College, the University of New Mexico, Rio Grande NATS, Albuquerque Music Teachers’ Association, the New Mexico School for the Arts, Portland State University, Youth Opera of El Paso, and the University of Texas at El Paso. During March and April, she has been helping musicians across the U.S. cope with their anxiety due to cancellations of performances and economic insecurity caused by the global pandemic by presenting numerous free online webinars. In these free webinars, she presents researched and documented modalities and strategies to help lower stress levels and anxiety.
Ms. Onstad, a Santa Fe native, returned to complete her graduate work at UNM after a lengthy European opera career. In addition to her work as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Anxiety Coach, she maintains a busy schedule of performances across the U.S. and abroad. Highlights of her performance career include opera performances at Dresden’s Staatsoperette, Oldenburgisches Staatstheater, Landestheater Schleswig-Holstein, and Santa Fe Opera, and concert performances with the Santa Fe Symphony, New Mexico Philharmonic, Chatter, Bad Reichenhaller Philharmonie, Chicago Arts Orchestra, and many others.
Visit: courageousartistry.com
Follow her on social media @courageousartistry
Engaged Practices, Professor Subhankar Banerjee’s Showcase, looking at Nature Journaling as Pedagogy
Congratulations to Professor Subhankar Banerjee, whose classes “Introduction to Art and Ecology” and “Biodiversity, Creative Practice, Justice” explored nature journaling as both a visual and literary practice, culminating in a showcase last week. Banerjee, Art professor and founder and director of the Center for Environmental Arts & Humanities, described the motivation behind the project as creating “to have an alternative outlet to engage, not only a class project, but for their own life, and their own journey of learning at UNM,” particularly in the context of students living in “the digital space.” He further says, “Teens, as well as young adults, are spending increasingly more time on the internet.
Art MFA Student, Hanna Brody, featured in The New York Times
Art MFA student, Hanna Brody, recently completed a painting for author T Kira Māhealani Madden that was featured in The New York Times. Her book, titled “Somebody Killed Her Assailant. Was Justice Served?” has a featured review written by Catherine Chidgey and original art by UNM MFA student Hanna Brody.
Analisa Peña awarded Hulsman Undergraduate Library Research Award’s Emerging Researcher
Congratulations to Analisa Peña, who was selected as the 1st place winner in the 2026 Hulsman Undergraduate Library Research Award’s Emerging Researcher category regarding her work, The Many Faces of Christ: Understanding ‘Trifacial Trinity’ by Gregorio Vasquez Arce y Ceballos.