Category: Alumni Spotlight
College of Fine Arts News
Student and Alumni Spotlights – Get To Know Our Students!
Alayah Fierro was born and raised in Albuquerque and is in her third year at UNM. She is majoring in art studio with plans to graduate in 2025! Her plans post-graduation include selling her artwork and participating in gallery exhibitions. She hopes to get her name...
Creator of UNM Sitcom Boot Camp, Brian Levant, receives alumni Lobo Award: Director, writer, producer, and author
By Mary Beth King Brian Levant admits he didn’t choose to enter The University of New Mexico to engage entirely in rigorous academics. However, during his time at UNM, he found his passion, graduated, and has gone on to have a highly successful career in the TV and...
Sundance and Star Wars: Universes Where F&DA Alumni Shine
By James Stone Shaandiin TomeShaandiin is a filmmaker based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her breakout, award-winning short film Mud (Hashtł’ishnii) premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 2018. She returned to Sundance in January 2022, co-directing and premiering Long...
UNM Voice/Opera Alumni Enjoying Great Success
By Michael Hix Soprano Lydia Grindatto (BM Voice Performance 2018) and Baritone Jonathan Patton (MM Voice Performance 2020) are enjoying successes nationwide on the opera stage. Grindatto is currently completing her Artist Diploma at the prestigious Academy of Vocal...
MacArthur Fellowship awarded to UNM alum Raven Chacon
Pulitzer Prize winning Diné composer and sound artist Raven Chacon, who earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in music at The University of New Mexico, has been awarded the prestigious MacArthur Genius Grant. To read the full story, please...
Alumni Spotlight – Life post graduation: What happens next?
Cortney YellowHorse-Metzger is a mixed media artist living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She received her Bachelors of Fine Arts in ceramics from Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri in 2016. She completed her Masters of Fine Arts with an emphasis in...
Announcing the Distinguished Alumni Award
Announcing the Distinguished Alumni Award The College of Fine Arts at The University of New Mexico announces the Distinguished Alumni Award. This award is a recognition or honor presented to graduates who have achieved outstanding success and made significant...
UNM Art History alumna, Suzanne McLeod (Ph.D. 2020) awarded the Popejoy Dissertation Prize
UNM Art History alumna, Suzanne McLeod (Ph.D. 2020) awarded the Popejoy Dissertation Prize UNM Art History alumna, Suzanne McLeod (Ph.D. 2020) has been awarded the Popejoy Dissertation Prize for her ground-breaking dissertation on Spanish-Indigenous contact in the...
Congratulations UNM Photography alum Martin Wannam who is now the Assistant Professor of Art at UNC Chapel Hill
Congratulations UNM Photography alum Martin Wannam who is now the Assistant Professor of Art at UNC Chapel Hill Martín Wannam (b. 1992, Guatemala) is a visual artist and educator whose work critically examines Guatemalan’s historical, social, and political climate,...
UNM MFA Art & Ecology alum Dylan McLaughlin appointed Early Career Fellow at UT Austin
UNM MFA Art & Ecology alum Dylan McLaughlin appointed Early Career Fellow at UT Austin The University of Texas at Austin, College of Fine Arts welcomes three Early Career Fellows for the next two years as part of its Expanding Approaches to American Arts...
Work in Progress with Jared Tso
Jared Tso (Diné), who teaches ceramics and makes pottery from the road, is a rising star in the world of Indigenous pottery. During my pottery classes at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, I admired Jared Tso’s pottery—with its beautiful curvature and...
A UNM Film and Digital Arts graduate, Shaandiin Tome, featured in New Mexico Magazine
A UNM Film and Digital Arts graduate, Shaandiin Tome, featured in New Mexico Magazine. FROM THE VERY BEGINNING of Shaandiin Tome’s short film Mud (Hashtl’ishnii), you notice the graininess. It’s shot on 16-millimeter film, a bold aesthetic choice that is not easy to...
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...
Announcing the 2019-2020 Fulcrum Fund Recipients
Two former UNM MFA grads of our Experimental Art and Technology are 2019-2020 Fulcrum Fund Recipients! The Fulcrum Fund, now in its fourth year, is a grant program developed and administered by 516 ARTS as a partner in the Regional Regranting Program of The Andy...
Recent College of Fine Arts graduate receives Andrew W. Mellon fellowship
Kyler Michael Brahmer, a recent graduate from the College of Fine Arts, has received an Andrew W. Mellon fellowship for a summer workshop at UCLA. Funded by a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the UCLA/Getty Graduate Program in the Conservation of...
Because It’s Time: Unraveling Race and Place in NM
Because It’s Time: Unraveling Race and Place in NM examines race and identity in New Mexico and is a space for artistic expression that grapples with the complexities of who we are, how we are understood, and how that impacts the way we live (or don’t) in a variety of places.
Making movie magic, like a girl
University of New Mexico alumna Carol Payne banded together with her colleagues at Industrial Light & Magic to create Women in VFX, a series that highlights women working in visual effects for film and television.
Eric-Paul Riege commissioned new work for SITElines.2018 Biennial
His work is a celebration and study and being of Hózhó–Diné philosophy that encompasses beauty, balance, goodness, and harmony in all things physical, mental, and spiritual.
Honoring the legacy of Patrick Nagatani
On April 27, the UNM Art Museum will open “Patrick Nagatani: A Survey of Early Photographs” in the Raymond Jonson Gallery. The photographs in the exhibition predate Nagatani’s move to New Mexico, highlighting the work he did as a graduate student and earlier, when Nagatani was a novice photographer.
Fine Arts Faculty and Alum Secure Fulcrum Grant Awards
Professor Ray Hernández-Durán and BFA Joanna Keane Lopez among those receiving project funding from the 516 ARTS partnered grant program
How to Apply
• All students must be admitted to the University, whether as an incoming freshman, transfer student, or non-degree student. Apply online through the Admissions Department at UNM
•After meeting all CFA admission requirements, students must apply to become a declared major.
Academic Advisement
The College of Fine Arts Student Success & Advisement Center is committed to serve the UNM community with compassion, guidance, and respect as we promote academic excellence.
To speak with a CFA advisor, please call (505) 277-4817.