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SPRING 2003
Art for the Heart
At 14, Mary Daniel Hobson, MA '96, started seeing the details of the world through the camera lens. Photography has been her passion ever since. This passion ultimately brought her to study at UNM in 1992. She then learned that her first UNM connection was through her high school photography teacher John Bloom, who received his master of fine arts degree in photography from UNM in 1981.
Originally from San Francisco, Hobson received her Bachelor of Arts degree in art history from Vassar College in New York. She was a photographer for the Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre and studied printing techniques during her summers in San Francisco. Her senior thesis on photographer Lee Miller, student and partner of Man Ray and one of the first female correspondents in World War II, encouraged her to continue her studies in photo history.
After Vassar, Hobson was drawn to UNM, although the school's size initially seemed intimidating. The excellence of the History of Photography Program and tradition of notable faculty, such as Van Deren Coke, founder of the Photography Program, Beaumont Newhall and Eugenia Parry, brought Hobson to New Mexico in 1992.
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Mary Daniel Hobson (left) and Lynnie Wienecke, President of the CFA Alumni Chapter, at the Mariposa Gallery opening of the "Mapping the Body" exhibition in January 2003.
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She quickly found a sense of community within the Department of Art and Art History. That reputation attracted other enthusiastic photography and art history students. Hobson explains, "It was really exciting for me to be in a place where so many people knew Alfred Stieglitz what an f-stop is and were passionate about photography."
Hobson appreciated the close ties between the Photography Studio and History programs and believes that an art historian benefits from experiencing the medium. She studied studio photography with Professors Tom Barrow and Betty Hahn. During one of Hahn's classes in non-silver processes, Hobson's distinctive artistic style began to emerge. To develop a large print from 35mm negatives, Kodalith® (a transparency film) is used to form a positive image, which is then contact printed to create a large negative. The Kodalith® positives, usually waste, intrigued Hobson. After 10 years of working with traditional black and white images, she started using these films in her artwork.
Hobson's master's thesis investigated female photographer Dora Maar, primarily known in association with Picasso. Maar's story and artistry, especially her photo collages, encouraged Hobson in her own work. With this inspiration, she took one of the underlying ideals of Surrealism, looking through the surface to what lies hidden below, and delved into her own creativity. In 1994, Hobson took the previously unused Kodaliths® and began creating the collages that evolved into her series "Mapping the Body," which investigates the emotions and experiences housed in the body.
After graduating from UNM in 1996, Hobson returned to San Francisco. For several years she conducted archival research at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and taught at the California College of Arts and Crafts. She also started working for the Arts and Healing Network (www.artheals.org), where she now serves as director. Marion Weber, who "believes in the power of art as a catalyst for healing," founded the network. The network, Hobson says, "is an on-line resource celebrating the connection between art and healing. Our Web site serves as an international resource for anyone interested in the healing potential of art, especially environmentalists, social activists, artists, art professionals, health care practitioners and those challenged by illness. Our hope is that the information presented here will educate and inspire." The network provides information on art-based programs and projects around the world as well as resources for those interested in healing through the arts.
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Her professional work, powerful female role models and especially the Arts and Healing Network have inspired Hobson. Although she left her other jobs to pursue her art more fully, she still spends two days a week working for the network, primarily maintaining the Web site. She claims that the Web site is not "heady or intellectual," but rather it is about how anyone can benefit from and perhaps be healed by art-making. She says, "It really connects me with what art can do for healing the heart." Hobson also appreciates what she gained from the College of Fine Arts, and she credits the Department of Art and Art History for bringing in strong faculty whose work lies in those areas that are frequently "marginalized" in more standard art history programs.
From her first exposure to a camera through her current work, Mary Daniel Hobson has taken her experiences to heart. Both her art and her work reflect strongly her desires and beliefs. She actively looks beneath the surface of what she sees, searching for fine details and hidden ideas. Through her artwork, she invites the viewer to share this deeper view, and through her work, she hopes that others may find the creativity and healing hidden within themselves. To learn more about Mary Daniel Hobson's art, visit www.marydanielhobson.com.
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| Measure by Mary Daniel Hobson, 1997, Kodalith® and mixed media, 7-1/4" x 5-1/8" (framed) Edition of 10. ©2002 Mary Daniel Hobson. All rights reserved. This piece, acquired by the Albuquerque Museum last year, features a New Mexico map of I-25. |
Renowned Ethnomusicologist Joins CFA as AAI Director
After 18 years as a UCLA professor and last year as a visiting professor of music and acting director of the UNM Arts of Americas Institute (AAI), Dr. Steven J. Loza assumed full-time responsibilities in January 2003 as director of the institute and professor of music. "I felt that this opportunity was custom fit for me," Loza says. "I have always worked in the arts collectively, and to be able to branch out, in addition to my studies in music, was an exciting prospect."
Loza received a bachelor of arts degree in music with an emphasis in jazz studies and composition from California State Polytechnic University and a master of arts degree in Latin American studies and Ph.D. in music with an emphasis in ethnomusicology, both from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
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Steve Loza, Director,
Arts of the Americas Institute
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| While studying at UCLA, Robert Stevenson, a highly respected musicologist of Latin American and Iberian music, mentored him. Loza's employment there included serving as the director of the UCLA Mexican Arts Series for 10 years. He produced many concert productions of world music and directed two different ensembles: UCLATINO, a Latin American salsa-style group, and, with Professor Jhid Racy, the World Jazz Ensemble, a world music/jazz experimental group. He also co-coordinated the Jazz Studies Program, working closely with its director, Kenny Burrell. Loza has published widely, been responsible for numerous fellowships and grants and received many awards and honors for his work.
Despite his recent arrival, Loza says that he is already quite proud of the Arts of the Americas Institute. He notes that the institute had already procured a number of grants and developed several programs through the leadership of Associate Director Maria Williams, who also serves as assistant professor of music and Native American Studies. He also acknowledges the fine work of staff members Beverly Ortiz-O'Connell, Angela Torrez and Aracely Chapa, who are working on exciting new initiatives for AAI. Loza credits former College of Fine Arts Dean Tom Dodson for the vision and leadership to create the institute, with its mission "to support research that promotes recognition, acceptance, understanding and communication of the arts in the Western Hemisphere, especially cultures that have been historically marginalized."
Recent and planned AAI projects include a campus residency by Poncho Sanchez, a Latin jazz documentary project, a Guadalupe conference and the ongoing work of the Tribal Virtual Network. Other planned conferences and curricular enhancements directly link with programs in the College of Fine Arts. Loza says, "We also plan to incorporate a strong research element into the institute by becoming involved in the development of publications and a documentary series in conjunction with the Center for Regional Studies."
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