UArts Summer Fellows 2018

Hello everyone! My name is Tyra Jamison and this fall I'll be a junior in the Creative Writing program. I'm very excited to tell you that through Summer Fellows 2018, I am interning with Cheryl Carson, the senior director of development at Smith Memorial Playground . Smith is a historical mansion in East Fairmount Park that's been transformed into a non-profit playhouse and playground. Smith's mission is to "provide and promote opportunities for unstructured free play for children." So think of this place as your childhood dream; an entire mansion, with an outdoor playground, available to children for free. Of course Memberships have special benefits, but in a world where highly militarized public schools are becoming common, where urban children are subject to being policed and having their creativity suppressed for standardized test results, this non-profit shows how creativity can be nurtured as a service. I consider myself a writer who is passionate ab

5/22/18   I was very excited to start with Denise Phillipbar for my first work day with her.   I got to the studio promptly at 12:00.   Denise showed me around her studio and explained where everything was that I would need to get to work.   Denise made up a list of goals to accomplish for my first day with her.   First, I got to work taping the edges of the canvases and wood panels that she would be using in the future.   This was being done to create clean edges for her future paintings.   Denise has an upcoming show,   so the next thing I worked on for her was painting the edges of an existing painting.   I found it really interesting that the piece that I was painting   was not one of Denise’s favorites but she is getting it ready for a show that it was requested for. Denise hopes that it sells so that she can move on to some new pieces. After I finished the edges for Denise,   we moved on to drilling holes in some of her existing work so that it could be hung at the upcoming show

This fall 2018 I will be completing my final semester here at Uarts and will be graduating in December with a BFA with a concentration in painting a drawing.   I have learned a lot during the last four years and was looking for some additional real world experience.   I was very excited to learn about the Uarts Summer Fellows Program and decided to submit my resume and interview for the position.   I was even more excited when I got the position with Denise Philipbar here in the Germantown section of Philadelphia.   Denise is an abstract painter and installation artist.   She uses her background in math, science and technology to create her art work and installations.   Denise learned to paint at the Art Students League of Denver after she was received both a bachelors and masters degree in math from the University of Colorado. Denise then came to Philadelphia and received her MFA in painting from the University of the Arts.   Currently Denise is a working artist in Philadelphia.