Photo: Sean Weaver/NMHU
New Mexico Highlands media arts professor Megan Jacobs, left, works with one of her students, Devyn Dennison, on a project for the New Mexico History Museum. Dennison and another media arts student, Melissa Marquez, were awarded $2,000 fellowships this semester.
Seabury Foundation, NMHU Foundation Award Media Arts Fellowships
Two New Mexico Highlands University media arts students received $2,000 fellowships this semester, thanks to the Seabury Foundation and a full match from the university’s foundation.
Devyn Dennison and Melissa Marquez were awarded their fellowships Jan. 28. This is the second semester the Seabury Foundation and the university’s foundation have awarded fellowships to outstanding media arts students.
Dennison produced a 30-minute documentary film on the contemporary Navajo Rodeo community. She is a Navajo and member of the Highlands University rodeo team.
Dennison produced the documentary and other projects during a six-month internship with the Crownpoint Historic and Cultural Heritage Council. The council will feature her work during its Crownpoint Centennial Celebration this summer.
“As a cowgirl herself, Devyn has skillfully and compassionately interviewed her subjects, who candidly discuss their love of rodeo, what it means to be an Indian cowboy or cowgirl, and the sacred connection to their horses,” said Megan Jacobs, media arts professor and fellowship coordinator.
“Melissa Marquez is a talented graphic designer,” Jacobs said. “She held a prestigious internship at the National Hispanic Cultural Center this summer and her work received rave reviews.”
Jacobs said that Marquez was also a member of a media arts student design team that was selected to help rebrand the Marian Koshland Science Museum in Washington, D.C.
The students created their design projects for the museum in an advanced design class taught by media arts professor Andrew Wollner. The students’ multimedia design work is being used in the museum’s Web site and other applications.
Jacobs said that the fellowships are designed to allow recipients to work fewer hours in an outside job, giving the students more time to work on media arts projects that focus on building skills in new and emerging ideas in cultural technology.
Santa Fe resident Deborah Seabury Holloway is a board member of the Seabury Foundation, established in 1947 by her grandfather.
“I find this Media Arts Program and the work of its students so compelling and exciting,” Holloway said in September. “I think their work is phenomenal, professional and fresh.”
Holloway first heard about the university’s Media Arts Program from Mimi Roberts, the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs media projects director. Roberts put Holloway in touch with Miriam Langer, a media arts professor who heads the university’s Visual and Performing Arts Department.
Media arts collaborates with Department of Cultural Affairs on numerous projects, including the university’s Program for Interactive Cultural Technology that was launched last spring. PICT is designed to prepare students for careers as multimedia professionals in museums and other cultural institutions. The rigorous program is the only one of its kind in the state.