Celebrate success archive

• Senior Lecturer in Dance Studies receives Teaching Excellence Award
  Dr Nicholas Rowe, who is also the Associate Dean (Postgraduate) at NICAI, is one of just seven academic staff of The University of Auckland to receive a 2011 award for excellence in teaching. His Early Career Excellence in Teaching Award will be presented during the May Graduation ceremonies.
  
  Along with his teaching, Dr Rowe is highly regarded for his research and publications on dance and its role in society, most notably in traumatised Middle East communities. His 2009 feature film The Secret World premiered at the Sydney Arab Film Festival and he is author of Raising Dust: A cultural history of dance in Palestine.
  View an Australian TV documentary about Dr Rowe's work

•  Estrella Quartet wins coveted Royal Overseas League Arts Scholarship
  The winner of the 6th Annual Pettman/ROSLARTS International Scholarship was the Estrella Quartet (Bachelor of Music students Somi Kim, Gemma Lee and Cindy Tsao and graduate Judy Lee, who play two pianos with eight hands).
  
  The total value of the Scholarship is more than $50,000. It includes return flights from New Zealand to London, accommodation and hospitality for four weeks in the UK, and a cash award of $1000 each.
  
  The quartet was selected to present one of four “Emerging Artists” concerts at the University’s School of Music, gained first place in the annual Auckland Chamber Music Society Competition in July, and went on to win this scholarship, competing with ensembles nominated by the Universities of Canterbury, Victoria, and Waikato at auditions held on 19-21 November.
  
  While in the UK, the quartet will perform concerts in London at the Royal Overseas League, St Martin-in-the-Fields and St. James’s Piccadilly, and at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. They will also have lessons with prominent UK-based teachers, make visits to major UK conservatoires, participate in international summer schools and masterclasses, and attend cultural events including the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall, concerts at Royal Festival Hall, Barbican Centre and Wigmore Hall, London; and the Edinburgh International Festival.
  Find the Estrella Quartet on Facebook

• Elam lecturers feature in film screenings at Centre Pompidou
  A curated selection of moving image work made by New Zealand artists, including Elam lecturers Gavin Hipkins and Alex Monteith, was recently screened at the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
  
  This Fine Island, a postcolonial ballad by Hipkins that revisits Charles Darwin's journey to the Bay of Islands in 1835, had its first screening in Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid, an event that aims to create a space between new cinema and contemporary art. In Hipkins' adaptation, Darwin's nineteenth-century travel writing in The Voyage of the Beagle becomes a vehicle for present day tourism, travel romance, and racial othering, against the backdrop of New Zealand's lush landscape.
  
  Alex Monteith's 2.5km mono action for a mirage, 2011, was also included in the programme.

• Two ICNF fellowships to School of Architecture and Planning staff
  Professor Andrew Barrie and Dr Dermott McMeel have been awarded fellowships to develop strategic activities with network partners through The University of Auckland's International Central Network Fund (ICNF).
  
  Professor Barrie runs the School of Architecture and Planning’s public programmes, including public lecture series featuring high-profile international architects. He recently established a visiting professorship – the International Architect in Residence – the first such programme at a New Zealand architecture school. To develop this work, he will visit The University of California Los Angeles, The University of California Berkeley, and The University of Tokyo to learn about these institutions' well-established visiting professorships and to recruit future visitors to Auckland.
  
  Dr McMeel will visit the University of Edinburgh and the University of Southampton to develop co-taught courses and research that investigates new opportunities created by emerging technology in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture and urban infrastructure. This work will form the basis of research-led cross-disciplinary courses to be taught at the universities, addressing current and future environmental problems.

• Architecture student "Highly Commended" at 2011 NZIA Graphisoft Student Design Award
  Min Tian was one of the two highly commended entrants in this annual design competition, which is contested by the top four final-year students from each of New Zealand's three architecture schools.
  
  Tian's proposal for a haven for honeybees sited above a Shanghai freeway was entitled “Adipaetopia: The Co-Evolution Between the Born and the Made”. The Award judges described it as "an engaging and plausible contemporary scenario which deals with both urban and environmental issues".

• Architecture postgraduate student wins World Habitat Day 2011 photo competition
  Architecture PhD candidate Seyyedeh Ghazaal Ghoreishi has won first prize in the University’s 2011 World Habitat Day photo competition, which was open to all students, staff and members of the public.
  
  Entrants were asked to submit no more than three entries with a relevant caption and title, highlighting their interpretation of how climate change affects everyday life. This question was in line with the theme of this year’s World Habitat Day, “Cities and Climate Change.”
  Read more

• NICAI students take some of the top honours at Exposure Postgraduate Research Exposition 2011
  This annual research exposition of the work being undertaken by our research students is presented by The School of Graduate Studies and the Postgraduate Students’ Association (PGSA) at The University of Auckland.
  
  In the Live/Multimedia category, postgraduate Dance student Tia Reihana won first prize for "He Huahua te Kai? E, he Wai te Kai. Are preserved birds the best food? Ah no! Water is"; second prize went to Anna Bate, who is also a postgraduate in Dance, for "So Fake it's Real"; and Saeid Nazari Adli, who is a PhD student in Planning, took second prize in the Poster Competition for his research project entitled "Comparing urban form of historic cities on Silk Road".

• Elam graduate Florian Habicht takes his new film to Hollywood
  Florian Habicht, film director and Harriet Friedlander Residency recipient, had his feature Love Story chosen for the 2011 DGA/SDGNZ Director’s Finder Series Screening in Hollywood on 4 November. The programme showcases undistributed independent feature films from New Zealand and their directors.
  
  Love Story had its debut at the New Zealand International Film Festival in July this year. Watch this space for the international success of this quirky, endearing and distinctively New Zealand film.
  Read more on Onfilm website

• School of Music graduate takes top prize at Australia's biggest vocal competition
  Multiple award-winning singer Darren Pene Pati recently crowned his achievements by winning the 2011 Sydney Eisteddfod McDonald’s Operatic Aria. Darren competed with five other outstanding finalists, who together made this event one of the most exciting in the 78-year history of the competition.
  
  Darren was also a finalist in 2010, but although Maestro Richard Bonynge singled him out as "a young tenor with a voice from the gods," his moment of glory was yet to come. This win, the experts predict, marks the beginning of a glittering career.
  
  Congratulations also to coloratura Angela Brun, who gave an incredible performance and finished runner-up for the second year in a row.
   

• Planning graduate wins RMLA scholarship
  The Resource Management Law Association of New Zealand (RLMA) has awarded a Masters Scholarship to Matt Skellern to support his Master of Planning degree at NICAI. Matt’s research will focus on the management of surfing areas against threats from human activity. Through analysis of planning processes that have been undertaken in New Zealand and overseas, he aims to develop effective tools for managing surfing areas.
  
  Matt, who graduated from the University with a Bachelor of Planning (BPlan) with Honours in 2005, has been researching surfing and planning since 2003, when he became interested in the process of constructing an artificial surf reef that was proposed at his local surf break in Mount Maunganui.
  
  Since graduating, Matt has been working as a planner at Auckland City Council. He has also produced various pieces of research for a range of publications and presentations on surf breaks. One major piece of research was carried out in 2009 for his "Saving Waves" presentation at The University of Auckland.
  Hear Matt's "Saving Waves: coastal planning and surf breaks" lecture
  Find out more about RMLA scholarships
   

• Narwhals win silver at Interfaculty Rugby Tournament final
  The NICAI Narwhals rugby team competed against the Education team in the Interfaculty Rugby Tournament on 8 October at Colin Maiden Park. The Narwhals had previously won the quarter-final against first-placed Arts and then the semi-final against fourth-placed FMHS. This left only Education to beat to the title of best rugby team at the University. But Education was a very strong team, with a full set of reserves.
  
  Despite an early break away by wing Harry Halpin, NICAI was down at half time having scored no tries. The team decided to focus on their defence and promised themselves they would not remain scoreless in the second half. Towards the end of the match Craig Mathieson crossed the line to score NICAI’s only try.
  
  Following the game NICAI held their heads high as they received the silver medals from Dean Jenny Dixon.
  
  Nikki Henderson, Sport Development Manager at the University, said afterwards:
  
  “Having not performed too well in the early rounds, [NICAI] snuck into the finals and have been firing ever since. It’s a great result for the faculty as well, as this is their first year in the rugby tournament and they have proven they can compete with the other bigger faculties.”

• Elam graduate awarded Auckland Festival of Photography commission
  Roberta Thornley is the winner of the 2011 Auckland Festival of Photography inaugural commission. She graduated in 2007 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from Elam School of Fine Arts. Widely recognised as an extremely talented young artist, Roberta has exhibited in galleries across New Zealand and Australia and been acquired by public collections including Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu. She is represented by the Tim Melville Gallery.
  
  Roberta’s photographs dwell on an object or subject which she renders strange by floating them against a dark background. She often uses young people as her subjects, portraying them in profile or three quarter poses reminiscent of vignettes and portraits composed during the Italian renaissance. Gallery director Tim Melville was initially drawn towards Thornley’s images because of their "powerful cinematic quality". He says "It’s as if you’d stumbled into a critical moment in a strange and uncanny movie… A movie that was dark and yet utterly beautiful".

• Dr Deidre Brown is awarded an ICNF fellowship
  Deidre Brown, Senior Lecturer in NICAI’s School of Architecture and Planning, has won a fellowship to develop strategic activities with network partners through the inaugural round of the International Central Network Fund (ICNF). Dr Brown will visit the University of British Columbia and the University of Queensland and develop co-taught postgraduate and studio and seminar courses in indigenous architecture.
  
  By leading the tripartite teaching programme, Dr Brown aims to highlight the University’s expertise in postgraduate studio and indigenous studio teaching, attract teaching research partners, and seek funding through external sources. Dr Brown says the tripartite teaching relationship will be an important element in the School’s “Te Pare: Indigenous Design” initiative currently under development as a teaching-led research unit.
  
   

• Elam alumnus receives Arts Foundation of New Zealand's highest award
  Greer Twiss, who graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts in the 50s, is the longest continually producing sculptor in New Zealand, and has become one of the country’s most prominent and respected artists and teachers. He joins writer Barbara Anderson, photographer Marti Friedlander, filmmaker Sir Peter Jackson, and concert organist Dame Gillian Weir as one of the elite few recipients of a 2011 Icon Award, the Arts Foundation's highest honour.
  
  The Arts Foundation describes icons as "artists whose work represents a legacy to, and a mark on, our culture. They have made a significant impact on their chosen art form. They remain influential and inspirational and continue to be admired for their work. Selected during their lifetime, they are world-class."
  
  The awards were announced on 23 June at a function held at Government House in Wellington hosted by Their Excellencies, Rt Hon Sir Anand Satyanand, Governor-General of New Zealand and Patron of the Arts Foundation, and Lady Susan Satyanand.
  
  Read a full biography of Greer Twiss on the Arts Foundation website

• Royal New Zealand Ballet appoints Dance Studies graduate as full-time dance educator in Auckland
  Hannah  Kaye will be working to develop the RNZB’s Dance Explorer Education programme, which is supported by The Lion Foundation. Her appointment will expand the RNZB’s presence in the Auckland region, enabling local schools and communities to access the RNZB’s education resources more readily.
  
  Hannah began teaching dance at a young age for a small tap dancing school in Golden Bay. After leaving the rural life for London, Hannah completed a gap year abroad where she worked with young adults with learning and physical disabilities.
  
  Returning to Auckland in 2006, Hannah followed her passion for dance, gaining a Master of Creative and Performing Arts degree with first class honours from The University of Auckland with her research into dance education in primary schools.
  
  Hannah has taught dance extensively in both primary and secondary schools throughout Auckland, including a number of extended residencies, one-off workshops, and professional development programmes for primary school teachers. Hannah also became a graduate teaching assistant for first and third year Dance Studies courses at The University of Auckland.  Most recently Hannah was involved in a big education project with the Auckland Art Gallery and the University. Her performing experience includes public performances at the University, international tours to Kuala Lumpur and Macao, and Tempo.

• Architecture graduate creates a new work for Rapid Change exhibition
  "Mega-Malls: How Big is Too Big?", a major work by emerging artist and Master of Architecture graduate Elisapeta Heta, looks into the rise of the mega-mall across Auckland city. It occupies the foyer space of Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts, Pakuranga, as part of the exhibition Rapid Change (9 July-4 September).
   
  Featuring nine New Zealand and international artists, with works focusing on Auckland, Detroit, Hong Kong, Liverpool and New York, the exhibition considers the politics and societal impact of rapid change in the urban environment.
  
  Elisapeta Heta addresses the impact that large shopping mall developments have on the urban environment and surrounding communities, Using Albany, St. Lukes and Sylvia Park as case studies, the Mega Mall Information Centre (MMIC) sheds light on the architectural design, resource consent and public consultation processes. Rather than using obscure technical and legal jargon Heta aims to encourage clear understanding of how such developments occur and what options are currently possible for public input.
   
  “I realised most people don’t engage with the planning process because it is made difficult – not because they are apathetic. I wanted to combat the disclusion of ordinary citizens from the process and empower them by bringing the info to a human scale,” she says.
  
  Source: Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts

• Fine Arts student documents her "mind-blowing" trip to Cambodia
  Second-year Elam student Cordelle Feau took time out of her studies last April to volunteer at the Rock Foundation Cambodia, a non-profit organisation  dedicated to improving conditions for poverty-stricken squatters who break up rocks for a living, sunrise to sunset, seven days a week.
  
  Cordelle took 3500 photos during the 12-day trip, which she described as "mind-blowing". She and her companions were horrified by the appalling living and working conditions the squatters endure. Nine of her most powerful images are currently exhibited at Abundance Art Gallery, 617 Te Atatu Road (until 3 July).
  View YouTube clip of Cordelle's experiences in Cambodia

• Associate Professor Uwe Rieger curates international  "sensitive" architecture  exhibition
  People who live in a city dominated by shopping malls, skyscrapers and toll roads can sometimes forget that they are part of the natural environment, and become insensitive to their impact on the earth.
  
  A recent exhibition at the National Museum in Jakarta, entitled “Sensitive Buildings,” showed how architecture can be more in tune with natural conditions and even improve the state of the environment.
  
  Organised by Germany’s Goethe-Institut, the exhibition ran until July 20, showcasing the work of seven architecture collectives from Indonesia and abroad.
  
  Curator Uwe Rieger, Associate Professor at NICAI's School of Architecture and Planning, said the concept of “sensitive” architecture was based on the principle of efficient use of space, material, construction, energy, time and pleasure. He said “sensitive” in this context meant “responsive to changing conditions such as weather, climate and the frequency of use.”
   

• Senior Lecturer (Planning) gains Best Doctoral Thesis award
  Dr Marjorie van Roon (School of Architecture and Planning) has been awarded one of the five Vice Chancellor's prizes for best doctoral thesis (2010). The prize was presented at the Celebrating Research Excellence reception at The University of Auckland on May 10 this year.
  
  Dr van Roon’s thesis, entitled “Low impact urban design and development: Ecological efficacy as a basis for strategic planning and its implementation”, argues that urban development need not result in environmental degradation. Implementing planning strategies that are more ecologically-based could greatly enhance environmental outcomes and improve urban biodiversity.

• School of Music student wins Becroft Grand Opera Aria competition
  At the North Shore Performing Arts Competitions Society's annual Becroft Grand Opera Aria finals, held at the Pumphouse on 28 May, first prize of $5000 and the coveted trophy were awarded to bass/baritone Anthony Schneider. Completing his BMus in Voice Performance at The University of Auckland this year, Anthony has been studying with Te Oti Rakena, Carmel Carroll, Richard Liu, Robert Wiremu, Dean Sky-Lucas, Rosemary Barnes and Frances Wilson.
  
  Anthony is a frequent performer for Opera Factory gigs, appearing in principal roles in Benjamin's Prima Donna and Menotti's Help, Help, the Globolinks! He also sings with the Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus, understudying several roles as well as being cast as an Apparition in the 2010 NBR NZ Opera production of Verdi's Macbeth. Last year he was the recipient of the Seamus Casey Memorial Award, the Margot Lloyd Scholarship, a Bonded Merit Scholarship and a University of Auckland Cultural Blues Award. Most recently, Anthony was one of the four roles in the world premiere of the opera The Electrical Eclipse, by Celeste Oram and Claire Bracegirdle.
  
  All but one of the other finalists in the competition were also University of Auckland School of Music students or graduates:  Moses Mackay (bass/baritone), Elizabeth Mandeno (Soprano), Darren Pene Pati (tenor), and Breony van der Wel (soprano).  

• Elam graduate takes prestigious award at Cannes
  The short film Blue, directed by graduate of Elam School of Fine Arts Stephen Kang, has won a top critics' prize at the Cannes Film Festival in France. Blue was named the 50th Semaine De La Critique Grand Prix Canal + Du Meilleur Court Metrage Best Short Film.
  
  "It’s amazing, I didn’t expect to win with such big competition", said Kang. "The win was totally out of the blue." Blue tells the story of a washed-up kids' TV show mascot who struggles to hold down a job at an Asian restaurant.
  View TV3 video

• Associate Professor Michael Gunder becomes NZPI Fellow
  Michael Gunder was recently named as a Fellow of the New Zealand Planning Institute in recognition of his service to the NZPI and to the education of future planners.
  
  Michael commenced his career in 1980 as Teaching Assistant in the School of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. In 1993 he moved to New Zealand where he worked as senior strategic/transportation planner for the North Shore City Council. In 1994 he took position of with the then Department of Planning at The University of Auckland. From 1999 to 2001 he was Head of Department. In 2007 Michael was appointed Deputy Head of the School of Architecture and Planning (Research and Postgraduate Study). Throughout this period Michael has published a large number of research papers that are recognised nationally and internationally. In 1999 he received the NZPI Research Award for Excellence in Research, and in 2002 and 2004 he was Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Resources, Environment and Society at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

• Elam graduate selected for prestigious New York exhibition
  Emma Topping, a 23 year-old graduate of the Elam School of Fine Arts, is one of only 30 people chosen to exhibit at an exclusive show in New York that will be part of the Chelsea International Fine Art Competition. Her work was selected by Elizabeth Sherman, curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
  
  Now all Emma needs to do is raise the $5000 required to get herself and her work to New York. She is looking at sponsorship, donations and scholarships, and saving hard to achieve her goal.
   

• Senior Lecturer in Architecture awarded a Universitas 21 Fellowship
  Michael Milojevic is one of four academic staff members of The University of Auckland to be awarded a 2011 U21 Staff Fellowship. He will use the award, valued at up to $NZ10,000, to initiate a U21 architecture group that will establish linkages between Universitas 21 architecture schools' study abroad programmes; to initiate a new Auckland architecture studio to attract U21 architecture students and other international students; and to develop a new collaborative on-line 'regenerative architecture' seminar with other U21 architecture schools.  This project will involve travel to several partner institutions: the University of Edinburgh, Lund University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Tokyo.
   

• School of Music lecturer awarded University of Auckland Teaching Excellence Award
  Dr Te Oti Rakena is one of only six academic staff members across the University to receive a Teaching Excellence Award for his work during 2010. His award, which will be presented at the Graduation ceremony in May 2011, was in the category "Innovation in Teaching" .The award-winning teaching portfolio highlighted the collaborative Dance Studies/Voice Department course, Tuia, tui, tuia. This innovative course breached the conservative and traditional contexts of classical vocal training by offering alternative frameworks that drew on Tikanga Māori, allowing students to create new classroom traditions that encompassed all participants’ cultural experiences; modifying the learning space to reflect a wananga environment; and providing a space where dancers and singers could engage in artistic tasks that would communicate knowledge about the other discipline. 

• Elam alumnus awarded New York residency
  Elam alumnus Seung Yul Oh, an emerging talent on the New Zealand art scene, has been awarded the Harriet Friedlander New York Residency.
  
  The Arts Foundation and the Harriet Friedlander Scholarship Trust announced the artist as the recipient of the US-based residency, which will provide him with an all expenses paid eight months in New York City worth NZ$80,000.  He will also receive an iPad, iPhone and Macbook Air from YooBee to support his trip to the States.
  
  Seung Yul graduated from Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts in 2006 with a Master of Fine Arts and quickly gained a profile as a multi-disciplined artist with his painting, drawing, sculpture, sound and video.
  Seung Yul Oh talks about his recent work
  
  The New York Residency was an initiative of the late Harriet Friedlander and is funded by the Harriet Friedlander Scholarship Trust. A significant arts patron, Harriet loved New York City and felt any artist who spent time there would benefit greatly. 
  
   

• Fine Arts student nominated for work on human rights
  Elam student Shahriar Asdollah-Zadeh was one of 10 people from around the Pacific nominated for the Amnesty’s Human Rights Defender Award.

The 25-year-old uses art to make a social statement. He has initiated projects and created many artworks with human rights and social change themes, focusing primarily on the Middle East. He says: “No matter what work of art and of what culture, it is a living teacher of mankind’s evolutionary development. Art can influence society; art can spark social, intellectual and educational revolutions of thinking.”

In 2008, rather than acting in isolation, Shahriar saw the potential to use the social networking site Facebook as a way of harnessing the power of the collective masses to stop persecution and oppression in Iran. His project “World Art Collective” attracted thousands of participants.

His recent work includes sculptural and sound recordings for an upcoming exhibition entitled Baha’i Martyrs of Iran.

www.worldartcollective.org
 

• Elam student and graduate work in prestigious Swedish exhibition
  Sugarpress Gallery in Stockholm, Sweden, recently held an exhibition entitled Animal Spirit, which featured the work of New Zealand and British artists.  Most of the New Zealand artists were Elam graduates or current students, including Eddie Clemens, Michael Harrison, Andrew McLeod, Peter Madden, Yvonne Todd, David Masters Townsend and Maria Walls. The exhibition was sponsored by Creative New Zealand.
  More information
   

• Architecture lecturer to be one of three University of Auckland delegates to Universitas 21 workshop on sustainablity
  Architecture lecturer Dr Paola Leardini is one of three academic staff chosen from across the University to attend a Universitas 21 workshop on energy and environmental sustainability, designed for early career researcher development, at the University of New South Wales in May 2011.
  
  Paola's research topic is PassivHaus New Zealand [PHNZ], a joint initiative between academics, practitioners and industry partners aiming to design, build and monitor New Zealand’s first house meeting international Passive House standards; and the eco-retrofitting analysis, strategies and pilot project for state housing in Auckland, which aims to develop an innovative house upgrade model for low density urban areas.

• Architecture student wins NZIA Graphisoft Student Design Award
  Fraser Moore, from the School of Architecture and Planning, has won the NZIA Graphisoft Student Design Award, with fellow student Rowan Baird’s entry Highly Commended.
  
  Fraser's entry envisaged a slaughterhouse, meat preparation area and restaurant, all under one roof, in a building on the corner of Park and Carlton Gore Roads, a site which was until recently occupied by a petrol station and garage.
  
  "I wanted to redraw the link between meat producer and meat consumer," Moore says. "In modern beef retail, especially in supermarkets, there's no mess and little blood. There's no connection between the shop and the abbatoir, and often huge travelling distances between the two."
  
   

• OH. NO. SUMO shines at DINZ Best Awards
  OH. NO. SUMO, a design collective formed by Architecture and Planning students James Pearce, Patrick Loo, Katherine O’Shaugnessy and Sarosh Mulia, has won an AAA Cavalier Bremworth Award as well as a gold in the Exhibition Installations and Temporary Structures category for the Spatial Discipline at the 2010 DINZ Best Awards.

• School of Music student wins two significant awards
  Darren Pene Pati, who is currently studying vocal performance at the School of Music, took first prize in the Vocal category at the 2010 National Young Performer of the Year Awards, held in October. In the same month he also received the Iosefa Enari Memorial Award at the CNZ Pasifika Awards.

• The Checks take 'Best Rock Album' at Vodafone NZ Music Awards
  Bachelor of Music (Composition) student Sven Pettersen is a founding member of The Checks, who won 'Best Rock Album' for Alice by the Moon at the Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards in October this year – against stiff competition from The Phoenix Foundation (Buffalo) and Dimmer (Degrees of Existence).
  
  "It's been an exciting journey for The Checks since emerging from Auckland's North Shore a few years ago... They've been attacking their new material with the fervour usually reserved for first-timers, and this crazed energy certainly leaps out in their second album, Alice By The Moon.
  
  Self-produced and recorded in Auckland's The Lab with ace engineer and songsmith Jol Mullholland, the songwriting has taken on a more eclectic and varied sound than the rock n' roll swagger of their debut. There are smooth grooves and falsetto vocals aplenty... garage stomp, reggae/rock hybrid and quirky strolling pop – there are many gems amongst the album's thirteen songs." – From Ampifier
  
  
   

• Three finalists for Christchurch Civic Music Council’s National Piano Concerto Competition
  This year’s three finalists for Christchurch Civic Music Council’s National Piano Concerto Competition all hail from The University of Auckland’s School of Music.

Grace Francis (1st year), Mozart Concerto in C K 467; Jason Bae (2nd year),Tchaikovsky Concerto No 1; and Tina Kim (1st year), Prokofiev Concerto No 3, were among the 27 competitors from across New Zealand to compete in the biennial competition.

Next March the three musicians will compete at the finals with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir William Southgate in the Christchurch Town Hall.

The students will vie for a first prize of $7,000 plus a possible performance with the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra in 2012, with a second prize of $3,000 and a third prize of $1,500.

• DMA student wins prize at Exposure
  Melody Lin, a Doctor of Musical Arts student supervised by Associate-Professor Uwe Grodd and Associate-Professor John Elmsly, was awarded third place for her presentation on the Japanese influences in Toward the Sea for alto, flute and guitar by Toru Takemitsu at the Exposure Postgraduate Research Exposition - Live Performance Category. This event showcases the best of postgraduate research at The University of Auckland.

• Music students take top prizes at NZSO/Todd Young Composer Awards
  BMus (Hons) student, composer and musician Alex Taylor was awarded the orchestra players' prize for six pieces for orchestra, and MMus student Jonathan Mandeno was highly recommended for his piece Primordial Chaos at the annual NZSO/Todd Corporation Young Composer Awards.
  
  The ten young composers chosen for this year’s event were treated to two days and four sessions of recordings with the NZSO under Australian conductor Luke Dollman at the Michael Fowler Centre in Wellington.  Advice and guidance was received throughout from composer and School of Music lecturer Eve de Castro-Robinson, and there were special events such as workshops with NZSO percussionists and a selection of string players.

• Architecture graduates push the envelope on countdown clock design
  Auckland's countdown to the Rugby World Cup 2011 clock is the work of four recent University of Auckland graduates. They include designers Fraser Horton and Barrington Gohns, who were determined to produce something exceptional. The collaborators, who won the right to design the clock through a competitive tender, got involved because they saw RWC 2011 as a great opportunity for Auckland to display its innovative spirit.
  
   

• School of Architecture and Planning student wins a bronze at Best Awards 2010
  A FLOATING BOX: wooden room in which to read a book, designed by MArch(Prof) student Yumian Chai, was the recipient of a bronze award in the Best Spatial Design – Student category of the Best Awards 2010. Yumian's tutor was Michael Milojevic.
  
  View other entries in the Spatial Design category
  
   

• Architecture lecturer gains prestigious University award
  Senior Lecturer Dr Julia Gatley from the School of Architecture and Planning has received a University of Auckland Early Career Research Excellence Award, representing a highly significant career milestone.  The award provides Julia with a research grant of $30K which she will use to critically examine the 50-year career and work of the well-known New Zealand architect Ian Athfield and his firm, Athfield Architects.
  
  Julia has undertaken an extensive body of research into modern and postmodern architecture, modern town planning, New Zealand architecture and the conservation of significant 20th century buildings. She received the NZIA President's Award for Services to Architecture in 2009.
   

• Cellist wins James De Priest Scholarship
  Doctor of Musical Arts candidate in cello, Lisa Chung, won the James De Priest Scholarship to study and perform at the Aspen Music Festival 2010 in Colorado, USA, in July and August of this year. Founded in 1959, the Aspen Music Festival is one of the world's largest internationally renowned classical music festivals, presenting more than 300 events in 8 weeks. During the festival, Lisa collaborated with top level musicians from around the world such as Darrett Adkins, who currently teaches at the Juilliard School and Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

• Gilded Blessing chosen for Australian music exhibition
  Gilded Blessing, an interactive audio-visual installation in the form of a gilded cello with interior speakers, was selected for exhibition in Campbelltown Arts Centre, at ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music) World Music Days in Sydney, May 2010. The work is the result of collaboration by Auckland artist Sarah Guppy and School of Music lecturer Eve de Castro-Robinson.
  
  The movements of people viewing the work trigger the cello to play. The sound designer was Alex Bennett, a University of Auckland student who has recently completed his Master of Music, who also installed the work in the Campbelltown Arts Centre gallery for the exhibition.

• Māori Architecture a finalist in the New Zealand Post Book Awards
  Architecture and Planning senior lecturer Dr Deidre Brown's landmark book Māori Architecture: From fale to wharenui and beyond was a finalist in the Illustrated Non-fiction category of the New Zealand Post Book Awards earlier this year.
  
  Māori Architecture charts, for the first time, the genesis and form of indigenous buildings in Aotearoa New Zealand. It explores the vast array of Māori-designed structures and spaces – how they evolved over time, and how they tell the story of an ever-changing people. The book looks at facets of early Polynesian settlement through to contemporary architecture.

• CNZARD curator awarded Universitas 21 Fellowship
  Each year The University of Auckland awards up to four Universitas 21 Staff Fellowships, each to a maximum value of NZ$10,000. The awards are used to travel to and undertake research at member universities in U21 partner institutions, at the same time strengthening links between The University of Auckland and other member universities.
   
  One of the 2010 fellowships has been awarded to Andrew Clifford, Curator, Centre for New Zealand Art, Research and Discovery (CNZARD). His project is to observe and compare practices at U21 institutions that excel in the management of university-based museums and galleries, thus allowing CNZARD to benchmark its operations against international peers. Andrew will conduct his research at the University of Melbourne, National University of Singapore, University of Glasgow, and University of Edinburgh.

• Lecturer releases to CDs to European market
  Martin Rummel, Senior Lecturer at the School of Music, is releasing two 2CD-sets in Europe this year. His recording of Bach’s Cello Suites is the first to follow Johann Peter Kellner's manuscript of the works.  It has received a number of positive reviews by major European newspapers, such as Austria's Der Standard, and was featured in radio programmes in Germany, Austria and New Zealand. The second set of discs is Thomas Daniel Schlee's sacred opera Ich, Hiob, in which Martin Rummel is the featured cello soloist.
   

• Marti Friedlander Photographic Award-winner featured in a new solo exhibition
  
  Elam graduate Edith Amituanai, who won the inaugural Marti Friedlander Photographic Award in 2007, has a new solo exhibition at the Corban Estate Arts Centre in Henderson. La Fine Del Mondo examines the resettlement of a Burmese refugee family in West Auckland. Her photographic investigation highlights how immigrants adjust to a new climate, language and culture, and how they go about finding a place in their new communities, while still being strongly tied to the ancestral homeland.
  
  La Fine Del Mondo
  26 February to 11 April, 2010.
  Corban Estate Arts Centre, 426 Great North Road, Henderson, Waitakere
  Allan McDonald and Edith Amituanai - in Conversation: 7.00pm, Thursday, 25 March
  
  Edith gained a Master of Fine Arts from Elam School of Fine Arts, and is currently teaching photography at Unitec Institute of Technology.
  Visit the Arts Foundation website to view Edith's work

• Architecture graduate awarded an Oscar for Avatar
  Bachelor of Architecture graduate Kim Sinclair was among the winners at the 82nd Academy Awards in Los Angeles on 7 March. He and three colleagues received an Oscar for best art direction on the blockbuster film Avatar. Kim was the supervising art director on the James Cameron 3D epic, which won three Oscars - including best art direction and best visual effects, won by the Wellington-based Weta Digital team.
  View media coverage of Kim’s award  

• Walters Prize finalists include Elam students, staff and alumni
  Finalists for New Zealand's most prestigious contemporary art award, the Walters Prize, have been announced. Congratulations to Dan Arps, a current Doctor of Fine Arts student, for his work Explaining Things, 2008; Fiona Connor, Elam alumna, for her work, Something Transparent (please go round the back), 2009; Saskia Leek, another recent alumna, for Yellow is the Putty of the World, 2009; and Alex Monteith, an Elam alumna and Fine Arts Lecturer, for Passing Manoeuvre with two motorcycles and 584 vehicles for two-channel video, 2008. The winner will be announced at a gala dinner 8 October by the highly respected former-director of London's Tate Modern, Vicente Todoli. Exhibition opens at the Auckland Art Gallery's NEW Gallery from the 24 July.
  Read the full article

• Architecture lecturers named ‘Best of Design’
  School of Architecture and Planning lecturers Julia Gatley and Bill McKay have been named in Urbis magazine’s 2009 Best of Design issue. Julia was commended for Best Book for her award-winning publication Long Live the Modern and Bill was selected as Best Architectural Writer.

• Rave review for School of Music and Elam students' band Teacups
  Auckland-based three-piece band Teacups has received a four-star rating from Herald reviewer Jacqueline Smith for its debut album, entitled Forest Fiction. “Sweet stories trill through this album, accompanied by a complex assembly of percussion and that double bass.”
  
  Pivotal to the band's sound, "that double bass" is played by Talita Setyady, who is currently studying for a Bachelor of Music (BMus), majoring in Jazz. The other band members are Elizabeth Stokes, also studying for a BMus majoring in Jazz, and Chelsea Metcalf, who is in her third year of the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Elam.
  
  Now the trio, who opened for Jose Gonzalez when he toured here in January 2008, is poised for international success with this collection of quirky, catchy and charming songs.
   

• Incheon bronze award for Architecture students
  Four architecture students from the School of Architecture and Planning – Mina Kim, Hoching Fu, Jungwon Yang and Eng Ting (Emily) Tiong – have been awarded a bronze medal in the 2009 Incheon International Urban Design Competition for Students. The Korea-based competition aims to “contribute to the transformation of Incheon Metropolitan City into a world-class city…. and at the same time resolve current urban issues for the city by promoting a worldwide call for public submissions of urban design plans”.

• Jocee Tuck wins Songwriter of the Year 2009
  Jocee Tuck, a 2nd year BMus student majoring in Popular Music, was the grand prizewinner of this inaugural competition. Her winning career began in 2004, when she won the Primal Acoustic Sessions nationwide songwriting competition. Since joining the School of Music Jocee has expanded her folky sound to include percussive, jazz and orchestral instruments, resulting in soulful epics with Fantasia-inspired arrangements. She enjoys composing on instruments like marimba and banjo, which lends new melodic and percussive dimensions to her songs.

• Another clean sweep for the School of Music
  School of Music vocal students have won the top three prizes at this year’s Becroft Grand Opera Aria competition.
  
  Masters student Alexandra Ioan (studies with Patricia Wright) received the Aria Cup and $5,000 from the David and Genevieve Becroft Foundation. In addition, as winner she receives a grant of $2,000 from the Les and Sonia Andrews Cultural Foundation to enable her to enter the McDonald's Aria Contest in Sydney in August/September 2009.
  
  3rd year student Tania Priebs (studies with Morag Atchison) took second prize and received $1,000 from Auckland Opera Forum and $1,000 from the Auckland Branch of the New Zealand Opera Society.
  
  Third prize was awarded to combined postgraduate education/voice student Brent Read (studies with Patricia Wright), who won $500 and an entry equivalent to $500 towards attendance at the 2010 New Zealand Opera School.

• School of Music postgraduate wins aria competition
  School of Music postgraduate Brent Read has won the annual Sealord Aria competition in Nelson. The tenor took out the prestigious title and $3000 at his third attempt from seven other competitors. He sang "Je Croix Entendre Encore" from The Pearl Fishers by Georges Bizet, and "Now the Great Bear" and "Pleiades" from Peter Grimes by Benjamin Britten.

• Composer in Residence appointments for School of Music student and alumnus
  Alex Taylor, currently in his final year of a BMus/BA conjoint degree, has been appointed the 2009 Composer in Residence with the Auckland Youth Orchestra; and Chris Adams (MMus 2007 and winner of The Philip Neill Prize 2008), was recently announced as the 2009 Auckland Phiharmonic Orchestra’s Composer in Residence.

• School of Music alumnus receives prestigious APRA award
  Composer, teacher and University of Auckland lecturer Samuel Holloway has been awarded a $12,000 APRA Professional Development Award 2009 (PDA) for excellence in classical composition.

• Elam Honours student's work selected for international exhibition
  Elam School of Fine Arts Honours student Geoffry Habberfield-Short has been selected from over 700 international portfolios to participate in the international exhibition reGeneration2, to be presented at the Musée de l'Elysée in Switzerland. Geoffrey, who is supervised by Senior Lecturer Megan Jenkinson, returned to Elam this year to complete his study after having worked for many years in the film industry as a stills photographer.

• Inaugural exhibition by Elam lecturer Michael Parekowhai
  Elam lecturer and internationally renowned practitioner Michael Parekowhai will exhibit in the inaugural show of the Hastings City Art Gallery. Mind games: Surrealism in Aotearoa opens Friday, 13 February.
  Visit the Hastings City Art Gallery website

• Architecture student wins scholarship to further study abroad
  School of Architecture and Planning student Chris Cottrell has been awarded an Anne Reid Memorial Trust Scholarship for 2009, worth $20,000.
  Read the full article

• Fine Arts postgraduate student is awarded Te Waka Toi scholarship
  Photographer Shannon Te Ao (Ngati Tuwharetoa), who is currently completing a BFA(Hons) at Elam School of Fine Arts, has received a Creative New Zealand Te Waka Toi scholarship. Shannon was recently named one of four top New Zealand photographers by the New Zealand Herald's Canvas magazine. His current work focuses on Māori identity in contemporary Aotearoa.

• Dance Studies postgraduate student's work selected for Tempo Dance Festival
  Two choreographies by Juanita Jelleyman have been selected for this year's Tempo Dance Festival: Woven, which is choreographed for eight dancers and weaves together diverse threads of New Zealand culture; and Whisper, a duet between Juanita and Ai Fuji-Nelson, which explores the changing nature of friendship.
  See some of Juanita's work

• Architecture and Planning graduates and students succeed at AAA Cavalier Bremworth awards
  School of Architecture and Planning graduates Sarosh Mulla, Patrick Loo, James Pearce and Katherine O’Shaughnessy were a winning architecture team at the recent Auckland Architectural Association Cavalier Bremworth awards. Their team, Oh.No.Sumo, jointly won the Open Section for their "Cupcake Pavillion”, a kiosk used to sell cupcakes for charity at Britomart during the October 2009 Architecture Week.
  
  Other School of Architecture and Planning students who excelled on the night were Jason Dobbs, who earned a merit award in the Open Section for a confounding board game on Auckland City planning; and Mohamed Kheir, who was named runner-up in the Student Section for an intricately drawn entry entitled “The Stratified Lines of Deterritorialisation”. Student merit awards were also presented to Hye Ran Lee and a team consisting of James Fraser Moore, Elisapeta Heta and Anas Hafeedh from the School of Architecture and Planning.
  
  The AAA Cavalier Bremworth award is New Zealand's only building industry award which recognises excellence in unbuilt architecture.

• Postgraduate Architecture students amongst winners of Low Impact Design competition
  Several MArch(Prof) students enrolled in the course Urban Design Theory and Practice recently participated in a Low Impact Design competition sponsored by ARC and run by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. Our students collaborated with postgraduate Engineering students to produce an urban design master plan for the Hobsonville site that met low impact urban design criteria. Two of our students were members of the teams placed first (Louise Goodwin) and third (Sean (Xiaoyi) Bian).

• Great review for new release by School of Music staff
  Jewel – Australian Gems for Violin and Piano, by Senior Lecturer Elizabeth Holowell and Head of School Professor Robert Constable, has received high praise from Robert Johnson of Radio New Zealand Concert.
   
  "This anthology of Australian music for violin and piano is a testament to the commitment of the two musicians, who have performed much of this music many times over the past two decades, both in Australia and on tour in the USA. The performances are technically assured and musically stimulating, and the disc is well worth investigating."

• Elam awards outstanding Fine Arts students of 2009
  Amongst the many prizes awarded in Elam's annual prizegiving ceremony on 5 May 2010 were a number of special scholarships and awards. Presented to outstanding Fine Arts students for their achievements during the 2009 academic year, they included:
  
  • the 2009 Elam Art Scholarship, awarded to Gina Granwal
  • the Denise Gerard Scholarship, shared between Anna Starr, Sophie Bannan, Evangeline Riddiford Graham, Zenobie Cornille, Gina Granwal, Toby Raine, Kerryann Romero, Shinae Suh, Amalie Termannsen, Loretta Walton and Sarah Yates
  • the Jean Hamlin Memorial Scholarship, awarded to Jeanette Rapson and Lia Mackillop
  • the Joe Raynes Scholarship, awarded to Selina Foote
  • the Henrietta & Lola Anne Tunbridge Scholarship, awarded to Eun Jin Park
  • the Rosemary Grice Memorial Prize, awarded to Eva Burgess
  • the Main Art Award, shared between Brooke McIvor and Toby Raine
  • the Olympus Photography Prize, awarded to Ane Kinahoi
  • the Gordon Harris Art Supplies Prize, awarded to Joseph Hammond
  • the Studio Art Supplies Prize, awarded to Ha Neui Kim
  • the Scott Ellery Medal, awarded to David Porohama Copisarow.

• School of Music celebrates three doctorates in Spring graduation

The School of Music congratulates three students who graduated in October 2009 with doctorates.

Lloyd Williams completed his PhD thesis on Organisational change in symphony orchestras, a thesis he devised while working as the general manager of the Auckland Symphony Orchestra.

Elena Abramova earned a Doctor of Musical Arts with her thesis The compositional environment of the violin sonatas of Shostakovich and Prokofiev. Born into a family of professional musicians in Russia, Elana moved to New Zealand in 2003 and became a sought-after violin soloist, chamber musician and teacher.

Yuri Unkovich’s PhD thesis is entitled Tracing the synthetic voice: Contrapuntal textures of five or more parts in the works of JS Bach. His research was supervised by Dr Fiona McAlpine, with Associate Professor Karen Grylls as assistant superviser. He was also supported by a University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship.

• School of Architecture and Planning prizes and awards 2009
  The following awards were presented at the School's annual prizegiving ceremony on 3 May.
  
  Architecture
  
  
  • The Architecture Office Design Award: Jeremy Brick
  • Auckland Brick Manufacturers' Prize: 1st, Carina Chan; 2nd, Owen Huang
  • Chisholm Memorial Prize: Josh Lilananda
  • Dr Gary Tonks Award for Architectural Technology: Nicole Allan
  • Excellence in Timber Design in Design 8: Taulata Gjerqeku
  • Graham Ford Dawson Prize: Mohammed Kheir
  • Great Southern Television Ltd Prize: Matthew Le Grice
  • Ken McIntosh Timberlam Prize: 1st, Taulata Gjerqeku; 2nd, Craig Barrett; 3rd=, Tim Nan Jiang, Alex Liang, Mark Schmidt
  • Masterspec Prize: Barbara Lau
  • Matisse Atelier Prize: 1st=, Howard Kang, Ashleigh Low, Frances Lowe, Melanie Pau; 2nd=, Jason Lee, Brendan Sellar, John Twomey, Dong Wang, Jonathan Guest, Scott Thorp, Pieter Ubels, Shelley Lin, Mitchell Round, Yun Kong Sung
  • Monier Prize: Stella Lien, Matthew Holloway, Josh Lilananda
  • NZ Solar Action Prize: Rowan Baird, Dorette Crowther
  • NZACS: Nicole Allan, Ellen Ashenden
  • NZIA Graphisoft Student Design Awards: 1st, Year 1, Lloyd Thomas; 1st=, Year 2, Frances Cooper, Jordan Saunders; 1st, Year 3, Timothy Sargisson; 1st, MArchProf, Philip Guan
  • Potter Interior Systems Ltd Prize: Nicole Allan
  • Scion Timber Design Studio Awards: Year 2, Anya Bell, Peter Cui, Nicholas Hayes, Rita Mouchi; Year 3, Ray Lee; MArch(Prof), Anas Hafeedh, Elisapeta Heta, James Moore
  • Simon Devitt Prize for Photography: James Rust
  • Stephenson and Turner Award: John Hawkins
  • Team Architects Scholarship in Architecture: Brad Bonnington
  • Vernon Brown Memorial Award: Yunwei Xu
  • Wallace-Kammer Prize: Nanako McIntosh Uchida, Stella Lien
  • WD Wilson Prize: Elisapeta Heta
  • Head of School Special Award: Braden Harford
  
  Planning
  
  
  • Auckland Town Planning Association Prize: Emma Fergusson
  • Bentley & Co Ltd Prize: Ruth Hansen Thorpe
  • Harrison & Grierson Prize: Jimmy Zhuang
  • Hill Young Cooper Prize: Emma Fergusson
  • MWH Sustainability Award: Emily Ip
  • New Zealand Planning Institute Awards: Best Research Project, Tessa Mitchell; Best Group Work, Joel Crayford and David Harnett; Best Individual Piece, Tania Utley
  • Special Award for Most Promising Student: BPlan Year 1, Simon Mitchell; BPlan Year 2, Sarah Akers; BPlan Year 3, Cameron Wallace; MPlan Prac Year 1, Christine Todd
  • Head of School Special Award: Christopher Paul Donnelly
  
  Urban Design
  
  
  • Urbanism+ Award for Excellence in Urban Design: Kate Buller
  • Urbanism+ Commendation for Excellence in Urban Design: Jonathan Wong

• Architecture lecturer wins Timber Award
  Andrew Barrie, inaugural Professor of Design at the School of Architecture and Planning, is part of a team of architects that recently took top prize at the 2009 Timber Awards, in the 'cladding building envelope' category, for their design of the University’s Leigh Marine Centre Bunkhouse at Goat Island.
  
  The Bunkhouse project explored the opportunities afforded by the methods and materials used, creating a porous, breathable skin around the interior that filters the harsh northern light and deflects the turbulent easterly winds. From inside, the delights of the building's extraordinary setting, the changing seasons and weather patterns can be fully appreciated.

• Head of Dance Studies recognised for teaching excellence
  Head of Dance Studies, Associate Professor Ralph Buck, recently won a University of Auckland Teaching Excellence Award for Sustained Excellence in Teaching.
  Read the full article

• Gus Fisher Gallery named Best Arts Institution
  The University of Auckland’s Gus Fisher Gallery has been named Best Arts Institution by Metro magazine’s annual Best of Auckland awards (December 2008).
  Read the full article