Roberto Jamora describes the magic of color, the importance of seeing in critical thinking and the legacy of first generation immigrants in the arts.

This episode also features Michelle Yee, assistant professor of Art History at VCUarts.

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About Roberto Jamora
Roberto Jamora is a Richmond-based artist and educator. He holds an M.F.A. from the State University of New York at Purchase and a B.F.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts. He is an Assistant Professor in the VCUarts Art Foundation Program.

In Jamora’s series "An Inventory of Traces," color operates as both material and metaphor: gradients become repositories for memory, while layered surfaces suggest accumulation, erasure and return. He mines color from memory, photos, interviews and artifacts from his family. Skin tones, a day at the beach, hiking up a mystical mountain in the Philippines, a sonogram, aging postcards from his uncle to his grandparents from the 1970s, the bayous in Louisiana where Filipinos used to hide, the shapes of rivers, an ordinary day in Virginia. Each gradient and incision are both spectacular and everyday, familiar and distant. Through slow, attentive processes of application and concealment, thin traces of color are revealed. The paintings are quiet provocations, asking the viewer to reflect on the meanings and power of color.

His practice is grounded in an ongoing inquiry into color, memory and perception, approached through abstraction as a means of holding experiences that resist literal representation. He makes this work to better understand how lived moments—personal, cultural and historical—leave traces that persist beyond narrative clarity.

His artwork has been exhibited at the Anderson at VCU, Cody Gallery at Marymount University, Virginia MOCA, Frost Art Museum, Contemporary Art Center of New Orleans, SFA Projects, Antenna, FLXST Contemporary, Page Bond Gallery, ADA Gallery, Topaz Arts, Norte Maar, Open Space, Outlet Fine Art, and Ishmael Bernal Gallery.

He is represented by Bond Millen Gallery in Richmond. His artwork is in collections including the Atlanta Hawks NBA Team, Capital One, CoStar Group, Harvard Kennedy School, Muscarelle Museum of Art at William & Mary, and several private collections.

About Michelle Yee
Michelle Yee, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Art History at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her research focuses on contemporary Asian American and Asian Diasporic art including issues of race and representation, transnational connections and collisions, and cosmopolitanisms. She serves as organizer and chair of the Diasporic Asian Art Network, an affiliate society of the College Art Association. Her writing can be found in journals such as Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas, Art Journal, Third Text, Panorama and Art Etc., as well as several exhibition catalogues. She holds a Ph.D. in Visual Studies from the University of California - Santa Cruz, an M.A. in Art History from the University of Connecticut and a B.A. in Art History and English Literature from Georgetown University. 

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VCUarts Uncharted is recorded in the Community Media Center in the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Music by Felipe Letão. 

For more information, visit arts.vcu.edu/uncharted.

Dancer E. Gaynell Sherrod, Ed.D., describes the challenges and triumphs of creating the sonic landscape for 350,000, an immersive film installation featured in the exhibition Dawoud Bey: Elegy.

This episode also features Valerie Cassel Oliver, the Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

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About E. Gaynell Sherrod
Dance educator, choreographer and historian E. Gaynell Sherrod, Ed.D., danced professionally with the Philadelphia Dance Company (PHILADANCO!) and Urban Bush Women, Inc. She earned a master’s degree in dance education and a doctorate in dance pedagogy and performance from Temple University.

A Fulbright-Hayes scholar in dance research, Sherrod's artistic and theoretical works are steeped in African American vernacular and African Diasporan dance and rhythms, mentored by acclaimed scholars Dr. Brenda Dixon-Gottschild, and the late Drs. Kariamu Welsh and Katie G. Cannon. She was previously the Director of Dance Education for New York City public schools, where she implemented professional training initiatives for dance educators, teaching artists and classroom teachers. She co-founded and directed the New York City Department of Education Dance Institute: Based on the Katherine Dunham Model, for which she was awarded a DANA Foundation Grant. Sherrod taught at New Jersey City University, New York University and Florida A&M University, where she earned tenure. In 2014, Sherrod joined the faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) as Chair of the Department of Dance + Choreography. From 2019-2020, she served as the Interim Executive Director of PHILDANCO! on an organizational sustainability position funded by the Mellon Foundation and the Doris Duke Foundation.  

She is currently professor of dance at VCU—teaching, writing, choreographing, creating work mixed media and a consultant for dance organizations. Her work TWINE! (2017; 2022), earned her a Sage and John Cowles Residency at University of Minnesota Dance. In 2022, Sherrod collaborated with acclaimed photographer Dawoud Bey on his film 350,000, for which she created the choreo-sonic score. The project—Dawoud Bey: Elegy—was commissioned by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and exhibited from November 2023 to February 2024. More recently, it was on view at the Sean Kelly Gallery (New York City) and at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Sherrod is the author of Katherine Dunham and The Dance Griots: Reading the Invisible Script (Mellen Press, 2022). 

About Valerie Cassel Oliver
Valerie Cassel Oliver is the Sydney and Frances Lewis Family Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. 

Since her debut at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, she has organized several critically acclaimed exhibitions including the retrospective entitled Howardena Pindell: What Remains to be Seen co organized with Naomi Beckwith (2018); The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture and the Sonic Impulse (2021) that toured nationally. And most recently, Dawoud Bey: Elegy (2023) which also toured.

Cassl Oliver has lectured extensively and is a widely published author on contemporary art, artist and art practices. Cassel Oliver holds an Executive M.B.A. from Columbia University, New York; an M.A. in Art History from Howard University in Washington, D.C. and, a B.S. in Communications from the University of Texas at Austin.

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VCUarts Uncharted is recorded in the Community Media Center in the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Music by Felipe Letão. 

For more information, visit arts.vcu.edu/uncharted.

Amir Berbić reflects on his refugee experience and the power of design to shape identity, foster resilience, and build community, and discusses his work as a designer, educator and dean of VCUarts Qatar.

This episode also features guest Christiana Lafazani, associate dean for faculty affairs and research at VCUarts.

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About Amir Berbić
Amir Berbić is a graphic designer who works on questions surrounding identities of place. He collaborates on projects with cultural organizations, arts institutions, and publishers, with commissions that range from print design to three-dimensional typography to environmental graphics.

Prior to becoming dean of VCUarts in Qatar in 2019, he was a tenured professor and chair of Graphic Design at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), where he also served as associate dean at the UIC College of Architecture, Design and the Arts, and as acting director of the UIC School of Design. Berbić was on the AIGA Chicago Board of Directors, serving as Vice President and Co-Chair of Education from 2015–2018. From 2004 to 2014, he was a faculty member at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

Born in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Berbić moved to Chicago in the 1990s, where he completed his design education and began a career in editorial design and publishing. He holds a B.F.A. in Graphic Design from UIC, and an M.F.A. in Visual Communication from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

His works have featured in numerous academic and professional publications, conferences, and exhibitions, including Design Issues, Visual Communication, Print, Graphis, Wallpaper, the AIGA Design Educators Conference, TypeCon, the Society of Typographic Arts, ICOGRADA, the World Design Summit and Salone del Mobile in Milan. His work is included in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

About Christiana Lafazani
Christiana Lafazani serves as associate dean for faculty affairs and research at VCUarts. She is also associate professor in the Department of Interior Design, where she previously held the positions of department chair and graduate program director. Since joining the VCUarts faculty in 2003, Lafazani has played a significant role in both departmental leadership and broader academic administration. She was appointed to her current role in 2019.

Lafazani brings extensive experience to her work as both a practicing designer and academic. Prior to her academic appointment, she held positions in the design industry, including work with an architecture and design firm specializing in corporate interiors, a role as prototype designer for a national electronics retailer and as a design manager for an office furniture manufacturer.

Her research explores the intersection of professional practice and design pedagogy within the discipline of interior design. Specific areas of focus include the integration of emerging technologies into student work while supporting individual artistic expression, and the incorporation of sustainable practices in both design education and professional application. More recently, her scholarship has shifted toward design strategies that support neurodiverse populations, particularly adults with autism spectrum disorder.

Lafazani holds an M.F.A. in Interior Environments from Virginia Commonwealth University and a B.S. in Interior Design from James Madison University.

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VCUarts Uncharted is recorded in the Community Media Center in the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Music by Felipe Letão. 

For more information, visit arts.vcu.edu/uncharted.

Art historian and dean of VCU’s School of the Arts Carmenita Higginbotham, Ph.D., discusses her unexpected journey to becoming the go-to expert for everything from Edward Hopper to Mickey Mouse.

This episode also features guest Christiana Lafazani, associate dean for faculty affairs and research at VCUarts. 

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About Carmenita Higginbotham
Carmenita Higginbotham is an art historian whose research and scholarship examine 20th century American art, urban art, race and representation, and American popular culture. She has lectured extensively on the history of American art, popular visual culture and art film. She has been a featured scholar and consultant in documentaries and in interviews with PBS, The History Channel, CNN, CNBC and The Washington Post. She has served as a peer referee for Art Bulletin, Art Journal and the Journal of Urban Cultural Studies and has acted in various capacities for the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, the College Art Association and the Space Between Society (Literature and Culture 1914-45).

Prior to her current role, Higginbotham served as department chair of the University of Virginia Department of Art, and as assistant and associate professor in the departments of Art and American Studies. She has been affiliated faculty for the Carter G. Woodson Center of African American and African Studies since 2005. She received a B.A. in English and Art History from the University of Minnesota; a M.A. in Art History from the University of Massachusetts; and a Ph.D. in the History of Art from the University of Michigan.

About Christiana Lafazani
Christiana Lafazani serves as Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research at VCUarts. She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Interior Design, where she previously held the positions of Department Chair and Graduate Program Director for several years. Since joining the VCUarts faculty in 2003, Lafazani has played a significant role in both departmental leadership and broader academic administration. She was appointed to her current role in the Dean’s Office in 2019.

With a professional and academic career spanning over three decades, Lafazani brings extensive experience to her work as both a practicing designer and academic. Prior to her academic appointment, she held positions in the design industry, including work with an architecture and design firm specializing in corporate interiors, a role as prototype designer for a national electronics retailer, and as a design manager for an office furniture manufacturer.

Her research explores the intersection of professional practice and design pedagogy within the discipline of Interior Design. Specific areas of focus include the integration of emerging technologies into student work while supporting individual artistic expression, and the incorporation of sustainable practices in both design education and professional application. More recently, her scholarship has shifted toward design strategies that support neurodiverse populations, particularly adults with autism spectrum disorder, developed in collaboration with interdisciplinary colleagues across VCU.

Lafazani holds a Master of Fine Arts in Interior Environments from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design from James Madison University.

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VCUarts Uncharted is recorded in the Community Media Center in the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Music by Felipe Letão. 

For more information, visit arts.vcu.edu/uncharted.

VCUarts Qatar-based international architects and interior designers Simone Carena and Marco Bruno explain the creative power of fresh starts and misunderstandings, the meaning of dub design and why arts research is like riding a motorcycle.

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About Simone Carena & Marco Bruno
MOTOElastico co-founders and VCUarts Qatar faculty members Simone Carena and Marco Bruno chat about their Dub-inspired design process. 

MOTOElastico is an orbiting Space Lab founded in Seoul by Simone Carena and Marco Bruno and currently working on architecture, interiors, exhibition and art projects. Born and educated in Italy, specialized in California, rooted in South Korea since 2001, and now teaching and practicing in Doha, 

MOTOElastico in all its projects is using irony to critically challenge and playfully celebrate local customs and behaviors. In more than twenty years of practice outside of its Italian homeland, MOTOElastico developed a wide range of space projects. 

The goal was often to explore local cultures through the unexpected combination of original ingredients with a design process similar to the one used by Dub DJs: enhancing rhythms and underlying features of existing elements, with the purpose of generating new yet familiar design tunes.

MOTOElastico works have received several design awards and been included in prestigious international venues and events: Anyang Public Art Project (South Korea), Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul (South Korea), Italian Pavilion at the Venice Art Biennale (Italy), Korean Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale (Italy/South Korea, Golden Lion), Marrakech Art Biennale (Morocco), Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism (South Korea), Bi-City Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism of Shenzen (China), Gwangju Design Biennale (South Korea) the Doha Design Biennial (Qatar) and London Design Biennial (UK).

For more information, visit www.motoelastico.com

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VCUarts Uncharted is recorded in the Community Media Center in the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Music by Felipe Letão. 

For more information, visit arts.vcu.edu/uncharted.

John Freyer explains how he came to make art that creates space for people to slow down and have honest conversations with each other.

This episode also features artist, curator and educator Sarah Irvin, curator of student exhibitions and programs at the Anderson, VCUarts' premier on-campus exhibition space.

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About John Freyer
John Freyer is an associate professor of cross-disciplinary media at VCUarts. Freyer is a Peer Recovery Support Specialist and a founding member of the Inclusive Recovery City initiative in Richmond, Va. His projects include the Free Narcan Bike, All My Life for Sale, Free Ice Water, Free Hot Coffee and Free Hot Supper. Freyer is a Fulbright Scholar, a MacDowell Fellow and an artist-in-residence at Light Work & the Fannon Center, Doha. Freyer has brought his social practice projects to the TEDx stage, Mixed Greens Gallery in New York, the Liverpool Biennial Fringe and was a 2018 Tate Exchange Associate at Tate Modern. Freyer founded the traveling symposium Recovery in Practice at Columbia University in the Fall of 2023. Recovery In Practice has since been hosted at University of Derby, Teesside University in the UK in 2024, Virginia Commonwealth University and at the Portland Alano Club in 2025.

About Sarah Irvin
Sarah Irvin is an artist, curator and educator. She earned a Master of Fine of Arts from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Georgia. Irvin has been featured in more than twenty solo shows, as well as more than eighty group exhibitions across the United States and abroad. Her work is included in numerous public and private collections, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. She is the founder of the Artist Parent Index, a searchable database of artists making work about their experience with reproduction and caring for their children. She is the Curator of Student Exhibitions and Programs at the Anderson and teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses for VCUarts. Irvin is represented by Bond Millen Gallery, Richmond; Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York; and Massey Klein Gallery, New York.

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VCUarts Uncharted is recorded in the Community Media Center in the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Music by Felipe Letão. 

For more information, visit arts.vcu.edu/uncharted.

Pam Turner discusses the animus in animation, the power of place, and her extraordinary journey from tenant farm to university.

This episode also features Hope Ginsburg, professor of Kinetic Imaging at VCUarts. 

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About Pam Turner
Pamela Taylor Turner is an artist, writer and educator working at the intersection of animation and emerging media. Her practice—both in the studio and on the page—explores animation as an inventive, interdisciplinary art form, a medium for expressing inner states and for deepening our sense of place and connection to the natural world and to our knowledge of place. Her work gravitates towards abstraction and open narrative and is underpinned by a childhood spent in the woods of rural Virginia and an unwitting nudge from her parents who gave her a Kodak Pocket Instamatic camera when she was eleven (which she still has).

Her early animations, Falling Back to Earth: Tomatillo (2000) and Between Frames (2005), emerged from an intimate dialogue with gardens— witnessing and attending to soil, light, and the subtle choreography of plants. These works embody the principles of ecopsychology, inviting viewers to experience transformation through presence and observation.

Currently, Turner is completing Unsettling Chapel Island, a long-term study and animation project rooted in years of research along the James River, while continuing her series Seeking/Sensing. 

Her animations have been exhibited nationally and internationally at galleries and festivals, including Ajijic Festival Internacional de Cine (Mexico), Nashville Independent Film Festival, Worldfest Houston, and Mill Valley Film Festival. Her work has earned numerous honors, among them a Director’s Citation at the Black Maria Film Festival and a Gold Award at Worldfest Houston.

As an Associate Professor in the Department of Kinetic Imaging at VCUarts, Turner teaches independent and expanded animation and developed Animating Place, a course grounded in ecopsychology and the transformative process of animation. She is currently a faculty fellow with the Richmond Cemetery Collaboratory through VCU Division of Community Engagement.

Turner holds advanced certifications in Ecopsychology, Radical Ecopsychology, and a certificate in Enchantment from Pacifica Graduate Institute.

About Hope Ginsburg
Hope Ginsburg is a maker of collaborative projects where art, ecology and spirituality meet. She is currently exploring the relationship between meditation and the natural world: that attunement in contemplative practice is deepened in nature, just as meditation reveals a feeling of awe and connection to our environment. Her recent work asks how this reciprocal experience moves us to action as part of a living world that urgently needs our attention. 

Ginsburg holds a Master of Science in Visual Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Tyler School of Art. She lives and works in Richmond, Virginia (Tsenacomoco land), with her partner and frequent collaborator, Joshua Quarles, and their three cats. Ginsburg is a professor of Kinetic Imaging at VCUarts.

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VCUarts Uncharted is recorded in the Community Media Center in the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Music by Felipe Letão. 

For more information, visit arts.vcu.edu/uncharted.

Visual effects artist Matt Wallin discusses working at Industrial Light and Magic and Weta Digital, and shares lessons about demystifying the meaning of life through the church of the movies.

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About Matt Wallin
Matt Wallin grew up in the Los Angeles suburbs in the 70s and 80s skateboarding and going to the movies. In 1992 he earned his degree in Cinema from San Francisco State University.

That same year, Wallin began his career at George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic where he worked for nearly a decade in the company’s computer graphics division. For over 25 years he has worked around the world at the top visual effects houses; Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital in New Zealand, Tippett Studio in Berkeley, Sony Pictures Imageworks in Los Angeles, Warner Bros. ESC Entertainment in California, Brainstorm Digital in New York, and the Moving Picture Company in Vancouver. His many film credits include; The Mummy, Twister, Star Wars: The Special Editions, Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions, Hellboy, Constantine, King Kong, Watchmen and Jurassic Park: The Lost World.

Outside of Hollywood, Wallin served as the Visual Effects Supervisor for American artist Matthew Barney's five-part Cremaster Cycle and the follow up experimental film, Drawing Restraint 9, starring Icelandic pop star Bjork.

Wallin is the creator and host of the 8111 (Eighty-one Eleven) podcast. Each episode is a conversation with a guest who worked at George Lucas’ Industrial Light and Magic during its 40+ year history. Guests discuss their journeys and career paths, and how working at ILM changed them. Wallin is also the co-host of FX Guide’s VFX Show podcast listened to by visual effects professionals, fans, and aspiring artists from all over the world.

Today he is the senior full-time faculty in the department of Communication Arts and a tenured full Professor in the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. He teaches numerous courses specializing in 3D computer graphics, visual effects and the creative application of emerging digital technologies.

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VCUarts Uncharted is recorded in the Community Media Center in the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Music by Felipe Letão. 

For more information, visit arts.vcu.edu/uncharted.

Fashion designer Jeannine Diego discusses the intersection of community, punk rock and the self-making performance of fashion that we all do every day. 

This episode also features guest Kristin Stewart, a doctoral student whose research investigates the historical influence of men's clothing on masculinity.

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About Jeannine Diego
With more than 25 years of fashion industry experience in various contexts and regions traversing a broad range of competencies, Jeannine Diego’s creative practice informs her research and focus on sustainable design. Her areas of interest lie at the intersections of fashion and politics expressed through self-making practices of undisciplined bodies, particularly in Cuba and Mexico. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals, and found expression in documentary film projects. Her documentary film A Wardrobe, An Island (2024) journeys through the mirrors and wardrobes of four Cuban women attempting to make a history of their own. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design and a Master’s Degree in Critical Theory. She is Assistant Professor of Fashion Design at Virginia Commonwealth University's School of the Arts.

About Kristin Stewart
Kristen Stewart earned a B.F.A. in Fashion Design from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2002 and an M.A. in Fashion and Textile Studies from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2008. Prior to entering the Media, Art, and Text Doctoral Program at VCU, she was the Nathalie L. Klaus Curator of Costume and Textiles for the Valentine Museum in Richmond, Virginia, with previous professional experience as a research associate for the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a curatorial assistant for the Department of Textile Arts of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Her research interests focus on the intersection of social power and gender identity as manifested in established sartorial codes.

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VCUarts Uncharted is recorded in the Community Media Center in the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Music by Felipe Letão. 

For more information, visit arts.vcu.edu/uncharted.

Kendall Buster shares her fascinating journey from microbiology to sculpture, the realization that all life is architecture, and the unexpected lessons of getting professional praise. 

This episode also features guest Christiana Lafazani, associate dean for faculty affairs and research at VCUarts. 

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About Kendall Buster
Kendall Buster is a professor of Sculpture + Extended Media at VCUarts. Equally inspired by the monumental and the microscopic, her large-scale sculptures operate as scale models for imaginary places and converse with the particulars of existing built spaces. Her work, informed at once by the built environment and by biological morphologies, has been exhibited in numerous venues nationally and internationally, including such venues as the Hirshhorn Museum and Kreeger Museum in Washington, D.C., Artist’s Space and the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York City, the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, the Haggerty Museum in Milwaukee, the Boise Art Museum in Boise, Idaho, Suyama Space in Seattle, Washington, SCAD Museum in Savannah, the Bahnhof Westend in Berlin, and the KZNSA Gallery in Durban, South Africa. Buster was interviewed by Neda Ulaby on NPR’s Morning Edition as part of a series on art and science and in 2005 was the recipient of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in the Arts. She earned her MFA in sculpture from Yale University and participating in the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Studio Program in New York City. She also earned her B.F.A. degree from the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington D.C., and a B.S. degree in medical technology from the University of Alabama.

About Christiana Lafazani
Christiana Lafazani serves as the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and Research at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts (VCUarts). She is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Interior Design, where she previously held the positions of Department Chair and Graduate Program Director for several years. Since joining the VCUarts faculty in 2003, Lafazani has played a significant role in both departmental leadership and broader academic administration. She was appointed to her current role in the Dean’s Office in 2019.

With a professional and academic career spanning over three decades, Lafazani brings extensive experience to her work as both a practicing designer and academic. Prior to her academic appointment, she held positions in the design industry, including work with an architecture and design firm specializing in corporate interiors, a role as prototype designer for a national electronics retailer, and as a design manager for an office furniture manufacturer.

Her research explores the intersection of professional practice and design pedagogy within the discipline of Interior Design. Specific areas of focus include the integration of emerging technologies into student work while supporting individual artistic expression, and the incorporation of sustainable practices in both design education and professional application. More recently, her scholarship has shifted toward design strategies that support neurodiverse populations, particularly adults with autism spectrum disorder, developed in collaboration with interdisciplinary colleagues across VCU.

Lafazani holds a Master of Fine Arts in Interior Environments from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design from James Madison University.

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VCUarts Uncharted is recorded in the Community Media Center in the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Music by Felipe Letão. 

For more information, visit arts.vcu.edu/uncharted.

Percussionist Justin Alexander, D.M., shares his passion for “singing” rhythm and discusses the extraordinary potential of veering from your original plan and letting your interests guide you.

This episode also features guest Karen Cubides, a musician, coach and entrepreneur who specializes in helping musicians connect with the calling of their work.

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About Justin Alexander
Justin Alexander is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Percussion Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. A dynamic percussionist, he has performed across the U.S. and internationally in Belgium, Australia, Sweden, Costa Rica and The Dominican Republic.

Beginning on drum set, Justin’s creative work centers on this instrument, commissioning and performing new works in concert and chamber music while making it central to his teaching. His early affinity for popular and classical music enables fluid movement between genres, reflected in performances with artists like Stephen Vitiello and the GRAMMY-nominated Richmond Symphony.

An Aspen Music Festival alum, Justin has performed with The Florida Orchestra, Richmond Symphony, Arkansas Symphony and has been principal percussionist at Wintergreen Summer Music Festival since 2015.

His recent focus is on non-western percussion traditions, studying Carnatic and Hindustani music with Erode Nagaraj and Shawn Mativetsky. This work led to a 2018 presentation at the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy and a co-authored article in Percussive Notes (2020).

A member of the Percussive Arts Society, Justin has presented at PASIC 2014 and 2018, published in Percussive Notes and serves on the PAS World Percussion Committee.

He holds a Doctor of Music in Percussion Performance from Florida State University, studying with John W. Parks IV, Blake Tyson and Leon Anderson. He is endorsed by Pearl/Adams, Zildjian, Vic Firth, Grover Pro and Remo.

About Karen Cubides
Karen Cubides is the passionate and engaging founder and CEO of the Karen Cubides Agency based in Miami, Florida. Her holistic approach to coaching her clients allows her to serve a wide range of well-established musicians and young professionals alike in unique and personal ways. Through her intimate understanding of the relationship between personal growth and professional achievement, Karen builds up the individual, the artist, and the professional within each of her clients as they master goal-setting, lifestyle balance, and the nuances of our evolving industry. Her commitment, care, and creativity have connected her with incredible individuals and organizations across the world. 

As CEO of KCA and as an avid educator, Karen is a frequent lecturer on arts marketing and branding, appearing at the New England Conservatory, the Colburn School, the Curtis Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music and Boston Conservatory, among other institutions. One of her greatest passions is serving young professionals as they navigate the tumultuous transition from student musician to professional artist. Karen created the Emerging Artists Program within KCA to meet this end. Her unique program allows these musicians to access mentorship, resources and a thriving community of like-minded creatives.

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VCUarts Uncharted is recorded in the Community Media Center in the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Music by Felipe Letão. 

For more information, visit arts.vcu.edu/uncharted.

Director, actor and educator Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, Ph.D., examines the need for authenticity, the power of African poetic drama and how a single play changed her entire life.

This episode also features guest Desirée Dabney, guest musical theatre artist, actor and CEO of Theatre Diva Productions. 

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About Tawnya Pettiford-Wates
Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, Ph.D., is professor of graduate pedagogy in acting and directing at VCUarts and the artistic director of The Conciliation Project, a non-profit social justice theatre company.

Dr. T is a playwright, director, actor, poet, writer/scholar-activist and teacher. She appeared in the Tony Award-winning company of the N.Y. Shakespeare Festival’s production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the rainbow is enuf. She recently directed the regional premiere of Berta, Berta for TNT at The Firehouse Theatre. Other directing projects include Fences (Virginia Repertory Theatre Company), Deep River (Virginia Opera Company) and The Niceties (The Conciliation Lab). Her production of The Top of Bravery, produced by Quill Theatre and Theatre Lab, received an ARTSIE for Best Original Work from the Richmond Theatre Critic’s Circle. In 2022, The Conciliation Project, in association with VCUarts Theatre, produced WHITESPLAINING, an original piece funded by The Carpenter Foundation. The Conciliation Project also led workshops on themes surrounding DEI for the National Education Association's annual national conferences in 2023 and 2024.

Pettiford-Wates is a contributing author to Black Acting Methods: Critical Approaches, edited by Sharell Luckett and Tia Shaffer, and continues to be voice talent for many national and regional brands such as Dukes Mayonnaise, Aetna Healthcare, GRTC, Hoyle and HALO. She has been teaching theatre at VCU since 2004. 

About Desirée Dabney
Desirée Dabney is an experienced professional actor, singer, director, producer and theatre educator/activist. Dabney received her B.F.A. in Acting in 2014 from Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University. She received her Master of Teaching from the University of Richmond and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Education Curriculum. 

In 2022, she was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from Shenandoah University. In 2023, Desirée was honored in Richmond’s Style Weekly Top 40 Under 40. The same year, she was featured in the Distinguished Black History Tribute on NBC12 recognizing her achievements in theatre education, which included development of theatre courses for Richmond Public Schools and her selection as the first Black woman to develop theatre curriculum for the Virginia Department of Education. Dabney is also director of the Richmond Critics Award-winning production of How Black Mothers Say I Love You. Her 2023 VCUarts production of Rent was an overwhelming success with nightly sold-out performances. 

Dabney is currently a guest musical theatre artist at the School of the Arts at VCU. She also serves as a Board Member for Fine Arts Education (Theatre)/Virginia Department of Education, the Yes And Theatrical Company Richmond Public Schools Fine Arts Advisory and Elected Board Director Educational Theatre Association. She is a Shuler Awards Adjudicator in Georgia and Owner/Executive Director of Theatre Diva Productions.

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VCUarts Uncharted is recorded in the Community Media Center in the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Music by Felipe Letão. 

For more information, visit arts.vcu.edu/uncharted.