- Julie Thomson '07G
The Writing on the Wall
“Art is more than just a job,” says Julie Thomson ’07G, associate curator of education at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. “Museums are important spaces for the public to see and engage with works of art firsthand.” She would know: she educates museum visitors and Duke students on ways to look at and interpret art exhibits.Thomson says her art history degree prepared her to engage with the range of art in the Nasher collection, which includes significant medieval and Renaissance holdings. Recently, the Nasher Museum has been exhibiting “A Room of Their Own; The Bloomsbury Artists in American Collections,” which has introduced Thomson to the writings of Virginia Woolf and the ideas of the Bloomsbury Group. Thomson believes museums are important because “there is nothing comparable to seeing a work of art in person.” She adds, “Museums are exciting learning environments that allow people the space to think and raise questions. My hope is that something people see in a museum interests them to such an extent that they want to find out more.”
Heavy Metal
Seven years ago, Ralph Berger '65 and his wife, Joyce, decided to move from their home on Cape Cod to Rutherfordton, North Carolina. There, a welding class at a local community college proved a turning point. personal therapy and invigoration. After the class, he purchased a welder and plasma cutter to translate his drawings into metal sculptures. In a 2,500-square-foot studio on his property Berger welds sculptures designed to draw attention to the fragile nature of society. “With reference to my art and a good chunk of life experience, negative can become beneficial. My sculptures are a study of the relationship between positive and negative space, giving equal significance to both.” Berger’s works have been displayed at art shows and purchased by homeowners, businesses, and hospitals, among them Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Long Island, New York. “These past two years have been the most successful in my life,” he says. Berger credits his wife for helping take his art career to the next level with the creation of a blog: rjbalchemist.blogspot.com.
Viola Virtuosa
Viola player Maria Jelen ‘08G recently wrapped up a Opera Festival. Since going on the tour featuring famed jazz musician Branford Marsalis. Although having trained as a classical viola player while at UMass Amherst, Jelen also took two semesters of jazz voice, which inspired her to combine the two genres in her viola playing. “It is nice to be able to apply my singing to my viola playing, and it makes me feel the music coming from the inside out.” Jelen is spending the next couple of months delving into the musical genre of opera as part of the Amazonas Filarmonica in the Amazonas Opera Festival. Since going on the Marsalis tour, which featured a wide variety of Brazilian classical and popular music, Jelen is looking to continue to perform and prepare for auditions. She also seeks to one day start a music program that reaches underprivileged children. "I believe learning and experiencing music helps people to open themselves to the world and to others, making us better citizens."
Mindful Matters
The lives of Ken Lambert ’96 and his wife, Danielle, of Brentwood, New Hampshire, have been devastated by the consequences of untreated mental illness. Now, they are working to prevent others from experiencing anything like the tragedy that befell them in 2008 when Danielle’s twin sister, who had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, carried the Lambert’s 5-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son to their deaths into oncoming traffic on Interstate 495. The Lamberts have started a nonprofit organization called Keep Sound Minds, which focuses on improving how society deals with mental disorders. It is a critical issue: In Massachusetts alone, there were at least 150 preventable tragedies in the past three years involving people with severe mental illness. For more information or to make a donation, visit www.keepsoundminds.org.
Playing His Cards Right
When George Epstein ’48 was a student back in the mid 1940s, he was balancing the academic requirements of a demanding engineering major, as well as recreational poker games with his fraternity brothers. He always kept his hand in the game, all through a much decorated and successful career in the aerospace industry, and his pastime became his passion when he retired in 1991. Epstein drew on his experiences as an author, editor, and teacher in the field of engineering to write a variety of articles and books relating to the game, among them The Greatest Book of Poker for Winners and Four Basic Rules for Winning at Poker. His “Seniors Scene” column is published regularly in Poker Player newspaper. Epstein also teaches a “poker lab” at the Claude Pepper Senior Citizen Center in Los Angeles. For seniors especially, says Epstein, playing the game of poker can be beneficial. “It helps us to keep mentally and physically healthy.” Winning, he says, adds to the excitement. It’s not only “great fun, it also is another form of success.” And that’s a hand that Epstein has always enjoyed playing out.
Michael ’04 and Maria ’06 Alden Three generations of UMass Amherst students and alumni attended the Aldens’ July 19 wedding in Worcester. The couple has settled in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where Maria is a child and family therapist (she received a master’s in social work from Boston University), and Michael is working on an MBA from the University of North Carolina.
Lauren (Beane) Barnatt ’04 married Jason Barnatt on October 11, 2008, at The Harding-Allen Estate in Barre. Lauren’s dad, Pastor Christopher Mitchell, married them. The Barnatts are living in their hometown of Whitinsville, and both are employed by Genzyme Corporation in Cambridge.
Ocean State Senator: Chris Fierro
Christopher Fierro ’02, ’04G was sworn in as the newest member of Rhode Island’s State Senate this past January. After earning his bachelor’s in political economy and a master’s in labor studies, Fierro moved to Woonsocket, taking with him his love for the smallest state in the union and a desire to be involved in politics and public service. In 2008, Fierro ran for a vacated state senate spot, winning a six-way Democratic primary. Fierro credits much of his success to the time he spent both in and out of the classroom. “Coming to a middle ground is often a goal in politics,” says Fierro. “At UMass Amherst I developed the analytical thinking skills as well as interpersonal skills required to succeed.”
