VCUarts 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. 

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 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.

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. 

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 (American Institute of Graphic Arts) 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 BFA in Graphic Design from UIC, and an MFA 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 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.

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. 

About Tawnya Pettiford-Wates

Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, Ph.D., (known by her students as Dr. T) is professor of graduate pedagogy in acting and directing at Virginia Commonwealth University and the artistic director of The Conciliation Project, a non-profit social justice theatre company whose mission is “To promote through active and challenging dramatic work open and honest dialogue about racism and oppression in America in order to repair its damaging legacy.”

Dr. T is a playwright, director, actor, poet, writer/scholar-activist and teacher. She has 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, performing in both the national and international touring companies. Her television, film, industrial, voiceover and commercial credits are extensive. Pettiford-Wates most recently directed the Regional Premiere of Berta, Berta for TNT at The Firehouse Theatre to wonderful reviews. Some her most favorite directing projects include Fences to critical acclaim for the Virginia Repertory Theatre Company, Deep River the Marion Anderson Story for the Virginia Opera Company and The Niceties for The Conciliation Lab’s inaugural season. 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. Her work with The Conciliation Project has created several original performance pieces in collaboration with the Institute for Contemporary Art, MCV and the VCUarts Department of Theatre. This work has intentionally engaged communities around issues of race, racism and historic and systemic oppression. In Fall 2022, The Conciliation Project, in association with the VCUarts Department of Theatre, produced an original performance piece funded by The Carpenter Foundation called WHITESPLAINING. The play promoted a larger community dialogue around race and historic systems of oppression and was well received. 

Dr. T wrote a weekly opinion column for more than 10 years for Urban Views Weekly, a local community news outlet. She is a contributing author in the new acting theorist book tilted, Black Acting Methods: Critical Approaches, edited by Sharell Luckett and Tia Shaffer, Routledge, NY, NY, 2016. The Conciliation Project has been contracted with the NEA (National Education Association) to present and lead ongoing workshops on themes surrounding DEI for their annual national conferences in 2023 and 2024 in Seattle, Washington and Las Vegas, Nevada respectively. She continues to present classes and workshops on deconstructing Eurocentric models of arts education all over the US and facilitate workshops and training in anti-racism, restorative justice, trauma healing, and creating community through truth-telling and sharing our rites of passage stories. Pettiford-Wates 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. In May 2014, Dabney received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from Shenandoah Conservatory of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia. She received her Master of Teaching from the University of Richmond and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Education Curriculum.

A gifted professional, Desirée has been acclaimed and received awards in recognition of her accomplishments: In 2022, she was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from Shenandoah University. In 2023, Desirée was honored to be selected in Richmond’s Style Weekly Top 40 Under 40. And in February 2023, she was featured in the Distinguished Black History Tribute on NBC12 that recognized her achievements in theatre education, which included the 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 an award-winning director for the Richmond Critics Awards production of How Black Mothers Say I Love You. In addition, her 2023 inaugural production of the iconic musical Rent as head of musical theatre at VCUarts was an overwhelming success with nightly sold-out performances.

As “Professor Dabney,” Desirée is guest musical theatre artist at the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. 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. Dabney is committed to providing opportunities for performers in the Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) community so that all performers will be seen and heard!

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.