Guest Artists - College of Visual and Performing Arts

As part of the college’s role as a cultural center for the arts in Southwest Virginia, we bring a wide variety of guest artists and creative scholars to our campus. These arts professionals not only bring high quality performances, exhibitions, and lectures to our campus, but also work closely with our students in the classroom. Having access to artists from the “real world” provides students with an important perspective in terms of developing career goals and networking opportunities.

Recent guest artists to visit Radford University include:

Lin Xia Jiang

Lin Xia Jiang is Professor and Coordinator of the Painting and Drawing Program of the Fine Arts Department at Buffalo State College of the State University of New York. Educated in both China and the United States, Jiang has exhibited his paintings and drawings regionally, nationally and internationally. In his work and his teaching, Jiang utilizes the human figure to illustrate the many facets of human experience. During his visit to RU’s Art Department, Jiang conducted a workshop and mentored art students.

Lisa del Rosario

Nominated for Best Short Work and Best Dancer for the Austin Critics Table Awards and Outstanding Choreographer for the B. Iden Payne Awards, Lisa del Rosario is a multifaceted artist--an actress, dancer, teacher, choreographer, and a Guild Certified Feldenkrais PractitionerCM. While visiting Radford University, she met with dance students and taught a modern technique master class based on Feldenkrais. She also collaborated on a piece with dance faculty danah bella and performed an original work in the spring dbDW concert “Memories of Sweet Nothing.”

Massimo Delle Cese

Italian guitar player Massimo Delle Cese is chair professor at L'Aquila Conservatory of Music and conducts permanent master classes in Rome at Accademia Romana di Musica. He came to campus to participate in the 10^th annual Radford University International Guitar Festival, performing and conducting master classes for students and the community.

Colleen Kelly

Colleen Kelly, Director of Training at the American Shakespeare Center, was invited to respond to Radford University Theatre's production of ROMEO AND JULIET. A founding member of the Association of Theatre Movement Educators and past Vice-president of the Society of American Fight Directors, Kelly viewed the production and in a question and answer session with cast, crew and other theatre students shared her response to the play. In addition, students were able to ask this seasoned professional her advice on furthering their performance skills for their future acting careers.

Paul Nolan and Donna Polen

Guest clinicians Paul Nolan from PA and Donna Polen from NY came to engage the Music Therapy students and surrounding community at the annual Music Therapy Symposium. Nolan, a professor at Drexel University, has a practice in psychiatric music therapy, and Polen is a full-time clinician with adults with developmental disabilities. Both guests have over 30 years of clinical experience along with multiple publications in national and international journals and books. RU students were engaged in a variety of experiences including songwriting, improvisation, music and movement, and the development of music therapy strategies to work with specialized clinical populations.

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