VPA Class Notes

Jay Aubrey Jones (BS '76)

Jay was recently featured in "54 Below Sings Coco," the 1969 Alan Jay Lerner–Andre Previn musical at New York's 54 Below.

Margaret Saraco (BFA '81)

Margaret is a spoken word artist and poet. Recent anthology contributions include: Whisper, Whisper, Shout; A When Women Speak Anthology, Silence is Consent, S/he Speaks Volume 3 (Moonstone Press), Write Forward: A Constellation of Voices, Lips Magazine, The Opiate and Paterson LIterary Review. She was awarded an Honorable Mention in the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Contest and was a finalist in the Eyelands Book Award Contest for her book "Even the Dog Was Quiet" (Human Error Publishing). Visit Margaret's website.

Tyler Smith (BFA ’77)

Tyler is the artist behind BOMBOTZ. Recent exhibitions include the solo shows “Brainz ‘n boltz” at The Lighthouse ArtCenter in Tequesta, Florida and “BOMBOTZ” at Palm Beach Modern & Contemporary Art Fair in Florida; the upcoming “BRUTEBOTZ” solo show will be at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse July 10- August 3, 2025.

Jeffrey Stiskin (BS ’94)

Jeffrey just reached his 25-year milestone at BlueLinx Corporation, a wholesale distributor of building materials.

Barbara Hocker (BFA ’81)

Barbara is having the solo exhibition “River Ballads” at the Connecticut River Museum in Essex, Connecticut, March 18-May 18, 2025.

Amber Gatlin (BFA ’19) and Kristen Brown (BFA ’19)

In collaboration with “The Fortnight Project,” Amber and Kristen are producing “Her Voice, Her Choice: A Cabaret,” which highlights she/her identifying voices and brings awareness to the state of women’s rights in America through song, dance and comedy. The fundraising event features a number of Syracuse University alumni and will be held on February 24 at Haswell Green’s in New York City. 

Jennie Schaeffer-Goldberg (BFA ’00)

Jennie has is thrilled to be returning to the classroom where she started after graduating from Syracuse University. Dedicating almost two decades on her art and teaching privately, Jennie has taken a position teaching middle school art in Durham, North Carolina, where she can impact the lives of our youth in person. Jennie on LinkedIn.

Adair Wilson Heitmann (BFA ’75)

Adair’s lithograph is in the “Civic/Civil Engagement” exhibition at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, Connecticut, through February 26. She says, “In 1975, my senior year at Syracuse University, I created and thought my original lithograph of a woman courageously suffering from carrying an unintended pregnancy to term was complete. 50 years later, I add two words, ‘Hands Off,’ because the human right for a woman’s sovereignty over her own body, is still under fire. Thank you to the College of Visual and Performing Arts for creating an academic environment for artistic freedom of expression. One that is still going strong half a century later.” Visit her website.

Darlene Burgos Grande (BA ’00)

Darlene is the four-time Teacher of the Year for Orange County Public Schools (OCPS) as a music educator/choral director for grades K-5 in the past 22 years as well as a 2024 Spectrum News A+ teacher representing OCPS VPA and Stonewyck Elementary Music in Central Florida.

Scott Catucci (MA ’21)

After graduation Scott has continued to work at Syracuse University in the outdoor recreation industry and follows his passion for music by working and playing with the band Paega*, engineering and producing two albums for the band to date. His company Bold Atlas Endeavorcontinues to work with musicians and artists to help support them as they develop.

Matthew Lax (BFA ’11)

This January Matthew will be the subject of a dedicated survey program at the 2025 Rotterdam Film Festival. Two of Matthew’s films, “Gay Men’s Book Club” and “A Tired Dog Is a Good Dog, Part Two,” will be making their world premieres at the festival. Among other events, there will be two programs surveying Matthew’s recent and older films, including “A Tired Dog Is a Good Dog, Part One” (2022), “Fabricated in the Actual Arctic” (2018), “American Folk” (2017) and “Lil’ Tokyo Story” (2016). These premieres follow on the heels of a recent solo exhibition at Human Resources LA, which was funded in part by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts and includes a new publication with Inga Books.

Jay Aubrey Jones (BS ’76)

Jay recently completed a run as the Captain in “Anything Goes” at Gulfshore Playhouse. Three performances starred drama department graduate Rachel Revellese ’24 as Hope Harcourt.

Natalie Weaver (BS ’18)

Natalie is leading the marketing department of the leading independent business book publisher, Kogan Page, in New York City.

Katie Bell Powers (BS ’91)

Katie is currently working as the assistant to the town supervisor in Poestenkill, New York, a beautiful upstate New York hamlet that has been her hometown for 22 years. Her Orange Pride has grown exponentially since her son Henry (VPA ’26) started at Syracuse University. She enjoys visiting SU often and going to School of Music concerts.

Bari Hochwald Cagnola (BFA ’85)

Bari was a Fulbright Scholar 2024 in Slovakia, where she lectured at the Academy of Performing Arts, Bratislava, and created a community participatory event based on her approach to arts-in-community: Art for Social Renewal. This is a relationship-based approach to community transformation based on her work with the founder of Community Renewal International, which centers our commonality as a point of connection, healthy community and social development.

Cheryl Patton Wu (BFA ’75)

“A View from Home,” Cheryl’s solo show at The Noyes Museum of Art of Stockton University, consists of 23 of her fiber/fabric landscapes. The exhibition runs through January 5, 2025 at the Noyes Galleries at the Seaview Hotel, 401 S. New York Rd., Galloway, New Jersey, with an artist reception on Thursday, December 12, from 6 – 7:30 p.m. View more of Cheryl’s work on her website and Instagram (cherylpattonwu).

Pam Dickler (BFA ’86)

Pam performed a solo show in Chicago on November 3 that tells the unbelievably true story of how Andrew Breitbart and the Alt-Right tried to use her small‬‭ Chicago theater company (Terrapin Theatre, founded by Syracuse University alumni) to take down President Obama, who’d served on a panel for them years earlier following their production of “The Love Song of Saul Alinsky.” (Several Syracuse University stories are included as well.) Visit her website.

Michael Ambrosino (BS ’52, MS ’55)

Created by Michael, “Nova” is celebrating its 50th season on PBS. This represents over 950 documentaries exploring how the world works through the lens of scientific discovery.

Daniel Fenski (BFA ’81) and Barbara Battles (BFA ’80)

Daniel and his wife Barbara, owners of Windsor Gallery in Colts Neck, New Jersey, celebrated 22 years in business as one of the area’s top art galleries and custom framing studios. They enjoy enriching lives immeasurably by representing many New Jersey artists and providing outstanding service framing and re-framing customers’ art, collectables and treasures. They opened the gallery after working as retail and commercial interior designers, respectively, for years in New York City.

Rivita Goyle (MA ’18)

Rivita released her debut album “Snow Angels,” a genre-bending, 13-track album reflecting on her journey through life, the stories of growing up in India, leaving home and traveling across the world. Written, produced and mixed by Rivita, the album was made in collaboration with more than 20 musicians from across the world.

Jay Aubrey Jones (BS ’76)

Jay recently sang in “Here’s Love to the Music Man,” a tribute to Meredith Willson, at 54 Below in New York City. He will open in November as The Captain in “Anything Goes” at Gulfshore Playhouse in Naples, Florida. He will be sharing the stage with fellow VPA alumna Rachel Revellese (BFA ’24).

Kinsey Robb (BFA ’04)

Kinsey was appointed executive director of the Art Dealers Association of America (ADAA). In this role, Kinsey will lead the foremost nonprofit membership organization of the nation’s premiere fine art galleries and oversee the ADAA’s presentation of The Art Show, one of the longest-running and preeminent philanthropic art fairs in the country benefiting Henry Street Settlement. The ADAA represents over 200 members across nearly 40 U.S. cities and is a leader on issues pertaining to connoisseurship, scholarship, ethical practice and public policy.

Sophie Burnham (BFA ’16)

Sophie’s debut novel “Sargassa” will be released on October 8 from DAW Books and Hugo Award-winning editor Navah Wolfe. In the modern-day North America of a world where the Roman Empire never fell, an unlikely group of rebels is ready to burn down the empire in the first book of a new speculative trilogy that explores gender, sexuality and oppression within an empire teetering on the brink of rebellion. Told from multiple POVs—a young heiress, an undercover spy, a bastard brother and a fugitive who has history with all three—“Sargassa” is equal parts political intrigue, queer romance and revolution.

Adair (Wilson) Heitmann (BFA ’75)

Adair will perform her new personal narrative story, “This Little Light of Mine,” on October 29 with the True Tales Live Show on the theme of “Uh-Oh!” at 7 p.m. It launches from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and is on Zoom. Register on Facebook for the performance or contact info@truetaleslivenh.org to register. Adair’s award-wining personal narrative essays and poems are published in books and anthologies. She is a poet-in-residence teaching artist in under-resourced schools in Connecticut and is a guest lecturer in colleges and universities nationwide.

Jay Aubrey Jones (BS ’76)

Jay recently sang in “About Time,” a new musical review by Maltby and Shire for their class reunion at Yale. The show also featured Gretchen Cryer, Jason Danieley, Daniel Jenkins, Q. Smith and Lynne Wintersteller. Jay is playing Achish in the Off-Broadway musical “David” through July 13 at the AMT Theatre.

Matthew Barba (BM ’18)

Matt has taken full ownership of a growing audio-visual production company based in Brooklyn, New York, known as FullStack Productions NY. After years of honing his craft as an audio engineer and learning other technical disciplines in the world of live events, Matt will be leading the growth and vision of FullStack NY while orchestrating resources to provide excellent service to the audio-visual and events industry in New York City and beyond.

Laurie (Hackett) Maddalena (BS ’96)

In November, Laurie was an inaugural honoree for the ‘CUSE50 Alumni Entrepreneur Award recognizing the 50 fastest growing alumni businesses. Laurie is a professional speaker, leadership consultant and CEO of Envision Excellence in Maryland. Her company facilitates leadership development programs for managers and executives to help companies create cultures where people love to come to work.

Tyler K. Smith (BFA ’77)

Tyler will have the solo exhibition “ROCKIN’ BOTZ: The Lowbrow Art of TYLER K. SMITH” at the Lighthouse ArtCenter Galleries in Tequesta, Florida, January 16 - Febuary 22, 2025. Visit his website.

Kathleen (Reilly) Beausoleil (BFA ’90)

Kathleen is in a three-person show at The Painting Center in New York City through May 18.

Tara Sandlin (BM ’23)

After years of working in non-profit religious and artistic spaces around Central New York, Tara will matriculate to Harvard University this fall to pursue a master of divinity degree on a full scholarship. Tara is excited to bring her musical background to a cohort preparing for careers as leaders in the academy, religious sites, government, non-profit and more.

Jay Aubrey Jones (BS ’76)

Jay recently performed at 54 Below in New York in “54 Below Loves Cast Albums.” The show also featured Karen Akers, Christine Pedi, Ben Jones, Michael Portantiere, Matthew Martin Ward, Megan Styrna, Robbie Rozelle, George Anthony Papas and John Griffin.

Margaret Sáraco (BFA ’81)

Margaret recently published her second book of poetry, “Even the Dog Was Quiet” (Human Error Publishing, 2023). Tamar Jacobs, associate editor of Iron City Magazine, commented, “This book is a kind of memoir in poems, a careful recounting and examination of the way Sáraco’s relationships over the course of life have shaped her, and how her memories have sustained and helped her find and make meaning from life. The poems study small interpersonal moments embedded in everyday life and pan back to consider the meaning of a life, and heart, full of thousands of these moments. This is a gorgeous book.” “Even the Dog Was Quiet” is widely available, including online in Barnes & Noble and Amazon and at the Syracuse University Campus Store.

Jonathan Lavan (BFA ’85)

Jonathan is the owner of Underpressure Diving & Nature Photography. In his role as a photographer, naturalist, citizen scientist and wildlife expert, he leads diving and photography trips all over the world. His award-winning nature photography has shown in galleries in Los Angeles, San Diego, Chicago, Barcelona and his home state of Maine. Jonathan is a staunch environmentalist and educator of young people. He is committed to making a difference on this planet through his images and his message of goodwill to all creatures.