Current Graduate Students in Media Arts
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Shanel Locke is working on developing a serious game called ChallengED that simulates the daily challenges of a first-year substitute teacher navigating a chaotic classroom environment. The game aims to foster empathy for teachers by immersing players in the emotional and practical struggles of the profession, utilizing mechanics such as respect management, constant distractions, and student relationships. Through this project, Shanel Locke hopes to raise awareness about the pressures teachers face while creating an engaging and meaningful gameplay experience.
Shanel Locke is currently working on testing the mechanics for ChallengED. Please access a copy of the game here and fill out the testing survey at the end so she can compile research data: .
Shanel Locke focuses on digital art and game design. Locke uses tools like Unreal Engine, Blender, Character Creator, and Adobe Photoshop to bring her characters and environments to life, ensuring they are both visually unique and technically sophisticated.
Website:
Instagram:
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During my graduate studies I am trying to absorb as much information as I can and learn new techniques and software to improve my animation skills. Thus far, most of my work has been in 3D. However, I hope to expand my research and experiment with other forms of animation, including more traditional methods.
Jordan is a digital artist specializing in animation and 3D modeling. His work spans a variety of subjects and styles, often taking inspiration from films and artwork throughout history. Jordan aims to create art that connects with people on a personal level through engaging visuals and storytelling.
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brittany.westlund@umconnect.umt.edu
My work centers on game design and interactive media, where I combine storytelling and technology to create meaningful, transformative experiences. Drawing from virtue ethics and depth psychology, I aim to promote empathy and self-awareness. Through exploring storytelling frameworks and psychological archetypes, I seek engaging ways to encourage personal growth and interdependence in gaming.
Originally from Vancouver, WA, I now live in Kalispell, MT, with my husband, whom I married in 2013. I enjoy reading a variety of genres, including history, fiction, and folklore, teaching media arts and graphic design, and creating illustrations and animations for my games. You can view a sample of my work on my website, brittanywestlund.com.
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Anya is a Media Arts MFA student focusing on screenwriting. She is particularly passionate about stories that deal with religion, sexuality, and womanhood. She graduated from the 猎奇重口 in 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology. In addition to attending school, she works as a Marketing Assistant for Accelerate 猎奇重口 and a Storyteller for the Rocky Mountain Women's Business Center
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rachel.cronk@umconnect.umt.edu In my graduate studies, I am pursuing a deeper understanding of videogame design with an emphasis on breathtaking visuals and captivating narratives--the creation of stories that move, impart, and inspire. For my degree, I will be focusing on creating a game titled Forlorn, a 3D third person dark fantasy RPG.
Biography: Rachel is a 33 year old student who lives in Hamilton, MT. They have a plethora of hobbies within the creative umbrella, such as painting, arts & crafts, photography, writing novels, pottery, animation, pixel art, and more. They also have two pets and a myriad of plants that they care for--the goal is to acquire over 200 plants and live in a veritable indoor jungle. Originally from all over the states (though mostly New England and the PNW), they use their wide experience of life from all corners of the US to draw inspiration from, though 猎奇重口 is assuredly their favorite state.
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brett.bloom@umconnect.umt.eduMy name is Brett Bloom, and I am a graduate student in the School of Media Arts. I received my BA in English with a focus in Creative Writing from Middle Tennessee State University, after which my now-wife, Kristin, and I moved to Missoula. Kristin recently received her MFA with a focus in Cinematography, and now I'm pursuing mine with a focus in Screenwriting.
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michael.couso@umconnect.umt.edu'Throughout the program, Couso plans to broaden his skills in game development by engaging in every aspect of the creative process. By focusing on a survival horror project, he hopes to explore video games’ capacity for storytelling and the creation of compelling narrative experiences. While his ultimate goal is to open a game studio, he first aims to gain hands-on experience with each component of game development through solo projects. This approach will allow him to better collaborate with other artists in the future and communicate effectively across disciplines.
Couso received his Bachelor’s degree in Computational Physics with a minor in Russian Studies from the 猎奇重口 in 2022. Since then, he has worked full-time in IT, supporting research computing. Over the years, he has explored diverse fields including theatre, voice acting, film, and metal fabrication. Although he has spent the past decade more immersed in technical fields and the sciences, he is excited to once again pursue creative endeavors—bringing together his technical expertise and artistic passions through interactive media.
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Dakota/Lakota Name Translation: First Day of Light WomanTribal Affiliation: Amaskapi Pikuni, Assiniboine and Dakota
omastewin.foster@umconnect.umt.edu
I’m a first-year graduate student at the 猎奇重口, pursuing an MFA in Media Arts and an MBC in Entrepreneurship and Museum Studies. My work centers on data-based storytelling, mixed media, and entertainment management, all grounded in a culturally rich perspective. My academic research explores narrative delivery systems and emerging technologies, which deeply influence my creative practice across animation, film, illustration, and digital projection. Where I primarily look to reexamine the exploitation of Indigenous people throughout Western history. In the entertainment sector, I build solidarity-focused networking systems and infrastructure that champion Indigenous sovereignty. I collaborate with Indigenous and BIPOC-led initiatives rooted in frontline activism, advocacy, wellness, prevention, culture, youth empowerment, and the arts.
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Vlad Frederick is an actor and screenwriter trained at the 猎奇重口. Author of two original pilots, I Dub Thee and SOAP, Vlad writes stories that celebrate life in all its divine absurdity. One of Vlad's recent short screenplays, Marquis, Repeat, fully produced as a stop-motion animation by UM Media arts alumni Halley Linscheid, was recently selected for screening at this year's Sitges Film Festival in Catalonia, Spain.I believe that the heart of all great cinema is using the external world to show us the interior workings of a character. Without this prime focus on character, there is no story, no plot, no meaning. After all, storytelling is a quintessentially human occupation. I seek to write stories that make us feel one with the characters living those stories, and that help us recognize our own lives as stories. I particularly value absurdism and surrealism as vehicles for storytelling, as no other philosophies come closer to recognizing the impossible miracle that is the human condition. Under these guiding beliefs, I will use the UM Media Arts MFA to deepen my understanding of character and to develop my portfolio of pilots and feature films for production
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Syd Hoeper is a first-year graduate student pursuing an MFA in Game Design and Interactive Media. With eight years of experience as a UI/UX designer, they are excited to take a more creative and experimental direction in their career. Syd is particularly interested in exploring how interactive media can be applied to learning environments, such as museum and educational exhibits, and is eager to see where the program’s courses and projects will lead.Originally from Wisconsin, Syd moved to Missoula three years ago to pursue skiing and river surfing. They also enjoy camping and experimenting with different art forms, most recently stained glass and pinstriping. At home, Syd lives in a log cabin with fish tanks and a black cat named Olive.
Current Graduate Students in Studio Art
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Hailing from small town Arkansas, Lane Chapman received her BFA in Ceramics from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2017. After graduating, she moved to Rochester, NY for a two-year residency at the Flower City Arts Center. She then moved to Missoula, MT for a residency at The Clay Studio of Missoula for two years from 2019-2021 and then a resident at Wildfire Ceramic Studio from 2021-2022, also in Missoula. Lane is currently an MFA pre-candidate at the 猎奇重口 in Missoula.
My work explores the relationship between Victorian aesthetics and the enduring ramifications of 猎奇重口’s mining industry. I juxtapose the intricate beauty and romanticism of the Victorian period with contemporary scenes of environmental decay, more specifically in relation to the Upper Clark Fork River valley. Through the use of Victorian motifs, I aim to challenge the paradox of progress that has led to our present-day ecological ruin.
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After years of being a commercial photographer and creating images for others, I have decided it's time to return to school and explore creating imagery for myself.
I am currently working with historical photographic processes, exploring the idea of mixing these processes with current digital technology to create imagery that utilizes the best of both worlds.
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Carolyn is creating abstract sculptures that evoke organic forms and show the structural limits and possibilities of clay. She is particularly interested in the relationship between fragility and strength, as seen in the cultural perceptions of women.
Originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Carolyn worked for over ten years as a professional librarian before pursuing graduate studies in ceramics. Carolyn is also in the final year of an advanced mentorship program at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colorado.
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I started my career in the ceramic’s arts in the fall of 2014 as I attended Indiana University, working towards my BFA. Between then and now I was at the Iowa Ceramics center as a resident artist, followed by a 4 year stint of managing a small farm in southern Indiana. I am currently an MFA at the 猎奇重口.
I am currently interested in addiction and the opioid epidemic in rural America. This work consists of pottery with imagery depicting caricatures and icons of a specific tourist town in southern Indiana. My second body of work is focused around movement through wiggles and alterations of pottery. I am figuring out if these two bodies can coexist or need to merge.
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As a figurative oil painter, I explore how people engage with the world and each other, while simultaneously reflecting on my own place within that space. My work blends ambient and surreal elements, using lighting and color to evoke a particular mood.
Lillian Sciulli is a figurative oil painter from Ohio. She received a BFA in Painting and Drawing from Ohio University and is now pursuing her master’s degree at the 猎奇重口.
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Bracha is interested in Maternal and Gender theory and the roles we knowingly, or unknowingly, assume after becoming a parent. In her work, she seeks to better understand the competing priorities of family and career and how we value care. Additionally, Bracha's work explores her overall rejection of the Hassidic community she grew up in, while, simultaneously, showcasing her appreciation of her Jewish heritage and certain aspects from her upbringing. Her paintings reflect the many ways in which ritual and community can bring meaning and value to one's life.
Bracha Tenenbaum grew up in Brooklyn, NY in an ultra-orthodox community and moved to Missoula, MT in 2015 after graduating with a bachelor's degree in philosophy. Her cultural identity, as well as her experience as a parent, heavily influences her artwork. She pulls inspiration from her everyday life with a focus on the small moments of care, which are essential to our collective wellbeing.
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I am captivated by the silent, stoic presence of old farming and industrial structures—grain silos, water towers, furnaces, and elevators. Their weathered forms speak to both the impermanence of human industry and the shifting priorities of capitalism. My work reflects a fascination with their slow decline, revealing the fragility of human solutions, and the striking geometry that transforms utility into beauty. Informed by the Bechers’ Typological studies of industrial forms, my practice explores the tension between engineering and aesthetics, while the act of making connects me to the raw materials and forces that shaped these artifacts. By reimagining these relics in the context of water scarcity, food security, and ecological change, I honor their enduring forms while provoking reflection on cycles of use and obsolescence, and on the evolving relationship between industry, environment, and art.
Ty Gundrum was born in upstate New York and first discovered clay in high school, a material that has remained central to his artistic practice. He studied art at Skidmore College as an undergraduate, where he developed his interest in ceramics and international affairs. After graduating, he directed the ceramics program at the Millbrook School in the Hudson Valley for four years, an experience that deepened his commitment to teaching and mentorship. Currently in his first year of the MFA program at the 猎奇重口, Ty continues to balance making and teaching, aiming to sharpen his practice in both realms.
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Jeanne Marshall is a multimedia artist and recently graduated with a BFA from Eastern Washington University in 2024. Decomposition and revitalization of the natural world are major components of their research and art practice. Jean’s work responds to the evolving ecosystems in the Inland Northwest, including the results of human influence and involvement. The increasing anxiety of evacuating from wildfires and witnessing other ecological disasters abroad drives their thesis. They construct a taxonomy of dirt, ash, bones, and other
found objects in addition to video footage to create installations reminiscent of the aftermath created by ecological disasters. Land conservation, as well as the decomposition and revitalization of the natural world, are central components of my research and art practice.
I examine the impact of our actions on the natural world, that affect the lives of those around us. I engage with a variety of mediums, including ceramics, found objects, video installation, and performance. Collecting wild clay and found objects allows me to examine local ecosystems in 猎奇重口, as well as study the vegetation and wildlife as they live, grow, and eventually meet their end. I approach performance as a time-based medium, reminiscent of the physical acts of collecting and orchestrating installations. These human-induced catastrophes changed my perception of permanence, control, and the response to the aftermath of these events.
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Elsie Spomer is an artist from Powell, WY. She graduated from the University of Wyoming with a Bachelor of Arts in Art Education in the Spring of 2025. While attending her student teaching in Gillette, WY, at both the primary and secondary levels, she made the decision to pursue her MFA in Painting and Drawing at the 猎奇重口, where she continues to develop her personal practice in preparation for a career teaching at the collegiate level.
Her practice explores what faculty and peers have referred to as our contemporary culture of “muchness”. Through the metaphor of fruit as the body, she explores themes of consumerism, sexuality, and desire, examining how desire and consumption influence personal and collective identities. Visually saturated and conceptually layered, her paintings examine the intersection of overconsumption and the physical body, prompting viewers to reevaluate their own cultural assumptions. As a first-year MFA pre-candidate, she aims to continue this exploration and discover how far she can push what is “too much.”
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Recently, I have been exploring how pots themselves can become figures—how the curve
of a belly, the arch of a handle, or the gesture of a spout might echo the body. This investigation into the relationship between pots and the human form deepens my understanding of the vessel not only as container, but also as a metaphor for presence, vulnerability, and connection. My practice continues to balance the dualities of ceramics: utility and ornament, image and form, body and object, permanence and fragility. In doing so, I hope to create works that carry both a quiet functionality and a sense of narrative wonder.
Maya Wasileski is an artist from Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, formerly based in Philadelphia. She
earned her BFA in Studio Arts from West Chester University and worked at The Clay Studio of
Philadelphia before beginning her MFA in Ceramics at the 猎奇重口. Her larger
works balance function with intricate surface design, using sgraffito, mishima, slips, and
underglaze to create visually striking forms. Influenced by her background in oil painting, Maya
merges painting and ceramics, often depicting dreamlike interiors with warped perspective to
explore the space between sleep and wake