The Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts welcomes the following five new faculty members this fall.
• Carlie Antes is assistant professor of practice and 3D Foundations coordinator. Antes earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with an emphasis in ceramics and returned to complete her Master of Fine Arts in sculpture. Antes’ work explores biological and ecological structures set alongside human inventions and behavior—utilizing the physical matter of her lived experiences as visual placeholders for people, places, memories and emotions.
Antes has received numerous awards and accolades for her creative research including the Dan and Barbara Howard Creative Achievement Award (2020), the Jean R. Faulkner Memorial Art Exhibition Award (2017, 2020), and the Francis William Vreeland Award (2017, 2023). Antes looks forward to engaging a diverse student body and bolstering their understanding of three-dimensional visual information, its relationship to art/craft/design and the everyday human experience
• Bryan Jackson is assistant professor of emerging media arts. Jackson is a director, writer and educator based in Los Angeles. His films take a unique approach to narrative storytelling and draw upon his work in LGBTQ activism and background in theater and experimental film.
He is currently in post-production on “Cream,” based on a story by Rikki Cucornet. He earned a M.F.A. in directing from UCLA.
Jackson was co-founder and faculty of DigiFilm at the University of California, Irvine. DigiFilm is a filmmaking program whose majority is comprised of BIPOC, Women and LGBTQ students. At UCI, he created the Inernational Documentary Program, which sends undergraduate filmmakers to film documentaries at community sites focused on environmental and social justice, women’s empowerment and new models of education.
For more on Jackson, visit https://go.unl.edu/esgf.
•Joshua Lowe is assistant professor in graphic design. Lowe earned a Master of Fine Arts in visual communications from Purdue University and has previously served on the faculty of Illinois Wesleyan University, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and Purdue University. He is a former art director in both agency and in-house design settings, with an emphasis in typography, storytelling and branding.
Lowe’s work has been awarded and published in international design journals, including “Communication Arts” and “Graphis.” He has received Telly and Addy awards for his work in advertising and has exhibited throughout the Midwest.
His current research embraces and explores the relationship between physical and digital experiences and seeks to drive positive change through visual storytelling, motion design and interactivity.
As a design educator, Lowe aims to foster a culture of creative problem solving and innovative output through healthy collaboration, encouraging students to seek local and global design problems to solve. His students have been selected for design awards in the U.S., Portugal, Japan, U.K., and India.
• Felix Olschofka is professor and director of the Glenn Korff School of Music. He comes to Nebraska from the University of North Texas (UNT) College of Music, where he was associate dean for operations and professor of violin.
German-born and raised, Olschofka was at UNT since 2010. He formerly served as director of graduate studies from 2018-2020. He holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the Music Conservatory “Hanns Eisler” Berlin, a performance certificate from Indiana University and a doctorate from the University of California San Diego.
Olschofka has toured as a soloist, concertmaster and chamber musician throughout Europe, Asia, North America and South America. He founded the UNT International Summer Music Institute in 2014 and served as both director and faculty for this two-week long workshop for highly talented pre-college and college students.
For more on Olschofka, visit https://go.unl.edu/ayoj.
• Hank Stratton is professor, director of the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film and executive director of the Nebraska Repertory Theatre. He comes to Nebraska from the University of Arizona, where he was head of acting/musical theatre and the artistic director of the Arizona Repertory Theatre.
A graduate of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Stratton has served as a guest artist for leading educational institutions around the country, including masterclasses at UCLA, the University of Michigan and San Diego State University.
He is a co-founding instructor for Five Days of Broadway, a performing arts summer intensive in partnership with the prestigious Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts. He also sits on the Board of Directors for The Professional Arts Education Center, a not-for-profit whose mission is to provide merit- and need-based scholarships in the performing arts. He is also a founding board member for The Foundation for a National AIDS Monument.
For more on Stratton, visit https://go.unl.edu/zv8h.