ArtsWinthrop Alumni

 

Since 1895, the College of Visual and Performing Arts at Winthrop University has nurtured hundreds of thousands of students into creative career paths. With a 100% employment rate for all of our Arts Education majors, as well as the vigorous training that our students receive, we pride ourselves on preparing them to enter into the world as professional creatives. Together, our alumni form an impressive network of artists, curators, scholars, entrepreneurs, musicians, broadway stars, designers, art educators and more!

 

ArtsWinthrop alumni are routinely accepted to the country’s best degree advancing programs in art, art history, and art education and regularly secure jobs at major institutions and corporations. 

 

We love to keep in touch and brag about our alumni!  Alumni are encouraged to use this portal to keep up with the latest alumni news and to keep their profiles up to date.


Alumni Profiles

The ArtsWinthrop Alumni project is in the works and more profiles will be coming soon...

*If you are an Alumnus/a, or know someone who is, please create your alumni profile today and help us build our online Alumni network! 

 

Julia McCallum

Julia McCallum

M.M.E, 2010, B.M.E., 1997

mccallumj@winthrop.edu

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Cameron Vipperman

Cameron Vipperman

B.A. Theatre: Musical Theatre, 2024

cevipperman02@gmail.com

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Mary Horn Garber

Mary Horn Garber

B.A. Theatre, Technical Design: Costumes, 2024

maryhgarber@gmail.com

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Rachel Peterson

Rachel Peterson

B.A. Dance: Performance and Choreography, 2024

rachel.peterson2800@yahoo.com

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Katy Popple

Katy Popple

B.F.A., Interior Design, 2008

katy@katypopple.com

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Asher Johnson

Asher Johnson

B.F.A., Visual Communication Design: Illustration, 2024

godsveins@gmail.com

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Owen Smith

Owen Smith

B.M. Music Performance: Composition, 2024

owens1355@gmail.com

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Kimari Farr

Kimari Farr

B.A. Music Technology, 2024

farrkimari@gmail.com

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Avarie Radel

Avarie Radel

Bachelor in Design: Illustration, 2024

Ave1417@gmail.com

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Emily Burnham

Emily Burnham

B.F.A, Visual Communication Design: Illustration, 2024

emmyfoofoo@gmail.com

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Lauren Taylor Grad

Lauren Taylor Grad

M.F.A. Sculpture, 2020

laurentaylorgrad@gmail.com

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Madison Wilken

Madison Wilken

Bachelor of Art, Theatre Education, 2024

madisonwilken99@gmail.com

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A look into the history of the arts at Winthrop...

 

David Bancroft Johnson, founder and first president of Winthrop, is recognized today as one of South Carolina's great educators.

As the superintendent of the Columbia City Schools in South Carolina, he witnessed the chronic shortage of trained teachers and conceived the idea of a teacher training institution. He traveled to Boston to lobby Robert C. Winthrop, chairman of the Peabody Education Board, a philanthropic organization involved in upgrading Southern education, to contribute money to the school's founding.

Winthrop Training School for Teachers, named in honor of its benefactor, Robert C. Winthrop, opened its doors in 1886 with 19 students and one teacher. By 1895, the school moved to Rock Hill where Johnson put emphasis on the arts with a series of concerts, plays, readings, and lectures. On his travels to Europe, Johnson formulated ideas about educational practices and how the arts could be further incorporated into Winthrop life.

Johnson, who served as Winthrop's president from 1886 until his death in 1928, never wavered in his belief in the importance of the arts for a well-rounded education. Twenty-two years after his death Johnson was chosen Educator of the Half Century by leading college and public school educators, newspaper editors, and prominent layman.

One of Johnson's lasting legacies was his commitment and support of an arts program and curriculum, which has manifested itself today in the form of the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

 

Below are images of arts students from the 1930s - 1990s, courtesy of the Louise Pettus Archives

 

1954 ,Bill Long Directing1967, Margaret Chapman, Theatre1968-Marshall Doswell, Janice Pryor1968, Marshall Doswell, Theater1987-Theater Production1990, Man And Arms, Theater1990, Unidentified, Theater1997, Heather Brown1997, Heather BrownArtClass-EdmundLewandowski-February1976Art Class, Edmund Lewandowski, February 1976Art Department, David Freeman And Edmund Lewandowski-February1980Dance-1948Dance-1980Dance Demonstration-1980Drama Department-1968Drama Department-1947Drama department-1967Drama department-1968Drama department-1974Drama department-1975Drama department-1981Drama department-1982Drama department-ndDrama department-ndDrama department-1968Drama department-1955Drama department-1959Edmund Lewandowski-May 1976Eggs Into Art-1949Faculty Art Show-April 1975Fine Arts Department-1947Glee Club-1948GleeClub-ndModernDance-ca1965Modern Dance-1974Modern Dance-1977Modern Dance-ndMusicDepartment-ca1953Music Department-1981PhyicalEducationModernDance-ca1947Winthrop-EmmettGore-ca1938Winthropband-ca1953WinthropChorus-ca1979winthropscollegebandduringoragafterWWII-ndwinthropschorus-ca1967WinthropSingers-ca1979Winthropsjazzband-ca1981