Contact:
Eric Sloss
412-268-5765

For immediate release:
August 20, 2003

Jill Watson Festival Across the Arts Opens at Carnegie Mellon University

PITTSBURGH—The Jill Watson Festival Across the Arts (Wats:on?) will be held September 17-18 on the Carnegie Mellon University campus and will feature workshops, performances and lectures by a diverse group of emerging, international artists. This year's festival hosts artists crossing major disciplines in the arts, including mixed media artist Eleanor Antin and John Maeda from MIT's Media Lab, (see Wats:on? event schedule below).

One of the leading arts festivals in the City of Pittsburgh since 1997, Wats:on? celebrates the late Jill Watson's commitment to an interdisciplinary philosophy as an artist and celebrates her accomplishments and reputation as an architect.

Stephen Lee, festival chair, said, "This year's Jill Watson Festival Across the Arts specifically targets artists that cross boundaries in their work and will be a celebration of the disciplines of the five schools within the College of Fine Arts; architecture, art, design, drama and music. The festival is international in scope with artists from Europe and North America."

Wats:on? celebrates the diverse artistic interests of Watson, a Carnegie Mellon alumna, adjunct faculty member in the School of Architecture and Pittsburgh architect, who died in the TWA Flight 800 plane crash on July 17, 1996. Watson received her undergraduate degree in architecture from Carnegie Mellon in 1987. At the time of her death, she was a master of fine arts candidate in Carnegie Mellon's School of Art.

As an architect, an adjunct instructor specializing in architecture studio courses and a partner in the firm of Arthur Lubetz Associates, Watson earned numerous awards for her projects, including the historic preservation of an urban neighborhood. In 1990 she was named one of the American Institute of Architects' four outstanding women architects in Western Pennsylvania.

The Jill Watson Festival Across the Arts is co-sponsored by Pittsburgh City Paper and is produced by a committee of Carnegie Mellon College of Fine Arts faculty, staff and students. The College of Fine Arts is a community of nationally and internationally recognized artists and professionals organized into the schools of Architecture, Art, Design, Drama and Music, and their associated centers and programs.

For more information on Wats:on? visit www.cmu.edu/cfa/watson. The schedule of workshops will be available on the Web September 10.

For photos or additional information contact Eric Sloss at 412-268-5765 or by email at ecs@andrew.cmu.edu.

Wats:on? Event Schedule

Wednesday, September 17, 2003

4:30 p.m.	Carnegie Mellon University?s School of Drama Cabaret Helen Wayne Rauh Studio Theater, Purnell Center for the Arts
5:30 p.m.	Opening remarks, The Stanley and Marcia Gumberg Dean of the College of Fine Arts, Martin Philip Chosky Theater, Purnell Center for the Arts
5:45 p.m.	John Maeda, MIT Media Lab Philip Chosky Theater, Purnell Center for the Arts
7 p.m.	Liza Lou, performance and installation artist Philip Chosky Theater, Purnell Center for the Arts
8:30 p.m.	Eleanor Antin, mixed media artist Philip Chosky Theater, Purnell Center for the Arts

Thursday, September 18, 2003

5 p.m.

1:30 - 4:30 p.m.	Visiting artist and faculty workshops
1:30 - 2:45 p.m.	Cathie Boyd, Theatre Cryptic founder Philip Chosky Theater, Purnell Center for the Arts
5 p.m.	Cathie Boyd, Theatre Cryptic founder workshop Alumni Concert Hall, College of Fine Arts building
Special Workshop, Chris Kasabach, BodyMedia presenting his work done in collaboration with Mariko Mori Helen Wayne Rauh Studio Theater, Purnell Center for the Arts
7 p.m.	Mel Chin, environmental artist, Robert Lepper Distinguished Lecturer in Creative Inquiry Phillip Chosky Theater, Purnell Center for the Arts
8 p.m.	Cuarteto Latinoamericano, artists in residence, School of Music Kresge Recital Hall, College of Fine Arts building

Wats:on? Workshop Information

Visiting artist and faculty workshops will be held 1:30 - 4:30 p.m., Thursday, September 18. A schedule of workshops will be available on the Web at www.cmu.edu/cfa/watson beginning September 10.

Wats:on? Listing

The Jill Watson Festival Across the Arts
Since its inception in 1997, the annual festival honors the late Jill Watson's commitment to an interdisciplinary approach to art, and extends this philosophy to students and faculty within the College of Fine Arts, and to the greater Pittsburgh community. The festival features a diverse offering of lectures, performances, master classes and exhibitions with interdisciplinary arts innovators.

Location: Carnegie Mellon University campus, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Dates: Wednesday and Thursday, Sept. 17-18, 2003
Contact: Eric Sloss
Phone: 412-268-5765
Email: ecs@andrew.cmu.edu
Web site: www.cmu.edu/cfa/watson