The 15 best student artists:Muhammad Hakim Azly

Year: Freshman
Major: Architecture

Most artists spend years creating an international platform for their artworks, but Muhammad-Hakim Azly began his work as a mural painter on the international level at an early age.

Azly, a freshman architecture major, has already completed five murals. By doing so, he said was able to regenerate a lost spark of interest for art in the community.

Azly was offered the chance to paint his first mural when he was a freshman in high school, after a family friend asked him to design the mural for a school she built in Nigeria.

Soon after, he completed a second mural for another school in Africa. Each theme is based on where the mural is located, Azly said.

In his senior year, Azly completed two murals at his high school in Teaneck, N.J. The first was an honor roll mural, which was meant to inspire students to maintain good academic standing, Azly said.
Azly said his main outlet for artistic expression will most likely be architecture. He plans to focus on designing residential buildings.

Azly will use his artistic talent and passion as an advantage as he goes through the program.

“In architecture, it’s good to have an art background because it gives you an edge,” he said.

Azly said he hopes to make a trip to see the murals he painted in Africa and is considering participating in the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program.

Azly’s main goal in painting murals is to enrich communities where his artwork is featured. Born and raised in Malaysia, Azly said he feels a strong connection to the town of Teaneck.

“It’s my second home,” said Azly, who lived in Teaneck for eight years. “That’s why I wanted to give back to the community.”

After completing his fifth mural, Azly organized a group of students from his high school. The students in the program paint murals in both the school and community. Most of the work is done during school hours when there are free blocks of time.

Azly said the mural-painting group is a productive alternative to going home after school or cutting class.

“The idea is to get the kids to go around the community and leave something, a legacy,” he said. “Ultimately, my hope for this still small yet growing organization is to make all types of art considerably ‘cool’ again.”

Christine Fisher can be reached at fisher.christine@temple.edu.

The 15 best student artists:Angela Washko

Year: Senior
Major: Painting

Without hesitation, Angela Washko said she knew from the moment she picked up a paintbrush in kindergarten, she found her passion.

Art has become a driving force in the senior painting major’s life, a journey she hopes will lead to a career teaching young people how to express and motivate themselves through art. She hopes to sell a few of her eclectic paintings and photographs along the way.

At the moment, Washko is busy preparing for graduation, working as a student ambassador for the Tyler School of Art and serving as president of Produce Exhibitions, Tyler’s student-run exhibition program. Somehow, she still manages to find time to paint and photograph a range of subjects.

At Temple, she was encouraged to experiment with photography. She figured it would be good for her to photograph her paintings. After taking a few courses in photography, she became more interested in contemporary photography than contemporary painting because “photography allows a sense of removal that painting just doesn’t.”

Her paintings show a funny, irreverent side to the young artist: a woman who sees the playful side of life and creates attractive paintings with bursts of colors and hues.

One of her favorite paintings shows a group of baby chicks highlighted by vivid hues of pink and orange to depict the morning sun. Another painting was of a rabbit nestled beneath a set of large pink rabbit-ear slippers.

Washko said she believes she was bitten by the teaching bug during her sophomore year when she worked with Sam Rich Photo on a mural project at Sheridan Elementary School in Allentown, Pa. She loved interacting with the children, who would hang around between classes and after school to watch her paint.

With a concentration in art history, Washko said she plans to pursue a career as a teacher. She applied to teach at low-performance and -income schools with Teach for America.

“I came across a lot of applicants with portfolios that show passion and potential but lacked the necessary skills to be admitted into an art college,” Washko said of working in the admissions office at Tyler. “It’s these students I want to help.”

Lauren Williams can be reached at laurenw@temple.edu.

The 15 best student artists:Mat Tonelli

Year: Junior
Major: Printmaking

Abstract. Surreal. Experimental.

The art and music of Mat Tonelli embody these things and much more. As a junior printmaking major and musician, Tonelli is constantly pushing his artistic boundaries, as well as the boundaries of viewers and listeners of his work.

“I need their eyes to shake,” Tonelli said. “My goal is to make an impact with art, mainly creating a little uneasiness with shape and color.”

Tonelli achieves this goal and expands upon it. Using the technique of abstraction and rich Native American and Japanese themes, he has created diverse works during his years at Tyler.

Working primarily with etchings, screen prints and litho prints, Tonelli carefully considers topics for his work before producing his final product.

Tonelli’s passion for music originates in his hometown of Worcester, Mass. He is a guitarist in two bands – Franco, a progressive rock band in memory of a friend who passed away, and Happenings, a progressive experimental band that puts abstract beats and diverse harmonies at the forefront.

Although his music interests derive from Massachusetts, Tyler has created a bridge from the New England state to Philadelphia for Tonelli’s musical passions.

In past years, he has helped coordinate the school’s annual Tyler Fest, bringing bands from Worcester to play for the event.

“It is almost like I live in two different worlds,” Tonelli said. “My music is in Massachusetts, and my art [is in] Philadelphia. My passions for each have evened out though, and they influence each other. My art influences my music.”

Tonelli said he would like to continue with his art and music for the rest of his life. With the determination and talent he shows in his work, there is no doubt that this artist will find great success in his future.

“Pushing one’s self and breaking new ground is what being an artist is all about,” he said.

Nicole Welk can be reached at nicole.welk@temple.edu.

The 15 best student artists

Fifteen artists were chosen to share their stories in our special issue, created to showcase some of Temple’s most passionate and creative on-campus talent.

• Malcolm Kenyatta – Poetry
• Kristen Jones – Sculpture
• Zack Gross – Photography
• Hallie Lehuta – Painting
• Kelsey Morton – Printmaking
• Justin Foley – Guitar
• Sarah Longenecker – Ceramics
• Uchenna Okere – Architecture
• Muhammad Hakim Azly – Painting
• Angela Washko – Painting
• Erronious Krunk – Jazz & Funk
• Mat Tonelli – Guitar
• Ebun Olaloye – Design
• Brown Recluse Sings – Retro Band
• Kate Patsch – Photography

The 15 best student artists:Erronious Krunk

Year started: 2007
Major(s): Jazz studies

There is a low murmur in the dimly lit Chris’s Jazz Café on Friday evenings. Patrons begin to settle in for the weekly Sunset Jazz Sessions until they are awakened by the sudden blare of a saxophone: Erronious Krunk has taken the stage.

The jazz and funk band, formed a little more than a year ago, is made up entirely of Temple music students. All jazz studies majors, the band consists of guitarist Frank Velardo, Rob Parks on bass guitar, drummer Alex Maio, Tal Shtuhl on saxophone and vocalist Samantha Rise.

Erronious Krunk began when Velardo and Parks met during a transfer student orientation in 2007.
Parks was coming to Temple after spending time in the army and playing in the Army Band. Velardo was transferring from the University of Pittsburgh, and they met then-freshman Shtuhl soon after.

Rise recently joined the group, but the members knew about her for awhile, Velardo said.

After joining, she began adding lyrics to Erronious Krunk’s previously written songs and is now part of the writing process for new material.

The uniquely spelled “erronious” was an idea the group had while out to dinner one night. It’s actually a play on the name of the famous jazz musician, Thelonious Monk.

“We came up with some pretty serious names,” Velardo said, “but thought this one was lighter.”

Erronious Krunk has a small but growing fan base not only in the Temple community, but also in the Philadelphia jazz scene.

“People have started recognizing us on campus,” Rise said. “They’re like, ‘you’re in the band right?’”
On stage, the band is surrounded by pictures of jazz musicians Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis.

Velardo is definitely the energized leader of the group. He connects with his guitar and is so in-tune with the music that he and Parks can move in sync with each other without making eye contact.

Shtuhl can also match up with him on the saxophone. Playing with so much power, it is hard to see when he takes a breath.

Rise’s vocals slide in easily with each song and bring the group together nicely.

Frances McInerney can be reached at frances.mcinerney@temple.edu.

The 15 best student artists:Sarah Longenecker

Year: Sophomore
Major: Ceramics and Photography

Sophomore Sarah Longenecker didn’t always aspire to be an artist. However, encouragement from a high school art teacher along with an unsuccessful venture into accounting led her down that path.

Longenecker is a ceramics and photography major with a new outlook on life. When she first came to Tyler School of Art, Longenecker had her whole life laid out.

“This semester, I’ve really changed my work, and I’m exploring new techniques,” Longenecker said.
Not only was she bored with using the same approach to her art all the time, but a ceramic tiles class forced her to think within the 2D realm, which was something new for her.

Longenecker is most proud of her current work and gives credit to her teachers at Temple for helping and motivating her.

“The teachers [at Tyler] push me to expand my work and skills,” she said.

Recently, Longenecker has been combining her two majors into single pieces of artwork, baking photographic prints onto ceramic pieces. “I think photography was the most amazing invention—that you can capture a moment in time,” Longenecker said. “And with ceramics, it’s fun to just get dirty sometimes.”

Longenecker’s outlook seems to have affected the way she approaches art.

She brings the two realms of ceramics and photography together in a very successful way, using the human body and light.

“I would like to present an innovative beauty that inspires others and pushes them to think about the everyday ‘simple’ forms that can be surprisingly complex and alluring,” Longenecker said.

She’s also exploring different hobbies, from cooking and singing to playing guitar and bookbinding. She has also added salsa dancing to her list of activities.

She said her favorite part of being an artist is that you’re “free to do whatever you want because there are a lot of opportunities and paths that you can explore as an artist.”

Longenecker hopes to incorporate both majors into her future after graduation.

“My dream job would be to be a traveling photographer. Maybe even to work for National Geographic,” she said.

She has developed flexibility in regard to her future.

“I think every artist should always be in that stage of constant development,” she said.

Elizabeth McIlnay can be reached at elizabeth.mcilnay@temple.edu.

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