The Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts celebrated five of its alumni during Homecoming Week 2023. These alumni making an impact in their respective fields were recognized on Friday, October 13, during the University’s annual Alumni Day Honoree Luncheon.
Jan Brandt
Wonsook Kim School of Art ’85 ’11
Brandt is an artist and owner of Jan Brandt Gallery in Bloomington through which she has curated scores of exhibitions and employed multiple ISU students as interns. Her work has been shown in California, New York, Chicago, Ohio, Massachusetts, Indiana, and Missouri, as well as in surrounding Illinois communities. She has also exhibited at The Illinois State Museum Galleries. Jan has been published extensively, including in Create, Studio Visit, Creative Quarterly and The New Feminists.
Gina Hunt
Wonsook Kim School of Art ’15
Hunt’s artistic practice fuses painting, sculpture, and site-responsive installation. Her research includes histories of abstraction, theories of color and perception, and historical and contemporary imaging technologies.
She has recently presented new work at Syracuse University, South Texas College, and EXPO Chicago and has participated in residencies at Badlands National Park, Hinge Arts, Chicago Artists Coalition, and Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar.
She resides in Chicago where she is a lecturer in painting and drawing at Loyola University Chicago.
Sarah Tudor
Creative Technologies ’16
Tudor dreamed of working as a game developer, despite there being no game development track at the time she attended Illinois State. After graduation, she started her game development career in Illinois and soon moved to Los Angeles, when the opportunity to work for Santa Monica Studios came.
At the age of 25, Tudor received her first Game of the Year Award with God of War in 2018. She continues to move upward, working with established intellectual properties (IP) such as Diablo at Blizzard Entertainment, and new IPs, such as Palia, with Singularity 6. She was the first female quality assurance analyst at Singularity 6 and has helped the studio grow from 60 employees to over 200. With S6, she is excited to be teaming with Nintendo to launch Palia on Nintendo Switch.
Rachel Maxwell
School of Music ’93
Maxwell has served as the director of bands at Traughber Junior High School since 1995. Under her direction, the bands have received national acclaim and have performed at The Midwest Clinic, the Illinois Music Educators Association All-State Conference, the University of Illinois Super-state Festival, and the American School Band Directors Association National Convention.
She is a multiple-year nominee for the Music Educator Grammy Award and a recipient of the Chicagoland Outstanding Music Educator Award. She has been recognized for teaching and artistic excellence by the National Band Association Citation of Excellence, Drum Corps International, and the American School Band Directors Association.
Kimberly Risinger
School of Music ’93
Following the completion of her master’s from Illinois State and doctorate’s from University of Maryland, Risinger joined the School of Music faculty at Illinois State in 1996.
She is currently principal flutist in the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Illinois Chamber Orchestra, and the Heartland Festival Orchestra. She performs regionally and nationally as a concerto soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and orchestral musician. She has given solo performances in most of the major concert halls in New York City, including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and Merkin Recital Hall. An advocate of contemporary music, she has played concerts throughout the United States, Europe and Canada, often presenting world premieres of new works written for and dedicated to her.
