Summer Arts at CNU

Chris Bavaria

Chris Bavaria is a photographer and visual storyteller based in Richmond. He earned a BA in art from Millersville University and an MFA in documentary photography from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. His work has been shown internationally by The Travel Channel, Playboy, NPR, Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine, Metro New York, Alternative Press, and in galleries and museums in San Francisco, New York, Berlin, and Stockholm.

Ryan Lytle '15

Ryan Lytle earned a BA in studio art from Christopher Newport University and his MFA from the Rinehart School of Sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art. He currently is interested in the process of needle-felting and how the medium has the ability to provide a nostalgic comfort reminiscent of his extensive childhood stuffed animal collection.

He draws inspirations for his work from mythologies, existing animal archetypes, as well as nature documentaries and observation. He is the recipient of a Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Graduate Fellowship and exhibits his work in galleries and museums throughout Virginia and across the country.

Kelly Rossum

Associate professor of trumpet and jazz studies
Chair, Department of Music

Kelly Rossum is an international trumpet artist, improviser and composer. He has performed everything from lead trumpet at New York’s famed Birdland jazz club to baroque trumpet in Bad Säckingen, Germany; and from improvised free jazz in Bangkok to traditional Son in Santiago de Cuba. His original compositions, incorporating improvisational and contemporary avant-garde techniques, have been commissioned, performed and recorded by individual artists and large organizations alike. He has provided original scores for both film and dance and has received support from the American Composers Forum and the Jerome Foundation.

Maxwell Tfirn

Lecturer in composition
Director of creative studies

Maxwell Tfirn is a composer, performer and technologist. He holds a PhD and MA in composition and computer technology from the University of Virginia, an MA in music composition from Wesleyan University, and a BM in music education and a performance certificate in percussion performance from the University of Florida. Tfirn’s music has been performed nationally and internationally, including various performances at ICMC, SEAMUS, Electro Acoustic Barn Dance, Society of Composers, FEAST Festival, Technosonics, N_SEME, Subtropics Music Festival, FEAST Fest, Society of Composers Inc. He was a featured composer for Share and more. Additionally, he has had works performed by the Jack Quartet, Loadbang, MehanPerkins, Dither, Ekmeles, the New Thread Quartet, Fifth Bridge Quintet, I-Jen Fang, Seung-Hye Kim and Kenneth Broadway. Tfirn’s percussion ensemble piece Gentle Rain on Delicate Wings can be heard on the album Speed of Sound, recorded by the University of Virginia Percussion Ensemble. He has done various recording and programming projects with composers Judith Shatin, Chris Luna, Anthony Braxton and the American Composers Orchestra to name a few. Outside of his music, Tfirn creates digital glitch photography that uses audio concepts and synthesis as a means of image manipulation in Supercollider, and has been working on a National Science Foundation Grant that fuses music technology and chemical engineering.

Gregg Lloyd

Professor of acting and stage combat
Chair, Department of Theater and Dance

Lloyd earned his MFA in acting from Western Illinois University and has over 25 years of experience as a theater professional and educator. He is an SAFD-certified stage combat teacher, a black belt in Hapkido and TangSooDo, and resident fight director for Virginia Opera and Virginia Stage Company.

Lloyd’s recent acting credits include Spamalot, Violet, 1776, Little Shop of Horrors, Sunday in the Park with George and Red. Fight direction includes West Side Story, Romeo & Juliet, Ragtime, Of Mice & Men, The Tales of Hoffman, Lucia di Lammermoor, Il Tovatore, and Don Giovanni. Directing credits for TheaterCNU include I Hate Hamlet, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, H.M.S. Pinafore, Noises Off, 12 Angry Jurors and Brighton Beach Memoirs.

Laura Lloyd

Lecturer of dance and musical theater history

Laura Lloyd earned her MFA from Western Illinois University and has gone on to perform, choreograph and direct for regional theatres and schools around the country. Lloyd has worked in theatres from Texas to Michigan and Indiana to Virginia, performing in such shows as Into the Woods, Assassins, Singin’ in the Rain, Quilters, Anything Goes, Big River and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Directing credits include Once on This Island, Sweeney Todd, Cinderella and Ah, Wilderness! just to name a few. Lloyd’s greatest passion is choreography. She is proud to have worked on many projects, including Legally Blonde, Oklahoma, The Music Man, She Loves Me, The Wiz and A Chorus Line, which was nominated for a regional Theatre Critics Award for best choreography.