Artful Students Awarded Leslie Rice ---------------------------------- Homewood News and Information It's a special student who pursues his or her artistic talent and aspirations while at Johns Hopkins, a university whose tradition is steeped in academics and research. Senior Ali Yazdanfar, this year's winner of the Louis Sudler Prize in the Arts, and senior Matthew Gross, winner of the President's Commendation in the Arts, are those types of students. Yazdanfar, a physics major with a perfect GPA, has spent a whole other part of his life at the Peabody Conservatory these past four years, mastering the double bass. One might think that after having won the Donald E. Kerr Memorial Medal in Physics, which is awarded to the most outstanding physics undergraduate at Hopkins, Yazdanfar's future would pretty much have something to do with physics. Instead, he will enter Rice University this fall to begin a three-year master's program to study the double bass in the hopes of one day becoming principal double bassist in an orchestra. "I love physics, I really do, but this is what I want to do," he explained. "The two are completely different, playing the double bass draws on your emotional, creative side. And it's just you up there, conveying a feeling in the music, making a personal statement." When he applied to Rice University, he was accepted upon his audition and offered a full, three-year scholarship. Yazdanfar is that good, believes Paul Johnson, who is on the double bass faculty at Peabody. "Ali Yazdanfar has been a student of mine for four years," he wrote in his letter nominating Yazdanfar for the Sudler Prize. "I can say without qualification that he is the best student I have ever had. ... While I would like to take some of the credit for his remarkable achievements, I must honestly say that had he just been allowed to sit in the corner of the Bass Department and absorb what was available, he would have made equally as much progress. He is naturally gifted and hard-working." The Sudler Prize, a $1,500 annual award established in 1983, is awarded to a graduating senior or a fourth-year student in the School of Medicine who has demonstrated excellence in the arts. The President's Commendation was established in 1989 and honors graduating seniors who have contributed extensively to the arts in the Homewood community. Matt Gross, a Writing Seminars major, already well into his first novel, has written and directed a well-received 30-minute film with friend Gil Jawitz, all on a shoestring budget. Looking through the photo album of the filming of Mardi Gras, Baltimore--made during one of last summer's hottest weeks-- one can see how Gross did indeed contribute an excitement for the art of filmmaking on campus. The snapshots of sweaty Hopkins student volunteers lugging lighting equipment and props, playing bit parts and helping out with the minutiae involved in creating a film show a group of college students clearly having a blast. "I look at it now, and there are definitely things I would change if I could do it over again," Gross said. "But as far as a first film goes, the process of making it from start to finish is what I'm proudest of. There is a tremendous amount of details that go into making a film, even one that's only 30 minutes long." Since it premiered last fall, the film has been enthusiastically received by the Hopkins community and has inspired other students to pursue filmmaking. One student finished filming a short film a week ago and two other undergraduates are lining up a project for next year. Mardi Gras, Baltimore may be Gross's last venture in the filmmaking business for a while. He leaves at the end of the summer for Vietnam, where he will teach English, American culture and writing to students at Ho Chi Minh Open University in Hanoi while working on a novel of his own. He applied for the job because he's interested in helping a growing population of Vietnamese post-war writers in Hanoi find translations for their work and introduce them to the American literary scene. "I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to do things that have already been set in place for me," he explained. "I guess I'm peculiar that way, I like to start new things." ----------------------------------------------------------------- A Prize-Winning Costume and a Drawing Evoke History of Homewood House When the curators of Homewood House sent out a call to Hopkins undergraduates to submit entries for the Merrick Homewood House Award, they hoped the students would use their talents to portray life on a Federal period country manor. What they didn't expect was for two seniors to fairly summon the ghosts of Harriet and Charles Carroll Jr., Homewood's long-ago original owners. Last week Homewood House announced the 1996 winners of its annual $500 award: "Ridiculous Books," a watercolor and ink drawing of an altercation between Charles Carroll and Charles Carroll Jr., submitted by biomedical engineering student Dan Hsu; and "Harriet's Day Dress," a period dress designed and made by English major Kate Turner-Walker. Turner-Walker based her creation on the patterns and research of clothing from 1798 to 1805 housed in the Center Stage costume department's extensive archives, where she works as an intern. "It looks like a simple design," she said of the ivory muslin dress. "But there are so many details in it that I had to do to give it authenticity. It was not nearly as easy to make as it looks." True to the time period, there is not a zipper or a button on the dress. Instead, a wraparound bodice, ties and straight pins secure it together. This particular style was all the rage when the Carrolls moved into their home at the turn of the 19th century. Empire-waisted in a lightweight muslin, embellished with embroidery and trim, the dress is a picture of delicate femininity. Turner-Walker began as a teenager designing costumes for high school plays and has been fine-tuning the craft at Center Stage last semester. Hsu is planning another year at Hopkins after graduation to pursue a master's degree in biomedical engineering. After that, he plans to enter medical school. Drawing and painting have been an outlet for Hsu for as long as he can remember, though he's never had formal training. He particularly likes drawing people and narratives. "I like telling stories through my pictures," he said. "I thought about drawing a picture of Homewood House itself for the contest but that sounded tedious to me. I'd much rather draw people." -----------------------------------------------------------------