September 29, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Department of Art and Art History has added three new faculty members: Douglas Barrett, John Douglas Powers and Amy Holt.

Barrett joins the department as assistant professor of graphic design with 18 years experience as a professional graphic designer. He was formerly a principal partner of Rodón and Barrett, Inc., of Orlando, Fla., whose clients included Mars Chocolate, MasterCard International and Banco Popular. Barrett also was art director and project manager for Compbiz, Inc., in Orlando. He earned his M.F.A. from the University of Florida, 2007, and his B.F.A. from the University of Central Florida, 1986. He was named 2006-07 Graduate Teacher of the Year at the University of Florida.

Powers is assistant professor of sculpture. He has exhibited his work in Museo dell'Accademia Etrusca, Cotona, Italy, and Westergasterrein, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and in exhibitions throughout the Southeastern United States. Powers was awarded the juried Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Award, a $17,000 grant for travel, study and production of artwork. He won Best Animated Short Film at the Bald Shorts Film Festival. Powers earned his M.F.A. from the University of Georgia, 2008, and his B.A. from Vanderbilt University, 2001.

Holt is assistant professor of art history, replacing Cathleen Cummings, who is on a two-year fellowship at Wellesley College. Holt's research includes art and literature of Tamil Nadu, South India; Hindu and Buddhist Southeast Asian Art; modern Western and Islamic effects of style and iconography on Asian art; and goddess imagery and women studies in Hindu and Buddhist art, dance and contemporary Asian cinema. She was a Fulbright-Hays Ph.D. Junior Research Fellow in India, 2005-06, and an American Institute of Indian Studies Fellow, 2003. Holt earned her Ph.D. in art history from Ohio State University, 2007, and her M.A. from the University of Hawai'i Manoa, 1999.