Charissa Terranova Named Director of Central Track: The UT Dallas Artists Residency

An internationally known scholar of modern and contemporary art and architecture, Dr. Charissa Terranova, , has been named both director of Central Track: The UT Dallas Artists Residency and assistant professor of aesthetic studies in the School of Arts & Humanities at The University of Texas at Dallas. 

An experimental endeavor, the artists residency at UT Dallas was founded in collaboration with South Side on Lamar in 2001.  It was the first program of its kind in North Texas, modeled after such prestigious residencies as the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Artpace in San Antonio and the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas.

“Cultivating rising artists, attracting new talent and enhancing the role of UT Dallas in the community are priorities for the Artists Residency Program,” said Dr. Dennis Kratz, dean of the School.  “We are delighted to welcome Dr. Terranova to the University, and we look forward to the vision, talent and fresh perspective she will bring to the initiative.”

Terranova noted that she would work with a small committee of UT Dallas professors, including John Pomara, Richard Brettell, Dean Terry and Robert Nelsen, as well as with Suzanne Weaver, associate curator of contemporary art at the Dallas Museum of Art, to select the residents.  

“I hope to create an imaginative environment in which the artists will work, and I plan to maintain solid relationships with the creative community of Fair Park and Deep Ellum,” Terranova said.  “I’m eager to get started and look forward to joining the budding community of artists associated with UT Dallas.”

Terranova also will be charged with overseeing the artist residency gallery, interfacing with other artist groups, writers, critics and architects, and teaching modern and contemporary art history and theory at the University.

The new residency will open in January and will bring national and international artists to work in Dallas for periods varying from two weeks to six months. The new, renovated space, which is located at 800 Exposition Street in downtown Dallas, will include live–work studios for visiting artists, spaces for UT Dallas graduate student artists and a gallery.

The name “Central Track” comes from the rich history of Deep Ellum, an area settled as a “freedmens’ town” by former slaves after the Civil War. Because of the proximity of the Houston and Texas Central Tracks, the Deep Ellum neighborhood was also known as “Central Track.”

Terranova most recently served as assistant professor of art history at Southern Methodist University, where she earned numerous teaching awards and research grants.

Her studies focus on 20th century European architecture and theory, and her book manuscript, French State Vernacular: Les Grands Ensembles and Non-Conformist Modernism, 1930-1973 is the first serious scholarly study of the social, theoretical and architectural origins of the French “Banlieu” in English.

Terranova is widely published in scholarly journals as well as in numerous reviews of art exhibitions and architectural projects for The Dallas Morning News, Artlies, Glasstire.com, Art News, The Dallas Observer and Stretcher.org, among others. She is the co-organizer of an upcoming conference arranged in association with the College Art Association called “Collecting and Collectivity: Contemporary Art and the Interstices of Acquisition and Community.”

Terranova holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in architectural theory and history from Harvard University and an M.A. in art history from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

About the School of Arts & Humanities

The School of Arts & Humanities at UT Dallas offers a dynamic and integrated approach to education that fosters the critical, creative and communicative skills necessary for success in the culturally diverse, technologically rich and change-intensive environment of the 21st Century. For additional information about the School of Arts & Humanities, please visit the website at http://ah.utdallas.edu.

About UT Dallas

The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls more than 14,500 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The University offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UT Dallas, please visit the University’s website at www.utdallas.edu.