Music grad finds confidence and success through voice study

by | Jun 9, 2026 | Alumni, School of Music, Undergraduate

Nadia Lurie points to a sticker of Snoopy on one in a row of bright yellow lockers.
“The infamous yellow lockers in the Music building,” she explains. “I will miss you, Snoopy!”

During the five years of her Bachelor of Music study in the School of Music, award-winning performance major Nadia Lurie was busy both on-stage and off — locally, nationally and internationally. In addition to her required classes, recitals and performances, Lurie took private voice lessons, participated in local mentorship programs, taught children’s musical theatre downtown and was accepted into a series of summer opera intensives in Salzburg, Sicily, Quebec and Edmonton.

Now, as she graduates at the Fine Arts convocation ceremony on June 10, we caught up with Nadia to reflect on her time at UVic. Nadia was chosen as one of just a handful of graduating students to be officially profiled by UVic.

Nadia Lurie with the UVic Chamber Singers in Noto, Sicily.

What moment or memory stands out most from your time at UVic?
It’s hard to pick just one, but in the summer of 2025, the UVic Chamber Singers had the opportunity to perform at the Sicily International Voice Festival. It was a beautiful week of singing in gorgeous Baroque churches, delicious food and bonding over the experience of living in a working convent with no air conditioning.

Where did you spend most of your time studying, hanging out or unwinding on campus?
Most of my downtime between classes was spent in what we music majors lovingly refer to as “the basement” of the MacLaurin Building’s B-Wing. I’ve always thought the orange floors and bright yellow lockers felt like the set of a children’s TV show. I will miss all the shenanigans we got up to down there!

“Performing opera in the round!” Nadia doing Mansfield Park at Edmonton’s Nuova Vocal Arts. (Photo credit: Nanc Price)

Which course or instructor had a positive impact on your academic or personal growth?
It has been very special to have been mentored by my voice teacher, Anne Grimm. Singing can feel so vulnerable. For all her students, Anne creates an environment that inspires confidence on and off stage. She is not only an amazing teacher but also so kind. She has supported me through all aspects of my degree.

What activity or experience outside the classroom meant the most to you?
In my second year, my “large ensemble” credit was fulfilled by participating in Pacific Opera Victoria’s Chorus during their 2022/23 season. To be able to immerse myself in the professional world of opera and apply what I was studying at school to the work I was doing on stage was so inspiring to me! I am also grateful to have been a recipient of POV’s Annamaria Bamji Award for Emerging Opera Singers.

 

“My last day at the Mozarteum International Summer Academy in Salzburg,” explains Nadia.
This trip was supported by UVic Music and the Johann Strauss Scholarship for advanced study of music in Austria. 

What are your plans for after graduation and is it the path you envisioned for yourself growing up?
I’m headed to Manchester’s Royal Northern College of Music this fall to start my master’s of music in vocal performance. Having grown up in Victoria, I always dreamed of having the chance to leave the Island to pursue performance abroad.

What would you tell someone who is considering choosing UVic for their degree?
UVic is a friendly community! Your lifestyle outside of classes is as important as your studies themselves. It’s hard to beat studying on such a beautiful campus that is also within walking distance of the ocean. A beach picnic with your friends can fix a world of hurt!

Based on your experiences and training, how do you feel the arts can best benefit society?
The arts are essential! We need empathetic, curious and creative citizens, and arts education provides this. I know this from my own experience as an artist and performer, but I also see it in the children that I teach. Arts education is the way to a better future.

A perfect GPA means Writing student Caitlin Pierce wins the Victoria Medal

by | Jun 8, 2026 | Award, Undergraduate, Writing

Each year, Fine Arts presents the Victoria Medal to the student who earns the highest grades. This year, we are pleased to honour Caitlin Pierce, who not only graduates with a BFA in Writing but has also achieved a 9.0 grade-point average: in other words, a perfect GPA.

“This medal is a much deserved and wonderful validation of all that Caitlin accomplished as an undergrad,” says Lee Henderson, Writing professor and current department Chair. “She has a wild imagination, a storytelling talent that is truly remarkable and her writing is unmistakable for its originality and depth. I’m so happy for her to receive this accolade!”

Describing her as both a heartfelt, caring writer and a supportive, highly regarded member of UVic’s writing community, Henderson notes that Pierce has consistently been a strong and passionate advocate for her peers: she always seeks to uplift, in both her writing and her community relations.

While Pierce excelled in her Writing courses, she also diversified her academic portfolio by taking electives in health, philosophy, art history and visual arts, reflecting her rich and thoughtful approach to life. In fact, this is her second UVic degree, having already earned a Bachelor of Science in Biopsychology back in 2017.

A working phlebotomist with Island Health since 2019, she decided to return to UVic in 2022 after taking the memoir-writing course “Chronicling the Stories of Your Life” through UVic’s Continuing Studies. “I remember thinking, ‘Yeah, I really do actually like this: I’m going to apply!’,” she says.

Caitlin Pierce in the Writing office

“I started in the Sciences because it was the expected thing by my parents, to maybe be a doctor — because there’s this universal idea that you’re never going to get paid as a writer — but after COVID happened I started wondering why I was doing it,” she admits. “I mean, it’s a useful job, but I don’t really enjoy it. So I figured now that I have a career to fall back on, maybe it’s time to chase my dreams instead.”

When asked how she achieved such a notable GPA, Pierce said it came down to “just showing up and really enjoying the work I was doing. I think that’s the difference between this and my first degree: I’ve really, really enjoyed this one and it felt like what I was supposed to be doing.” She pauses and laughs. “Okay, maybe a bit of perfectionism helped too.”

When asked for particularly influential faculty members during her degree, she quickly singles out the likes of creative nonfiction authors Deborah Campbell and David Leach, poet Marita Dachsel, fiction writer Yasuko Thanh and art instructor Cliff Haman. Pierce also gives a big shout-out to her parents (“they’ve been so supportive!”) and her partner Eliza Musselwhite, who is also a Writing alumna. “I don’t think I could have done any of this without them,” she says.

Professor Henderson recalls being particularly struck by Pierce’s latest work this past spring while she was participating in a field school on relational aesthetics and fiction at the Jeffrey Rubinoff Sculpture Park on Hornby Island, with whom Fine Arts has a dynamic partnership.

“Her writing project was one of the most innovative and unexpected stories I’ve come across: a historical novel that is also science fiction, yet also a story about trauma, survival and loss,” he says. “Her novel-in-progress is a perfect example of the richness and thoughtfulness of her writing. Caitlin is a novelist to watch for, an important emerging voice in contemporary literature and someone I’ll be forever grateful I had a chance to work with.”

Eeman Masood’s digital tree grows in New York City

by | Jun 1, 2026 | Alumni, Award, climate, donor, Graduate, Visual Arts

New York City’s “Midnight Moment” is the world’s largest and longest-running digital public art program. Since 2012, over 100 contemporary artists have presented their work to millions of viewers on one of the most iconic public canvases: the electronic billboards of Times Square. There, for three minutes nightly and 364 nights a year (except for when the ball drops on New Year’s Eve), the ads are dimmed on 95+ screens from 41st to 49th Streets, and the art takes over.

For the month of February, a hand-painted animation of a banyan tree by Eeman Masood (Visual Arts MFA 2025) titled There is a voice that doesn’t use words, Listen — which was her MFA thesis project — transformed Times Square from one of the world’s most technological and chaotic boulevards into a poetic, immersive experience, reflecting on the silent languages of nature and the endurance of the natural world.

Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Masood earned her BFA from Lahore’s National College of Arts (NCA) in 2021 with a major in miniature painting before coming to UVic to pursue her graduate work on a fully funded scholarship. While at UVic, she was the recipient of several notable awards, including the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, the Jeffrey Rubinoff Graduate Scholarship, the Jessie Allan Forsyth Scholarship and the Canwest Global Scholarship in Video Arts.

Masood’s work explores the emotional and spiritual connections between nature, solitude and ecological awareness. Combining traditional techniques with contemporary mediums, she expands classical miniature painting through intricate works and hand-painted animations. We caught up with her recently for this Q&A.

What does it mean to you to have your work shown on such an enormous canvas as Times Square? Did people literally stop and “listen,” as the title encourages?

“It was a magical moment, truly, and I feel very grateful to have had this opportunity,” says Masood. “My work features the banyan tree, under which many gatherings and discussions used to take place. Bringing that tree to the busiest street in the world and projecting it above people kind of recreated the same sense of gathering—but in a very different way. I would go there every midnight to quietly stand among the audience, and it was so moving to see people stop, sometimes filming at first, but then pausing and just absorbing the work fully.”

MFA grad Eeman Masood stands in front of her hand-painted animation of a banyan tree,
spreading nature & calm across chaotic Times Square (all photos: Michael Hull/Times Square Arts)

Your thesis project specifically focused on the banyan tree: why choose that as your subject matter? And why did you choose to create a hand-painted animation?

“The banyan tree is one of South Asia’s most prestigious trees, often called the mother tree or the walking tree because it keeps expanding,” she says. “It’s also endangered, and I wanted to raise awareness about that. But the work goes deeper, reflecting on how we are part of nature and connected to the universe. The title of the work is a quote by the Persian mystic Sufi poet Maulana Rumi, asking us to reflect within. Being trained in traditional miniature painting, I wanted to translate the detailed, meditative connection between breath and brush into hand-painted animation, expanding the world of my paintings naturally into motion: in the video, the leaves move slowly and naturally align with the breath.”

You received a number of awards and funding during your graduate studies: what did that amount of donor support mean to you, and what did it enable you to do?

“I am deeply grateful to all the donors who supported me during my MFA studies,” she says. “As an international student, it’s very challenging to manage living expenses while producing work and investing in materials: these awards gave me financial relief, allowing me to focus fully on my creative practice without constant stress. They also enabled me to buy materials I needed and take risks in my work. Beyond the practical support, it felt encouraging to know people believed in what I was doing. I honestly couldn’t have completed my projects without their support.”

How did your time in the Visual Arts department impact your creative development? How much of an influence was your grad advisor, Kelly Richardson?

“My time at UVic will always be one of my most memorable periods. Moving to Canada, it became my first home, and I felt supported by faculty, staff and students. Facilities like private studios, editing rooms and scanners allowed me to experiment and work freely, which was crucial for my creative growth. Professor Richardson has been such a positive influence: when I arrived at UVic, I hadn’t imagined moving from painting into animation, and much of that transition happened because of her encouragement and support. She always pushed me to do better, and her own work was a constant inspiration. We connected on many ideas, and I’ve learned a lot from her practice and journey as an artist. She helped me believe in myself and my work, especially during difficult moments, and I’m deeply grateful for her support.”

What’s next for you?

“I recently completed an artist residency at the Banff Centre, where I began a new animation project that I plan to continue developing. Alongside that, I’m preparing a new series of paintings. Moving forward, I want to explore how animation and painting can continue to inform each other, expanding the worlds I’ve been building in my work. It’s an exciting time to experiment, take risks and grow my practice—I’m looking forward to seeing how these new projects develop over the coming months and years!”

This story appears in the UVic Torch alumni magazine