New UI Fine Arts dean hopes to connect with C-U community

CHAMPAIGN — As Jake Pinholster prepares to take over as dean of the UI College of Fine and Applied Arts, he hopes the community is preparing to start connecting with FAA even more.

“Start thinking about the College of Fine and Applied Arts as a partner in the culture and the community,” Pinholster said. “They already have been doing really significant work in that regard, but I expect that under my leadership there will be a lot more of that.”

Since benefitting from public education with both undergrad and graduate degrees from the University of Florida, Pinholster says he’s been passionate about public universities, their role in communities and what they can do for students.

His family has lived in Florida for hundreds of years and Pinholster jokes about being the first to live north of the Mason-Dixon line by taking a job in New York City.

Through “a series of good luck coincidences,” his first job after obtaining a Master of Fine Arts in Scenic and Lighting Design was as the assistant designer for the projection designer for “Wicked” on Broadway.

Projection design for theater was a developing field at that point, drawing Pinholster’s attention due to his interest in technology and the arts.

“I always was interested in technology as a sideline. I built my own computers as a child and was interested in gadgets and taking things apart and so on,” Pinholster said.

He went on to earn design credits for many other shows before taking a job at Arizona State University.

ASU wanted him to help create a program focused on projections and media in performance – which Pinholster said was the first of its kind at any university.

Since then, he worked his way up to executive dean for enterprise design in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts and became the founding director of the ASU Media and Immersive eXperience Center.

“I’ve been watching over that for the past 19 years…. I’m ready for a new challenge, ready to be in a new place,” Pinholster said. “I’ve been in the desert for 19 years and I miss water and trees.”

Over time, he’s becoming more interested in using technology and projections for interactive art projects, not just stage shows.

He said he’s been hearing about the University of Illinois’ reputation in the arts for his entire career and sees the decision to hire him as a sign they’re interested in continuing to pursue interdisciplinary and technological concepts in FAA.

While his deanship doesn’t start until Sept. 16, Pinholster and his wife have been in Champaign-Urbana looking at houses and exploring the area.

It’s a smaller town for them, compared to NYC or Phoenix, so he said they’ve been excited to see many restaurants and cultural activities they’re interested in.

“The neighborhoods here are picture perfect, like you’d shoot a movie here about the perfect suburban life,” Pinholster said. “The canopy roads, the white picket fences, the whole nine yards. It’s like the American dream is still alive in some places, apparently.”