Alumni Exhibition & Awards

2025 Alumni Invitational: 5 Into 1

This summer, Moore partners with Philadelphia Sculptors to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their annual 5 Into 1 presentation—a show that introduces the public to recent graduates of five area art schools including Moore, PAFA, Tyler, UArts, and UPenn. On view June 14 – August 28, 2025, this iteration recognizes this monumental occasion with an exhibition in three parts: the first of which is Moore's Biennial Alumni Invitational that centers on work by six artists who originally participated in 5 Into 1 at the time of their graduation including Carolina Marín Hernández ’22, Darla Jackson ’03, Aimee Koran ’13, Sarah Montagnoli ’18, verónica a. pérez ’14, and Kate VanVliet ’07. The second is a curated presentation of work by artists who 1) contributed sculptural work to the show over the years, 2) received either a BFA or MFA from any of the above-named schools, and 3) are currently exploring work-in-the-round in their contemporary studio practice. The third component is the final occurrence of the exhibition as it has existed historically to this day, representing all 5 schools for the last time. This moment allows space to reflect on the city's legacy as a thriving center of art/design higher education and gives Philadelphia Sculptors an opportunity to reimagine the future of its landscape.

Image: verónica a. pérez, suspensión, 2022, artificial hair, wood, burlap, 36 x 48 x 12 in. Courtesy of the artist.

2025 Distinguished Alumni Awards

The Distinguished Alumni Awards recognize the professional achievements of Moore alumni, their commitment to the College, and their accomplishments in the field of visual arts. The 2025 honorees will be celebrated during Moore’s Commencement ceremony on May 10.

Key Dates

Submissions Open | February 7
Submissions Close | March 5
Notification of Selection | Late March
Commencement & Distinguished Alumni Awards Ceremony | May 10

Click here for more details and to submit your nomination.

2024 Distinguished Alumni Award Honorees

Michelle Angela Ortiz ’00 (Fine Arts) is a visual artist, muralist, community arts educator, and filmmaker who uses her art as a vehicle to represent people and communities whose histories are often lost or co-opted. 
 
For 25 years, Ortiz has designed and created over 50 large-scale public works nationally and internationally. Since 2008, Ortiz has led art for social change public art projects in Costa Rica & Ecuador and as a Cultural Envoy through the US Embassy in Fiji, Mexico, Argentina, Spain, Venezuela, Honduras, and Cuba. In the Cultural Envoy residencies, she develops an in-depth curriculum that sets a structure on how the community is engaged and a work plan for the implementation of the public art project. Ortiz has exhibited her works in many galleries and museums that include the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the ICA Boston. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, CNN, and The New Yorker. She continues to explore other methods of creating public artwork through digital and traveling murals, site-specific installations, interactive exhibitions, and documentaries.

Ortiz is a Leeway Foundation Media Resident Artist, Art is Essential Grantee, an Art For Justice Fund Grantee, a Pew Fellow, Rauschenberg Foundation Artist as Activist Fellow, and a Kennedy Center Citizen Artist National Fellow. In 2016, she received the Americans for the Arts' Public Art Year in Review Award which honors outstanding public art projects in the nation. She is a board member of Monument Lab, a nonprofit public art and history studio that works with artists, students, educators, activists, municipal agencies, and cultural institutions on participatory approaches to public engagement and collective memory.

Christina Gorman ’92 (Fashion Design) has been designing women’s clothing in New York City for over 30 years, working on everything from high-end designer collections to diffusion lines available at mass retailers. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with renowned designers such as Vera Wang, Isaac Mizrahi, and Elie Tahari, as well as icons like Christie Brinkley and Selma Blair, with whom she recently created an adaptive fashion line. She thrives on the challenge of crafting designs across various price points that make women feel confident and beautiful.

As the Senior Vice President of Design for Interactive Television at Xcel Brand Group, she leads the design for Isaac Mizrahi’s QVC Collection and develops new concepts, initiatives, and brands for various shopping channels. She finds joy in mentoring young designers and drawing inspiration from them. Even after decades in the industry, she continues to learn and discover new approaches to fashion, with a current focus on sustainability to ensure great style while preserving the planet.

2025 Fitzgibbon Endowed Alumni Prize

The Fitzgibbon Endowed Alumni Prize was established in honor of Cecelia Fitzgibbon, who served as the 10th President of the College. Each year, Moore alumni are invited to submit an original essay or poem responding to the prompt, “What Moore means to me," for a chance to win up to $5,000. The 2025 recipient will be invited to present their winning essay at the Alumni Exhibition Opening Reception on Friday, June 14.

Key Dates

Submissions Open | February 28
Submissions Close | March 31
Notification of Selection | Early May
Alumni Exhibition Opening Reception & Reading | June 13

Click here for more details and to submit.

2024 Fitzgibbon Prize Winner

Sunnylee Mowery ’14 (Art Education with an Emphasis in Special Populations) has taught for over 15 years in public, community, and Montessori school settings. She is the author of The Element of Choice: Choice-Based Art Education in a Functional Skills Classroom, a thesis that describes her work designing a tiered choice art curriculum for students with moderate to severe physical and cognitive disabilities. For the past decade, she has taught at the School District of Philadelphia’s prestigious Albert M. Greenfield School where she was recently bestowed a Philly AIMS Award (2023) from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine for exemplary inclusive practices in her classroom. She has been a presenter at The Kennedy Center’s Turnaround Arts Initiative and has served as secretary on the board of the Pennsylvania Art Education Association (2013-2015). At present, she is conducting research on how traditional 19th-century methods of ambidextrous, decorative, and observational drawing can benefit contemporary elementary students.