Mai Ide, left, and Tomás Cotik, recipients of the Kamelia Massih Outstanding Student and Faculty Prizes in the Arts
Portland State University’s College of the Arts has announced the recipients of the Kamelia Massih Outstanding Faculty and Student Prizes in the Arts are Tomás Cotik, associate professor of violin in the School of Music & Theater, and Mai Ide, student in the MFA Studio Practice program. The award recognizes individuals who bring innovation to their discipline, demonstrate excellence in performing and/or fine arts and exemplify PSU’s commitment to community engagement.
Hailed by Michael Tilson Thomas as “an excellent violinist,” Argentinean native Tomás Cotik is internationally recognized as a soloist, chamber musician, and associate professor of violin at Portland State University. A sought-after recording artist, Dr. Cotik has released seventeen CD recordings for Naxos and Centaur Records, which have earned hundreds of rave reviews from international press, including Fanfare, Downbeat, The Strad and the Washington Post. He performed as a rotating concertmaster with the New World Symphony and worked with famed conductors Michael Tilson Thomas, Valery Gergiev, Marin Alsop and many more, and with artists ranging from Joseph Kalichstein to Franklin Cohen, and from Natalie Cole to Chick Corea. A dedicated educator and mentor, Cotik joined the faculty at Portland State in 2016. He brought his passion for collaboration with artists from other disciplines, including his recent “Ombra Musici” project, co-created with digital artist Dave Colangelo, which featured giant videos of Cotik performing musical selections, projected outdoors on buildings in public spaces.
Mai Ide is a student in the MFA Studio Practice area in the School of Art + Design. Through her work in assemblage sculpture, she investigates the duality of her identity as both a Japanese immigrant and an American, incorporating a variety of materials, from glass to textiles, into her works. Bursting with color, fabric and found objects, her pieces provoke a thoughtful examination of prescribed gender roles, Asian and Western culture and our shared vulnerability as human beings. Ide has pursued research into Japanese internment camps and Japanese American history as a means of understanding her own family and past. Ide holds a BFA in Art Practice from Portland State University, after earning associate’s degrees in textile weaving and dyeing from Otsuka Textile Design College and fashion and art design from Nihon University in Japan.
“Mai Ide is doing exceptional work as an artist with multiple exhibitions of unique, visionary, and groundbreaking materials,” said jazz professor George Colligan, member of the selection committee. “Her sculpting and mixed media work incorporates personal and meaningful themes to create a profound impact on the observer. She is truly a 21st-century artist.”
Colligan also had high praise for his colleague in the School of Music & Theater. “Tomás Cotik is extremely active as a performer and educator. He continues to do amazing work as a recording artist on an international level. His work is not simply high-quality performance; it also always includes a scholarly research component. The School of Music & Theater is extremely lucky to have Tomás Cotik as a member of our faculty.”
The Kamelia Massih Endowment for the Arts was established in memory of former PSU student Kamelia Massih. It was funded after her passing in 2010 with gifts from friends, family and colleagues, as well as by a donation from Massih’s brother, PSU alumnus Fariborz Maseeh, through the Massiah Foundation. Past faculty award winners include jazz musician Darrell Grant, former opera program director Christine Meadows, graphic design professor and artist Kate Bingaman-Burt, and PSU Chamber Choir director Ethan Sperry.
The prizes are accompanied by a cash award to honor the faculty and student achievements.
A beloved Portland optometrist, Kamelia Massih was a true American success story. Born and raised in Tehran, she came to the United States in 1978, initiating her studies in biology at Portland State University and subsequently graduating in 1981 from Oregon State University. After completing a doctorate in optometry at Pacific University, she opened her own practice, Beaverton Vision World, in 1989. She later opened a second clinic in downtown Portland near the Portland State University campus. She cared deeply about others and gave her time and resources to a wide range of national charities. She was a dedicated wife and mother who loved travel, the outdoors, and above all else, fine arts, music and dance.
For more information about giving to the College of the Arts, please contact:
Jaymee Jacoby
Assistant Vice President for Development, PSU Arts
jacobyj@psuf.org | 503-725-3396