Vassar Quarterly - Fall 2017 - 33

Alumnae/i News

Internationally
Renowned
Puppeteer Honored

Sasha Velour Rules RuPaul's Drag Race with "Abstract" Style

Top: Getty-Santiago Felipe / Bottom: Courtesy of the subjects

Sasha Velour (nee Steinberg) '09 won the ninth season of RuPaul's Drag Race (logo, VH1)
and has big plans for the coming year.
Many praised her abstract aesthetic and intellectual take on the history and importance
of drag culture. Based in Brooklyn, Velour stars in a monthly drag cabaret, Nightgowns, and
she is co-founder and creative director of VELOUR: The Drag Magazine, which focuses on
drag issues and styles. Velour-who describes herself as a "bald, fashion-y, artistic, weird
queen"-plans to use her $100,000 cash prize to take those projects across the U.S. and to
bring other lGBTQ artists into the spotlight.
Following her June win, Velour spoke with numerous media outlets, including NPR,
Entertainment Weekly, Time Out, NBC News, the Atlantic, and Billboard. Velour will make
appearances in the U.S. and Brazil this fall, including several War on the Catwalk performances with other drag performers from the ninth season of the show.
Velour received her MFA from the Center for Cartoon Studies and studied political art
as a Fulbright Scholar in Moscow. She has showcased her visual art in solo gallery shows
and in numerous publications, including Posture, Cicada, and Comics Workbook magazine.
She sells original art, apparel, accessories, and other goods at houseofvelour.com.

The Jim Henson Foundation has established the Allelu Award in honor of
internationally renowned puppeteer
Alice "Allelu" Beal Kurten '52 P'81, who
died this May. The two-part award will
help puppeteers travel to a puppet festival
of international renown in order to show
their work, as well as help bring international companies to the U.S. to perform
at a major American puppet festival.
Each grant is $5,000.
Kurten's life in puppetry began
humbly more than 50 years ago when
she volunteered to do a puppet show for
a community church. She and husband
John Kurten, who taught theater and
theatrical design at Vassar, went on to
form a troupe called the Kurten Puppets.
Over her lifetime, Kurten became
a major force in international puppetry.
She was a founding member of the Jim
Henson Foundation's Board of Directors,
serving from 1988 to 2010. From 1979
to 1992, she was General Secretary of the
American chapter of the Union Internationale de la Marionnette (UNIMAUSA), founded in 1929 to promote international understanding and friendship
through the art of puppetry.

Josephine "Nicky" Benz Carpenter '57, one of Vassar's most beloved and devoted
volunteers, died this August. Carpenter had served on the Alumnae and Alumni
of Vassar College (AAVC) Board of Directors for nine years-four of those as AAVC
Trustee of Vassar College. She also served as Fund Advisory Chair. Under her guidance, the Annual Fund (now Vassar Fund) adopted
the slogan "Every Alum. Any Amount. Every Year,"
which provided strategic direction to staff members
and philanthropic inspiration to fellow alumnae/i.
Her influence didn't stop there; she was a tireless
advocate for the college she loved, taking on important
roles on the AAVC Nominating Committee, the Career
Advisory Program, Vassar's Campaign Steering
Committee, the Vassar 150 Campaign Committee,
the President's Advisory Council, and more. She was
a great friend to many in the Vassar community, and
she will surely be missed!
VA S S A R Q U A R T E R lY

http://www.houseofvelour.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vassar Quarterly - Fall 2017