LET’S GET TOGETHER
Art & Design Alumni Collaborations
20 YEARS OF GDSO Celebrating the Graphic Design Student Office
SWIMMING TO INISHKEEL Art from Ireland to LSU
Winter 2019
CONTENTS F E AT U R E :
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LET’S GET TOGETHER ART & DESIGN ALUMNI COLLABORATIONS
F E AT U R E :
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SWIMMING TO INISHKEEL ART FROM IRELAND TO LSU
F E AT U R E :
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20 YEARS OF GDSO CELEBRATING THE GRAPHIC DESIGN STUDENT OFFICE
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I MADE THAT! Architect ural Models for the A. Hays Town Exhibit ion
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FIELD NOTES T ravel Snap shots
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LETTER FROM THE DEAN DID YOU KNOW? Plants and their Use s, with L ake D ougla s
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CLASS NOTES Alumni News and Up date s
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EQUIPPED Inter ior D e sig n Tools with D ar ius L eBeau x
FOUR MINUTES ON . . . T he T raveler’s Suita se, with Angeliki Sioli
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READING LIST Book s by Ar t & D e sig n Facult y
EDITORIAL
ART DIRECTION—GDSO
ON THE COVER
EDITOR/ WRITER
F A C U LT Y A D V I S O R
Swimming to Inishkeel by Malcolm McClay
Elizabeth Mariotti
Courtney Barr
CONTRIBUTORS
ART DIRECTOR
Lake Douglas, Associate Dean
Luisa Restrepo Pérez
Angela Harwood Darius LeBeaux, BID Candidate
D E S I G N & I L LU S T R AT I O N
Angeliki Sioli, Assistant Professor
Nhu Dao, MFA Candidate
Brooke Strevig, BArch Candidate
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CREDITS
LSU PHOTOGRAPHERS COPY EDITOR
Christopher Burns, MFA Candidate
Ellen Mathis
Kevin Duffy Jordan Marcell, BFA Candidate Ashley Mick
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LETTER FROM THE
DEAN
In this issue of the Quad, we celebrate an essential value of the LSU College of Art & Design: collaboration! The College of Art & Design is a collaborative place. It prepares students not only for careers based on collaboration but also for a world that is increasingly interdependent. As you walk the halls of our buildings, you see students working together in their studios, instructors helping to guide them, faculty members collaborating to produce cutting-edge research, and a sense of teamwork that surpasses the classroom. The creation of the College itself reflects a collaborative vision. Art and Design were brought together from different parts of Campus, Engineering, Arts and Science, Agriculture, to form a strong unit, an exemplary partnership. Our alumni have been leaders in collaborative ventures around the world, often cultivating professional relationships that started in their studios at LSU.
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One such very special studio is the award-winning Graphic Design Student Office (GDSO), which gives students real-world experience in their chosen field while they are still on campus. GDSO recently celebrated its twentieth anniversary of providing graphic design services to the community. In this issue you will find more about GDSO’s story and about Professor Gerald Bower’s role at the helm. You will meet some of the many successful alumni who began their careers in this exceptional studentrun studio that for years has designed all issues of the Quad and our College publications. You will read about art & design alumni collaborations, and art students working on international exhibitions. You will glimpse some of the recent work of our faculty, explore student projects, and visit exciting destinations through snapshots of their travels. Catch up with some of the many alumni across the world, who illustrate the adage, “Oh, the places you will geaux!” – in order to always return to where it all started: LSU College of Art & Design!
Alkis Tsolakis, Dean 2
DID YOU KNOW? Have plants (and their uses) affected the urban landscape of New Orleans?
Early-eighteenth-century explorers commented on the lushness and variety of plant material they encountered in Louisiana, as well as the opportunities they saw for agricultural production. But the largely cypress swamps and marshlands they found had to be cleared before any development could take place, and clearing these low-lying areas proved difficult. In addition, heavy rains, periodic flooding, and tropical storms interfered with settlement activities. European settlers’ experiments with crops such as indigo, tobacco, rice, and mulberry trees (for silk worms) – met with limited success, but by the beginning of the nineteenth century cotton and sugarcane proved successful, and these crops fueled the region’s economy in the first half of the nineteenth century. There is evidence of plants being cultivated for medicinal purposes by nuns at the Ursuline Convent early in the settlement’s history. Some of what they grew was imported from France, but native plants were among many grown, reflecting horticultural and medicinal practices learned from Native Americans.
As the community stabilized and matured, attention turned to more sophisticated patterns of architecture, interior furnishings, and exterior design. Advertisements for ornamental plants regularly appeared in local newspapers from the 1820s, and with these we can trace plant availability, introductions (“Exotics from Mexico, Brazil, New Holland, the Indies and China” according
Plants grow here with little attention, contributing to the urban landscape’s lush, mysterious, and exotic character. − Lake Douglas
Lake Douglas is the LSU College of
Art & Design associate dean of research and development and a professor of landscape architecture. This is an excerpt from his recent book Buildings of New Orleans, co-authored by Karen Kingsley, Tulane professor emerita of architecture. The book is “the definitive guide to the buildings and landscapes of New Orleans.”
to one advertisement from 1850), and other characteristics of horticultural commerce, including businesses, proprietors, and inventories. From the mid-nineteenth century on, gardening almanacs were published locally, and surviving nursery catalogs and advertising broadsides list inventories of regionally available plants. Depictions of nineteenth-century gardens exist in the New Orleans City’s Notarial Archives, documenting properties for sale. These show gardens as functional (producing food for the table) and ornamental, complex and simple, designed and vernacular, sometimes with details of plants and garden features. Several written accounts of New Orleans gardens appeared in contemporary national periodicals, offering first-hand observations of the city’s horticultural richness. One author in 1845 describes “a tolerable display of Flora’s beauties … conjuring up a spring-like appearance in the gloomy season of winter.” This effusive account is balanced by another in 1851, in which the author notes that “there is little attention here … to gardening” and while “nature has done much to adorn the scene, art has done little or nothing.” One might make the same observations today: plants grow here with little attention, contributing to the urban landscape’s lush, mysterious, and exotic character. Domestic gardens, now as in the past, are more about the interest of the individual homeowner and less about manicured spaces consciously designed by professionals.
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Q: A:
WITH LAKE DOUGLAS
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/ with Angeliki Sioli
FOUR MINUTES ON THE TRAVELER’S SUITCASE
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discovering the mysteries of the Sculpture Garden
“The singular magic of a place is evident from what happens there, from what befalls oneself or others when in its vicinity. To tell of such events is implicitly to tell of the particular power of that site, and indeed to participate in its expressive potency.”1 The traveler’s suitcase – inspired precisely by an approach to site like the one argued for by philosopher David Abram – is a two-week assignment that aspires to immerse Master of Architecture students in a place and enable them to discover its singular magic. This fall we dove into LSU’s Sculpture Garden in an attempt to unearth its particular power.
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The first-year graduate students were encouraged to dwell in the garden, observe its life and routine, its ever-flitting atmospheres, its changing spatial conditions and to thoughtfully note what befalls themselves or others when in the garden’s vicinity. They were prompted to decide – as actual travelers who visited the place for a while and left soon after – what memories, impressions and souvenirs to carry back with them and into the studio. They were to discover the most salient elements; the ones they wanted to remember while proceeding with the design of an architectural project specific for this very place. In doing so – and aligned with Peter Zumthor’s understanding of place and his notion of “emotional reconstruction” – the assignment attempted to enable a playful curiosity in experiencing and understanding place.2
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Jordan Conner camped in the garden one Friday night, determined to partake of the place’s changes during the long nocturnal hours. Sounds and noises came and went, light vanished and re-appeared, the rain stopped and started several times. An element though remained constant; the place’s earthly scents. The garden’s olfactory presence emerged as the most significant site-characteristic, inspiring her to create a suitcase that would carry all these smells back into studio. She collected soil, bark and leaves from the five tree-types of the garden, boiled them and distilled their aromas. Her suitcase consisted of fifteen glass testing tubes, filled with the different earthy essences and arranged in an order from the most bitter to the sweetest one. (Image 1) Another student, Landon Rainey, roamed the garden in his attempt to discover a unique characteristic. Despite the beauty of the trees, the tranquility of the atmosphere, the notable mystery of the light and shade – that caught the
1 Image 1: Jordan Conner’s suitcase Image 2: Landon Rainey’s suitcase
attention of many members of the studio – the amount of litter and garbage around the tree roots, the sculptures and the concrete pathways proved to be a distraction for him. Landon’s initial impression was disappointment for the noted lack of care demonstrated by the place’s users. He photographed the left-over objects and mapped their exact locations. During this process though he realized that fragments of people’s lives are related with these objects; stories that explain their presence in the garden. He set off to construct these stories imagining students and faculty leisurely walking or hastily passing through the garden: their anxieties, their final-exam stresses, their moments of absent-mindedness, their
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4 Image 3: Brittany Howard’s suitcase Image 4: Kelly O’ Connor’s suitcase Image 5: Steven Mills’ suitcase
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Image 6: Christopher Lebeuf’s suitcase Image 7: David Howell’s suitcase
moments of pause and contemplation in the serene environment. An archive of all these stories became his suitcase (Image 2); a look into the garden’s inner life that heavily altered his initial impression of the place. The breathtaking and strong presence of the canopy captured Brittany Howard’s attention. The interaction between the sun, the branches of the impressive live oaks, their spread in the air and the resulting sunbathed ground specked with irregular and intense moment of shadow and light captivated her. Brittany recorded this quality by spreading a 30-foot-long trace paper across the length of the garden’s main pathway and tracing these splashes of luminosity during the course of a whole afternoon. (Image 3) Her suitcase stored this long roll of brightness and darkness and closed with a lid on which a vertoramic image of the canopy was etched.
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With the traveler’s suitcase being a deeply personal exercise, the students connected with the place in a level both cognitive and emotional, participating in its expressive potency. They began to realize that place-specific meanings and perceptions of place emerge only though an embodied experience in the immediate presence of the place itself – a phenomenological belief that is now corroborated by evidence in the field of neuroscience.3 The memories packed in the students’ suitcases (Images 4-7) not only played a significant role in the design of the subsequent project sited in the garden, but ensured that the designs were specific to the given place and not generic propositions to be implemented anywhere else.
7 1 David Abram, The Spell of the Sensuous: perception and language in a more-than-human world (New York: Vintage Books, 1996), 182.
Angeliki Sioli is an assistant professor of architecture at LSU and a licensed architect in Greece. She co-edited the book Reading Architecture; Literary Imagination and Architectural Experience, published in 2018.
2 Peter Zumthor and Mari Lending, A Feeling of History, (Zurich: Scheidegger & Spiess, 2018), 69. 3 For more on the active role of perception and the importance of the surrounding environment see Alva Nöe’s Action in Perception (2014) and Out of Our Heads (2009).
LET’S GET
TOGETHER!
A look at some of the many Art & Design alumni working together in their fields
AOS Louisiana-based AOS Interior Environments joins LSU alumni from the fields of interior design and architecture – the firm currently has 11 LSU College of Art & Design alumni working there! Stephanie Ricord (BID 1998) is project manager & designer at AOS. “We provide contract furniture and other elements to workspaces,” she said. “We offer ideas and consult with clients in terms of furniture and how to create a wonderful working environment for their employees.”
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AT LSU YOU BEGIN TO FEEL PART OF A DESIGN COMMUNITY, AND THAT CONTINUES THROUGH PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
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Once a specialty firm that designed and installed filing and storage systems, today AOS has evolved into the largest FF&E contractor in Louisiana and Mississippi. The 42-yearold company has positioned itself as a go-to resource for the architectural and design community. Projects include the LSU’s Patrick F. Taylor Hall and Gymnastics Training Facility, and the Water Institute of the Gulf at The Water Campus in Baton Rouge. “We are proud to employ the most dedicated and experienced professionals within our industry, many of which have graduated from LSU,” said Shelby E. Russ, Jr. (LSU BS 1980),
AOS President and CEO. “When we hire a Tiger, we know we are going to get a talented team player with passion, dedication and a well-rounded education.” The AOS team includes designers, project managers, and a variety of specialists. Interior designers and architects routinely collaborate on projects, and the office culture of hardworking camaraderie echoes the atmosphere of design school. “While at LSU, you begin to feel part of a ‘design community’ and that continues through professional development,” Ricord shared. “The stress you work under [in design school] is just a taste of what is to come, and I was well prepared. All the pressure you feel in school now is the best thing you will ever take away, in my opinion.” This fall AOS held a popup showroom at the LSU School of Interior Design, bringing in furnishings for an interactive educational experience. “Popup showrooms give interior design students the chance to literally get their hands on different types of furnishings that they wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to,” said school director Marsha Cuddeback. “The hands-on learning experience is so important.” Cooperation is integral to a successful career in design, Ricord said. “An ability to communicate thoroughly, honestly and efficiently is critical. The LSU School of Interior Design prepares students for that.”
LSU Patrick F. Taylor Hall Image courtesy of AOS
LSU ALUMNI AT AOS
Rebecca Cooley, BID 2007
Brenna Baumy, BID 2013
Missy Begue, BID 2002
Sean Chaney, BArch 2011
Jamie Langridge, BID 2013 Aimee McSpaddin, BID 2003 Stephanie Ricord, BID 1998
And 11 more LSU alumni in other fields!
Matthew Rome, BArch 2011
Jessica Roy, BID 2007
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Mark Abry, BArch 2011
Angelle Verges, BID 1982
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LSU ALUMNI AT CICADA James Catalano BArch 2013
Seamus McGuire BArch 2010
Paulo Perkins BArch 2009
CICADA New Orleans natives James Catalano (BArch 2013), Seamus McGuire, AIA, LEED AP BD+C (BArch 2010), and Paulo Perkins, AIA (BArch 2009) didn’t really know each other while they attended the LSU School of Architecture. But the three alumni from different classes came together in 2018 to form CICADA, an architecture firm in New Orleans, along with Matt Decotiis, AIA, LEED AP (Tulane MArch ’12).
WE ALL HAD A SIMILAR VISION, AND DECIDED WE WOULD MAKE A GREAT TEAM
They connected through the profession: after studying architecture at LSU, they scattered, respectively; Catalano went to Washington, D.C., and McGuire practiced in Denver for a spell. Over the years, they worked for various firms and grew to know each other professionally. Though each of their professional paths were very different, they all found themselves back in the city of New Orleans.
Renovated treehouse that CICADA designed for a naturalist artist Images courtesy of CICADA. Top: by Augusta Sagnelli
The four architects opened a studio on Magazine Street in the Garden District, leveraging their relationships in the New Orleans community to jump into a wide variety of projects. “The profession can lend itself to being slow and stuck in its ways,” Catalano said. “We felt as if we could bring change, not only to the way we approach design, but in the way we run a company.” Each partner brings a different facet to the practice, joining their diverse skill sets to create a firm with a decidedly modern approach to architecture. Catalano is a designer, 3D printer, “the drone wizard” with expertise in videography and photography. McGuire is a project manager and marketer. Perkins is an expert in digital rendering and animations. Decotiis is “the tech guru” who specializes in coding and parametric design. And, of course, they are all architects and designers. “We are the next generation of architects,” McGuire said. “The way we operate, bring different skill sets to the table – we respect each other’s areas of expertise and learn from each other to create our best work.”
LSU ALUMNI AT REED HILDERBRAND Lydia Cook, MLA 2014 Senior Designer
Jeremy Martin, BLA 2008 Senior Associate
Garrett Newton, BLA 2011 Associate
REED HILDERBRAND
Cutting-edge technology is key to CICADA’s vision; the firm also provides visualizations, animations, aerial photography and videography. And technology is a key part of the architectural process. From using drones for field verification to digital rendering, state-of-the-art technology bridges the gap between the historical context and contemporary vision that come together in the modern design process. The practice is collaborative, combining “non-traditional” methods with classic elements of design. While practicing architecture, Catalano started a digital modeling and fabrication business called Future Factory with his wife Adrienne Trahan Catalano (LSU BArch 2013). It was a true passion project, specializing in 3D-printed jewelry and custom digital modeling and rapid prototyping. He brought this experience into CICADA, expanding the firm’s capabilities. They have utilized 3D scanning and modeling for everything from prototyping products, showcasing architectural models, and documenting historic landmarks. Interesting projects they took on this year include two interior office renovations for Phoenix Marketing International in both Tampa and New York City, an ongoing conversion of an established food truck turned brick and mortar restaurant, and a Louisiana treehouse renovation for a naturalist artist. Recently the partners decided to launch a podcast called The Swarm, where they interview local experts about different aspects of design. McGuire said, “we’re trying to make architecture approachable to everyone.”
Doug Reed, FASLA, received a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from LSU in 1978, and is a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Design. He founded Reed Hilderbrand in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1993, and over the years the award-winning firm has housed generations of LSU-trained designers. Reed’s role as a founding board member and co-chair of the Cultural Landscape Foundation affords him a platform for leadership in national debates that frame landscape architecture’s role in preserving and amplifying design heritage. The Architectural League of New York recognized Reed and Gary Hilderbrand in their Emerging Voices program, an honor bestowed on firms with distinctive voices that have the potential to influence the design fields. “I had an exceptional undergraduate education that encompassed both broad liberal arts courses and comprehensive, rigorous coursework in landscape architecture, including design, landscape history, construction, ecology, plants and graphic representation,” Reed said. “The school was ranked at the top in the nation for undergraduate education in landscape architecture.” A leader in the field, Reed Hilderbrand currently employs fellow graduates of the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture Lydia Gikas Cook (MLA 2014), Jeremy Martin (BLA 2008), and Garrett Newton (BLA 2011). “The connection to Louisiana and LSU among the alumni working at Reed Hilderbrand is strong in both our firm’s practice and culture,” said Martin, senior associate; he has managed numerous civic and academic projects, including the redevelopment of City Hall Plaza in Baton Rouge. “With several projects in the Baton Rouge and New Orleans areas, alumni in the office have enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate on works that have special importance to us
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“At LSU our professors always made a point that with our education we could always pursue things outside of just architecture,” Perkins said. “They instilled certain expectations and skill sets that would allow you to excel in other facets of design.”
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HONORING DOUG REED
Doug Reed, BLA 1978 Reed Hilderbrand Principal
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Douglas Reed, a founding principal of Reed Hilderbrand, is recognized nationally for design leadership and for his tireless advocacy of culturally significant landscapes. Through his diverse projects and non-profit work, he passionately promotes the wise and creative treatment for our cultural patrimony. Known for his cultivated eye and relentless focus on contemporary design expression, Reed has garnered broad critical acclaim for institutional, urban, and residential projects throughout the United States and Europe. A committed urbanist, Reed has positioned select urban communities into larger agendas to accelerate revitalization within the metropolis, recently in Houston, San Antonio, and Baton Rouge. His work has received recognitions including The American Society of Landscape Architects President’s Award of Excellence and the Trustees Emeritus Award for Excellence in the Stewardship of Historic Sites, The National Trust for Historic Preservation. The firm’s projects have been published in LandForum, Landscape Architecture, Garden Design, Garten und Landschaft, Designed Landscape Forum, and Architectural Digest.
because we spent time there before we became professionals, like LSU’s campus, or City Hall Plaza in Baton Rouge and City Park in New Orleans. “We also keep our LSU roots strong by sharing some of the best parts of its culture with our colleagues – filling the office with king cakes during Mardi Gras, taking the afternoon off to watch bowl games against our peers’ teams, or hosting crawfish boils and pig roasts every spring and fall.”
WE KEEP OUR LSU ROOTS STRONG BY SHARING SOME OF THE BEST PARTS OF ITS CULTURE WITH OUR COLLEAGUES
“As a Baton Rouge native, I have watched the city grow and change over the years,” Cook said. As a senior designer, her projects in Louisiana include the Baton Rouge City Hall Plaza and the New Orleans Museum of Art Sculpture Garden. “During my time at Reed Hilderbrand, I’ve been able to contribute to the city’s progress in meaningful ways through our projects, like our continued work downtown and the LSU Campus Master Plan. These opportunities have been made even more rewarding through sharing in the work with fellow alumni, who are as passionate about these places as I am.”
Not only has Reed has been an innovator in the field of landscape architecture, he has also been a longtime supporter of the LSU College of Art & Design. In 2007 he was awarded a College of Art & Design Honor Award, for his support of the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture.
LSU Campus Comprehensive Master Plan 10
Images courtesy of Reed Hilderbrand
Working alongside NBBJ and Eskew+Dumez+Ripple, the landscape architects created a practical and flexible framework for development of and capital investment in the LSU campus landscape over the next decade and beyond. The plan proposed contemporary solutions to traffic, pedestrian circulation and experience, open space, and maintenance, while maintaining the culture, heritage and diversity of LSU’s physical campus. The Comprehensive and Strategic Campus Master Plan established “landscape spines as the primary connective tissue” of the campus, connecting existing landscapes of cultural and programmatic significance, informing pedestrian priority projects, enhancing stormwater management capacity, and defining future development zones. “Shade is a critical element of the circulation system, and the plan identifies gaps in the urban canopy and
proposes diversified vegetation strategies to compliment the extensive mature live oak canopy,” the landscape architects stated in the project overview. Martin said revisiting his alma mater’s campus as a designer was a unique vantage point. “As a student at LSU, even in a design program, there is often a tendency to accept the campus as-is, because so much of it is beautiful and powerful,” he said. “Returning to campus as a design professional requires a different, critical approach, but one that is more informed than a complete outsider,” he explained. “The new opportunities for growth and improvements that seem obvious as a professional are balanced by our understanding of the systems and constraints that we experienced during 5+ years spent on campus every day. The resulting campus master plan is rich with new, exciting ideas but grounded and authentic to LSU and the special character of the campus.” And for those LSU alumni that collaborated on the project, it felt like returning to their roots – and this time, giving back. There are so many more LSU art & design alumni working together in the field – share your story at design.lsu.edu/alumni!
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Reed Hilderbrand’s connection to LSU has strengthened as the firm recently worked with the university: in 2016, Reed Hilderbrand collaborated with the university, architects, and other specialists on the LSU Comprehensive and Strategic Campus Master Plan, providing landscape architecture consultation to the project. Reed, Martin and Cook all contributed to the master plan design.
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/ Recent books by Art & Design faculty members
READING LIST For the photography lover
Louisiana Trail Riders Jeremiah Ariaz, Associate Professor of Photography African American trail riding clubs have their roots in the Creole culture formed in South Louisiana in the eighteenth century. Today trail rides are an opportunity for generations of people to gather, celebrate, and ride horseback. The riders form a distinctive yet little-known sub-culture in Southwest Louisiana. In addition to sharing an important aspect of Louisiana’s cultural heritage, Ariaz’s photographs assert a counter-narrative to historic representations of the cowboy and prevailing images of difference and despair in Black America.
For the traveler, or the history buff
Buildings of New Orleans co-authored by Lake Douglas, Associate Dean of Research & Development This detailed guidebook to New Orleans architecture, an authoritative, comprehensive, post–Hurricane Katrina overview of buildings, neighborhoods, and landscapes, tells a compelling and fascinating story of the city through concise descriptions of nearly 300 significant structures, open spaces, and lesser-known places, enhanced by 175 photographs and 23 maps. Conveniently organized into thirteen neighborhood tours, two road trips into nearby parishes, and excursions up and down the Mississippi River, and enlivened by highlights on renowned authors, cuisine, and jazz to public markets, green spaces, and historic preservation, this handy insider’s guide to New Orleans will appeal to all who are interested in the history of one of America’s most interesting places.
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For the technology whiz
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Tangible Modeling with Open Source GIS co-authored by Brendan Harmon, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture This book presents a new type of modeling environment where users interact with geospatial simulations using 3D physical models of studied landscapes. The authors have developed innovative techniques and software that couple this hardware with open source GRASS GIS, making the system instantly applicable to a wide range of modeling and design problems. Since no other literature on this topic is available, this book fills a gap for this new technology that continues to grow. It will benefit students, researchers, and all those interested in geospatial modeling applications, computer graphics, hazard risk management, hydrology, solar energy, coastal and fluvial flooding, fire spread, landscape, park design, and computer games.
READING LIST
For the lover of literature, or architecture, or both
Reading Architecture: Literary Imagination and Architectural Experience co-edited by Angeliki Sioli, Assistant Professor of Architecture Why write instead of draw when it comes to architecture? This book builds on the existing interdisciplinary bibliography on architecture and literature, but prioritizes literature’s capacity to talk about the lived experience of place and the premise that literary language can often express the inexpressible. It sheds light on the importance of a literary instead of a pictorial imagination for architects and looks into contemporary architectural subjects through a wide variety of literary works. Drawing on novels that engage cities from around the world, the book reveals aspects of urban space to which other means of architectural representation are blind. The essays of this volume reveal dimensions of utmost importance for architects, urban planners, historians, and theoreticians nowadays.
For the art history lover
Revolutionary Paris and the Market for Netherlandish Art Darius Spieth, Art History Professor Seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish paintings were aesthetic, intellectual, and economic touchstones in the Parisian art world of the Revolutionary era, but their importance within this framework, while frequently acknowledged, never attracted much subsequent attention. This inquiry reveals the dominance of “Golden Age” pictures in the artistic discourse and sales transactions before, during, and after the French Revolution. This book restores attention to the link between to key periods in the history of art.
For your coffee table conversation-starter
Past & Present Tense The limited edition book is a reflection on loss and memorialization as experienced on a personal, cultural, and global scale. The photographs, which include those made by the artists to those sourced from personal and public archives, suggest how the past continues to be felt in the present. The book’s structure is based on a call and response between the artists and weaves together images of death, family members, the southern United States, natural and man-made disasters, and the materials we use to collect and remember.
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Kristine Thompson & Johanna Warwick, Professors of Photography
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Image: “Chasing the Invisible,” Swimming to Inishkeel exhibition.
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Images courtesy of Malcolm McClay
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Art professor Malcolm McClay’s exhibition Swimming to Inishkeel, which debuted in Donegal, Ireland in early 2018, opened at the LSU Museum of Art in Baton Rouge November 1, 2018. Swimming to Inishkeel presents recent multi-media, sculptural, and performance work by Professor McClay, including static and kinetic sculpture, photography, film and performance. The exhibition features video installations of Professor McClay’s performance art, conducted in the tides off the coast of Ireland.
SWIMMING TO
INISHKEEL “In the Celtic tradition a thin place is the name given to a place where the visible and invisible worlds touch or are at their closest, a space where the veil between the temporal and celestial worlds has grown thin,” McClay shared. “For me, Inishkeel is such a place…The coldness and clarity of the water, the stillness and unchanging nature of the landscape bring me to a place where I am more alive and connected than at any other time.”
CHASING THE INVISIBLE The Chasing the Invisible installation joined sculpture and performance art; Professor McClay constructed a 10-foot steel tower in Galway Bay, while the tides rose around him. Aerial video footage documented his performance: after having built the steel tower against the wind and waves, he stood on the top platform, all dressed in white, a solitary figure out in the overwhelming expanse of ocean. “On a chance visit to Malcolm McClay’s studio at LSU, I found myself studying preparatory sketches, tide tables, and calculations,” wrote Courtney Taylor, LSU Museum of Art curator. “At the time, McClay was rehearsing daily the precisely choreographed timing, assembly, and climb of the steel tower fabricated as the foundation of what would become Chasing the Invisible. Looking down from the highest platform of the tower, tools in hand, McClay demonstrated
the endeavor with his usual exuberance, noting that all could be lost if even one tool dropped below the surface of the sea. Intrigued by such an ambitious and arduous undertaking, I proposed an exhibition at the LSU Museum of Art.” Art students Griffin Gowdy (BFA candidate) and Matthew Barton (MFA 2017) helped Professor McClay to construct the tower in Ireland before the performance, spending hours welding the steel lengths and fitting them to form the structure. The students traveled to Ireland for the immersive LSU Art in Ireland summer program, which McClay leads annually. Gowdy and Barton arrived early to assist with the installation. “We brought the parts in our luggage – bolts, washers, hardware, all packed in our suitcases,” Gowdy said. “When we arrived in Ireland we hit the ground running.”
In the Celtic tradition a thin place is the name given to a place where the visible and invisible worlds touch or are at their closest, a space where the veil between the temporal and celestial worlds has grown thin.
Assisting with Chasing the Invisible was an intensive instructional experience in itself, the students agreed; they practiced sculptural (metal welding) techniques, installation, and learned about the precision that performance art requires. “The sheer amount of discipline that goes into performance art is astounding,” Barton said. “The work that Malcolm does requires you give so much to it physically and mentally.”
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Professor McClay’s artistic and teaching practice ranges across sculpture, installation, and performance. While his earlier work engaged the political and the external, Swimming to Inishkeel turns sharply inward to the spiritual and meditative. His most recent durational performance Chasing the Invisible meditates on his daily swims to Inishkeel, an island off the coast of Ireland. While there, McClay swims two hundred fifty meters from the shore to Inishkeel and back each day. Through these rhythmic exertions, McClay finds focus—the “thin space.”
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Left: Matthew Barton and Griffin Gowdy weld metal tower parts. Below: Matthew and Griffin help build the tower.
Participating in the large-scale installation process was a learning experience for the students, Gowdy said. “I learned the importance of planning, asserting control over the as many aspects of the environment as you can. Throughout our time in Ireland, we learned about site intervention work – how to interact with the natural environment and not cause any damage.” The team searched for the perfect site for the performance, scouring the coastline for a place that would meet the requirements. In the spot they ultimately chose, the tide rises 10 feet, and they had to determine how to install the tower without it flipping over in the strong ocean current. To install the piece, the team carried armfuls of steel parts roughly 50 yards out to the selected spot, scrambling across slick ocean rocks, slippery with kelp, their boots sinking into the mud as they carried the heavy metal out to sea at low tide. “And of course it was raining,” Gowdy laughed.
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They performed practice tests in the water over and over again in preparation, timing the minutes before the tide came in. Each piece was color coded and numbered so that McClay could quickly assemble the structure in the rising water. “I spent months rehearsing on the tower that I built at LSU to prepare,” McClay said. “I knew I needed to be able to assemble the tower without thinking about it, as there would be unforeseen circumstances I would encounter when I was out on the sea.” “When Malcolm’s up there on the tower, he’s all alone – but the preparation for the performance was truly a collaborative process,” Gowdy said. “Community is so important for projects like this to succeed,” Barton said. “There were so many people working together to get this piece done and it would have been impossible without them.” Tower plan sketch, by Malcolm McClay 16
SWIMMING TO INISHKEEL
Above: Griffin Gowdy and Malcolm McClay assemble tower at low tide.
Gowdy had watched the performance practiced back in Louisiana and seen McClay’s sketchbook of his vision, which is riddled with precise drawings, intricate details of a complex project. So she thought she knew what to expect.
He stood at the top of the tower as the water rose around him, his bucket of tools close at hand to secure another length of steel. A solitary figure in white, surrounded by the incredible blue-green ocean. As the day progressed, an offshore wind grew increasingly stronger until the waves were pounding the tower, and he was leaning into the wind during his standing meditation, at the mercy of the elements. He was out in the sea for six hours – at the halfway point, his wife Chicory Miles played the violin, the melody wafting out toward him. The extensive rehearsal schedule paid off. “Once I was on the tower, I felt at home and knew exactly what to do,” McClay said. “The experience was not what I imagined – contemplative, isolated and serene – instead I was in a battle with the elements for the durations of the performance. In retrospect this is probably a more honest experience, considering where I was and what I had undertaken.”
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The day of the performance was windy and crisp, waves rolling in with force. McClay rhythmically built the tower, the tides rushing in ominously. Students and onlookers watched from the shore, his white-clad body a winking speck against the horizon.
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Tower plan sketch, by Malcolm McClay
By the end the tide had climbed so high that it looked as if he was standing on the surface of the sea, a lone man floating over the water. “Seeing the tide come in and slowly consume the tower was shocking,” Barton said. “I had been climbing all over this tower over the past few days building it, and it seemed so large in the shop. But to see it so effortlessly covered by the water was a humbling experience.”
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“During the building process I was so focused on the task at hand, that I didn’t have time to stop and think about the significance of the project,” Gowdy shared. “After I saw it, I realized the magnitude of what we had created, what we were lucky enough to be a part of.”
ART IN IRELAND Upon returning home, the students reflected on their monumental experience in Ireland. “The landscape there is so different than everything I’ve seen my whole life,” she said, describing the untamed natural beauty of rural Ireland. “The trip was such an immersive experience, you can’t help but come back changed. After I returned to Louisiana I viewed everything so differently.” Just as McClay finds focus in the rhythmic activity of swimming through the biting cold sea to the island of Inishkeel, so did the art students find focus – on the art they were creating, on understanding themselves – as they became absorbed in the wild beauty of the Irish coast. In this place, they find the thin space of transcendence. The Swimming to Inishkeel exhibition is at the LSU Museum of Art through February 10, 2019.
Swimming to Inishkeel exhibition at the LSU Museum of Art 18
I realized the magnitude of what we created.
/ THE FOREFATHER OF GRAPHIC DESIGN AT LSU
PROFESSOR BOWER By: Angela Harwood Professor Gerald Bower, founder of graphic design at LSU, has significantly impacted each and every graphic design student to traverse the quad, seek the shade of a colonnade, and dream of grids, typography, and brand identities. For more than 40 years, he has taught second- and third-year graphic design studios at LSU, ensuring that every student benefits from his tutelage. Bower is the stalwart gatekeeper of the program—and he wouldn’t have it any other way. Although, the beginning of Bower’s career at LSU was rather . . . unconventional. Bower received his BA in advertising design from the University of Lafayette, then worked as a designer for LSU while pursuing a Master of Art. He despaired to discover that LSU didn’t have an advertising design path. “Lo and behold, when I saw a university the size of LSU not having a very practical program for the creative people of our community, I thought there was a big hole there.” After obtaining his MA, he instructed an advertising design class at UL and realized he had a natural facility—and affinity—for teaching. Serendipitously, LSU professor Don Bruce (now retired) approached Bower about putting together a proposal for an advertising design curriculum at LSU. “I modeled it on what they were doing at the time, although it’s changed drastically,” explained Bower. After much research and back-and-forth to ensure the proposed curriculum wouldn’t overlap with existing programs in mass communications, journalism, and broadcasting, Bower succeeded in convincing the dean of academic affairs and the head of the art department that there was, indeed, a need for such Professor Gerald Bower Illustration by Tory Cunningham
a platform at LSU. Unfortunately, paying Bower a salary wasn’t in the budget. To which Bower responded, “What if I told you I’d be willing to teach for no pay?” And that is how graphic design at LSU began. Bower taught LSU’s earliest graphic design classes without compensation—a dedication nearly unheard of today. “I came to LSU, basically, because I wanted to enrich other people like myself,” Bower averred. “I was on public support when I got to UL. I could not have gotten an education if that university was not so close. To think that something as big as LSU did not have a professional advertising design program just really made me wonder about everything. A lot of students at LSU were just like me, shackled with their economic status. That’s what motivated me the most.” Five students enrolled in Bower’s first class, four ladies and one young man. “After the first critique, the young man left and never came back!” laughed Bower, who continued to teach part-time at LSU while working full time as a publication designer for Franklin Press. Teaching was his nighttime activity. His number of students kept doubling, and Bower took on more and more classes until he was teaching every night, Monday through Friday. All the time he taught at LSU, Bower never thought he would get tenure, “simply because I had gotten my terminal degree at LSU.” However, the art department chair at the time, John Wilkerson, encouraged Bower to consider enrolling in the recently implemented MFA program. When Bower asked him why, Wilkerson replied, “Because when I hire you, I want to be able to pay you the best salary I can.”
TWENTY YEARS OF GDSO
Over the years, Bower has witnessed the evolution of the profession, from designing everything by hand to computeraided design. “He has to be one of the early pioneers of graphic design in the South, as the term didn’t even emerge until the late ’70s; it was called commercial art well into the early 1980s,” commented Richard Doubleday, an associate professor at the LSU School of Art. “Gerald had a vision for graphic design education and its growth.” In fact, Bower and the late Michael Daugherty set up the art department’s first two computer labs. “Faculty kind of scoffed at us for spending so much time setting up the labs,”
Bower recalled with much mirth. “We had some people tell us we’d never be able to do art with computers. They thought it was funny that we were knocking ourselves out doing that.” Bower said he probably wouldn’t have been able to start what is now the Graphic Design Student Office, or GDSO, if he hadn’t built the labs. In 1997, the vice president of the Graphic Design Student Association, an undergraduate student named Jeremy Tucker, approached Bower about setting up a student-operated design shop. “So we sectioned off an area in the same location where GDSO is now located, and we started operations.” In its early form, the students, advised by faculty, designed publications strictly for the school and the college. “We just started with some very simple, underpowered computers and we went from there, mostly designing posters and brochures for the school.” After a few years, Bower turned the program over to Rod Parker, who at that time owned and operated his own graphic design firm and had recently joined LSU as an instructor.
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Bower completed the degree requirements, earning his MFA from LSU in 1974, and he was immediately appointed as an assistant professor. His classes continued to attract students. In 1977, Bower was promoted to associate professor—a mere three years later. To his recollection, that was around the same time that LSU officially changed the name to graphic design, to better coincide with the studio arts curricula.
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“Rod took his business expertise and acumen and applied it to that small area. GDSO has been a boon to the college and to graphic design ever since,” Bower said. Professor Parker is now the director of the School of Art, and GDSO is thriving. The student office has completed hundreds of internal and external projects and has received a bevy of American Advertising Federation, International Design, and American Graphic Design awards. And that eager student, Jeremy Tucker, the VP of GDSA? He is now the VP of marketing communications and media for Nissan North America. “Gerald Bower has devoted most of his working life to LSU,” stated Parker. “Everyone who graduated in the last 45-plus years owes him a debt of gratitude for his passion for the school and his persistent support of our undergraduate and graduate graphic design students.” Bower’s professional work has mainly centered on print and publication design. He worked as a designer at LSU (while he obtained his MA), at Franklin Press, and at Pelican Publishing, where he designed advertisements, catalogs, and books, including a couple of well-known classics: The Cajun Night before Christmas and Gaston the Green-Nosed Alligator. Bower kept pace with the everchanging profession through his freelance work. He was a design consultant for the Louisiana District of Attorneys from 1974 to 2016, and he created all their publications— letterheads, conference books, business cards. He also trained their employees to use new and emerging design platforms, like PageMaker and InDesign.
I CAME TO LSU, BASICALLY, BECAUSE I WANTED TO ENRICH OTHER PEOPLE LIKE MYSELF. – Professor Bower
To this day, Bower remains involved in the Graphic Design Student Association. “Gerald has headed the Graphic Design Student Association every year, and his efforts expose students to many varied professional activities on and off campus,” shared Lynne Baggett, professor of graphic design.“ Over the years, this has included trips to conferences in Houston and Dallas and community activities for fundraising or service-learning in addition to supporting social events.” Bower also helps oversee the selective admissions process for the graphic design concentration—which has become the most popular concentration in the School of Art. In 2016–17, graphic design students represented 33 percent—more than one-third—of the entire school’s BFA program.
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“Gerald stands out to me as one of the most respected people I have ever worked with,” added Doubleday. “I am always astounded by his constant focus and commitment to undergraduate education in graphic design. My biggest fear and stress as it relates to graphic design at LSU is what we would look like without Gerald. How do you replace such an extraordinary person and teacher with so much experience?” Bower said he wanted to help students like he once was. “The whole impetus of starting the graphic design platform was to help people with that kind of need.”
Dean Alkis Tsolakis and Professor Bower (right) Image courtesy of Lifetouch 22
During his tenure at LSU, Bower has received a number of grants and awards for his work as an educator in the fields of advertising and graphic design. He spent 18 years on the board of the American Advertising Federation of Baton Rouge and is a past president of the organization. In 1991, he won AAF’s prestigious Silver Medal Award for outstanding service; in 1997, he received the Pete Goldsby Award, the Baton Rouge advertising industry’s highest accolade.
Students and professors critiquing design projects in 2011.
OF
“What if you go more abstract,” a companion offers. “Try a couple of versions to see what works.” The scene could be any design firm in cities across the world: talented young designers working together to satisfy a variety of clients, using the latest technology to stay ahead of modern trends. But it’s not a boutique firm – it’s the Graphic Design Student Office (GDSO) on LSU’s campus. The graphic designers are all students in the School of Art, and while faculty advisors help direct operations and provide feedback, teaching design skills in the process, the work is created by the students themselves. GDSO operates like a private design studio – but the motivation is creative practice rather than profit. It is a professional business that provides real-world design experience, while situated in the university setting.
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20 YEARS
Graphic designers sit at rows of computer screens, each working on projects for different clients. Behind them is a wall covered in print-outs of the latest projects they have been working on, a collage of colors and shapes for different publications. One young woman prints out the piece she has been creating, an invitation for a local organization. She pins the design on the board and the other designers pause to give her feedback.
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A selection of GDSO work created 1998–2018
For over 20 years, GDSO has provided LSU and the surrounding community with graphic design services. In the early days, GDSO was a small operation. “We started out in a closet,” School of Art director Rod Parker said, laughing about the space where the office first conducted business. From its beginnings under Professor Bower’s helm, the office grew, adding more students every year. As the field of graphic design evolved with technological advancement, so did the office itself. The sophistication of the graphic design work, and the designer-client relationships, have evolved over time, Parker explained.
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THE STUDENTS ARE GETTING REAL WORLD EXPERIENCE “To some extent when GDSO started, people said, ‘this is what I want,’ and the students would deliver,” he said. “Now people come with design challenges. They are looking for problem solving, not just visual styling.” And the student designers deliver those answers to creative problems, working with each client to create the design envisioned. Though the first design clients were entities within the university, as the office expanded, it began to welcome business from companies outside LSU. Clients over the years range across diverse industries, including: Baton Rouge Green My Tree Programming, the Baton Rouge Gallery, City Citrus, Slow Foods Baton 24
Rouge, and The Big Squeezy. Students designed logos, created branding identities, and produced materials for publications. GDSO tackled everything from designing annual reports for Red River Bank, working with Social Fabrics for a fashion show on wearable media, and even creating a kiosk for the LIGO Center. “It’s truly like a professionally-operating design firm,” said Kitty Pheney, associate head of art operations & programs, who assists with the office administration, along with graphic design professors Lynne Baggett and Courtney Barr and instructor Luisa Restrepo. Under their guidance, GDSO is an immersive classroom dedicated to learning the art of graphic design. “The students are not just play-acting as designers,” Pheney said. “They’re getting real world experience.” By the time they graduate they each have an impressive portfolio under their belt, and have acquired problem-solving skills necessary to compete in today’s fast-paced design fields. “My experience working at GDSO has been incredibly challenging and stressful, while also being profoundly rewarding educationally,” said BFA student Sarah Alexander, a current GDSO graphic designer. “It has been pivotal in my professional development.” Working in the graphic design office has helped her to grow as an artist. “Saying that GDSO has helped me as a designer would be an understatement,” she said. “GDSO has offered me production experience, technical instruction, artistic outlet, and additional education through working closely with the faculty who work alongside us. GDSO has molded who I am as a designer.”
Seeing their work come to fruition fuels students’ passion for graphic design, Pheney asserted. “They understand what an opportunity it is to work for GDSO, and seeing their work used makes them more focused, driven, serious about honing their skills, and ultimately very prepared for the professional world.”
GDSO HAS WON OVER 65 DESIGN AWARDS
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Many students who have trained in GDSO over the years have gone on to have successful careers in design. The students who participate in GDSO gain lifelong skills, exhibiting strong conceptual abilities as well as a teamoriented mindset, as they practice in a unique mentorbased, collaborative learning environment in which they are guided by graphic design faculty.
GDSO’S BEST QUALITY IS THE TEAM ATMOSPHERE “GDSO’s best quality is the team atmosphere,” Alexander said. “I never feel secluded or left alone to do my work in a dark corner. Instead, my fellow designers are my friends and are vital to my growth and development throughout a project.” The cooperative nature of the office contributes to student designers’ growth, agreed Courtney Barr, associate professor of art/graphic design. “Participation in collaborative research initiatives, for example, is a more complex challenge for the students, but from the challenge they gain a unique appreciation for research practice that gives them relevant skills for the future of design practice,” she said. In addition to providing traditional graphic design services, GDSO is invited by scholars to participate in researchdriven, grant-funded projects that involve the development of design deliverables over a long-term process. Past collaborators have included the LSU Coastal Sustainability
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The most rewarding moment is seeing a completed project in use. “When students see their work – logos they designed used in the outside world, identities used in professional capacity, publications printed and distributed – they have a profound sense of accomplishment,” Pheney said. “They see that their assignments have a life beyond the classroom, exist in the real world. The first time a student has the experience of seeing something that [he/ she] created come to life, it’s exhilarating.”
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GDSO students and faculty celebrating at the 2011 ADDY Awards Gala Image courtesy of Pam Bordelon, The Advocate
Studio, LSU Department of Oceanography, LSU Center for Computation and Technology, and the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. “These collaborative opportunities create a unique intersection of research and professional practice in the learning environment,” Barr said. “Sometimes project deliverables will evolve multiple times over the course of the research process; sometimes the research process will lead to a completely different solution than the initial expectations. Students often learn more from the process itself than from the final product.” The hands-on learning environment produces awardwinning results: over the years, GDSO students have won dozens of design awards, including over 70 American Advertising Federation Awards (ADDYs) – which recognize the creative spirit of excellence in the art of advertising and local, regional, and national levels – in the past five years alone. As the practice of graphic design progresses, so too will the office continue to advance in the future. GDSO will incorporate different kinds of projects to keep up with the demands of modern life, Pheney surmised. Methods will evolve along with technology, and designers will adapt and venture into new areas. One thing is for sure: GDSO will continue to mold many generations of future designers.
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WHERE ARE THEY NOW ? GDSO ALUMNI
A look at some of GDSO’s many successful alumni from over the years
Vice president of marketing communications and media for Nissan North America, Jeremy Tucker is responsible for marketing the Nissan brand and the company’s vast product lineup. He was named a 2015 Rising Star by Automotive News and one of AdAge’s 2016 “40 Under 40.” Jeremy led the brand’s biggest and most successful campaign: a cross-promotional tie-in with the blockbuster hit Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
Phil Winfield (MFA 2011) Principal designer at Fyusion, Inc, a San Francisco-based computer vision company that offers technology for 3D imaging. As a designer, art director and UX lead, he has crafted websites, products, and brand identities. Previously he has been design director at digital design agency Golin, and Architect digital agency, respectively.
Rima Massasati (BFA 2013) Art director at Wondersauce integrated advertising agency in New York City. She has been featured in Print Magazine, AIGA Eye On Design, Women of Graphic Design, PAGE, and Don’t Panic. Her past clients include Target, Shopstyle, and Lavanila skincare brand. She also created an abstract poster series for charity 4 Corners, to spread awareness about the stories of refugees.
Bradley Furnish (BFA 2004) Editor at California VR animation studio Baobab Studios. While at Pixar, he has worked on films such as Toy Story 3, Brave, and Toy Story That Time Forgot. He edited content for the films Inside Out, The Good Dinosaur, and Finding Dory. His project the hand-painted animated film The Dam Keeper was nominated for an Oscar in the animated short category.
Yvonne Cao (MFA 2012) Graphic design educator and typographer; currently assistant professor of graphic design at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. Her work has received design awards by HOW International, GRAPHIS, American Advertising, Summit International, Horizon Interactive and UCDA Design. She has designed for clients such as Johnsons & Johnsons, Colgate, Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, and Pier 1 Imports.
Luisa Restrepo Perez (MFA 2013) Creative director of GDSO and a graphic design instructor at the LSU School of Art. Originally from Colombia, Luisa has gone from a graphic design student at LSU to directing the design office herself! Her work has won numerous awards, and she is a member of AIGA and American Advertising Federation, and a board member at the Baton Rouge Gallery, Center for Contemporary Art.
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Jeremy Tucker (BFA & BS 1999)
And many more! Alumni: submit your updates at design.lsu.edu/alumni! 27
I made
that!
Brooke Strevig BARCH CANDIDATE LSU School of Architecture students contributed to the Hilliard Museum at ULL exhibition about iconic Louisiana architect A. Hays Town. Students in Professor Ursula Emery McClure’s class studied Town’s architectural work all semester, and created models of his designs, which are displayed in the traveling exhibition.
Process:
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First, I analyzed the work of Louisiana architect A. Hays Town, studying the transition of architecture through his design career.
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As the class proceeded into exploring his residential designs, we learned his process through his handdrafted drawings. After selecting a certain home to construct, I created digital renditions of his original drawings in order to build the models for the exhibit retrospective.
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MATERIAL LIST
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A. Hays Town original architectural hand drawings
Duct tape
Wood
Ruler
Laser cutter machine
Benjamin Moore Paint
X-Acto knife
Paintbrush
Wood filler Sandpaper
Pencil
I M A D E T H AT
Architectural models in exhibition A. Hays Town and the Architectural Image of Louisiana at the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum
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In order to test the necessary craft and precision needed for the exhibition, I conducted several model test trials to observe how the wood would respond to the laser cutter and paint.
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As a class, we set guidelines for the level of craft and steps needed to produce the final product with excellence.
Lastly, using A. Hays Town’s personal favorite brand of paint, we coated the entire models with a single hue of Benjamin Moore paint in order to represent the purest form of the model. Each color was chosen from a color analysis of a piece of furniture found within one of Town’s residential homes; the chair is also displayed in the exhibition. QUA D • W I NTER 2019
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In teams, we constructed the models using laser cutting machines and wood shop tools.
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/ Snapshots From Our Travels
FIELD NOTES / Architecture
FRANCE The new Design Paris program began in fall 2018. The city of Paris offers a richly layered framework from which to engage questions critical to design explorations. Students have the opportunity to study many buildings of historical and architectural importance, and experience the rich French culture. “By studying abroad in Paris this semester, I am not only getting to experience firsthand one of the most popular cities in the world, but as part of the program we also get to travel outside the city limits, to Honfleur, Fountainbleau, and Eveux, to name a few. Honfleur is located along the southern bank of the Seine River where it meets the Atlantic Ocean, and has played an important role throughout history due to its port.” – R. Dakota Boesch, MArch candidate
/ Art
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IRELAND Art students went on the Art in Ireland summer studio program based at the Burren College of Art. The college, a cutting-edge facility built in the courtyard of 16th-century Newtown Castle, offers an opportunity for focused activity that draws upon the unique landscape of the Irish countryside. “From drawing and painting excursions that submerge students in the extraordinary landscape to site-specific sculptures created in the environment, the Burren engages students in new ways of seeing and experiencing the making of art.” – Professor Malcolm McClay
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/ Landscape Architecture
PORTUGAL Third-year MLA students traveled to Portugal with Professor Bruce Sharky to explore historic and cultural sites in the Algarve coast, Lisbon, and the historical city of Leiria. “As a school we are so fortunate that our professors have friendships and contacts all over the world. Our class spent a full day in Leiria, Portugal with LSU alumni Hugo Alves. Hugo arranged a full day of events where we had a chance to walk around the historic city center. It was great to see firsthand how the city integrates [new designs] around its historic roots.” – Taylor Fehmel, MLA candidate
/ Interior Design
LSU in China allows students to develop a global perspective and approach to thinking and problem-solving. Through site visits, they develop an understanding of Chinese culture through an economic, historical, social, and aesthetic perspective, with emphasis on the typical regions of China. The aim is to learn to design with an awareness of the planet and different cultural/social groups. “Going on the trip gave me the opportunity to understand the cultural history and architecture related to Chinese tradition.”
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CHINA
– Brandi Reed, BID candidate
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/ Keeping up with Art & Design alumni
CLASS NOTES
and director of Cindy B. Maughan & Associates, LLC, a Baton Rouge-based interior design firm. Cindy’s projects include multi-family homes, upscale urban residences, celebrity estates, hunting plantations and luxury recreational get-a-ways, from conception to completion.
APRIL PHILIPS, BLA 1979, is founder of April Philips Design Works, Inc. APDW’s “Alameda Point Site A Master Plan: Bridging the Past with the Future” won a merit award in research, planning, analysis & communication from the ASLA Northern California Chapter in 2018. The master plan transforms a 68-acre postindustrial site on a decommissioned naval base into a vibrant new coastal community.
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CINDY MAUGHAN, BID 1988, is an interior designer
received the Noel Polk Lifetime Achievement Award for his innovation in stained glass techniques. He is president and chief designer of Pearl River Glass Studio, which he founded in 1975. He has been president of the Stained Glass Association of America, and served as president of the board of the Craftsmen’s Guild of Mississippi. A painter and a glass artist, he has shown his mixed media paintings of figure drawings at the Fischer Galleries in Jackson.
Khan Professor of Islamic Architecture at Massachusetts Institute for Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was made ASLA fellow in 2018.
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Michael Crespo Visual Artist Fellowship from the Arts Council of Greater Baton Rouge. The West Baton Rouge Museum featured Washboard City, an exhibition featuring her art, October 2018-January 2019. She is a visual artist and writer whose folk art is featured in private, corporate, and museum collections across the country.
ANDREW CARY YOUNG, BLA 1975,
JAMES WESCOAT, BLA 1976, is the Aga
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MALAIKA FAVORITE, MFA 1973, received the 2018
watercolor paintings displayed at the Johnson Bayou Library exhibit “Coastal Colors of Cameron Parish” in October 2018. He is a fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects, a fellow of the American Academy of Rome, and a former LSU faculty member. He is now a retired landscape architect, artist, author, and teacher.
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JAMES R. TURNER, BLA 1969, had
ELIZABETH CARTER-THIBODEAUX, BID 1990, has been named to an executive role at Frost-Barber Inc., responsible for commercial development and account acquisition. She has been the owner of Elizabeth Carter Interior Design, handling commercial and residential clients, for 17 years. RANDALL OWEN, BArch 1993, is partner at hatch + ulland owen architects in Austin, Texas. He specializes in commercial design and development including retail shopping centers, restaurants, bars, flexoffice space, and warehouse buildings.
BRIDGET PARRIS, MA & MFA 1994, designer, presents her Luxury Eveningwear Collection under the label “Bridget Parris Couturier.” As Atelier Manager for Marchesa in 2016-17, Parris has directed dressers for Marchesa and young designers, and worked with Naeem Khan, Pronovias, and a range of Luxury RTW clients on projects ranging from design direction to final finishing of couture garments. In her
CLASS NOTES
NIKKI VILLAGOMEZ, BFA 2000, is the creative studio director at Dixon Hughes Goodman LLP. She is a nationally recognized speaker on typography, and the founder and former president of the South Carolina chapter of AIGA. She has been an educator teaching graphic design and typography at the University of South Carolina and the University of Akron. She maintains her blog about how culture affects typography (nikkivillagomez.wordpress.com), has a published book on the subject, and photographs manhole covers. JAMES DEROUSSEL, BLA 2001, is a landscape architect at Torre Design Consortium in New Orleans, with a focus on zoo master planning and exhibit design.
CHIP MILLS, BLA 2001, AICP, won the Urban Land Institute Austin 2018 Most Influential Member of the Year Award for his landscape architecture work in the Greater Austin, Texas community. As vice president of RVI Planning + Landscape Architecture, Chip has over 15 years of experience in land planning and real estate development for large-scale mixed-use communities and various economic development projects.
NATALIE MAULT MEAD, MFA 2005, is the associate curator at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The curated exhibitions focus on American art from the colonial period to present day, including paintings, works on paper, sculpture, photography, mixed media, furniture, and contemporary studio glass covering a range of styles and periods. TARA WAINWRIGHT, BFA 2005, is co-owner and creative director of Obvious Advertising in Lake Charles, LA, which she started with her husband Daniel in 2011. To date, Tara has worked on creative projects for over 500 different businesses across Louisiana and Texas.
MICHELLE BEAUVAIS , BARCH 2006, was promoted to associate at the Nashville-based architecture firm Building Ideas. She joined Building Ideas in 2009, where she has worked on more than 100 building projects including high-rise, commercial interior architecture, mixed-use, multi-family, educational, religious, residential, and adaptive reuse.
JOHN MICHAEL BYRD, BFA 2007, is an JASON BROUILLETTE, BLA 2003, PLA, ASLA, is senior project manager & landscape architecture group leader at S&ME’s Nashville office. Brouillette has provided landscape architectural design for numerous projects throughout Middle Tennessee including Aertson Midtown mixed-use development, Warner Parks Burch Reserve trailhead and tunnel connector, Rolling Mill Hill mixed-use development, and multiple educational and healthcare facility and campus projects.
ADAM MCGOVERN, BLA 2005, was promoted from project manager to practice area supervisor at EHRA in Houston, Texas. Adam works closely with the multiple disciplines at EHRA, including public infrastructure, transportation, hydraulics and hydrology, land planning, land development, surveying, and construction phase services.
academic advisor at School of Visual Arts-NYC in New York City. He is primarily a painter, but also works in drawing, video, objects, performance, and printmaking. His work has been highlighted in over fifty regional and national exhibitions. He has been written about in The Oxford American Magazine, Kolaj Magazine, The Tulane Review, DIALOGIST, Fresh Paint Magazine, Together Underground, 21st Century Queer Artists Identify Themselves, Art Business News, 225 Magazine, The J.O.S.H., and The Ivory Tower Magazine.
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atelier, she has designed, draped and patterned custom gowns for private clients. London Fashion Week SS19 (September 2018) marked the first presentation of her “Bridget Parris Couturier” collection.
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CLASS NOTES
REBECCA COOLEY, BID 2007, AOS’ VP Manufactured Interior Construction, has been honored as a “Rising Star in Construction” by New Orleans City Business. Its “2018 Excellence in Construction and Real Estate” honor recognizes professionals that have created a positive impact in the New Orleans area. Rebecca was recently selected to the New Orleans Regional Leadership Institute (NORLI)’s 2018-2019 class, which brings together business, civic and community leaders throughout the New Orleans area to collaborate and promote economic growth and community development. JEREMY MARTIN, BLA 2008, is a senior associate at
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Reed Hilderbrand. He is currently project designer for Reed Hilderbrand’s civic work at Baton Rouge City Hall Plaza, as well as project manager for several residential projects throughout Massachusetts and the Caribbean. Jeremy’s previous work experience includes a substantial tenure at Hargreaves Associates and experience at the Office of James Burnett.
LAUREN FASIC, BLA 2010, ASLA is managing partner of Delineator Design in Dallas/Fort Worth. The firm won 2018 ASLA Texas professional awards: an honor award for “Oceania: Catalyzing Growth Through Mixed-Use Placemaking” and a merit award for “Reaching the Public: Ideas for a New Center for Architecture.”
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AMANDA HOCH, BArch 2010, has been promoted
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to associate at architecture firm TEF. Amanda recently completed work on the tenant buildout at Stanford Health Care’s Outpatient Campus in Redwood City and is part of the core team designing the consolidation of academic facilities in San Francisco for California College of the Arts, in collaboration with Studio Gang. She is a member of the board of directors of the Architectural Foundation of San Francisco.
LOGAN HALL, BArch 2012, is architectural designer at GuernseyTingle in Williamsburg, Virginia. His work experience includes Chenevert Architects in Baton Rouge, LA, and Kjellstrom & Lee Construction in Charlottesville, VA. STEPHANIE MAIN, BLA 2013, joined as a designer at EDSA Fort Lauderdale in 2018. A PLA, Stephanie recently earned licensure for the state of Texas. Prior to joining EDSA, she was a team lead landscape designer with TBG Partners Dallas and Office Practice Leader for the TBG Fort Lauderdale office. She also worked with Keith & Associates Consulting Engineers, Fort Lauderdale and SWA Dallas. She is active in ULI and has served on the Dallas Festival of Ideas Physical City Committee.
ELIZABETH HWANGBO MILAN, MLA 2014, ASLA, is a landscape designer at Dig Studio in Denver, Colorado. WILLIAM BAUMGARDNER, BLA 2016, is a design and planning professional at Design Workshop in Denver, Colorado.
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QUA D • W I NTER 2019
EQUIPPED
FAN DECK (SHERWIN WILLIAMS) Complete palette of Sherwin Williams colors at your fingertips. Easy to use and perfect for making quick decisions of color choices on the go, or if you just don’t feel like going to your computer.
TRACING PAPER Or what many designers like to call “trash paper.” Inexpensive method for creating overlays or copying an aspect of a drawing. Great for cranking out ideas over a plan; it’s truly a designer’s best friend.
NEUTRAL PH ADHESIVE For adhering mats and objects within a frame. This adhesive has excellent “lay flat” properties and a good open time – great for model making.
PAPER VELLUM Available in pad, sheets, or rolls; it is mainly used for hand drafting, tracing or to print on with characteristics of strength, archive quality, erasing, and redrawing.
L SU COL L EGE OF A RT & DE SIGN
DRAFTING TEMPLATES
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Stencils to draw common shapes, symbols and figures; they are used when standard symbols are to be drawn repeatedly.
PORTABLE DRAFTING TABLE I use this as a multipurpose desk, which can be used for hand drafting, writing or impromptu sketching on a large sheet of paper and organizing.
/ with Darius LeBeaux, 2019 BID candidate
EQUIPPED ARCHITECT’S SCALE One of the most necessary drafting tools. It is a specialized ruler designed to facilitate the drafting and measuring of drawings, such as floor plans and orthographic projections.
DRAFTING DOTS/TAPE Mainly used to hold down vellum and trash paper. I personally like to use this to hang papers around my studio space.
MECHANICAL PENCIL(S)/ SHARPENER/ERASER SHIELD Other essential hand-drafting tools.
DRAFTING BRUSH Made from mixed sterilized horsehair, used to brush debris from drawings when hand drafting (creating designs by hand.) This is the perfect tool to prevent smudging.
X-ACTO KNIFE
DRAFTING TRIANGLE An object used in technical drawing, with the aim of providing a straightedge at a right angle or other particular planar angle to a baseline.
QUA D • W I NTER 2019
A cutting tool for any application requiring a precise, accurate cut. Mainly used for model making.
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