nhia.edu/catalyst
NEW HAMPSHIRE INSTITUTE OF ART NEWS MAGAZINE
CATALYST
This newsletter is published by the New Hampshire Institute of Art. Š 2018 New Hampshire Institute of Art, Manchester, NH. All rights reserved. This publication may not be reprinted or reproduced in any form whole or in part without written permission. While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, we apologize for any errors that do occur. To submit your news email marketing@nhia.edu. Managing Editor: Jen Robertson Contributing Writers: Sara Ceaser Jen Robertson Graphic Designer: Karen Mayeu Printed by: RAM Printing
IN THIS
ISSUE 3 Questions with Mohsin Hamid.........................................2 A Vision for the Campus......................................................6 Annual BFA Exhibition......................................................10 MFA Winter & Summer Thesis Exhibition...........................14 Bringing the World to Manchester ....................................18 Masters of Fine Art in Writing............................................20
New Hampshire Institute of Art
WINTER 2018
MANCHESTER CAMPUS 148 Concord Street Manchester, NH 03104 (603) 623-0313 info@nhia.edu www.nhia.edu
SHARON ARTS CENTER CAMPUS 457 NH Rte. 123 Sharon, NH 03458 (603) 924-7256 sac@nhia.edu www.nhia.edu/sac
Parallel Paths....................................................................22 3 Questions with John Jennings.......................................24 Pass it Forward .................................................................26 Experience Breeds Success................................................28 Faces of Change ...............................................................30 Local Flavor ......................................................................34 In Memoriam....................................................................36 About the Cover................................................................37
I
n a world where our politics has become vitriolic and our personal lives the fodder for the ever-increasing reach of global technology companies, art has become more important than ever. The ability for an artist, a writer, or designer to allow us to contemplate a new perspective, a point of view or way of thinking different from our own, or for artists to engage in meaningful exchange with communities outside their own experience — this is the power of art. At the New Hampshire Institute of Art, we believe strongly that as our mission says — “to educate, engage, and empower through the arts” — artists have a critical role to play in the world. In this issue of Catalyst, you’ll see how our citizen artists are engaging with our communities in different ways. We've worked with our neighboring institutions and the City of Manchester to complete the college’s first 10-year Campus Master Plan that outlines an ambitious vision for NHIA’s Manchester campus in the years to come. We've partnered with the Manchester School District and the Manchester City Library to launch the new One Book, One Manchester program that brought award-winning author Mohsin Hamid to NHIA’s campus this fall. We've built upon our already considerable expertise in illustration, creative writing, and design to launch a new Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree program in Comic Arts that is already garnering national attention and attracting students to Manchester who one day might be fortunate enough to inspire the aspirations of an entire generation. These are just a few of the ways that our students, faculty, and alumni are making meaningful contributions in the world. We are proud to share their stories.
Kent Devereaux
Kent Devereaux President New Hampshire Institute of Art
3
Questions
Mohsin Hamid WITH AUTHOR
Exit West has received several prestigious awards, distinctions, and accolades including: • 2018 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction • Aspen Words Literary Prize • One of the Ten Best Books of 2017 by the New York Times Book Review • New York Times Best Seller • Man Booker Prize finalist
Summer 2018
Originally from Pakistan, Hamid spent part of his childhood in the United States. He also attended college here, studying at Princeton under writers Joyce Carol Oates and Toni Morrison, and from there went on to Harvard Law School. It was after he attended law school that Hamid began his writing career with his first novel, Moth Smoke. Since that time, his writing has been featured on bestseller lists, adapted for the screen, and translated into over thirty-five languages.
3 New Hampshire Institute of Art
THIS YEAR, MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE LAUNCHED ITS FIRST ANNUAL ONE BOOK ONE MANCHESTER PROGRAM, FEATURING THE SELECTION OF THE BOOK EXIT WEST BY MOHSIN HAMID. THROUGH POP-UP BOOK CLUBS, DISCUSSION GROUPS, EXHIBITIONS, STORYTELLING, AND MANY OTHER EVENTS, MANCHESTER’S COMMUNITY JOINED TOGETHER TO READ EXIT WEST IN AN EFFORT TO PROMOTE LITERACY AND CITY-WIDE ARTS PROGRAMMING. IN OCTOBER, NHIA WELCOMED THE AUTHOR, MOHSIN HAMID, FOR AN ONSTAGE CONVERSATION AND AUDIENCE QUESTION-AND-ANSWER SESSION ABOUT THE NOVEL.
Q: Since this book was chosen for Manchester, New Hampshire's first citywide reading program, let's begin with
cities. It strikes me that your books have an ongoing relationship to cities. The opening words of Exit West are “In a city swollen by refugees but still mostly at peace...” and the first chapter of How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is called “Move to the City.” And thirdly, in an essay, you quote from the end of one of my favorite books, Calvino’s Invisible Cities, where he writes, to paraphrase, that the world is an inferno that we can either succumb to or embrace and hold fast to all in it that isn’t inferno. So, what is it about cities, exactly, that makes them so fertile for exploration, metaphor, and so forth? “I like cities. I’ve mostly lived in or near cities. One thing I find fascinating about cities is the way they grant citizenship is quite different from the way that countries grant citizenship. If you moved to Manchester or New York, you become a citizen of Manchester or New York
and if you move to Pakistan or America, it is a much more involved and difficult process, in a sense that cities tend to take as their default given the idea that if you are living in here, you are a citizen, and I really like that, I think it’s very fertile.”
Q: The theme of immigration and migration is on everyone’s mind right now. There’s an urgency to this topic.
According to the Pew Research Center, there are more than 244 million people living in nations different from their country of birth. And the US is home to 19% of the world’s migrants. But the number is dropping. I heard at an event earlier this week that in Syria, 11 million people are displaced, roughly half the country. And yet the number of Syrian refugees admitted into the U.S. has dropped, from many thousands a few years ago to a few hundred to, most recently, about thirty. At one point, the narrator in Exit West notes, “That summer it seemed to Saeed and Nadia that the whole planet was on the move, much of the global south headed to the global north, but also southerners moving to other southern places and northerners moving to other northern places.” Indeed, that summer is our present, it would seem. What aspects of the refugee experience do you think are most salient in the book? And what can a work of fiction do or provide that perhaps the news cannot, no matter how vividly it might depict the refugee crisis?
“Well I think there are two parts to your question. One is what can fiction do that is different and the other part has to do with the anxiety about migration. I think that migration is not new, you know, homo sapiens did not evolve in New Hampshire, right. People came here from somewhere. Everybody. Even those who are native
to this place came here, just thousands of years earlier. None of us are truly native. Migration is the nature of our species. It’s in every species, animals, plants like wheat, rice and corn. All of these things migrate, and it's good that they do.”
Q: I want to talk a little bit about technology’s role in the book—you’ve got these cutting edge technologies, cell
WINTER 2018
phones and drones, and you’ve got what in some ways are among the most ancient technologies, windows and doors. It seems to me that a cell phone is a bit like a door—full of possibility, and a window is a bit like a drone, exciting at first glance also potentially somewhat dangerous. The way you write about cell phones in the early stages of their relationship—that they are already touching one another before they’ve kissed—I think you’ve nailed the role that cell phones play, particularly in nascent relationships, as well as anyone. We’re very familiar with that and it rings true, if you’ll pardon the pun.
New Hampshire Institute of Art
4
"The thing about technology is that technology is weird. We treat it very natural and normal. For me, it's very important not to speak [in the language of] technology but to discuss technology. So you know, if you say you have an iPhone 7 and all of these apps, you're speaking kind of branded, you know, nonsense. What does that mean? To really explain as to what's going on as a human being you have to say 'Well, I have this rectangle of plastic and glass in my pocket and I'm constantly thinking about it, fondling it, and if you take it away from me I have this incredibly strong passion about it.' I feel like I'm Gollum, you know, 'my precious' and then you begin to realize just how bizarre this thing is. I think to
adopt the position that we are consumers of technology is to adopt the position that the future of our species and us as individuals belongs to somebody else." "I have to look at technology as though I have never seen it before, 'What is this thing? And what is going on?' When you look at the phone for an example, I saw how it was tempting me and how I would through it and sort of arrive on different planets, other countries, message my kids from far away. I began to wonder if that little gray black rectangle with a phone screen could be bigger and you could go through it like a doorway. That is how Exit West was born."
“ Anything that began is ideas. The characters took their own form and became who they are. I feel close to them, but the thing is, they are not entirely mine. In a sense, what I created was a suggestion of the characters and what the reader creates in their imagination when they read the book is the full character. What readers do is they take the words written on paper and turn them into people, emotions, things they can see and smell, ideas.�
A
Vision FOR THE Campus
view across Pine Street, proposed; Fuller Hall at left, MHA at right Michelle Crowley Landscape Architecture
FULLER HALL JOINED WITH THE MANCHESTER HISTORIC ASSOCATION, VIEW FROM PINE STREET
Over the past few years, NHIA initiated a partnership with other civic and cultural organizations that led to the City of Manchester officially designating the six-block area surrounding NHIA’s downtown campus as the Manchester Cultural District in 2017. Building upon this success, NHIA selected Jones Architecture of Salem, Massachusetts to oversee development of the college’s first Campus Master Plan with the aim of transforming the Manchester Cultural District into the vibrant, culturally active centerpiece of a renewed Manchester, and providing NHIA with a roadmap to guide future campus expansion. Jones Architecture was selected because of their extensive experience working with higher education institutions. Their past projects have included work for Dartmouth College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Northeastern University, Norwich University, Olin College of Engineering, Tufts University, and the University of Vermont, among others. NHIA owns seven buildings and leases two others in the immediate neighborhood of the Manchester Cultural District. These includes three residence halls housing approximately 175 undergraduate students and five academic buildings. The primary goals of developing a Campus Master Plan were to: • Communicate a compelling vision of NHIA’s future campus • Create a coherent campus identity and brand that could help NHIA increase its visibility
Jones Architecture, Inc.
61
• Integrate streetscape, landscape, and interior and exterior building enhancements to create a more welcoming and student-friendly campus for both residential and non-residential students • Identify potential opportunities for public/private partnerships that integrate the college’s campus into the urban fabric of Manchester • Incorporate sustainable technologies and methods whenever possible to lower operating costs and reduce the college’s long-term impact on the environment • Reflect an achievable vision that could be implemented in multiple phases over the next ten years
With input from NHIA’s Board of Trustees, faculty, staff, students, and the Manchester community, the plan was completed in the spring of 2018 and has laid out a consensus vision that will guide development of NHIA’s Manchester campus from 2018 to 2028: 1. Work with the City of Manchester to redesign the city’s streetscape and sidewalks around NHIA to make the neighborhood safer, more attractive, and more pedestrian and bicycle friendly 2. Link Fuller Hall with the adjacent Manchester Historic Association building to create an expanded Teti Library research center, shared academic space, and café that will open onto Victory Park 3. Transform Victory Park and the adjacent Harnett Parking Lot into an all-weather “art park” featuring a number of civic amenities (e.g., sculpture, ice-skating rink, outdoor café, etc.) 4. Partner with a third-party developer to design/build/finance a new, combined residence hall, dining hall, student services, and physical fitness facility that could house students from other Manchester colleges, such as the University of New Hampshire, as well as NHIA students 5. Renovate the existing French Hall and construct new studios, classrooms, and specialized facilities on the existing French Hall parking lot to accommodate projected enrollment growth and the needs of a 21st century curriculum 6. Acquire properties adjacent to the existing Roger Williams Gallery to allow for expanded studio and gallery facilities fronting onto Victory Park Since completing the plan, NHIA has taken the lead on pursuing Federal New Market Tax Credits, that combined with additional public and private investment, will enable the college to realize a significant portion of the proposed Campus Master Plan and help transform the campus into the social and cultural hub of downtown Manchester in the coming decade.
WINTER 2018
NEW RESIDENCE HALL AND ART PARK
New Hampshire Institute of Art
8
WINTER 2018
NHIA CAMPUS MASTER PLAN
N
Prepared by Jones Architecture & Michelle Crowley Landscape Architects
wner, Project Manager
mcla
New Hampshire Institute of Art
9
Alison Bachorik
Annual BFA Exhibition
Lucia Simental
Raymond Miller WINTER 2018
Arielle Peterson
New Hampshire Institute of Art
12
Left to right: Alexander Arthur, Derek Taylor
Annual BFA Exhibition
Trevor Warren
Debra Small Ashley Polson
MFA Winter & Summer Thesis Exhibition
Katheryne Sharp
Karin Sanborn
New Hampshire Institute of Art
WINTER 2018
Matthew Villarreal
16
New Hampshire Institute of Art
WINTER 2018
MFA Winter & Summer Thesis Exhibition
17
BRINGING WORLD THE
TO
Manchester
THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL CORNERSTONE OF AN ARTS EDUCATION IS THIS: UNITING DIFFERENT PEOPLE FROM DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS ON THE COMMON GROUND OF SHARING IDEAS AND ART. ARTISTS NEED EXPOSURE TO OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVES IN ORDER TO CREATE TRULY INSPIRED WORK. TO ACHIEVE THIS EXPOSURE, NHIA SEEKS OUT UNIQUE ARTISTS, WRITERS, AND DESIGNERS TO VISIT CAMPUS, TO BRING THEIR EXPERIENCES TO BOTH THE STUDENTS AND THE COMMUNITY AS A WHOLE.
NHIA recently hosted Jarret Middleton who shared his new literary noir/horror novel Darkansas, based in the Ozarks and offering a twist on the classic southern myth. Given the setting and literary tropes, the conversation surrounding this novel veered far from the classic discussion of New England literature.
WINTER 2018
In his only New Hampshire appearance, Bradford Marrow talked with NHIA students, faculty, staff, and the community at large about The Prague Sonata. Music and war, war and music—these are the twin motifs around which Bradford Morrow has composed this magnum opus, a novel over 10 years in the making.
New Hampshire Institute of Art
18
Morrow’s numerous awards and literary works offer the kind of inspiration that pushes students to excel. They see what a writer can become – a winner of the Guggenheim Fellowship in fiction, a recipient of the O. Henry and Pushcart prizes for his short stories, an Academy Award winner in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the winner of a PEN/ Nora Magid Award for excellence in editing a literary journal.
Poet and fiction writer Jennifer Tseng was born in Indiana and raised in California by a first-generation Chinese engineer and a third-generation German American microbiologist. During her visit to NHIA, she spoke to students as both a poet and fiction writer, opening up about her life and her travels. Visual arts also brought their own brand of inspiration to campus. Sculptor Angela Cunningham demonstrated her work, inspired by natural forms, at NHIA's Sharon Arts Center. Conceptual artist Mark Dion spoke about his fantastical curiosity cabinets, which question the distinctions between ‘objective’ (‘rational’) scientific methods and ‘subjective’ (‘irrational’) influences. Joan Grubin spoke about the colorful objects and installations she created for the Sharon Art Center's atrium, intended to engage an interaction between the physicality of paper and pigment, and the visible but immaterial ingredients of reflected color, cast shadows, and negative space.
IMAGE Right - Mark Dion
New Hampshire Institute of Art
19
WINTER 2018
Master of Fine Art
MFA in Writing programs are common. Very common. So how can a writing program stand apart? How does a program go beyond the preconceived notion that all writing programs lead to novels? By breaking down writing to its most fundamental component.
Storytelling.
NHIA’s MFA in Writing program goes beyond equipping students with the basic tools of the trade. We look at the art of storytelling, examine the ways in which the idea of story has evolved over time—and how our students can change with it. We consider storytelling to be the fundamental principle of all forms of writing, whether it’s poetry, marketing, transmedia, memoir, theater, film, or short story. Our graduates write books and scripts, but they can also become content writers for the growing Virtual Reality economy. There are so many types of writing in the world, and when students are taught the skills in how to tell a story, they are equipped to write anything. After half a century of 2D computing, the emergence of immersive media/virtual reality has offered us the full measure and expression of our bodies in the virtual world, and the potential of new languages. As these burgeoning technologies enter the mainstream, the need for storytellers in nontraditional venues will
grow exponentially. Writers who learn how to translate traditional narrative into digital and spatial realities will help shape the language of immersive storytelling as it becomes a predominant computing paradigm. With affiliate faculty member, Seth Abramson, and the cross-disciplinary focus of our MFA programs, we are seeking to equip the visionaries of the future with that skillset. Our diverse visiting writers and faculty are selected in order to inform and inspire students with diverse goals, from poets and novelists to storytellers in the virtual realm. Recent visiting faculty include Lance Olsen, Francisco CantĂş, MRB Chelko, Rebecca Makkai, and Melissa Febos, among others. Our students are able to engage with new and traditional writing methods and use their newfound skills to invent new career pathways.
AR A L L E L PATHS Shannon Murphy, Illustration class of 2017
FROM THE HANDMADE TO DIGITAL AND BEYOND Many traditional art and design techniques and methods began evolving at warp speed as we entered the 21st century. What once were time-consuming, multi-step processes can now be streamlined due to advancements in tech. These developments in software are now readily available artists and designers. At the height of their popularity, comics publishers employed not only artists and writers, but also people with titles like penciller, inker, colorist and letterer. These people were, and in many cases, still are, vital parts of the now highly mechanized process of creating a comic book. Printmaking is an age-old art. Reproducing images has been traced back several thousand years to the Sumerians who engraved designs and cuneiform inscriptions on stone seals, which they then rolled over soft clay tablets to create relief impressions. This process, considered to be the first roller, is the precursor to today’s printing press. A simplified definition of printmaking is that it is the technique of an artist making marks on one surface, and then transferring those marks to a different surface. Today, printmakers use traditional printing presses, make handmade pressure prints, and use computers, cameras, photocopiers, and found objects to craft their marks. At NHIA, these seemingly divergent forms of art live harmoniously. Our printmakers are innovative artists and designers who thrive on using historic letterpress and other printmaking techniques but have no qualms about taking full advantage of today’s available technologies. The latest techniques and trends in the comics industry have broadened from exclusively physical comics in the form of printers’ ink on paper to graphic novels, anime, and web-based animation. NHIA’s comics art students are storytellers who draw on the historical methods and styles always present in comics and add their knowledge of classic techniques to their own contemporary, digitally-influenced styles. At NHIA, we embrace new techniques, while studying the history of the mediums we love most. Re-thinking and repurposing old processes and technologies has traditionally been how progress is made and how innovation occurs. Our students are consistently thrilled to be learning the old processes, while simultaneously discovering new and creative to use these classic practices.
Bill Cass, Faculty
John J
3 QUESTIONS WITH COMIC ARTIST
1
2
What is your process? For Kindred you sketched all the pages first, then did all the inks and then the colors. How much of that was done traditionally, and how much digitally? My process changes from project to project. For Kindred, it was half analog, half digital. I started off using analog processes like pencil, ink, etc. The entire piece is drawn in sharpie because I wanted to use a blunt and aggressive instrument. The piece is about slavery and time travel so I really wanted to get across the feel of the terror, of what it would be like to be a black woman in slavery time. Because I was really tight on time, I used my phone as a scanner because here is the thing; when you take a picture with your phone and you use the large setting, the image is quite big. I would take pictures of the ink pages, sent it to myself, and clean it up in Photoshop. That was the process for Kindred but the next book I’m going to do completely digitally. I work on an iPad now.
You do a lot of work exploring horror and racism and its repercussions; in a The Creator State podcast, you talked about racism being a horror story. Do you feel the two have intertwined for you, or did your awareness of one inform and then become intertwined with the other? I think my interest in horror comes from my mom. She was a huge horror fan so I was always a fan of it. I’ve been black all my life and it’s a space that is enforced upon me. You know, it’s not like I can say one day, “I’m gonna choose to be black.” It’s a designation, a socialization that happens, the same as it is for white people. We are the same race but we have these tribal, physical things that are enforced upon us that says who we are and that's meaningless. For example, Dracula is literally about taming the blood of purity. Frankenstein was about the tensions of the modernization of society. When you start thinking about how the symbolic nature of horror works, you
Jennings
T
INTERVIEW BY REBEKAH MCCUE
Creative Writing Major, Comic Arts Minor
I work really hard at it. I still want to be better at it. I’m not the greatest artist but I work really hard and I put out a lot of work. And sometimes all I see are the flaws when it's done. When I’m teaching art, it’s about thinking about craft and storytelling but most of it is narrative. What is the point of what you’re
John Jennings is a professor, author, comic artist, curator, Harvard Fellow, New York Times Bestseller, and 2018 Eisner Winner. He is an interdisciplinary scholar who examines the visual culture of race in various media forms including film, illustrated fiction, and comics and graphic novels. Jennings is also a curator, graphic novelist, editor, and design theorist whose research interests include the visual culture of Hip Hop, Afrofuturism and politics, Visual Literacy, Horror and the EthnoGothic, and Speculative Design and its applications to visual rhetoric.
Summer 2018
3
You are a teacher, so how do you try to encourage young comic artists to get better at their craft? Did someone do the same for you, or did your inspiration come from something else?
doing? To me everything is a story. Even when you’re doing graphic design, you’re trying to tell the audience a story of some kind to get across a point of view. And I encourage students to read broadly and widely because that is what I do. Just because you’re a graphic designer or artist doesn’t mean you shouldn't know about politics or feminism or history.
25 New Hampshire Institute of Art
can easily juxtapose it with race. I think that's what starts happening when I look at afrofuturism. How do we look at a difference of genre? Does that change the afrofuturism narrative or does it become something else? That’s how I came up with the term ethno-gothic, where you are using gothic terminology to deal with otherness in a particular way. It's something that actually totally makes sense.
Photograph from the Teti Collection by Julie Blackmon
Pass it Forward
PART OF THE MISSION OF ANY ARTS ORGANIZATION IS TO PRESERVE YESTERDAY SO IT CAN IMPACT A BETTER-INFORMED TOMORROW. THIS PRINCIPLE IS ESPECIALLY TRUE AT A COLLEGE.
In a wonderful demonstration of generosity, NHIA was pleased to learn this past summer that our students will be the beneficiaries of a $1.4 million bequest to fund student scholarships beginning in 2019. NHIA HAS BEEN HOME TO THE JOHN TETI RARE
Stephen Lis, a native and lifelong resident
PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK COLLECTION FOR A DECADE.
of Manchester, left the bequest upon his
THIS PAST FALL, NHIA RECEIVED A DONATION OF
death in 2016 with the specific intent of
ARTISTS OF 20TH CENTURY PHOTOGRAPHY THANKS TO THE INCREDIBLE GENEROSITY OF COLLECTOR AND PHILANTHROPIST, JOHN TETI.
The John Teti Rare Photography Book Collection is one of the finest collections of photographic resources in the United States. The Collection, established in 2007 through a generous donation by Mr. Teti, contains over 2,000 rare books, periodicals, prints and documents illustrating the history of photography, including Edward Steichen’s personal copies of Alfred Stieglitz’s Camera Work. This generous donation adds another 500 rare and out-of-print books, plus almost 500 original photographic prints to the Collection. Artists represented in this most recent donation include Harry Callahan, Paul Caponigro, Imogen Cunningham, Lee Friedlander, Kenneth Josephson, Andre Kertesz, Sally Mann, Elliot Porter, Man Ray, Edward Steichen, Jock Sturges, Brett Weston, Edward Weston, and Minor White, among others. As part of this new donation, NHIA will benefit from an additional gift of funds that will allow the college — already known for its strong undergraduate and graduate programs in photography — to establish a new Teti Fellowship program to make the Collection more accessible to scholars and artists from around the world. The new Teti Fellows program will award four to six fellowships annually to scholars, artists, writers, and educators hoping to travel to NHIA’s campus in Manchester, New Hampshire to find inspiration in the Collection housed in the college’s Teti Library. For more information about the Teti Fellowship, visit nhia.edu/TetiFellowship or email TetiFellowship@nhia.edu.
provide financial assistance to New Hampshire residents pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree at the college. Mr. Lis spent 20 years working at the Hillsborough County Superior Court Building. His friends and colleagues knew him as a low-key, trusted individual with a wonderful sense of humor and a diplomatic presence. He was an avid collector of clocks and all forms of work from up-coming artists. He was also a patron of furniture masters and could be found frequently in attendance at exhibition openings at NHIA. NHIA estimates that this gift will assist between eight and ten students annually with scholarships that will reduce their costs to attend the college. To be eligible for a Lis scholarship, students must be New Hampshire residents pursuing a BFA degree at NHIA and maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or higher. “We’re absolutely amazed at the generosity of Mr. Lis and his passion for supporting emerging artists,” said NHIA president Kent Devereaux. “We are honored that Mr. Lis selected NHIA as the beneficiary of his trust and we will do everything we can to ensure that his generosity pays dividends by enabling hundreds of young artists to further their education at NHIA in the years to come.”
WINTER 2018
FEATURING THE WORK OF MANY OF THE LEADING
establishing an endowment that could
27 New Hampshire Institute of Art
MORE THAN 500 ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS
Exp Breeds S How does a student transition from student to professional?
This change can be a very jarring experience for many young adults.
For four years, students have been mentored and guided. They have been members of a passionate arts community. Once they earn a diploma, however, there are a lot of questions that remain after the initial excitement of graduation fades.
"Start an arts business, sell my work, get a job that uses my creativity, exhibit my work in galleries and museums" – these are some of the responses that many offices of career and alumni services get when they ask students and alumni about their post-college pursuits. The best way for anyone to prepare for tomorrow is to gain experience today. And that experience starts in the classroom. At NHIA, professional practice curriculums include classes that cover in-depth research of possible
Students learn what obstacles might be waiting for them when they enter the “real world.� Most feel that they are prepared to take on what, in the past, recent college graduates have considered to be challenging topics, like negotiating and understanding contracts, designing financial plans, and starting their own business. This foundation leads seamlessly into the internship experience. Employers are met with a student who can hit the ground running with applicable skills and a unique eye for creativity. The student walks into a business feeling prepared and ready to contribute.
Many students choose to pursue internships directly related to their course of study, such as graphic design, illustration, or photography, but some branch out and decide to intern with a woodworker or event planner. To further their life experience, many students take advantage of the opportunity to study abroad. Students have thrived overseas, encountering new skills and techniques while being immersed in vibrant cultures. Many students return with new ideas and goals for their artwork and careers. These inspired individuals cast out into the larger world to use their new skills to excel in the creative sphere.
29 New Hampshire Institute of Art
pathways and success ingredients, like designing a website and developing a business plan.
WINTER 2018
perience Success
CARAND BURNET Carand Burnet (BFA Painting 2010) is the inaugural Arts and Culture Laureate of Millspace: A Center for Art, History, & Culture in Newmarket, NH. The annual laureateship honors those that achieve distinction in a particular creative field and provides a venue for the laureate to initiate community outreach arts and culture-related events. During her term, Burnet is organizing a poetry project titled Tiny Writes. The interactive art exhibit and poetry reading will help local residents anonymously collaborate with poets living in New Hampshire and beyond. More information can be found at: www.carandburnet.com/ tiny-writes AMBER NICOLE CANNAN Amber Nicole Cannan (BFA Graphic Design Faculty) founded Unchartered Tutoring almost by accident. In her work with individual students, she rediscovered a science and art disconnect in the standard education system. She wrote a few lessons, experimented on a few small classrooms, and now offers nine programs a week through the company. Unchartered hopes to break down one of the strongest educational silos, decreasing student stress regarding subjects that should be fun, like biology, chemistry, and physics, while increasing engagement. If the general population has a better understanding of these subjects and less fear of experts, perhaps future generations will fund more research, education and art. (image 6) LYELL CASTONGUAY AND CARAND BURNET BIG INK is an organized network of creative thinkers focused on promoting the art of large-scale woodblock printing. The program was established in 2012 by Directors Lyell Castonguay (BFA Illustration, 2010) and Carand Burnet (BFA Painting, 2010) as a way to spread their passion for the medium with
Every two weeks, the club brings in either an animal up for adoption at a local shelter, or schedule faculty and staff to bring in their furry friends for an hour of companionship. Students interact and play with the pet for an hour and, based on those or other pets at the shelters, create a work of art to donate and auction. All proceeds go to the Pope Memorial SPCA or Salem Animal Rescue League given their willingness to provide images, descriptions, and animals. They are currently working on adding Live and Let Live Farms to their partners to expand beyond helping dogs and cats to even include horses, bunnies, and turtles. KAITLYN DINE During Kaitlyn Dine’s (BFA Illustration, 2017) student teaching placement, one of her goals was to incorporate collaborative projects at each grade level. In her sixthgrade classes, students created a collaborative coral reef installation. This project allowed students to learn about ecosystems and coral reefs, while simultaneously garnering understanding of how art can be used to advocate for a cause. All the sixth-grade classes had a part in creating the installation. Four classes worked on giant coral structures, while remaining classes focused on other elements of the reef. This installation is entirely made of clay, giving students the experience in working in a new medium, and will be displayed throughout the school for the community to see.
1
Becky’s work continues to be shown in numerous exhibits and talks throughout New England and beyond. Her photographs demonstrate that while we may be different in many ways, we all share dreams of safe homes, of jobs to support our families, of strong futures for our children, and of freedom to practice our cultural and religious traditions. Photo Credit: Becky Field, FieldWork Photos. (image 1) JESSE JAMES HALPERN, MFA PHOTOGRAPHY, 2018 On the Corner is a street photography project defined by the idea of a 'pop-up' studio on the street, employing high-powered flash units and a remote trigger on the camera. Jesse remains stationed at his street studio while finding people to participate in this portrait project. The subjects are actual participants in the making of the photograph. They are given the remote and the actual exposure is made by the sitter. Jesse controls the lights, composition, and camera operation. Collaboration between photographer and subject is the ultimate goal of this project. Please see more at: jessejamesphotography.com
WINTER 2018
COURTNEY DAVIS | THE PAW PROJECT Courtney Davis (BFA Illustration, 2021) is a first-time freshman. In the fall of 2017, she formed a club loosely based around a collaboration between Operation Kindness and her high school, Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. She approached NHIA’s Student Leadership Committee and local animal shelters with her idea, and from there found other students who wanted to help with her vision.
BECKY FIELD Becky Field (CT Photography, 2014) started her photography project after malicious, racist graffiti was scrawled on the sides of four refugee homes in Concord, NH – homes of families that had fled violence to seek safe lives in the Granite State. Becky decided to use her camera to show the diversity of our newcomers, to honor their contributions, and to encourage public awareness of cultural diversity. Her large body of work, entitled Different Roots, Common Dreams: New Hampshire's Cultural Diversity, became a published book of photos and the graduating project for her 2014 Certificate in Photography at New Hampshire Institute of Art.
31 New Hampshire Institute of Art
other artists and the general public. BIG INK works by establishing a temporary print shop on site at partnership organizations, most often at museums, universities, art centers, studios, and galleries. Artists are selected, either by personal invitation or through a call-for-entry process, to attend these events and print original woodblocks at least 24” x 36” in dimension. Since the program’s inception, hundreds of artists have participated in BIG INK events across the country. Please visit bigink.org to learn more.
WINTER 2018
C. HARTMAN Clara Hartman (BFA Photography, 2019) is a photographer who unflinchingly takes on the world's darkest and most powerful moments. In the summer of 2017, Hartman covered the protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, starting in the quiet of the early morning through the gathering of hundreds of counter protesters to the eventual clash between citizens and the police. For Clara, being a photographer comes with a sense of duty to capture humanity in its most raw reality. (image 3)
New Hampshire Institute of Art
32
YOAV HORESH Since 2001, Yoav Horesh (Chair of Photography) has been concerned with history, conflict, memory, ethnicity, and multiculturalism. Previous photographic projects have taken place in the American Southwest, Germany, Laos, Israel, the Gaza Strip, Vietnam, Mongolia and Cambodia, where history continues to shape and influence current events and daily life. Currently he is working on projects about Bolivia’s quest to regain sea access from neighboring Chile, as well as a project in Tel Aviv focusing on a small neighborhood that includes an incredibly diverse population of refugees, migrant workers, asylum seekers and veteran residents who share the need and insatiable desire for a haven. (image 2) MARK MORELLI Mark Morelli's (BFA Photography Faculty) most recent project, 'Chelsea, MA: All American City,' is a multidimensional portrait of the city where he lives - a visual investigation of a complex industrial city, as well as an attempt to define his own personal sense of place.
2
3
ANGUS O’LEARY Angus O’Leary (BFA Photography, 2018) photographs local monuments and statues in an attempt to illuminate Manchester’s history and culture. He hopes to showcase the wonder and ubiquity of these monuments while reminding Manchester’s population of the quiet beauty within our city. Monuments acts as reminders of the past, a proof that history has happened on this land. In a time of such great division, returning to our shared history may be a good source for common ground, as well as providing the opportunity to learn more about the events that have shaped today’s societal issues. By photographing the many monuments around us, Angus O’Leary reminds us all of the history that influences our everyday lives and asks us to look to points of personal intersection.
KELSEY PRICE | NEW HAMPSHIRE ART ASSOCIATION Kelsey Price (BFA Illustration, 2017) is currently working at the New Hampshire Art Association in the coastal town of Portmouth, New Hampshire. She aids the over 280 artist members with curating and selling their pieces at the Robert Lincoln Levy Gallery. Through spreading their work and connecting these artists with patrons, Kelsey enriches the lives of those who appreciate the arts and fine crafting in this incredible growing community.
4
AMY REGAN Amy Regan (BFA Photography, 2008), along with former NHIA student Matt Wyatt, created, and continues to work with, The Rochester Museum of Fine Arts, a volunteerled community art museum dedicated to accessibility. Bringing art into public spaces and ensuring that it is accessible breaks down existing barriers and enables patrons to explore, discuss, and experience something new. The Rochester Museum of Fine Arts utilizes public spaces through partnerships with the City of Rochester and provides free and ongoing programming. Whether viewing art, participating at an event, or viewing a film, these experiences create discussions and connections that build and strengthen community.
5
6
JOSHUA QUERY Joshua Query (BFA Ceramics, 2017) is a ceramic and print artist based in New Hampshire. Using function as an influence but not as rule, Josh creates a body of work that explores the expectations and stigmas that shadow the gay community. Branching from this work, he creates portrait busts of men in a style reminiscent of Greek and Roman statuary, unpacking the importance of appearance for gay men. This work is heavily influenced by a strenuous recovery from facial reconstructive surgery and coming to terms with a new appearance. Enthralled by raw textures, imperfect edges, and expressive marks that exemplify change and growth over time, Josh carries his passion of creating a meaningful and honest view of gay men through multiple facets of his work. (image 4)
KELLI TOWSLEY Kelli Towsley (BFA Graphic Design, 2020) is a Graphic Design major and fashion designer. A main focus in her fashion work is to create a more equal community for wearers. She believes functional clothing should be gender neutral. Pockets, comfortability, and inclusivity to persons of any size, highlight the uniqueness of the individual and strengthens the community. Photos by Andrew Powers of Andy Powers Photography. (image 5)
Local Flavor WINTER 2018
Gary Samson
New Hampshire Institute of Art
34
In late October 2016, the Sharon Arts Center organized a meeting of local photographers to discuss a one-year project that would document life in the Monadnock region. Approximately 40 people attended the meeting where Gary Samson, Emeritus Professor of Photography, explained the scope of the project.
THE MONADNOCK PHOTOGRAPHY PROJECT : SHARON ARTS CENTER GALLERY, PETERBOROUGH, NH
He noted that the inspiration came from the work of the Farm Security Administration photography that was created during the Great Depression by legendary photographers such as Dorothea Lange, Walker Evans, and Arthur Rothstein. The Monadnock Photography Project would focus on the people, events, culture, architecture, and landscape of the Peterborough area, and include other towns in a fifteen-mile radius. The resulting work would be exhibited at the Sharon Arts Center Gallery in November 2017. Seventeen photographers participated, producing sixteen hundred images over the course of the year from the thousands created. Over the course of the year, Gary met with the photographers on a regular basis to review the progress of the work and to make suggestions about subject matter that should be explored and included in the show. In mid-October 2017, with the help of Theresa Choi, Camellia Sousa, and BFA photography intern Jessica Evans, Gary selected one hundred and twenty photographs for installation in the SAC gallery.
Gary and Jessica Evans spent nearly fifty hours printing the work from the photographers’ digital files. The final prints in the show ranged in size from 16x20 inches to 44x66 inches and included label documentation for the location and subject matter of each image.
The following photographers put countless hours into creating thousands of images for the exhibition and the Sharon Arts Center would like to thank them for their extraordinary effort and dedication in making this project possible: Mary Ann Sullivan, Jessica Evans, Judy Unger-Clark, Melissa Peterson, Peter Tuttle, Pamela Frankel, Linda Draves Greenwood, John S. Ahearn, Hannah Putnam, Elsa Voelcker, Dan Millbauer, Ben Conant, Gary Samson, Stacy Hannings, Joe Shamy, Glen Scheffer, and David Putnam.
NHIA donor and former Sharon Arts Center board member David Howe, resident of Marlborough and Peterborough, NH, passed away October 25, 2017. David was born in Woonsocket, RI and grew up in Short Hills, NJ. He attended Groton School (1943), Harvard College (1948), and Harvard Business School (1950). He interrupted his college education to enlist in the US Army early in World War II, serving as a Captain in the Signal Corps based in Iraq and Iran. David was a passionate supporter of numerous non-profit organizations, particularly in secondary education, where he served on many Boards. Additionally, David provided leadership in the larger community through the Dublin Lake Club, NY Lighthouse for the Blind, NHIA’s Sharon Arts Center, and Yankee Magazine.
IN MEMORIAM
David Howe Elizabeth H. Nutt, or Bess, as she liked to be called, always knew that her passions lay in the arts. From a young age, when she discovered metalworking at summer camp, she knew she wanted to be a silversmith. Born in 1940 in Kansas City, Kansas and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Bess attended Cleveland Institute of Art and earned a BFA in metalsmithing in 1963. Several years later, Bess chose Candia, New Hampshire as a place to buy a house and establish a silversmithing studio. Bess chose New Hampshire largely due to the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen. Bess served on boards and committees at the League and the annual craftsmen’s fair, coordinated exhibitions, instructed workshops and offered her expertise on the jewelry and metals jury. She was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001. Bess and her life-long companion, Paul Repasy, traveled the country many years ago in a camper. Bess shared her love of photography at various exhibitions as a source of inspiration for her classic jewelry design. Bess passed away October 22, 2016, in Candia, NH. Bess’ work may be viewed at the Smyth Public Library, Candia and at the Currier Museum of Art, Manchester, NH.
Elizabeth H. Nutt
ABOUT the COVER
This issue’s cover focuses on the ever-shifting idea of identity. In today’s world, identity is evolving, becoming an open, amorphous, fluid entity. Within this new, malleable sphere, young adults are facing the decision of how to shape the form of their lives, of taking ownership of their identity. Societally, identity continues to be a pressing topic as differing opinions clash. It is in these spaces where great art is created. With these ideas in mind, we asked both our students and faculty to submit pieces of work embodying this evolving theme. The results above showcase some of the incredible submissions we received. The piece selected for the cover is by Jacquelin Corti, BFA in Photography, class of 2018. Contort 1: “The contorted figure images were based on a concept that my body is a form of art. I am able to bend and transform myself into m any different forms. My body is a confusing and intriguing thing that I study often, and this was the images that came from it. I often identify people as art works, in general, but specifically within myself.” Images Top to Bottom: Shannon Scott - Kaitlyn, Yoav Horesh, Jesi Jones - Forget Me Not, Stephen Sheffield - The I and the Not I
148 Concord Street Manchester, NH 03104-4858
Thank You TO OUR MANY DONORS, SUPPORTERS AND ESPECIALLY OUR BOARD OF TRUSTEES, WE THANK YOU! WE COULD NOT DO THE WORK WE DO WITHOUT YOUR SUPPORT. BECAUSE OF YOU, FOR OVER 120 YEARS, THOUSANDS OF STUDENTS HAVE LEARNED THE TRUE VALUE OF ART.
@NHIA.edu
@NHIArt
@NHIArt
nhia.edu