Prattfolio Fall/Winter 2017

Page 1


Features

8 THE PRATT NETWORK Alumni Shape Innovative Communities across the Country 22 WHAT/WHERE Mapping a World of Pratt Connections 26 ARTISTS FOR ARTISTS Pratt Alumni Make New York City a Nexus of Creative Support by Clinton Krute 34 A NEW FOUNDATION The First-Year Program Innovates with Roots in Tradition Departments

2 PRACTICE A visit to the studio of Samantha Hunt, Professor of Humanities and Media Studies 4 CRIT A conversation with Alex Schweder, Visiting Associate Professor of Industrial Design and Interior Design, and Aaron Ethan Green, MID ’18

Prattfolio is published by the Division of Institutional Advancement for the alumni and friends of Pratt Institute. ©2017 Pratt Institute Office of Alumni Relations 200 Willoughby Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11205 Read the magazine online at www.pratt.edu/alumni. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter: @prattalumni

Vice President of Institutional Advancement Joan Barry McCormick Executive Director of Alumni Relations Sherri Jones Director of Development Communications Charlotte Savidge Senior Editor Jean Hartig Creative Director Mats Håkansson Associate Creative Director Kara Schlindwein

6 SOLVED A new section highlighting the problemsolving process in the real world, from the perspective of alumni in the field 38 NEWS Recent updates from campus and beyond 40 NEW AND NOTEWORTHY Items in the marketplace created by Pratt alumni 45 SPOTLIGHT The Origins of Pratt in Rome 46 CLASS NOTES Updates from Pratt alumni on work and life 56 SKETCH Consider a rule. Break it.

Graphic Designers Erin Cave Rory King Sasha Portis Polina Vasilyeva Copy Editors Jacqueline Black Jean Gazis Brandhi Williamson Wendy Zuckerman Staff Contributors Marion Hammon Jolene Travis Project Management Stephanie Greenberg

Assistant Director, Traffic and Production David Dupont Photography Daniel Terna Questions? Suggestions? The editorial staff of Prattfolio would like to hear from you. Reach us at prattfolio@pratt.edu. For address changes and obituary notices, please contact alumni@pratt.edu or call 718.399.4447.


As Pratt marks the 130th year since its founding, the fundamentals of our community are as strong as ever. Since the first drawing class of 12 students convened on the Brooklyn campus in October 1887— developing an essential skill upon which so many practices are based— these grounds, along with our signature building in Manhattan, have been a singular place for observing, thinking, and making. While the Pratt campus has been through many changes over the years, at its heart it remains a place where ideas begin and lifelong partnerships are formed. It is the foundation of tens of thousands of individual but connected practices in the arts, design, architecture, information studies, cultural scholarship, and numerous related fields. Year after year, alumni carry their distinctive skills and sensibilities into the world, helping to shape their communities wherever they land. This issue of Prattfolio highlights alumni influencers whose work creates a foundation for creative pursuit and innovation in their respective cities. From promoting literacy in San Francisco to creating access to fine arts in Miami and supporting digital conservation right here in Brooklyn, alumni are galvanizing their local creative communities and enriching the community at large, building a vital conduit to the power of art and design. At Pratt, foundation, of course, has another special meaning. Hundreds of students begin their education at the Institute each year by embarking on the first-year Foundation program, which lays the groundwork of conceptual thought and adaptable problem solving, and imparts the tools necessary for a lifetime of practice in art and design. This year, Foundation has launched a revised curriculum, building on the Institute’s making-centered tradition to equip students to meet the challenges of tomorrow. You can read more about the new program on page 34. As you read this issue of Prattfolio, I hope you feel emboldened by the strength of your shared foundations, as part of an alumni body laying the groundwork for creativity and innovation to flourish well into the future. Kirk E. Pillow Interim President

1


Practice

3

1

2

A visit to the studio of Samantha Hunt, Professor of Humanities and Media Studies, Tivoli, New York

Prattfolio

Samantha Hunt’s design for her writing studio, a concept some 20 years in the making, came to fruition outside her upstate New York home last spring. “I saw the writing studio as two separate rooms, knowing the chaos of my big family would spill into the space”—Hunt and her husband have three daughters— “but still wanting the classic ‘room of one’s own.’”

Fall/Winter 2017

1 Hunt, whose latest book is the short story collection The Dark Dark (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017) writes her early drafts longhand. A Kaweco fountain pen, a gift from her family, is a new addition to her instruments, along with the paper-cover notebooks. “I’ve gotten more casual about my note­books. As long as I can slip it in my purse, it works.” (She also writes on the train to and from Pratt.)

2


5

4

2 A bone folder speaks to another of Hunt’s practices: book­making. “When I started teaching at Pratt, I taught a bookmaking class at night, after working my day job at the Village Voice doing graphic design.” More recently, she bound the original manuscript of her novel Mr. Splitfoot, two books woven together, oriented in opposite directions chapter by chapter.

Practice

3 Hunt’s late father’s Royal typewriter is among the inherited objects in her studio. Her greatgrandmother’s letters and a photograph of her home line the desk, and almost all the furniture in the room came from a late neighbor. “A lot of the objects here are ghost-y things. Part of my responsibility is keeping the archives of dead people.”

4 To site the studio, Hunt scouted her yard for a spot that was just out of Wi-Fi range. (Working on her last book, she would write in her car, parked by the nearby Hudson River, to avoid the distractions of the internet.) To create a further sense of retreat, she installed just two slender windows on the side of the studio that faces her home.

5 Hunt’s daughter set up the small desk to do impromptu origami, but it became a perma­ nent writing station. An unex­ pected benefit of the doublestudio, Hunt sits in differ­ent spaces to work on different projects—three at the time of Prattfolio’s visit: a new novel, essays on the ways people are haunted, and an adaptation of Mr. Splitfoot for television.

3


Crit

Alex Schweder, Visiting Associate Professor of Industrial Design and Interior Design

Aaron Ethan Green MID ’18

More than 5 million people in America With Alzheimer’s, sense of smell is standard size and then folding it so have Alzheimer’s disease, and ac­ one of the things that goes away. the two sides would collapse. cording to the research of Visiting Do you want to describe what your AEG: I looked at organizers that are Associate Professor Alex Schweder, project is—what is the object? already on the market. This actually each person has three or four people AEG: My project is called the Pillbox for ended up revealing a design op­ who provide care. That means upClothes. It’s a clothing organizer that portunity in a design flaw: The ward of 20 million Americans are piggybacks on the routine of using a organizers I looked at are on a single managing the disease—and yet, there day-by-day pillbox [1]. Clothes are axis, meaning things can fall out of hasn’t been a movement to design for organized in a sequential way for the them and they can be difficult to them. Schweder, himself a caregiver, week like pills are in the box. Each store. I had been thinking about ways created the Design for the Mind column represents a day and holds to use the least amount of space, and industrial design course to address all the clothes for that day. Then as my design ended up using the limit­ this disparity, working with the clothes are taken out and worn, the ations of that existing design as an organization CaringKind, which column is folded aside to move on to opportunity to build in a folding provides resources for people with the next day [2]. mechanism. I went through a lot of Alzheimer’s and their professional AS: I remember the moment when your complicated accordion structures to and family caregivers. Last spring, research made a leap, when we were get to this final prototype. student designs were showcased in talking to caregivers at CaringKind AS: As a professor, it was great to see the Design for the Mind instal­lation and someone said, “The proof is in all the different mechanisms, but at the 2017 International Contemp­ the pillbox.” This is where the rela­ then you need to consider, how is this orary Furn­iture Fair (ICFF) in New tionship comes in, between the going to be made? York City and recognized with an caregiver and the cared-for: Rather AEG: We brought in a professional ICFF Editors’ Award. than argue about whether clothes draper who laid the groundwork for have been changed based on the how these would be produced. I AARON ETHAN GREEN: I came into this recollection of the person with don’t have a background in soft con­ class thinking it’s “design for the Alzheimer’s, the caregiver can say, struction, so I needed to learn how mind,” my job is to create a relation­ here’s your pillbox—it’s orange today to communicate with a person who ship between somebody’s mind and a and you’ve taken the pill. And here’s has that knowledge to make my product they’re holding in their hands. the orange clothing organizer and intended design. But it’s more than that. There are often it’s full of clothes, so that means it’s AS: It’s important to realize when you two people involved, the person with time to change clothes. This project need to let go of your design and let Alzheimer’s and the caregiver, and is in part about trying to avoid the the expertise of another person in­ more than an object, I’m proposing a struggle of a circular discussion. form the detailing and the way a change in behavior that affects both AEG: Yes, it’s a communication device. product is made. those people. The product I make then It’s not just an organizer. AEG: These interactions—as well as becomes a facilitator of the re­la­tion­ AS: One of the critiques that you got from the research interactions with the ship between them. the caregivers was that a hanging caregivers, who are inventing sol­u­ ALEX SCHWEDER: Something you organizer is great for someone who tions every day—were a valuable noticed needed to be addressed is the lives in the suburbs who’s got a big opportunity. That’s the job of an idea that, when it comes to clothing, closet, but we live in the city. So you industrial de­signer at the end of the it can be difficult to distinguish be­ came up with this ingenious way of day; you’re a facilitator more than tween what’s clean and what’s dirty. taking a clothing organizer that’s a anything else.

Prattfolio

Fall/Winter 2017

4


1

2

Crit

5


Solved

When Matthew Goodrich was chief creative officer of interdisciplinary design firm AvroKO, he led the design process for a number of hospitality and retail projects, guided by a fascination with history, cultural movements, and social experience. For the now one-year-old Arlo Hotel in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood, Goodrich drew from the annals of creative community–building to tackle the

Prattfolio

Matthew Goodrich, MS Interior Design ’02

problem of how to create a comforting environment for travelers when space is at a premium. The challenge: To design luxury hotel interiors with the constraint of micro– guest rooms (about 160 sq. feet). The inspiration: Visionary communities and artist colonies such as the MacDowell Colony and Black Mountain College,

Interior Designer, Founder and Principal, Goodrich

with their emphasis on quiet by the students, and these independent retreat balanced pieces informed the vocabulary with communal living, and the of our built-in furnishings.” value placed on the individual’s role in shaping the experience. The tricky detail: “A photo of a desk in a “Our initial idea was to place the bed student-built dormitory at Black tight to the window, creating Mountain inspired the reductive a deep window seat and maximum simplicity of our guest rooms. clear floor space. We believed Architect-educator Lawrence this unusual bed arrangement Kocher designed simple furniture would turn a negative (‘the room (such as the table and stool is small’) into a positive (‘I’ve pictured above) that could be made never seen this before’)

Fall/Winter 2017

6


Images courtesy of AvroKO; photographs by Eric Laignel.

and become iconic for the brand. The ownership team was concerned this might create an awkward situation when the room was shared, with the person sleeping closest to the window having to crawl over their bedmate to get up. To address this, we created a custom king mattress size that is roughly square, allowing guests to sleep in any direction, depending on what suits them.”

Solved

The solution: While guest rooms are small, they are high touch—redefining luxury. “The rooms take on the character of each guest when they unpack.” Along with the adaptable bed, modular elements such as fold-down desks and peg walls create a personalized feel in each room. Clean lines and warm tones and textures provide a basis for making a room one’s own.

Meanwhile, guests are encouraged to spend time outside their rooms and commune with fellow guests and locals in the hotel’s generous public spaces, a reversal of the typical dynamic that ties in with the artist colony–inspired concept. The wisdom: “Find the Deep Story that engages the imagination. With this project, drawing inspiration from

thriving artistic communities and studying the ways they have fostered connection and interaction allowed us to take an innovative business model and transform it into a more resonant human experience.” Watch Matthew Goodrich deliver the 2017 Anna and Joseph Syrop Annual Lecture at www.pratt.edu/syrop-goodrich.

7


San Francisco Houston Angeles Miami Dallas S Washington, DC Los A San Francisco Houston Angeles Miami Dallas S Washington, DC Los A San Francisco Houston Angeles Miami Dallas S Washington, DC Los A San Francisco Houston Angeles Miami Dallas S Washington, DC Los A

The Pratt N Alumni Sh Innovative Commun across the


n Washington, DC Los San Francisco Houston Angeles Miami Dallas n Washington, DC Los San Francisco Houston Angeles Miami Dallas n Washington, DC Los San Francisco Houston Angeles Miami Dallas n Washington, DC Los San Francisco Houston Angeles Miami Dallas

Network: hape e nities e Country


San Francisco San Fran Francisco San Francisc San Francisco San Fran Francisco San Francisc San Francisco San Fran Francisco San Francisc San Francisco San Fran Francisco San Francisc San Francisco San Fran Francisco San Francisc San Francisco San Fran Francisco San Francisc Prattfolio

Fall/Winter 2017

10


Portrait by Aaron Wojack

n co n co n co n co n co n co

As the Office of Alumni Relations prepares to launch its first regional networks, laying the groundwork for Pratt connections to flourish in the many places alumni do their work, Prattfolio checks in with six local influencers across the United States who are helping to make their cities hubs of creativity and innovation. Lisa Brown, MS Communications Design ’93 Author-Illustrator San Francisco, California Lisa Brown is the creative force behind more than a dozen books for children and adults—and those in between—and a longtime proponent of literacy in her adopted city of San Francisco. As a founding volunteer and current board mem­ ber of literary organization 826 Valencia and a faculty mem­ ber of California College of the Arts, she helps nurture the next generation of creative luminaries finding their voices in the Bay Area. Brown is also a frequent collaborator with her husband and San Francisco native, Daniel Handler (AKA Lemony Snicket). The latest book from The New York Times– best-selling duo is Goldfish Ghost, published by Roaring Brook Press last spring. What drew you to San Francisco? I followed a native San Franciscan to his hometown. I went right after college and was able to live cheaply enough to take a low-paying job in the editorial and production departments of a small magazine, illustrate on the side, and build my port­ folio to apply for grad school at Pratt. The boy then followed me to New York, and after I graduated, we went back to San Francisco—and no one needed to follow anyone. What opportunities do you see in San Francisco for artists and creative practitioners today? San Francisco has always been a welcoming place for misfits and outsiders—my favorite sorts of people. Its tolerance and love of the unusual creates an atmosphere where diversity of all kinds can thrive, which is excellent news for art and those who make it. If I had the time and energy, I could at­ tend some sort of reading, gallery opening, or performance every night of the week. A special shout-out to organizations like RADAR (www.radarproductions.org) and Writers with

The Pratt Network

Drinks (www.writerswithdrinks.com) that put together fabulous events. How do you see the work you do having an impact on your community? In my greater community, I volunteer at and support 826 Valencia, a tutoring and writing center—and pirate supply store—for under-resourced kids that began in San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood 15 years ago. We just opened our second center in the Tenderloin district. I also hope that I have an impact on my illustration students at the California College of the Arts. Not only do they learn the ins and outs of picture-book making, but we also spend a lot of time talking about issues of gripping storytelling, impactful stories, and diverse voices so that they, in turn, can have an impact on their readers. How did you come to intertwine your artistic and design practice with storytelling? I have always been a voracious reader—I have my undergrad­ uate degree in history and literature—so storytelling has always been second nature to me. I think all of the arts are about storytelling, really, but with picture books and comics, you can usually see the story working right on the surface, like you do with most novels. My degree at Pratt was in graphic design even though my heart belonged to illustration. My teachers at Pratt were incredibly supportive of my bringing illustration into most of what I did, and now graphic design is an integral part of my illustration. As an educator, is there a specific element of your Pratt education that you pass along to your students? Pratt made it a priority to have their teachers also be practicing artists. It was always inspiring to see what my professors were up to in their professional and artistic spaces. In my teaching at CCA, I try to bring as much of my own work as I can into the classroom for my students to see and critique. I learn from them all the time. What is a favorite aspect of your life in San Francisco that makes you feel connected to the city’s arts and cultural community? This town is stuffed with independent bookstores and bookish booksellers, and I am embarrassed to say that I probably visit a bookstore, if not daily, at least once a week. I have a favorite store in each neighborhood I frequent, and I try to stop in at all of them. Some favorites are Green Apple Books, The Booksmith, and Christopher’s. It is bad for my pocketbook and my shelves, but good for my soul.

Ashlyn Davis, BA History of Art and Design ’10 Executive Director, Houston Center for Photography Houston, Texas Texas native Ashlyn Davis returned to her home state to further her art history education, and she stayed for the rich, creative culture and accessibility she found in Houston. A scholar in American studies focusing on the history of photography, Davis has centered her work with the Houston

11


Prattfolio

Shaka King, BFA Fashion Design ’82 Executive Director of Operations, DC Fashion Incubator @ Macy’s Metro Center, Washington, DC

Independent designer Shaka King came to Washington, DC, after years growing his fashion business in New York City, to establish a place in an emergent menswear market. Design mentorship has also been an essential part of King’s profes­ sional practice, which brought him to a leadership role with the now three-year-old DC Fashion Incubator, a program of the DC Fashion Foundation. Through the Incubator, King is working to support today’s local emerging designers in cre­ ating their earliest collections, guiding them in the creative, technical, and business aspects of design. What drew you to Washington, DC? I had started a menswear mail-order business in the early ’90s, and customers in DC, Maryland, and Virginia were consistently purchasing my designs. When I was ready to open a free-standing boutique, I knew I could open a boutique in DC because my customer base was strong there and com­ mercial rents were affordable—and it was easy to travel be­ tween DC and New York. I found a network of tailors who could assist with production, enabling me to keep the shop stocked with ready-to-wear pieces and quickly turn around my customers’ orders. How do you see your work at the DC Fashion Incubator having an impact on the city? The DC Fashion Incubator is committed to supporting and investing in the local fashion industry. Our goal is to foster the development of small regional design businesses, and I am also committed to expanding existing cottage industries in the DC metro area by building connections between designers and local independent workers such as sewers, sample makers, and pattern makers. How does the incubator model serve designers? Our incubator is a think tank for designers—a space designed to accelerate their growth and success. Our Designers-in-

Fall/Winter 2017

12

Portrait by Cary Fagan ; Twitter: caryfagan / cf.filmstudios; Instagram: cary.fagan / cf.filmstudios

Hous H Hous H Hous H Hous H Hous H Hous H

ow does the experience you had at Pratt influence H the work you do today, particularly in terms of making space for art? One of the most unique aspects of studying art history at an art school was that I was required to develop my own artistic practice through hours of drawing classes, performance art classes, photography studios, and so on, which allowed me a much more intimate understanding of the artistic process— but it was also important to be surrounded by other ambitious creators. Many people think back on their time in college and think of their sports teams or sororities. Instead, I’m proud of the salons we held in our apartments, the exhibitions and performances we put on around campus, and the publications we produced. We were empowered to be independent cre­ ators, but also community builders, and that’s something that has shaped every project I’ve worked on.

Portrait on following spread by Jerald Council / councilmag.com

Center for Photography (HCP), where she became executive director last year, on growing its programs that serve the region while connecting the art world of Houston with the global creative community. What drew you to Houston? For a writer and art historian, Houston has some incredible resources. One of my current favorites is a collection that is still growing—the Manfred Heiting Photography Book Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston—which consists of over 25,000 volumes of an astonishing range of photobooks. It’s a photobook lover’s dream. Texas, in general, has such wonderful institutional dedication to photography— at the Amon Carter in Fort Worth; the Harry Ransom Center in Austin; the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; along with noncollecting institutions like HCP. What opportunities attracted you to HCP? As a photography-specific art space, HCP is a very special place for me. I have gravitated toward midsize art institutions like HCP because we are not at the mercy of the art market, and we’re also small enough to remain flexible and responsive to the world. We can show work that otherwise would not be shown in the region because of the artist’s emerging status or the challenging conversations the work creates about current issues. At the moment, I’m excited for our next year of exhi­ bitions, which discuss important contemporary issues such as intersectionality and identity, borderlands, and the inten­ tional construction of family. How do you see the HCP having a transformative impact on the city? When HCP began in 1981, it was a passion project for a bunch of photographers in Houston. They turned a convenience store into a gallery in a matter of months and developed ex­ hibitions, fellowships, an education program, a fine art pub­ lication, and community-impact projects that continue to this day. We also have one of the only free, open-to-the-public photography book libraries with more than 4,000 volumes; we’re one of the only nonuniversity spaces that teach photography; and we’re the only gallery in the city dedicated exclusively to supporting photographic artists at every stage of their career. Is there a program that has had a particularly meaningful outcome? I’m continually amazed at the impact of our Access and Community Education programs, which work with students all around the Houston area, both on-site in our gallery and off-site through “the Flash Drive,” our camera obscura on wheels. One of these programs is Girls’ Own Stories, which works with young, at-risk girls between the ages of 8 and 14. We show them the work of other important women artists and do photographic projects that explore issues of self-esteem, body positivity, and empowered decision making. What opportunities do you see in Houston for artists and creative practitioners today? Houston is a world-class art city and easily rivals Los Angeles and New York City in many ways. At the same time, it’s young enough in its growth and has such an incredible support system to experiment and work outside traditional frameworks. There’s diversity to what’s being created and shown, as well as a unique accessibility to art. In a day, you can see an in-depth contemporary Latin American exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; walk into the Cy Twombly Gallery or the Dan Flavin installation on the Menil Campus; see a pop-up exhibition in someone’s apartment; and encounter amazing public art on your commute home.


ston Houston Houston Houston Houston Hou ston Houston Houston Houston Houston Hou ston Houston Houston Houston Houston Hou ston Houston Houston Houston Houston Hou ston Houston Houston Houston Houston Hou ston Houston Houston Houston Houston Hou The Pratt Network

13


Washington, DC Washi DC Washington, DC W Washington, DC Washi DC Washington, DDD Washington, DC Washi DC Washington, DC D Washington, DC Washi DC WashiDDDngton, Washington, DC Washi DC WashingtoDDDn, Washington, DC Washi DC Washington, DC W Prattfolio

Fall/Winter 2017

14


ington, DC Washington WaDDDshington, DC ington, DC Washington DDC Washington, DC ington, DC Washington DDDWashington, DC ington, DC Washington , DC Washington, DC ington, DC Washington , DC Washington, DC ington, DC Washington WaDDDshington, DC The Pratt Network

15


representing artists, showing work in her home on the Upper East Side. Nazarian launched her gallery in Los Angeles in 2006 as a traveling art platform, moving into a more permanent home in Venice in 2012. This spring, the gallery relocated to a 4,000-square-foot space in Hollywood with the capacity to support large-scale projects and exhibitions, aiming to represent both local and international contem­ porary artists and engage with the community to encourage cultural conversation. What spurred you to start a gallery in Los Angeles? After graduating from Pratt, I moved back to Los Angeles, where I had begun my architecture studies after emigrating from Tehran, and I was able to appreciate the city as the real tapestry of cultures that it is. There are so many backgrounds, including my own, that I saw as marginally promoted, and I wanted to create a platform to shed light on these communities and how integral they are to LA. How do you see your gallery having a transformative impact on the city? The gallery program focuses on multivalent artists, whose backgrounds and practices don’t fit so perfectly into boxes. It’s my way of paying homage to a town that welcomed me. I want to highlight the immigrant experience and share the many different levels in which displacement precipitates for people. It is my hope that this remains the central mission of my gallery, as it is needed now more than ever. What opportunities do you see in Los Angeles for artists and creative practitioners today? I feel that LA promotes experimental work, and artists here seem to feel less beholden to certain conventions of both making and showing work. More and more artists are discov­ ering the pioneering spirit that has always existed in this city. On a practical level, there are such vast spaces here for artists to create work and develop their practices. With many galleries opening in the area, there are an increasing number of oppor­ tunities for these artists to show their work locally—both in for-profit and nonprofit venues. What is a specific challenge you see facing artists and designers in LA? How do you see that challenge being addressed? With LA being so spread out, getting involved in multiple scenes can be a challenge. Thankfully, more communal spaces are opening that welcome both emerging and established artists. I also think the collecting community is starting to support local artists, which is a rather new development and so important to kick-starting the careers of these creative minds. What do you hope to see change for the creative community in the future? LA has all of the nuts and bolts in place to make it even more of an international destination for art, so I hope that it contin­ ues to grow in a way that attracts people from all over the world. What is a favorite aspect of your life in Los Angeles that   makes you feel connected to the city’s arts and cultural community? Studio visits are a highlight for me. Also working with phe­ nomenal collectors and learning about their passions, and seeing in person the uniqueness of each of their collections. I also have an incredible team at the gallery—we operate like a family—and everyone stays so in touch with what’s happen­ ing on the scene. Our move to Hollywood has really put my fingers more directly on the pulse; it’s been a phenomenal change to be on La Brea and constellated with so many im­ When gallery founder Shulamit Nazarian was studying ar­ portant spaces—Regen Projects, LA><Art, Various Small Fires, chitecture at Pratt, she was already taking an interest in and the forthcoming Jeffrey Deitch Projects.

Shulamit Nazarian, BArch ’87 Founder, Shulamit Nazarian Gallery Los Angeles, California

Prattfolio

Fall/Winter 2017

16

Lo An Lo An Lo An Lo An Lo An Lo An Portrait by Matthew Leifheit

Residence program is a one-year residency that provides a shared showroom–conference room and workspace, as well as curricula in fashion and business, retail opportunities, access to industry contacts, and resources for business and financial planning. With the Incubator, I have mentored two groups of designers so far, and two alumni from the first cohort have had great success. One is a handbag and accessories designer who has gone on to be featured in Harper’s Bazaar Bride, India; The Zoe Report; and InStyle. The other is a wom­ enswear designer whose dress designs were featured during New York Fashion Week 2016 in the Go Red for Women Red Dress Fashion Show presented by Macy’s and the American Heart Association. Is there a Pratt professor who stood out as a mentor to you? Without a doubt, it was Professor Kandi Ohno. He helped me develop my work ethic and structure, he opened my eyes to the importance of the details in fashion design, and he made me think outside the box to embrace my individuality in de­ sign, and as a person. Overall, Pratt exposed me to a broad range of people, and interacting with the professors and my classmates daily inspired me to look at who I was becoming. Meanwhile, the structured environment of the department helped me to focus and apply myself; I learned how to assess and navigate a situation quickly and ask questions that I impart in my mentees today: Who is my customer, what am I looking for in an investor, what is my business plan? What is a challenge you see facing designers in DC? How do you see that challenge being addressed? Exposure and access to resources remains a challenge for emerging designers. But along with the DC Fashion Incubator, several other organizations have also started furthering design-related initiatives with shows, workshops, talks, and town meetings. Mayor Muriel Bowser has started the dialogue about the state of fashion here in the District, and we’re seeing our political representatives starting to explore the fashion industry and its economic impact on the city. As things progress, I hope to see the “underground” fashion community becoming more unified and having a stronger voice in the conversation. What opportunities do you see in DC for designers and creative practitioners today? There is a fashionable customer base here looking for fresh ideas, and top brands are opening boutiques in the District, which is promising for the entire industry. The international customer base that comes to DC, drawn by the political activity here, is also looking for new concepts to take back home. In general, DC is a forever-evolving world of its own, full of di­ verse ideas and people—artists, innovators, creatives, and intellectuals—and there is incredible accessibility to a wealth of culture—much of which is free.


os Angeles Los Angeles ngeles Los Angeles Los os Angeles Los Angeles ngeles Los Angeles Los os Angeles Los Angeles ngeles Los Angeles Los os Angeles Los Angeles ngeles Los Angeles Los os Angeles Los Angeles ngeles Los Angeles Los os Angeles Los Angeles ngeles Los Angeles Los The Pratt Network

17


Miami Miami Miami M mi Miami Miami Miam Miami Miami Miami M mi Miami Miami Miam Miami Miami Miami M mi Miami Miami Miam Miami Miami Miami M mi Miami Miami Miam Miami Miami Miami M mi Miami Miami Miam Miami Miami Miami M mi Miami Miami Miam Prattfolio

Fall/Winter 2017

18


Tommy Ralph Pace, BFA Drawing ’08 Associate Director, Institute of Contemporary Art Miami Miami, Florida

Portrait by Xavier Lujan

M m M m M m M m M m M m

ow does the experience you had at Pratt as a student H of architecture influence the work you do today? Walking through Higgins Hall and seeing art exhibitions side by side with architectural projects sparked my early interest in crossover and dialogue between fields. I’ve always been attracted to unique architectural venues to show art— exemplified by both the old Venice space, a former home of modernist design, and our new Hollywood space—and my architectural education has helped me find ways to reinvent our spaces for every show and implement my visions in a concrete way.

When Tommy Ralph Pace returned to South Florida, where he grew up, he was drawn to the potential for artistic growth and flourishing there, especially in his current home city of Miami. For the past nine years, Pace has worked to enhance the conversation around art in the region—most recently as associate director of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, whose new building opens in the Miami Design District this winter. What attracted you to Miami? I am a quintessential Floridian, with artistic roots here—my grandmother was a ceramics teacher at a local senior citizen home and my father owned the recording studio where Gloria Estefan recorded her first album. My move back was part al­ truistic—combatting the constant brain drain our region ex­ periences due to a lack of top-tier postsecondary education programs—and part due to the fact that Florida has an incred­ ibly unique context for artists to work and live in. According to the Forbes America’s Fastest-Growing Cities 2017 index, the state is home to 6 out of the top 10, even as Floridian coastal cities are the national—even global—face for the looming threat of sea-level rise caused by climate change. South Florida is a place filled with paradoxes, and I think that tension pro­ vides a lot of potential for artists to unpack. In the continuum of your career in the city’s gallery and museum scene, how does your work at ICA Miami stand out? When we took the bold stance to create the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, it was out of the belief that our region, which is one of the most diverse in the nation, deserved an arts organization that was based on a pretty simple concept: free and open access to the innovative art of our time. Our curatorial program has been focused on promoting the work of the most significant emerging and underrepresented artists working today, and ICA Miami is our region’s only museum that offers free admission year-round, alongside an energetic calendar of programs and events that are offered to our com­ munity for free as well. How do you see ICA Miami having a transformative impact on the city? Miami is such a young city, compared to some of the arts and

The Pratt Network

cultural meccas in our country and internationally—techni­ cally only about 35 years old, in terms of being a major inter­ national city for commerce. The city has made amazing strides over the last 15 years to define itself through the arts, and ICA Miami is helping to advance that shift. Is there an initiative you’re especially enthusiastic about? One of the projects I have been working on extensively has been the development of a comprehensive digital strategy for the museum, through a grant from the Knight Foundation. As a museum founded and built in the 21st century, when tech­ nology continues to transform the way we live our everyday lives, it’s important for us to create new and unique platforms to provide access to our wealth of content. To that end, we have been developing a major video initiative in partnership with South Florida PBS, as well as experimental digital content to enhance the visitor experience on-site and online. What opportunities do you see in Miami for artists and creative practitioners? As much as it is a significant challenge, I see artists playing a huge role in shaping dialogue around issues affecting our en­ vironment and political processes—and South Florida is at center stage of many of those debates. Also, Miami offers a smaller, more focused community of artists and cultural pro­ fessionals. So, practically speaking, young artists moving to the city have more opportunities to develop significant rela­ tionships with curators, museum directors, and collectors. How did the experience you had as a student at Pratt shape the work you do today? Pratt’s focus on a well-rounded education, and specifically its emphasis on understanding the mechanisms of the artwork through foundational courses like Fine Arts Seminar, was invaluable—and I continue to apply what I learned in my current work. What is a favorite aspect of your life in Miami that makes you feel connected to the city’s arts and cultural community? I had always dreamed of dedicating my life to being an artist, but now I can honestly say that building ICA Miami’s pro­ grams, and creating infrastructure to support other artists as they make new work that challenges audiences, has become just—if not even more—satisfying.

Stan Richards, Advertising Design ’53 Founder, The Richards Group Dallas, Texas Dubbed “the Father of Texas Design” by his colleagues in the field, Stan Richards grew a freelance business into the largest independent advertising agency in the country, helping to make his adopted city of Dallas a center for creative careers. The Richards Group, which celebrated its 40th anniversary last year, now employs more than 700 staff in its Uptown headquarters. An elected member of the Art Directors Hall of Fame and recipient of numerous honors for creative lead­ ership, Richards was recognized earlier this year for the unique culture he brought to bear in a region and an industry when he was inducted into the Advertising Hall of Fame.

19


Prattfolio

Dall D Dall D Dall D Dall D Dall D Dall D

To learn more about alumni regional networks or help establish one in your area, visit www.pratt.edu/ alumninetworks.

Keep us posted on where you are in the world today and what you are doing so we can keep you posted on happenings at Pratt and around the globe. Visit www.pratt.edu/update-info to update all your contact information and stay connected to your Pratt alumni network. The first 500 alumni to respond will receive a Pratt luggage tag!

Fall/Winter 2017

Portrait by Peter Kao; courtesy of The Richards Group

What attracted you to Dallas? I came to the city by accident. I was on my way from New York to find work in Los Angeles, and since I’d never interviewed for a job before, I thought I’d stop in Dallas, spend a few weeks there, and interview with all the advertising agencies to get some practice. The people in Dallas were the nicest people I had ever met anywhere, so I decided to stay. But no one offered me a job, so I started freelancing and was able to pick up enough work to stay alive. It was pretty lean for a while, but gradually, it all turned into what we know today as The Richards Group. How did your experience as a student at Pratt influence or help shape your work? The open critiques were tremendously important. Everything was put up on the wall, and seeing my work in relation to ev­ eryone else’s made me realize I could be very good at this. I had some extraordinary teachers, and most noteworthy among them was Herschel Levit. He instilled in me a love for graphic design, whether it was going to be applied in advertising or things other than advertising. How do you see the design community you’ve created at The Richards Group having a beneficial impact on the city? There’s a great deal of good design that comes out of Dallas. Most of it stems from our design firm or alumni of our firm. As creatives have moved in and out of this agency, they’ve taken our standards of excellence with them. Is there a personal practice that helps you feel connected to your team? I’ve learned to build an agency that’s as democratic as it can possibly be and still run a business. There are no less-import­ ant people here. If there are no less-important people, then it follows that there can be no more-important people. So, we are all equally important, and everything we do reinforces that idea. What are you uniquely poised to do from your location in Dallas? We are very fortunate to be right in the middle of the country. We have access to every major city and we can work with clients anywhere in America. We don’t have the time-zone problem—New York is only one time zone away, and Los Angeles and San Francisco are just two. It’s not like a New York agency trying to work with a California client. We’re not limited by geography. What opportunities do you see in Dallas for designers and other creative practitioners today? From a creative perspective, what makes the city special? There are multiple places to find jobs here, along with the potential to do good work. But creatively, there’s nothing special about Dallas. It just happens to house a very successful, very good advertising agency, and there are lots of other cities that could say the same thing. The people are what make Dallas special. Even with the enormous migrations that have occurred from both coasts over the past 40 years, people change when they get here. They lose their bad habits and they become Texans. What is a specific challenge you see facing designers in Dallas? What do you hope to see change for the creative community in the future? With the growth Dallas has had, and with the number of com­ panies large and small moving here from all over the world, there are plenty of opportunities here for art directors and designers. However, it is hard to maintain the constant drive to be all about the work. I hope to see more people—especially young designers—who are relentless about doing great work.

20


las Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dal las Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dal las Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dal las Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dal las Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dal las Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dallas Dal The Pratt Network

21


What connects you? As Pratt students returned to campus this fall to begin a new year of looking, thinking, and making, we asked alumni in cities around the globe to share a snapshot of where they are finding creative connection today. In words and images, alumni open a window to the spaces, places, and moments that inspire them in their unique practices the world over. Connecting with creative individuals, like those at the Avery Innovation Lab in the Arts District of downtown LA, inspires me. Seeing what they can create with thread, ink, or paper reminds me to not overlook the tiny details that in the end make all the difference. Graham Wetzbarger, BFA Fashion Design ’06 San Francisco, California

Walk the Line is an exhibition project at Galeria Proyector in Mexico City that currently occupies my nights and reminds me every day why I wanted to be an architect. Juan Carlos Espinosa Cuock, MS Architecture and Urban Design ’15 Mexico City, Mexico

This photo shows the decorations my coworkers put up for my birthday in my office in LA’s Arts District, where my view faces west to the downtown skyscrapers. Every day I come to work here, I’m reminded of how lucky I am to be working in the field I spent four years studying at Pratt and how this life and career are what I’ve always wanted for myself. Marisa Schwartz, BFA Fashion Design ’05 Los Angeles, California

Prattfolio

Fall/Winter 2017

22


Pictured is photographer Erieta Attali at our practice, G Design Studio, where we are embracing new technology while celebrating craftsmanship. Dimitris Stefanidis, MS Communications Design ’05 Athens, Greece

I never expected that I’d have a long-term relationship with a famous Parisian café when my wife and I moved to Paris from Brooklyn more than 22 years ago. I have been drawing the staff and the endless clientele at Le Sélect ever since. For a freelance illustrator, it can get lonely working alone, and this café is a place to be with people, even if I don’t talk to anyone. I arrive, order a coffee, and try to do at least one good drawing. If I can make a member of the staff chuckle at one of my caricatures of a client, then my job is done. Rick Tulka, BFA Illustration ’77 Paris, France

This is from a mood board for a client that I presented a few days ago. One of the copy gestures that we selected is called “Design begins with intent,” a phrase that rings true to me from the design management program.

My jewelry brand, Industrial Bling, recently moved into our dream location in Potts Point, Sydney. Here, we are making, teaching workshops, and exhibiting all in the same space, meeting the desires of a diverse community. Artisans have an opportunity to gather and talk about their process, beginners can find creative help through our classes, and visitors can bounce by to check out the curated shop. Practicing within a design store, gallery, and workshop, there are exciting opportunities for collaboration every day. Susan Weir, BID ’92 Sydney, Australia

Ali Akbar Sahiwala, MPS Design Management ’15 Dubai, United Arab Emirates

What connects you?

23


Ideas and inspiration surround me. From physical expressions such as the Spheres at Amazon (pictured) and the UI I design for ad tech to the burgeoning understanding of the world my young children express, there is no shortage of inspiration and ideas. I only wish I had more time to observe and learn from them. Andrea Larsen, BFA Photography ’00 Seattle, Washington

This image highlights the indigenous women’s presence at the January 2017 Women’s March in Washington, DC. Studying under Art Therapy Professor Cliff Joseph and Painting Professor Rudolf Baranik at Pratt, I was inspired by their art-forsocial-justice philosophy. My photography, art therapy practice, and art criticism writings reflect that commitment to blend creativity, aesthetics, and the healing arts with social activism. Phoebe Farris, MPS Art Therapy and Creative Development ’77 Atlantic City, New Jersey

My space—and the 20 or so projects vying for attention at the start of the semester. This was taken in my studio in Philadelphia, where I now live and have come to love. In addition to teaching at Pratt, I am happy to teach in Moore College of Art and Design’s fashion program and in the crafts and material studies program at The University of the Arts here in Philly this semester. Rose Kampert, BFA Drawing ’84; Adjunct Associate Professor CCE of Fashion Design New York City and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Prattfolio

Fall/Winter 2017

24


Where are you now?

As a member of the Seattle Planning Commission, I have the opportunity to apply my lifelong passion for urban design and planning to influence the look and feel of our community today and in the future. Not only am I lucky enough to play a role as an adviser to our mayor and city council, but I also have the double benefit of being constantly inspired by the work and efforts of city staff and the volunteer efforts from members of our community. Michael Austin, MArch ’12 Seattle, Washington

Pratt alumni are making their mark in more than 100 countries around the globe, laying unique foundations for life and work worldwide. Keep us posted on where you are in the world today. Visit www. pratt.edu/update-info to update all your contact information and stay connected to your Pratt alumni network. The first 500 alumni to respond will receive a Pratt luggage tag!

This is a view of the new Freshkills Park, seen from an NYC Parks boat cruise. A native Staten Island resident, I am excited by the progress of this park, and as both a resident and practicing architect, I have been inspired to think about and propose a larger vision for the island. Eugene Flotterone, BArch ’95 Staten Island, New York

Where are you now?

25


Art Gallery Spotting Alumni create space for contemporary art in Brooklyn, where community and culture converge.

Prattfolio

Fall/Winter 2017

26


tists fo 1

Artists for Artists

27


or Arti 2

Prattfolio

Fall/Winter 2017

28


ists: Artists for Artists

29


Pratt Alumni Make New

Prattfolio

Fall/Winter 2017

30


York City a Nexus of Cre Pratt has always been an incubator for artists and creative practitioners, pro­ viding a dedicated environment for experimentation, exploration, and selfdefinition. But as every student learns, maintaining a practice can be challeng­ ing, especially as cohorts disperse and resources become more diffused beyond campus. Pratt alumni Simon Liu, MFA Painting ’83; Ben Fino-Radin, MSILS and MFA Digital Arts ’14; and Jenni Crain, BFA Sculpture ’13, have put their creative abilities to work building businesses that provide much-needed support to the ever-expanding artistic community of New York City. Their experiences show that technique is only one part of an artist’s education: Creative thinking and the ability to engage and activate a com­ munity are equally important tools. By identifying opportunities to support the creative community, these three Pratt alumni exemplify an axiom to which their counterparts in architecture might relate: With a strong foundation, imagi­ nation is the only limit. Where Masterpieces Begin

Painters will likely recognize the name: Simon Liu, Inc. has been a leading man­ ufacturer of painting stretchers and supports for more than 30 years. From his factory in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park, Liu has provided custom-built stretchers to major institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art and to bluechip artists including the late Ellsworth Kelly, ’44. In the mid-1970s, Liu traveled from his native Hong Kong to study mechan­

ical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, later transferring to the University of Hartford and graduating with a BFA in painting before coming to Pratt. He recalls his decision to con­ tinue his art education at the Institute as organic, flowing directly out of his growing immersion in his practice. “It became a very intense two years for me. I buried myself in the studio every day and tried to paint.” After finishing his degree, Liu began to design and build his own stretchers, finding store models insufficient. As his artist friends became aware of the qual­ ity of his work, he began to build stretch­ ers for them as well, basing his nascent business out of his studio in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. After a friend from Pratt introduced him to the conser­ vator at The Met, Simon Liu, Inc. began to take off: “I just had a love for creating things—and it turned into a business!” Liu says his training as an artist really gave him a sense of what other artists wanted and that his two mentors, Pratt professors Alan Klotz and George McNeil, pushed him to experiment in his work in a way that later influenced his decisions in business: “Pratt gave me the opportunity to explore myself as an artist and as a person. Without my experience at Pratt, I really don’t think I’d be able to talk to artists as well.” After three decades of crafting sup­ ports for some of the most important paintings in the world from his home base in Brooklyn, he has forged funda­ mental relationships with practicing artists of all stages of their careers—and

those connections in turn inspire him to keep designing, building, and creating. As his business continues to expand to­ day—encompassing a discount artist supply outfit as well (simonsartsupplies. com)—his craftsmanship keeps evolving with the pioneering work of the artists he serves. At the time of this writing, he was in the process of perfecting his de­ sign for a new aluminum stretcher. What Liu says of his latest design reflects his enthusiasm for growing a business to respond to the needs of the creative community: “This is the next frontier. There’s always something new.” Curating for the Digital Set

Archiving and preserving one’s work can be daunting for any artist, not least of all the artist whose works are born in the world of code. Earlier this year, Ben FinoRadin founded Small Data Industries to address just this challenge, providing conservation and preservation services to artists, museums, and cultural institu­ tions, with a focus on digital and timebased media, all from a lab in the grow­ ing tech hub of Industry City in Sunset Park. Fino-Radin’s expertise comes both from his experience as a digital media conservator at MoMA—where he worked for four years during and after his studies at Pratt—as well as from his practice as an artist. Fino-Radin pursued Pratt’s dual MFA/MSLIS degree as a way to formal­ ize his training from his day job in an archive while furthering his work as an artist. “As I was researching the program, I had this epiphany: It’s somebody’s job

3

Artists for Artists

31


eative Support to preserve the kind of art that my peers and I are making. I knew immediately that was what I wanted to do.” Shortly after beginning his information science studies and digital arts training, FinoRadin took on a fellowship in the digital archives at Rhizome at the New Museum and soon transitioned to a full-time position at the organization. After graduating, Fino-Radin took a full-time job in the conservation depart­ ment at MoMA where he built out the institution’s practices for conserving software-based and digital artwork and created workflows for digital preserva­ tion infrastructure. Over time, he be­ came more and more interested in solving preservation problems outside of an institutional setting. “We would get a lot of questions from art collectors or colleagues at smaller institutions with fewer resources. I could see that there were gaps between what people needed and what existed in the world. And that’s really what motivated me to take a big risk and start a business.” Small Data Industries has been worth the risk. The company is growing quickly and has recently taken on major New York City–based projects at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; the Whitney Museum of American Art; and the Museum of the Moving Image, all while continuing to build a client base of smaller institutions and individual artists, both locally and beyond the city. Just as his library and information sci­ ence education gave him the tools to organize and preserve data, Fino-Radin credits his training as an artist for his

1 321 Gallery Tom Forkin, BFA Sculpture ’10, Cofounder Garden floor of a residential brownstone in Clinton Hill “We like being in Brooklyn for a number of reasons, not least because a lot of the artists we have shown are based here. As an artist-run space, our program seeks to provide a rigorous and experimental

Prattfolio

by Clinton Krute

ability to understand the needs of his clients: “It’s really understanding the materials and the history of the form on a very deep level. In the same way a photograph conservator can talk about the intricacies of processing materials, I’ve been able to engage with and under­ stand the process behind digital and time-based work.” Art to Rebuild a Community

Though Topless gallery has no fixed address, it does have a home in Far Rockaway. Founded by Jenni Crain and her collaborator, Brent Birnbaum, in 2014, the nomadic gallery occupied a different space in the beachside Queens neighborhood for three consecutive summers before taking a hiatus in 2017. Crain’s training as a sculptor—her austere work in wood and glass is shown regular­ ly in New York City galleries—prepared her for the extensive renovation jobs she and her partner have undertaken to create their own exhibition program throughout multiple spaces. And, for Crain, it’s the unique synchrony of cura­ torial work as it takes place in harmony with the manual labor—different from how she approaches her other curatorial ventures—that makes running the gallery such a rewarding experience. For the two founders, the project is about building community among resi­ dents, artists, and arts enthusiasts within Rockaway and beyond the peninsula. “When we started, there wasn’t really much in Rockaway, in terms of contem­ porary art,” Crain says. After Hurricane Sandy decimated the neighborhood,

platform for those within our extended communities, and to do so in a place that feels more or less like home.” 321 Washington Avenue 321gallery.org

the arts community of New York City reached out, stepping up their engage­ ment with and support of the Rockaway community. “That same summer, MoMA PS1 initiated a project in Rockaway, which also brought many people to the peninsula with the inten­ tion to see and support contemporary art.” Though Topless was on sabbatical this past summer, Crain and Birnbaum plan to return. “As Rockaway changes and shifts, we decided it was important to take some time to reflect on what we believe are the positive effects of our presence out there—what we thought the Rockaway community responded to most strongly—as well as what we might like to address or change within the program moving forward.” Running Topless has pushed Crain to engage with artists and art that she otherwise might never have encoun­ tered, which in turn pushes her own practice in unexpected directions. She says, “Curating offers this really special opportunity to expand relationships and work with more people than I ever would in my role as an artist.” For Crain, her experience at Pratt was critical in pro­ viding the tools necessary to thrive as a gallerist and curator: “Pratt really taught me to seek opportunities rather than to wait for them to happen. You can push the boundaries and open up more doors just by being active.”

2 Sunday Takeout Kana Togashi, BFA Painting ’10, Cofounder A storefront next door to Togashi’s flower shop, Saffron, in Fort Greene “I grew up in Fort Greene, so I knew that having a venue to show art would not only complement our flower shop but would be important to the community here. Being so

Fall/Winter 2017

close to the Atlantic Avenue/ Barclays Center subway station, which was already an artistic community and hub, means we have an extremely diverse clientele for our flower shop, and that has always been inspiration for what we choose to show in our gallery.” 29 Hanson Place sundaytakeout.com

32


Left: Installation view of Timbuktu at Topless, summer 2015, works by Anthony Iacono and Hector M. Flores, image by Adam Kremer, courtesy of Topless. Pages 26–27, left to right: Installation view of Cherry on Top(less) at Topless, summer 2014, works by Brian Kokoska and Joshua Saunders, photo by Htat Lin Htut, courtesy of Topless; the workshop at Simon Liu, Inc. Pages 28–29, left to right: Simon Liu at Simon Liu, Inc.; Ben Fino-Radin at Small Data Industries. Page 30: Installation view of Babble On at Topless, summer 2014, work by Nadia Belerique, Lili Huston-Herterich, and Laurie Kang, image by Adam Kremer, courtesy of Topless.

3 Cooler Gallery Michael Yarinsky, BArch ’11, Architectural Designer, Gallery Founder, and Curator A repurposed industrial cooler within wood-flooring company Madera’s showroom space near the Navy Yard “Cooler Gallery is located on the physical border of large art, design, and manufacturing communities. The curation aims

to reflect the essence of this intersection: As a general guideline, artists engage the space itself, incorporating ideas of material, form, space, color, and texture. The most amazing thing has been the energy of the community that has formed around the space.” 22 Waverly Avenue www.cooler-gallery.com

Artists for Artists

Page 27: 321 Gallery. Page 28: Exhibition view of Elisa Soliven’s Gathering Gravity Grows Gray at Sunday Takeout. Page 31: Exhibition view of Evan Bellantone and Fitzhugh Karol’s Drawn Lots presented by Uprise Art at Cooler Gallery, photograph by Genevieve Garruppo.

33


A New Fou

The First-Y Program I with Roots in Traditio


undation:

Year Innovates s on


Prattfolio

Fall/Winter 2017

36


With the 2017–2018 academic year, the Foundation program rolls out a new curriculum reshaped for the next generation of artists and problem solvers. While the program has evolved since renowned designers and faculty members Donald Dohner, Alexander Kostellow, and Rowena Reed initiated their revolutionary “Design and Structure” curriculum for first-year Pratt students in 1939, this marks the most significant curriculum revision in the program’s history. As the School of Art and the School of Design were established as distinct schools, it was important to reexamine Foundation’s mission, goals, and results to prepare students to thrive in an array of majors, from industrial design to digital arts. The program was reshaped through a five-year research and development process that included input from and discussion with the Schools of Art, Design, and Liberal Arts and Sciences, based on the question: How do we train problem solvers, practitioners who can go from passive learning to become active makers in their disciplines? Prattfolio sat down with Acting Chair Kim Sloane and Assistant Chair Natalie Moore to discuss how the program has changed. ow will Foundation be different H for first-year students this year? The new Foundation program maintains the essentials of traditional practice while introducing opportunities to apply these principles in extended projects. The goal of those projects is to solve problems and communicate meaning. The Foundation concepts are understood first through individual assignments and are then put into practice in multistep projects that are guided by the design process. This process includes research, iteration, testing, prototyping, and finally presen­ tation. Writing has become an important component in this process, as a tool for defining problems, self-assessment, re­ flection, and presentation. The first half of the year’s courses— Light, Color, and Design, and Visualization and Representation—will stay grounded in the established fundamen­ tals: concept, element, and skill. During the second semester, students will be challenged to think about what they learned and apply their understanding. They’ll move into more self-directed, independently motivated projects. A main objective is for students to leave with an awareness of the design process that allows them to solve problems and apply concepts and elements intention­ ally, and for a purpose. The evidence of this might be shown in a process book or a visualization map that would accom­ pany a presentation to the class. The Form, Space, and Process, and Time and Movement classes have been redesigned as one-semester experiences with full six-hour studio days, which will

A New Foundation

allow for immersion in the material. Form, Space, and Process will introduce students to the principles of threedimensional design with an emphasis on heightening awareness of the three dimensions we live and work in. Time and Movement will introduce students to ordering information in time through digital tools. This will include skills in timing and pacing, sound-image rela­ tionships, and interactivity—made possible through elementary coding. What makes Pratt Foundation unique? The continuous yearlong courses— Visualization and Representation, and Light, Color, and Design—are one thing that sets Pratt Foundation apart. We believe this continuity creates a more effective learning environment for our students, without disruption—they begin and end with the same cohort and have the same professor all year. Being part of this learning community helps build confidence and risk taking. Also, it allows faculty to know students well and monitor their development throughout the year. Further, our four courses are designed as an integrated whole that will provide all students with the means to know the world in all its dimensions—the imagination can be fully developed only in such a multidi­ mensional mental space. The program draws on Pratt’s strong making-centered tradition, though at the same time we recognize the chang­ ing world and the need to equip students to participate in it. How do we stay cur­ rent and on top of present-day technol­

ogies while preparing students for the unknowns of the future? A large part of Foundation is students learning how to learn. New to Foundation is our objec­ tive to make explicit the stages of the design, or creative, process—our re­ search has shown that these stages are equivalent to the stages of self-regulated learning. So, we believe that we can teach the design process and at the same time develop awareness of the learning process. Students will not only master content but know how to solve problems, and as a result will develop the confi­ dence needed to succeed in their four years at Pratt and to meet the unknown challenges of their futures. What opportunities are there for the program to continue to grow? Cross-disciplinary collaboration is an important idea that we would like to incorporate more explicitly. We are always experimenting with collabora­ tions and have come up with a list of concepts that are relevant across disci­ plines to help move this effort forward. Along with revising the curriculum to integrate with the upper departments, another goal is to connect with Art History and English in the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences. We are em­ phasizing research and writing, as well as the practice of collaboration to draw out connections between students’ work across all their disciplines. Opposite: First-year students in Light, Color, and Design Lab. Page 35: Foundation student work. Photograph by Tom Hayes

37


News

Pratt Celebrates Class of 2017 Pratt Institute’s 128th Commencement was held on May 17 at Manhattan’s iconic Radio City Music Hall, where more than 1,000 undergraduate and graduate stu­ dents crossed the stage to become the Institute’s newest alumni. Keynote speaker Paola Antonelli, the Museum of Modern Art’s Senior Curator of Architecture and Design, praised architects, artists, and designers as the R&D (research and development) of society. Antonelli, who received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at the ceremony, remarked on the perils of short-term thinking in powerful arenas of our society. She advised stu­ dents to take the long view in their work instead, explaining that sustainable progress will come from artists, design­ ers, and architects who “know that the world lasts longer, that pyramids built on the sweat and the blood of people millennia ago are still standing,” and who, in the future, “will help people and politicians remember where truth and where balance lies within our humanity.” Prior to Antonelli’s speech, an hon­ orary Doctor of Fine Arts degree was awarded to renowned photographer LaToya Ruby Frazier, who encouraged students to “realize that art is a spiritual gift, and we must use our powers and talent to uplift the poor and weakest.” An honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree was also awarded to television producer Gary Smith, who received the degree in absentia. Pratt Institute Trustee Emeritus Bruce M. Newman spoke on Smith’s behalf. In a special addition to the program, Pratt Institute Board of Trustees Chair Bruce Gitlin presented an honorary

Prattfolio

Doctor of Humane Letters degree to President Emeritus Thomas F. Schutte, PhD, in recognition of his leadership and transformational impact on Pratt, Brooklyn, and the New York City arts and design community. Remarks were also delivered by Professor of Fashion Design Adrienne Jones, who was named Distinguished Teacher (2017–2018) and honored with a medal designed by Andreas Haji-Georgi, BID ’17, and elected student speakers David Cutler, BFA Communications Design ’17, and Maria Gabriela Gonzalez Rausell, MS Urban Placemaking and Management ’17. Distinguished Graduates Honored with Alumni Achievement Awards Five Alumni Achievement Awards were presented this October, recognizing Pratt graduates who have distinguished them­ selves in their fields, are highly respected among their colleagues and in the gen­ eral community, and whose impact has been felt at the regional, national, or international level. Each year, award recipients are chosen by a committee of similarly accomplished professionals, including past Alumni Achievement Award honorees. This year’s Alumni Achievement Award recipients are: Lillian E. Benson, ACE, BFA Art and Design Education, a television, video, and feature film editor whose profes­ sional work over the past four decades has garnered five Emmy nominations, four Peabody Awards, and numerous other honors. Charles Churchward, BFA Commu­ nications Design ’71, a renowned art and design director who is best known for his design direction at Condé Nast of

Fall/Winter 2017

both Vogue and Vanity Fair, as well as his work on House & Garden, Mademoiselle, and Teen Vogue. William Porter, MID ’58, chief de­ signer at General Motors from 1957 to 1996, who left an indelible mark on the history of American car design with the 1968 Pontiac GTO, the 1970–1973 Pontiac Firebird 400, and the 1997 Buick Park Avenue. Jean Shin, BFA Painting ’94; MS Art History & Criticism ’96, who is an instal­ lation artist known for her site-specific works incorporating everyday objects and her large-scale, permanent instal­ lations commissioned by major public agencies, including the MTA’s Second Avenue Subway 63rd Street station in New York City. Shin is Adjunct Professor of Fine Arts within Pratt Institute’s School of Art. Frank “Fraver” Verlizzo, BFA Com­ munications Design ’72, who has created poster art for more than 300 Broadway, off-Broadway, regional, and interna­ tional productions, including the art for The Lion King, Sweeney Todd, Deathtrap, Our Town, and Sunday in the Park with George. The awards were presented at the culmination of Alumni Day 2017, held on October 7, which featured a number of events celebrating Pratt graduates, in­ cluding readings, program reunions, and the annual fine arts exhibition of alumni work curated by alumni. The Black Alumni of Pratt Holds 27th Annual Benefit Gala The Black Alumni of Pratt (BAP) hosted its 27th annual “Celebration of the Creative Spirit” Scholarship Benefit Gala at the Park Hyatt New York in Manhattan

38


“Inspire the whole world.” —Paola Antonelli, 128th Commencement keynote speaker, to the class of 2017

The class of 2017 prepares to cross the stage at Pratt’s 128th Commencement.

News

39


1 2

3

4

1 Queer Threads: Crafting Identity and Community John Chaich, MFA Communications Design ’11 $39.95

2 Prism Planter by The Principals Charles Constantine, MID ’09 Drew Seskunas, MArch ’08 $350

The culmination of a project that began with his MFA thesis and led to a traveling exhibition, John Chaich’s Queer Threads highlights 30 contemporary artists who are remixing fiber craft traditions to explore LGBTQ ideas and identities. The book, produced in collaboration with Todd Oldham and published by AMMO Books, features full-color images of works, close-up detail, and artist studios alongside artist interviews conducted by contemporary makers and thinkers across design, fashion, music, and media. Available at amazon.com.

In their latest product collaboration as experimental design studio The Principals, industrial designer Charles Constantine and architect Drew Seskunas devised this modular planter crafted from laser-cut corten steel. The planter cells are designed to nestle in corners or stand alone and can be stacked against a wall to form a sloping unit. Ideal for outdoor use, the planters develop their signature patina over time exposed to the elements. Also available in mirror-polished stainless steel at theprincipals.us.

Prattfolio

3 Draft Tray by Harold Joel Seigle, BID ’13 $450

4 Ceramic “Foil” Bread Pans Rita Payne, BFA Ceramics ’10 $25–$65 each or $115 for the set

The supple warmth of leather and polished coolness of marble meet in this bifurcated tray by Harold, the Brooklyn design outfit of Joel Seigle and collaborative partner Reed Hansuld. Vegetabletanned leather, finished with a natural beeswax oil and molded in Harold’s Red Hook shop, undulates over a base of Italian Carrara marble shaped by a local fabricator. Available in three geometric styles at haroldharold.com.

These stoneware pans take after their disposable aluminum cousins in style but are made for lasting use. Crafted in the artist’s upstate New York studio, each pan is slipcast to preserve every fine detail of the original object. The durable ceramic makes these pans ideal for long bakes for years to come. Available in white glaze in three sizes at shop.beekman1802.com. (A line of color pans is sold exclusively at Riverwood in Cooperstown, New York.)

Fall/Winter 2017

40


Work by Jessica Li, BFA Fashion Design ’17. Photograph by Fernando Colon

on May 9, honoring individuals and companies in the world of art and design whose accomplishments and values resonate with those of Pratt. This year’s Creative Spirit Award recipients were casting director, producer, and model advocate James Scully; renowned con­ ceptual artist Fred Wilson; and Thomas F. Schutte, PhD, in honor of his 24 years of leadership as Pratt’s president. The evening also featured the an­ nouncement of the 2017 Marcio Moreira Multicultural Scholarship and McCann Internship winners. Sponsored by global marketing firm McCann Worldgroup, the annual scholarship, now in its third year, recognizes top academic junior students studying communications design. For the third year in a row, McCann Worldgroup offered a full-year paid internship and scholarship to all three finalists: Alejandro Alvarez, Herman Awuku, and Zeynep Gungor. Since its inception in 1990, BAP has raised more than $5 million to further the BAP endowed student scholarship effort, provide pre-college awards for high school students looking to pursue an arts education, and help fund other BAP initiatives. Bold Work by Fashion Seniors Hits the Runway Pratt presented its 118th annual runway show, Pratt Shows: Fashion | The Work, to a full house at Manhattan’s Spring Studios in May. A group of 14 graduating senior fashion students were selected by a panel of industry experts to present their thesis collections at the show. The designers showcased 8 to 15 complete looks per collection, putting their dis­ tinct voices on display. Following the show, the Pratt Fashion Visionary Award was presented to Laura Kim, BFA Fashion Design ’04, and Fernando Garcia, co–creative di­ rectors of Monse and Oscar de la Renta. Fashion Department Chair Jennifer Minniti then announced two special student honors: Lyudmila (Mila) Sullivan, BFA Fashion Design ’17, was selected to present her work in June at Graduate Fashion Week in London, and Jessie Sodetz, BFA Fashion Design ’17, was selected to show her collection at the Ralph Pucci showroom during New York Fashion Week in September. Innovative Studio Course Offers Real-World Planning and Policy Experience This past spring, students in the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment

News

(GCPE) gained real-world experience in land use, policy, and planning through a new studio class, Land Use and Urban Design. Focused on the East New York– Cypress Hills area of Brooklyn, which was rezoned in 2016 under New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s Housing New York Plan for affordable housing, the studio aimed to help students examine the dy­ namics of community change in the area following the rezoning. A group of 20 students from a cross section of GCPE programs, including Urban Placemaking and Management, City and Regional Planning, and Sustainable Environmental Systems, took the studio, which was taught by GCPE Visiting Assistant Professors Paula Crespo and Michael Haggerty. With input from a community client, the Cypress Hills Local Development Corporation (CHLDC), the students worked in teams to create proposals for what might be built on a 6.8 acre neigh­ borhood site called Arlington Village. The final site proposal included a high-density, mixed-use development scenario with residential, commercial, and community facility land uses. The proposals will be used by the CHLDC to help them work with community stake­ holders to explore the possibilities for what could eventually be built at the Arlington Village site. Student Work Shines at NYCxDESIGN 2017 In May, Pratt students and faculty par­ ticipated in NYCxDESIGN 2017, New York City’s official citywide celebration of design, through a variety of exhibitions in venues around the city, including BKLYN DESIGNS, WantedDesign, and the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF). Work by Pratt students was recognized with NYCxDESIGN-related awards as well as media coverage. Three Pratt students were among 10 winners in the student category of the second annual NYCxDesign Awards: Amanda Anderson, BID ’17, for Aeris Collection; Lynn Lin, MID ’17, for Over the Top Nesting Chair; and Linda Xin, MID ’19, for Burrow. The awards were created by Interior Design magazine and ICFF to honor outstanding products exhibited throughout NYCxDESIGN. At WantedDesign, Elisia Langdon, BID ’17, was awarded the RADO Star Prize US 2017 for her Kera modular stor­ age system. Industrial design students received an award from Metropolis magazine for Future Kitchen, a collabo­ ration with surface design and production company Caesarstone that encouraged

41


students to explore all aspects of design­ ing the kitchen of the future. Dezeen featured Future Kitchen by Caesarstone in its roundup “Top 10 Products and Installations at WantedDesign 2017” along with Sony Life Space UX The Creative Life Space, developed by inte­ rior design students for Wanted Interiors using products from Sony Life Space UX. Students created the installation with Professor of Interior Design John Otis in collaboration with Barry Richards, principal with the Rockwell Group. At ICFF, work by students from the Industrial Design Department re­ ceived the 2017 ICFF Editors’ Award in the “Wellness” category for Design for the Mind, a collaboration between Pratt, the Cooper Hewitt Museum, and the Alzheimer’s care organization CaringKind, in which students developed furniture and products for people diag­ nosed with Alzheimer’s disease, their families, and caregivers. Fashion Students Participate in Design for Disability Initiative Emily Ridings, BFA Fashion Design ’18, and Dominique Kelly, BFA Fashion Design ’18, participated in a Cerebral Palsy Foundation (CPF) initiative in which students from Pratt Institute, the Fashion Institute of Technology, and Parsons School of Design teamed up with mentor and fashion designer Derek Lam and Nike to create designs that are

both stylish and accessible for individu­ als with disabilities. The students’ looks were featured on the runway of the CPF’s Design for Disability gala, the culmination of a four-month process in which the students were each paired with three models with cerebral palsy to learn more about the daily challenges they face when buying clothing and get­ ting dressed. Ridings and Kelly were selected to participate in the project by a panel of Fashion Department faculty members led by Visiting Assistant Professor Freya Tamayo. Students DevelopTransportation Solution for DO School’s Community Mobility Challenge Four Pratt undergraduate and graduate students worked on the DO School’s Community Mobility Challenge this summer to create a low-cost, environ­ mentally friendly citywide ride-sharing solution to enable Brooklyn Navy Yard employees to get to work. The students were selected to participate in the project as part of the Innovate NYC program, which gives students the opportunity to learn entrepreneurial skills and tackle real-life challenges. Innovate NYC is one of the signature programs of the DO School, an organization that creates distinctive experiential learning pro­ grams. Pratt was one of 11 New York City higher education institutions to join forces with the DO School and participate in the 2017 Innovate NYC program.

Teamed with 12 students from other participating schools, Aamir Ansari, MS Urban Placemaking and Management ’18; Vania Arevalo, MPS Design Management ’17; Isidora Concha, MArch ’18; and Jonathan Marable, MS City and Regional Planning ’17, focused on ride sharing as a mobility solution that would be sustainable and efficient, lower the cost of commuting, foster networking, and build community. At the end of the program, the students delivered their ride-sharing plan to the City of New York to be considered for implementation. New Game Design Degree Launches This fall, the Associate Degree Programs in the School of Art introduced a twoyear Associate of Occupational Studies degree in Game Design and Interactive Media. The forward-thinking degree program will provide students with the key skills and knowledge needed to meet burgeoning demand in the field for creative professionals who are fluent across the entire landscape of digital and analog game design. The curriculum specializes in gaming from an artistic standpoint and will cover game design, production, artistry, interactivity, prototyping, and programming. It is designed to prepare students for immediate entry into the work field, either with an established company or as an independent game designer.

Industrial Design students’ Future Kitchen stood out at WantedDesign. Photograph by Ali Pardo

Prattfolio

Fall/Winter 2017

42


6

5

7

8

5 Fine Arts Sweatshirt Megan Huntz, BID ’99 $80 Melding the structural savvy of an industrial designer with experience working for Italian fashion companies such as Max Mara, Atlanta designer Megan Huntz creates womenswear collections that blend elegance and wearability—from playful silk rompers to crisply tailored blouses. This slim-cut lightweight fleece sweatshirt is a wink to her design inspiration: “Even though I’m in fashion, fine arts people are my people!” Available in light gray and classic heather at www.meganhuntz.com.

News

6 Patina Bottle Opener by Cofield Sara Ebert, BID ’09 Jason Pfaeffle, BID ’09 $60 This solid-brass bottle opener by Brooklyn design studio Cofield—founded by Sara Ebert and Jason Pfaeffle, who met as industrial design students at Pratt—draws out the variability of the metal through oxidation, paying homage to the material and the creation process. Each opener is unique and patinated by hand in the USA. Available in three finishes, including turquoise (pictured here), black, and polychrome, at www.studiocofield.com.

7 High Society Earrings by StudioSophiaSophia Sophia Readling, BFA Jewelry ’09 from $130 StudioSophiaSophia’s vividly colored, boldly shaped baubles, inspired by 1980s Memphis design, are handcrafted to order in Sophia Readling’s Binghamton studio. Earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and rings are available in custom colorways, utilizing resin hand-mixed with an array of pigments (check out the colors tab on the website for a vibrantpalette of options). Pieces can be made in brass, 14k gold–plated brass, or sterling silver. Available at studiosophia sophia.com.

8 Unicorn Garden Wallpaper Kimberly Lewis, BID ’08 $195 per roll Inspired by the medieval Unicorn Tapestries, this mystical wallpaper channels an archetypal decorative artwork to create a modern, space-enhancing magic. Just one of the whimsical, vibrant patterns by home decor designer Kimberly Lewis— who has had several of her wallpaper designs acquired by the Brooklyn Museum for its permanent collection, most recently her Brownstone pattern—this wallpaper was designed in Brooklyn and is printed regionally in the Northeast United States. Available at shopkimberlylewis.com.

43


Alumni Relations Welcomes Class of 2021 During orientation in August, the Office of Alumni Relations greeted this year’s 740 incoming first-year students with Pratt Alumni pennants and personal notes. The students participated in a #PrattGrad21 social media contest, dis­ playing the pennants in their new spaces, preparing for the day when they will join the ranks of Institute graduates. #PrattGrad21 post by Bria Pickel, class of ’21

#PrattGrad21 post by Nicole Majewski, class of ’21

Rowena Reed Kostellow Award Celebrates Contributions to Design Pratt President Emeritus Thomas F. Schutte was presented with the Rowena Reed Kostellow Award for his careerlong advocacy for design at a ceremony on March 8 at the Knoll showroom in Manhattan. Pratt alumna and Chrysler interior designer Cindy Juette, MID ’10, was honored as the first recipient of the Rowena Reed Kostellow Young Designers Award in recognition of her work to advance the principles of design developed by Rowena Reed Kostellow. This event benefits the Rowena Reed Kostellow Fund, named after one of the founders of Pratt’s Industrial Design Department and established in 1988 to support scholarships and communicate the philosophy of its namesake through programs and published work. Faculty Honors: Guggenheim, Emmy, IIDA Educator of the Year Three faculty members were awarded 2017 Guggenheim Fellowships: Professor Samantha Hunt and Media Studies Artist-Scholar-in-Residence Zina Saro-Wiwa, both of the Humanities and Media Studies Department within the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences; and Visiting Instructor of Foundation Art Shari Mendelson from the Foundation Department within the Schools of Art and Design. Steven Doloff, Professor of Humanities and Media Studies, received a 2017 New York Emmy Award for his work as one of the producers of “Talk to Remember,” an episode of the television series Theater Talk. Professor of Interior Design Jon Otis has been selected by the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) as its 2017 IIDA Educator of the Year, given in recognition of outstanding accomplish­ ments and commitment to interior design education by a full-time educator. School of Liberal Arts and Sciences and School of Art Welcome New Leadership Three new chairs have been appointed

Prattfolio

Fall/Winter 2017

in Pratt Institute’s School of Liberal Arts and Sciences: John Decker, Chair of the Department of the History of Art and Design; Arlene R. Keizer, Chair of Humanities and Media Studies; and Beth Loffreda, Inaugural Chair of the Writing Department. Jane South has been appointed Chair of the Fine Arts Department within the School of Art. She succeeds Deborah Bright, who stepped down to focus full-time on her artistic practice and scholarship. Sara Greenberger Rafferty was named Associate Professor of Photography within the School of Art. Her professor­ ship at Pratt will involve both teaching and directing the MFA Photography program. Rafferty’s position was developed in the context of the planned integration of the MFA Photography program, currently housed in Fine Arts, into Photography in fall 2018. In Memoriam Richard Alden, BArch ’65; MArch ’68 CDR Donald T. Bauch, PE, Bachelor of Chemical Engineering ’43 Mark S. Boyko, BArch ’85 Doris (Koehler) Gearhart, Food Science and Management ’36 Joe Harris, BFA Illustration ’52 Anne P. Jacobsen, Food Science and Management ’39 Jaan Kangro, MArch ’73 Sister Jo Ann Kenney, CIJ, BS Food Science and Management ’70 Joseph Krois, BArch ’56 Wallace B. Kurtz, Bachelor of Electrical Engineering ’53 Martin Landau Herbert M. Lippman, BArch ’55 Stephen Roy Markowitz, MS City and Regional Planning ’72 Michael Maskaly Sr., Certificate, Advertising ’40 Louise Messina, Certificate, ID ’46 Marcia (Laszlo) Meunier, MLS ’55 Miriam (Waldman) Milamed, Certificate, Illustration ’43 James J. Moran, BFA Advertising Design ’63 Alan Peckolick, AAS Advertising Art ’64 John Dominick Renda, Chemical Engineering ’43 Yana Filkovsky Saito Marjorie Schroeger, AA Costume Design ’40 Peter J. Tennis, Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering ’43 Elaine Vasold, Food Science and Management ’45 Alexander Wallach, BS Food Science and Management ’60

44


Spotlight

The Origins of Pratt in Rome

The School of Architecture BArch ’77. In his second year at the Valentine envisioned an academic celebrated four decades of the Institute, Valentine helped make experience that would allow Undergraduate Architecture the Eternal City a classroom cultural history courses to Rome Program this year. Since for generations of Pratt students. “become three-dimensional” the program began in fall of 1974, It all began with a memo titled at a place where the city’s layers it has grown into one of the “Why Rome?” outlining his appeal converge. From ancient ruins to longest-held foreign studies for Christopher Wadsworth, meandering medieval passages, programs in Italy. The roots of the the late professor of architecture to later inverventions of program can be traced to the who helped bring the Rome geometrical forms, students efforts of one student who made Program to fruition along with would immerse themselves the case for architectural study then Director of International in the materials, processes, and in Rome: Stephen Valentine, Programs Gene P. Dean. cultural context of Rome’s

News

architectural past and present and return to complete their education “richer in a worldwide perspective of their field.” The experience Valentine proposed in 1973 continues to resonate today, with students returning to Rome every spring to observe firsthand the unique intersection of history and modernity in a timeless cityscape.

45


Class Notes We want to know what you’re up to, and so do your fellow Pratt alumni. See page 51 for Class Notes submission guidelines.

1950s

Church, highlighting dramatic mo­ ments from high-profile trials of the last 50 years. The exhibition is located in the South Gallery on the second floor of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, DC, and is on view through October 28.

Herb Auerbach, BArch ’54, an archi­ tect and real estate consultant who teaches a course on real estate develop­ ment at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, had his book, Placemakers, published in February. Rich in wit and anecdotes, Placemakers celebrates the legacy of some of the greatest political leaders from Alexander the Great of Macedonia to Napoleon III, unlikely candidates who not only put their stamp on history but also the land. This illus­ trated volume, coauthored by Ira Nadel, will appeal to architects, planners, and anyone curious about the history of real estate development. The book is avail­ able at www.amazon.com. Marilyn Church, BFA Graphic Arts ’59, has work featured in Drawing Justice: The Art of Courtroom Illustrations at the Library of Congress. The exhibition features 98 selections from the Library’s collection of courtroom artworks, which includes more than 4,000 drawings by

Prattfolio

who is Distinguished Emeritus Professor of North Carolina State University’s College of Design, initiated the founding of EDRA in 1968. An author of 15 mono­ graphs who has lectured worldwide, Sanoff also founded the Doctoral Program in Community Design at NC State and “has created a remarkable George Kelvin, Illustration ’51, school of thought, based on his princi­ designed a US veterans flag that was ples of environmental design research, adopted by his town of Highland environment and behavior, and partic­ Beach, Florida, last year and is flown on ipatory design.” Memorial Day and Armistice Day. A veteran himself, drafted in 1945 at the Laurence Werfel, BArch ’55, and end of World War II, Kelvin was inspired Matthew LoPinto, BArch ’02, of Werfel, by his service to pursue a career in the LoPinto and Associates Architects, won arts: He got his start drawing cartoons the Architecture Firm Award for 2017, and illustrations for his division’s presented by the Queens, Brooklyn, newspaper, and his first job after Staten Island, and Bronx chapters of the graduation was illustrating a Navy American Institute of Architects. The manual. He went on to become a prolific first firm achievement award made by science illustrator. this group of outer-borough AIA organizations, the award was given “in recognition and appreciation of out­ standing achievements and excellence of work and substantial impact in the built environment over a period of time.” The award was presented in June at the AIA Brooklyn + Queens Gala 2017, attended by more than 150 architects and friends.

1960s Henry Sanoff, AIA, BArch ’57; MArch ’62, received the 2017 EDRA Career Award, an annual honor given by the Environmental Design Research Association to recognize a career of contributions to environmental design research, practice, or teaching. Sanoff,

Fall/Winter 2017

Robert C. Tannen, BID ’60; MFA Art Education ’63, whose half-century ca­ reer has spanned art and urban planning, recently created a landscape-waterscape of all 67 coastal counties of the Gulf of Mexico illustrating relative land eleva­ tion and areas of risk from sea level rise and climate change. The work, titled GOM, was installed last year at the

46


Contemporary Arts Center (CAC) in New Orleans. Tannen and his wife, Jeanne P. Nathan, founded the CAC in 1976.

also showed a group of small works at Skoto Gallery in Chelsea, New York City, and created a piece, Demerara Song, in situ for the exhibition Liminal Space at the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute in Manhattan. This 1970s year, he has had residencies at Yaddo, the Headlands Center for the Arts, and Richard Bettini, Associate AIA, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, BArch ’72; MArch ’73, completed a work­ where he was a Jacques and Natasha book of CAD projects, published in Gelman Fellow. spring 2017, titled The Complete CAD Exercise Book. Bettini, who recently Kristina Lewis, BFA Sculpture ’72; MS retired from teaching high school preInterior Design ’86, has been selected as engineering and pre-architecture and is a Del Mar Encore Fellow by the Dayton currently an adjunct professor of Foundation. After 25 years of design architecture at Kean University’s and build of high-level residences and Michael Graves School of Design, has restaurants in the Hamptons, Lewis also served as a Trustee and Chair with moved to Dayton, Ohio, to attend sem­ the Architects League of Northern New inary school and to buy and renovate Jersey’s scholarship program, which derelict houses in Dayton to house offered scholarships to high school UN refugees and people transitioning seniors and university-level students to from homeless shelters. The Del Mar continue their education in architecture. Fellowship will allow her to continue her Over the years, a number of Pratt work and connect with veterans to help Architecture students have received them achieve self-sufficiency. scholarships from the League.

the exhibition Simultaneous Contrast: Paintings and Drawings by Christine A. Ritchie and Kip Kowalski at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center in Birmingham, Michigan. Arnold Simon, MS Communications Design ’77, contributed to Atlanta Collects: Contemporary at the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum, a two-part exhibition comprising import­ ant privately owned works from the collections of Jewish Atlantans. A paint­ ing from Simon’s private collection, Edward Hopper by Gregory Manchess, was selected by guest curator Dr. William Eiland, Director of the Georgia Museum of Art. The exhibition ran through June 11. For more information, visit thebreman.org.

Elaine Smollin, BFA Painting ’75; MFA Painting/Art History ’81, was the recipi­ ent of a 2017 Mass Humanities grant for her collaborative work with architectural heritage organization Preservation Worcester. Her project, New City Dreams, Sharon Mentyka, BFA Communi­ca­ introduces youth to historic preservation tions Design ’79, had her middle-grade specialists in Worcester, Massachusetts, novel, Chasing at the Surface (WestWinds where adaptive reuse of historic buildings Press, 2016), named 2016 Winner of is evolving at a positive pace. She has been the National Outdoor Book Award, a member of the studio faculty at children’s category; YA Honorable Worcester Art Museum since 2012. Mention of the Sigurd F. Olson Nature Writing Award; and an Outstanding 1980s Science Trade Book for Students K–12 by the National Science Teachers Anthony Freda, BFA Communi­ Association and Children’s Book cations Design ’84, has work featured in Council. Kirkus Reviews called the book, the exhibition The Fine Art of Illustration which tells the story of a 12-year-old girl at Mills Pond Gallery, 660 Route 25A, St. who helps a pod of trapped orcas, “a James, New York, on view through May Joan Giordano, MFA ’75, had a solo poignant novel that vividly celebrates 20. “Freda creates his potent and provoc­ exhibition, Woven in Time, at the June the interconnected nature of all living ative illustrations with a combination of Kelly Gallery in New York City, with a creatures.” For more information, visit found objects and surfaces, collage, and review of the show featured in the March sharonmentyka.com. drawing—all mixed together to great 2017 issue of Sculpture magazine. Her effect,” says the exhibition citation. “His work was also exhibited in the show Out imagery often carries a powerful mes­ of Bounds at The White Room Gallery in sage of peace and social justice.” This Bridgehampton in July. spring, Freda’s work was also included Above: Joan Giordano, Epoch, 2016 in We Are the Resistance! at Revolution Gallery in Buffalo, New York.

Carl E. Hazlewood, BFA ’75, had an exhibition of a commissioned mural, Traveler, at Knockdown Center in Christine A. Ritchie, MFA Painting Robert S. Gaskin, BArch ’81, CEO of Maspeth, Queens, over the summer. He ’78, had work shown earlier this fall in RCGA Architects, was honored for de­

Class Notes

47


sign achievement at Star Network’s Premiere Excellence in Real Estate & Development Awards presented this June in Queens. Gaskin heads a design team of 14, who have performed design and upgrades for Delta, American Airlines, and British Airways terminals at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark, as well as high-end retail outlets within the airports, including Swarovski, Brooks Brothers, and Juicy Couture. RCGA has also designed and renovated more than 8,000 units of affordable and market rate housing throughout New York State and restored several landmark houses of worship.

Contemporary, 180 Maiden Lane, New York City. Kaleda’s digital paintings are part of the three-artist show featuring works “rooted in technology and focus on transformation,” for an exhibition that explores “technology’s impact on per­ ception and expectation, and its elevation of humanity.” FORWARD SLASH is open through May 8, and Kaleda’s work will remain on display at Anderson Contemp­ orary through the year. For more inform­ ation, visit www.garykaleda.com. Below, left: Gary Kaleda, Flourish

tinguished Black Designers of NYCOBA| NOMA, an exhibition highlighting con­ tributions made by African-American architects, designers, and planners at the Center for Architecture in New York City. The exhibition noted that the ap­ proximately 2,090 African American architects in the US represent two per­ cent of the nation’s licensed architects. Featured TONA projects were the Lorraine Montenegro Women & Children’s Residence in the Bronx, li­ brary upgrades at Intermediate School 220 in Brooklyn, and at the Old Boys High School in Brooklyn. Mara Szalajda, MFA Painting and Art History ’88, had work presented in the National Association of Women Artists’ 128th Annual Members’ Exhibition, held at the Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Art Gallery in New York City from August 22 to September 14.

Matt Magee, MFA ’86, was featured in Texas visual arts journal Glasstire discussing the development of his artistic career. The interview covers Magee’s internships at the Guggenheim Museum in the early 1980s and working for Robert Rauschenberg in his studio for 18 years, as well as Magee’s time at Pratt. “While Pratt provided two years of extreme focus on my studio work and a thesis show, I also gained a circle of friends,” he says. The full interview can be read on glasstire.com/2017/04/03/ seven-questions-for-matt-magee. Magee’s work can be viewed on his website, www.mattmagee.info.

Susan Hinkson, RA, LLM, BArch ’81, has joined Capalino + Company as Exec­ utive Vice President in the firm’s Land Use, Housing, and Real Estate group. Hinkson previously served as Vice Chair and Commissioner of the NYC Board of Standards and Appeals and Brooklyn Borough Commissioner for the NYC Department of Buildings. At Capalino + Company, Hinkson will work to expand the firm’s land use planning and zoning Zion Ozeri, BFA Photography ’80, services. founded the DiverCity Lens project, now in its fourth year, with the New York City Department of Education, utilizing the medium of photography to provide a powerful personal connection for identity, diversity, and universal values. DiverCity Lens incorporates texts from traditional and modern sources and sends students out with their cameras or smartphones to docu­ ment the values they see reflected in their communities, seeking “what unites us in spite of what seems to sep­ arate us.” The curriculum culminates with an exhibition of students’ work, which students help curate. For more information, visit www.zionozeri.com and www.jewishlens.org.

Shira Toren, BFA Fashion Design ’81, cocurated an international art show at Sideshow Gallery in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in June. The exhibition, titled EVEnt, showcased collaborative works by 10 female artists from France, Israel, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United States that reflect on the situa­ tion of women in the 21st century from personal and social perspectives. Heather Wechter, BFA Merchan­ dising and Fashion Manage­ment ’89, launched an app, tribepool, which aims to connect people for carpooling based on shared local activities. The app was developed by Wechter and her husband, Dave Wechter, as part of the Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Co-CREATE in­ cubator program in 2016–2017, and it became available in June through the App Store and Google Play.

Tim Young, BFA Illustration ’85, is publishing his 9th and 10th children’s books this fall: the picture book I’m Going to Outer Space! and the how-todraw book Creatures and Characters, published by Schiffer Publishing in September and October, respectively. Young, whose career has spanned 2-D and 3-D animation, puppet making, and toy design, began writing and illustrat­ ing children’s books 10 years ago, with titles including I’m Looking for a Monster!, published by Random House, and I Hate Picture Books! and The Gary Kaleda, BFA Communications Heather Philip-O’Neal, AIA, BArch Angry Little Puffin, published by Design ’88, has his work featured in the ’87; design principal, TONA (Terrence Schiffer. For more information, visit exhibition FORWARD SLASH / Tech­no­ O’Neal Architect LLC) in New York City, www.creaturesandcharacters.com. logy, Transcendence & Tea, at Anderson was showcased in SAY IT LOUD: Dis-

Prattfolio

Fall/Winter 2017

48


year, his work was highlighted in a fea­ through generations of inspiring women ture in Artcover magazine. who came before them.” The exhibition took place in March at Chashama in New York City and received coverage in Women’s Wear Daily, artnet, and i-D, among other press outlets. For more info­rm­ation, visit www.whitneyhouston biennial.com.

1990s

Judy Dick, AOS Illustration ’94, illus­ trator, writer, and editor, published a new adult coloring book with Behrman House in August. Shalom Coloring III: Animals of the Bible includes quotes, chosen by Dick, about animals from the Bible and hand-drawn illustrations featuring animal motifs, patterns, and creative compositions inspired by the quotes. For more information and an inside look at the book, visit www.behrmanhouse.com/the-shalom Eric Diehl, BFA Painting ’07, exhib­ coloring-series. ited his paintings in a solo show, titled Death Vegas Valley, at Red Raven Art Co. Ingibjörg Jóhannsdóttirr, MFA ’94, gallery in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. On cocurated the group show Other Hats: the occasion of the show, Diehl, who Icelandic Printmaking at International recently received his MFA from Virginia Print Center New York this past spring. Commonwealth University, was fea­ She is also a master printmaker and tured in a review in Lancaster Online, school headmaster in Reykjavík. which remarked on Diehl’s pointillist approach: “He studies light and dark­ Mark Walhimer, MID ’92, is living in ness as they draw a contrast between the Mexico City and working on a second barren desert and the glitzy casino won­ book, Museum Customer Experience, to derland of Las Vegas.” be published in 2018, as well as an ac­ Above: Eric Diehl, That Afternoon Paranoia, companying website, museumcx.com. acrylic on linen, 8 x 10”, 2017 This follows the success of his first book, Museums 101 (Rowman & Little­field Drena Fagen, MPS Art Therapy ’02, Publishers, 2015). He also has recently and Nadia Jenefsky, MPS Art Therapy taught at Georgia Tech and is working ’99, cofounders of the New York Creative as museum planner and exhibition de­ Arts Therapists practice in Brooklyn, signer for a new museum in McDonough, launched a series of free, public coloring Georgia, the C.O. Polk Interactive events for adults in New York City and Museum. For more information, visit published the companion The Real Art copolkmuseum.org. Therapists of New York Coloring Book, featuring the artwork of 50 New York 2000s State Art Therapists, including 26 Pratt alumni. The Pop-Up Coloring Bars, Brad Ascalon, MID ’06, a New York hosted at various landmarks, and facili­ City-based furniture and product de­ tated by licensed art therapists, are help­ signer, was featured on the Clever pod­ ing to raise public awareness about the cast, hosted by Design Milk’s Jaime practice of art therapy. For more informa­ Derringer and designer Amy Devers. In tion, visit nycreativetherapists.com. episode 30, Ascalon discusses his chal­ lenges and inspirations as a designer, including his Pratt influences. “Designer Mark Goetz was my furniture professor in graduate school,” Ascalon says in the accompanying Q&A. “He said: ‘Don’t design a chair. Design an object that you sit on.’ Those simple words flipped my way of thinking about design as a whole.” The podcast and Q&A can be found at www.cleverpodcast.com/blog/ep-30 -brad-ascalon. C. Finley, BFA Painting ’00, organ­ ized the second Whitney Houston Will Day, MArch ’04, had his first Biennial, featuring work by 125 women solo show this past summer at The artists. For this year’s exhibition, titled McLoughlin Gallery in San Francisco. The Greatest Love of All, Finley asked The exhibition, titled Exaltation, com­ artists to identify “a female pioneer who prised paintings made by Day in his inspires them to accompany their work Boulder, Colorado, studio. Earlier this of art, thereby expanding the show

Class Notes

Julie Louisa Hagenbuch, BFA Writing for Performance, Publication, and Media ’09, was included in SPEAK / ACT / MAKE, an exhibition of socialpractice art demonstrating diversity, inclusion, and unity at this moment in American history, held at the Samek Art Museum at Bucknell University. Hagenbuch’s audio piece Our Issues Lie Between Us is a conversation between herself and photojournalist Kalen Goodluck—strangers to each other be­ fore this dialogue—who, in the final days of Obama’s presidency, spoke candidly and without a script. The exhibi­tion ran from January to March 2017. Yanwen Hu, MFA Communications Design ’13, won two Bronze A′ Design Awards, a Graphis Design Annual Silver Award, and two IDA Honorable Mentions in 2017. This year, she has served as a jury member for the CSS Design Awards 2017, the 47th Creativity International Awards, the Summit International Awards, and the Ninth China International UX Design Award Student Competition, and she is a mentor for the NYC UXPA Mentorship Program. She was invited to speak at the 2017 International Experience Design Conference, hosted in Beijing, and the 12th International Conference on Design Principles & Practices, hosted in Barce­ lona in 2018. Matthew Kaplowitz, BFA Illustration ’06, released a feature-length documen­ tary, Girl Fight: A Muay Thai Story, on Amazon and Amazon Prime. Centered on an all-female kickboxing gym on the Jersey shore post–Hurricane Sandy, the film follows the head coach and her students as they cope with the challenges of training and battle their greatest op­ ponent—themselves. The documentary was an official selection in 10 interna­ tional film festivals, including Artemis Women in Action Film Festival, Golden Door International Film Festival, International Women’s Film Festival, and the Bronx International Film Fest­ ival, and won an editing award in the Rahway International Film Festival.

49


Sarah Krasley, BFA Sculpture ’01, launched the Retouchers Accord, a membership organization founded on a code of ethics inspired by the Designers Accord and tailored “for retouchers, photo editors, graphic designers, soft­ ware tool makers, and brand managers who want to increase authenticity in the images seen in the media and in advertising.” Through her company, Unreasonable Women, Krasley devel­ oped and founded the project in partner­ ship with Refinery29 and Feather Creative, a postproduction studio founded by Linn Edwards, MFA Photography ’05, and Salma Khalil, MFA Photography ’06. For more information, visit www.retouchersaccord.com. Sara Maniez, BArch ’05, who founded the food blog Life’s Little Sweets (lifeslittlesweets.com), was recently featured on the podcast Chopped, dis­ cussing the business and sales aspect of food blogging. David L. McMillan, MSLIS ’00, completed his Doctor of Letters degree at Drew University, after being awarded his Master of Letters in 2014. His disser­ tation topic was on how containerization affected the ports in New York and New Jersey. He has also recently accepted the position of Executive Director of Bacone College in Oklahoma. Michael Nolasco, MS Communi­ cations Design ’06, recently opened Beach Lion Studios, a boutique adver­ tising and design agency based in Florida. The agency specializes in im­ pactful advertising campaigns, brand development, and responsive website design. For more information, visit beachlionstudios.com.

Andrew Rose, MS History of Art; MFA ’03, created a large-scale commis­ sioned mural at the Florida Hospital for Women in Orlando, Florida. His process for creating the three-story work, Light, was spotlighted in a front-page feature in the Orlando Sentinel. Rose, who lives in Honolulu, Hawaii, is also an accom­ Alice Quaresma, MFA Photography plished gallerist and owner of Andrew ’09, had a solo show of recent works at Rose Studio. For more information, visit LeMagazyn in Venice, California, pre­ andrewrosestudio.com. sented in collaboration with the Tappan Collective. The exhibition, titled Escape, Camille Wainer, BFA Communi­ comprised photographic works docu­ cations Design ’02, recently premiered menting the landscape of Los Angeles her film Thou Art: Dublin in Hollywood during Quaresma’s residency at the at the Pembroke Taparelli Arts and Film Tappan Atelier and experimenting with Festival and in New York City at the materials that allow her photographs to Queens World Film Festival. Thou Art: be sensorial and playful, pushing the Dublin is a feature documentary follow­ boundaries of photography as a flat ing five artists in post–Celtic Tiger surface. Works from this series can Ireland as they work amid the difficulties be viewed on Quaresma’s recently of a national recession. The film has also launched website, alicequaresma.com. been accepted as an official selection for the Krafta Doc International Art Making Kevin Rodriguez, MS Interior Design Film Festival, with screenings in ’01, along with his summer-camp friend Scotland and London, and the Irish Film Ashley Albert, recently launched the Festival of Kansas City. Matzo Project, a line of artfully made and packaged matzo. The all-natural, 2010s kosher, and vegan crackers are baked in Brooklyn and are available in three flavors, along with Matzo Chips, choc­ olate-dipped varieties, and a Matzo Ball Soup Kit. They have caught the attention of the James Beard House, NPR, and The New York Times, and since last year, an annual ice-cream flavor collaboration with Brooklyn’s Ample Hills Creamery has brought a new twist to Ample Hills’ Chocolate Matzo Buttercrunch. For more information, Brandon Brown, BFA Film ’14, had visit matzoproject.com. a short documentary, Renewal in Sunset Park, featured in the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival. The film features architect Annabelle Selldorf, BArch ’85, principal of Selldorf Architects, and highlights her design for the Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility, focusing on the recy­ cling facility’s “potential to transform New York into a more sustainable city.” first digital series, Oliveri worked with the network to develop the concept into a 22-minute episodic format. The 20episode first season of Welcome to the Wayne premiered on Nickelodeon in July, and episodes are now available online and on-demand.

Above: Still from Renewal in Sunset Park, directed by Brandon Brown

Jason Oliveri, BFA Film-Animation ’02, is the Executive in Charge of Production for Nickelodeon’s newest animated series, Welcome to the Wayne, which follows the adventures of three friends as they go on adventures and solve mysteries inside their bizarre New York City apartment building. Beginning in 2013 as the producer of Nickelodeon’s

Prattfolio

Monique Rollins, MFA Fine Arts; MS History of Art and Design ’06, has a major exhibition of collage paintings at the Delaware Contemporary Museum in Wilmington, on view until November 19. In June, the American Embassy in Rome presented Rollins’s paintings in a solo exhibition titled Eastern Poesia, which included works influenced by her time painting in China.

Fall/Winter 2017

Marna Chester, MPS Arts and Cultural Management ’11, created paper sculp­ tures for a window exhibi­tion at Wild Bird Fund, 565 Columbus Avenue, New York City. The instal­lation, “a celebration of the magic of birds, as well as a commen­ tary on the fragile state of our climate,” is on view from April 14 through May 14. Proceeds from the sale of the sculptures will go to Wild Bird Fund. Through her studio, Paper Sky, Chester also creates paper

50


installations on commission and has been a featured vendor at the Green Building event space in Gowanus. For more infor­ mation, visit marnachester.com.

Paul Ferrara, MS Art and Design Education ’12, held Bingo Books, Quilts and Collective Works, the culminating event of his residency at the Beatrice Lewis Senior Center in New York City. The event included a showcase of works created by Ferrara’s students at the center, who used the rules and paraphernalia of bingo to make pat­ terns, quilts, books, and other art pieces. The residency was part of the program SU-CASA, a collaboration among the New York City Council, the Department of Cultural Affairs, and the Department for the Aging, along with, for Ferrara’s project, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Image credit: Cynthia Villamil

chance encounter between two women, Marie and Susie. Sensing each other’s urge for a night of recklessness and spontaneity, the two hit it off, but the night takes a turn when Marie triggers an unexpected reaction by Susie. The film has screened at KASHISH Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, the North Carolina Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, NewFest: New York LGBT Film Festival, the ImageOut Film Festival, and this past summer at the Lower East Side Film Festival.

Stickymonger (Joohee Park), MFA Digital Arts ’12, installed Cosmic Tower, a 362′1″ x 9′8″ mural work, as part of a street-artist group project at 4 World Below, left: Still from This Is You and Me, Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. The directed and cowritten by April Maxey piece is composed of meticulously-cut vinyl stickers applied to the panoramic Danni Mitchell, BFA Communi­ windows on the building’s 69th floor. cations Design ’12, opened a pop-up Stickymonger’s window-installation marketplace and creative-use space, work was also on view last winter in the Elizabeth Ave. Station, in the Warehouse windows of AFA Gallery in SoHo, where District in West Palm Beach, Florida. this fall she is part of a group show, The space hosts a curated selection of CIRQUE NOIR, on view until October 28. vendors as well as an urban produce Image credit: Goseong Choi garden in a converted industrial building Mitchell helped to renovate. Mitchell is Jared Weitzman, BFA Digital Arts also the founder of Gather and Seek ’15, won an Emmy Award from the New design studio, which designed the York Chapter of the National Academy Warehouse District website. For more of Television Arts and Sciences for a information, visit Elizabeth Ave. Station commercial campaign he directed, pro­ on Instagram: @thestationwpb. duced, and edited for the Mets–Yankees 2016 season, broadcast on PIX11. He recently shot a repeat campaign for the 2017 season. Aside from baseball, Weitzman was recently on tour with musical artists the Weeknd, Belly, Rae Sremmurd, and 6LACK doing videog­ raphy for their Legend of the Fall US and Canadian tour. He also launched a 360 creative agency, RUSE Studios. For more information, visit www.rusebk.com.

Lauren Helman Foley, MS Interior Design ’10, and her husband, Daniel, welcomed son Henry James Foley on April 19, 2017, in New York. Foley will return to work at IA Interior Architects in January 2018 after an extended leave to be with Henry. Here he is with his Cait Oppermann, BFA ’12, was Pratt cat! named to PDN’s 30, the photography magazine’s annual selection of new and emerging photographers to watch, for 2017. As of the time of the award, her biggest recent project was a series on the players of the National Women’s Soccer League. This, and more of her work, can be viewed on her website, caitoppermann.com. April Maxey, BFA Film ’12, had her short film This Is You and Me distributed by Film Movement. The film follows a

Class Notes

Image © Cait Oppermann

Congratulations, Class of 2017 What’s new for you? Stay connected and share your updates and achievements in Class Notes (submission details below).

Submission Guidelines — Send submissions of 100 words or less to classnotes@pratt.edu. Please include your full name, degree or program, and graduation year. All submissions will be edited for length, clarity, and style. Image submissions should be high-resolution (300 dpi at 5 x 7 inches).

51


Save the Date Thursday, May 3, 2018 2017 Pratt Institute Fashion Shows: Fashion Honoring fashion icons and featuring collections by the Department of Fashion class of 2017 Spring Studios New York City www.pratt.edu/ fashionshow For information: 718.399.4548 Images: Jessica Li, BFA Fashion Design ’17; Seokwoon Yoon, BFA Fashion Design ’17; Erik Goldberg, BFA Fashion Design ’17; Lyudmila Sullivan, BFA Fashion Design ’17. Photos by Fernando Colon



Join David Mattingly in making a difference in Pratt students’ lives.

As an adjunct professor in Pratt’s Department of Digital Arts, illustrator and visual effects artist David Mattingly does his part for Pratt students every day. He’s proud to see them graduate and go on to great positions at leading special effects firms. He also knows how financially difficult it can be for them to attend the Institute. For David, making a charitable bequest in his will to establish a scholarship for digital arts students at Pratt was an easy way to help—and to perpetuate his legacy as a mentor.

“It’s amazing to be able to make a difference in the development of an artist. Charitable bequests are so simple, cost you nothing during your lifetime, and are essential in making the transformative Pratt education accessible to all.” Interested in joining David in supporting Pratt with a charitable bequest? To get started, contact Drew Babitts at 718.399.4296, by email at dbabitts@pratt.edu, or visit prattlegacy.org.

Pratt Institute, Office of Planned Giving


PRAT T

N

X

ORLD W W E SYMPHO

BL

NY U R B N. , K IN 7 12.0

iB Ar t Basel Miam

Pratt X New World Symphony present BLINK, BURN. A unique performance during Art Basel Miami Beach 2017 with a cocktail reception co-hosted by Pratt Alumni Miami Network Thursday, December 7 New World Center SunTrust Pavilion 500 17th Street, Miami Beach

7 01 2 h ea c

A new addition to the landscape of Art Basel Miami Beach, the BLINK, BURN project is a partnership between Pratt Institute and New World Symphony (NWS) exploring the creative possibilities that emerge when film/video artists and sound artists/musicians engage deeply with one another. This unique project will feature original video work by select Pratt/Film video sudents accompanied by NWS fellows’ sound peformed live. A reception, co-hosted by Pratt Alumni Miami Network, will immediately follow the event. Free and open to the public; reservations required. Reservation information will be available soon at www.pratt.edu/public-programs.


Sketch

Consider a rule. Break it.

In each issue of Prattfolio, we publish a new creative prompt along with a space to devise your response, should you choose to work within this constraint. We invite you to respond—with image or text—via social media, email, or mail. We will feature a selection from your submissions in the next issue.

How to participate Email: prattfolio@pratt.edu Mail to: Prattfolio Editor Pratt Institute Institutional Advancement 200 Willoughby Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11205

Prattfolio

Fall/Winter 2017

Post on social media using #prattfoliosketch and tag @prattalumni Work submitted may be posted on Pratt Alumni social media channels or published in Prattfolio.

56


We thank everyone who submitted responses to our Spring/Summer 2017 Sketch prompt. Here is a selection from the submissions we received in reply to the question, “Where do creative ideas begin?”

Lisa Lyman Adams, BFA Fine Arts ’73



Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.