RISD XYZ Fall/Winter 2018/19 by Rhode Island School of Design

fall/winter 2018/19 rhode island school of design

inside

fall/winter 2018/19

// R ISDXYZ

FEATURES

// 34

// 20

// 28

Better Together

Partners

Synergy

For many young alumni, the creative alliances forged at RISD prove to be both inspiring and reassuring as they work to get startups off the ground.

Since their first projects at the BEB, architects Byron Kuth BArch 86 and Elizabeth Ranieri BArch 86 have grown together—both personally and professionally.

Like other studio artists, both Stephen Talasnik 76 PT and Alyson Shotz 87 TX have discovered the joy and benefit of finding the right creative collaborators.

DEPARTMENTS

// 15 // 02 comments online, incoming, ongoing

// 08 listen reflections, opinions, points of view

// 46 // 10 look

• reconsidering experience • achieving new heights • getting personal • connecting through community

// 53

// 84 unravel our major abbreviations

// 56

// 95

// 42 reflect

// 52 six degrees

// 60

a message from the president

connecting through the alumni association

class notes + profiles

// 44 two college street

// 56 impact

campus community newsbits

who’s giving to risd + why

moving forward

// 96 sketchbook ideas in progress

start here

// thoughts from the editor

Meeting of Minds As a species, humans have always fared better together, recognizing that when solving problems, a singular vision may be brilliant—but with input from others it’s often even better. So, too, with creative collaboration. Solitary time in the studio may be part of the process, but partnering with others is also typically central to making. In fact, much of the work alumni produce—from films to glasswork to books, buildings and large-scale installations—is impossible to do alone. In fields such as architecture, graphic design, ID, illustration and others where creative production evolves from client needs or commissioned projects, collaboration also calls for partnering—making a mutual agreement to work with others towards a shared goal. And all of this is built on—and reinforces—trust and respect. This issue focuses on what makes for the most successful partnerships and why collaboration can be so fun, surprising and satisfying.

comments

// online, incoming, ongoing

E D ITOR / LEAD WR ITE R

Liisa Silander lsilande@risd.edu LEAD D E S I G N E R / PR OD U CTI ON COOR D I NATOR

Elizabeth Eddins 00 GD WR ITE R S

Robert Albanese Lauren Maas Simone Solondz

BORN IN… 1908?!

PH OTOG RAPH E R

Jo Sittenfeld MFA 08 PH campus/event photos unless otherwise credited

Barbara Gibbs Barton, a 1930 graduate of RISD’s Decorative Design program, turned 110 on October 11, 2018. As the oldest living alum we know about, she lives in East Providence and is still “steady and very creative,” according to her daughter Charlotte Sornberger, who is 82 and lives nearby. Even now, Barbara’s four elderly children say they’re still learning from her in new ways. “We spend more time with her and talk about ideas with her,” Sornberger notes. “She is very much a liberal thinker.” While working for decades as a fabric designer at J & P Coats, a regional textile design company, Barbara always enjoyed painting and her home is filled with watercolors—some dating back to her days at RISD. “If there’s any secret at all [to her longevity],” Sornberger says, “it’s that she’s very positive. She always sees the glass as half full.”

CONTR I B UTI N G I LLU STRATOR

Melinda Beck 89 GD cover illustration and feature title designs OTH E R CONTR I B UTOR S

Mays Albaik MFA 19 GL (Listen / pages 8–9) Hannah Beem Blackburn 05 FD + Chris Blackburn 03 SC (page 76) Jennifer Woronow 06 IL (Sketchbook / pages 96–97) BACK COVE R

John Sebelius 06 IL detail of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (one of nine US Supreme Court justices charged with collaborating to reach consensus) from the 2018 ink and watercolor series Powerful Women (see also page 79) E X E CUTIVE D I R E CTOR OF ALU M N I R E LATI ON S

Christina Hartley 74 IL PR I NTI N G

Lane Press, Burlington, VT paper: 70# Opus Satin (R) FSC text and 80# Sterling Dull (R) FSC cover F ONTS

Quiosco, designed by Cyrus Highsmith 97 GD (see page 74) and Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk

Making My Way

by Jerrelle Guy 12 IL

R I S D XYZ

Two College Street Providence, Rhode Island 02903-2784 USA risdxyz@risd.edu

risd.edu/xyz Published twice a year by RISD Media (in conjunction with Alumni Relations) AD D R E S S U P DATE S

Postmaster: Send address changes to Office of Advancement Services RISD, Two College Street Providence, RI 02903 USA

2008: I hop off a plane from WPB, FL and scale College Hill. My love affair with The Met — and its endless supply of food — begins. Diane Hoffman teaches me to draw with my body.

2011: Junior year my heart is broken by one of the 12 boys on campus. I dress up as a yellow crayon for Halloween and date a boy from JWU instead.

2012: The summer after graduation I turn 22 and write my first post for my new food blog Chocolate for Basil. Blogging becomes my escape... but eventually I have to get a job to pay off student loans.

THANK YOU

MIX IT UP MORE The latest issue of RISD XYZ was a pleasure to read, the profile on Andrea Zittel MFA 90 SC very interesting and all around the quality of the magazine, images and print was great to engage with. Sam Gordon 94 PT Brooklyn, NY

Sitting in the airport reading the latest issue of RISD XYZ magazine... just wanted to say how much I enjoy the publication and how I look forward to receiving it. It is beautifully crafted and edited. Thanks to you and your team for your work and the inspiration the publication brings to me! Will Saltonstall BArch 93 Marion, MA

2015: I move to Boston in the winter to start the Gastronomy program at BU. Record blizzards hit back-to-back.

Thanks for all of the work you all do at RISD XYZ. I’m always thrilled when my copy arrives in the mail. Kristin Osiecki 05 GD/MAT 10 North Andover, MA

Opening each issue of RISD XYZ is like peering through a portal into a beautiful bold future, its beaming face sculpted, revealed and interpreted by students and alumni far more brave, smarter and more innovative than me. As a proud RISD dad (Class of 21), I can’t wait to see the tapestry woven by your future alumni— each thread unique, passionately expressive, connected to a global network of artists and designers. Jeffrey H. Toney Provost + VP for Academic Affairs Kean University

Union, NJ

A million thanks for the 2 (!!) copies of RISD XYZ! The magazine is beautiful, thoughtful and very interesting—couldn’t put it down! Merle Temkin 58 TX New York, NY

2015: My afro freezes on my way to Food and Business class. I’m still too broke to buy a proper coat. I start Instagramming every day and blogging more, too.

While I am enjoying comments and opinions of the current students [in RISD XYZ], I am finding only one reference covering a graduate prior to 1952. As a resource specifically devoted to alumni, it is your obligation and service to tell the story of graduates who met with great success. I think it would inspire those who are concerned. We would also find it of interest to hear about instructors who taught us so many years ago and who shaped the RISD philosophy. Are they still constructively engaged? Ruth Adler Schnee 45 IA Southfield, MI

Editor’s note: While we may not cover pre-1950s alumni as much as we’d like, we definitely recognize the value of lifelong experience and ongoing practice over decades. In 96 pages we’re only able to convey a fraction of the inspiring work being created by more than 27,000 alumni around the world, so we attempt to cover a good mix of ages and interests, along with news about current and former faculty.

2018: My cookbook Black Girl Baking comes out. Black Panther comes out too. Forbes writes about me and the book, and it’s featured in many cool places, including RISD XYZ — my dream!

Please let us know what you think — about this issue or anything else on your mind: email risdxyz@risd.edu.

// RISDXYZ

to be continued...

fall/winter 2018/19

JUST SAYING… HELLO!

I call this page from my current sketchbook GO BOLD! because I want to do bigger, bolder, freer art. (The picture is of me painting big.) I usually do fairly small drawings—under 8 x 10". My work in general is usually done with coloured pencil or pastel on black or dark paper—normally realistic subject matter: landscapes, nature studies, birds, etc. I participate in local art shows. But I also do cartoons and humorous art too. I’d like to get back to lighter humorous art. And I’d like to GO BIG—like 4 feet x 4 feet, for example. Annette Shaw 64 IL Galiano Island, British Columbia

Enjoyed the latest magazine, still appreciating the gorgeous printed paper! I have never had one of my own works printed [in it], which has left me feeling slightly negative, but here’s a photo of a new painting (above) I did while visiting in Gainesville [FL] recently. A small group of artists hired a brainy model who talked about politics, religion and her wacky family the entire sitting. I feel I caught her attitude. Smart woman who happened to be stunning— and utterly of her era. Freelance illustration and graphics kept me busy for 40 years and I also helped found a 501c3 called Mill Art Center & Gallery in Honeoye Falls, NY. I ran the center for 18 years and gave drawing lessons and taught small classes (one of my students, Matt Cavallero 10 ID, lives and works in Providence). Since moving to the Boston area, I’m trying to figure out where I belong. I am a member of Gallery Nantasket and Hull Artists, but have not ventured further yet, while rebuilding a home on the North Shore and another in the south. Betsy Lee Taylor 74 IL Hull, MA

// comments

Hello everyone. I am sending you good wishes and some images of current paintings, along with my website (valtaus.com), which shows my work as an artist. I am working harder than ever and producing paintings that I love. My work in painting has always been the priority, but my other passion is playing guitar—mostly classical, although I’ve played in bands that were focused on rock ‘n roll and bluegrass. How lucky to be in the arts, painting, drawing, etc. I want to pass along my joyous effort and encourage the next generation to create art that brings joy and wonderment to this planet. Valta Us MFA 80 PT Sag Harbor, NY

Intellectually, nine. Emotionally, five. Shepard Fairey 92 IL rating his satisfaction with his life so far — on a scale of 1 to 10 — in FT (Financial Times) Magazine (7.18)

Throughout history, people don’t really change that much. We make things that please ourselves.

FOLLOWING WITH INTEREST And also be sure to check out the new #LifeAfterRISD series on RISD’s main Instagram page @risd1877.

RISD ID faculty member Michael Lye 96 ID quoted in Medium about the gloves we’ll wear on Mars (6.18)

Well, it really doesn’t feel much different than 35 between my ears, but when I get out of bed in the morning, I realize I’m driving a used car.

Jamall Osterholm 17 AP

@jamallosterholm

Martine Gutierrez 12 PR @martine.tv

Cassie McGettigan MFA 18 TX @cassiemcgettigan

painter and actor Martin Mull 65 PT/MFA 67 responding to what it’s like to still be working and star on The Cool Kids at age 75 (10.18)

Extinction is inevitable but design can help us create a more elegant ending so the next species doesn’t think we’re complete morons.

Jonah Fleeger MFA 19 CR

Jesse Burke MFA 05 PH

Julie O’Rourke 08 TX

@jonah_fleeger

@jesse_burke

@rudyjude

curator and design advocate Paola Antonelli speaking at RISD (10.18)

It’s hard to make something simple or straightforward and feel like you’ve in any way captured how weird it is [to be alive] right now. Misha Kahn 11 FD in an Artsy story about blurring boundaries between art and design (11.28.18)

The more you stand in opposition to something, the more you legitimize that flawed perspective.

Edith Young 11 PH

Carly Ayres 13 ID

Tavares Strachan 03 GL

@edithwyoung

@carlyayres

@tavaresstrachan

In August when a contestant on Jeopardy! picked the category ‘College Courses’ for $600, it took her no time to blurt out “What is the Rhode Island School of Design?” in response to this prompt.

photographer and RISD faculty member Farah Al Qasimi in an interview published on risd.edu (12.11.18)

Please let us know what’s on your mind by emailing risdxyz@risd.edu.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

Redefining Everything Work by a number of alumni — including twins Nikolai and Simon Haas 08 PT— stood out in Miami again as part of the big Art Basel and related events that attract art lovers to the region every December. Collectors appreciate the Haas Brothers’ fantastical zoo of furry benches and anthropomorphic objects. And though they’ve shown at venues in the area a lot in recent years, this is the first time their work is being exhibited as art — in a solo show that runs through April 21 at The Bass museum in Miami Beach. “I went to art school so this is my dream,” Simon told artnet news.

ON BEING EDUCATED WITH ARCHITECTS I decided to become a painter after a 7th grade art class. I thought I could study drawing and painting and never learn all there was to know. I majored in Illustration at RISD because I wanted to learn how to draw and paint realistically; the painters all jumped right into abstraction. Junior year I shared an apartment with Sara Sharr 68 IA, who gave dinner parties for many of her fellow architecture majors. Jim Barnes BArch 69, Rick Ansaldi BArch 69, Sirajit Waramontri BArch 69, Peter Sollogub BArch 69, David Filios BArch 69 and many others shared spaghetti dinners with us, holding intriguing conversations about architecture. “Form follows function” ruled the day then. Jump ahead 27 years. I’m working as an artist-in-residence in the public schools of Oregon, where I came in the Great Youth

// comments

Migration of the 1960s and ’70s. My husband Vernon Adams builds log homes, so for Christmas I give him a book by Jack Sobon BArch 78: Build a Classic Timberframe House. To my total surprise Vernon says, “I’m going to build a timberframe house.” So we bought land off grid next to public lands (BLM). He began building in behind where we lived caretaking 40 acres. We bought recycled bridge timbers that turned beautiful after he ran them through the chainsaw mill. He loved coming home from working with a chain saw all day to work on the timbers with hand tools, cutting mortises and tenons. After nine years we moved into a tipi on our land to begin building. I expected it to be awful, but every day turned into a creative experience. He sometimes felt overwhelmed and it took us 10 years to receive our final certificate of occupancy. But we never took out a home loan and paid as we went. We moved in as soon as we had walls and a roof, using a travel trailer for our kitchen and bathroom. After that adventure of a lifetime I totally love living in this timberframed home, designed and built by us, for us. I’m so thankful to all the architects I met and talked with at RISD who educated and inspired me. Suzon Schulz 68 IL Pineville, OR

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

I was very happy to see my painting in the [Summer 2018 issue of the] magazine but was surprised that the information with it was not at all correct! The painting chosen is called Cold Water Swimmers (54 x 72") but in the magazine, it was titled Resistance [which is 10 x 15" and is shown here]. Neither painting was in my [recent] exhibit but I thought Resistance may have been chosen because the show was in Mexico and it could be seen as a resistance to the current policies of the Trump administration. But I’d like to know what the inaccuracy is about and hope RISD hasn’t fallen into the fake news business! Having the show at the University of Sonora was a wonderful experience for me. The art world in Mexico is great and the people are very kind. Viva Mexico! Paula Wittner 70 PH Patagonia, AZ

Editor’s note: Ack. No fakery intended! The wonderful image we ran on page 68 of the summer issue clearly depicts the swimmers in your title. We’re actually baffled by the error but do know it was totally unintentional.

Art and design courses for credit and professional advancement

Art school before art school

6-week and 2-week sessions

June 24 – August 2

6-week summer program for high school juniors and seniors

June 22 – August 3

RISD alumni tuition discounts

summer.risd.edu

Feedback welcomed at risdxyz@risd.edu.

precollege.risd.edu

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

listen

// reflections, opinions, points of view

HOW TO MAKE A PERSON by Mays Albaik MFA 19 GL TH I RTE E N CE NTU R I E S AGO an alchemist wrote a recipe for making humans. Ja- bir Ibn Hayyan scribed hundreds of books about chemistry and alchemy, astronomy and astrology, engineering, geography, philosophy, physics, pharmaceuticals and physiology. But it was his thoughts on Creation that attracted me to his work. Ja- bir talks of three tiers of being—inanimate, simple life and intelligent life. When I first encountered a reference to his recipe, I wondered: What ingredients turn inanimate matter into a self-determined life—a life with a body granted movement, agency and personhood? I wondered about this as I began to dig deeper into my own person, into the liminality of a third-generation refugee body. I was struggling with giving myself permission to talk about politics in my studio work, and finding reprieve where I could speak with my body—with a physicality that exists, skin and flesh and bones, a person—undeniably. I finally found Ja- bir’s recipe. He instructs: “Begin by placing the bones then the flesh and veins and blood vessels and cartilage.” Could I reverse the recipe, pull the prerequisites of personhood from it and check them against myself? Find proof that my body exists, make its agency indisputable? But what are my bones? What are my flesh and veins? My bones were kneaded with the Ka’ak 1 of every Eid, my flesh baked with the Fatayer 2 of every Friday morning, the veins brewed with the ‘Ahwé 3 after every Maghrib prayer. I think I congealed in small crucibles of family gatherings. “Place each part in its designated location,” Ja- bir writes. My designated location? I grew up between the sun and the waters of the Arabian Gulf. I was made Palestinian-Syrian, in a pot 2,600 kilometers away from Palestine, 2,900 kilometers away from Syria. Left to simmer for as long as the road to either place, bound by the sand of Emirati beaches, created an Aristotelian Perfect Mixture that didn’t exist in either place. No hyphens, no capitals, insoluble: palestiniansyrian. I was 15 when I first visited Mukhayyam4 AlNeirab to get my ID card. On it was listed my official “place of origin”—AlNeirab Refugee Camp. I remember entering the camp underneath a wooden arch, the flags of Syria and Palestine on either side of it. I remember the

streets were dusty, and the sun was glaring and hot. I remember my dad walking quickly, talking excitedly, the way he does when his day is running on schedule. I don’t remember much else. On that day, I hadn’t wondered what it would’ve been like to grow up there, I hadn’t connected that desolate place to the one my dad’s stories were often set in, to the Damask rose and strawberry farms that bordered it. I wish now that I had asked to see them—if only to add color to the sepia memories of my place of origin. I was 19 when I first heard “rejected because of your passport”—a small part-time job I had for months, until the company applied for my labor card and asked me to leave. That, I think, was the first time I was conscious of a need to defend…. But defend what? I wasn’t sure then. “Then affix each part of it in its place,” Ja- bir says. Once this desire to defend surfaced in my consciousness, I started to see it in everything I did. Over the next few years I found myself pulling parts of my parents’ culture close to me, like someone collecting the contents of a spilled bag on a crowded street. I did it in a rush to reconcile who I am. I ate more Levantine food, I switched from espresso to ‘Ahwé, I spoke more Arabic each day. It was as though I was proving to myself that I am who my papers say I am, justifying the obstacles they represented. I further began to see this urge to defend every decision my parents had made raising me: Choosing my name, selecting schools. Everything was an ingredient they carefully picked, prepared and dropped into a cauldron. Everything was a defense against eradication, a resistance to self-erasure—to prove we are who we are. “Make the body out of a glass vessel.” Hollow, see-through. Not invisible, but almost. A material of multiple states, once in constant movement, now a still vessel. I was 23 when I applied for my first travel visa and when I realized it was my body’s agency I’ve been trying to defend. A body that isn’t actually hollow— not see-through. Stateless, yet always of multiple states, always in constant movement. Not hollow, not still, not invisible. This piece originally ran in the Fall 2018 issue of v.1, a publishing platform for RISD students. Mays served as one of four editors of the issue.

1. holiday cookies | 2. breakfast pastries | 3. coffee (as pronounced in a Levantine dialect) | 4. camp

look

// reconsidering experience

After commanding attention in 2016 with Superpredators, his politically astute show at Freedman Fitzpatrick, Julien Nguyen 13 PT has further upped his game. His two 2018 exhibitions — one in London, one in NYC — sparked new interest, and in November Forbes selected him for its 2019 list of 30 Under 30 young artists to watch (see also page 85). Called Ex Forti Dulcedo (loosely “from strength comes sweetness”), Nguyen’s most recent body of work clearly raised his global profile when it was on view last spring at Stuart Shave/Modern Art in London. The work offers reinterpretations of classic biblical stories and Renaissance tropes from a Gen Z perspective — full of gender-forward sensibilities and revisionist thinking. “A sunken-eyed gamin impersonates St. John baptizing the messiah,” writes Mimi Chu in an enthused review for Frieze. Nguyen presents Christ as a tousled teen and the infants from da Vinci’s hallowed Virgin and Child with Saint Anne and Saint John as similarly hip. With its off-kilter perspective, Kye, Sempler Solus (the 22 x 36” oil and tempera on wood panel painting shown here) contrasts with much of the other work from the series yet feels equally allegorical — and also a bit autobiographical. “In the midst of all this cross-pollination, icons are rendered incomplete: the adolescent figures of Christ and John tail off into rough surface markings, as if their sprouting bodies were outgrowing the narrative,” Chu observes. Nguyen’s next solo show opens in early February at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, OH, where it will be on view through June 16. modernart.net/artists/julien-nguyen

// look

image © Julien Nguyen | courtesy Stuart Shave/Modern Art, London

SWEET STRENGTH

Graphic Memories After producing 34 popular books for young readers in the past 17 years, Jarrett Krosoczka 99 IL completed the most difficult one yet — a graphic memoir that was short-listed for a 2018 National Book Award. Hey, Kiddo tells his story of growing up with a mother addicted to heroin, an absent father and grandparents who raised him as his mom bounced in and out of rehab — and his life. “[As a kid] I definitely always felt that my mother loved me, but I also felt total abandonment,” Krosoczka said in an NPR interview. “There are so many kids out there whose parents do terrible things,” he adds. “It’s important for [them] to know that it doesn’t make them a bad person.” studiojjk.com

Painting a Complex Picture In her incisive new book Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over, historian Nell Irvin Painter MFA 11 PT never questions her decision to give up a chaired professorship at Princeton to throw herself into a strange new life — even at age 64. But she does question just about everything else she discovered while earning art degrees from both Rutgers and RISD. “Values that governed my work as a historian — clarity, coherence and representativeness — looked all wrong in art,” Painter admits. But “one of the most enjoyable aspects of Old in Art School,” writes Jennifer Szalai in The New York Times, “is seeing [Painter] relax her historian’s grip on social meaning and open up to new ways of seeing.” nellpainter.com

right: photo by John Emerson

Painter will visit RISD on March 13 to read from her book and participate in an open conversation with the campus community.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

//////////////////////////////////////////////////// // achieving new heights

LETTING GO Xin Liu MFA DM 15 is less interested in exploring the limitations of the human body than transcending them. In addition to staging her zero-gravity performance piece Orbit Weaver last September at the Beijing Media Art Biennale, the artistengineer also curated an exhibition for the annual Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria, in which she spun magnetized “webs” to anchor herself to the walls of the zero-g chamber — in protest of both Newtonian law and the consequences of weightlessness. “It’s time to expect an interplanetary body… free from the grasps of gravity,” says the arts curator for MIT Media Lab’s Space Exploration Initiative.

// look

This winter the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in NYC is hosting a solo show of work Liu made as a 2018 MAD Van Lier Fellow and, in a literal projection of her “cosmic self,” a Blue Origin rocket will carry her robotic avatar — made of mechanized parts, a crystalline shell and her wisdom tooth in the middle — into space. The dance her avatar performs aboard the carrier will form the basis for Everything Beautiful is Far Away, a performance by Liu herself at Max 2019: A Space Festival (May 16 –18) in San Francisco. “All the imaginings we have about space,” she says, “are ultimately about the human experience.” xxxxxxxxxinliu.com

Return of the Airbender With Netflix backing a live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender, the original creators Michael DiMartino 96 FAV and Bryan Konietzko 98 IL have signed on as executive producers and showrunners — welcome news for hardcore fans of the mid-aughts Nickelodeon hit. The Emmy-nominated duo looks forward to bringing a “culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed” interpretation of 12-year-old elemental monk Aang’s adventures to the streaming service — especially in the wake of M. Night Shyamalan’s disappointing 2011 film adaptation. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to build upon everyone’s great work on the animated series,” they say, “and go even deeper into the characters, story, action and world-building.” Production on Avatar begins this year. netflix.com/title/80237957

Ordered Chaos In October, Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza called a pair of wonderfully refurbished basketball courts at the city’s Fargnoli Park (just north of campus) “a shining example” of civic achievement. In helping to reinvigorate the deteriorating surfaces and equipment, multidisciplinary artist Jim Drain 98 SC hoped to capture the hyperkinetic activity of the sport via an ordered chaos of color and pattern. It’s about “really activating the different spaces in which basketball gets played,” he said of the $80,000 project, which was directed by the Los Angeles-based nonprofit Project Backboard and completed over two weeks by 130 volunteers. “Below the hoop I wanted it to be confusing because that’s where all the activity happens,” adds Drain, who recently returned to Rhode Island as his home base. As for his studio work, in December Drain scored a huge hit in Miami with Zapf Dingbats, a solo show of wildly captivating work at Nina Johnson Gallery. ninajohnson.com/exhibitions/jim-drain-zapf-dingbats

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

//////////////////////////////////////////////////// // getting personal

Rise + Shine Since its debut last spring, Maude has been grabbing attention as a fresh alternative to the aesthetically uninspired sex toys dominating the industry. The well-timed startup cofounded by Dina Epstein 06 ID and Eva Goicochea launched with an initial product line that includes a sculptural vibrator, two types of lube and cleverly packaged condoms with names like rise, shine and vibe. “You just bought a $10 juice, but let’s spend some time taking care of yourself in other ways that have similar benefits,” Epstein advised Vogue readers. Their refreshing take has already gotten a bit of buzz: NYMag named Maude’s offering “best in show” in its 2018 roundup of new vibrators on the market. getmaude.com

Bluntly called Betrayal, the blistering oil, acrylic, oil pastel, graphite and charcoal on canvas painting Cindy Ji Hye Kim 13 IL exhibited at Cooper Cole over the summer marks the artist’s first solo show with the Toronto-based gallery. Her deployment of dark humor, unusual framing and visceral details suggest something the gallery recognizes as “absent from the work of her peers”— a bent perspective that is as frank and feral as it is evasive. Think woodblock printing meets Gonzo-style illustration meets Munch in the living room. cindyjihyekim.com

// look

left: courtesy of the artist and Cooper Cole, Toronto

Fine Line

A MOVEMENT OF HUMANS In her sculptural practice, Zoe Karina Lohmann

Now, working with creative collaborator and ex-Cirque du Soleil performer James Kingsford can augment and suppress human emotion. Smith, Lohmann is preparing for the February Through Portraiture Prosthetics, a series of vibrant, premiere of IDIOM, an acrobatic, sci-fi performance haunting appendages, she presents the “someabout the complexity of our relationship to artificial times parasitic and at times symbiotic relationships intelligence. In addition to her contributions to human beings have with themselves.” The dreamcostuming the show at Berlin’s Pfefferberg like costumes evoke the work of Alexander Theater, Lohmann will take on the title role of Idiom, McQueen and Neri Oxman in equal measure. “a sentient and empathetic AI construct created Shortly after graduating, Lohmann headed for in the year 2035.” By envisioning the challenges Berlin, where she quickly immersed herself in the of life in the distant future, she and the rest of the city’s drag/genderfuck performance community troupe — called A Movement of Humans — aim to and experimental theater scene. As Alexander “dig deeply into the various cracks in our human Cameltoe — her drag persona — she sings, dances condition and delve into some of the most complex and performs poetry at festivals and venues questions about AI today.” around the city. zoelohmann.com

16 SC explores the myriad ways in which biodesign

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

//////////////////////////////////////////////////// // connecting through community

Playing Together After Ryan Mather 15 ID took Cas Holman’s Design for Play class at RISD, he was itching to return to a project he had first toyed with in high school (where Dungeons & Dragons was banned because it uses dice). At RISD he teamed up with a couple of friends to prototype a game called FlipTales, but “it never quite found its feet.” Now, as a senior product designer at littleBits, he has worked with Dave Sharp MID 13 and Emily Tuteur MID 11 honing the skills needed to develop FlipTales into a fun party game for creative people. “It’s been amazing to see the RISD community help bring this project to life,” Mather says. “This community has been a foundation for my design practice and will likely be a support system for the rest of my professional career.” playfliptales.com

Wassaic Turns 10 In the past decade, what started as a fleeting summer festival at a rundown grain elevator and mill in Wassaic, NY has flourished into a vibrant arts center and community. When interviewing artists for residences, “I tell them it’s rough,” says Bowie Zunino MFA 09 SC. “Your studio will be in a barn. If [it rains], chances are there’s going to be a bit of water inside, too.” In 2008 Zunino cofounded the Wassaic Project with her husband Jeff Barnett-Winsby MFA 06 PH , friend Eve Biddle and a growing circle of RISD friends. And despite the decay, backbreaking work and initial skepticism from locals, last summer the collaborators celebrated the 10th anniversary of their experiment, which now offers exhibitions, residencies, a summer camp, school arts programming and an on-site bar/restaurant. wassaicproject.org 16

// look

GETTING PEOPLE TALKING Made to raise awareness, an installation called Canopy complements the new Faces of the Rainforest exhibit at Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence. Lead designer Marly Rogers 90 PT collaborated on the multifaceted installation with Brower Hatcher, creative director of the local arts collaborative Mid-Ocean Studio. “The rainforests of South America offer us inexhaustible inspiration,” says Rogers, “but not inexhaustible resources.” So together she and Hatcher brainstormed ideas for creating a piece that would spark conversations among families and other zoo visitors about the fragility of one of the world’s most precious resources. Comprised of three tree-like columns wrapped in circular seating, Canopy offers a cornucopia of 2- and 3D flora and fauna pieces that Rogers masterfully fabricated in clay. Since it was unveiled in November, pedestrians passing beneath the colorful bower have paused to take note of the intricate details. “I like to make new worlds,” Rogers explains, “and part of that is revealing the beauty of this world. There are so many animals on the endangered species list. I hope that our work promotes greater understanding and gets people talking about how we can be better caretakers of animal habitats.” midoceanstudio.com

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

features

// partnerships + collaboration

Artists like Alyson Shotz and the other alumni featured in the following three stories know that when they collaborate, they open up the possibilities for inspiring conversations, expanded production and new discoveries.

For many young alumni, the creative alliances they forge at or right after RISD are both wonderfully inspiring and a reassuring way to get a startup off the ground.

WH E N AN I NTR ICATE M I N IATU R E S ET first caught her eye in the basement of Market House, Emily Collins 08 FAV needed to know who made it. She soon learned it was Michaela Olsen 09 FAV and though they were both still in their junior and sophomore years, respectively, less than a decade later they’d become business partners. “It really was a combination of being super naïve and very, very stubborn,” recalls Jess Peterson, CEO, creative producer and original founder of the Brooklyn-based animation studio Mighty Oak. In 2014 she planted the seed with the aim of building brands for female entrepreneurs, but quickly discovered that her initial idea was too broad and difficult to scale. Meanwhile, at her day job as communications coordinator at the Children’s Museum of the Arts in NYC, an opportunity arose to collaborate on a stop-motion video project with Collins, one of her coworkers. After the two completed that first project, they could immediately see the potential: the animation world was niche enough, the demand for stop-motion high enough and the two talented enough to nurture Mighty Oak 2.0. With that, they became partners.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

Both self-described “peoplepeople,” Collins and Peterson note that their ability to leverage connections was crucial from the outset. “When we started we had no financial backing, no portfolio, no space, no money… we were just coming in with a bold idea,” says Peterson. “But enough of our friends and colleagues were willing to let us create something for them that we were able to attract exciting early clients like The New York Times.” As the Oak started to grow, Collins invited Olsen, whose work had continued to stand out, to get involved as a fabricator and animator. Within a few months, she became a third

// Better Together

partner and director, bringing to the team the expertise she had honed while freelancing for major animation studios. Now, a mere three years later, Mighty Oak has grown into a seven-person, two-dog studio producing whimsical, affecting stop-motion campaigns for some of the most recognizable brands in the world, including HBO, Nick Jr., Netflix, The New York Times and (RISD-alum-founded) Airbnb. COM PLE M E NTARY STR E NGTH S

Each of the three partners brings unique and much-needed skills and interests to the startup. Peterson’s background in communications, customer service and PR—combined with her passion for storytelling—allows her to mix the business end of things with creative production. “By developing strategy, I can take the beautiful work that Emily and Michaela make with our team,” she says, “and put it in a package that can be sold to clients.” Olsen handles much

Emily Collins 08 FAV, Michaela Olsen 09 FAV + Jess Peterson

of the overarching art direction, design and branding for the studio, but likes to get her “hands dirty” whenever possible. Collins bridges the work of the two: “I’ve always been passionate about and fascinated by art making…. I’m very big on managing teams of creative makers and helping them be as productive as possible.” Mighty Oak’s four full-time employees include two other alumni: Anthony Galante 15 FAV and Minkyung Chung 16 IL, who started out as freelancers, and the studio often collaborates with other alumni for specific projects. “There’s a certain openness and agility to RISD students in being able to take

“You don’t have to do everything yourself. You can partner—that’s the whole idea of collaboration.”

In recent projects for (clockwise from left) Airbnb, HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness and TED Talks, the partners at Mighty Oak collaborated with more than half a dozen other RISD grads who work with them on a regular basis. Olsen has also tapped into expertise from fellow FAV alums to create a campy stop-motion animation called Under Covers, which is premiering at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival at the end of January.

mightyoakgrows.com

on any creative task,” says Collins. The first-year Foundation Studies program “forces everyone to explore so many different mediums that it helps teach artists how to be uncomfortable, comfortably. It helps them feel confident when jumping into new territories.” This nimbleness and gumption also fuels the partners’ plans for growing Mighty Oak. “You don’t have to do everything yourself,” Peterson points out. “You can partner— that’s the whole idea of collaboration. Our complementary strengths have really made Mighty Oak what it is.” The partners are especially proud of their work for Terrence Nance’s radical new variety show Random Acts of Flyness on HBO (co-hosted by fellow alum Doreen Garner MFA 14 GL). The series, which tackles issues of race and identity, has allowed the team to embrace new ways that stop-motion can lend itself to raw, risky storytelling. “There can be limitations to the character designs we’re allowed to create for ad agencies,” Peterson says. “But this series is very much about the black experience—about gender fluidity and inclusiveness. It’s such an honor to be able to share stories like that.” Beyond seeking out new and compelling storytelling opportunities, Mighty Oak is working to expand its 2D portfolio to meet the demands of the market—“whatever it takes for us to remain here,” says Olsen. “It feels amazing to be making art in any way possible in the world. Even when it’s high pressure and you’re worried about a deadline, you kind of step back and say, ‘Okay, I’m literally moving a face around on a pineapple.’ We’re pretty lucky to be able to do this kind of thing.” // RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

I N 2017 WH E N CHAR LAP HYMAN & H E R R E RO first showed a concept to the creative director at F. Schumacher & Co., it was with the idea of getting to produce a single carpet. But given the response, what was originally meant to be a capsule collection quickly blossomed into seven wallpaper patterns (with three also available as fabric) for Schumacher and seven rugs for its sister company, Patterson Flynn Martin. “We got to do so many things!” says Adam Charlap Hyman 11 FD, who cofounded the studio with Andre Herrero BArch 12 in 2014 and a year later invited his younger brother, Alexander, to handle the business end of things. “It was crazy,” he says in reference to the Schumacher project. Though the craziness continues—with CHH accepting an invitation to design a labyrinthian set for L’incoronazione

di Poppea at the Cincinnati [OH] Opera last summer and an exhibition for 56 HENRY in NYC in the fall—dabbling in multiple media and disparate arenas comes naturally for the recent RISD grads. “We see ourselves as pretty versatile,” says Charlap Hyman. As the studio’s interior and product design lead based in NYC, he collaborates well with Herrero, who lives in Los Angeles and takes the lead on architectural projects. “We’ve developed a cryptic shorthand,” says Herrero. “If I tried to describe an idea to anyone else, it would take 20 paragraphs. With Adam, it’s a four-word text with a question mark.” That shorthand worked well as the two curated Of Purism, a show that opened in December and continues through February 2 at Nina Johnson Gallery in Miami, where they recently completed an annex. Referencing the late 19th-century movement known as Purismo, the exhibition presents work by a dozen and a half artists—many of whom are RISD friends—who blur perceived bounds between art and design. The way Charlap Hyman and Herrero bounce ideas off each other also allowed for the playful, reference-rich products they designed in 2018 for Schumacher. Their intertwining snakes point to 17th-century drawings by Albertus Seba, while clouds and arrows are a nod to Italian architect and designer Gio Ponti and their woven abaca carpets draw inspiration from tapestries by Alexander Calder. “This is only a fraction of what we were thinking about,” says Charlap Hyman, whose mother—artist Pilar Almon—also collaborated on some of the motifs. “Our ideas come from all different places.” As a versatile firm, Charlap Hyman & Herrero considers all aspects of the built environment, from site plan to interiors and furniture. from l–r: Their design for a mixed-use arts building in Los Angeles | Adam’s playful chair and one of their new rug designs for Patterson Flynn Martin | the team — Alexander, Andre and Adam — with some of the wallpaper, fabric and rugs they designed in 2018 for F. Schumacher & Co.

// Better Together

Adam Charlap Hyman 11 FD + Andre Herrero BArch 12

“We are very different people, but at the root level we agree on a direction, even if we don’t fully know what it is.”

Though the two met at RISD, they initially admired each other’s work from a distance—until Charlap Hyman commissioned Herrero to photograph his apartment in Providence. But after graduating, they ended up inadvertently coming together again when they were hired separately to work on the same New York townhouse—Charlap Hyman as an interior designer and Herrero as the project architect for the studio SO-IL. While working on that project, they heard that Salon 94 was looking to renovate its Bowery gallery, so they decided to go after the project together— and not only got the job but launched their own practice as a result. ch-herrero.com

Word subsequently spread quickly—especially through the art world—and led to work for gallerists such as Leila Heller, Nina Johnson and Tina Kim. Less than five years after they first teamed up, Charlap Hyman and Herrero earned a Forbes 30 Under 30 designation in fall 2017 and last summer were heralded as “the next big thing” in Architectural Digest. More importantly, they’re getting to do an exciting range of projects and many more compelling commissions than they could have imagined. “Things for us just somehow snowballed,” notes Herrero. But despite the amount they’re juggling and the time difference between NYC and LA, they’re making it work. “We are very different people,” says Herrero, “but at the root level we agree on a direction, even if we don’t fully know what it is.” And as Charlap Hyman puts it: “Andre brings his references; I bring mine. We are constantly surprising each other.” // RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

IT WAS CLEAR LY A CAS E OF right time, right place, right person when Aiala Richard 17 AP and Isabel Sicat BRDD 16 IL met at RISD in 2014. A native of Oahu, HI, Rickard was shifting focus from photography to apparel design just as Sicat, a Brown | RISD Dual Degree student from the Philippines, had begun an interdisciplinary concentration in the same department. “Our friendship was initially based on the fact that we are both island girls,” they say. “From there we’ve found that our intelligences, aesthetics and personalities complement each other perfectly.” Today that personal and creative bond is the driving force behind Toqa, the fluid, alternative studio the two launched at the beginning of 2018. For Sicat, who also studied political science at Brown, the idea of starting a new type of apparel-

// Better Together

Aiala Rickard 17 AP + Isabel Sicat BRDD 16 IL

based business began to take shape in 2016 when she was working on her thesis project in her home city of Manila. “The process of locally sourcing fabric, making patterns and refamiliarizing myself with the resources available in the city laid the foundation for something larger,” she says. Once Rickard graduated a year later, the duo reunited in Manila to launch a formal venture that aligns with both their ethical and aesthetic sensibilities. A bold blend of casual chic and clubland cool made entirely from discarded fabric—or “deadstock”—the first Toqa line celebrates Filipino youth culture while eschewing clichéd tropes of “tropical” fashion and the perceived self-seriousness of sustainable apparel. Debuting last February at the inaugural, month-long Manila Biennale (spearheaded by fellow alum Carlos Celdran 96 PT), Toqa drew immediate attention for its dramatic cuts and colors, along with the designers’ cheeky sense of humor. (For some looks, they used fabric dyed with Tang, the classic powdered drink mix that remains popular in the Philippines.)

“The [Toqa] collection is more sporty than boho,” raves a reporter for Fashionista, “more sweat-it-out-on-the-dancefloor than white-girl-hashtagging-‘wanderlust’-on-Instagram.” A Dansk article cites them as among the leaders of an informal youth movement “keen on challenging the conventions” of contemporary fashion. Rickard and Sicat actually see Toqa as primarily a projectbased problem-solving venture and an “artistic commentary” on what they consider to be a very problematic industry. Because the effects of climate change are so visible in the places where they grew up, they invest heavily in sustainable design practices; and in creating everything from functional uniforms for restaurant workers to the ideal popstar mood for a music video to a textile-specific exhibition for the World Wildlife Fund that critiques the apparel industry, they’re bringing a fresh island aesthetic to bear in commenting on a range of issues. Debuting at the Biennale provided the startup with an ideal way to attract global attention while also showcasing the Filipino roots of its first collection. “We wanted everyone at the show to experience the world we’ve been living in and conceptualizing,” the designers say—one “filled with saba chandeliers, capiz disco balls and a healthy dose of danceable music.” Thankful for the support of sponsors and biennale collaborators, they believe the outdoor runway show offered a true

reflection of the underground queer artist community in Manila. “An event of this scale has never before been seen in the predominantly conservative Roman Catholic country,” they noted afterwards. Seeing Toqa as a “roving studio,” the partners imagine relocating to Honolulu in a year or two and drawing from Rickard’s understanding of Oahu to launch a new collection. “Toqa is at heart an invitation,” they say. “It is the idea that something can defy convention and present a new proposition entirely.” Participating in fashion weeks in NYC, London or Paris is not on their agenda, nor is releasing new looks according to a standard, seasonal calendar. Instead, the partners see design as “a democratic medium” and say: “We want to work outside the current infrastructure—both locally and internationally— and help to create a new one.”

“We’ve found that our intelligences, aesthetics and personalities complement each other perfectly.”

Toqa’s first collection (facing page) was a huge hit when it debuted at the first-ever Manila Biennale last February. Since then Isabel and Aiala (l–r in the photo to the left) have been involved in a range of projects, including posing for the cover of Northern Living’s “discourse” issue. They also debuted a capsule collection called tag-ulan (above), which means “rainy season” in Tagalog (aka Filipino). toqa.tv

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

Since their first projects at RISD, architects Byron Kuth and Elizabeth Ranieri have grown together — both personally and professionally.

by Robert Albanese TH E COU PLE HAD B E E N LIVI NG I N SAN FRANCI SCO

for less than a year when, for 15 seconds on October 17, 1989, the Loma Prieta Earthquake struck the Bay Area. “It was very dramatic,” Elizabeth Ranieri BArch 86 remembers. “Areas of the city were in ruins.” Though she and Byron Kuth BArch 86 were primarily focused on teaching at California College of the Arts at the time, the architects were also taking on smallscale work on the side. So when one client’s site—a local winery—incurred substantial damage in the quake, it altered the course of their careers. “In an instant,” Ranieri says, “a small project became large.”

The year following the violent, 6.9-magnitude quake, the couple established Kuth Ranieri Architects, a firm that has since grown in scale and reach while retaining the essence of the studio culture they loved at RISD. In carrying across the country the cooperative spirit and nimble thinking fostered by faculty and fellow students in the Architecture department, Kuth and Ranieri have felt prepared to adapt on the fly. “A real collaborative ethos ran through the Architecture studios,” recalls Kuth, who transferred to RISD from the Boston Architectural Center (now known as the Boston Architectural College) at the start of his fourth year. “And that shaped the ideas we were all working with there. In a way we were all learning to set up our own offices before we even left school.”

TACTICAL U R BAN I S M

Leading a team of roughly 15 architects, designers and project managers, today Kuth and Ranieri continue to build a strong reputation for striking design concepts in both the private and public sectors. And they’re known for championing sustainable practices, through their own work and the Deep Green Design Alliance, a multidisciplinary initiative Kuth founded in 2006.

3 0

// Partners

Byron Kuth BArch 86 + Elizabeth Ranieri BArch 86

Among the firm’s most recent high-profile projects are two collaborations with Gensler: a joint venture on Terminal One at San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and an association on the Golden State Warriors’ Chase Center, an arena set to open in late 2019. In addition, Kuth Ranieri is working on a multifaceted collaboration with Tom Leader Studio Landscape Architects (TLS) at Shishan Park in Suzhou, China that includes transforming an abandoned rollercoaster at the foot of Lion Mountain into a 160,000-sf mixed-use aviary complex (scheduled for completion in 2020). Ranieri and Kuth see each of these massive projects as exercises in tactical urbanism—a way of altering urban space by creating discreet, carefully calibrated interventions within larger architectural structures. For instance, for the Chase Center’s retail esplanade wrapping the base of the arena and both the main and theater lobbies—all of which are open to the public—they’ve designed episodic “gestures” that they hope will inspire intimate, personal experiences within the larger context of an 18,000-seat venue. “This building will be more than an arena,” Ranieri affirms. “It will be an extension of the public realm.”

previous spread: Kuth Ranieri Architects is collaborating with TLS on transforming a former rollercoaster into a 160,000-sf aviary at Shishan Park in Suzhou, China. this spread: In a joint venture with Gensler, the firm is designing a new terminal for San Francisco International Airport due to open in 2022. Spaces shown here are the Recompose area, the Arrivals Hall and the Departures Hall, meant to feel like a living room for travelers.

previous spread: architect to TLS Landscape Architecture | images courtesy of Kuth Ranieri Architects

Feeling an especially strong affinity for one another’s work, Ranieri and Kuth initially moved to Boston after graduation, where they continued to moonlight on studio projects together before relocating to California in the late 1980s. There they got married and, while running their growing practice, raised three children. Among the many shared values that have defined their creative partnership over the past three decades is a strong belief in the problem-solving power of the design process. “We believe that design can always make a difference,” Ranieri says. “So looking at projects through a design lens is what we really enjoy.”

this spread: in joint venture with Gensler | images courtesy of Gensler

Likewise with SFO’s Terminal One Center (scheduled for completion in 2022) and Big Room, a cross-disciplinary workspace designed within an existing airplane hangar. By focusing on the visceral and tactile aspects of interior architecture, Kuth Ranieri has been able to bring forth something that aligns with “the overall expression of the project,” Ranieri says, “while getting to do what we love—to really engage in the details, in the tactility of the surfaces and the experience [of the space] from a user’s perspective.” As with the Chase Center, Ranieri recognizes that the success of the SFO projects stems from the collaborative harmony with both Gensler and the clients. “There’s an alignment with our office culture and Gensler’s,” she says, “and we both came to the table wanting to make a distinctly regional airport terminal that invokes a feeling of San Francisco in travelers.” Leaders at SFO, too, hoped that by integrating distinctly local features into the terminal they could restore a sense of romance to the overall travel experience—something that really played to Kuth Ranieri’s expertise in designing “immediate and highly crafted interiors.”

D I SCUSS ION + D I SCOVE RY

Both Kuth and Ranieri see the ongoing shift in the architectural marketplace as an exciting moment for smaller studios like theirs that are able to contribute the type of innovative thinking and adaptability larger firms so value. Kuth traces this quality back to RISD, where everyone brought a wide variety of ideas and problem-solving skills to the table. It’s also this flexible approach to practice that helped Kuth Ranieri adjust to the post-recession realities of the market, which forced them to reconsider their initial emphasis on residential work. “We had to reengineer our practice,” Kuth recalls. “So we went back to the essence of who we are and what we love about this medium.” For him that meant finding a small, quiet room where he could solve design problems; for her it meant walking into big rooms and engaging with people. “Before 2008 we used to just wait for the phone to ring,” Ranieri says—“and it always rang. But once we set our sights on public space and civic projects and all the issues around them, we knew we had to think differently.” Although the partners admit to growing pains along the way, both say that by recommitting to core principles, they laid the foundation for the highly collaborative practice that’s now thriving again a decade later.

“A real collaborative ethos ran through the Architecture studios [at RISD] and that shaped the ideas we were all working with.”

kuthranieri.com

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

“Once we set our sights on public space and civic projects and all the issues around them, we knew we had to think differently.” bridges and more, Kuth Ranieri’s designs for the park simultaneously reference traditional Chinese art and gesture toward the region’s burgeoning tech industry. The aviary, which will house approximately 20 species of indigenous birds and include an avian care facility, reimagines the movements of rollercoaster cars as a series of connected, elevated walkways that converge on a central “infinity loop” offering privileged views of Lion Mountain, the lake and the surrounding valley. Acknowledging the challenges of communicating such an audacious design concept from across the Pacific, Ranieri admits some amazement at “the kind of risk the city of Suzhou has been willing to take on” in supporting the vision they’ve presented with TLS. In fact, this project has also opened a gate to further work with Suzhou’s government and TLS (whose second office in Shanghai helps facilitate smoother real-time collaboration).

designed and built by Kuth Ranieri Architects | image courtesy of Kuth Ranieri Architects | photo by Brad Knipstein

The principals also recognize just how critical their partnership with their own team is in realizing projects like SFO and Chase Center. Like the structures they design, Kuth and Ranieri have established a carefully calibrated studio— a mix of specialists connected by a specific approach to architecture. “We’re very trusting that someone who knows how to think through problems can figure out how to do it,” Ranieri says. And in order to orient their team around the firm’s largest, most time-consuming projects, they also retain a separate “thinkspace” in the office—what Ranieri calls their “war room… for discussion and discovery.” For much of 2018 the walls of this workspace have been lined with images and design sketches for the firm’s ongoing partnership with TLS for the city of Suzhou: a green transformation of a dilapidated amusement park just outside of Shanghai. Encompassing teahouses, a sports pavilion, foot

// Partners

Byron Kuth BArch 86 + Elizabeth Ranieri BArch 86

architect to TLS Landscape Architecture | images courtesy of Kuth Ranieri Architects

left: Composed of 235 cardboard tubes, sonoGROTTO created a space of respite along a busy Market Street sidewalk in San Francisco. this page: The aviary in Suzhou repurposes the structure of the rollercoaster to create elevated walkways that converge on a central “infinity loop” with spectacular views of the park, where they’re also designing inviting lakeside pavilions available for special occasions.

kuthranieri.com

LU M I NOS ITY

Even as their engagement in major municipal projects grows, Ranieri and Kuth also value small, hands-on projects to help maintain the firm’s studio culture. As at RISD, “we’ll go wild just exploring a single material and its potential,” Ranieri says. For one especially satisfying project, the studio handbuilt a large structure of cardboard tubes that was installed in downtown San Francisco for the 2016 Market Street Prototyping Festival. Called sonoGROTTO, the piece was an exercise in “reframing the city and skyline that we take for granted so that we can see them in a new way,” Kuth says. “That can really alter and enhance how we experience the city.” Unlike other projects at the festival, theirs wasn’t at all interactive: “It was just a respite, a refrain,” Ranieri says, from the rest of the overstimulating urban environment. Perhaps it comes as no surprise that visitors flocked to such an anachronistically low-key, lo-fi intervention in the urban heart of San Francisco’s commercial district and rewarded it with a People’s Choice Award. Though they’ve continued to earn accolades for residential work and smaller-scale public works, both Kuth and Ranieri still approach design problems of all scales with the same enthusiasm and curiosity that drew them together at RISD. “You can find opportunities anywhere for bringing forward an expression of community that delights clients and users alike,” Kuth says. “Even the most ordinary kinds of problems can become luminous.”

“You can find opportunities anywhere for bringing forward an expression of community that delights clients and users alike.”

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

photo ©Jeffrey Scott French

Though artists often work alone in the studio, many rely on production assistants, curators, gallerists and reps to get their work out into the world. For Stephen Talasnik and Alyson Shotz — the two alumni whose work is highlighted in the following stories — finding the right people to work with has made all the difference in the world.

by Liisa Silander

Stephen Talasnik with Spruce Goose (2011–17, wooden dowels, 320 x 10 x 98")

OPE N U P TH E N EW BOOK U N EARTH E D (Monacelli Press), a lovely survey of recent drawings, sculpture and installations by Stephen Talasnik 76 PT, and you’ll begin to discover just why the Painting alum has hit his stride working at the intersection of architecture, sculpture and drawing. As a boy Talasnik was fascinated with everyday structures around him, including at the oil refineries and shipyards in his working-class neighborhood in Philadelphia. He would puzzle his way through the mysteries of physics and spatial dynamics by building intricate models—of imagined cities, miniature roller coasters, blimps, flying machines, suspension bridges— using toothpicks and parts scavenged from old radios and TVs. But as an adult he didn’t begin working three-dimensionally until relatively late in his career—in fact, not until the summer of 2001, a full 25 years after graduating from RISD. That first quarter century after RISD brought the swirl of grad school at Tyler (which included study in Rome), a stint on the Jersey Shore working as a window decorator and then

as a political cartoonist, followed by a position as exhibitions coordinator at Fleisher Art Memorial in Philadelphia. Eventually Talasnik taught for three years at Temple University’s branch campus in Tokyo, and seized the opportunity to travel extensively in China, Thailand and the Philippines. During his travels, he threw himself into learning everything he could about the Far Eastern tradition of hand-building houses, bridges and irrigation systems using indigenous natural materials like bamboo, reed and vines. During these decades, Talasnik pursued drawing as his preferred medium, thanks in part to early inspiration from two RISD professors of photography. “The inestimable Aaron Siskind and the inscrutable Harry Callahan,” as art critic Phyllis Tuchman notes in Unearthed, had introduced him to the graphic works of Seurat and Giacometti, along with the pleasures of working in black and white. From the 1980s to 2000, Talasnik was known primarily for “his meticulous draftsmanship,” Tuchman points out. His intricate, highly

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

“We were extremely lucky to have such an articulate, charming and delightful polymath as our Charon.” Tippet Rise cofounder Peter Halstead

top: Hive (2018, woven flat reed and pine infrastructure, 20' t x 14' d), Talasnik’s most recent piece for Tippet Rise Art Center. above l–r: Time Traveler, Tower Series #3 and Tower Series #9. Drawings are all from 2018 and are 20 x 15" in graphite and ink on paper.

3 6

// Synergy

Stephen Talasnik 76 PT

photos ©Jeffrey Scott French

detailed drawings of structure and form were exhibited widely—especially in Europe, where they landed in permanent collections at the Albertina, British Museum and the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, among many others. But once Talasnik returned from the Far East and settled in NYC, he began experimenting with bamboo as a sculptural medium. Though he continued to exhibit drawings (and still does), he became increasingly fascinated with building intricate structures using bamboo. The material, he discovered, allows him to draw in space, leading to an almost seamless transition from 2D to 3D work. “How a sculpture is made is almost as important as how it looks,” Talasnik tells Tuchman. “I start with various kinds of frame-like, irregular grids [and] don’t measure them. I overlap them.” After years of practice, he now works intuitively, letting his hands be the guide until he makes a structure that stands. “Comprised of complex networks, [these sculptures] take your vision on all sorts of adventures and detours,” Tuchman observes. “There are no beginnings, no ends.”

from top to bottom: Talasnik’s large-scale bamboo installations include Floating World (2013, 30 floating sculptures of variable dimension) at Denver [CO] Botanic Gardens, Stream (2010, 115 x 90 x 15') at Storm King Art Center in New Windsor, NY and Sanctuary (2015, five floating sculptures of variable dimensions) at Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center in Garrison, NY.

top: photo ©Jon Schramm | middle right: photo ©Jerry L. Thompson | below right: photo ©Don Pollard

FR U ITFU L PARTN E R S H I P

In 2010 a fortuitous commission from Storm King—the renowned outdoor art center an hour north of NYC—proved to be a turning point in Talasnik’s momentous shift toward sculpture. Stream, the intriguing tangle of bamboo sculpture he made for Storm King, led to a cascade of other marvelous bamboo pieces—including Adrift / Afloat at Rockefeller Center in 2011, Floating World at Denver [CO] Botanic Gardens in 2013 and Sanctuary at Manitoga/The Russel Wright Design Center in Garrison, NY in 2015. And it also opened the door to a related but distinctly different body of work commissioned by Tippet Rise Art Center in Fishtail, MT. As Tippet Rise cofounders Cathy and Peter Halstead explain in Unearthed, when they first stumbled across Stream at Storm King, they “had never seen anything like it… It was like frozen fireworks. It was as if a building disappeared and its electrical wires remained.” At the time, the Halsteads were just beginning to think about their own project—a new art center and outdoor sculpture park on 12,500 acres in Montana—so they were eager to find out more about the artist who had made this crazy 115-foot-long sprawl of bamboo. “We called him up,” Peter writes, “and the conversation has never stopped…. Stephen was there at the very beginning. He was our first step into the mysterious world of commissioning a sculpture.” Since 2011 Talasnik has continued to work closely with the Halsteads. “Stephen’s work represents two directions we wanted to pursue at Tippet Rise: freedom of form and the intersection of architecture and art,” Peter explains. “It’s intricate—like a Bach fugue (Stephen’s mother was an opera singer)—but it’s also fun, like the scaffolding of a roller coaster.” As he and his partners built Tippet Rise into what it is today, “we were extremely lucky to have such an articulate, charming and delightful polymath as our Charon,” he says. stephentalasnik.com

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

Satellite #5: Pioneer (2016), the most recent outdoor piece Talasnik created for Tippet Rise, offers just one example of what this fortuitous meeting of minds has yielded. It sits on the interior slope of a geological bowl and, in line with its rugged surroundings, is made of yellow cedar logs joined with Corten steel. After eight months in development in New York, the artist worked with engineers and a building crew on site in Montana to construct the 50 x 35 x 45-foot sculpture—one in a series of pieces named after NASA space probes—over a fourmonth period. “Nestled in its own cradle of enveloping knolls, surveying the rolling coulees and hummocks of the surrounding moonscape, Pioneer invokes… the spirit of exploration that wove the wilderness of the American West into the continuing search for identity on the open range,” Halstead exudes. “It asks us to imagine the celestial synergies of the Stone Age, when the emptiness of the world brought us closer to nature.” 3 8

// Synergy

Stephen Talasnik 76 PT

photos © Erik Petersen

Set on the slope of a geological bowl at Tippet Rise Art Center — a 12,500-acre sculpture park in Montana — Satellite #5: Pioneer is one in a series of pieces named after NASA space probes. After eight months of planning in the studio, Talasnik worked with a construction crew to make the 50 x 35 x 45-foot sculpture out of yellow cedar logs joined with Corten steel. “How a sculpture is made is almost as important as how it looks,” the artist notes.

TH E PAST YEAR HAS PROVE N to be especially momentous for Alyson Shotz 87 TX, a Brooklyn-based artist who has been called a “poet of space” for spellbinding installations that play with light, gravity and mass, and appear to move and change like sentient beings. After Object for Reflection, a large-scale undulating sculpture, was included in the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao’s 2017–18 exhibition Art and Space, the museum added the work—made of thousands of tiny aluminum pieces handfolded around stainless steel rings—to its permanent collection. Likewise with Scattering Screen, an outdoor sculpture recently added to the collection at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, AR, where it’s now on view through April 2019. The mesmerizing drape of thousands of stainless steel disks is painstakingly hand-knit together with wire, forming a malleable and light-permeable piece that feels very different from traditional welded steel sculptures. alysonshotz.com

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

When installing intricate large-scale pieces like Scattering Screen (shown here and on the previous page), Shotz partners with assistants she can trust with painstakingly delicate work. In 2018 the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao acquired her sculpture Object of Reflection (previous page) and she completed The Moon’s Eyelid (facing page) for a new building at NYU. In 2019 her thread drawings (below) will be on view in a solo show marking the installation of a stunning new commission at the Hunter Museum in Chattanooga, TN.

The Moon’s Eyelid, Shotz’s largest sculpture to date and her first major commission in NYC, also found a permanent home in 2018 and now greets visitors to the newly constructed Kimmel Pavilion at New York University’s Langone Health campus at the corner of 34th Street and First Avenue in Manhattan. Taking its title from a line of poetry by Adrienne Rich, the dramatic piece is an ellipse folded into itself like an eyelid. It hangs in a four-story atrium, absorbing and refracting sunlight so that its appearance changes during the course of each day and each season. After two and half years of work, Shotz says she’s pleased with the result. “It was very good to see that my models and intuition about the scale of the sculpture in relationship to the space were correct,” she says. “But as a physical, 50-foot object in space, it surprised me because it’s even more dynamic than I thought it would be—and it looks really different from each floor.” As 2018 came to a close, Shotz was finalizing a large-scale installation for the Hunter Museum of Art in Chattanooga, TN that will be unveiled in March, along with a solo show of new thread drawings, a large white chain piece, a selection of ceramics and several crushed metal pieces. The as-yet-untitled installation will hang in the cathedral-like, glass-walled grand foyer of the museum’s west wing, overlooking the Tennessee River. “The Acquisitions Committee was enamored with the alluring quality of Alyson’s work and felt the dynamic nature of her proposal would be the perfect complement to the

“Many of these commissions have allowed me to stretch and be way more ambitious than I ever could have been just working on my own.”

4 0

// Synergy

Alyson Shotz 87 TX

grandeur of the foyer—beautiful, welcoming, always changing,” notes Virginia Anne Sharber, executive director of the Hunter Museum. For her part, Shotz acknowledges that it’s a huge honor to be selected for the Hunter Museum commission after an exhaustive, three-year process. “From the start I was excited because it’s for a museum collection and there couldn’t be a better context for my work,” she says. “But there are

challenges all the way through this kind of process. I have to make the piece fit the budget while making it ambitious enough so that it’s exciting for me and for the museum. I have to assemble a really good team and supervise everything to make sure details are all done right. And I have to work with a lot of different people and keep communication going between them.” As a well-established artist full of energy and endless ideas, Shotz likes experimenting with a wide range of materials— from aluminum, acrylic and steel to mirrors and lenses to porcelain and thread— and creating new work and processes by “trial and error.” She sees commissions as valuable opportunities “to do expensive or very large-scale work I could not do otherwise,” as she puts it. “When I’m conceptualizing something or shaping it, I have to do that work alone in my studio with no distractions. But many of these commissions have allowed me to stretch and be way more ambitious than I ever could have been just working on my own.” Shotz, who’s represented by Derek Eller Gallery in NYC and whose work is included in major collections at the Whitney, the Guggenheim in NYC, the Hirshhorn and San Francisco MoMA, among others, has always been selective about commissions, eager to make sure the opportunities match the challenges involved. “I want to work with people who will take a chance on new work and who will be enthusiastic partners,” she explains. “When I did a commission at Stanford University in 2013, the committee was really excited and willing to step into the unknown with me. I had never made that type of sculpture at that type of scale and they gave me the opportunity. It was a huge honor—and a lot of fun.” Six years later the opportunities keep coming for Shotz. In that time she has not only pushed her own practice but really come to understand the importance of trust to successful collaborations. “When you’re working on this scale, you can’t do it alone,” the artist acknowledges. “In the days when I did everything myself, I got about 1/100th as much work done as I do now.” As so many creative practitioners know, however, finding the right people to work with isn’t easy. “Last time I hired, I went through hundreds of applications to find the wonderful assistants I have now,” Shotz says. “It was a lot of work, but that work paid off. There has to be a huge amount of trust in the studio.” alysonshotz.com

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

reflect

// a message from the president

THE POWER OF COLLABORATION

OVE R MY MANY YEAR S AT R I S D , I have engaged

in a variety of collaborations as a designer, educator and administrator. I’ve also seen a range of ways that alumni choose to team up on projects and novel startups, noticing that the best collaborations often stem from opposite approaches. On one side are the equally naïve, who through a mix of brainstorming, courage and camaraderie buoy each other up during the often-arduous journey to success. At the other extreme are well-matched pros—each with distinct viewpoints and skill sets but also a shared aesthetic or principles and values—who question and prod each other into new creative terrain. Rarely do successful collaborative teams draw from both the naïve and the seasoned—and if they do, they often don’t last. One of my favorite design collaborations at RISD was almost 15 years ago when I worked with two other faculty members in Furniture Design, John Dunnigan MFA 80 ID and Peter Walker, to design furnishings for the new residence hall for 500+ students at 15 West. As partners in a startup we called DEZCO, we were committed to small-scale production within a very tight budget. During the research process, which began in 2004, we each asked different critical questions but shared the goal of representing RISD’s values of innovation, flexibility, good design and sustainability. This approach ultimately yielded a line of durable, contemporary furniture that drew from our individual strengths and was conceptually innovative, while being easy to produce by local manufacturers. The pieces featured minimal visible hardware—a crucial concern as RISD students had been known to

Simple but ingenious, the bed designed by three Furniture Design faculty members for student housing at RISD can be used either high off the floor or low simply by flipping it over.

disassemble furniture to use the pieces in their own projects. One of our trickiest challenges— and proudest achievements— was the design of The Flip Bed, which serves both students who like to sleep off the ground loft-style and store their belongings beneath their bed and those who prefer beds lower to the ground for easy access. Fourteen years after we first introduced this line, the furnishings remain in use—and more importantly, John, Peter and I remain friends (though we’re no longer making furniture together). VALU E D PARTN E R S

While all sorts of interesting collaborative projects are always in process at RISD, as a community we also value collaboration with valued partners—from our neighbor Brown University, to research sponsors at NASA and the National Science Foundation, to the governments of Morocco and Portugal, with whom we’re pursuing exciting new multiyear projects. This year I invited Murray Moss, the cofounder and creative mind behind the late, great SoHo design gallery MOSS, to engage in an academic collaboration exploring

the expansive and integrative nature of design. I can’t imagine a better partner. During the 18 years he ran his eponymous gallery, he changed the way a wide array of design and art disciplines are perceived and appreciated. In the fall Moss visited campus to offer two public presentations followed by graduate-level workshops in the RISD Museum. By referencing a range of works that offer new paradigms for the future of design, students have had the opportunity to expand their critical vocabulary, refine their oral presentation skills and enrich their understanding of today’s “made world.” In the spring selected students will participate in a workshop at Moss’ home in Connecticut,

Find ongoing stories about students, faculty and alumni at risd.edu/news. Use the search icon in the top right nav bar on the page to find the following stories by title:

“What ultimately ties us together is a collective belief that art and design are powerful, challenging and inspiring practices through which we can both find refuge and catalyze change….”

Gallardo Gives RISD a Rosy Glow Brooklyn-based illustrator Marly Gallardo 15 IL created an

upbeat poster meant to attract the attention of high school students across the country.

Exploring Gambiarra in Brazil With support from a 2018 Fulbright Fellowship, Gayle Forman 14 GL is pushing the bounds of materials exploration in São Paulo.

Advocating for Civic-Minded Design As the keynote speaker at Rhode Island Design Week, former White House Creative Director Ashleigh Axios 08 GD reflects on lessons learned from President Obama.

Filmmaking in Between Mexican filmmaker and MacArthur Award winner Natalia Almada MFA 01 PH is one of four artists selected as an Art of Nonfiction Fellow at Sundance.

where each room captures his uncanny affinity for the best in 21st-century design. This year I have also been focused on another important collaborative project, consulting with students, faculty, staff and alumni to develop RISD’s new strategic plan. When it goes into effect this spring, the plan will offer a blueprint for new interdisciplinary research and curricular innovation. As president I also appreciate the privilege of interacting with generations of our extended community. When speaking with students, families and alumni from around the world, I am extremely moved Follow the president on twitter.com/somerson.

to hear their stories about the impact RISD has made on their lives. Through these stories, I see that in addition to our immediate affinity for this extraordinary place, what ultimately ties us together is a belief that art and design are powerful and inspiring practices through which we can both find refuge and catalyze change in these particularly fraught times. —Rosanne Somerson 76 ID

Making Inroads in India Given growing alarm about global warming, Mudita Pasari MA 17 feels renewed urgency to use her design expertise to promote sustainability and environmental awareness. // RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

two college street

//â&#x20AC;&#x2030;â&#x20AC;&#x2030;campus community newsbits

Supporting the Ultimate Collaborators Since establishing their first hive on campus last summer, students involved in the RISD Beekeeping club have been monitoring activity in the garden at the President’s House on Bowen Street. They also harvested their first batch of honey from an apiary started in 2017 at the Southside Community Land Trust in Providence. “We’ve bottled and labeled our light and herbaceous summer 2018 honey and are partnering with Carr Haus Café to bring it to students this Wintersession,” says club leader Wynn Geary 19 ID. Since founding the club in 2016 he has created sensor kits to track the health of honeybee colonies, while other students have painted a custom “beehive super,” made unique additions to the hives and explored 3Bee printing.

NEW GRAD PROGRAM ON COASTAL SUSTAINABILITY Responding to global ecological and social transformations, the Landscape Architecture and Marine Affairs departments at RISD and the University of Rhode Island (URI), respectively, will offer a joint program for graduate students starting this fall. “Increasingly, we need to adopt interdisciplinary approaches to environmental issues,” says Assistant Professor Emily Vogler, head of Landscape

“Increasingly, we need to adopt interdisciplinary approaches to environmental issues.” Landscape Architecture Department Head Emily Vogler

Architecture. Through the new Master of Landscape Architecture/Master of Marine Affairs program, both students and faculty will deepen their commitment to coastal stewardship. In recent years, as the department began pursuing research projects focused on coastal issues in Rhode Island, former Department Head Scheri Fultineer (now interim associate provost and dean of Architecture and Design) initiated discussions about a formal partnership between Landscape Architecture and URI. “Finding better ways to deliver information to For more stories about students and studios, go to risd.edu/news.

experts, practitioners and the public is essential,” notes URI Assistant Professor Austin Becker, who directs the graduate programs in Marine Affairs. Acknowledging that “visual communication is an important part of that,” he adds that two URI doctoral students who went to RISD—José Menéndez MFA 17 GD and Peter Stempel BArch 93—have made an enormous impact on his own research. “We hope to curate a conversation around the changes occurring along our coasts and learn what the landscape architecture field can contribute to and gain from collaborating with people in allied professions,” Vogler sums up. “It’s a matter of saying, ‘Here’s an issue that’s extremely complex— so how do we work together to address it?’”

A series of recent projects on Narragansett Bay has led RISD’s Landscape Architecture and URI’s Marine Affairs departments to team up to offer a new graduate program.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

LEARNING FROM LIFE In early fall the Nature Lab wrapped up its 80th anniversary celebration with Biodesign: From Inspiration to Integration, a fascinating multidisciplinary exhibition at Woods-Gerry Gallery. Cocurated by Co-Works Director David Kim MFA 14 DM and RISD EPSCoR Coordinator Lucia Monge MFA 15 SC in collaboration with biotechnologies expert William Myers, the exhibition showcased 24 creative projects that incorporate nature in nondestructive, mutually beneficial ways. Cosponsored by the Nature Lab, Co-Works and Campus Exhibitions, Biodesign opened in August with a half-day symposium in which selected artists spoke about their contributions to the rapidly growing field. In welcoming the audience, Nature Lab Director Neal Overstrom emphasized the need for collaborative, transdisciplinary thinking when addressing global environmental problems. “The Nature Lab provides a platform for conversations about natural science that wouldn’t happen outside of an art and design school,” Overstrom noted. “It encourages new associations, ideas and questions about our rapidly changing relationship to living systems and how we might use innovations in biotechnology to address planet-wide problems like climate change.” Works in the exhibition included a memorial to transgenic lab rats by visual/media artist Kathy High, pieces from poet and visiting faculty member Jen Bervin’s Silk Poems project and a series of computer-generated plant forms by computational 46

// two college street

“The Nature Lab provides a platform for conversations about natural science that wouldn’t happen outside of an art and design school.” Nature Lab Director Neal Overstrom

artist Jon McCormack that suggest the ability of computers to mimic human imagination. These projects highlighted how the space for cross-disciplinary creativity prompted by scientific research and artistic imagination is expanding exponentially.

The Nature Lab topped off its year-long 80th anniversary celebration with a symposium and exhibition bringing together odd and interesting creative projects centered on nature and biodesign.

As Myers noted at the Biodesign symposium, artists and designers inspired by and contributing to advances in biological research are “inviting us to reexamine our relationship to the living world and offering us approaches to making that relationship mutually beneficial.”

Learn more about ongoing work in this field at naturelab.risd.edu.

New Student Housing On October 5, alumni, trustees and other special guests joined members of the campus community for the official groundbreaking for the newest addition to RISD’s first-year housing complex — on what was once Nickerson Green. “The Quad hasn’t changed since I lived here back in the dark ages,” President Rosanne Somerson 76 ID quipped while wearing a hard hat and wielding a ceremonial shovel. Designed by the architecture studio NADAAA, the new residence hall is the first major building project RISD has undertaken in nearly

30 years. The Boston-based firm is led by awardwinning architect Nader Tehrani BArch 86, who also partnered on the inspired design of the RISD library in the former grand banking hall at 15 West. Tehrani and his colleagues at NADAAA began by consulting with current students about what they want in on-campus housing and then designing a residence hall for 152 undergraduates that will address those needs — including spaces for displaying work, socializing and collaborating on projects. The new facility is expected to be ready by the start of classes this fall, with renovations to other Quad buildings to follow.

Trustees, President Somerson, architect Nader Tehrani BArch 86 and several senior administrators did the honors at the official groundbreaking for RISD’s first new housing complex in almost 30 years.

RECONSIDERING UTOPIA

“We have to grapple with the crisis of the crisis and with the crisis of the imagination.” Dean of Liberal Arts Damian White

In early November RISD hosted Climate Futures, Design and the Just Transition, a two-day symposium tied to urgent environmental concerns along with RISD’s new MA program in Nature–Culture–Sustainability Studies. Building on previous gatherings at Brown and Northeastern University, the two-day event brought together experts from a range of fields to present research and spark dialogue about how environmental and social justice movements can reinforce each other. For more stories about students and studios, go to risd.edu/news.

“We have to grapple with the crisis of the crisis and with the crisis of the imagination,” noted Dean of Liberal Arts Damian White in welcoming the crowd. Speakers such as author Juliet Schor, Intercept writer Kate Aronoff and RISD faculty members Namita Dharia, Lili Hermann and Ijlal Muzaffar addressed topics ranging from the limits of the sharing economy for driving change to public ownership of clean energy and the future of “green social democracy.” In a call for unrestrained activism that captured the spirit of Climate Futures, Boston University faculty member Julie Klinger urged the audience “to allow ourselves to think about utopia—to imagine beautiful things and be idealistic [in] expressing the world that we want to see.” // RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

TIMELY METAPHOR Kate Irvin (left), curator of Costume and Textiles, speaks about the thinking behind Repair and Design Futures, a major new exhibition she organized at the RISD Museum this year.

With Repair and Design Futures—an exhibition and related programming that opened in October and remains on view through June—the RISD Museum is inviting viewers to consider the practice of mending as a form of material intervention and call to action. Objects in the exhibition represent the acts of repair and reuse in cultures around the world and over more than three centuries, pointing to conservation as a metaphor for socially engaged design.

NEW PERPECTIVES FROM DELHI As the 2018 Kirloskar Visiting Scholar in Painting, Delhi-based artist Asim Waqif—who was educated as an architect—spoke about rejecting an overly professionalized, top-down model for producing work in favor of making immersive art projects in service of sustainability and the public good. During his weeklong residency, he also engaged with students through informal crits and a series of workshops at the RISD Museum. In discussing the relationship between art and activism, Waqif questions the efficacy of directly confrontational work and says he prefers a more playful approach. By allowing for ambiguity and humor, he told students, artists can help viewers consider new possibilities. “Humor,” he says, “lets me plant the seed of an idea in a person’s mind.” 48

// two college street

“The repairs are visual reminders of the rich lives these objects have led,” notes Curator of Costume and Textiles Kate Irvin, lead researcher and organizer of the exhibition. “We’re hoping to help students see repair as a reaction to the unmaking of our environment.” Designed like an informal classroom to spark community discussion, the exhibition includes sustainably created pieces from a wide range of sources that “speak to thrift and reconstruction,” she adds, “as well as women’s labor, which has historically gone unrecognized.”

“We’re hoping to help students see repair as a reaction to the unmaking of our environment.” Kate Irvin curator of Costume and Textiles

Criteria of Beauty As part of the lively fall series of student-curated exhibitions at Gelman Gallery, seniors David Guy 19 SC and Qualeasha Wood 19 PR teamed up to curate a very timely and well-received show called Criteria of Beauty. Among the works on view were Once in a Blue Moon (colored pencil, gouache and black gesso on black stonehenge) by Brianna Brooks 19 PT and (far right) Wood’s pair of jacquard woven tapestries and Exclaim Mark (plaster, wire, bubble wrap) by Jarrett Key MFA 20 PT.

FOCUSING ON RACIAL JUSTICE

Interior Architecture students in Repair and Reparation—an advanced studio tied to the Repair exhibition at the RISD Museum—worked with the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island to reimagine Providence’s Cathedral of St. John as a space to Find more stories about students and studios at risd.edu/news.

promote racial justice, healing and reconciliation— a home for both the sacred and the secular. Since the church has publicly acknowledged its role in perpetuating and profiting from the 18th-century slave trade in Rhode Island—where 10% of residents

were slaves and many more came in through ports in Providence, Newport and Bristol—it established the progressive, nonprofit Center for Reconcilliation (CFR) in 2015. Among the interventions students proposed is Dialogue in Dance by senior Kelly He 19 IA, who is inspired by African dance and envisions the cathedral as a much-needed community performance space that includes workshops and exhibitions focused on “the living heritage of the African diaspora.” To counterbalance the soberness of the site’s history, Ewa Podgorska MDes 19 is proposing a design that connects the first-floor cathedral to the undercroft below, where she imagines a large play space for local youth. Other students see food as the perfect vehicle for building community, proposing communal kitchens, community gardens and cafés. “Food brings everyone together,” notes grad student Sfoorti Sachdev MDes 19. “We could also think about food-related exhibition themes such as sugar—one of the components of the slave trade.” // RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

Nuclear Network In November RISD hosted Signals for the Future, an exhibition of projects by members of the N Square Innovators Network, a multidisciplinary group of experts focused on discovering new approaches to nuclear security. It was the capstone event of the Innovation Summit, a four-day series of workshops and classes that explored the role of design in reducing the threat of nuclear weapons worldwide. “Design alone won’t save the world — but given a seat at the table, it just might contribute in ways we’ve yet to imagine,” says Assistant Professor Tom Weis MID 08, an N Square Fellow who has worked with the group for several years and hosted the gathering at RISD.

Faculty Newsbits

TOWARDS GREATER EQUITY + INCLUSION

NEWEST PROFESSORS EMERITI Six influential professors retired at the end of the 2017/18 academic year. Professor of Glass Bruce Chao 73 SC/MFA 75 GL (1982–2018), Associate Professor of Art Education John Chamberlain (1987–2018), Professor of History Scott Cook (1987–2018), Professor of Photography Ann Fessler (1993–2017), Professor of Graphic Design Tom Ockerse (1971–2018) and Professor of Philosophy Yuriko Saito (1982–2018) are now pursuing their respective passions as professors emeriti. 50

// two college street

Since coming to RISD in August, Matthew Shenoda—a poet and professor—has been leading efforts to ensure that all students have the access, opportunity and support they need to thrive. As the college’s first-ever vice president of Social Equity and Inclusion, he’s building on close to 20 years of experience as an expert in the field. Shenoda served as the inaugural assistant provost for Equity and Diversity at CalArts and taught for nearly a decade in the first College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University. Most recently, he was dean of Academic Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and a special advisor to the president (and a professor of English and Creative Writing) at Columbia College Chicago. Now that he’s part of the RISD community, Shenoda is focused on providing faculty with resources for creating more equitable learning environments. “People of color are charged with taking on… a problem they didn’t create,” he points out, alluding to signs of systemic racism throughout American society. “But the work has to be done. If we can pilot new ways of approaching an art and design education, we can open doors that we didn’t know existed and see things we didn’t know were possible.”

Making a Scene, a solo show of paintings and video by Associate Professor of Painting Angela Dufresne, opened last September at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, MO, where it’s on view through January 6. In 2018 the Metropolitan Museum of Art added the following works to its permanent collection: Fall: Artist Eats Pho by Printmaking Senior Critic Daniel Heyman and A Volcano Pilgrim in Exchange for Fire by Illustration Critic Serena Perrone MFA 06 PR

(see also page 90). How to Read Nancy: the Elements of Comics in Three Easy Panels (Fantagraphics) by Illustration faculty member Paul Karasik and Mark Newgarden won a 2018 Eisner Award for Best Comicsrelated Book at Comic-Con International in San Diego. In October the Rhode Island Council on the Humanities (RICH) recognized writer/educator Taylor Polites, a member of RISD’s Literary Arts and Studies faculty since 2013, with the 2018 Public Humanities Scholar Award. As part of Rhode Island Design Week in September, Professor of Graphic Design Nancy Skolos and her former colleague, the late Professor of Industrial Design Marc Harrison, were inducted into the RI Design Hall of Fame for their lifetime achievements as leaders in their fields.

TED WELLER | 1937–2018

In 2018 the RISD community mourned the loss of three longtime professors who made a huge impact during and after their tenure here.

KRZYSZTOF LENK | 1936–2018 Professor Emeritus Kris Lenk, a graphic designer who taught at RISD from 1982–2010, died on May 22, 2018 at the age of 81. Born in Warsaw, he earned an MFA from the Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow and worked and taught in Poland before joining the Graphic Design faculty at RISD. A specialist in the fields of data visualization and information design, Kris cofounded the information design studio Dynamic Diagrams in 1990 and served as an advisor to the successful alumni-operated studio Tellart. The author of several essays, he and Diagram Dynamics cofounder Paul Kahn published the influential book Mapping Websites: Digital Media Design (2001).

Ted Weller, a professor emeritus in Experimental and Foundation Studies who taught at RISD from 1973–2014, died on June 26, 2018. Born in Ohio and raised in Arizona, he earned a BA and BFA from the University of Arizona (UA) and an MFA from the University of Massachusetts. Heavily influenced by the deserts and mountains of Arizona, he loved exploring open skies and landscapes through research and sketching. Exhibited throughout the US, his work is included in many public and private collections. Ted is survived by his wife, Dean of Experimental and Foundation Studies Joanne Stryker, and their son Stryker Theodore Weller.

CHICK FINK | 1932–2018

“Chick taught RISD’s first studio course in adaptive reuse in 1976,” writes Sandy Fishbein BArch 77. It focused on the rundown building that later became the BEB. Adaptive reuse also became the pedagogical heart of Interior Architecture, a department Chick headed for 11 years.

Charles Bezalel Fink—better known to everyone at

RISD as “Chick”—died in Providence on February 25, 2018 at age 85. A practicing architect, he taught at RISD from 1957–2013 and kept at it until he turned 80. His brother, LAS Professor Mike Fink, shares a few of many fond memories:

Chick always had heaps of friends and plenty of sweethearts. Mostly though, he liked to draw. Together we “published” (that is, “stapled”) a book about birds and their evolution, with my brother doing all the sketches. On the kitchen walls Chick painted giant murals of baby fledglings accepting worms from their anxious mothers and depicted colorful orioles and cardinals on the panels underneath the cellar stairs. We had a “secret society of fun” that met in these nooks, crannies and closets, with flashlights for illumination while reading or writing. Once boyhood vanished, Chick’s first choice for college was RISD, but a full scholarship took him to Brown and then MIT, where he was the designer, art editor and cover illustrator for the humor magazine Voodoo. In my mind, he turned both Brown and MIT into his own personal RISD!

After graduating in 1956, Chick worked briefly as an architect before bringing his gifts as a draftsman, illustrator, builder and designer to the Architecture department, earning the affectionate respect of the many students he taught over the years. Bezalel, by the way, is the architect in the bible who created the great temple in Jerusalem—and is also the name of the art school there. What’s in a name? Plenty!

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

six degrees

// connecting through the alumni association

Speaking of Pictures

LEARNING TO TRUST PROCESS Los Angeles-based designer Amy Devers MFA 01 FD and cookbook author Jerrelle Guy 12 IL.

As part of RISD Weekend, alumni from different decades held a lively discussion on October 6 about how their experiences at RISD gave them the confidence to change gears professionally. Moderated by Jonathan Arena 09 GD, the conversation featured Puerto Rican entrepreneur Matilsha Marxuach 94 CR, 52

“When you’re trying to make things happen—either for business reasons or for community-building—communicating a vision is so important,” said Marxuach. Devers agreed and added, “RISD taught me how to build anything—or at least figure it out.” After working in TV for years, she shifted gears and now cohosts the podcast Clever, which she sees as “an opportunity to bring the backstory behind design forward.” When Guy spoke about her own still-developing career trajectory (see also page 3), she echoed the notion that RISD teaches people “to go with the flow, trust the process and, most importantly, trust yourself.”

Three-time Caldecott Award winner David Wiesner 78 IL spoke about his creative process during a RISD Weekend talk in the ISB Gallery, where his solo show Journeys in Visual Storytelling was wrapping up a six-week run. The unassuming author/illustrator best known for his almost-wordless books explained that every move he makes is “about advancing the story. I love the picture book format,” he added. “It’s 32 pages in which you can do anything you want!”

MEMORABLE RISD WEEKEND On Saturday visitors strolled along Benefit Street enjoying the work of 120-plus alumni and students showing in the 2018 RISD Craft juried sales exhibition. Guests also visited studios across campus and stopped in Market Square for Taiko drumming, while Ricky Rainbow Beard (left, aka local alum Ricky Katowicz 05 AP) amused kids and their parents with hands-on projects at the RISD Beach.

photos by Jo Sittenfeld MFA 08 PH + Matthew Watson 09 FAV

From October 5–7, students, faculty and staff welcomed more than 1,500 alumni, parents and other special guests to campus for a joyful celebration. As President Rosanne Somerson 76 ID reminded participants, the event coincided with the 140th anniversary of the very first day of RISD classes on October 7, 1878. A record number of alumni returned to campus for various class reunions, discovering major changes since they were last in Providence 10, 20, 30 and even 50 years ago.

Keep tabs on what’s in store for 2019 at risdweekend.com.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

PLANNING PAYS OFF Longtime friends Pat Quan BArch 89 and Barbara Sarkisian Werfel BArch 89—shown below with President Rosanne Somerson 76 ID in the middle— were already thinking ahead when they returned to campus back in 2017 for RISD Weekend. Pat, who works as an architect in Brooklyn, was in Providence for the parents’ portion of the weekend, visiting her daughter Nicole, who had just begun her foundation year. And Barbara, who teaches in Maryland, hosted a huge dinner for RISD friends at her mother’s house. Together they realized the timing was right to jump in and get involved with thinking about how to celebrate their 30th reunion in 2018 (although they both went on to earn fifth-year degrees in Architecture, they remain affiliated with the undergrad Class of 88). “RISD has always been near and dear to my heart,” says Barbara, who met her husband Bruce Werfel BArch 89

// six degrees

through her major. “It’s where I learned who I am as a person.” Acting on the advice of Executive Director of Alumni Relations Christina Hartley 74 IL, they set up a Facebook page and started reaching out to all of the 1988 graduates they could find. “Barbara scanned everyone’s mugshots from their RISD days to create a then-and-now photo album,” says Pat, “and everyone really got into it.” By early October, more than 90 classmates had registered for RISD Weekend, including New Yorker Yvonne Force Villareal 88 IL,

who offered a warm introduction to President Somerson at the sold-out 30th reunion dinner in the RISD Museum. “I met my business partner Doreen Remen BArch 89 while we were unpacking our bags on our first day at RISD,” Yvonne says. The two now run Art Production Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to producing outdoor installations, and a related consulting firm called Culture Corps. Other 30th reunion events included an informal meet-and-greet in the Design Center on Friday evening and Wine & Charcoal, a three-hour drawing workshop with longtime Foundation Studies Professor Victor Lara. “The energy throughout the weekend was palpable,” says Barbara. “It just grew exponentially.” If you graduated in a year ending in 9 or 4 and would like to find out more about helping to organize your own reunion this fall, please contact Christina Hartley 74 IL at chartley@risd.edu or 401 454-6793.

Find a list of club contacts at risd.edu/alumni/alumni-network.

ENGAGING ALUMNI IN ASIA

From Coast to Coast

RISD is pleased to introduce new alumni clubs in Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Singapore. With more than a third of today’s students coming from abroad, a growing number of alumni go on to pursue their work outside the US and it’s important to provide ways for them to connect locally. “Our alumni want to expand their networks, give back to RISD and connect socially and professionally through club events,” says Executive Director of Alumni Relations Christina Hartley 74 IL. “We are thrilled that alumni leaders in China and Singapore are working to build RISD communities where they live.”

In Los Angeles alumni got together on November 3 for a Shibori dying workshop hosted by Agnes Pierscieniak MFA 06 GD through Crave Workshops, her creative startup. On November 7 RISD/NYC hosted a packed gathering at UpNorth in Brooklyn and in mid November RISD’s Jewelry + Metalsmithing department partnered with Alumni Relations to host a gathering at the first NYC Jewelry Week. The event took place at Artists & Fleas in SoHo, where Kendra Pariseault MFA 13 JM and Manuela Jimenez MFA 13 JM (shown at top with J + M Department Head Tracy Steepy in the middle) cocurated the exhibition #fail#success.

WELCOMING INCOMING STUDENTS

To connect with one of these clubs or propose forming a new club in your region, please email chartley@risd.edu or call 401 454-6793.

Beijing-based alumni Catherine McMahon BArch 03 and Bob Han 17 ID were among those who helped give incoming students a sense of what to expect half a world away from home.

In cities across the country and around the world, alumni joined with members of the Parents’ Council and the President’s Alumni Advisory Council (PAAC) last summer to welcome incoming students and their families to RISD. The series of local sendoff events included a happy gathering in mid July at Cheim & Read (see photos above), the Manhattan gallery run by John Cheim 77 PT and Howard Read 76 PH. At the end of July, RISD/Hong Kong alums invited new students to a sendoff

happy hour, and in early August new students headed to RISD from China got together with alumni and parents for a reception on the roof terrace of AOTU space in Beijing. The sendoff tradition continued in Los Angeles and San Francisco again, too, and for those in the Boston area, Gary Johnson BArch 75 and Patti Intrieri BArch 82 hosted a lovely event for incoming students and their families at Cambridge Seven Associates on Mass Ave in Cambridge. // RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

impact

// who’s giving to risd + why

A GROWING CULTURE OF PHILANTHROPY

With a “love for making things that increase a user’s quality of life,” Westen Johnson 19 ID has designed systems and products for everything from growing fresh greens for students in RISD’s dining hall to preserving body heat in premature infants. The Industrial Design senior is just one of many students benefitting from increasing philanthropic support in the past year. “The scholarships I receive from RISD have allowed me to continue my education and push myself and my work,” says Johnson. In addition to support from the RISD Fund, he’s also receiving a scholarship from the ID department’s Mary E. Wardwell Fund. After graduation Johnson plans to design projects and products that promote health, wellness and environmental sustainability. A growing culture of philanthropy at RISD led to more than $16.7 million in new support for 56

Thanks to scholarship support, Westen Johnson 19 ID (above left) is able to focus on his studio work in Industrial Design. A $5-million gift from the Opus Foundation has allowed for facilities improvements such as a new Student Success Center (above) and a new sound studio available to all students (left).

the college and museum in fiscal year 2017/18, making it the second best fundraising year in RISD’s history. A $5-million gift from the Opus Foundation has enabled RISD to move forward with such Campus Master Plan projects as a Student Success Center on the first floor of 20 Washington Place that houses key offices, advising rooms, exhibition areas and an auditorium. These funds also contributed to a state-of-the-art sound studio in the library building at 15 Westminster. A $5.5-million anonymous gift—the largest ever from an individual donor—included $3 million for

financial aid, which set a new record in scholarship support from a single contribution, along with support for the Experimental and Foundation Studies division. “One of our top priorities is to offer generous financial aid so that all accepted students—no matter their socioeconomic background—can attend RISD, use appropriate materials to create their work and take full advantage of travel and internship opportunities,” says President Rosanne Somerson 76 ID. “Most importantly, we want to ensure that students graduate free from levels of debt that force them to defer their dreams.”

IN DENMARK by Gabriel Gurrera MDes 18 RISD FUND FUELS PROGRESS

$16.7 million FY 17/18 support for the college + museum

Building on the momentum of last year’s gifts, the newly launched RISD Fund encourages donors to support what matters most to them and the 1877 Society recognizes our most generous and loyal supporters. “I gladly give because I see it as an investment in the future of RISD students,” says RISD Fund Co-chair Norman Chan BArch 85, who practices architecture in Hong Kong. “I treasure my RISD education and am pleased to pay it forward to a new generation.” Every current-use gift—regardless of its purpose—is now part of the RISD Fund. Supporters may make a gift to address RISD’s greatest needs or invest in strategic priorities such as: • financial aid

materials, travel and internship funds faculty academic programming the RISD Museum campus facilities and equipment student groups As always, donors are also welcome to support specific departments and programs. “RISD took a chance and made an investment in me,” notes RISD Fund Co-chair Ryan Cunningham 02 FAV, a former scholarship recipient who now leads a successful film production firm called Running Man. “I’m giving back by making an investment in the future thought leaders who are going to change the world—and I urge others to do the same.” • • • • • •

$5.01 million FY 17/18 funding for financial aid

64 % increase in giving in the past five years

RISD raised a record amount for financial aid in 2017/18, including more than $4.6 million for scholarships, fellowships and related prizes and over $384,000 for its Social Equity Fund, which provides eligible students with supplemental support to buy materials for studio projects, participate in global travel courses and gain professional experience through supported internships. “There is something very special about how the RISD community works together,” say William and Alison Schweizer P 19, co-chairs of the Parents’ Council, which funded 10 student internships in 2017/18. “What we do now—by volunteering our time and advocating for the college—will have a positive effect on RISD students for generations to come.”

1877 Society In 1877 the members of the Rhode Island Women’s Centennial Commission voted to invest the extra $1,675 they had raised for their booth at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition to launch a school of art and design. As a result, RISD was officially founded on March 22 of that year. Just over 140 years later, a group of philanthropic-minded alumni, parents and friends has joined together as the 1877 Society. In the 2018 fiscal year, these generous donors — who make annual gifts of $2,500 or more — contributed more than $12.6 million. Please consider joining at one of the following levels:

Trustees’ Circle $25,000+

President’s Circle $10,000–24,999

Deans’ Circle $2,500–9,999

Founders’ Circle five years of consecutive giving at any level For more information, email Sarah Sligo, director of Individual Giving, at ssligo@risd.edu or call 401 454-6469.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

Welcoming Momentum The teams in Institutional Engagement and RISD Media recently worked together to create a new publication called Momentum. Released in November, the first issue highlights progress during the 2017/18 fiscal year. Subsequent issues of the periodical, which is available online at risd.edu/giving, will focus on the growing impact of philanthropy at RISD.

BULLISH RE: RISD’S FUTURE

“Institutional Engagement is deploying philanthropy to accelerate innovation through education, research and critical making.” O’Neil Outar, vice president of Institutional Engagement

Just a year after coming to RISD, Vice President of Institutional Engagement O’Neil Outar is fully engaged in building capacity and infrastructure in support of fundraising. And after steering RISD’s second-best fundraising year ever (see previous page), he sees great promise in the future. “I’m delighted to be at RISD at a time when the broader public is truly beginning to understand the value that art and design bring to our interconnected world,” says Outar, a first-generation college graduate who was born in Guyana and named after his father’s favorite Australian cricketer, Norman O’Neill. “RISD is positioned at the forefront of art, architecture and design education on the global stage. With a renewed focus on engaging alumni and parents, employing best practices and using data-driven decision making, Institutional Engagement is deploying philanthropy to accelerate innovation through education, research and critical making.” 58

// impact

In recent months the team has realized several important goals: launching a new website (risd.edu/ giving); publishing a new giving report; completing the first comprehensive alumni survey since 1995; rebranding the RISD Fund; improving the annual Commencement ceremony; and introducing a new database to modernize data management. “O’Neil is a dynamic, collaborative leader who has broad experience working with diverse communities at a time when RISD needs to expand its base of support,” says President Rosanne Somerson 76 ID. “He’s already transforming how RISD connects

with alumni and parents around the world. This has led to higher levels of giving that are building a brighter future for our students and strengthening RISD as a whole.” Having worked at the University of Pittsburgh, Harvard, the University of Alberta, MIT and Tufts, Outar has designed campaigns, secured transformational gifts and collaborated with others to create and implement novel fundraising programs. Currently a special advisor to The Guyana Foundation and on the board of Project Citizenship, he has also served as a trustee of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education and was a Ditchley Scholar, a Commonwealth Study Conference Leader, a member of the World Economic Forum’s Knowledge Advisory Group and an MIT Leader-to-Leader Fellow. He holds both a BA and an MA in Urban and Environmental Public Policy from Tufts. “RISD alumni maintain strong ties and continue to collaborate and draw inspiration from each other long after graduation,” Outar points out. “This is important since great institutions are defined by their alumni, faculty and students. In this regard, RISD is very fortunate.”

FREE TO FOCUS A natural problem solver, Clarke Waskowitz 19 ID is fascinated by the unknown—especially the exploration of deep space beyond the pull of gravity. With support from the Rhode Island Space Grant Consortium, the Industrial Design senior was able to explore her interest in technology and design for underserved communities during a summer internship at NASA’s Habitability Design Center at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. “I worked on redesigning virtual reality interfaces to test and evaluate deep space habitats and possibly serve as a training tool for astronauts,” Waskowitz explains. “I’ve always been passionate about space exploration so a lot of my work focuses on how to make

the aerospace industry more accessible to people who don’t fit the typical mold of a white male astronaut.” Thanks to a variety of support, Waskowitz has also been able to focus on helping others through her studio projects. For instance, for a final project sophomore year she designed reconfigurable furniture for schools struggling with low budgets and large class sizes. Support from the Materials Fund—which helps students in

need pay for studio supplies—gave her “a ton of freedom” to pursue her vision. Waskowitz is also grateful for the scholarship she’s receiving from Johnson & Johnson, which is complemented by helpful interactions with company employees. “Having so much support from industry professionals is huge,” she says. “I can definitely get caught up in my own head and doubt whether or not an idea or project has value, so having a larger network of experienced people that I can bounce ideas off of is great.” After graduation Waskowitz hopes to keep learning at a company or organization with a multifaceted approach to design and consumers. “I work best when I’m in an environment that exposes me to new concepts and technologies,” she says. “And that drives me to expand my view of what equity can be and how design can increase it.”

“Having so much support from industry professionals is huge.” “RISD has this reputation for being super intense, so I expected to find a cutthroat, über-competitive environment here,” Waskowitz admits. “Instead, I found the opposite. The workload and late nights create camaraderie, so students have a genuine interest in each other’s work.”

Industrial Design senior Clarke Waskowitz 19 ID (in overalls above) welcomes the scholarship support she’s receiving and values the experience she got as an intern at NASA’s Habitability Design Center last summer. Contributions to the RISD Fund are welcomed at risd.edu/giving.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

moving forward

“To my surprise... the still lifes became more abstract, more about color, and flatter. In other words, I ended up with a new embrace of my many early years’ commitment to lyric abstraction.” Robert Cronin 59 PT (see note on facing page)

// undergraduate class notes

Elaine Longtemps 63 GD

Suzanne M. Packer 59 GD Recent abstract oil paintings like this were on view from late August through mid November in Cape Waters Abstracted, a solo show at Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis, MA. “This beautiful place called Cape Cod is such an inspiration for me,” the artist says. “I see shapes and colors in the ponds, the marshes, the bogs, the cedar swamps, the ocean and the bays.” Suzanne earned the museum’s 2018 Artist Muse Award for outstanding contributions to the local arts community.

1930 Barbara Gibbs Barton Decorative Design (see page 2)

1945 Expressing the Chaos, Jonathan Gruber’s moving documentary about painter Miriam Beerman PT (Washington, DC), is now available on Amazon Prime. Now in her 90s, Miriam discovered a lifelong love of abstract expressionism at RISD that led to 65 years of prolific making focused on the injustices, atrocities and absurdities of our times. Along the way she exhibited her paintings in 32 solo shows. Ruth Adler Schnee IA (see page 3)

1951 Last fall artist Don Almquist IL showed poignant new paintings inspired by the natural world in Colorscapes & Colorworks, a solo exhibition at Carspecken Scott Gallery in Wilmington, DE, near where he lives in New Castle.

Annette Shaw IL (see page 4)

Last spring Elaine showed new work made from rope, cord and other fiber in When Boundaries Begin to Fade, a solo exhibition at the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles, MO made possible by a grant from the arts nonprofit. One of her favorite pieces — Flint (mixed media, 8.5 x 29 x 65"), which references the contamination of public water in the Michigan city — was also featured in the winter 2017 issue of Fiber Art Now. Elaine is still happy to live in Brooklyn, where she’s been based since 1974.

1958 Artist Jackie Melissas PT showed ceramic pieces at Stable Gallery in Damariscotta, ME (near where she lives in Brunswick) in a summer exhibition called Inspirations. Her work was also featured in Happen/Stance, a fall show at North Shore Country Day School’s John Almquist Art Gallery in Winnetka, IL, where she taught art classes from 1980 to 2013.

1959 After a decade of painting playful “fictional still lifes,” Robert Cronin PT was delighted to take “a vacation” and return to abstraction in The Enclosure Series (2010–11), a group of paintings that he showed last summer at Jupiter Antiques in Stanfordville, NY. Selections from his oil on canvas series—including Color Sticks with Boat (detail, 2008) to the left—were also on view in July and August in Imaginary Paintings at the David M. Hunt

Please email class notes submissions to: risdxyz@risd.edu.

Library in Falls Village, CT, where he lives.

1963 Last summer painter Dinah Maxwell Smith PT took part in Three-Woman Show at Avondale Arts in Westerly, RI and Late Summer Visions at the Jamie Forbes Gallery on Long Island, where she works out of her Southampton studio.

1964 Last spring Massachusettsbased fiber artist Nancy Crasco AE showed work across her home state, in Fairy Tales,

Folk Tales and Fables at Belmont Gallery of Art, Conceal/Reveal at the Cambridge Art Association and Impressions III Printmaking Show at gallery blink in Lexington. Painter David Estey PT of Belfast, ME contributed to UMaine’s annual Festival of Art in June by showing Big Oil (mixed media, 36 x 36")—his response to BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010—in a group exhibition that included work by people aged 50 and over.

1965 From July 5–August 26, Dianne Martin PT (diannemartinart. com) showed portraits of “damaged birds” found in RISD’s Nature Lab in Yours, And Always, Only Yours, a group exhibition at Plaxall Gallery in Long Island City, NY, where she lives. The Kirkland Museum in Denver has selected two furniture designs by Ginny DuBrucq IA for its permanent collection. One is her Kimono Storage Cabinet, which won an award in the 1982 Progressive Architecture/International Furniture Design Competition. The other is a neon lamp that was part of an exhibition at Inkfish Gallery in Denver, where she lives.

Phil Tobey BArch 65 Last June Phil accepted an Outstanding Civilian Service Award from US Army Chief of Staff General Mark A. Milley for his work on two groundbreaking veterans’ treatment facilities: the Center for the Intrepid (CFI) at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX and the National Intrepid Center of Excellence (NICoE) in Bethesda, MD. An honorary trustee at RISD and former officer in the US Air Force, the architect has devoted four decades to designing healthcare facillities (through SmithGroup) and in November earned a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American College of Healthcare Architects (ACHA). // RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

Jennifer Davies 68 IL Jennifer’s monotype Street Glyph 2 has been named Best in Show in Context: Language, Media, and Meaning from Surface Design Associates, an exhibition that continues through February 24 at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA. “I made it by inking up tar loops that cover cracks in asphalt parking lots, then pressing a sheet of my Japanese handmade paper over it to make a monotype,” says Jennifer, who’s based in Branford, CT.

1967 Using such materials as beeswax, leather and fur, artist CB Forsythe PT (Cambridge, MA) constructs mixed-media works that speak to the complexities of human connectivity, yearning and nostalgia. Her work was on view from March–June in Intimate Orbits, a two-artist

show at the Honolulu Museum of Art Hawaii Center. Based in Providence and Tunbridge, VT, painter Bunny Harvey PT/MAT 71/MFA 72 showed new and older works in a solo exhibition at the Aidron Duckworth Museum in Meriden, NH last spring.

Deborah Cornell 69 PT In 2015 Deborah became the first artist in the history of the International Print Triennial Krakow [Poland] to receive both the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix d’Honneur for Contributions to the Discipline (“like receiving the Pulitzer of printmaking,” as she puts it). Her large-format digital prints and immersive collaborative installation (with print, video and sound) were on view last summer in her laureate exhibition Eclipse and Deluge at the International Cultural Center in Krakow. Deborah is chair of Printmaking at Boston University’s School of Visual Arts.

Providence-based multidisciplinary artist Meris Barreto AE showed new work at the 2018 Newport Annual Members’ Juried Exhibition, which was on view at the Newport [RI] Art Museum from February–May, and in Parsing Sign and Image, a group show on view from September–early December at Providence’s VETS Gallery.

Ed Baranosky PT showed recent work in Windbirds and Spindrift: Paintings of the Sea, a summer solo show at Lucsculpture Gallery near his

1968

Inspired by a short story by Gabriel García Márquez, Bird Land and the Man with Enormous Wings is one of the new collages Karlyn made for her Nature Envisioned and the Real Transformed series. A 2017 recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grant, she showed work from the series in a solo exhibition that ran last February at the Lyric Art Center in Virginia, MN. Karlyn’s paintings are currently on view through January 13 at Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, WI.

Suzon Schulz IL (see page 6)

1969 50th Reunion October 11–13

Judith Unger 69 SC/MAT 70 left: Leda (23 x 15 x 10"), part of a series of ceramic sculptures inspired by the Greek myth Leda and the Swan, was on view at Palazzo Mora during the run of the 2018 Venice Biennale. Describing her sculpture as “a celebration of strong women and gender equality,” Judith works out of her studio in rural Vermont and draws inspiration from the “breathtaking” light and color in Venice. // undergraduate class notes

1970

Last summer Mary Curtis Ratcliff AE presented Waterways—an immersive solo show featuring kinetic perspectives of water (from the microto the macrocosm)—at her local YWCA in Berkeley/Oakland, CA.

Snip Snip, a poignant painting by Amy Van Gilder AP—of “a man cutting down the last flower on his planet”—was on view last spring in Beautiful Pasadena, a group show at Flower Pepper Gallery in Los Angeles. She lives nearby in Pasadena, CA.

home in Toronto. He read poetry from his chapbooks at the opening in July.

Karlyn Atkinson Berg 67 PT

Garrow Throop 69 GD After a 35+-year career as a graphic designer in Boston, Garrow was drawn to fine art photography — and, recently, to hybrid image-making. “I love playing with... the reality of photography and the fantasy of watercolors,” he says. Garrow showed his work last summer at Job Gallery in North Truro, MA, and the Apple Center in Chestnut Hill, MA, where he also gave a presentation on how he uses ProCreate.

Inspired by her work as a vocational rehabilitation teacher with the blind, Christy Colebank IL is leading a unique series of workshops called ART in the DARK as part of her ARtrax arts instruction business in Wake Forest, NC. Workshop participants (who are asked to wear eye shades) are encouraged to maximize their other senses and ultimately better appreciate their sense of vision. Last August Dan Gosch PT showed bold portraits—both

new and older—at Gray Suit Studio in Charlestown, RI. Now based in Franklin, MA, he’s known around Providence for his offbeat murals and “dead rock star” portraits at the iconic music venue Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel.

Paula Wittner PH (see page 7)

1972 Thanks to a grant from the St. Petersburg [FL] Arts Alliance, Bob Barancik BArch produced a podcast series inspired by post-Holocaust art. A collaboration with Barbara St. Clair of Creative Pinellas led to another series on art inspired by current events. Last spring Bob also showed prints at Florida CraftArt before heading to Canada for two residencies: one at the Ottawa School of Art and another at Artscape on Toronto Harbor Island. He lives

Deidre Scherer 67 AE left: Last fall Deidre exhibited fiber paintings and 3D pieces made in collaboration with Jackie Abrams in Human Textures, a solo show at Mitchell Giddings Fine Arts in Brattleboro, VT. This spring she’ll also exhibit with Abrams at the Brattleboro Museum.

Please email class notes submissions to: risdxyz@risd.edu.

in St. Petersburg with his wife Amy Blake 74 IL . Among the high-profile projects NYC-based architectural glass expert Jamie Carpenter IL completed in 2018 are a permanent site-specific floor installation at the stunning new Transbay Transit Center in downtown San Francisco and a substantial expansion and renovation of the museum at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, MO. “For me, working with glass has always been about working with light,” he noted in a recent interview in Fast Company. Carlton Fletcher PT showed work in a fall group exhibition

honoring the legacy of one of his mentors during graduate school: longtime professor Robert D’Arista. The exhibition was on view at American University’s Katzen Arts Center in Washington, DC, where the artist lives.

1973 Amneal Pharmaceuticals recently went public in a big way, draping the New York Stock Exchange building on Wall Street with a photograph Bill Gallery PH shot in India. The RI-based photographer has been working for corporate clients for many years, traveling all over the world on assignment.

Rosalyn Richards 69 PT below: Rosalyn’s drawing installation Footprints was permanently installed at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia in May 2017. Consisting of 56 framed 12 x 12" ink and graphite drawings, the piece “references our lives as temporary beings on the planet,” she explains. Since retiring from teaching at Bucknell in 2014, she works at her home studio in Lewisburg, PA.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

Rebecca Miller 78 FAV On August 31, 2018, when Rebecca and Donald Sadoway joyfully rode their Vespa to their marriage ceremony at City Hall in Cambridge, MA, they attracted a lot of attention from passersby. Rebecca works as a filmmaker at Optik Nerve and Don as a professor at MIT. The newlyweds live in Cambridge.

aptly called Fabric Collages at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles. She lives in Santa Monica, CA. Betsy Lee Taylor IL (see page 4)

1975

1973 continued Last spring Henry Isaacs PT showed oil paintings in a group exhibition at Greenhut Galleries in Portland, ME (where he lives) and also contributed a large-scale oil-on-linen painting called Portland Harbor to The Portland Show, Greenhut’s invitational biennial, which was on view in April.

Painter and photographer Richard Kattman BLA , who runs a landscape architecture practice in Holliston, MA, traveled to Tuscany, Italy last September for an artist residency at La Macina di San Cresci. He’s now looking forward to another residency— at La Porte Peinte, Noyers Sur Serein in Burgundy, France— in September 2019.

1974 45th Reunion October 11–13 Travel for STOICs: Empowering the Solo Traveler Who is Obsessive, Introverted, and Compulsive (written under the pseudonym Eva Rome), Laurie McDonald FAV offers a survival manual for “managing your O-C, introverted self,” as she

explains. The book (blue morphopress.net) is available on Amazon. Providence-based filmmaker Ric Murray PH worked as the producer and location sound mixer on the independent sci-fi/ comedy The Wrong Todd, which premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in late September. Ric has only recently returned to filmmaking after a long career in advertising and credits RISD with giving him the ability to pivot to other creative endeavors. Last May and June Providencebased painter Ida Schmulowitz PT showed works in watercolor and gouache in a solo exhibition at Studio 53 (the gallery run by married partners Terry Seaman 69 PT and Heidi Seidelhuber 70 PT) in Boothbay Harbor, ME. In the fall fiber artist Nancy Cook Smith TX showed her work in a solo exhibition

Karen Hackenberg 78 PT Last September Patricia Rovzar Gallery in Seattle released a limited-edition monograph of Karen’s vibrant paintings, which capture her whimsically subversive approach to environmental activism and more specifically, the degradation of the Northwest coast (where she’s based — in Port Townsend, WA). In an essay in the book, art critic Riet van der Linden calls the artist’s work “no less than perfect images of an imperfect world.” 64

// undergraduate class notes

Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, the latest film by Gus Van Sant FAV (Los Angeles), stars Joaquin Phoenix as John Callahan, an acerbic Portland-based cartoonist whose autobiography Gus adapted for the screen. Rolling Stone calls it the director’s best film in years.

1976 Last May American-born artist and illustrator Carolyn Gowdy IL, who has lived in London since 1977, showed photographs in Photo London 2018. Over the summer one of her paintings was included in an exhibition at the German Fairy Tale Museum in Bad Oeynhausen that was inspired by fairytales, myths and legends from countries in crisis. Last spring Shelley Lake IL—whose work taps into the intersections of art, science and technology—showed Son of Man as part of DAB Art’s Proto_Pop exhibition in Ventura, CA. Infinity, another piece by the Florida-based artist, was included in the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art’s LACDA Member Artists Exhibit from May–June. Stephen Talasnik PT (see page 34)

1977 Last June painter Karen Rand Anderson CR (Providence) showed recent abstracts in Energy/Form/Balance, a group exhibition at the Providence Art Club. The work reflects

Lynne Kortenhaus 73 PR/MFA 75 Balena 14 (12 x 11" on 22 x 15" paper) is one of the recent prints Lynne showed last summer at Schoolhouse Gallery in Provincetown, MA. Her suite Sea Dances (exhibited as part of a group show) references “the physical changes of the landscape caused by the perpetual pull of the tides”— a continual source of fascination for Lynne, who divides her time between Provincetown and Charlestown, MA and Clearwater, FL.

her “emotional approach to studio practice.”

years, Maryland-based artist/ educator Pat Dingle AE retired in June 2017. She continues to run her own educational consulting business and is now devoting more time to writing, gardening and making art.

After 20 years in Chelsea, Cheim & Read gallery—run by John Cheim PT and Howard Read 76 PH—has closed. The longtime business partners—who directed Robert Miller Gallery together before founding Cheim & Read—are relocating to a space uptown, where they plan to continue working with the artists and estates they represent and show at art fairs.

Artist John Miller FAV, who divides his time between NYC and Berlin, showed work in Beier, Hopf, Miller and Paglen, a group exhibition on view last August at Halsey McKay Gallery in East Hampton, NY.

After working in Prince George County public schools for 30

Working from his studio Canstruct in Kent Lakes, NY,

James Polk SC creates marvelous kinetic sculptures for architects, museums, corporations and nonprofits. At the 2018 Tony Awards ceremony in June, the boats he mechanized for the Broadway production of the award-winning musical Carousel were featured in a live performance. Last summer Ricker Winsor PH/MFA 78 released Thinking Out Loud, his fourth book for MudFlat Press. The essays show that “he is a student of life,” as poet and writer David Kherdian notes in the

Sarah Haskell 76 TX Sinking House #1 (hand-dyed brocade-woven linen, rayon, spun paper, buttons; 40 x 48") was named best in show at the 2018 Biennial Members’ Exhibition at the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA (shown April – October). Another body of work — Sarah’s two-year community art project Well Used, Well Loved — was on view last summer at George Marshall Gallery in York, ME (where she lives); and in the fall she enjoyed a five-week stint at Monhegan [Island] Artists’ Residency in Maine.

introduction—“in particular a directed life that is both used and formed by art.” Earlier in 2018 Ricker shared thoughts about his expatriate life in Surabaya, Indonesia on the podcast Paradigms.

vation by Design Award from Fast Company for developing a system of devices that dramatically improves how patients interact with Axonics sacral nerve stimulation technology.

1978

Therese (Schneider) McKee Huffman 78 GD

Multidisciplinary artist Rhonda (Schneider) Wall PT showed futuristic collages in Everything Happens at the Same Time, a solo show on view from October–November at Re:find Gallery on the Walk in Allentown, PA. She lives nearby in Easton, PA.

Last summer Therese and her company Signature Design accepted an Interpretive Design Exhibit award from the Atlanta Urban Design Commission for their work on the Southern Education Federation’s new office space in Atlanta. The co-chair of AIGA Atlanta Business of Design, Therese is also active on the Interpretive Standards Committee of the Coloradobased National Association for Interpretation.

French painter and bonvivant Currado Malaspina— aka the ever-mischievous Los Angeles-based artist/writer/ educator David Schoffman PT—is pleased to announce that his latest artist’s book Le pas retrouvé is now available on Amazon. He describes the book as an “assault on both the visual and the literary artistic canon.”

In October the Los Angelesbased industrial design consultancy Karten Design, led by Stuart Karten ID, won an Inno-

Please email class notes submissions to: risdxyz@risd.edu.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

Anna (Pulaski) Herrick 85 IL From mid May–mid July 2018, Anna’s urban panoramas and abstract landscape paintings — including Philadelphia (mixed media on wood panel, 24 x 24") — were on view in Cityscapes & Aerial Views, a solo exhibition at The Gallery at Villageworks in West Acton, MA. Based in nearby Acton, she also recently published a catalogue of her work called New York City & Environs, which can be found at annaherrick.com.

1980 Designer/educator Beth Singer GD, who runs Beth Singer Design in Arlington, VA, also teaches design thinking workshops to children as young as six. “By training elementaryage kids to connect emotionally with their audience, explore a range of solutions and use their intuition to take some chances,” she says, “we’re training the thinkers of tomorrow to solve some of the world’s most complex social and physical problems.”

Patrick Dunfey 81 PT left: Knot is among the paintings and drawings included in Hover, a solo exhibition that ran from September – November at the Derryfield School Lyceum Gallery in Manchester, NH. The artist lives nearby in Hanover, NH.

Gallery and St. Hugh’s Bones: The Shoemaker Series at S&G Project Gallery in New Bedford, MA. In the fall she also spoke about her experiences as a National Park Service artist in residence and offered a series of drawing workshops at the Museum of Natural History in Providence.

Deborah Morris 81 SC

1979 40th Reunion October 11–13

immigrants and other millworkers. The textiles artist lives in Warren, RI.

Last spring the Narrows Center for the Arts in Fall River, MA presented The Art of Work: Textiles and the American Dream, a solo exhibition of work by Deborah Baronas TX that honored the lives of

Prolific painter Kathy Hodge PT* (Riverside, RI) showed recent work in a number of exhibitions in New England last spring and summer, including The Really BIG Summer Group Show at the Charlestown [RI]

// undergraduate class notes

Deborah’s textile works were on view through December at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, where she was an artist in residence last summer. In 2018 the New Jersey-based artist showed work in group exhibitions in Long Island City, NY; Seoul, South Korea; and Jersey City, NJ. In addition, her bojagi piece Off Kilter has been acquired by the Chojun Textile & Quilt Art Museum in Seoul.

1981 Anna Boothe SC (Zieglerville, PA) collaborated with Nancy Cohen on Between Seeing and Knowing, an evocative, large-scale glass installation that was on view at Philadelphia International Airport from February–July 2018. Inspired by Tibetan Buddhist thangka

paintings, the project began during a 2012 artist residency at the Corning [NY] Museum of Glass. Colloquy, their fall show at the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts in Princeton, NJ, included a series of sculptures and monoprints that explore the concept of dialogue. Trine Bumiller PR showed work in numerous group shows last summer, including Pink Progression at the Center for Visual Art and Made in Colorado at the Emmanuel Gallery, both in Denver, where she lives. Her 100 paintings series—created during a residency at Rocky Mountain National Park—was also on view in a fall solo show at Naropa University in Boulder, CO. Other work was shown through December 31 in Liminal States at the DMZ Museum in South Korea. In a recent story in Luxe Magazine Trine noted, “I get so excited by the colors I see in nature, but I don’t feel attached to their reality. I don’t think the sky needs to be blue.” Milan-based designer Bruce Fifield ID has collaborated once again with US manufacturer Allsteel to create the Evo chair. With a straightforward minimal aesthetic, the workplace chair is designed for comfort and flexibility. Skies Calling Skies Falling, an experimental video installation created by husband-and-wife

Carl Seville 79 ID The house Carl built and now occupies in Decatur, GA earned a 2017 LEED Home Award for Outstanding Single Family project from the US Green Building Council. His business SK Collaborative consults on and certifies green buildings — including the second LEED home in Mexico — and works on affordable and market-rate multifamily projects throughout the US.

artists David Hodge ID and Hi-Jin Kang Hodge (davidand hijin.com) in collaboration with the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, uses shock as its central metaphor. The piece toured Sweden in September and was screened in San Francisco in October. The Hodges live in both Stockholm and San Francisco.

1983 Last August Brownstoner magazine ran a piece raving about the sophisticated Brooklyn co-op that interior designer Glenn Gissler BArch calls home, noting that every item of décor “reflects who he is and where he comes from.” Glenn Gissler Design in Manhattan is known for working with residential clients to orchestrate furnishings, lighting and fabrics beautifully tailored to meet their individual needs. Georgeanna and Richard Hammack PT have a new daughter, Georgia Maria, born on February 20, 2018. In 2015 Richard was promoted and became a professor in the mathematics department at Virginia Commonwealth University. The family divides its time between Richmond, VA and Montreal, QC. In July Fred Lynch IL, a longtime associate professor of

with the commission to advance public art programs and projects. Leslie lives in Bethesda, MD.

Illustration at RISD, showed his emotive drawings of Italian life in a pop-up show called Vista Del Visitator (Visitor’s View) in the medieval town of Vitorchiano. That same month he taught his popular drawing course in Viterbo, Italy.

Last fall surrealist painter Steven Kenny IL showed stunning new work in Public Dreams/Private Myths, a solo exhibition at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA. He also spoke about his painstaking reproduction of Salvador Dali’s Daddy Longlegs of the Evening-Hope at the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, FL, where he lives.

1984

1985

35th Reunion October 11–13 Boston-based artist Meg Alexander GD discussed her creative process in the April 11, 2018 issue of ArtSake, an online newsletter published by the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) Artist Fellowships Program. A past recipient of MCC fellowships herself, Meg showed work at Drive-By Projects in Watertown, MA last April and May, at Gallery Kayafas in Boston in June and July, and at Concord [MA] Art from June–August.

From June-August Huma Bhabha PR showed her bronze sculpture The Orientalist in STEREO LOVE SEATS HOT WHEELS, a group exhibition at Marc Straus, New York focused on the notion of seating.

Before closing in October, her 2018 rooftop installation at the Metropolitan Museum (see page 12 in the Spring/Summer 2018 issue of RISD XYZ) drew enormous crowds and a lot of media attention. Based in Poughkeepsie, NY, Huma is now working on a new site-specific commission for Yorkshire Sculpture Park in the northern UK as part of the summer-long 2019 Yorkshire International Sculpture festival. Last summer collaborative performance artist Susan Bickford ID (Newcastle, ME) organized stillness(18) at the Joseph A. Fiore Art Center in Jefferson, ME. This round of the annual event, which celebrates connection to nature and invokes a deepening sense of place, featured work by photographer and fellow

alumna MJ Viano Crowe MFA 81 PH , among several artists from various disciplines. Last June painter Stephanie Roberts-Camello PT of Pembroke, MA participated in the annual International Encaustic Conference in Provincetown. Her work was on view in nearby Gallery X (Place through Process), the Adam Peck Gallery and the On Center Gallery (Keep it 100). In the fall Stephanie showed work in group exhibitions at the South Shore Art Center in Cohasset, MA and Gallery Twist in Lexington, MA. Artist Jeanne Steers IL (Roxbury, CT) showed her signature acrylic paintings on shaped hardwood at the Gratia Gillespie Art Gallery in Darien, CT from July 1–31.

For the past 35 years James Horton GL has been showing his photography, sculpture, painting and animation at his gallery in downtown Providence. The artist’s new website (jamesfortunegallery. com) offers an anthology of his interesting work. The governor of Maryland has appointed Bethesda-based architect Leslie Kahn BArch to the Maryland Public Arts Commission and will work

Please email class notes submissions to: risdxyz@risd.edu.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

1987 Artist Nicole Eisenman PT, a 2015 recipient of a MacArthur “genius grant,” has won Contemporary Austin’s 2020 Suzanne Deal Booth/FLAG Art Foundation Prize, which includes a $200,000 cash award and solo exhibitions (with a catalogue) at both venues—in Austin and NYC, where she’s based. She also showed work in Hope and Hazard, a 2018 group exhibition reflecting on romantic love at the Hall Art Foundation in Reading, VT. Uprising, a group exhibition at Bells-Ans V*lition Gallery in Orangeburg, NY that ran from August–September, celebrated the art of subculture and included work by artist Trine Giaever IL, who lives in nearby Piermont. Alyson Shotz TX (see page 39)

Melinda Beck 89 GD Before creating the cover image and features titles for this issue of RISD XYZ, Melinda completed Freedom of Speech for the March 2018 issue of Smithsonian magazine. The image also appeared in Art as Witness: Political Graphics 2016 –18, a fall group show at SVA in NYC. Melinda runs her own business in Brooklyn, where she’s also busy bringing up two daughters and tries to find time to clear her mind through serious swimming.

1986 New Jersey-based illustrator Peter L. Brown IL is busy drawing the ongoing #BRADYtheBETTA web comic (about a fish in captivity) and doing post-production work on a short Russ Emmanuel film called The Assassin’s Apprentice and for Space Command, a new sci-fi TV series written and directed by Marc Scott Zicree. Work by Iranian painter Farsad Labbauf ID (Jersey City, NJ) was featured in From My East to Your West, his second solo exhibition at Blank Space Gallery in NYC. Many of the 68

// undergraduate class notes

paintings in the fall show are inspired by images that surrounded the artist as a child growing up in Tehran. Last spring Ruth LaGue GD showed landscape paintings in several group exhibitions, including Land & Sea at Main Street Arts in Clifton Springs, NY, SWA Small Works at Mena [AR] Art Gallery and in Wide Open 9 at Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition (BWAC). The Boston-based artist’s acrylic and encaustic works are also on view at the Boston Design Center. Elizabeth Ranieri BArch + Byron Kuth BArch (see page 28)

Graphic designer Leslie Weinstein GD, who has been living in Madrid since 1989, took home one of the first design accolades awarded by the international design firm Antalis in 2017. Her design of a Moroccan-Jewish wedding

Brian Selznick 88 IL Scholastic commissioned Brian to create new cover illustrations for all seven Harry Potter books that were re-released last summer to mark the 20th anniversary of when J.K. Rowling’s epic fantasy first emerged. His original drawings for the new book covers are on display through January 27 in the British Library’s exhibition Harry Potter: A History of Magic at the New York Historical Society Museum & Library.

invitation earned first prize in the Mailing category.

1988 Kim DeMarco IL, an assistant professor of illustration at the Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, is one of two faculty members at the college to earn a 2018 Teaching Excellence Award. Last spring Boston-based artist John Ruggieri PT showed two large photographs— Morning After No. 7 and Float No. 2—in Secret Gardens, a group exhibition exploring botanical imagery at Nave Gallery in Somerville.

1989 30th Reunion October 11–13 Canadian artist Margaret Hefner JM recently launched Frutas y Verduras, a Mexicobased food tourism network focused on the culture of plant foods in Mexican cuisine and based on her self-published ebook of the same name. Ephemeral work by Liz Jaff PT was featured in Dust, a solo exhibition at Widmer+Theodoridis Gallery in Eschlikon, Switzerland that ran from August–October. She’s based in NYC.

Eileen Ferara 87 IL Dollar Store Indulgence (4.5 x 4.5") is among the work included in Opulence: Not Everything that Glitters is Gold at the Center for Book Arts in NYC, one of many exhibitions Eileen participated in last year. In the coming months she is also showing work in the group exhibitions Press Gang (313 Gallery, March 17–25) and WW11: Eye of the Storm (New Jersey City University, March 21– May 9), both in Jersey City, and in Drawing Rooms: JC in AC, a group exhibition on view from April 5 –June 6 at the Noyes Museum of Art in Hammonton, NJ, the state where she lives.

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

Krystina Castella 89 ID Krystina’s new book Designing for Kids: Creating for Playing, Learning, and Growing is due out early this year. In 2018 she spoke at a UNICEF-sponsored conference in Finland on children’s rights and design ethics. There she and a global team of experts developed an open-source guide to design methods and practices that is available on childrensdesign guide.org. A professor at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, CA, she also presented the keynote address at PLAY–The Design Way, a conference at Design School Kolding in Denmark.

1990 NYC-based painter SoHyun Bae PT showed work at 450 Park Avenue/Philips from March–July. The solo retrospective included both abstract and figurative paintings and drew on disparate sources, such as Jewish mysticism, classical antiquity and traditional Korean arts. This spring Franklin Einspruch IL will live and work in Vienna as the 2019 Fulbright-Q21/MuseumsQuartier Artist-in-Residence. Working at KABINETTpassage—“a space for comics and related species”—the Boston-based artist plans to launch a sequential-art poetry cycle called Regarding Th.at as part of Austria’s National Poetry Month in April. The powerful print campaign that Paul Forsyth IL and his team at Doner Advertising created to raise awareness of the opioid crisis (see Winter 2018 RISD XYZ, page 70) won two gold awards in Graphis’ Annual Advertising 2018 competition.

Wyatt-MacKenzie’s most recent releases include I N 1998 WH E N H E R DAUG HTE R MacKenzie was four new memoirs from writers representing marginalsix weeks old and her son Wyatt was 15 months, ized groups. I Ran into Some Trouble by Peggy designer Nancy Cleary 90 GD made the bold decision Caserta (Janis Joplin’s former girlfriend) has already to launch an independent publishing company in the been optioned for a docudrama called Janis starring wilds of Deadwood, OR. In the two decades since, Michelle Williams (shooting begins in February). Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing has grown into a The launch party for We: An Adoption and a Memoir well-respected indie that has published hundreds by Ben Barnz was hosted by actress Jodie Foster, of remarkable books — initially with a focus on helping who describes the book as “part memoir, part love “mom writers” navigate the complexities of an industry letter, part haunting tale” about what same-sex dominated by five major publishing houses. couples face when they try to adopt. And this year With years of graphic design and branding experience, Cleary thinks of herself as a “book midwife” Cleary is collaborating with Fritz Pointer, who’s working on a biography about his famous sisters. dedicated to helping authors publish strong material With each passing year, Cleary says, she puts out in whatever fashion suits them best. These days her five to 10 new titles, learning from every new project. inbox is overflowing with proposals, but she’s always “At first everyone expected us to adhere to publishing on the lookout for “anything with a strong angle, a norms set by Random House and the other ‘big five,’ clear and creative structure to the story, and fresh, which was a disaster,” she recalls. Things improved excellent writing.” dramatically as technology caught up, allowing her

“I look for anything with a strong angle, a clear and creative structure to the story, and fresh, excellent writing.” to print on demand and save money as well as trees. “Still, the most expensive piece — even pricier than printing — is publicity,” says Cleary. “With every book, I just hope to recoup my losses. I’ve got bigger names now — authors who bring with them agents and publishers — which is great for my entire list.” Cleary’s son and daughter are now grown and working with her. “They were really the impetus behind the whole thing,” the single mom says. “The bottom line is that I eventually want to leave something for my kids, who now share a large portfolio of rights. Their names are on apps, books, ebooks and audios that have entertained and educated people around the world.” Learn more about Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing at wymacpublishing.com.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

1991 Artist Carolina Arentsen IL has been doing a lot of teaching in recent months, from life drawing classes at the Jamestown [RI] Art Center to collage classes at the Newport [RI] Art Museum and private tutoring in her home studio on Providence’s East Side.

Bella Ormseth 90 PT The Interruption (oil on wood panel, 16 x 20") is one of the paintings included in Lush Life 6, a group exhibition on view last October at Roq la Rue Gallery in Seattle, near where Bella lives on Puget Sound. In the fall her work was also included in two group shows at Vashon [WA] Center for the Arts: #MyMeToo in October and Masters in Miniature in December.

1990 continued Architect Randy Guillot BArch (Riverside, IL) recently completed his term on Chicago’s Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA) committee, where he served as a core member of the unique Bridge Program, which pairs young architects with AIA Fellows for personal and professional mentorship. In May award-winning and Hugo-nominated illustrator Gene Mollica IL gave a talk at Boston Fantasy Fest focused on how he translates an author’s fantastic vision into stunning cover art. Gene lives in Maplewood, NJ. 70

// undergraduate class notes

Marly Rogers PT (see page 17) Last fall RI-based artist Amy Bartlett Wright CEC painted a large mural on the Town Hall Annex Building in downtown Middleborough, MA—her 49th public art mural in 32 years. Herring Run, which she com-

David Weeks 90 PT In late summer David and his NYC studio colleagues presented The Bots, a large-scale art installation in Chicago marking the 10th anniversary of his popular Cubebot toy. The exhibition included one-of-a-kind prototypes, early sketches, artifacts, samples, tributes and testimonials.

pleted in October, depicts a natural waterfall along the nearby Nemasket River teeming with spawning black herring.

Tasting Kitchen, the Hong Kong-based epicurean, lifestyle and travel magazine Alicia Beebe GD launched in 2012, took home two prizes at the Society of Publishers in Asia 2018 Editorial Awards in June: one for Excellence in Magazine Design and another for Excellence in Photography. “Design is never a solo

Greg Foley 91 AP Following the spring 2018 release of Greg’s newest picture book Kat Writes a Song (Simon & Schuster), a new boardbook, Kat Keeps the Beat, is due out in March. The author/illustrator is based in NYC.

endeavor,” says Alicia, “so these awards are wonderful recognition of all the behind-the-scenes collaborative work that goes into TK.” Painter Rebecca Chamberlain AP (Brooklyn) took part in Kick Your Game, a May fundraiser at the Children’s Museum of the Arts in NYC to help adolescents in crisis. The

Richard Barlow 92 PT Last summer at Bellevue [WA] Arts Museum, Richard completed Manifest, a 1,300-sf chalk drawing that is the artist’s largest to date. It was the centerpiece of a two-phase solo exhibition by the same name, which ran from April– September and also included his Covers and Photogenic Drawings series of recent works. Based in upstate New York, Richard also participated in Upon the Ground, Below the Water, a group exhibition on view last year at the Albany [NY] Airport Gallery from late March through early September.

event brings together noted artists and local kids to customize their own pairs of Converse Chuck Taylors. Recent work by Brooklynbased fiber artist Liz Collins TX/MFA 99 has been on view in several recent shows in NYC: in NADA New York 2018 (Skylight Clarkson Square), In Times of Perseus (Sargent’s Daughters), Conduition (LMAK gallery) and Open Sessions 13 (The Drawing Center, on view through February 3). Last March she curated a solo show presenting work by sculptor Andy Harban at 4 Times Square in NYC and the short video she and Lauryn Siegel made for Trigger, a late 2017/early 2018 group show at the New Museum, was screened at cinekink nyc, a film festival presented at the Anthology Film Archives in NYC. Last July Charity Appell McNabb PT/MA 17 participated in As Open as the Sea is Wide, a group show at Setra Artes, a new gallery opened by Monika Agnello PT in Stonington, CT. Classmates Deborah Forman FAV and Jake Sorrentino AP also showed work in the exhibition. Photographer Leah Oates IL has relocated from Brooklyn to Toronto, where her new surroundings have inspired new work. Meanwhile her Transitory Space project continues to move viewers, appearing in the publications From Whispers to Roars, Ruminate and Burningword Literary Journal and at Susan Eley Fine Art in NYC. Last summer Leah also showed work

Katie Hutchison BArch 92 Three years after the publication of her first book The New Small House, Katie has turned her attention to an American architectural staple in The New Cottage (November 2018, Taunton Press). The 224-page book collects images of 25 cottages, including ones designed by classmate Ed Neubauer BArch , RISD Architecture Professor Christopher Bardt BArch 83 , Lisa Botticelli BArch 85 , Jim Estes BArch 71, Gale Goff BArch 85 , Kyle Sheffield MArch 04 , Peter Twombly BArch 80 and by Katie herself, who lives in Warren, RI.

further afield at Specto Art Space in Bridgewater, VA. Work by Mel Prest PT was on view last summer at McKenzie Fine Art in NYC, Galleri Urbane in Dallas and The Great Highway gallery in San Francisco. She lives in the Bay Area. Operation Finale, a late-summer historical drama about the post-WWII search for Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann, featured a stunning title sequence designed by Michael Riley GD and Kate Mrozowski 06 GD of Shine, the LA-based creative studio Michael founded in 2005.

Please email class notes submissions to: risdxyz@risd.edu.

1992 Abstract painter Bo Joseph PT showed a new bronze sculpture in Under the Night Sky, a group exhibition at Friedman Benda in NYC (where Bo lives) combining art, design and tribal rugs. The works in the show—on view from October– December—engaged with the night sky on both conscious and unconscious levels. Last summer author/illustrator Stephen Shaskan IL read BIG CHOO, a kids’ book he released

earlier in the year, to a rapt audience on the PJ Storytime Trolley in Minneapolis (where he lives). Semi-abstract city scenes by NYC-based painter Sonya Sklaroff PT were on view from October–November in a solo exhibition at Galerie Ferrari in Vevey, Switzerland.

1993 Thanks to a 2017 Belle Foundation grant, Elissa Levy GL made new work for

a wide range of spring 2018 exhibitions, including On Message at Theodore:Art in Bushwick, Difficult Conditions at the Children’s Museum of the Arts in NYC and Mis(missing) Information at Charlie James Gallery in Los Angeles. The NYC-based artist also did a Quirk+VisArts residency at the Visual Arts Center in Richmond, VA, an experience that culminated in a solo exhibition, Of secrecy, the violet, that ran from September 7–November 18.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

Ezra Parzybok 97 CR

1994 25th Reunion October 11–13 Gordon Robichaux, an artist-run space in NYC cofounded by Sam Gordon PT, presents interdisciplinary work by underrecognized and emerging artists. A New York Magazine article published in

Joe McKendry 94 IL Building on the success of his work on a Jane Goodall feature in National Geographic in 2017, Joe was invited to paint this Sumatran Rhino and a watercolor map for a spread in the October 2018 issue. “Since I graduated, it has been a dream of mine to do illustration work for National Geographic,” says the Bostonbased illustrator and longtime RISD faculty member.

Gallery in High Falls, NY (near where she lives in Hurley). The painting-per-day project began as a studio exercise and ended as “a lesson in perseverance.”

June called it “one of the best new galleries in New York.”

Last fall Do Ho Suh PT installed Bridging Home, London as part of the annual Sculpture in the City program. Calling attention to issues of migration and displacement, the eye-catching piece replicates his traditional Korean home and is suspended from a bridge traversing Wormwood Street in London, where the cosmopolitan artist has a home.

Multimedia artist Alyce Santoro CEC has returned to campus to pursue a graduate degree in RISD’s new Nature–Culture– Sustainability–Studies

Nicole Havekost 94 PR The fanciful anthropo-morphic animal sculptures Nicole has been making for the past several years have captured the attention of gallery goers in New Orleans, Chicago, Dallas and Tasmania, Australia, among other places. They also earned her the 2018 People’s Choice Award at the RISD Craft juried sales exhibition on October 6. Nicole is based in Minnesota.

// undergraduate class notes

MA program offered through Liberal Arts. She continues to show her studio work, most recently at nearby Wheaton College as part of Fiber/Paper/ Love, a small group exhibition that ran from late August– early November. In September and October, New Orleans-based photographer Jennifer Shaw PH showed recent work inspired by motherhood in The Space Between, a solo exhibition at the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA. In June Lora Shelley IL displayed 365 paintings of her cat, Charley, at Wired

Jill Scher 94 TX right: Last May Jill showed mixed-media sculptures like There Is No Other in Art for Change, a group exhibition she curated at The Launchpad in Carbondale, CO, where she also works from her studio. Responding to the ongoing aftermath of the 2016 elections, she says she “conceived an idea for a show featuring work to help heal and bring perspective to a citizenry of wounded hearts.”

Stunning new acrylic-oncanvas paintings by Korean artist Nakhee Sung PT were on view in TRAILS, a solo

After 15 years of teaching in the arts, sciences and humanities, Ezra (Northampton, MA) began pursuing a career in the cannabis industry in 2012 and runs a comprehensive consulting practice through his site ezrahelps.com. He recently collected his knowledge of and experiences in the field for a new book, Cannabis Consulting: Helping Patients, Parents and Practitioners Understand Medical Marijuana (available on Amazon).

exhibition last spring at Gallery EM in Seoul.

1995 Longtime advertising producer Julian Katz IL recently became director of production for Mother, an independent advertising and design agency, and now oversees production in the firm’s New York and Los Angeles offices. See examples of his work (including his powerful short videos for Sandy Hook Promise) at juliankatzproducer.com.

Jeff Hantman 95 PR During a spring residency at Local Language, an art, design and fabrication studio in Oakland, CA, Jeff worked closely with techs to cut armatures using the studio’s CNC router and digitally print images on their large UV printer. Informal Structures, a solo show of the resulting work, was on view for the month of May.

In 2018 Dean Welshman GD, assistant director of creative services at Providence College, earned awards of excellence from the University and College Designers Association (UCDA) for his work on the college’s viewbook and admissions marketing suite. Both were on view at UCDA’s annual conference last fall in Grand Rapids, MI.

1996 In September lighting designer Lindsey Adelman ID and her team (including many RISD alums) opened a new showroom in the Boston Design Center. Her sister Whitney is now managing the New England establishment, which, like the studio’s showrooms in NYC and Los Angeles, are open by appointment only. Artist and independent curator Jessica Burko PH co-curated a group exhibition on view last winter at the New Art Center in Newton, MA. Three years in the making, STITCH explored fiber, pattern, speech and process. She also showed new photographic mixed-media projects in September at her new studio space in Boston, where she lives. Last spring artist, musician and filmmaker Marc Cavello FAV showed drawings on paper and digital prints on canvas in World of Lines, a solo exhibition at the Jericho Public Library on Long Island, NY. Carlos Celdran PT (see page 26) Michael DiMartino FAV (see page 13) Now represented by Bee Street Studio in Dallas, RI-based artist Susan Freda SC showed dresses, tapestries and botanicals in glass and wire at last spring’s Art Expo NY. The work then traveled to Hong Kong for the Affordable Art Fair with Gallery k.a.g.

1998 Last September painter, sculptor and HBO creative technologist Eddie Chu PT took home his second Emmy award—for work on the sci-fi series Westworld. Based in Brooklyn, he won his first Emmy for his work on HBO’s medieval blockbuster Game of Thrones. Jim Drain SC (see page 13) Anna Schuleit Haber PT (Harrisville, NH) describes One Silver, One Gold, her solo exhibition at the Milton [PA] Art Bank, as “an installation about a woman named Alice, a man named Banjo, a doll, a glass eye and a kettle of boiling soup.” The show was on view from August 9–October 13. Bryan Konietzko IL (see page 13) Graphic designer Amanda McCorkle GD (Hope Valley, RI) supplied an eye-catching cover for Tenemental: Adventures of a Reluctant Landlady, a memoir by Vikki Warner that was published last June. The story of a young homeowner in Providence’s Federal Hill neighborhood was selected as one of Oprah Magazine’s Top Books of Summer 2018.

1999 20th Reunion October 11–13 Last spring Glen Baldridge PR (Brooklyn) showed new photogravures and pyrogravures in All the Surveyors at William Paterson University Galleries in Wayne, NJ. His work was also included in the concurrent Steve Turner Gallery show Force

of Nature in Los Angeles and in Glade Hits, a group exhibition at Halsey McKay Gallery in

East Hampton, NY that also included work by Ben Blatt 01 IL and Shara Hughes 04 PT.

Rajive Sada Anand 95 PT Rajive traveled the world last summer to spread the word about Laserman, his new comic book about a high school student who transforms into “the world’s first Indian American superhero”— a character he created more than 30 years ago. Released on October 1 just in time for NY ComicCon, the first issue is “told in classic comic fashion” and entirely hand-painted in watercolor by the NYC-based artist.

Designer and educator Janos Stone SC is now manager of innovation and design spaces at Babson College’s new Weissman Foundry in Wellesley, MA, where he supports cutting-edge cross-disciplinary studios for students at Babson, Olin and Wellesley colleges. Last spring Vanessa Yanow PT showed select pieces from her To Give Wing series in Aiguilles en feu, a two-person exhibition at Materia in Quebec City. For these sculptures the Montreal-based artist transformed unfinished, anonymously-made hobby projects into finished textile-based works.

Please email class notes submissions to: risdxyz@risd.edu.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

LOVELY DESIGN FOR LITTLE ONES

“Our creative process goes from the hands of one to the hands of the other in a game of... continuous learning.” W H E N T H E I R F I R S T SO N WA S B O R N several years ago, Karina Schrappe Sucre BArch 00 and Eduardo Sucre BArch 01 became acutely aware of the lack of high-quality and ergonomically sound furniture and toys available for children. So, in 2016 the Brazilian architects stepped into the market with a startup called Noos, dedicated to designing fun, playful and contemporary products for kids and discerning parents. “We were shocked by the toys and plastic furniture on the market,” Karina explains. “They contrast with our way of life, our environmental consciousness, our general principles, our contemporary house — and they also didn’t respect the development, autonomy and consciousness we wanted for our children.” After researching national needs and sustainable materials, the Sucres developed their first product: an activity center with a table, chair and stool. The idea behind the design is that babies as young as six months old can sit comfortably and safely while developing motor skills through play and it can also be reconfigured for ergonomic use by toddlers and older children. Since that initial product launched less than three years ago, Noos has taken off in Brazil by focusing on online sales at affordable prices. A growing collection of its appealing, flat-packed

To learn more about Noos products, go to noos.com/br.

designs now includes easy-to-assemble Noos products are made to be easily assembled cribs, bookshelves, clothing hooks, baskets, from an exclusive, laminated plywood that’s flattoys and more. packed for low-cost shipping. “We look to nature for inspiration,” says The furniture is also designed to adapt or Eduardo, “and try to balance design with the “grow” along with the children using it. For instance, playful and free approach children take to the the Noos crib transforms into a mini rocking sofa world.” Aligned with that, Noos is committed suitable for toddlers and its high chair can be to sustainable design, offering local production reassembled as a regular chair comfortable for with renewable, biodegradable materials and kids over the span of several years. nontoxic finishes. In addition, the Noos high chair earned the Before founding Noos, the couple ran an 2017 Museum of the Brazilian House Award, architectural studio in São Paulo for 17 years, one of the country’s top honors for design, for its focusing on the design of retail stores, factories, versatility, smart use of fittings and practicality offices, high-end residences and other projects for both children and their parents. “The choice throughout Brazil. Now, both architects collaboof wood with a natural finish and the lacquer in rate on the design of all Noos products together. the seat and backrest confer a clean and elegant “Our creative process goes from the hands look with very harmonious proportions,” the of one to the hands of the other in a game of trans- judges observed. “Great design for small people!” formations, interactions and continuous learning,” Karina says. Eduardo handmakes the prototypes with Since meeting at RISD, Karina and Edward have worked traditional carpentry techniques, always with together as architects in their home country of Brazil. In 2016 the end-goal of using the precision and speed they switched gears to launch a company called Noos to of digital fabrication for final manufacturing. produce well-designed children’s furnishings and toys.

Alan Foreman 00 FAV Mr. Sheep and Sleepy Bear and The Department of Dreams, a wonderful series of six short animations Alan created, designed, directed and produced for Nickelodeon, aired last spring on the company’s YouTube and Facebook channels. He recently relocated to Los Angeles, where he’s a supervising producer for Nickelodeon.

1999 continued Brooklyn-based artist Joseph Hart IL exhibited his own paintings in Blood Orange, a spring solo show inspired by fatherhood, at Halsey McKay gallery in East Hampton, NY and simultaneously curated a group exhibition downstairs called Hog’s Curve. Jarrett Krosoczka IL (see page 11) ANIMUS, a graphic novel by longtime RISD Illustration faculty member Antoine Revoy FAV, was published last summer by First Second Books. The ghostly tale is inspired by the Japanese folktales Antoine heard while growing up in Tokyo. Multimedia artist Ryan Wallace IL (NYC) recently curated Night, Shortly, a group exhibition that included work by Joseph Hart IL and Colby Bird MFA 04 PH and ran last summer at Susan Inglett Gallery in NYC (where he lives). Ryan also showed his own work in Unlanding, a fall solo exhibition at the same gallery.

right: photo by Michael Stravato

2000 Artist Renee Monteiro-Bernard ID of South Dartmouth, MA recently created a website called Divine Dark Room where she posts meditative images of nature she creates using scanner bed photography.

In late September filmmaker Jonathan Bogarin PT and his creative partner, Wassaic Project co-director Elan Bogarin, spoke about their film 306 Hollywood at a screening hosted by the Wassaic Project at the Quad Cinema in NYC. The film, which premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, is a magical-realist documentary about a brother and sister who undertake an archaeological excavation of their late grandmother’s home in New Jersey. New paintings by Håvard Homstvedt IL were on view last April and May at Galleri Riis in Oslo, Norway (where he lives). Masks are a thematic cornerstone in Håvard’s compositions, with face-like images hovering over loosely articulated landscapes.

Juliana Polastri was featured in In Good Company 2018, a group exhibition last fall showcasing emerging designers. They were the lead collection designers for the show, which was co-curated by Fernando Mastrangelo and Architectural Digest editor Hannah Martin and on view in Mastrangelo’s Brooklyn studio.

2001 In July Brooklyn-based author and art historian Andrianna Campbell PR participated in a public dialogue with experimental artist Luchita Hurtado as part of the UCLA Hammer Museum’s Made in L.A. 2018 exhibition. “Much of my work is about equalizing things and destroying any barrier between what’s high and low,” says NYC-based artist Dan Colen

Erin Walrath 00 IL Nothing Is Broken (2018, book spines, archival glue, 17" diameter x 10" deep) is among the assemblage, collage and sculptural works Erin exhibited in a solo show last spring at John Davis Gallery in Hudson, NY. Based in Roxbury, CT, she primarily works with discarded book covers, chopping them up and reassembling them into sculptures rich in color and texture.

PT. “I hope I’m ever-changing.” Last September he discussed his practice and experimental approach to materials at the de la Cruz Collection in Miami.

Since earning an MFA in 2017 from the Cambridge School of Art in the UK, Emma Copley PT has shown her work in a solo exhibition at The Hospital Club in London and in the group Summer Show hosted by the Stephen Perse Foundation, where

she recently completed a residency. Emma lives in Cambridge. In August artist Matt Kenny PT (Brooklyn) showed work in The House on Country Road One, a solo exhibition at Halsey McKay Gallery in East Hampton, NY. The subject of the paintings on view was an abandoned structure in Secaucus, NJ that Matt originally spotted from the window of a passing train.

A silk-and-wool tapestry by Ariana Massouh TX and

Vincent Valdez 01 IL Almost two years after acquiring The City I (2015–16, oil on canvas, 74 x 360"), the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin, TX unveiled the painting at the opening of Vincent Valdez: The City, a solo exhibition that ran from July–October. In confronting the persistence of racism in America, the Houston-based painter says he’s “invoking the sinister yet very real existence of...white supremacy today — hiding in clear sight.”

Please email class notes submissions to: risdxyz@risd.edu.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

2003 Designer/writer Christopher Butler FAV—chief design officer at his own studio Newfangled in Chapel Hill, NC—recently launched a new podcast about “design, technology and being human” called Design Tomorrow. “Hopefully, it will speak to you, encourage, challenge and inspire you,” he writes.

HAPPILY HOMESTEADING by Hannah Beem Blackburn 05 FD + Chris Blackburn 03 SC

WE BOTH LOVE MAKI NG TH I NG S

and started our journey together as artists and makers many years ago at RISD. In addition to developing an excellent sense of design, we each learned a multitude of different skills and techniques ranging from welding and fine metalworking to traditional woodworking to sculpting and casting and much more. We both have a deep love and admiration for beautiful handmade objects and the traditions of craftsmanship behind them. A few years ago we started to feel it was time to make a change. Most of our day-to-day life had drifted away from the things that made us happy as artists and designers and makers. Our gardening ambitions had outgrown the capacity of our double lot in Providence’s West End, and our family was growing as well. We began to hatch a plan to carve out a simpler life for ourselves and our three kids — a life that was more directly connected to the environment, and the seasons, and all the things that sustain us. Three years later we are now living on a 22-acre homestead farm in a log cabin on a dirt road in Maine. We have three large vegetable gardens and

Andrew V. Kennedy 02 IL Exploring issues of “human agency, individual dignity and political demoralization,” Andrew exhibited a powerful installation called Fighting Alone from July 1– August 31 at Akin Vitrine Galleries in Toronto, where he currently works and lives.

2002

a small fruit orchard and raise animals: chickens and ducks for eggs, and also pigs, turkeys and chickens for meat. We heat our house entirely with wood that we burn in a vintage Danish Modern woodstove. Our children help with all of the farm chores — from feeding the animals to stacking firewood to planting and harvesting. There is never a shortage of lessons to be learned or new discoveries to be made. The homestead is far from self-sufficient, but we try to do a little more each year to aim for that. We also have a studio work space right at home, where we do bladesmithing, woodworking and candle making. After converting a modest two-stall horse barn on the property into a fully outfitted workshop — with wood- and metal-working tools and machines — we are now able to create by hand all of the beautiful goods we sell at Full Circle Craftworks. Life is an amazing journey with many unexpected twists and turns that can lead us to wonderful and inspiring places. And sometimes it comes full circle.

Learn more at fullcirclecraftworks.com and on Instagram @fullcirclecraftworks.

Film and television producer Ryan Cunningham FAV, cofounder of Running Man post-production studio in NYC, was invited to pitch a documentary TV series called The Fugitive Game at the 2018 IFP (Independent Filmmaker Project) Forum in September. Written by former RISD faculty member Martha Swetzoff, the story focuses on artist Emmy Hennings, who lived in Munich prior to WWI and was the powerhouse behind the Dada movement.

From August–September Allison Cole PR/PT showed a series of narrative paintings inspired by her young son (who is on the Autism spectrum) in Lost Together, a solo exhibition at Land Gallery in Portland, OR. The artist/educator lives and works in Providence. Cope, the Brooklyn-based textiles company founded by Nick and Rachel Cope SC, has introduced a new series of marbled linens called The Sumi Collection. It’s named after the Japanese tradition of Suminagashi marbling, in which richly colored inks are floated in water to form naturally emerging patterns. The 2,500-sf Wall of Birds mural Jane Kim PR painted in 2015 has been immortalized

Sara Vanderbeek 03 PR Last August in San Antonio, TX, Sara participated in Sneakerhead: the Art of Kicks, a group exhibition at Freight Gallery celebrating the cultural and stylistic evolution of athletic sneakers, a medium “where art, design, technology and fashion meet.” (See also note to the right.)

David Pettibone 03 PT On June 16, 2018, David and Elissa Meyers were wed in Homer, AK and enjoyed the company of fellow alums R. Kikuo Johnson IL , Paolo Rivera IL , April Kuo 04 GD (with her and Paolo’s daughter Chloe), Thomas Walton PT, Stephen Oh ID and Allison Maletz PH and her son Clayton Henry Kearns, who was born on April 19, 2017.

in an eponymous book published by HarperCollins last October. Part homage, part artistic and sociological journey, the book tells the story of the remarkable 375-millionyear evolution of birds. Jane runs the San Francisco-based studio Ink Dwell. Shannon Mustipher PT, a longtime beverage director at the popular Caribbean eatery Glady’s in Brooklyn, also consults as a mixologist and thinks of the ingredients she uses in her cocktails as a palette. Last October the VIA Arts Fund and the World Frontiers Forum recognized conceptual artist and RISD Trustee Tavares Strachan GL with the Frontier Art Prize, a $100,000 award given to artists “whose work challenges the current and future condition of human knowledge.” In conferring the award, the Boston-area nonprofits praised Tavares’ current work with the Convergence Project, a cross-disciplinary initiative to improve social conditions in Sierra Leone. In response to rising rents and ongoing displacement in their creative community, husband-and-wife team Sara Vanderbeek PR and Eric

Manche 08 FAV transformed their garage in Austin into DORF, an experimental project space and gallery serving Texas-based artists. In May Sara showed work in DORF’s inaugural exhibition, Landscapes, Portraits and Still Lifes, a group show that also included work by Vincent Valdez 01 IL (see also page 75). As a member of the graphic design studio Other Means in Brooklyn, Ryan Waller GD is helping to create a visual identity for The Shed, an arts center on the High Line in Manhattan that will present a wide range of performing and visual arts beginning in 2019. Other recent projects include collaborations with the Vera List Center for Art and Politics at the New School in NYC.

2004 15th Reunion October 11–13 Last spring Anthony R. Acciavatti BArch, a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University, presented his monumental Ganges River research project at the American Center in New Delhi. The River Ganga: India’s Iconic Water Machine offered the first comprehensive visual profile of the Ganga River Basin in 50 years. Anthony teaches in Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. In August Ethan Hayes-Chute PT once again shared lemonade

and farewells at Camp Solong, his absurdist, feminist summer camp for adults focused on the best part of the summer camp experience: the end. Earlier in the year he collaborated with Christopher Kilne PR and three other artists in Berlin on an experimental TV project called Conglomerate (conglomerate.tv). The artist lives in Freeport, ME.

tapestry project Our Stories of Migration at the Museum of Arts and Design and curated a group exhibition called Protest Club on view at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts (EFA) Center in NYC from March–July. In December she showed work in Art, Artists & You, a hands-on exhibit at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan.

Shara Hughes PT is showing recent paintings in a solo show that continues through January 31 at The Arts Club in London. In drawing from both modernist and contemporary inspirations, the Brooklynbased artist “subverts traditional representational landscapes, exploring psychological and spiritual realms,” as the gallery puts it.

2005

Designer Caroline Z. Hurley PT (Brooklyn) has just launched a line of sheer, chenille, woven and embroidered fabrics and four new block-printed textiles made exclusively for Schumacher. The collection is inspired by Martha’s Vineyard, her “favorite place on earth.”

In September artist Brian Hart PR (Somerville, MA) showed paintings made with light on photographic paper in a three-person exhibition at Harmon Gallery in Wellfleet, MA.

Diana Schoenbrun 04 IL The ink and watercolor illustrations Diana created for Take Your Octopus to School Day (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2018) bring the sweet story by Audrey Vernick to life. Based in Brooklyn, she also does editorial illustration, with this as her first foray into children’s books.

Last winter Natalia Nakazawa PT (Queens) completed an “incredibly productive” artist residency at the Wassaic Project in upstate New York before launching two new classes at City College of New York: Identity & Culture in Art Education and Materials and Methods. In March she also presented the collaborative

Sean Thomas 04 IL Taxonomy (Jardin) (2018, oil and wax on panel, 32 x 48") and Sean’s other urban landscapes were on view during the month of November in Anthropocene, a solo exhibition at Edgewater Gallery in Stowe, VT. Known for his mastery of white-on-white surfaces, the artist — who recently relocated to Surprise, AZ — says these paintings reflect on the relationship between the artificial and natural environment.

Please email class notes submissions to: risdxyz@risd.edu.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

Rowan Metzner 07 PH Last year Rowan released Erotic Masters, a collection of photographic representations of work by Auguste Rodin, Egon Schiele and Pablo Picasso. In staging these images exactly as she imagines these icons would have done, the LA-based artist invites viewers to consider how photography makes the assumed line between erotica and pornography even blurrier.

illustrator also creates computer animation in his NY state studio.

Celeste Rapone 07 IL left: A 2018 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant recipient, Celeste showed paintings in a pair of exhibitions last fall: Five Propositions, a group show at Roberts Projects in Los Angeles, and Everlast, a two-person exhibition (with Besty Odom) that ran from September 21–October 27 at Corbett vs. Dempsey in Chicago, where the artist lives.

turing of leather belts, and Fanny took home an iron award for her DIY leather craft kit. Trench Dogs (Dead Reckoning, 2018), a new graphic novel by Ian Densford FAV, focuses on the nightmare and atrocities of World War I. The author/

2005 continued Keri King IL was delighted to serve as artist in residence at Foo Fest 2018, the annual summer block party hosted by the Providence arts nonprofit AS220. She enjoyed promoting the event and dreaming up creative kids’ activities, including a space-themed parade. Keri also exhibited illustrations in Square Knots and Tightropes, a two-artist show on view from May–August at The Gallery at City Hall in Providence, where she lives. Last spring Kristin Osiecki GD/MAT 10 graduated from Harvard Graduate School of Education and is now working as a learning designer on the 78

// undergraduate class notes

Scratch team at the MIT Media Lab. She first encountered Scratch—a graphic programming language that teaches kids to think creatively, reason systematically and work collaboratively—as an MAT student at RISD and says that it has made a huge impact on her work as an artist and educator.

2006 Industrial designer Erik Christopher DeMelo ID and his wife Hao-Wen (Fanny) Chen ID of Little Neck, NY were both invited to Como, Italy last June for the annual A’ Design Award Gala. Erik earned a bronze award for his Tipping Machine belt cutter, which aids in the manufac-

Digital product designer Adam Diehl CEC (Los Angeles) is one of 20 designers featured in Frontiers of Design, a short film by the international firm Doberman. Now with the San Francisco-based firm Interstellar, he previously worked as a lead designer for the guided meditation and mindfulness app Headspace. Theo Richardson FD, Charles Brill FD and Alex Williams FD of Rich Brilliant Willing in Brooklyn designed an interactive installation called In Living Color as part of the Cooper Hewitt’s recent exhibition The Senses: Design Beyond

Vision, which ran from April– October 2018. As creator of the inspired blog Salad for President—and the 2017 book by the same name— Julia Sherman PH was quoted in a September Artsy piece about salad-making as performance art. “It’s really about rituals,” the NYC-based artist says. “This everyday gesture is such a good example of that because we all do it, and it’s really relatable.” Last spring paintings by Robin F. Williams IL (Brooklyn) were included in Living Still, a group exhibition at Transmitter in NYC. Her work “investigates material beauty, femininity and consumerism within the context of art history and societal expectations of women,” note the curators. Jennifer Woronow IL (see page 96)

2007 Two Beds, a photograph by Erin Kyle Danna IL (Brooklyn), was included in Lost Rolls America, a spring show at The LINE Hotel in Los Angeles as part of Month of Photography Los Angeles’ 10th anniversary events.

Matt Mignanelli 05 IL Nocturnes, a solo exhibition of Matt’s recent paintings, was on view last summer at the gallery that represents him — Denny Dinim Gallery in NYC, where he lives. His intricate paintings of grids are inspired by light, shadow and architectural elements in the urban landscape.

ANTIDOTE TO PTSD

Sebelius now partners with KU’s Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment to offer the program as part of a free five-day retreat called Warriors Ascent. “This is the first art class ever for the majority of participants,” he says, “so I’m trying to provide them with a transformative experience — to activate a part of them they didn’t know existed.”

can’t see what they’re adding on to. “It’s really fun,” he says, “but it’s also about relinquishing power, relying on others and putting trust in the process.” Vets also respond well to project prompts to create a self-portrait using pen and watercolors. “It’s the first time that a lot of these guys have really looked into the mirror in years,” says

B U I LD I NG ON H I S OWN EXPE R I E NCE S

in the studio, artist John Sebelius 06 IL is helping veterans and first responders cope with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) through the process of making art. The Artistic Expressions Healing Arts Initiative he launched in 2017 at the University of Kansas (KU) has already made a difference in the lives of hundreds of participants. Based on that initial success, the program recently earned a Rocket Grant from the Spencer Museum of Art in Lawrence, the Charlotte Street Foundation in Kansas City and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in NYC. As the son of former Kansas governor and US Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius — who helped introduce Obamacare — Sebelius grew up understanding the value of helping others. In his personal practice, he frequently works with pen and undiluted watercolor ink to capture what’s on his mind. “I’m drawn to the fluidity of the ink,” Sebelius says. “I can just blow on the puddles to create movement.” He has also made three short documentary films and says that he likes experimenting with different media to determine “which one matches the ideas I’m trying to convey.” In 2016 Sebelius initially introduced a “crash course” at the VA hospital in Topeka (where he was volunteering) with the simple goal of getting vets comfortable with walking into an art supply store to pick up materials. “A lot of vets have trepidation about doing anything creative,” he explains. “But pushing them out of their comfort zones by offering them a nonverbal way to express themselves has a positive effect on self-esteem and morale.” For more on John’s work, go to johnsebelius.com.

“Pushing [vets] out of their comfort zones by offering them a nonverbal way to express themselves has a positive effect on self-esteem and morale.” Whether vets spend an hour with Sebelius or come back for several classes, it’s clear that art therapy helps. He recognizes that working in the studio every day has an incredibly “positive effect” on his life, so he “wants to share that with others.” In his workshops with vets, Sebelius generally gets things rolling with the well-known sectioned drawing game in which each person draws one part of a character — beginning with the head — and then folds a piece of paper so the next person

Sebelius. “Maybe you see the devil or a monster, but it’s also a way of facing your own identity and ultimately forgiving yourself.” As for his ongoing volunteer work with veterans, Sebelius says he’s “very grateful for the service of the military’s brave men and women. They desperately need all the resources we can give them, so I feel that this is exactly what I need to be doing with my life.” — Simone Solondz

above: Densely layered paintings and powerful pen and watercolor portraits have earned Sebelius a strong reputation in his home city of Lawrence, KS. left: He finds that getting veterans to draw self-portraits and play a sectioned drawing game helps them loosen up creatively.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

Enio Hernandez 09 PR right: In 2018 Enio co-curated and exhibited in Latinidad in focus: Sin fronteras, a threeperson show focused on LA-based artists who are exploring Latino identities and furthering dialogue about immigration through the medium of photography. The exhibition ran from May to September at the Annenberg Beach House in Santa Monica, CA. Enio’s work was also included in the First Annual Members’ Exhibition held last May at The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, CO. Brian Paul Clamp, the owner of ClampArt gallery in Chelsea, juried the show.

grant in support of her ongoing studio work.

Danielle Andress 08 TX Danielle is happily single-parenting her new son Francis in Chicago while teaching full-time in the Fibers and Materials department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). “Teaching at the collegiate level was a dream of mine ever since sophomore year at RISD,” she says.

2007 continued Last May Marisa Keris PT earned an MFA in Painting from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, where she lives.

She spent the 2016/17 academic year at Temple University in Rome and was recently awarded an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation

Grain, a widely respected studio devoted to the sustainable design and development of household goods, celebrated 10 years of practice with an October solo show at Colony in NYC. Husband-and-wife team James Minola ID and Chelsea Green Minola MID 07 continue to evolve the brand from their home base on Bainbridge Island, WA. Bradley Wood PT showed oil paintings in Figuratively Speaking, a group show on view last September–November at Susan Eley Fine Art in NYC, where he lives.

2008 Ashley MacLure 09 IL Ashley describes Miscarriage, a series of images painted onto glass plates, as her “way of shouting into the void” about our societal silence and discomfort with addressing the psychological difficulties of miscarrying more openly. In an Associated Press story last summer, the Massachusetts-based high school art teacher added: “It’s very surreal. One moment, you’re elated… starting to think about the future…. And then it’s just over. After my miscarriage, I felt like my body had failed me somehow.” Ashley has since welcomed a daughter named Mattina, born on August 13, 2018.

Emily Collins FAV (see page 20) Dina Epstein ID (see page 14) In August Emily Habansky JM (Oakland, CA) enjoyed a weekend stint as an artist in residence at the Bay Area art supply store Flax, where she led a community painting project. Filmmaker Colin Healey FAV has once again teamed up with producer Dave Schachter FAV and cinematographer Ben Powell PH on For Enter-

Jenny Lai 10 AP right: Given that her womenswear brand NOT has “a strong performative component to it,” Jenny collaborated with photographer Ina Jang and two “incredible dancers” to create a campaign around her SS18 collection focused on opposing movements. 80

// undergraduate class notes

tainment Purposes Only, a feature-length film he describes as a “mystical dramedy.” Due out in 2019, the film tells the story of a struggling

storefront psychic in NYC and was selected for screening

at the 2018 Independent Filmmaker Project Forum in September. An animated film by Hayley Morris FAV was on view last summer in Rhythmic Visions, a group exhibition at T.F. Green Airport’s Green Space Gallery in Warwick, RI. She also teaches at RISD.

FAMILY FUN FOR ALL

Kate Nielsen IL showed new work in Cuts, Rips and Scrapes, a solo exhibition on view last fall at the Vietnamese café Nha Minh in Brooklyn, where she lives. She begins her figurative and abstract paintings using layers of colorful acrylic paint built on slabs of glass. Last spring work from two recent series by MJ Tyson JM/ MFA 17 was on view in The Last Objects, MJ’s solo show at Brooklyn Metal Works Gallery: boxes from Inheritance and Dust to Dust, and vessels from Homes. “Each work is comprised of personal objects left behind by deceased residents, sited at specific locations and named accordingly,” she explains.

2009 10th Reunion October 11–13 Michaela Olsen FAV (see page 20) Aaron Perry-Zucker GD and his team have successfully landed alternative financial backing to support the Creative Action Network (CAN), a San Francisco-based nonprofit he cofounded in 2013. CAN invites artists and designers to contribute digital posters with a clear political message and makes them available to activists interested in downloading the work for free.

right: photos by Matthew Clowney MFA 08 PH

2010 Building on their growing reputation, Mike Eckhaus TX (Brooklyn) and Zoe Latta TX (Los Angeles) mounted Eckhuas Latta: Possessed, their first solo exhibition—at the Whitney in NYC. On view from August through October, it addressed the connections between art, design, clothing, consumption and commerce. New York Times contributor David Colman called the show a “threechambered feast for the eyes.”

S I N C E L A N D I N G A R I S D WO R K / S T U DY J O B at the Providence Children’s Museum, Margaret Middleton 08 ID has been in her element. Both fun and fortuitous, that two-year apprenticeship with faculty member Chris Sancomb 93 SC more than a decade ago set her up for a career she loves. As an independent exhibit designer, Middleton takes on projects that focus on imaginative play, social interactions, independence and developing gross and fine motor skills. Because many kids don’t yet read, “children’s museums are less content-focused and more about the environment and the kinesthetic learning experience,” she explains. After the Providence-based designer completed five hands-on play environments for preschoolers at the Discovery Museum in Acton, MA, it won a 2018 Best of Boston award for the region’s Best FamilyFriendly Museum. Kids develop gross motor skills shoveling “coal” or using the pulley in the ship room, and work on fine motor skills opening and closing the oven door in the kitchen or setting up tracks in the train room. “The fifth gallery my team designed is a brain-building space for infants and toddlers and their families,” the designer notes. “It focuses on different aspects of child development — like exploring textures and materials.” Selecting the right materials is essential to helping Middleton make spaces appropriate for kids who might get overstimulated by too many bright colors, flashing lights or excessive noise. “A lot of spaces designed for kids are about entertaining children in a way that helps grownups relax and take a step back,” Middleton explains, “whereas children’s museums are focused on involving grownups in play in order to set children up to take calculated risks and enjoy deeper explorations.” She uses sophisticated color palettes that appeal to adults and adds interactive elements (like an abacus) to keep them from getting bored. She also specs sustainable materials like steel-coated plywood, which she values for its cleanability and durability.

For more on Margaret’s work, go to margaretmiddleton.com.

In addition to her design work, Middleton also consults on inclusive language using a guide originally inspired by her queer community activism. “The more I shared the guide with educators, the more I realized how applicable it is for so many different kinds of families,” she says. “My ultimate goal is to design children’s museums that are intimate and fun but also welcoming to families of all kinds.” — Simone Solondz

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

LEANING LOCAL W H I LE T H E E LE G A N T , contemporary furniture and lighting designs emanating from Studio DUNN have a clear global appeal, they’re deeply influenced by local craftsmanship and the very “Rhode Island” education of owner and lead designer Asher Rodriquez-Dunn 08 ID. From his student days at RISD to his current work at DUNN, he has been following his curiosity about the intersection of design and production while helping to reinvigorate the creative economy in the state he now calls home.

Less than four years later, DUNN has evolved into a six-person team that includes two fellow alums: operations manager Topher Gent 12 FD and lighting specialist Sasha Polan 15 FD. In that period, there has been a noticeable shift in the level of commitment to the studio. “It’s been a huge learning experience for me to redefine our culture to accommodate individuals who want to stay,” Rodriquez-Dunn acknowledges, adding that he generally looks for designers with skills that Rodriquez-Dunn’s initial foray into this world began during senior year when one of his Industrial Design professors suggested he reach out to local manufacturers to help with the logistics of completing his degree project. “It was the first time I went beyond the RISD bubble and made cold calls,” he explains. “I suddenly realized there was this huge manufacturing base here in Rhode Island that I didn’t even know existed.” After a brief stint out of state designing for a big box company that outsources most of its production overseas, Rodriquez-Dunn returned to Providence to open a shared fabrication shop and teaching space known as Keeseh Studio (referencing the Hebrew word for “chair”). “At the time I felt strongly that you should be intimately connected with the physical properties of each piece of furniture rather than just designing in theory,” he says. “So I invited some buddies of mine to start a little garage shop. The plan was to keep our hands in the work even if the industry was moving in another direction.” While managing that space and also teaching, Rodriquez-Dunn began work on a design project of his own. In 2010 he launched Studio DUNN — prior to getting married and changing his surname — with a six-piece line that instantly earned a Best in Show recognition at that year’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair in NYC. But by 2015 the endless strain of trying to run Keeseh while also building his own business forced him to make the difficult decision to shutter the communal space. 82

See and learn more at studiodunn.com.

“It can be difficult to... let people work with you and let their ideas marinate with yours—but it’s so important to do that.” complement his own. “I find that I tend to butt heads with people who have similar skill-sets,” he says, “whereas if they’re bringing something new or different to the group it’s easier to collaborate.” Team DUNN also loves that in RI they can compare notes with makers like Debra Folz MFA 10 GD, Miles Endo 10 ID, Ben Blanc MFA 04 FD and Aja Blanc MA 00, and work next door to the design collective Pneuhaus (run by

Dunn’s furniture and lighting design studio in Rhode Island is known for producing beautifully crafted work, including the newly released Linden Lamp and the Stillwater Club Chair.

August Lehrecke 14 FD, Matthew Muller 14 FD

and Levi Bedall). Collaboration with local manufacturers is another bright spot. “We are very hands-on with our products,” says RodriquezDunn, “so that carries over to us sitting down with vendors, talking through their process and getting suggestions about what to adjust.” In fact, conversation and collaboration are central to both the culture of DUNN and its success. Although he tells other entrepreneurs just starting out to “believe in your gut but let others in,” Rodriquez-Dunn acknowledges that “that can be really hard to do because when you’re starting a business you’re generally doing it because you have a strong vision and passion for something. It can be difficult to let others into that — let people work with you and let their ideas marinate with yours — but it’s so important to do that.” — Lauren Maas

Lila Ash 11 PT Since making The New Yorker’s online Daily Cartoon page for the first time on August 9, 2018, Lila has contributed several more cartoons to their website, including a Daily Shouts collection of illustrations comically speculating on new trends in vapor cigarette advertising. Based in LA, she’s aiming to get her work into a New Yorker print edition in the near future.

2010 continued

2011

Crystal Soares ID is working as a colorist on the Super Nintendo World theme park expansion at Universal Studios Japan in Osaka, where she lives. The artist is contributing to everything from the park’s interior and exterior environments to IP-based costumes and props.

Brooklyn-based sculptor Vivian Chiu FD showed complex new pieces in painted maple in allTURNatives, a group exhibition on view from August–October at the Center for Art in Wood in Westerly, RI. Beetle Hillery GD teamed up with her best friend, Los Angeles-

Polly Spenner 10 TX In July Polly exhibited silkscreeen collages, paintings, weavings and more in her first-ever solo show — at RISD’s Benson Hall Gallery. After a 10-year leave from RISD, she returned to complete her degree and ended up getting hired as the Textiles tech —“doing exactly what I love to do.” Find the full story (Spenner Comes Full Circle) on risd.edu.

Please email class notes submissions to: risdxyz@risd.edu.

Rebecca Manson 11 CR Thousands of handmade glazed porcelain parts join together in Come Closer and the View Gets Wider, Rebecca’s first public installation. The 8-foot orb remains on view at Tribeca Park in lower Manhattan through this July.

on paper to Bonjour Tristesse, an all-female exhibition at Barney Savage Gallery in NYC. Ishrat Sahgal IA , who founded the craft-focused interior design firm Mischat Co in New

Delhi, was included on the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia 2018 list published last March. She also runs a boutique interior architecture firm specializing in serving the retail and hospitality industries.

Naomi Mishkin 11 GL based painter Jungmin Son Martin PT, to create a wonderful mural for an installation by interior designer Lisa Mende at High Point [NC] Market 2018. Beetle, a native of New Orleans, runs the fabric and wallpaper company Palm Orleans.

At an October event at Meantime in Brooklyn, the NYC-based artist/designer celebrated the launch of Naomi Nomi, her new brand of made-to-order women’s workwear. Like all the garments she makes, The Bad Wife Shirt is informed by the tools and processes involved in making clothing and “how… those tools affect the ways we measure and consider our body.”

Adam Charlap Hyman FD (see page 24) Last September Haitian artist Nathalie Jolivert BArch (Brooklyn) contributed works

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

A.T. Pratt 13 IL The 2018 Emerging Artist Award at the RISD Craft sales exhibition went to this Brooklyn-based cartoonist and illustrator known for his 3D “pop-ups and peekaboos,” along with his MrMiSocki socks and comic book inspired by mismatched socks.

KEY CURRENT MAJORS Apparel Design

Arch Architecture CR Ceramics Digital + Media

FAV Film/Animation/ Video FD

Furniture Design

Graphic Design

Endless Bridge, a new artist’s book by Mikhail Mishin SC (Brooklyn), was released last September by Kris Graves Projects. A visual retelling of the creation story, it juxtaposes collage, iPhone photos and newspaper clippings, separating light from dark and allowing order to emerge from chaos.

GL Glass IA

Interior Architecture

Industrial Design

IL Illustration JM Jewelry + Metalsmithing PH Photography PT Painting PR Printmaking SC Sculpture

2013

TX Textiles

Cindy Ji Hye Kim IL (see page 14)

5 T H -Y E A R D E G R E E BArch Architecture MASTER’S DEGREES MA

Adaptive Reuse (Interior Architecture)

Art Education (Teaching + Learning in Art + Design)

MArch Architecture MAT Teaching MDes Design in Interior Studies MFA

Fine Arts

MID

Industrial Design

MLA Landscape Architecture FORMER MAJORS Advertising Design

AE Art + Design Education

2011 continued The Avenue Concept, a Providence-based nonprofit founded in 2012 by Yarrow Thorne ID, launched a new public art program in early July. Work by RI-based artist Gabriel Warren 79 SC was among several new downtown sculptures unveiled by the organization, which also launched an artist residency program that ran through October and culminated with a

gallery show at their South Providence headquarters. Multiple new murals and gardens are in the works, along with a project to transform 15 RIPTA buses into roving art galleries—including one by Myles Dumas CEC 07 depicting Providence’s culture and history. “Our goal is to build an environment that encourages people to engage with art instead of passively observing it,” Yarrow explains.

LA Landscape Architecture MD

Machine Design

MIA

Interior Architecture

Textile Chemistry

Textile Engineering

F O R M E R 5 T H -Y E A R DEGREES BGD

Graphic Design

BID

Industrial Design

BIA Interior Architecture BLA Landscape Architecture OTHER BRDD Brown/RISD Dual Degree CEC Continuing Education Certificate FS

enrolled for Foundation Studies only

* attended RISD, but no degree awarded P

RISD parent

// undergraduate class notes

Oge Mora 16 IL The hand-cut and painted paper collages Oge pieced together for Thank You, Omu! (Little, Brown) — her first picture book — exude a warmth that perfectly conveys the heartfelt gratitude in the title. The book for preschoolers is a tribute to her late grandmother, a big-hearted Nigerian who “danced and swayed… to the radio” when she cooked — and always found room at the table for family, friends, neighbors and unexpected guests.

2012 Topher Gent FD showed work in Projective Planes, a two-artist exhibition last fall at Coastal Contemporary Gallery in Newport, RI. He also recently introduced Hedra, a series of vases made of laser-cut steel, and is getting into working with clay at The Steel Yard in Providence, where he lives. Jerrelle Guy IL (see pages 2 and 52) Andre Herrero BArch (see page 24) In Without Us, a late fall solo show at the Soo Visual Arts Center in Minneapolis (where she lives), Sophia Heymans PT presented paintings that imagine the prehistoric landscape in America.

After working in the escape room industry for several years, Rita Orlov Rosenfeld FD (Brooklyn) has launched a game company called PostCurious (getpostcurious. com). The new company combines tabletop board games with interactive fact-finding challenges, offering “narrative puzzle adventures” for intrepid gamers.

2014 Last June the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development recognized architect and children’s book illustrator Marcela Staudenmaier CEC with an Artist Fellowship Excellence Award. Marcela lives in New Haven, CT and teaches Continuing Education classes at RISD. Virginia-based glass artist Gayle Forman GL is preparing for a nine-month Fulbright fellowship in São Paulo, where she’ll work with designers Fernando and Humberto Campana and study the Brazilian concept of gambiarra, in which artists utilize materials in surprising and resourceful ways. Gayle’s own creative process is grounded in pushing material boundaries and turning familiar concepts on their heads. Since launching her crowdfunded Miles of Portraits

FORBES APPLAUDS YOUNG ALUMS

Cynthia Talmadge 11 PT For the works in As the World Turns, her first solo exhibition at Halsey McKay Gallery in East Hampton, NY, Cynthia made sand paintings that reference the opening titles of classic soap operas. The artist is represented by 56 Henry in NYC, where she lives.

cycling project in 2017, Brooklyn-based designer Annalisa van den Bergh GD extended it to Alaska last summer. She’s now working on a short film and publication documenting the 1,000-mile trip.

2015 Pamela Chavez IL continues to earn well-deserved recognition for her animated short Caracol Cruzando, a film about a young Costa Rican girl immigrating to the US. In the fall it premiered in the PBS Online Film Festival and was an official selection at the 2018 Central American International Film Festival in LA, where she also spoke.

Anthony Galante FAV (see page 22) In early October Danny Glass BRDD PT showed a selection of paintings at the 2018 International Art Festival @ Highline Loft Gallery in NYC. Based in Brooklyn, he’s currently working toward a master’s in art business from Sotheby’s Institute of Art. The Heart & the Harrows, an exhibition featuring penand-ink drawings by Natalie Kassirer IL and sculptures by her mother, Sue Kassirer, was on view last September at Hope & Feathers in Amherst, MA. Natalie lives and works in western Massachusetts.

Akeem Glaze 12 ID + Stephanie DelVecchio 12 ID Interior Design Magazine and ICFF named Glaze Studio’s dualburning beeswax U Candle one of four finalists in the Accessories category of the 2018 NYCxDESIGN Awards.

FIVE ALU M N I are included in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list of young Art & Style talent to watch in 2019. Artists Julien Nguyen 13 PT and Soe Yu Nwe MFA 15 CR , illustrator JooHee Yoon 11 IL and designers Felicia Hung 13 FD and Nicholas Ozemba 13 FD are all cited on the latest list of leaders in their fields. Based in Los Angeles, Nguyen is known for politically tinged work dense in historic references. In 2016 his election-themed solo show Superpredators ran at Freedman Fitzpatrick in LA and a year later one of his paintings was included in the Whitney Biennial. In 2018 he reimagined biblical stories in Ex Forti Dulcedo, a provocative solo show at Stuart Shave/Modern Art in London, which represents him. Born and raised in Myanmar, Nwe (see also page 95) has moved between Asia and the US in recent years, making intricate porcelain work that explores what it means to be a cultural outsider. Her work is regularly exhibited in the US and at museums in China, the Philippines, Taiwan and Australia.

Since graduating in 2011, Yoon has run a successful freelance practice in NYC, contributing editorial illustrations to The New Yorker, The New York Times and The Washington Post, among others. She also works on books, advertising and various other projects — including a recent lobby installation for Warby Parker. Hung and Ozemba met their very first day at RISD and in 2017 launched In Common With, a Brooklyn-based homeware company. They design beautifully crafted products—including a collection of lamps with hand-built ceramic shades by Ariana Heinzman 13 CR — with modular components to allow for flexibility and personalization. RISD trustee and fashion designer Nicole Miller 73 AP served as one of three jurors of the 2019 30 Under 30 list — the eighth that has included alumni, with a total of 38 featured to date.

clockwise from top: Work by JooHee Yoon 11 IL, a lamp from In Common With, a detail of ceramics by Soe Yu Nwe MFA 15 CR

and a painting from Julien Nguyen 13 PT’s recent solo

show in London. Please email class notes submissions to: risdxyz@risd.edu.

For more information, go to forbes.com/30-under-30/2019.

THE MAGIC OF MAKING classes at the local art institute before my junior year of high school and realized how much I like making art. When I discovered RISD I was infatuated — the programs, quality of student work, what alums are doing. It really drew me in. What was foundation year like? Did you sleep?

Last spring when Justin Seow 18 FD learned that he had landed a 2018 Windgate Fellowship from The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design, “it was like getting hit by a ghost bus,” he says. “I was floating on a cloud.” Just one of 10 graduating seniors throughout the US to win the $15,000 award, he used it to take a class at Anderson Ranch in Colorado and travel to Japan to explore the relationship between magic, storytelling and craft. Here the furniture designer reflects on his experience at RISD and the creative challenges that continue to excite him. How did you end up at RISD?

When I was young I’d make stickers for other kids — sort of on commission — and sell them for a quarter after school (“Do you like dragons? I can draw a dragon!”). But I actually thought I would go into engineering or be a doctor — until I took

I pulled a couple of, not all-nighters, but more like 3 am-ers. The next day I would be completely useless, so I quickly realized I couldn’t make that my work schedule. Foundation year was completely transformative though, specifically Spatial Dynamics with Jonathan Bonner MFA 73 SC. That’s what got me thinking, ‘Yeah, 3D. That’s my stuff.’ Why did you choose your major?

I took a Furniture Design studio with Tyler Inman MFA 06 FD during my first Wintersession and really liked the class. I ended up taking two more courses and an independent study with Tyler, and worked with him over a summer, so that was the beginning of an important relationship. But the students were even more important to me. You’re in the studio together until who-knowswhen, so whenever you encounter problems you can walk 10 feet and get very honest feedback. Did you encounter any major hurdles at RISD?

The biggest was considering my own place as a maker. During my first two years I thought, ‘Oh, I’m just an art student,’ but then a realization came that there’s a lot of responsibility and privilege that comes with working in art and design. Being surrounded by so many great artists and critical thinkers made that visible to me. Can you talk about why you make furniture that incorporates puzzles?

I see parallels between the way people deduce information about artifacts and how they solve puzzles: You gather information and notice details and are rewarded for your inquiry. Solving a puzzle is a kind of magic that reveals something or makes a process possible. Really, the crux of my work and my whole RISD experience is reflected in this idea: Nothing is as it seems.

What do you think you want to do next?

At a Fine Arts Portfolio Review someone from RISCA [the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts] asked me about my “40-year plan.” It knocked me back a bit, but also got me thinking about massive projects I would love to do in the future — like make large-scale puzzle rooms that embody magic and inquiry and how we learn about objects. Do you feel like you’ll actually get there?

Yeah? I don’t think it’s impossible. It’s like seeing the top of a mountain, knowing someone can get there, then asking: “Will that person be me?” And then thinking: ‘I’m going to try. Who knows? Let’s find out.’ – interview by Robert Albanese For more on Justin, go to studioseow.com.

2015 continued Paintings by Sean Mullins PT and Phoebe Nesgos PT were included in The Light Within the Bulb, a group exhibition on view last summer at Ed. Varie in NYC. Previously based in New Orleans, Sean and Phoebe recently relocated to Hudson Valley, NY. Arresting photographs by Ricardo Nagaoka PH documenting the gentrification of Portland, OR were featured in The New York Times’ online Lens column last May. The ongoing project—Eden within Eden—focuses on the psychological effects of gentrification on people of color still struggling to make Portland their home. Brooklyn-based artist David Ai Wang IA curated Us, a group exhibition that ran last summer at Ed. Varie gallery in NYC. Reflecting on the importance of self-determined identity, the show included work by fellow alums Yoo Hee Chang 14 PT, Kiji McCafferty 03 ID, Alina Perez 17 PT and Phyllis Yao 16 PT.

2016 Designer Nathaniel Barlam BArch (NYC) works in the virtual construction lab at the

international architectural firm Schüco, where he designs door, window and facade systems. Last winter a recent proposal he submitted earned honorable mention in Metals in Construction magazine’s 2018 Design Challenge. As a counterpoint, Nathaniel also makes Musical Comics, a series of illustrated videos interpreting classic rock songs. Last spring paintings by Bronxbased artist Cheyenne Julien PT were featured in a two-artist exhibition (with Tau Lewis) at Chapter NY. According to the Lower East Side gallery, each artist’s work creates “imagined environments that blur boundaries between the experience of personal and collective traumas.” Minkyung Chung FAV (see page 22) Zoe Karina Lohmann SC (see page 15) Isabel Sicat BRDD IL (see page 26) Jordan Walker IL won a Jurors’ Choice Award for her contribution to Urban Wildlife: Learning to Co-Exist, a group exhibition at RISD’s ISB Gallery from July–August and at nearby ArtProv Gallery from October–

Ariana Martinez 17 BRDD SC Based in Providence, Ariana is making an impact through the world of sound, winning a $5,000 Signal to Noise Award last summer for Para cruzar el agua (To cross the water), a series of “audio postcards,” and attending the Third Coast Conference of audio storytellers in Chicago in early October as a 2018 AIR (Association of Independents in Radio) New Voices Scholar.

November. The show featured collaborations between artists and scientists focused on humans’ relationships with a wide range of animal species— from bats to bees to whales.

2017 As part of a runway show presented each year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and LIFEWTR, recent graduates Daniel Cloke AP and Jamall Osterholm AP showed compelling menswear at New York Fashion Week in September and attracted well-deserved attention for their work. Social justice champion Lucy Crelli AP worked in Islamabad, Pakistan last fall as a UX designer with the design strategy firm IDEATE Innovation. The goal of her project was designing interventions to meet the contraceptive needs of Pakistani women and adolescent girls.

Gabriel showed new work in On the Construction of the Heavens, a solo exhibition held last spring at New Works in Chicago, where he lives. In the fall he curated a group show with the NYC-based MX Gallery and completed a three-month artist residency at Alternative Worksite in Roanoke, VA. The multidisciplinary artist is also participating in a group show this spring at Chicago’s ADDS DONNA.

Before graduating last May, Rhode Island native Ayah Badr ID was delighted to learn that she’d won the Class of 2017 scholarship. Work by Samantha Keiran IL of Ipswich, MA was included in A Kaleidoscope, a group exhibition on view last spring at the Bristol [RI] Art Museum in Rhode Island. Work by RISD

faculty member Christopher Sancomb 93 SC was also featured in the show. As a finalist in the 2018 Supima Design Competition, recent grad Bryn Lourié AP showed five signature looks at New York Fashion Week in September showcasing the versatility of Supima’s high-quality cotton fabrics.

Deaths Gertrude Chaet Sharpe 43 AE of Columbia, MD on 8.18.18

Theodore Sande 56 AR of Cleveland, OH on 8.11.18

Pauline Briden Tracy 43 AP of Whittier, CA on 5.21.18

Gordon E. Helander 61 ID of Westbrook, CT on 6.6.18

Marjean McConnell Willett

2018

on 4.18.18

Nancy Woolfenden Sweeten 70 GD of Newark, NJ on 5.26.18

In September recent Apparel Design graduates Avery Albert AP, Erica Kim AP, Yufei Liu AP, Lou Rodgers AP, Zehua Wu AP and Cecilia Zhu AP participated in the 2018 Fashion Future Graduate Showcase held in conjunction with New York Fashion Week. The hybrid physical and digital showcase is sponsored by CFDA and the New York City Economic Development Corporation’s Made in NY Initiative as a way to give new talent industry exposure.

Teresa Bailey 49 PT of Hampden, MA on 2.15.18

Brian Dowley 73 PH of Cambridge, MA on 8.10.18

Camille A. Hoheb 51 AP of Wellfleet, MA on 10.29.18

Nancy Lloyd 74 PT of Sebastopol, CA on 8.13.18

George Lyman 52 ID of Lowell, MA in January 2017

John Ballantine 77 GD of Brewster, NY on 7.20.18

Bobby Lynn Hartness Maslen 52 AP of Portland, OR on 8.16.18

Alfred Kamajian 81 IL of Crofton, MD on 6.23.18

Aiala Rickard AP (see page 26)

Please email class notes submissions to: risdxyz@risd.edu.

Gabriel Cohen 17 FAV

48 LA of Kennett Square, PA

Bruce Randall 53 TX of Watch Hill, RI on 12.14.17

John Christopher Walsh BArch 82 of Framingham, MA on 5.3.18

Nancy D. Hamilton 54 PH of Port Clyde, ME on 8.17.18

Rudolph Schaefer IV BArch 92 of Honolulu, HI on 5.17.18

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

moving forward

// graduate class notes

Arlene Shechet MFA 78 CR In September Arlene completed a public art installation that remains on view through April 28 at Madison Square Park in Manhattan. Called Full Steam Ahead, it features a series of abstract sculptures in porcelain, wood, steel and cast iron. The accomplished sculptor divides her time between homes in NYC and the Hudson Valley.

1980 Last spring work by photographer Stephen Petegorsky MFA PH (Florence, MA) was included in More Eyes on Western Massachusetts, a group exhibition at Hampshire College’s Leo Model Gallery in Amherst, MA. He also showed photographs in From Conflict to Coffee, a May exhibition at the Polus Center for Social and Economic Development, and in a solo exhibition at the Feick Arts Center in Poultney, VT, which ran from September– October.

research fellow at the University of Melbourne in Australia, recently served as guest co-editor of the Journal of Asia-Pacific Pop Culture 3.1 (Penn State University Press). The issue is focused on the finances and ethics of art, popular culture, science fiction and design in Southeast Asia and the broader Pacific Rim. Brad also co-curated Couplings, a fall group exhibition at Dominik Mersch Gallery in Sydney that explored how intimate exchanges between artist couples affect their work.

Valta Us MFA PT (see page 4)

1989

1982

1972 Last August Muriel Angelil MAE showed work in Making an Impression, an exhibition at Sargent Gallery in Newburyport, MA, near her home in Amesbury. As a member of the Printmakers Group at the Newburyport Art Association, she regularly exhibits with other members of the collective to showcase a variety of printmaking methods.

1974 Last July and August Providence-based photographer Kathie Florsheim MFA PH 88

showed six photographs in Littoral Zone, a group exhibition about coastal management (or the lack thereof) at HERA Gallery in Wakefield, RI. The show also featured work by Atlanta-based alum Cynthia Farnell MFA 01 PH. CAMOUFLAGE: Vietnamese Brush Strokes with History, a documentary C. David Thomas MFA PR worked on over a three-year period, was screened at last summer’s Woods Hole [MA] Film Festival. He partnered with director and fellow Vietnam War veteran Bestor Cram to interview more than 20 artists and experts about postwar issues still impacting the Vietnamese.

David is the founding director of the Indochina Arts Partnership based in Wellesley, MA, where he lives.

Arts educator Brad Buckley MFA SC, a professorial and

1977 Last June RI-based filmmaker Nancy Wyllie MAE won the Best Experimental Short Film award at The Americas Film Festival of New York for a 2:27-minute short called Reenactments. Organized by The City University of New York, the festival represents the rich diversity of cultures, languages and stories of North, Central and South America.

Jenny Holzer MFA 77 PT Jenny’s piece White Light is making an impact at San Francisco’s new Transbay Transit Center. The elliptical, 182-foot LED installation and sculptural light column features scrolling text by dozens of writers — including Maya Angelou, Joan Didion and former mayor Harvey Milk. In addition, Jenny’s retrospective contribution to the Artist Rooms series at the Tate Modern in London remains on view through July 9.

top left: photo by Kris Graves, courtesy of Pace Gallery and the artist

Don DeLuca MFA 72 ID left: No longer working as a corporate designer or teaching at RISD, Don is still sailing and “messing about in boats” on and beyond Narragansett Bay. He’s also making toys and pursuing other projects in his shop in Newport, RI and is enjoying writing, with his first novel, The Shipmate, released last summer.

Two medical drawings created by NYU research scientist Michael Cammer MAT are included in Art and Anatomy:

Madeline Irvine MFA 93 PT/PR In Buffer Zones, a July solo show at the Fort Worth [TX] Community Art Center, Madeline presented large installations made of sea salt crystals and in a related talk, expressed her growing alarm about climate change. In September she also addressed environmental concerns through a new installation for a three-person show focused on trees and forests at Atelier 1205 in Austin.

Drawings (UC Medical Humanities Press). The book was inspired by a unique seminar

at NYU’s School of Medicine in which medical students and other health professionals draw cadavers in the anatomy lab.

Lian Brehm MFA 84 SC

1991

Last May Lian exhibited close to 100 recent pieces in Paper Play, a solo show of paper clay and paper pulp sculpture along with monotypes. The exhibition was on view at Anchor House of Artists in Northampton, MA. Lian lives in Hardwick, VT.

Photographer Judy Gelles MFA PH showed images from her Family Portrait Series in the group exhibition Infinite Spaces, which was on view from July– September at the Pennsylvania

Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, where she lives. The Craft & Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles showed As Clear as the Experience, an immersive solo exhibition of work by glass artist Katherine Gray MFA GL from May–September. Katherine is a professor of art at California State University San Bernardino.

1993 top: photo by Colin Doyle

Robbie Heidinger MFA CR is looking forward to traveling to Italy this spring to teach a class at La Meridiana International School of Ceramics in Tuscany. She lives and works in Westhampton, MA. Please email class notes submissions to: risdxyz@risd.edu.

David T. Hanson MFA 83 PH Given the latest UN report on climate change, the September release of Waste Land (Taverner Press), an arresting book presenting David’s poignant series by the same name, feels especially timely — even though the Montana-based photographer originally made the photos in 1985 – 86 when a Guggenheim Fellowship allowed him to investigate Superfund toxic waste sites in 45 states in the US. In his foreword, Wendell Berry notes that the photographs present “the topography of our open wounds.”

1994 At a gala event in October, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art presented Kara Walker MFA PT/PR with its 2018 Contemporary Vision Award. The award salutes creative minds across the globe who redefine contemporary visual culture and make the art of our time a vital and meaningful

part of public life—which she has done especially well for the past 25 years. Kara’s work is also included in SFMoMA’s permanent collection and her monumental silhouette Virginia’s Lynch Mob, along with other remarkable pieces, is on view through January 6 at the Montclair [NJ] Art Museum.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

Kana Tanaka MFA 99 GL In October Kana’s public art project Crystals (handmade glass and stainless steel wire, 25 x 34 x 18') was unveiled as part of the grand opening of the 21st Century Library in Hayward, CA. In making the eye-catching installation, the San Francisco-based artist drew inspiration from the region’s 19th-century salt industry, which relied on clean energy sources for harvesting.

2003 Last spring glass artist Dylan Palmer MFA GL showed work in a group exhibition at Régime des Fleurs perfumery and atelier in Los Angeles, where he lives. In a write-up of the show, Vogue noted that his sculpture Stick in Softness “toys with fragility and calls to mind pistil-and-stamen biology lessons.”

2004 Brooklyn-based artist Colby Bird MFA PH showed new watercolors and sculpture in Razors pain you, Rivers are damp, a fall solo exhibition at Lora Reynolds Gallery in Austin, TX. The show’s catalogue notes that Colby has “a unique ability to turn his many insecurities into pinpricks of inspiration.”

He also showed work last summer in Night, Shortly, a group exhibition at Susan Inglett Gallery in NYC. Former RISD faculty member Joshua Enck MFA FD recently left Rochester, NY for Delhi, India to pursue a five-month Fulbright US Scholar fellowship focused on traditional Indian metalworking techniques. He intends to produce a body of sculptural work inspired by the experience. A recent article in Metropolis magazine referred to interior designer Grace Eun MIA as “a rising star in interior design,” praising her commitment to sustainable design, involvement in her community and attention to detail. Grace is a senior associate at Clive Wilkinson Architects in Los Angeles. Last June and July, Aicon Gallery in NYC hosted Pale

Julian Kreimer MFA 03 PT Julian has been recognized with a 2018 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts. An associate professor at SUNY Purchase, the Brooklyn-based painter has completed residencies at Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony and most recently Hotel Pupik in Scheiffling, Austria. He also writes art criticism, profiles and reviews, and is a frequent contributor to Art in America. 90

// graduate class notes

Shahzia Sikander MFA 95 PT/PR One of Shahzia’s etchings from her Portrait of the Artist suite (see Winter 2017 cover of RISD XYZ) is on view through August 18 in Eye to I: Self-Portraits from 1900 to Today at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. Based in NYC, she’s the first Pakistani artist to be represented in the gallery’s permanent collection. Last March Shahzia celebrated International Women’s Day on David Letterman’s Netflix talk show My Next Guest Needs No Introduction and showed her portrait of Nobel Prize-winning women’s rights advocate Malala Yousafza, along with this commissioned portrait of Letterman.

Sentinels, a group exhibition featuring work by Indian and Pakistani artists including Saba Qizilbash MAE (Dubai). Curated by fellow alumna Salima Hashmi MAE 90, the show reflected on narratives of loss related to the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan.

2005 Austin-based artist and jewelry maker Melissa Borrell MFA JM escaped the Texas heat last summer during an artist residency at Sculpture Space in Utica, NY. The experience led to new wall installations like The Fractal Nature of Things, featuring organic shapes and laser-cut woods. She also completed an artist residency run by Facebook during which she created an immersive installation for the company’s office in downtown Austin. For the piece Melissa drew from her

work with tessellations—complex arrangements of geometric shapes—to represent how different kinds of people around the world connect. Last fall visual poet Monica Ong MFA DM presented a series of experimental works drawing from astronomical diagrams and weaving in Celestial Bodies, a solo exhibition at the Center for Book Arts in NYC. The artist is based in New Haven, CT.

2006 Jeff Barnett-Winsby MFA PH (see page 16) Mare Mosso, a drawing by NYC-based artist Serena Perrone MFA PR (see also page 51), was included in Contemporary Master Drawings, on view last spring at Cade Tompkins Projects in Providence, which represents her.

Agnes Pierscieniak MFA GD, a creative director and graphic designer in Los Angeles, recently launched Crave Workshops to “share [her] love of art and creative travel with the local community.” Based on enthusiastic response to The Devilish Egg, the studio and makerspace Jill Rossi MFA FD opened in Raleigh, NC in 2017, she relocated to City Market last September. The studio’s tagline “hatch your creativity” reflects her approach—that people want to have fun and explore their own ability to “create beautiful things.” Inspired by shamanism and his Colombian heritage, Eduardo Terranova MArch showed paintings made of gold, plaster and burlap in several group shows last year, including The Making of a Dream at Van der Plas Gallery in NYC and the four-day Other Art Fair in Brooklyn. In March he’ll exhibit work in the Architectural Digest Design Show at Pier 92 in NYC, where he lives.

2007 Stray Bullet Chair by Brazilian-born artist/designer David Elia MIA is currently on view in NYC (through March 31) as part of the Museum of Arts and Design exhibition MAD Collects: The Future of Craft Part 1. Previously based in Rio de Janeiro, he now lives and works in London. Artist/educator Brian Hutcheson MAT showed new prints in an exhibition called Inbetween, on view from August–December at Brooks Dental Studio in Tacoma, WA, where he lives. The international arts collaborative Ghana Think Tank—led by Christopher Robbins MFA DM, John Ewing MFA DM and Maria del Carmen Montoya MFA DM—is working with local organizations in Detroit, MI to transform abandoned buildings into affordable housing inspired by a Moroccan-style riad. The groups collaborating on The American Riad are aiming to create a model for communitybuilding that helps counter the effects of gentrification.

TESTING IDEAS B E FOR E R E LOCATI NG TO TEXAS last summer,

Phoebe Lickwar MLA 06 and her team at FORGE

Landscape Architecture in Fayetteville, AR were celebrating their win of the Prix de la Création at the 2018 Festival International des Jardins de Chaumontsur-Loire in France. They also learned that Visible Invisible was selected for an outdoor exhibition (continuing through spring 2019) at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute at the University of Arkansas (UA), where she taught for the past six years. “Projects like these that span landscape architecture and public art allow you to test ideas in ways that typical built projects often don’t,” says Lickwar. For Into the Woods!, the installation in France that was on view through November, she worked closely with Matt Donham, founder of the NYC-based landscape architecture firm RAFT and a former visiting faculty member at RISD. “RISD teaches you to resolve ideas and create truly original work through the act of critical making, which has always been central to my practice and is something Matt really understands,” says Lickwar. “Not everyone works that way.” The idea behind the project came from The Garden of Forking Paths, a magical realist story by Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges about a labyrinthine garden where visitors get lost in time and space. “We didn’t have 30 years to wait for the site to become a forest,” Lickwar explains with a laugh, “so we used really young trees and packed them in to create a dense forest that obscures your view.” For the installation at the Rockefeller Institute, Lickwar and project partner Laura Terry — a colleague at UA — worked with an existing grove of shortleaf pine trees planted in the 1950s. “We were interested in the idea of a sacred grove — a landscape intentionally planted and cared for by humans as a culturally significant place,” they explain. Lickwar is now teaching at the University of Texas at Austin and is finishing her book Farmscape: The Design of Productive Landscapes (Routledge). She welcomes the move, seeing Texas as a place “with a lot of interesting challenges to sink your teeth Learn more about Phoebe’s work at forgelandscape.com.

into”— climate change, species extinction, urbanization, inequity and more. At RISD Lickwar says she felt thrown off kilter in a way that helped her shape a very personal and confident approach to design. “I remember sitting at my desk first semester with copper wire and tubing and having no idea what I was supposed to be making!” she explains. “But the project prompts were intentionally open-ended to get us comfortable with uncertainty.” With the support of faculty members, she and her peers learned that valuable way of working, graduating with a “confidence we couldn’t have gained any other way.” — Simone Solondz

The greenery of Into the Woods! contrasts beautifully with beams charred and preserved through the Japanese technique of shou sugi ban. Visible Invisible (top image) uses bright tree cloaks to indicate the circumference of the trunks at maturity and blue markers embedded in the ground to delineate the trees’ root structure.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

former roommate, actress and comedian Ellie Kemper—star of the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt—showed her portrait on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

2009 James Foster MFA 11 SC In the artist’s statement accompanying The Black Hole Storybook, his second solo show at Bible in NYC, James says: “My right-brain is science fiction; my left-brain is fantasy.” It’s an apt summary of the genesis of the work in the exhibition, which was on view for a month last September.

2007 continued After teaching at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA for 10 years, Washington, DC native Stephanie Williams MFA SC is “back home” in nearby Baltimore and enjoying her new role as a faculty member in Maryland Institute College of Art’s Animation department. She also continues to show her work in such venues as Stand4 Gallery in Brooklyn, where her video installation The Lingering Survival of the Unfit was on view from August–October.

2008 Tokyo-based artist Yuka Otani MFA GL participated in an artist residency program in Yunlin, Taiwan, where she worked on a new video installation, The Ocean Inside You, the Ocean Inside Me. 92

// graduate class notes

Inspired by Taiwan’s coast and its rich history of sugar farming, the piece was on view at Nanyao Temple in Changhua City last February and at the Yunlin Storyhouse in June. In a fascinating photo essay published in The New York Times last June, Providencebased photographer Jo Sittenfeld MFA PH focused on a group of pregnant teens and young mothers taking an evening off to go to their high school prom. Another ambitious project featuring then-and-now photos of friends from Princeton that was published in The New Yorker in 2017 was back in the spotlight in October when Jo’s

Colleen Clines MLA 10 Colleen (Louisville, KY) and her sister Maggie — the designers behind the nonprofit Anchal Project — created a brilliant capsule collection in partnership with the Guggenheim Museum in NYC. Inspired by the current exhibition of paintings by Hilma af Klint, their colorful quilts, scarves and bags are handmade by the Indian women Anchal helps support. The accessories are available at the museum shop and online through April 23, when the show closes.

In an in-depth interview published in Boston Voyager in June, RISD Printmaking faculty member Johnny Adimando MFA PR shared his personal philosophy as an artist and a human being. A first-generation college graduate from a modest background, he has faced financial struggles, which he describes as a “huge blessing because they have helped me cultivate a working methodology that is tireless and a form of production that is always—and unwaveringly— prolific.”

Tamara Johnson MFA 12 SC Last June Tamara installed Picnic, a 5 x 6-foot site-specific public art project, at Maria Hernandez Park in Bushwick (Brooklyn), where it’s on view through March 15. “The familiar picnic scene symbolizes the gathering, relaxing and sharing we experience with friends and family,” the artist says.

In October Bryan Chou MLA , a senior associate and design leader at Mikyoung Kim Design, and Shi Chen MLA 17, a designer on the team, were thrilled to share the spotlight in accepting the 2018 National Design Award for Landscape Architecture at the annual Cooper Hewitt gala in NYC. The firm in Allston, MA is led by former RISD professor and department head Mikyoung Kim. Brooklyn-based film and video artist Sunita Prasad MFA PH edited 93QUEEN, a new documentary about a Hasidic

lawyer and mother of six determined to create the first all-female ambulance corps in NYC. Bowie Zunino MFA SC (see page 16)

2010 Glass artist Charlotte Potter MFA GL recently left Norfolk, VA for Vermont, where she’s producing new jewelry and cameos in her mother’s former studio. After contributing to group exhibitions throughout the summer—at such venues as the Wichita [KS] Art Museum

Michael Mergen MFA 11 PH In the fall Michael’s solo show Epilogue to Mars was featured at Visionaries and Voices in Cincinnati as part of the region’s FotoFocus Biennial 2018. For the body of work exhibited, he returned to places he had visited with his best friend during an epic cross-country road trip 20 years ago — just a year before that friend died from a heroin overdose.

NY) completed a residency at Wave Hill in the Bronx that culminated in the solo exhibition RUMORS. The installation featured “functional sculpture” reminiscent of Victorian furniture that, in combining handicrafts with new technologies, questions the relationship between domesticity and leisure in the digital age.

Christina KazakiaStaurinos MID 11 and Lisa Sette Gallery in Phoenix, AZ—she welcomed a new baby boy to her family in

September, thus promoting her daughter Bowden to the status of “big sister.” Charlotte’s work

is also on view through February 3 in A New State of Matter, a group show at the Boise [ID] Art Museum.

2011

Matters in Shelter (and Place, Puerto Rico) was on view in Indicators: Artists on Climate Change at Storm King Art Center in Windsor, NY. Based in Brooklyn, Gabriela is also showing sculptural work in Queens International 2018: Volumes, which continues through February 24 at the Queens [NY] Museum. In 2018 she also participated in group shows at Towson [MD] University and Marymount University in Arlington, VA, among a number of other venues.

Thanks to a breathtaking summer Instagram post of her work, artist Anastasia Azure MFA TX (Pawtucket, RI) earned a commission to create 15 woven wall sculptures for an installation in Hungary. Her

Nell Painter MFA PT (see page 11)

2012 Last spring sculptor and mixed-media artist Austin Ballard MFA SC (Ridgewood,

When Christina gave birth to her second child, Simon Andre (below with his sister Ourania), on May 10, she was tickled to share the excitement with two friends from grad school who were similarly occupied. Eliza Becton-Kruger MID 11 (Boston) started the trend, welcoming a daughter named Summer on May 7, while Audrey Barnes MID 11 (Harrisonburg, VA) gave birth to a son named Sawyer on May 9. Christina and crew live in Philadelphia.

right: photo by Jerry L. Thompson

Gabriela Salazar MFA 09 PT

sculptures can also be found in the newly built Grand Hyatt in Abu Dhabi, the Hilton in Singapore and the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon Bay, CA.

Please email class notes submissions to: risdxyz@risd.edu.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

2013

FOCUSING ON CONNECTIONS AS TH E FI R ST digital media fellow at the RISD Museum, Rocio Delaloye MFA 16 DM made brilliant use of video to encourage visitors to engage with exhibitions. The Argentinian was part of the team that won a Society for Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD) 2018 Global Design Award in June for Out of Line, presented in conjunction with the traveling exhibition Lines of Thought: Drawing from Michelangelo to Now from the British Museum (October 2017–January 2018). As part of the team Delaloye produced engaging, colorful, bilingual videos demonstrating the drawing techniques presented in the exhibition. “I collaborated with the museum’s graphic designers to select a color palette and also incorporated the typeface they used for print pieces and labels into the videos to make everything feel cohesive,” she says. A contemporary cabinet of curiosities defined the space and housed specimens from the Nature Lab that visitors could draw. In calling the presentation “an unexpected way to bridge art and natural history,” SEGD jurors also applauded it for being “simple, elegant and very thoughtful design at its best.” When Delaloye had initially considered RISD, she thought of applying to Graphic Design — her undergrad major in Argentina — but opted instead to focus on digital media, originally envisioning herself working for Facebook or Google. But in her first semester on campus, she had a change of heart. “That first year was confusing,” she recalls. “They push you to explore and experiment as much as you can.”

By her final year, Delaloye felt especially connected to Venezuelan faculty member Rafael Attias 91 GD, who became her thesis advisor. The Left Hand of Darkness, her thesis project, reflects on the transitional nature of identity in relation to technology and social media. Now that her fellowship has ended, Delaloye has moved to New York, where she has been thinking a lot about American culture and the immigrant experience. “People in this country want to put a label on everything,” she observes. “In Argentina I’m not a minority, but here I’m labeled a person of color.” Delaloye hopes to make work exploring this phenomenon, and despite the changing climate for immigrants in the US, has no plans to return home any time soon. “I worked really hard to get here,” she says, “and I intend to stay in America.” – Simone Solondz

See more of Rocio’s work at rociodelaloye.com.

In the fall Rachel Grobstein MFA PT exhibited her painted cut paper pieces and miniature sculptures in a solo show at Next to Nothing Gallery in NYC. In the summer similar work was on view in Infraordinary, a solo exhibition at Andrew Rafacz Gallery in Chicago. Rachel’s work explores everything from space junk to zodiac charts to objects kept on bedside tables (see also page 94 in the previous issue of RISD XYZ). In November NYC-based artists Manuela Jimenez MFA JM and Kendra Pariseault MFA JM showed work in #fail#success, a group exhibition they cocurated at Artists & Fleas Soho for New York City Jewelry Week. The show explored the impact of experimentation, iteration and failure on creative practice by presenting social media posts, models and tests alongside finished pieces by Ho’o Hee MFA FD, Sena Huh MFA JM , Franziska Stetter MFA GD, Mallory Weston MFA JM and RISD faculty member Arthur Hash, among others. In the fall Saman Sajasi MFA PR showed work in The Shapes of Birds, a group exhibition at the Newport [RI] Art Museum that featured art related to the modern Middle East. Saman lives and works in Providence. How to Live with Stones, a solo show of found objects, words and images by Justin Sorensen MFA PR was on view last summer at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC. An assistant professor of art at Mount

Ping Zheng MFA 16 PT For six weeks in late fall In the Sky, a solo show of recent work in oil stick on paper, ran at Kristen Lorello in NYC — her first show with the gallery. Born in China, Ping now lives in Brooklyn.

Vernon [OH] Nazarene University, Justin explores perceptions of time, religion, history and nature through his practice, which combines performance, sculpture, photography and drawing.

2014 Last June glass artist Doreen Garner MFA GL showed Red Rack of Those Ravaged and Unconsenting (2018)—a striking installation reflecting on brutal medical experiments performed on women of color—at Art Basel Miami. Since last summer the Brooklyn-based artist has also been making an impact playing Aunteee Doreeny in the talk show segment of Terence Nance’s brilliant new HBO show Random Acts of Flyness (see also page 23). “Television is never going to be the same,” she told The Guardian, adding that Nance’s work can “help people understand blackness in a different way.” Julie Gautier-Downes MFA PH has been named executive director of the nonprofit Richmond Art Collective in Spokane, WA, where she presented Menagerie, a fall group exhibition that included her own work. Last summer she completed an artist residency at nearby Laboratory Spokane, where she created dollhouses reflecting on urban

Certificate of Typographic Excellence from the Type Directors Club in NYC. Now working at the Providence Drawing Office, a branch of the Japanese company Morisawa, she collaborates daily with founder Cyrus Highsmith 97 GD and several other alumni.

2018 Boston’s Arts & Business Council recently awarded painter Arghavan Khosravi MFA PT a Walter Feldman Fellowship for Emerging Artists.

One of her paintings was on view in The Shapes of Birds, a fall group show at the Newport [RI] Art Museum, and the RISD Museum has acquired another—There’s So Many of Us (2)—for its permanent collection. Marie Otsuka MFA GD has joined the small but growing team of alumni at the Providence Drawing Office, a new branch of the Japanese company Morisawa led by artist and typography expert Cyrus Highsmith 97 GD.

Tom Flint MA 18

Frances F. Denny MFA 14 PH Brooklyn-based photographer Frances Denny MFA PH showed a new series of portraits in Major Arcana: Witches in America, a solo exhibition on view at ClampArt in NYC from October – November. An August article in The New Yorker noted that, “Denny captures her subjects suspended delicately between performativity and naturalism. These self-identified witches are positioning themselves before us, fully conscious of our eye, and Denny is allowing them a lovely three-dimensionality.”

blight that were on view in Dioramas of Disaster, an October solo exhibition at Saranac Art Projects in Spokane, WA. In the fall she also showed work in a group exhibition called From Here on Out at Spokane’s Object Space Gallery.

Animistic ceramic pieces by Soe Yu Nwe MFA CR are on view through April in South Brisbane, Australia in the Ninth Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art at the Queensland Art Gallery. She is based in Yangon, Myanmar.

2015

2016

The largest exhibition to date of ceramics by Lauren Skelly Bailey MFA CR is on view through January 13 in a solo show at MAD (the Museum of Arts and Design in NYC), where she completed a residency in 2017.

As a resident at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, MT, Ling Chun MFA CR showed new work at the Holter Art Museum from May 25–July 15. She completed the two-year residency last year.

A July CNN story called Plus-size sculptures celebrate marginalized bodies and challenge taboos focused on the life-sized papier-mâché sculptures Philadelphia-based artist Shona McAndrew MFA PT has been making since she was a grad student at RISD.

After working as a freelance filmmaker in Japan for 13 years before coming to RISD, Tom piloted two filmmaking workshops last summer: one outside Boston that brought together American and Japanese teenagers and one in Providence that paired American high school students with teenagers involved in the local Refugee Dream Center. “The goal from the outset was not to teach students how to make films,” he says, “but to use the filmmaking process to break borders and bring together youth from radically diverse backgrounds.”

2017 Designer and educator Mudita Pasari MA is working with several NGOs in India to promote environmental awareness and sustainability. Thanks to a RISD Maharam STEAM Fellowship, she spent the summer of 2017 interning at Help Earth Assam and creating Biodiversity 360, a beautifully illustrated guide to the wildlife of Guwahati, India (where she lives) and the challenges posed by urbanization. Last February graphic designer June Shin MFA GD earned a

Xin Liu MFA DM (see page 12)

Rob MacInnis MFA 13 PH Last summer Rob was pleased to travel from his home base in Brooklyn to participate in the Festival Photo La Gacilly in Brittany, France and have his work installed at the Paris Métropolitain. In addition, his My Dog & Pony Show series is on view through this summer at the Atlanta International Airport as part of Pushing Portraiture. Rob photographed Esther the Wonder Pig, a 650-pounder, for a story on the Happily Ever Esther Farm Sanctuary outside of Toronto. Please email class notes submissions to: risdxyz@risd.edu.

// RISDXYZ

fall/winter 2018/19

sketchbook

// sketches, doodles, ideas in progress

PONDERING GLOBAL CONFLICT by Jennifer Woronow 06 IL

As a program analyst at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), I work in a very data-driven environment but love the synergy between my work as a social scientist and an artist. Since landing at the NIH in 2016, I have been pursuing a creative practice alongside my day job, making sketchbooks from repurposed books I pick up for free. They help keep my creative spirit alive and remind me that intuitive, creative thought is as important to problem solving as critical, analytical thinking.

The sketchbooks are my place to experiment with imagery, materials and color. I’ve been into mixed media for a long time and the books are a great place to see what happens when materials come together in unexpected ways. In grad school I studied counterterrorism and international conflict and thought that my master’s in International Security Studies might lead to work in the US intelligence community. When I was at Trinity Washington University I wanted to make art about the global war on terror but felt like a dilettante — an ‘armchair analyst’— because I mainly knew about war from an academic perspective.

“I make art from the perspective of an American civilian who is fascinated by warfare... but also disturbed by it....” Eventually I realized that that is actually an interesting point of view worth exploring creatively. So I make art from the perspective of an American civilian who is fascinated by warfare on a scholarly level, but also disturbed by it on a more human level. My imagery is influenced by themes of nationalism and military dominance but also networks and geospatial maps. My art is my way of continuing to try to understand a post-9/11 world as a citizen of a leading global power.

See more of Jen’s work on Instagram @/jen_woronow_art.

Please submit samples from your own sketchbooks to risdxyz@risd.edu.

Rhode Island School of Design Two College Street Providence, RI 02903 USA

Non-Profit Org. U.S. Postage PAI D Burlington, VT 05401 Permit No. 19