Fall 2010 - RISD - Rhode Island School of Design

Rhode Island School of Design’s alumni magazine
FALL 2010
CONTRIBUTORS
PUBLISHING DIRECTOR
Becky Bermont
2
Liisa Silander
[email protected]
401 454 6349
5
Ryan Dunn 03 GD and Wyeth Hansen 03 GD
were roommates their Foundation year and have been friends
ever since. After graduation they couldn’t imagine why they
should stop collaborating, so they founded LABOUR (labour
-ny.com), a small Brooklyn studio where they design everything
from information systems to typefaces and also build crazy
things, direct music videos and write and record music.
When we invited Labour to create our cover, they proposed
several intriguing options, including Dimensional Doorway, a
surreal model world built with an iconic object from each of the
feature articles. To play with the picture plane, Ryan and Wyeth
created a doorway to frame the space—and give them an
opportunity to painstakingly cut the RISD XYZ logo so that the
background would show through when they photographed it.
Listen
to reflections, opinions, what’s on
our readers' minds
C R E AT I V E D I R E C T I O N
WellNow Design
wellnowdesign.com
Conversations
about RISD, the new magazine,
art, life, the world
EDITOR
6
Criswell Lappin MFA 97 GD
Nancy Nowacek
Dungjai Pungauthaikan MFA 04 GD
Look
D E S I G N/ P R O D U C T I O N
Kate Blackwell
Elizabeth Eddins 00 GD
Sarah Rainwater
Karen Vanderbilt MFA 12 GD
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
62
Anna Cousins
Francie Latour
Liisa Silander
7
6
at good gifts, smart stuff,
architectural interventions
14
21
Playing to Learn
Starkly Sensual
Since kids already know how to
play, Katie Salen MFA 92 GD is
experimenting to see if playing
and designing games can actually
help them learn.
David Stark 91 PT thinks of every
party, fundraiser and special event
he’s commissioned to imagine as
if it were a giant art installation.
D I R E C T O R O F A LU M N I R E L AT I O N S
Christina Hartley 74 IL
C L A S S N O T E S C O O R D I NAT O R
Morgan Blair 08 IL says she “grew
Patrick J. Hamilton 86 GD
Dave Calver 76 IL, a professional
up on Legos, Tetris, tape-dubbing and
Magic Eye”—which is, of course, obvious
if you look at her incredible work
(morganblair.com). She gave us so
many options to choose from for our
Conversations illustration (page 2)
that we felt like kids in a candy store.
is an interior designer, writer, humorist
and accidental activist living in
Manhattan. He contributed the Listen
piece (page 5) and suggested we invite
his friend Dave—someone he has
wanted to work with for many years—
to illustrate his commentary.
illustrator in Palm Springs, CA, has
produced zillions of images for ads,
murder mysteries and the NYC subway
system, among others (illoz.com/decal/).
He generated lots of sketches for
Patrick’s article before finalizing the
colored pencil illustration on page 5.
Duke Graham
PRINTING
Lane Press
Burlington, VT
printed on 70# Sterling
Matte, a recycled stock
46
R I S DX Y Z
Two College Street
Providence, Rhode Island
02903-2784 USA
Published three times
a year by RISD’s Media +
Partners group, in conjunction
with Alumni Relations.
Paula Martiesian 76 PT
is always eager to find refuge in her
studio, admitting that she’s “seduced
by color and addicted to paint”
(paulamartiesian.com). Yet the RI-based
artist also does PR for Gallery Night
Providence and mounts regular shows
for three local galleries. She interviewed
a fellow RISD painter for this issue
(page 21).
Liz Eddins 00 GD may be petite,
but she’s a design and production
powerhouse whose aim for perfection
keeps our images in check. She helps
wrestle each issue of XYZ into submission, often working into the wee
hours of the morning to juggle her
freelance business, eddinsdesign,
with the challenges and joy of being
a new mother.
Franklin Einspruch 90 IL
is a painter, comics-maker, art critic,
blogger and generally very busy guy.
“My art celebrates the ordinary,” he
explains on einspruch.com. “I take it on
faith that everything merits attention.”
In this issue, he contributed to Drawing
Board (page 64) and also shares news
about his current show (page 50).
Postmaster: Send address changes to
Office of Advancement Services
RISD, Two College Street
Providence, RI 02903 USA
30
35
Six Degrees
26
updates from clubs, the Alumni
Association, Alumni Relations
No Place Like Home
In creating an evocative piece for
this fall’s Venice Biennale, Do Ho
Suh 94 PT, Eulho Suh BArch 91 and
KyungEn Kim MFA 97 discovered the
challenges and joy of collaboration.
Two College Street
Maeda’s message, faculty news,
a glimpse of studios/student life now
40
Impact
news about scholarships, donors,
the RISD Annual Fund
42
Where We Are
class notes and profiles, undergraduate
first, graduate second
64
Drawing Board
51
a visual commentary
on the world as we know it
Fall 2010
01
HOTHOTHOT
Perhaps the last thing Criswell
Lappin MFA 97 GD and his team
want to hear is praise from some
old geezer, but the new design is
really splendid. So splendid, indeed,
that I was nearly run over while
crossing the street leaving the post
office while leafing through the
magazine. It’s a real pleasure to see
it enter the 21st century at last.
Everything seems just right—even
to the design of the contents and
masthead—and especially the
new fonts.
Editor’s letter, letters to the editor, excerpts from online exchanges.
DEAR JOHN
THE BEST PART OF WORK
are the only adults in the US unwilling to let go of
our natural need to play. Kids don’t own the patent
on play, but in our society they’re the ones who get
recess, play dates, toys and plenty of encouragement
to entertain themselves—by playing in the backyard,
building with Legos, drawing, coloring, using their
imagination and resourcefulness.
What I have always loved about working with and
writing about RISD alumni, students and faculty is
that I get to play vicariously through your amazing
creative endeavors. With this issue of RISD XYZ
we didn’t consciously set out to focus on the notion
of play. We simply rediscovered along the way that
a propensity for play is so intrinsic to the creative
process and to what artists and designers do naturally
that it almost inadvertently emerged as the primary
leitmotiv—and will no doubt reappear as a regular
undercurrent in future issues, especially given its
long legacy at RISD (see page 58).
While you’ll find references to play sprinkled
throughout this issue, the feature section coalesces
around artists and designers who clearly enjoy the
playful aspect of creativity and of creating surreal
environments that allow for a better understanding
of ‘reality.’ Katie Salen MFA 02 GD, the focus of our first
feature article, became so smitten with electronic
gaming—as an adult—that she began thinking about
how the entire phenomenon of Playstation, Xbox, Wii,
WOW and other MMRPGs could have real potential
for re-engaging today’s kids in the serious pursuit of
learning. She is now conducting real-life experiments
on how to integrate gaming and game design into
02
RISDXYZ
the classroom, as a potentially very effective means
of educating K-12 students to become smart, engaged,
compassionate citizens and problem-solvers.
David Stark 91 PT creates amazing fantasy worlds
for the fortunate guests attending a wide range
of special events, using his playful approach and enormous capacity for inventiveness to run a successful
business. He also manages to convey powerful
messages for his nonprofit clients, who are looking
to raise funds for the needy, support art and cultural
and improve public education.
The third feature article in this issue presents the
creatively playful work of Do Ho Suh 94 PT, his brother
Eulho Suh BArch 91 and Eulho’s wife KyungEn Kim MFA
97 SC. Their installation for this year’s Venice Biennale
is a serious meditation on the meaning of home and
place in a world where growing numbers of people like
them maintain footholds on multiple continents. Yet
it is also refreshingly fanciful—a dreamlike space that
a child can totally relate to and adults who take the
time to experience find strangely evocative and
irresistibly alluring.
With this issue, I’ve been thinking a lot about why
people respond so well to visually playful objects,
images, ads, public art. My guess is that the more
we’re burdened with the trappings of “maturity”—
bills, mortgages, careers, kids, aging parents, politics,
environmental degradation, illness, war, death—the
more we actually long for the best aspects of childhood: curiosity, wonder, imagination, invincibility. In
other words, we still love to play, whether or not we
give ourselves the latitude to do so.
Let us know what you think about this issue: [email protected].
editor’s message by
Liisa Silander
illustration by
Morgan
Blair 08 IL
top left: photo by Sean Hammerle | top right: photo by Criswell Lappin, MFA 97 GD | below right: photo by Nancy Nowacek
Som e t i mes it feels l ike people i n t h e arts
Just got the new XYZ in the mail. Why have you
chosen to replace a poorly-designed propaganda
brochure with a real magazine? I thought you
were planning to keep that school firmly planted
in the Stone Age. This new publication is giving
the impression that RISD is now a “forwardthinking creative force” instead of an “aging
prep-school-fed dinosaur.” There were articles
showing successful work by alums rather than
talking non-specifically about the value of a
RISD education. You might be giving current
students hope and inspiration that a RISD
education can lead to bigger things—maybe even
be daring them to do better. You certainly have
my attention. Keep it up :)
Angus T.S. MacLane 97 FAV
Emeryville, CA
We have been watching with interest what has been happening at RISD
in these unsettling times and are very pleased to see that our alma mater
seems to be going in a positive direction. We must admit that there have
been times over the past 50 years when we felt the school really didn’t
value their alumni unless they were well-known stars in their various
fields and could give big bucks.
In recent years there seems to have been a change, with more opportunities for alumni to interact with each other and the school in ways that
are beneficial for both. We are particularly impressed with the new look
and approach the alumni magazine has taken. It is very handsome—a true
reflection of a design school—and a delight to read.
Nancy 60 PT and
Bob Marculewicz 59 MD
Essex, MA
Is that Paola Antonelli with RISD XYZ?
Rich Hendel 62 GD
Chapel Hill, NC
I absolutely love the new RISD
XYZ magazine. For a fellow on
the west coast, it’s difficult to keep
one foot in the RISD culture. XYZ
does a great job of making me feel
connected. It really captures the
RISD culture well. Smart, creative,
vibrant, relevant, contemporary,
visually dynamic and well written.
Michael Riley 91 GD
A reader on a NYC subway.
Los Angeles, CA
The new alumni magazine looks
great and has real content.
Congratulations for putting
some excitement and life into it.
Represents RISD at its best.
Duff Schweninger MFA 69 PT
New York, NY
I wanted to say congrats on XYZ.
My copy arrived today and I’m not
even through it yet but had to write
you. It’s AWESOME! Great job.
Joe Gebbia 05 ID/GD
San Francisco, CA
Just finished feasting on XYZ.
A compelling diet: Easy to digest,
a delight to the eye.
Ed Howell 53 IL
Indian Rocks Beach, FL
Love the RISD magazine, and am
so glad you chose alumni to do
the creative design! However, one
suggestion: Even with strong lenses
and good light, it is really tough to
read the “AND THERE’S MORE”
entries on pages 06-11. PLEASE try
to up-size these blurbs!
Ellen (Riley) Schneider 64 AE
Cape Coral, FL
Note: We agree. And did.
NOT SO HOT
I regret to say I do not like the new
RISD XYZ. I find it too busy and
distracting—hard to focus on the
articles because of all the clutter
of design going on. I am probably in
the minority on this, but thought
I would share my opinion.
Robin Roraback 88 IL
Salisbury, CT
Note: We’ve addressed some of Robin’s
concerns about clutter, but she’s
right about being in the minority: Less
than 5% of responses received were
thumbs down.
Please remove my name and
address from your mailing list. I
am raising a family and would not
like to have my mailbox polluted
with porn under the guise of “art.”
While much of the magazine was
readable and interesting, I will not
tolerate the image and accompanying text on page 55 [of the Spring
2010 issue]. I would rather be
entirely without future publications than subject my family to this
graphic pornography again.
Alessa (Kahn) Keenan 90 CR
Edgartown, MA
Follow RISD at twitter.com/risd and facebook.com/risd1877.
Fall 2010
03
KINESTHETICS
CONTINUED
Bethany
Gleason
WHOLE
RESPONSE
Bette
Pepper
Hermine
Szala
In response to our
question in the
last issue, Mary
Florence (Campbell) Hauck 44 AP
(Lancaster, PA)
made us smile with
her sticky note
comment and careful annotation of
each of her classmates’ names.
Janet
Bentley
Mary Florence
(Campbell)
Hauck
CORRECTIONS
In our mention of Yeasayer in the last issue [page 8],
we neglected to credit Benjamin Phelan 05 ID with
doing the cover art for Odd Blood. Ben adds, “I have
collaborated with Chris Keating 04 FAV on many
projects, such as touring a sculptural light device
for the current Yeasayer stage show.”
Steve Liebman 70 PH took the photograph of
Al DeCredico 66 PT that XYZ ran with the announcement of his death in the last issue [page 36].
The photo was shot in 1969.
10
Jennifer Prewitt-Freilino’s article On Being Whole
[Spring 2010, page 4] was so vital; I hope it gets a
tremendous amount of exposure. Growing up I made
the assumption, as I’m sure most women do, that I
would eventually be a wife and mother. I married eight
years after graduating from RISD. Having a supportive
husband helped me feel stable and secure enough to
really focus on my art career.
It is disturbing to me how many women, at various
art events, will gaze longingly at my paintings, then
whisper to me that they “used to be an artist” until they
had kids. Being an artist was never a choice for me. It is
as vital to my life as breathing. The idea that children
could somehow rob me of a necessary component to
my existence was rankling, but two years after we wed,
my husband and I began to try for offspring.
Now, after failed infertility treatments and years
of trying, it is quite clear that we are never going to be
parents. And while the valley of infertility is dark and
excruciating, I find comfort in the fact I am, in my own
way, a mother. Weekly I create more and more children
using raw materials and my own two hands. Then I
send them happily off into the world to be adopted
by beaming customers as they carry one of my
paintings home.
Infertility forced me to consider women’s roles on
a deeper level. Was I less of a woman because I couldn’t
conceive? Could I be whole with what I already had?
I began to have thoughtful discussions with women
around me, particularly artists. Many of my female
friends had opted never to have children. Most had
come to this decision because they didn’t want to
forfeit their creativity….
These days, I manage a full-time art career, writing
career and a home. I also manage a Pilates studio and
do weekly volunteer work to support those dealing
with infertility. While my life is crazy, it is balanced.
I’m grateful for our family of three (we have a dog). My
husband, though not an artist himself (he’s a computer
guy), supports my career by transporting artwork and
art supplies, hanging shows and giving me “free” days
to be alone at home and paint. I’m very blessed.
Thank you for the article. It obviously resonated
with me. I hope it will with other women, too.
at the Alumni Council meeting [10.10.10]
Anna (Wareham) Koon 93 IL
in reference to information overload and
Jamaica Plain, MA
Editor’s note: Regrettably, Assistant Professor Prewitt-Freilino’s
article went to press without her final endorsement of several
late-breaking edits made due to space constraints. To address her
concerns, the edited version she had approved has been posted
online (risd.edu/xyz) since the print edition reached readers. XYZ
remains committed to presenting the work of our contributing
writers, illustrators, artists and designers accurately and with
their full blessing.
Readers reflect, write, shout, share
what’s on their minds.
WOrds
or less
Nobody but the Nazis
ever asked anybody for
their papers.
Seth MacFarlane 95 FAV
commenting on Arizona’s
anti-immigration law
Your painting weighs
28% more dry than wet.
BIll Miller 91 PT
at the RISD by Design Color + Paint
workshop [10.9.10]
Wish they had those
when I was in school!!!
Flora (Despotides) Chioros BLA 89
on Twitter, in response to news that
Zipcars have arrived at RISD
Get to the heart of the
matter. Edit the fluff.
Robyn Ericsson BArch 87
e-communications from RISD
THOUGHT
The new interdisciplinarity.
Mairéad Byrne
Assistant Professor of English
from her new book of poetry
THE
ACCIDENTAL
ACTIVIST
A lt h oug h some of my s ma rtass f r ie n ds mig h t
say ot h e rw is e , I consider myself “moderately gay.”
I’m more White Square than pink triangle. Far less
Jack, way more Will.
I’m no militant queer. I’m not always positive what
order “LGBT” goes in. Until recently, I was never sure
what Proposition 8 was for… or against. All I knew was:
it was in California (not in my immediate vicinity) and
was about same-sex marriage (not in my immediate
future). And I confess: I’ve not been to a Pride parade
in years.
So call me a Bad Gay, sitting on the sidelines while
others raise the ruckus, and the rainbow flag. What
created this sleepy-eyed monster of mediocrity?
Partly, I credit (blame?) location and luck. I’ve
always lived in large cities, with a career where being
gay was no real obstacle. Then there’s age: too young
for Stonewall, old enough where Anita Bryant’s OJ
leaves a bitter taste. I remember when AIDS was
stealing our brightest lights with an ugly brutality,
but now anti-virals have made it (mostly) an issue
of management.
This middle ground pulled a security blanket of
fog over me, blurring my perspective and filtering out
harsh realities.
But suddenly, the fog has lifted. I’m planning boycotts, creating flyers, strategizing demands… and it’s
all happening so quickly I can’t type fast enough to get
the words out. Way out. Rainbow bright, I’m a different
kind of gay! But how the hell did that happen?
I have become an activist because I was supported
when others were not. Mom put her marriage on
the line when Dad wanted to yank my RISD tuition,
discovering that his only son was homosexual. I have
a sister so supportive that my coming out was a comic
non-event. It’s time to lend the strength I got to those
who have been shamed, abandoned or pushed out—out
of shame, fear and ignorance. I realized I’d be taking a free ride to the altar if
others push for my right to marry, so that if I’m lucky
enough to drop to one knee and propose to a man
I love, it will not be an empty gesture. But if I’m gonna
dance at my own wedding, it’s time to pay the DJ.
Mostly, I am compelled to act because, as the
majority becomes more accepting, the minority
becomes more extreme. Gay-bashing creeps back into
headlines. Lynch-mob imagery appears at anti-gay
protests. An infant is killed for “acting like a girl.”
A “Christian” rock band advocates the death of gays—
with the backing of elected officials, in our classrooms.
And this climate of simmering hatred spurs a sudden
epidemic of suicides.
So, out of anger and impatience—in debt and
gratitude to those before me and to pay in advance
for those yet to come out—I have become a reluctant
participant, an “accidental activist” of sorts.
I may be late to the party, but I’m here to stay. I may
even see you at the next Pride parade.
article by
Patrick J.
Hamilton 86 GD
illustration by
Dave
Calver 76 IL
“I am compelled to
act because as the
majority becomes
more accepting, the
minority becomes
more extreme.”
Excerpted from The Accidental Activist: How Target, Facebook
and Two Sofa Salesmen Liberated my Inner Harvey Milk.
Read the full version at risd.edu/xyz.
The Best of (What’s Left of) Heaven
04
RISDXYZ
Let us know what you think about this issue: [email protected].
To submit your own commentary, email [email protected] (subject line: listen).
Fall 2010
05
Great for Giving
Liz Goulet
Dubois
89 IL
Exquisite Pull-Outs
David
Wiesner
78 IL
Since they teamed up as Also Design shortly after leaving
RISD, Matt Lamothe 02 FAV, Julia Rothman 02 IL and
Jenny Volvovski 02 GD have built a track record for producing
consistently high-quality work. And in addition to creating
seemingly ubiquitous illustrations for giftwrap, bedding, wallpaper
and more, Rothman writes the deservedly popular blog bookby-its-cover.com. But why stop there when you’re barely turning
30? For The Exquisite Book: 100 Artists Play a Collaborative Game
(Chronicle Books, September 2010) they invited 100 of their
favorite artists to play an ingenious version of the surrealist
drawing game Exquisite Corpse. Each created artwork for his or
her own page in response to the work on the page before,
using a set horizon line to connect the two. Not surprisingly, the
results are fascinating, as Dave Eggers points out in the foreword.
And the format is as unique as the contents, with each of the 10
chapters bundled as a 10-page accordion pull-out.
also-online.com
Toys for Living
Chances are you’ve noticed the toys Liz Goulet Dubois 89 IL
has designed for Club Earth and her super silly products for
FRED, the Rhode Island-based maker of stuff meant to make
you smile. Among her lighthearted winners is a poofy little
silicone pillow to “cradle your ladle” on the stovetop and
a pliable plastic ear pierced with a standard metal ring (Ear
Ring) to keep your keys handy. Her udderly clever Calf & Half
creamer—handcrafted with double-walled glass—is both
totally practical and refreshingly ridiculous. In addition to
designing toys and other fun stuff, Dubois is an author and
Matt Lamothe
illustrator based in Hope, RI. “My art and design is nearly
always geared towards children, or towards grown-ups who
02 FAV
refuse to grow up,” she points out on her site. “I believe the
Julia Rothman
stories and pictures that stick in our heads when we’re young
have a lot to do with what we gravitate towards as adults.”
02 IL
lizgouletdubois.com/shop
worldwidefred.com
Jenny
Volvovski
02 GD
Art and Sole
Ode to Creativity
Yoka Yields UnAverage Joe
For his new picture book Art & Max (Clarion Books, October
Active in the custom toy movement, Ukranian-American artist
2010), three-time Caldecott Medal-winner David Wiesner
and illustrator Adrianna Bamber 01 IL makes art in a tiny
78 IL “began by playing around with different media” and
Heed the wise Holzer-ism PROTECT
ME FROM WHAT I WANT—unless
what you want is a pair of Keds subtly
studio in San Francisco’s Mission District, where she says,
quickly realized that his own exploration would lead to
sporting the dictum of Jenny Holzer
“Art is my life. Life is my art.” Bamber has worked as a toy
a meditation on the creative process itself. In his inimitable
designer for both mainstream and designer companies such
MFA 77 PT herself. When you snap up
Wiesner way, he had two desert lizards follow the same path
as STRANGEco, and created her one-of-a-kind 100 Characters
of discovery as he had in bringing them to life on the page. The
Yoka and Where’s Joe? toys in response to invitations to
John
Verdery
horned lizard Arthur—or Art, as the double-entendre of the
participate in two recent shows. Though her Yoka (acrylic and
10 IL
title suggests—is an established artist who is about to paint
ink on plastic, 3” h) sold recently on her Etsy store, her Average
a traditional portrait when his frenetic cohort, a collared lizard
Joe Schmoe interpretation (acrylic and ink on wood, 6” h) is
named Max, bursts onto the scene wanting to make art, too.
featured in a November sales exhibition at Lift Designer Toy &
The beautifully rendered story unfolds from there, with Kirkus
Gallery in Detroit, MI.
calling it “a wildly trippy, funny and original interpretation
abamber.com
of the artistic process” and School Library Journal concluding
abamber.etsy.com
that Wiesner’s latest is “picture-book making at its best.”
liftdetroit.com
some sneakers from the limited-edition
KedsWhitney Collection, which also
includes a funky canvas weave sneaker
designed by Laura Owens 92 PT, proceeds support the Whitney Museum
of American Art. Also finding the sneaker
an inspiring canvas: John Verdery 10 IL,
who has taken his talent for customizing
shoes to New York and has just launched
his first line (including the sneaker shown
here in a surface design by Korakrit
houghtonmifflinbooks.com/wiesner
Arunanondchai 09 PR). His plan is to
work in a “minimalist aesthetic with both
art lovers and sneakerphiles in mind.”
Adrianna
Bamber
keds.com
electrolitesfootwear.com
johnverdery.com
01 IL
AND THERE’S
MORE
06
RISDXYZ
davidweeksstudio.com
David Weeks 90 ID
Weeks’ product designs “run the gamut from playful to elegant, often
within the same piece.” Building on his success with sleek furniture and
distinctive lighting fixtures, this year he launched a new line of wooden
Cubebots, a totally charming take on the traditional toy robot.
baggubag.com
Ellen van der Laan 05 GD
Baggu makes it easy to be “positive and progressive” with its great-looking
line of easy-to-fold reusable bags designed by Ellen van der Laan. Made
of 100% Ripstop nylon, these washable beauties can hold up to 50 lbs. of
stuff. The question is: can you?
Chico Bicalho 85 SC
kikkerlandshop.com
Who can resist Nino, the jumping beetle, Katita, the leggy gizmo, Cranky,
Bonga, Awika or any of the other quirky members of Chico Bicalho’s favorite
family of critter wind-ups for Kikkerland? They’ve become contemporary
classics, well worth giving—and receiving.
chrisbradydesign.com
Chris Brady 95 IL
For a guy who grew up with beach shells on the family Christmas tree and
then topped his own with a chicken, The Lobstar was a natural. Though
the 13" red plastic lobster-clutching-a-star isn’t for everyone, if you put one
on your tree this holiday season, it’s guaranteed to stand out.
Fall 2010
07
Caleb
Larsen
Smart Stuff
Old Cars>New Lives
MFA 09 DM
People in many developing countries rely on incubators to
keep premature and at-risk newborns alive. But when the
incubators fail, there are no trained technicians on hand to
repair them. Emily Rothschild MID 08, Huy Vu MFA 09 GD
and Tom Weis MID 08 worked with Design That Matters and
CIMIT to circumvent this problem by completing the final
design of a low-cost, readily repairable incubator that had
SMARTER THAN SMART
Motorcycle (efficiency x romance) + safety/
comfort - combustion engine + gyroscope = C-1,
the first-generation vehicle from Lit Motors.
Company founder Danny Kim 09 ID explains the
two-wheeled, electric-powered microcar in evolutionary terms, noting that the ecology of driving
has changed a lot in the 70 years since the last
new successful car company emerged. He has a
hunch that the 4g-connected, app-ready C-1 has
what it takes to outwit the alternative alternatives; we’ll get a glimpse of the new species once
the company comes out of stealth mode—which
is rumored to be very soon.
litmotors.com
been in development for several years and is built from used
car parts. NeoNurture: the Car-parts Incubator is featured in
the National Design Triennial: WHY DESIGN NOW? on view at
the Cooper-Hewitt through January 9, 2011.
designthatmatters.org
exhibitions.cooperhewitt.org
Buy It on eBay
Emily Rothschild
With A Tool to Deceive and Slaughter Caleb Larsen MFA 09 DM has
MID 08
pinpointed and obliterated the line
between art and commerce, while rais-
David
Hanson
ing squirm-inducing questions about
meaning and value. In the piece, he pro-
Huy Vu
MFA 09 GD
96 FAV
grammed this featureless black acrylic
cube connected to the internet to list
Tom Weis
itself on eBay every 10 minutes—ad
MID 08
nauseam. Each new owner is contractually required to keep it connected and to
send it on to the next purchaser. Tool is
on view in the Electrohype 2010 biennial
Zien’s Quirky Outlet
at Ystads konstmuseum in Sweden from
November 27 through January 30, 2011.
In June Core 77 predicted that the new Pivot Power “creative
caleblarsen.com
outlet” designed by Jake Zien 11 GD may be the “first mass-
sherwoodmeister.com
market hit” for Quirky, the online product development company that relies on crowd-sourcing as a means of testing and
moving fledgling products forward. Within days of its initial
offering on Quirky, the snakey smiling power strip passed its
“pre-sales threshold” of 960 pre-orders. So the $25 unit is
now in the production phase and will hit the market before
Zien even graduates next May.
quirky.com
jakezien.com
Making Friends
Now that robot innovator David Hanson 96 FAV and his
Danny
Kim
09 ID
wife have made a new human—a young son—he’s perfecting
the next-best thing. Bina48, his first privately commissioned
robotic portrait of an actual woman, carries on conversations, learns new words, makes eye contact and muses on
the pros and cons of being artificial. Hanson Robotics is also
currently working on Zeno—a cuter and less philosophical toy
robot for the consumer market.
hansonrobotics.com
Jake Zien
11 GD
John Ewing MFA 07 DM
johnewing.org
For three weeks in June John Ewing opened a live video portal between
two Boston neighborhoods separated by a socioeconomic divide. Virtual
Street Corners encouraged spontaneous conversations between people on
the street and also featured discussions with artists, politicians and others.
08
RISDXYZ
Tae Ashida 87 AP
jun-ashida.co.jp
Last spring when the space shuttle Discovery blasted into space, Japanese
astronaut Naoko Yamazaki entered zero gravity in style, wearing Tae
Ashida’s suitably flattering design of a slim knit cardigan in light blue with
navy blue shorts. It was as if the Jetsons had gone 21st century!
Tavares Strachan 03 GL listart.mit.edu/node/618
The show Orthostatic Tolerance summed up Tavares Strachan’s recent
residency at MIT, where he worked with researchers in aeronautics,
astronautics and underwater physics. His goal: to establish an Ocean and
Aerospace Exploration Agency in Nassau, the Bahamas (where he lives).
Laura Alesci MFA 10 DM
phonetalks.org
For Phone Talks Alesci teamed up with Dylan Greif MFA GD and
Derick Ostrenko MFA 10 DM to install a digitally modified pay phone
in downtown Pawtucket, RI. When the phone rang, whoever picked it up
heard a recorded interview about different aspects of the city.
Fall 2010
09
Jack
Ryan
BArch 00
Schools for Haiti
Architectural Interventions
Jack Ryan BArch 00, an architectural consultant for the
NGO Plan International, lost no time in helping Haiti to rebuild
after the devastating earthquake in January. He volunteered
to design a prototype for a transitional school that is now
Rumor Has It
being built throughout the country; by the end of this fall,
This fall a 1,200-sf painting on the concrete
façade of UMass Amherst’s Fine Arts Center
has prompted viewers to interpret it like a giant
Rorschach test, thanks to visiting artist and
Macarthur Fellow Anna Schuleit 98 PT. When
seen reflected in the adjacent pond, the seemingly abstract design crystallizes into a man’s
face, creating a low-tech projection that changes
in response to natural weather, wind and light
conditions. Schuleit created Just a Rumor in
response to the idiosyncratic site and in the wake
of her research into the “missing faces” of
Northampton State Hospital, the former psychiatric hospital where she staged the sound
installation Habeas Corpus a decade ago.
anna-schuleit.com
in RISD’s Architecture Department—reports that while the
Plan International expects to complete 40 of the 76 schools
planned, accommodating more than 4,000 schoolchildren.
Ryan—who is also an architect at 3six0 and a faculty member
new schools are helping, “we are behind schedule due to
severe tropical storms, sites that still need to be cleared,
customs delays in importing construction components and
administrative issues with land grants.”
plan-international.org
Anna
Schuleit
Bankable Needs
98 PT
Tom Sieniewicz BArch 83, a principal at Chan Krieger Sieniewicz in Cambridge, MA, kept a compelling fact in mind as he
Hansy
Better
RISD faculty
83 PT
Food Bank: every dollar saved would equal two meals. The
thought drove his solution for the Yawkey Distribution Center,
a 117,000-sf user-friendly facility that also offers aesthetic
rewards. While enabling the nonprofit to distribute food to
Entertaining Modernism
David
Mazzucchelli
designed a new warehousing facility for the Greater Boston
After making it onto countless critics’ 2009 “best-of” lists,
A Better Big Hammock
Asterios Polyp (Pantheon, 2009) has earned cartoonist
Last summer Assistant Professor of
David Mazzucchelli 83 PT even more recognition in 2010. It
Architecture Hansy Better could think
won the LA Times Book Prize for Graphic Novels, the National
of no better way to pursue her passion
Cartoon Society’s Reuben for Best Graphic Novel and three
for “bringing people together through
Comic-Con Eisner Awards: Best Graphic Album, Best Writer/
the design of public art and objects”
Artist and Best Lettering. In Mazzucchelli’s “huge, knotty mar-
than to build a giant hammock at the
vel” (Publishers Weekly), readers follow the title character—
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway in
an acclaimed architect of mythological proportions—through
Boston. Starting with a $1,000 grant
his tragic fall from grace and later attempts to rebuild. The
from the Awesome Foundation, she
New York Times calls Asterios Polyp “maddening and even
raised another $5,462 for the project
suffocating at times,” but ultimately praises it as “a dazzling,
via KickStarter and in August worked
expertly constructed entertainment.” Oddly enough, Enter-
with volunteers to weave and assemble
tainment Weekly says: “It’s as if John Updike had discovered
the 8 x 38-foot “interactive symbol of
a bag of art supplies and LSD.” And NPR’s reviewer finds it
community” in the park. After getting
simply “remarkable for the way it synthesizes word and image
plenty of use, the hammock has now
to craft a new kind of storytelling.”
been packed away for the winter, but it
randomhouse.com
just may be headed to a city park near
83,000 clients each week, the center maximizes natural light.
And through its prominent rooftop signage and clever depiction of the logo on an exterior wall, it reminds drivers whizzing
by on I-93 of the obvious: the need remains so great that the
Food Bank will never be too big to fail.
gbfb.org
chankrieger.com
Tom
Sieniewicz
BArch 83
you in 2011.
10
RISDXYZ
Judith Schaechter 83 GL
projectsite.unitedstatesartists.org
This award-winning glass artist is hoping to earn funding for a provocative
2012 installation at Phildelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary, now a historic
site. She believes the former prison is the ideal architectural setting for her
work since it focuses on human suffering and spiritual aspiration.
middle: photo by John Horner
jcdainc.com
James Carpenter 72 IL
In its largest architectural project to date, James Carpenter Design
Associates has completed the thoughtful and sweeping renovation and
expansion of The Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Both Newsweek and The New
York Times took note of Carpenter’s elegant response to the challenge.
top: photos by John Solem
thebighammock.org
RISD alums+faculty
americansforthearts.org
Four projects—by Bill Davenport 86 SC, Brad Goldberg BLA 78,
Sculpture Professor Ellen Driscoll and Foundation faculty member
Alan Michelson—have been recognized by Americans for the Arts as
among the top 40 public art works made in the US and Canada in 2010.
Peter Case MArch 97 + Joe Haskett MArch 02
boxoffice460.com
The colorful new Box Office building in Providence may look like oversized
Lego, but it’s actually the largest commercial building in the US made of
recycled shipping containers. Case worked with Haskett to make it as green
as possible—at half the price per square foot of a conventional building.
Fall 2010
11
“I want extraordinary, and often
that trans­lates into trying something
I’ve never tried before, inventing
something I’ve never seen before.”
David Stark 91 PT
“Given our crossed paths,
it made perfect sense for
us to work on a project
that deals with the notion
of home and place.”
“I was brought
up in an
artistic environment that
encouraged
me to be
playfully
creative.”
Eulho Suh BArch 91
“Mediating
between
the opinions
of the three
of us was
the most
difficult part.”
KyungEn Kim MFA 97 SC
Do Ho Suh 94 PT
“I just fell in love with
games. I became
fascinated with the
way that video games
construct worlds.”
Katie Salen MFA 92 GD
12
RISDXYZ
Fall 2010
13
A true game-lover,
Katie Salen MFA 92
GD once co-designed
a surrealistic “board
game” in which residents of MinneapolisSt. Paul strategically
moved 25-foot-tall
game pieces around
the city.
The kids at Quest to
Learn, a new public
school in Manhattan,
are being taught
through an experimental curriculum based
on gaming and game
design principles.
Since learning to play
comes naturally to kids,
Katie Salen is showing how
playing can help them learn.
No one takes playing games more seriously than Katie
Salen. While most people might round up some friends and
break out a board game on the coffee table, Salen once
co-designed a multi-player game for the entire population
of Minneapolis-St. Paul, creating Crayola-colored, 25-foot
game pieces for teams of thousands of residents to race along
city streets. While some people might find fun in a night of
karaoke, or in buying a cone from the neighborhood ice-cream
truck, Salen helped build an ice cream truck that doubled as
a roaming karaoke unit, then invited residents of San Jose to
have a popsicle and do a live recording of Outkast’s Hey Ya!
But Salen, a 42-year-old designer who earned her master’s
in Graphic Design at RISD and now teaches at Parsons, isn’t
just a player or designer of games. She’s a theorist of games,
and a passionate believer in their transformative power. It’s
not just playing for its own sake that fascinates her—it’s the
potential that lies in taking the complex systems embedded in
games and leveraging them for social change.
“I just fell in love with games,” says Salen. She found her way
to gaming in the late 1990s after collaborating with a choreographer to create computer-generated dancers and realizing
she was doing what game designers do all the time: building
moving bodies in a virtual world. “I became fascinated with the
way that video games construct worlds—that from nothing
they literally . . . start to create a kind of logic and a coherence
14
RISDXYZ
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Katie Salen MFA 92
to learn
by Francie Latour
to what you can do in that space, through the design of rules.
That’s kind of been the trajectory of my career,” she says.
“Games have become a tool to help me figure out how to design
things that aren’t games.”
So far, Salen has published three major books on game
design and gaming and is making a convincing case that paying
attention to games is a good idea—even far beyond the gaming
and design worlds. Her nonprofit, Institute of Play, stakes its
claim on the idea that gamer intelligence—learning how to play,
analyze and create games—not only promotes 21st-century
digital skills, but also makes us better risk takers, problem
solvers, collaborators and engaged citizens. (And who would
disagree that Institute of Play just may be the best name ever
for a nonprofit?)
In 2009, the institute launched its boldest venture yet:
Quest to Learn, a New York City public school organized
entirely around game design principles and digital culture.
The school now enrolls about 150 sixth- and seventh-graders,
and will eventually teach kids through grade 12. After its
first year, it has already cleared early testing hurdles, with
students doing about the same as their peers around the city.
But Quest to Learn’s mission isn’t about test scores. It’s
about making school a place where kids strive to master their
subjects the way they strive to master games. And it’s about
challenging them to build games the way designers do—
creating complex, dynamic worlds that are rich in narrative
and rigorous in structure.
“In general people have a lot of assumptions about video
games—that they’re frivolous, a waste of time, violent, played
only by boys and so on,” Salen points out. “As a result, almost
anything we say counter to this impression is a surprise
to them. But with the design of games, it’s a little different,
because most parents have a pretty positive feeling about
their kids authoring work. That feels constructive to them.”
CONVERSATION-CHANGER
Now in its second year, Quest’s radical model for what a school
can be is already changing the conversation about how a
Fall 2010
15
Kids at Quest don’t
spend the day in
front of computer
screens nor do they
sit passively at their
desks. They learn new
concepts and ways
of problem solving by
engaging in “missions”
and “quests” similar
to those used in
gaming.
“this idea that you meet kids where they are, you build on their
strengths and interests, and you create alternative environments where they can learn individually and collaboratively.
And more importantly, you shift the students’ stance from
being passive recipients of learning to involving them in the
active construction of work.”
When Hughes first approached Salen about starting a
school, she had been trying to get funding for an innovative
storefront space for kids. Running a school was never on her
agenda. But Salen says her experience at RISD has been critical
in guiding her through spheres far afield from design, and in
finding her design voice in all of them. “When I was at RISD,
what I was really intrigued by. . . was this notion of: How do
you really begin to ask questions about the role of design in
the world?” she says. “For me that has allowed me to move as
I have moved, because I don’t feel like I was trained to be a
graphic designer. I feel like I was trained to be a design thinker.”
With her improbable designer’s journey to education
reform, Salen has brought something invaluable to the crisis
in public school education, says Hughes: getting kids to truly
own their learning.
ON A MISSION
There is a clear
sense…that there is
a crisis in education,
primarily around
the fact that we’re
losing young people
because they’re
simply not engaged.”
Katie Salen MFA 92 GD
16
RISDXYZ
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Katie Salen MFA 92
nation’s failing public school system can reach a generation
of digitally oriented kids. “There is a clear sense here in New
York, as in many other places, that there is a crisis in education,
primarily around the fact that we’re losing young people
because they’re simply not engaged,” Salen says. “And the
testing curriculum has nothing to do with kids’ lives. It doesn’t
really care about equipping them for the 21st century. It cares
about equipping them to take tests.”
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation has
already put $1.1 million behind Quest to Learn. The grant
is part of MacArthur’s $50-million Digital Media and Learning
initiative to reimagine education by understanding how
technology is shaping the way kids acquire knowledge and
form a sense of community. The Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation is also banking on Salen’s model; in June, it
announced a $2.6-million grant to explore how elements
of Quest to Learn can be incorporated into existing schools.
And from California to Virginia, from the UK to South
Africa, schools are clamoring to adopt Salen’s and her team’s
ideas. Already, three new Chicago charter schools modeled on
Quest to Learn are slated to open. “We’ve actually been
overwhelmed with requests, and we’re not prepared,” she says.
“We don’t believe that after only a single year you can say that
it’s a working model. . . [But] I think people feel like there’s just
something to this idea.”
Robert Hughes, president of New Visions for Public Schools
in New York, is one of those people. For 20 years New Visions
has been a major force for education reform in New York City,
credited with turning around the city’s struggling behemoth
of a school system. The nonprofit partnered with Salen to get
Quest to Learn off the ground, and is on the cusp of launching
18 new charter schools. Almost all of them, Hughes says, will
be heavily influenced by Salen’s model.
“Katie brings to the table a deep knowledge—probably more
knowledge than anyone else in the country—of games and their
ramifications for learning,“ says Hughes. He’s a firm believer in
So, what exactly goes on behind the doors at 18th Street West
and 9th Avenue, in the Chelsea neighborhood where Quest
to Learn makes its home? To start with, Salen says, here’s
what doesn’t go on: students do not play video games all day.
Teachers and administrators do not preside over classrooms
overloaded with high-tech gadgets or unstructured days
devoid of fundamentals.
But on entering a classroom, both kids and adults quickly
realize they’re not in a more-of-the-same middle school.
Quest to Learn is very much an intentional environment—one
designed by teachers working one-on-one with game designers,
and one that constantly seeks to create what Salen calls a
“need to know.”
“What game designers think about all the time is, ‘What
situation can I drop my player into that will require them to
learn how to do the thing I want them to learn?’” Salen
explains. “In a video game, it might be that I need to teach my
player how to jump, so that it can collect the magic gems that
are floating above its head.”
As a general rule, game designers don’t get players to jump
by doing tutorials on jumping. “You create a situation where
there’s this thing just out of reach, and you have to figure out . . .
how to jump to get that thing, because you really want it. That
need to know is what we’re trying to create in the kids. So the
curriculum drops kids into a complex problem space, which
we call a ‘mission.’”
At Quest to Learn, language matters—because Salen
recognizes that it matters deeply to kids. Final exams become
“boss levels,” and subjects like math and science are called
“Codeworlds” and “The Way Things Work.” Those courses
aren’t taught as units, but as “missions.” Each mission is
broken down into a series of “quests.” And within those quests
are challenges that, when completed, unlock the next quest.
For one of Salen’s playful projects,
an ice cream truck in San José
doubled as a roaming karaoke
unit, inviting residents to both grab
a cone and belt out a tune.
Through her avatar (small image)
she’s able to learn from making
mistakes, which is also part of the
beauty of the new school.
“I don’t feel like I was trained
to be a graphic designer. I
feel like I was trained to be a
design thinker.
Fall 2010
17
The sixth- and seventhgraders now studying at
Quest seem to be more
engaged, with teachers
noting fewer “eyes glazed
over” when they present
new concepts.
Watching someone play a game
is basically an exercise in
witnessing ‘productive failure.’
In design, we simply call failure
‘iteration’—designers know that
they aren’t going to get it right
on the first try.”
Let’s say you’re a Quest to Learn seventh-grader, and your
mission is to learn about the human body. You might find
yourself sitting in class, following a fairly traditional exploration of the human cell. Then one day the teacher dims the
lights, and slowly, everyone turns toward the back of the room,
drawn by a locker that is starting to glow.
Inside that locker, Salen says, the students find a radio
transmitting messages from a doctor. The doctor, it turns out,
has been shrunken down and is traveling inside the body of his
sick patient. The doctor’s colleagues are expecting him to
report back about the patient, but what they don’t realize is
that when the doctor shrank, so did his brain, and he lost all his
medical knowledge. Enter the students, who help cover for this
massive brain loss by helping the doctor figure out where he is
and what’s wrong—in the patient’s digestive system,
circulatory system, nervous system and so on.
“So the kids have this need to know—to figure out: Where
might [the doctor] be? How does this digestive system work?
How do they give him some coordinates in the body to try
to navigate? All along the way they’re collecting data,” Salen
explains. “They’re learning how to use scientific equipment.
They’re building theories. They’re doing experiments. But it’s
18
RISDXYZ
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Katie Salen MFA 92
presented in a game-like way, and it’s a combination of the
physical and the digital.”
PRODUCTIVE FAILURE
If the curriculum is designed to fire kids’ brains in new ways, it
also requires something similar of teachers. For them, entering
a world of avatars and boss levels means rewiring their minds
and learning to think of themselves as designers.
In designing a Quest to Learn mission on ancient Greece,
Ross Flatt asked his students to take on roles as citizens in the
competing city-states of Athens and Sparta—vying for power,
spying on each other, drawing maps and deploying for battle in
phalanx formations. The 10-week mission ended with a debate
in which each team made a case for why their model for
civilization should survive if the two city-states were to go to
war. “When I did the phalanx demonstration, I marched them
to the middle of an apartment complex across the street. They
all marched with their shields across 23rd Street, and had a
really good time,” Flatt recalls. “But when it was time to debate,
and prove that they had learned something, it was very real to
them. No eyes were glazed over, which is the biggest difference
at a place like Quest.”
“That need to know is what we’re trying
to create in the kids.
When a subject like ancient history can be taught without
those glazed expressions, it’s a good sign that a school is
starting to do what video games do so well—namely, command
kids’ attention for hours at a time. But over time, if it’s done
right, Salen says, game-like learning won’t be just about
keeping kids from spacing out, or even about preparing them
for technology-rich careers. It will also be about instilling in
them timeless qualities like empathy and tenacity. Playing
video games all day could make a kid withdrawn and insular.
But designing games forces kids to think about the people who
will play them and how those players experience the game.
It demands a stepping-outside-of-the-self that Salen contends
has profound implications for civic engagement in an
increasingly virtual world.
At the same time, the complexity of games and game
systems almost guarantees that students will fail, at least
initially. But they also tend to be highly motivated to work
through that failure, precisely because it’s a game.
“Students are rarely given the time, space or support to
engage in failure as a process of problem-solving,” Salen says.
“Watching someone play a game is basically an exercise in
witnessing what I sometimes call ‘productive failure.’ Players
For more on Katie’s work, go to risd.edu/xyz.
try things out to see if they work, and when they don’t,
they naturally go through a process of problem solving and
experimentation until they hit upon a correct approach.
In design, we simply call failure ‘iteration’—designers know
that they aren’t going to get it right on the first try.”
Despite the many games she has played and the energy she
has poured into engaging students, Salen says kids still surprise
her. For example, she couldn’t possibly have expected what
would happen last year when Quest to Learn’s first sixth-graders
encountered Arithmix and Wordix, code-breaking twin
brothers in a fictional world who would send the students
emails during a school-year mission.
“We have kids who are still writing to the characters this
year,” Salen says. “And this is, I think, the beautiful thing about
games. Kids know that they’re not real. They know that a game
has been designed. But still, they’re naturally drawn to them.
It’s a compelling way for them to engage.”
Fall 2010
19
STARKLY
David Stark creates
conceptual events and
experiences designed
to delight all the senses.
by Paula Martiesian 76 PT
When Britain’s Tate
museum chose to hold
its first US fundraiser
in a Manhattan ferry
terminal on the Hudson,
the ripples and waves
of the river inspired Stark
to create an undulating
curtain made from
15,000 aquatic-colored
paint chips.
PAINTING
David Stark BFA 91
The story begins innocently enough, with an ugly tablecloth.
Aspiring painter David Stark, who holds a BFA from RISD
and an MFA from the School of the Visual Arts in New York,
is working as a floral designer to supplement his income and
support his studio work. He loves the colors, shapes and
textures of flowers, and arranges them as deftly as he composes
a painting. He also likes the creative outlet. It gets him out
of the studio, working with people—and for him, the process is
much quicker and somehow more satisfying than painting.
As Stark delivers his distinctive centerpieces, however, he
is repeatedly disappointed to find endless ugly tablecloths and
tasteless décor scattered about unattractive rooms. With his
heightened attention to detail, he can’t resist the urge to
provide increasingly more diverse design services. With the
flick of a tablecloth, David Stark, the secluded painter,
transforms himself into David Stark, premier event designer.
Of course, that “flick” actually spanned a decade. In the
beginning, there was just Stark, painting, waiting tables and
making tablescapes with flowers. Waiting tables wasn’t much
fun; flowers, on the other hand, were. When a friend needed
some ideas for the décor of a fundraiser for the Brooklyn
Museum of Art, he and his former business partner Avi Adler
stepped in to help. For several years, much of the duo’s design
Fall 2010
21
“I’m really lucky. I wake
up every day and jump
onto a rollicking roller
coaster of art-making.
Yet, the art that I make
is not what many might
recognize as art.”
Surprise and delight
Among the tantalizing ideas Stark and his team have unwrapped recently: a paint-by-numbers picnic event inside a
giant paint can for Benjamin Moore, jumbo laptops with live
Twitter feeds and blogging for a Huffington Post party,
3,000 lbs. of recycled newspapers to underscore “the printed
word” theme of the Israel Museum’s gala and lovely tablescapes of finds from the woods for a rustic wedding in Maine.
From the most intimate tableaux to super-sized environments
bursting with eye-candy, each is symbolically rich and
visually rewarding.
Beyond feeling personal and meaningful, these happenings
are designed to come alive through the people attending the
event. “People want surprise and delight,” Stark says. And in
today’s economic climate, “over-the-top lavishness is out;
ingenuity is in. Clients want a creative journey, something
innovative that they haven’t seen before.”
Innovation is among Stark’s strong suits. He likes the
challenge of working within the time and budget parameters
most designers face, and being resourceful with materials.
In fact, in recent years he has made herculean efforts to both
reuse everyday materials and recycle them again after each
event. For the west elm (Purely Paper) Flower Shoppe, he
collected books off the street and fashioned the pages into
paper flowers, bird houses, pots and garden accessories. When
dismantling a sneaker “tornado” made from Nike’s donation to
the Robin Hood Foundation, he made sure that the 5,000 pairs
of factory-new shoes made their way to New Yorkers in need.
David Stark 91 PT
playful, chalkboard
cityscapes of New
York to emphasize
the foundation’s goal
of creating a better
city by erasing poverty.
An inexpensive, readily available material,
the chalk not only
reinforced the foundation’s educational
mission, it allowed
guests to interact
with the sets and
props by adding their
own “graffiti.”
work was rooted in flowers. “Flowers are cool and fun,” Stark
says. “Unlike painting, where you feel your work has to have
a deep, emotionally charged meaning, you don’t need to draw
deep meaning from your work with flowers.”
Despite their blossoming business, a gala for the Metropolitan Opera proved problematic. Held in a dark industrial
space, it just didn’t call for flowers. “It suddenly occurred
to me,” Stark says of his eureka-moment, “that events are a lot
like art installations and I could approach these endeavors
as if I were making art.”
Today Stark is the president and principal designer of
David Stark Design and Production, a Brooklyn-based firm
with a reputation for producing high-concept, art-infused
parties. He employs a creative ensemble of 25 designers,
builders, craftspeople, project managers and engineering types
to help juggle the complex details and logistics of producing
60–65 extraordinary events a year—in New York, Boston,
Minneapolis, Jerusalem, Tokyo and beyond. “It takes a little
army of a village to make these things happen,” he says. “It
really is a group experience and I’m really proud of the team.”
Handmade experience
Together, Stark and his team specialize in personally tailored
experiences that make participants feel like they’re taking part
in a performance art piece. His A-list clients are impressive—
Beyoncé, Tony Bennett, Glenn Close, Michael J. Fox, Arianna
Huffington and Jon Stewart are among the high-wattage
celebrities who have sought him out. In the corporate realm,
he has worked with Benjamin Moore, Chivas Regal, InStyle,
Target, Tiffany & Co, Versace and Louis Vuitton. His nonprofit
work, which remains central to what he does, has resulted
in inspired events for the Metropolitan Opera, the Museum
of Modern Art, New Yorkers for Children and the Robin Hood
22
RISDXYZ
PAINTING
David Stark BFA 91
“It suddenly
occurred to me
that events are
a lot like art
installations.”
A clever and resourceful use of materials is
a hallmark of Stark’s
events. At a dinner
presentation of the
Cooper-Hewitt’s
National Design
Awards, flowers were
arranged as unexpected “edibles”
rather than in vases.
photos by Susan Montagna
For a Robin Hood
Foundation fundraiser, Stark’s team drew
Foundation, an organization that counters poverty in New York.
The team also goes beyond expectation in producing extraordinary weddings, bar mitzvahs and birthday celebrations.
“We create experiences about all the senses,” Stark
explains. “It’s all-encompassing—the food you eat, the entertainment you watch and hear, the invitations you receive in
the mail—all are interconnected.” Each individual element
is designed with care, and with the participants in mind. “It’s
important to me to see the heartbeat of the hand in what we
do—to really see that each event is a handmade experience.”
Nancy Novogrod, editor-in-chief of Travel & Leisure
magazine, noted in a recent New York Times article that “what
distinguishes Mr. Stark’s efforts from those of his competitors
is that a Stark party often resembles a kind of installation art.
His work is conceptual and it’s a little bit making fun of all
the elements that connote luxury and glamour. It’s upending
things a bit.”
Stark’s background as a painter and visual artist gives him
a leg up when it comes to upending. “Early on, my whole
creative world came from RISD,” he says. “I was surrounded by
such an incredible group of people—people who I still talk with
today. I loved painting and learned to solve creative problems,
and now I do the same thing with other materials.”
At RISD Stark also began to realize that “safe” is not in his
playbook. “I want extraordinary, and often that trans­lates into
trying something I’ve never tried before, inventing something
I’ve never seen before, getting at that tantalizing idea waiting
to be unwrapped.”
Stark made this tower­ing sculpture of old
sinks [above] for Cosentino’s launch of its
eco line—which featured countertops made
from recycled crushed mirrors, bottles and
porcelain. As someone “who relies on Post-it
Notes to get tasks accomplished,” he chose
to make a dramatic statement through the
use of thousands of square notepads for the
“Make it Happen” theme of a New Yorkers
for Children fundraiser.
Fall 2010
23
For private parties—
corporate events,
weddings, birthdays—
Stark and his team
love the challenge
of dreaming up
unexpected touches,
like this beautifully
playful reminder
of the activity at hand
etched in a hedge at
a MoMA garden party.
Stark believes in
making “treasure
from trash” and is
a master at working
with paper. This
overstuffed chair pair
was one of many
playful items made
from packing boxes
and shredded
company catalogues
to celebrate the
photos courtesy of west elm
“I learned to
break the
rules and do
it really,
really well.”
24
RISDXYZ
PAINTING
David Stark BFA 91
A good listener, Stark loves collaboration and knows how
to make his clients relax despite the stress of planning events
that may be weather-dependent and/or meant to raise funds—
and that invariably reflect on the host. “Most of our ideas come
about by climbing into the hearts and minds of our clients,”
he says. “My designs include many aspects of fine art, but at the
end of the day my work has to satisfy the client.”
In his latest book, David Stark Design (which follows two
others, To Have and To Hold, featuring 150 unique flower
bouquets, and Napkins with a Twist, focusing on the art of table
setting), Stark presents this ode to what he does: “I’m really
lucky. I wake up every day and jump onto a rollicking roller
coaster of art-making. Yet, the art that I make is not what many
might recognize as art. It’s not a romantic, lone act performed
in a garret. It does not end up for sale in a gallery…. The art
that I create with the incredible team at my namesake firm
makes people impossibly happy, perhaps more so than the kind
of art people col­lect. Why? Because this art masquerades as
a party, a magical environment in which people have FUN, pure
and simple.”
For more information: davidstarkdesign.com.
opening of a new west
elm store in 2009.
Since then west elm
has commissioned
him to create two
lines of holiday items,
with the newest
[above] releasing in
November.
Stark recently added a new twist to his art-making by
designing a line of holiday décor and accessories—made from
100% natural and recycled materials—for the west elm stores.
For last fall’s grand opening of the west elm store at 1870
Broadway in New York, he designed stunning large-scale cacti,
topiary, vases and other sculptural pieces made from recycled
catalogues and corrugated cardboard. The eco-objects were
then auctioned off to benefit the Cooper-Hewitt National
Design Museum. Shortly after the event, the company’s owner,
Alex Bates, suggested Stark design a line for west elm. It did
so well that it sold out by Thanksgiving, so this year he’s back
with a new holiday line, which debuts in November and will be
followed by another line for spring.
Thinking back to his experience at RISD and how it opened
him up to new possibilities, Stark says: “The greatest surprise
of all in what I do is that there isn’t a major or a textbook that
tells you how to do it. I didn’t come through a formal program.
I just kind of invented things that interested me and my clients
along the way. I don’t think I knew what the rules were, but
I knew I didn’t want to follow them. So I learned to break the
rules—and do it really, really well.”
Fall 2010
25
A floor piece of highpressure laminate
panels lies directly
under the floating
house like a physical
shadow. It reveals
a composite image
of the townhouse
façade, along with the
hanok in Seongbukdong where the two
brothers grew up and
Venetian windows
that suggest a typical
Italian villa. Instead
of merely overlapping,
the three building
façades adopt
characteristics of one
another to emerge as
a composite shadow
reflecting three
different homes
at once.
As truly global citizens,
three RISD graduates—
all Korean and all related—
ponder the meaning of
“home” in an expansive
installation created for this
year’s Venice Biennale.
photo by Eulho Suh BArch 91 © Suh Architects
No Place
Like Home
26
RISDXYZ
PAINTING
Do Hoh Suh BFA 94
ARCHITECTURE
Eulho Suh BArch 91
SCULPTURE
KyungEn Kim MFA 97
This isn’t the first time brothers Do Ho Suh
and Eulho Suh have worked together, or
with KyungEn Kim, Eulho’s wife and partner
at Suh Architects in Seoul. But it is the first
time the three RISD graduates have collaborated on a conceptual installation piece—and
they couldn’t have picked a more high-profile
venue for unveiling it: the 12th International
Architecture Exhibition at the 2010 Venice
Biennale, the revered international extravaganza on view in Venice from August 29
through November 21.
Their piece, Blueprint, builds on Do Ho’s
ongoing exploration of the notion of home
in a highly mobile, global society. It presents
an evanescent life-sized replica of the artist’s
New York City townhouse floating above
a reflective floor piece that reveals building
typologies of three disparate cultures.
Viewers walk onto the floor piece as they’re
simultaneously enveloped in the gauzy
townhouse hovering above. It’s an evocative
piece that questions the distinctions between
art and architecture, reality and memory, and
past, present and future.
“We came up with the idea of a 1:1 ‘shadow’
or reflection on the floor mirroring Do Ho’s
hung fabric façade because it would tell
a story the hanging piece could not on its
own,” Eulho explains in describing how the
trio worked together to fuse their fine arts
and architectural approaches. “Both of the
brothers are extremely meticulous,” KyungEn
says of her husband and her brother-in-law,
adding that “mediating between the opinions
of us three was the most difficult part.”
The brothers agree, but concede
that KyungEn, who studied sculpture at
RISD before meeting Eulho in the MArch
program at Harvard, actually served as the
perfect negotiator and connector. And
through this project the three Koreans also
reaffirmed their shared RISD connection.
“There is an air of communal, uncompromising exploration at RISD that I have never
quite found anywhere else,” KyungEn says,
summing up what she and the Suh brothers
remember of their experience here. “I still
go back to some of the nascent ideas—timid
sketches/installations—I did at RISD that
I was sure were worthless. But it turns out
that, another degree and 12 years later,
I’ve rediscovered that original ideas come
from exploring what you know. I learned that
at RISD, but I just didn’t know it then.”
Fall 2010
27
28
RISDXYZ
PAINTING
Do Hoh Suh BFA 94
Strange Coincidences
“I found out about RISD in late 1970s,” Do Ho recently told XYZ. “But Eulho
went there before me, even though he is my younger brother. When he
went back to Seoul after his studies, I came to the US to go to RISD and
began looking for an apartment in Providence. A broker showed me a
random flat that happened to be in the exact same building where Eulho
had lived! Several years after I graduated from RISD, when I returned to
Providence to give a lecture, my friend Doug Borkman from the Sculpture
Department mentioned KyungEn and asked me if I knew her. I didn’t,
but then several years later, Eulho and KyungEn met at Harvard and got
married. Strange coincidences…. So, given our crossed paths, it made
perfect sense for the three of us to work on a project that deals with this
notion of home and place. Starting with our childhood in Korea, we clearly
have many common places to share.”
ARCHITECTURE
Eulho Suh BArch 91
SCULPTURE
KyungEn Kim MFA 97
photo by Stefano Graziani © Do Ho Suh 2010
“I’ve rediscovered that original
ideas come from exploring
what you know. I learned that
at RISD, but I just didn’t know
it then.” KynungEn Kim MFA 97 SC
top: photo by Craig Murdoch © Do Ho Suh 2010 | bottom: photos by Eulho Suh BArch 91 © Suh Architects
Constructed entirely
of hand-stitched
nylon, the upper part
of the installation
is a 12.7-meter-tall
translucent façade
representing a 1:1
scale reproduction
of the New York
townhouse where
Do Ho currently lives.
From one side, the
viewer enters this
dream-like drapery
building as if through
the “ground floor.”
From the other,
the fabric hovers
above, an ephemeral
blueprint floating in
from New York.
To comment on this article, email [email protected].
Fall 2010
29
RISD clubs are
jumping—quite
literally so in
Colorado, where
alumni recently
gathered at the
Museum of
Contemporary
Art in Denver.
Keep connected to RISD through the Alumni Association’s
network of clubs around the country and the world.
PHILLY LEADER
WEAVES
CONNECTIONS
CLUB ACTIVITY ON THE RISE
RISD/Colorado, which had been idle for a few
years, got off the ground again in September with
a gathering at the Museum of Contemporary Art
in Denver. The Colorado club has been re-energized
by club leader Jim Leggitt BArch 73, who says the
museum gathering generated a lot of enthusiasm for
future events.
“It was very encouraging to see the turnout,”
says Leggitt, “and better still, to hear from so many
alumni that there is a genuine interest in staying
connected.” Fellow Denver alum Carol Diaz BIA 06 has
set up a Facebook page for the club, which held the
MCA Denver reception to celebrate an exhibition by
painter Bunny Harvey 67 PT/MFA 72 PT.
RISD/NY continues to create innovative events
to entice alumni, including a recent hike through the
new High Line Park, a former elevated rail line that
ran through Manhattan’s meatpacking district in the
1930s. Club leaders Polly Carpenter 76 PT and Michael
Neff 04 PH report a strong turnout and say that offerings like this add a different flavor than more traditional alumni events.
With help from Joe Borzotta 85 GD, RISD/NY also
held a wine tasting at Astra’s, a Charlie Palmer
restaurant in Manhattan famous for its stunning
terrace views. The club raised more than $500 for the
Alumni Association Scholarship Fund at the event.
“RISD grads tend
to be very openminded. They’re
constantly looking
for new things
and new sources
of inspiration.”
30
RISDXYZ
It starts with a single knot in Tibet. Made by a
seasoned weaver, that knot is joined by another
knot and then another, until a strong and sturdy
rug takes shape. Though half a world a way, the
Tibetan weaver uses Skype to keep in close contact
with Laila Ahmadinejad 01 GD, cofounder and
creative director of Proper Rugs in Philadelphia.
The end product isn’t just a beautiful rug—it’s
a collaboration of tradition, technology and
creativity that spans the globe. It’s the physical
expression of connection.
Whether she’s designing rugs or acting as club
leader of RISD/Philadelphia, the 31-year-old
Ahmadinejad is all about connections. In addition to
designing rugs that Tibetan artisans bring to life using
Chinese silks and Himalayan wools, she is a graphic
designer, photographer and writer.
After earning her BFA at RISD, Ahmadinejad
studied textile design at Fashion Institute of
Technology and then returned to her native
Philadelphia in search of a vibrant arts community.
She found that community, but was still nostalgic for
the contagious energy of RISD, where people speak
their own language, embrace challenges and continually expand their goals. If she could find that creative
energy in Philadelphia, she figured she would have the
best of both worlds. So she joined RISD/Philadelphia.
“I think RISD grads tend to be very open-minded,”
Ahmadinejad says. “I think they’re constantly learning.
They’re constantly looking for new things and new
sources of inspiration.” After attending a number
of events, including the club’s annual Valentine’s Day
party, she began feeling like she wanted more—more
knots, more ties, more momentum. So last year she
ran for a leadership position and was elected head of
the newly formed 14-member board.
Ahmadinejad is the first to admit that she’s got a lot
to learn about outreach, but she’s using the club’s
Facebook page and trying to draw in more people. Her
goal is to offer events and programming at least once
a quarter that appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds—and that energize fellow alumni, while also
connecting them to the larger Philly community.
So far, they’ve attended the Kensington Kinetic
Sculpture Derby (think art meets motion—like an
alien ship powered by bicycles or a hand-crank-driven
pirate ship), gone to a gallery opening and taught
art to underserved children at the city’s Honickman
Learning Center.
In the future, Ahmadinejad plans to create a guide
to alumni-owned galleries, stores and services in
Philadelphia. She hopes it will appeal to both locals
and visitors, expanding opportunities to connect.
Eventually, she hopes clubs in other cities will follow
suit, so that a patchwork of guides will arise across the
country, weaving together RISD clubs one knot at a
time. “It’s a way to connect to like-minded people who
just want to create good stuff,” she says. —Kate Silver
bottom right: courtesy of Museum of Art, RISD | top: photo by Jim Leggitt BArch 73
Designer Laila Ahmadinejad 01 GD
is excited to be the new club leader of
RISD/Philadelphia and looks forward to
helping bring together “like-minded
people who want to create good stuff.”
SEIBERT FUND SUPPORTS ALUMNI ART
The Phil Seibert Acquisition Fund,
established posthumously in honor
of Phil Seibert 67 IA, helps the RISD
Museum add alumni work to its
permanent collection. Last year
the fund supported the acquisition
of Undomesticated by Joseph Segal
MFA 09 TX and In his Shabbat’s best
by Anna Gitelson-Kahn MFA 09 TX.
And since its inception in 2004 it
has helped the museum to acquire
works by Janine Antoni MFA 89 SC,
Clare Rojas 98 PR and Kara Walker
MFA 94 PT/PR.
“The Seibert Acquisition Fund
allows us flexibility to pursue
alumni art in a variety of mediums,”
says Judith Tannenbaum, the
museum’s Richard Brown Baker
Curator of Contemporary Art. She
points out that the current exhibition The Figure, which continues
through March 2011, features Take
a Stand, a large mixed-media piece
by Ryan Trecartin 04 FAV and Lizzie
Fitch 04 FAV that was purchased
in part through the fund.
“The Seibert Fund is modest in
size and is not the only method
by which we acquire alumni art,”
says Tannenbaum. “But it fills
an important role and continues
to help us add significant works
by RISD artists.”
Take a Stand
(2006, mixed
media, 90x72x78")
by Ryan Trecartin
04 FAV and Lizzie
Fitch 04 FAV
WHO’S YOUR SWEETHEART?
The RISD Alumni Association is developing a new
program to recognize and celebrate RISD alumni
who have married one another. “It’s an idea that has
been percolating for a while,” says Christina Hartley
74 IL, director of Alumni Relations and Special Events.
“We’re just in the planning stages, but our initial
research reveals more couples than we first thought.
So this will be a fun program.”
The new program is tentatively called RISD
Sweethearts. Hartley encourages all alumni to
update their personal info in the alumni directory
(risd.edu/alumni_directory), but particularly alumni
couples. “We hope to reach all RISD couples when
the program kicks off,” she says, “and the alumni
directory is the best way to ensure that.”
Fall 2010
31
1. These alumni look like they’ve barely
skipped a beat since they last saw
each other.
2. Marina Brolin 85 GD and her classmates had fun comparing notes on the
past 25 years.
2
3. Helga Jorgensen 60 GD reminisces with
a friend at her 50th reunion reception.
6
4. The weather was perfect for the
perennial favorite: the outdoor art sale
on Benefit Street.
5. The Bamboo Build project was one
of several Art + Design in the Wild demos
out at Tillinghast Farm in Barrington.
6. Will the real Esther Lee BArch 91 please
step forward?
7
7. People of all ages and abilities
helped finger-paint a giant mural on
the RISD Beach.
8. This happy 50th-reunion celebrant
shows off a photo from the old days.
9. Two friends reunite at RISD.
Please email [email protected] to help us
identify anyone shown in these photos.
3
1
RISD BY DESIGN 2010
This year’s alumni and parents’ weekend at RISD
(October 8–10) was full of fun and inspiration,
bursting with the collective energy of a record number
of visitors who mixed and mingled with students,
faculty and staff. From the outdoor art sale to thoughtprovoking panel discussions, hands-on workshops,
mural-making and animated conversations among
reunion-ing friends, the weekend offered a range of
enticing options for making and renewing connections.
9
4
Find email addresses for officers
and club leaders at:
risd.cc/clubs_xyz
IN THE USA
Arizona (Phoenix)
Amanda Blum 98 CR
At lanta
Becky Fong 05 GD
Aust in
Dianne Mullen BArch 82
Look for selected alumni clubs
on Facebook, where you’ll also
find pages for the RISD Balls
(basketball team) and an informal
London/UK group.
32
RISDXYZ
Boston
Karen Fox BIA 74
8
Co nnec t icu t
M a ine
N e w Yor k
Seattl e
Michael Esordi 91 GD
Karen Healey 90 GD
Jim Healey BArch 91
Mira Alden 03 GD
Polly Carpenter 77 PT
Michael Neff 04 PH
Kyle Gaffney BArch 91
Bill Gaylord BArch 77
Stephanie Henry 87 GD
Robert Wright 76 PT
N o rt her n Cal i for n i a
South Flor i da
Kristina DiTullo 96 IL
Nessie Ruiz 06 PH
N e w H a mps hir e
P hil a d el p h i a
St. Loui s
Christine Hall 00 ID
Laila Ahmadinejad 01 GD
Patricia Boman 85 GD
N e w M ex ico
P o rt l an d, OR
Nat Hesse 76 SC
Brian Bainnson
BLA 87/88 AR
Da l l as
Steven Kinder 97 ID
Dave Ramos MFA 06 GD
H ousto n
April Rapier Irvine
MFA 79 PH
C hicago
m id - H u dso n Va l l e y, NY
Kyle Henderson BArch 99
Joan Sussman 72 PH
Colorado
Los A nge l es
Jim Leggitt BArch 73
John Kim 01 ID
M idwest
N e w O r l ea ns
Carrie Lee PiersonSchwartz 93 GL
R ho d e Is l an d
Linda Coulombe MAT 86
Sava nn ah
Jamie Kutner 06 PR
photos by Melinda Rainsberger 04 FAV
A lumni
A ssociation
CO ntacts
5
T w i n C i ti es (Mi n n esota)
Peter Zelle 87 GL
A B ROA D
A rg e n ti n a
Andres Rosarios BArch 97
Austral i a
Brad Buckley MFA 82 SC
Bah am as
John Cox 95 IL/MAT 96
Dionne Benjamin-Smith
91 GD
U tah
Colomb i a
Deanpaul Russell 95 ID
Sylvia Montana 90 GD
Was h i n gton , D C
Dubai
Anthony Dihle 04 GD
Anika Azad 97 GD
G e r m an y
Rom e
David Incorvaia 96 FAV
Denise Fralley MLA 02
ALU M N I COU NC I L
O FFI C E R S
H on g Kon g
South Kor ea
Pr esident
Donald Choi BArch 80
Frank Chow BLA 92
Rex Wong BArch 03
Chang-ho Han MFA 01 GD
Yunjin Lee 97 IL
Namoo Kim MFA 09 GD
Won Hee Cha 08 SC
Nat Hesse 76 SC
Santa Fe, NM
India
Praneet Bubber MArch 97
Anuradha Parikh BArch 82
Su-Yi Wun BArch 99
N e w Z eal an d
T h ai l an d
Rick Lucas 72 IL
Amornpimol (Viravan)
Thanakitamnuay 86 GD
P e ru
Claudia Ferrari BGD 91
Claudia Hernandez 90 PT
Tai wan
V ice Pr esident
Meghan Reilly 01 GD
Merrimac, MA
Commit t ee Lia isons
Carolyn (Mills) Peck 71 AE
Hampton, GA
Michael Martella BArch 91
Philadelphia, PA
Fall 2010
33
Rhode Island School of Design
repurpose
remake
rethink
redo
reuse
A glimpse of what’s happening at the heart of campus—
with the president, students, faculty and staff.
RISD’s Interior Architecture
Department is accepting
applications to two
new Graduate Programs
in Adaptive Reuse:
Master of Arts in
Interior Architecture
[ 1+ years ]
Master of Design in
Interior Studies
(Adaptive Reuse)
[ 2+ years ]
CORE
VALUES
Get more information and apply at
risd.cc/adaptive_xyz
message by
John Maeda
RISD’s President
CE Never Sleeps
H undreds o f co u rses o ffered y e a r-roun d for a d u lts , teen s + chi l dre n
Join us!
Open House
Friday, January 14
5:30-7pm
20 Washington Place
Providence
Happening Now at RISD | CE
+ Collecting Art series continues; next class February 3
+ Digital Design Intensives Week; February 20-25
+ School vacation camps for Young Artists
+ Business of Art + Design classes offered every term
+ Historic Preservation Certificate Program; updated and relaunched
+ Alternative course formats – Online, Hybrid (classroom + online),
Daytime/Weekend Workshops – offered every term
RISD Continuing Education
ow registering for Winter term courses.
N
Classes start January 10.
Spring CE and summer Pre-College Program
registration begins January 10, too!
risd.edu/ce
I spend a lot of time thinking
about the future of the institution. More and more
I find myself starting by looking way into the past—
to RISD’s founding. In 1877 Helen Metcalf sat with her
counterparts on the Rhode Island Women’s Centennial Commission, who had successfully raised funds
for the 1876 Centennial Exhibition (world’s fair) in
Philadelphia. They’d been granted a windfall: a surplus
of $1,675 that remained after the exhibition. Many
ideas had been floated for how to use the money—
everything from giving it to charity to donating it to
Brown or the public library. But in the end, they
debated two final choices: a proposal to fund a fountain
at Roger Williams Park, and Mrs. Metcalf’s proposal
to seed a school of art and design. Happily for RISD,
the school of design won by a vote of 34 to 13, giving
birth to what is now a legendary symbol of creativity
well beyond the state of Rhode Island.
We’ve kept Mrs. Metcalf’s flame burning bright
through our faithfulness to the three core values
embodied in our original mission: 1) the importance
of art and design above all; 2) the profound difference an education can make; and 3) the value of valid
critique. In an ever-changing external environment,
constantly aligning with these core values in all that
we do at RISD—and in all that you alumni do in your
work after RISD—keeps our community strong.
Staying true to these values is why RISD is the international beacon of possibility that it is today.
The values of art and design, education and critique
can express themselves in whatever work you find
yourself pursuing. Some of the connections are obvious,
like in the case of David Schoffman 78 PT, who I heard
about from trustee and RISD parent Erica DiBona.
David is an art teacher in Los Angeles who has inspired
countless students to come to RISD to “shape their
intuitive temperament” and experience the same
transformative growth he did while here. We thank
David for inspiring young creative types in this way.
Others pursue less traditional career paths, but
still embody these values. Recent Illustration
graduate Jennifer Hom 09 IL now finds herself at the
Portrait of Mrs.
Jesse Metcalf
by the American
impressionist
painter Frank
W. Benson
(1862–1951)
As R IS D ’s p r es ide n t
For more, follow John on our.risd.edu + twitter.com/johnmaeda.
Googleplex every day, part of a team of five people
who create “Google Doodles”: versions of the Google
logo that reflect events going on in the world. It’s a
way for Google to introduce “a human hand…as part
of our interaction with users,” as her colleague Ryan
Germick explains. And Jen says that doodling for
Google isn’t quite as simple as it sounds. In fact, it feels
a lot like being at RISD, and there’s a lot of pressure
to “get it right.”
No matter how they are expressed, RISD’s core values help to restore a bit of the humanity the world has
lost, especially in recent years. I’m grateful to Helen
Metcalf and our other forward-thinking founders for
first fighting for the concept and imagining what RISD
could become—an inspired international community
fired up about the fundamental value of art, design,
education and critique.
Support STEAM in Congress
As you may know, I have been working hard to make the case that
creativity needs to be part of our national agenda for promoting
innovation. As a result, RI Congressman James Langevin recently
introduced a resolution in the US House of Representatives to
recognize the importance of adding art and design when advocating for more STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)
education in America (STEM+Art=STEAM). Please contact your
own representative and ask him or her to support H. Res. 1702.
You can read the resolution and find direct links to contacting your
own rep by photographing this QR code with your smart phone
(you will need to download a QR code reader application).
Fall 2010
35
“I hope no one will repeat this, but Brown’s
commencement was… a sleeper compared to this!”
Ruth Simmons, president of Brown University and a 2010 RISD
honorary degree recipient, speaking at RISD’s Commencement
ELLE PRESENTS
RISD STUDENTS’
DESIGNS IN NYC
Kudos to Our
Newest Alumni!
The weather gods smiled on RISD’s
June 5 Commencement, when
thunderstorms rumbled around the
region but didn’t prevent roughly 640
undergraduate and graduate students
and their families from enjoying the
fast-paced ceremony. The comments
from student speakers were incisive,
hilarious and wonderfully energized—
first, in stereo from twin brothers Kirk
and Nathaniel Mueller MFA 10 DM,
who spoke on behalf of grad students,
and then from undergrad Stephanie
Rudig 10 GD, who belted out a portion
of her pop-song-inspired speech. Even
keynote speaker Ruth Simmons,
president of Brown University, echoed
the students’ message: that we desperately need the critical thinking and
refreshing originality RISD grads infuse
significant cash value. David Yoo
10 AP won the $25,000 ELLE|RISD
Design Award, Jessica Castellano
10 AP the $25,000 Maybelline New
York Fashion Next Award and
Caroline Hust 10 TX the $10,000
Kate Spade New York Award. And
the ELLE People’s Choice Award,
which also came with a $10,000
prize, went to HeeYoen Uee 10 TX
based on online voting in the
weeks following the show.
the three top winners in the ELLE +
RISD Fashion Next
competition, which
centered on an
amazing runway
show presented as
part of New York’s
fall Fashion Week.
Designs by Edda
Hayley Johnson
10 AP, Sheridan
Irwin 10 AP and
Jessica Castellano 10 AP
wowed the crowd
at Lincoln Center.
RISDXYZ
GLOBE-TROTTING
RESEARCHERS
10 TX is one of
Thors 10 AP ,
36
into the world.
Caroline Hust
photos by Scott Indermaur
designers—to select the 22
students who participated in the
adventure and were profiled
on the ELLE site.
ELLE also produced an
extensive, five-part RISD Fashion
Next video series that captures
the behind-the-scenes process
of preparing for a show of this
caliber. In addition to benefiting
from great exposure, students
were competing for awards with
photos by Joe Schildhorn © Billy Farrell Agency
Four students won major recognition and cash prizes in the ELLE
+ RISD Fashion Next show, which
was presented as part of New
York’s Fashion Week in September.
But all of the Apparel, Textiles and
Jewelry + Metalsmithing students
selected to participate found the
experience to be both “nervewracking” and “awesome.”
ELLE invited RISD to help
celebrate its 25th anniversary via a
runway show and design competition, along with coverage on its
website and in the October issue
of the magazine. The magazine’s
fashion editors teamed up with
a panel of judges—including Tommy
Hilfiger, Derek Lam, Nicole Miller
73 AP and several other well-known
Making Science visible
Two NEW GRAD PROGRAMS
RISD, Brown and the University of Rhode Island
are among a coalition of nine RI colleges and universities to benefit from a $20-million National Science
Foundation grant to study the effects of climate
change on marine organisms and ecosystems. The
coalition includes “one unusual but key player in
fostering better communication—RISD,” as The
Providence Journal put it.
As part of the Experimental Program to Stimulate
Competitive Research (EPSCoR), the NSF awarded
URI and principal investigators RISD and Brown its
maximum grant amount because of the complementary
nature of research capabilities they bring to the table.
RISD’s role during the five-year grant period is to
research innovative approaches to visualizing data and
communicating scientific findings through a new
initiative called Making Science Visible. The goal? To
help make science more accessible and understandable to the broader public.
“This project will provide a platform for engaging
scientists, artists and designers around the pressing
issues of understanding and communicating the
impacts of climate change,” notes David Bogen, associate provost for Academic Affairs. Watch for more news
on this new initiative as studio projects begin to unfold.
In 2011 RISD’s Interior Architecture Department
will introduce two new graduate degree programs:
a Master of Arts (MA) in Interior Architecture and a
Master of Design (MDes) in Interior Studies (Adaptive
Reuse). The short but intense MA program—for
students who have earned a BArch—entails a summer
program in Copenhagen at the Danish Institute for
Study Abroad, plus one year of study on campus.
“We developed this new degree program here at
RISD because there’s nothing quite like it elsewhere,”
says Department Head Liliane Wong. “The demand
is growing for architects who can practice with a full
and nuanced understanding of adaptive reuse, which
involves not only reimagining existing structures
and recycling materials, but making transformative
interventions to preserve memory, culture, community
and so forth.”
Students who have not earned a first professional
degree in architecture may opt for the MDes program,
which starts with an intense, design-based summer
session, followed by two years focused on interior
architecture and adaptive reuse.
Applications to both new programs are being
accepted through January 21, 2011. For more information, go to risd.cc/adaptive_xyz.
For more campus news, go to our.risd.edu.
RISD’s Career Center staff has
a great track record of helping
students and recent alumni win
Fulbright grants for study abroad,
with more than 50 positive
outcomes in the past 15 years. This
year Louie Rigano 10 ID is in Japan
focusing on the design and
fabrication of functional objects
that reference Wabi Sabi philosophy. During his year in Australia,
Matthew Perez MFA 10 GL is
researching shape-induced stress
factors in annealed glass in support
of a new body of work. And Andrew
Bearnot 09 GL, a RISD/Brown
dual degree student who majored
in Glass and Engineering, is in
Sweden and Denmark exploring
the relationship between tradition
and innovation in contemporary
Scandinavian glassmaking (his
research is also being supported
by an American-Scandinavian
Fellowship). In addition, Fulbrights
are helping Gigi Gatewood MFA 09
PH , Michael Hahn 08 ID, Sloan
Kulper MID 06 and Lindsey Meyer
MArch 06 to study in Trinidad/
Tobago, Cambodia, Bangladesh
and Morocco, respectively.
Fall 2010
37
Faculty Newsbits
Joe Deal (1947–2010)
Associate Professor Paola Demattè
(History of Art and Visual Culture)
has been awarded a grant from the
Asian Cultural Council to continue
her planning for the conservation
of the Xumishan archaeological zone.
The large site in China’s northwestern
Ningxia province includes more than
130 Buddhist grottoes dating from the
5th–15th centuries.
Assistant Professor Leora Maltz-Leca
(History of Art and Visual Culture)
has earned a Swann Foundation for
Caricature and Cartoon Fellowship
from the Library of Congress to support
her post-doctoral work on William
Kentridge. An article she wrote on
Marlene Dumas appears in the
November issue of ArtForum, and the
same month she is speaking in Seoul,
Korea on Streetwalkers: Phantom
Monuments of the Post-Apartheid City.
This fall work by Carrie Moyer,
assistant professor of Painting, was
shown in Los Angeles, NYC and
at Skidmore College’s Tang Museum
(through February 27, 2011). She
published a review of the RISD
Museum’s Pat Steir show in Art in
America (October 2010) and parti-
It’s never too early
to think about
your own legacy.
“The RISD community has
just lost a great artist, friend,
professor, former provost
and museum advocate
who had a special gift for
communicating.”
Professor Emeritus Joe Deal, an accomplished
photographer, died on June 18, 2010 in Providence, RI
after a prolonged battle against cancer. He was hired
as RISD’s provost in 1999 and served in that position
through 2005, when he stepped down in order to focus
on his photography and teaching. Deal’s photographs
are held in numerous national and international collections and have both earned accolades from artists,
curators and critics, and influenced countless other
photographers.
Earlier this year the Joe Deal Archive was established at the University of Arizona’s Center for
Creative Photography. Since his death, family and
friends have also donated approximately 50 photographs in his memory to the RISD Museum. Deal cut
an elegant figure but was wonderfully down-to-earth,
with a self-deprecating wit.
“Eloquence and integrity marked not only the man
but also his abilities as an administrator and teacher,”
notes current Provost Jessie Shefrin. “Joe will be
deeply missed by all those who had the opportunity
to know and work with him.”
Ferris O’Shaughnessy 93 GD says her “interest
in giving back started early” because her parents
had always supported nonprofits. “But it was the
tragedy of 9/11 that really brought it home for
me. To see how suddenly life can change, and to
imagine loved ones having to sort through financial
issues at such a tragic time—that’s when I felt I
had a responsibility to do some planning.”
That year Ferris began to plan her estate, focusing
first on her family. Then she turned her attention to
something else near and dear to her heart—RISD.
“RISD prepared me to think. It taught me how to
see. It was such an extraordinary experience that
I wanted to contribute to its future.” After learning
about the options through RISD’s Office of
Leadership Giving, she designated the college
as a beneficiary in her will.
Jan Howard, curator of Prints, Drawings,
and Photographs, RISD Museum
cipated in SkowheganTALKS, a lecture
“As a student, I had seen certain names around
campus, so I know that my education rested on the
shoulders of the Metcalfs, the Ewings, and others
who did so much to keep RISD strong. It’s intensely
series at the Skowhegan School of
of the most influential visual
artists working today.
Jalo Kivi (Maahenki Oy, 2010), a new
book on “light rocks” published in
Finnish, features an article by Professor
Yuriko Saito (History, Philosophy +
the Social Sciences) on The Role of
Rocks in Japanese Gardens.
Professor of Painting and Printmaking
Duane Slick, a member of the Meskwaki tribe, is one of five indigenous
artists nationwide selected to receive
an Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native
American Fine Art, which includes an
unrestricted grant of $25,000.
38
RISDXYZ
gary metz (1941–2010)
Professor Emeritus Gary Metz, a well-loved faculty
member who taught at RISD 23 years, died at home on
September 28, 2010 after a long illness. After teaching
at the San Francisco Art Institute, the University
of California at San Francisco and the University
of Colorado, he joined RISD’s faculty in 1981 as head
of the Photography Department, a position he held
until 1993 before returning to full-time teaching.
During his tenure at RISD, Metz was deeply committed to participating in the political, social and
intellectual life of the college, inspiring his students,
friends and colleagues to be equally engaged. An early
proponent of interdisciplinary learning at RISD, he
readily embraced the “new” and even pioneered distance learning through an early version of Skype-like
software. Both in the studio and beyond, his enthusiasm and wit were infectious; he was also a voracious
reader and avid traveler. This fall the department’s T.C.
Colley Lecture by Israeli photography Shai Kremer was
dedicated to Professor Metz’s memory, with special
remarks made by his close friend, Professor Emeritus
Baruch Kirschenbaum.
gratifying to be a part of that tradition.”
To find out about your estate planning options at RISD,
contact Molly Garrison at 401 454-6425 or
via email at [email protected].
give to risd
The late Professor Emeritus Gary Metz was an influential leader
in the Photography Department and a fully engaged member
of the RISD community for the 23 years he taught here.
top: photo courtesy of Betsy Ruppa
Painting and Sculpture featuring some
risd.edu/giftplanning
FOUNDATIONS
SUPPORT
RISD STUDENTS
A look at some of the many ways people invest in RISD
and support current and future generations of students.
FINDING
A CALLING
40
RISDXYZ
Although she has been faithfully
contributing to the RISD Annual Fund
for 30 years, Carol Goldenberg
Rosen 71 IL doesn’t think of herself as
a philanthropist. She just says that “it
feels right” to give back to a place
that has “played such a critical role
in shaping” her life.
George I. Alden Trust, the match
raised $100,000 for RISD’s general
endowed scholarship fund.
“These grants are a wonderful
tribute to RISD,” says Pamela
Harrington, director of Corporate
and Foundation Relations. “These
foundations truly appreciate the
unique attributes of a RISD
education and the artistic achievements of our alumni. They also
even the headbands and footbands
all take careful consideration, but
shouldn’t overshadow the work
itself. Goldenberg likes to paraphrase
British typographer Beatrice Warde,
who likens good book design to
a crystal goblet of wine. “You want
to enjoy the wine, not the container,”
she says. “You wouldn’t serve fine
wine in a heavy beer mug—you’d
serve it in a crystal goblet to show
off the contents.”
Now freelancing full-time,
Goldenberg lectures widely at museums and art schools on ”the invisible
art of book design.” She holds a silent
hope that each lesson might offer
a revelation to certain members of
the audience—that they will find
their own spark of passion, just as
she found hers, and will stay loyal
to it. —Dan Morrell
top & middle right: photos by John Supancic | middle left: photo by Erik Gould
“I was a RISD student before I was
a RISD student. The school was just
always there for me.”
salary—she began giving back to RISD. She made her first donation in 1978,
and has given to the Annual Fund every year since. “Honestly, it just never
occurred to me not to give back,” she says. “RISD played such a critical
role in shaping my life that supporting it feels right.” Goldenberg says she
doesn’t think of herself as a philanthropist, describing her Annual Fund
support as modest. But she views that support as a lifelong testament to
the importance of art education, and to RISD’s approach in particular.
“I think my life would have been much different if I hadn’t attended RISD,
and I want to make sure that opportunity is there for others.”
“Loyal donors like Carol allow the Annual Fund to really make an
impact here on campus,” notes Jim Wolken, director of the RISD
Annual Fund. “Carol has been doing her part for 30 years now, which
is just outstanding.”
For 30 years Goldenberg has also stayed loyal to children’s books, serving as an art director at both Houghton-Mifflin and its imprint Clarion
Books before going out on her own as Summit Street Design in Newton,
MA. She has designed five Caldecott Medal-winning books, including
Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg MFA 80 SC and Flotsam by David Weisner 78
IL (see also page 6). But the craft, she says, is a commonly misunderstood
art. “If you go to a party and tell people you’re a book designer, they’ll
say, ‘Oh, you mean the jacket,’” she says. “But there is more to a book
than a jacket.” Size, shape, typeface, binding, paper quality, illustrations,
understand the important role
art and design play in our culture
and in our economy.”
Harrington also points out the
benefits of a term scholarship from
the Target Foundation, as well as
two grants for graduates in the
crucial year following graduation:
one from The Toby Fund for unrestricted support and one from the
Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust
for travel abroad. The Gelman
Student Exhibitions Gallery in
the Chace Center was built with
funding from the Gelman Trust,
which also supports scholarships
for RISD graduate students in
Painting and Sculpture.
In all, foundations contributed
more than $1.2 million in support
of RISD students and academic
programs in fiscal year 2009–10.
At the annual RISD Scholarship Luncheon,
students have an opportunity to thank
the individuals and foundation representatives who help with financial aid. Donor
Kathleen Fischer [above center] enjoyed
talking with Peter Pa 11 FAV [to her left]
and Caleb Wood 11 FAV. The recipient
of this year’s Tiffany & Co. Foundation
scholarship, Toby Milgrim 10 JM, created
the necklace shown to the far left. Other
scholarship recipients at the luncheon
include Orissa Jenkins 12 IL, Alex Kalil
13 FAV, David Harris 13 ID and Emma
Altman 13 AP.
photo by Jim Rosen
For Carol Goldenberg Rosen 71 IL
her love of RISD seemed predestined. As a child, she took Saturday
morning classes at RISD, her
interest in art so strong that she
even brought a sketchpad when
having her tonsils out. At 12, she
began taking private art lessons
from RISD graduate students. As
a teenager, she and her friends
would head to RISD fashion shows
and never miss the sales. “I was a
RISD student before I was a RISD
student,” the Rhode Island native
says with a laugh. “The school was
just always there for me.”
Despite this early exposure,
Goldenberg says she felt unprepared as a freshman. “I was a
conventional student growing
up. Straight A’s. Did well on tests.
Terrific memory—all the things
that get you gold stars,” she
says. “But that wasn’t what RISD
was looking for.” Beginning with
Foundation Studies, RISD taught
her how to use her mind, her eyes
and her hands, she says. “RISD
taught me a new way of looking at
the world.”
A lifelong book lover,
Goldenberg gravitated towards
the book arts, and had an epiphany
during a visit to a traveling book
design show. As she pored over the
glass cases filled with books, there
was a spark. “Ah,” she thought. “So
this is where I belong.”
Soon after she launched her
book design career—earning what
she considered her first solid
RISD students are benefiting
from a strong fundraising year
in Corporate and Foundation
Relations, highlighted by three
endowed scholarships.
In July 2009 the Lenore G.
Tawney Foundation endowed a
$50,000 merit-based scholarship
for graduate students in Textiles.
The fund is named in honor
of Lenore Tawney (1907–2007),
an American fiber artist who pioneered the development of woven
sculpture as an art medium.
In June 2010 The Tiffany &
Co. Foundation added $150,000
to its endowed scholarship
fund, enabling RISD to award
two scholarships concurrently
to undergraduate or graduate
students majoring in Jewelry +
Metalsmithing. In addition, thanks
to the generosity of RISD’s
Board of Trustees in meeting a
$50,000 challenge grant from the
Solid Results
RISD raised more than $2.6 million in new
scholarship gifts and pledges during its
2009–10 fund drive, which ended on June
30. “President Maeda identified scholarships as RISD’s top priority this past year,
and RISD alumni, parents and friends rose
to the challenge, helping us exceed our
announced goal by more than $1 million,”
says Director of Leadership Giving Louise
Olson. In addition to the successes noted
above in Corporate and Foundation Relations, the Annual Fund raised $1 million
from 3,688 donors and nearly $500,000
came in through gift planning. “Despite a
less-than-robust economy, RISD enjoyed
a solid fundraising year,” says Olson. “That
says a lot about our alumni, parents and
friends, whose gifts help students realize
their full potential as creative leaders.”
For more on giving to RISD, go to risd.edu/give.
Fall 2010
41
underGraduate Class Notes
1947
Last summer Joyce Briner IL
(Elkins, NH) and her husband
Marty exhibited their intricately
carved and painted life-size birds
at Squam Lakes Natural Science
Center in Holderness, NH.
1949
614 2000s Graphic Design
alumni referenced
most referenced classes
most common major among alumni club leaders
Jonathan Kaplan
73 CR
Karen LaMonte
90 GL
Sylvia Montana
90 GD
Marlene Frontera
10 IL
Anika Azad
97 GD
Dolores Avendaño
93 IL
Sally Csavas
96 PH
Brooklyn
Kim Lee 28
1938
14
mollymook,
Australia
most popular stomping ground after graduation
2nd most common alumni
surname (237)
surname (228)
1970
earliest class reference
furthest location from RISD
most common alumni
1965
1953
Leo Irrera SC and Eva
(Amman) Irrera IL (Washington,
1954
Margaret Jackson
87 GL
1960
party/exhibit at Center of the
Earth Gallery last spring in
Charlotte, NC, where he lives.
DC) wrote to update RISD on
their news: “Leo has had commissions for statues from the city
churches and especially the
Navy Memorial. Eva retired from
being illustrator and graphic
designer for a college. She has
also created greeting cards and
children’s film strips. To see the
work go to irrerastudioarts.com.”
Jerry Williams
65 PT
Ed Baranosky
69 PT
James Clark PT had a birthday
1975
1985
David was named one of Maine’s
60 most collectible artists in
Maine Home + Design magazine,
which featured his 2009
painting Untitled (pink) (oil,
24 x 24") in its April issue. His
drawings and paintings were
recently featured in a solo show
at Husson University in Bangor,
ME and at Mulford Collectors
Gallery in Rockland, ME.
for the Cape Cod National
Seashore Park, particularly signs
identifying flora thanks to
Ms. [Edna] Lawrence’s Nature
Drawing classes. My goal was to
make my living as an artist and
I have done that thanks to RISD.”
1955
Mary Melikian Haynes PT
(NYC) was awarded the gold
medal for her pastel in the round
entitled A Cloud Witnesses
in the 111th Annual Exhibiting
Artists Members’ Show at the
National Arts Club in New York.
The exhibition was in March;
Mary had begun the work
following the earthquake that
hit Haiti in January.
Jerry Williams 65 PT
Jerry (Uddevalla, Sweden) and Karen Aqua 76 IL (Cambridge, MA)
worked with Swedish animator Olov Burman to co-curate Animated
Art, a show on view through November 21 at the Trollhättan Konsthall
in Trollhättan, Sweden.
# of RISD clubs abroad
# of RISD clubs in the US
1980
Jim Owens IL sent in this note:
“After RISD I did commercial
art work in Manhattan for eight
years. Tiring of that life I got my
teaching credentials at NYU and
took a job in my hometown on
Cape Cod where I taught art for
26 years. I do pen and ink work,
mostly houses, design logos
sometimes, do a lot of calligraphy
and occasionally teach it, some
cartooning, taught and exhibited
photography, scrimshaw,
watercolor and now have three
coloring books on the market.
Over the years I have done work
David Estey 65 PT
1990
1995
2000
2005
RISDXYZ
1957
Women’s Work/Lives/Art,
a solo show of work by Elisa
(Tufenkjian) Khachian AE,
was featured earlier this fall at
ArtPlace Gallery in Fairfield, CT,
where she lives.
1958
Merle Temkin TX (NYC) is
the recipient of a 2010 PollockKrasner Foundation Award.
1959
Last summer Robert Cronin PT
exhibited small paintings at the
David M. Hunt Library in his
hometown of Falls Village, CT. He
also had an early fall exhibition
of new paintings at Cornwall
[CT] Library.
Chris Gorman GD (Larchmont,
NY) and the design and production team at Chris Gorman
Associates created the 2009
annual report for Lutheran
HealthCare, a network of health
and community services based
in Brooklyn. The report focused
on the theme of growth, while also
illustrating the diversity of LHC’s
patient population and services.
relative attendance at 2010 reunions
42
Sherrill (Edwards) Hunnibell 64 AE
To submit updates for class notes, email [email protected].
Cloud Anatomy/Thunder Wing (2010, mixed media on paper, 4x4")
was among the pieces on view in New Mixed Media Paintings &
Altered Books, a solo show held last spring at Mulford Collectors
Gallery in Rockland, ME. Sherrill lives in Rehoboth, MA.
Esterruth (Feldman)
Wilmot Winslow IL (Lowell,
Rumpler TX/BArch 84 sent in
MA) curated Children’s Book
Illustration, an exhibition that
ran at The Brush Art Gallery &
Studios in Lowell, MA in
September and October. The
show included work by David
Macaulay BArch 69, Chris
Van Allsburg MFA 75 SC, David
Wiesner 78 PT, Christopher
Bing 83 IL, Kelley Murphy 99 IL
and Matt Tavares.
this update: “In 2009 I was lucky
enough to be at RISD for both
my 50th and 25th reunions and
it was great fun to see so many
young/old friends. I continue
to use my RISD education every
week…at Barrington Kitchen
and Design, where I have been
for over 10 years. I love my work
because no two jobs are alike
and I get challenged by the tastes,
needs and pocketbooks of all
kinds of people. My husband
Lenny and I have five granddaughters and as he is a prizewinning photographer we have
great shots of all of them.”
1960
Judith (Pashall) Edwards AP
lives in Westfield, MA with her
husband Ron. The couple’s
website, ronandjudyedwards
.com, showcases Judith’s
paintings and Ron’s sculpture.
1961
50th reunion
October 7–9, 2011
Work by Gretchen Dow
Simpson PT* (Providence)
is included in The Abstract
in Realism, an exhibition at
the Newport [RI] Art Museum
through January 2, 2011.
Mort Libby GD (Cincinnati, OH)
retired in June from LPK, the
international branding design
firm he founded in 1983.
Fall 2010
43
Stuart Murphy 64 IL
Robert Carsten 73 SC
MATH = FUN! Selected Artists from Stuart J. Murphy’s MathStart
Series is on view through December 29 at Gallery Della-Piana, the
Based in Springfield, VT, Robert serves on the Board of Governors
of the Pastel Society of America and is a contributing writer to
The Artist’s Magazine and The Pastel Journal. His pastel, Recycled
Light, was shown earlier this fall at the D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts
in Springfield, MA. “The beauty of my RISD education is that it
replaced the likelihood of mere repetition with a far broader concept:
recycling,” he writes. “I find that other ideas and concepts, whether
from distant times and cultures or present time and company,
become precious resources for creating new applications and
elegant solutions.”
fine art and illustration venue run by Elissa Della-Piana 64 IL
in Wenham, MA. The exhibition features illustrations by 15 artists
(including Renee Andriani 85 IL) who have contributed to Stuart’s
well-regarded books aimed at teaching math skills. In July Charlesbridge Publishing launched his new series of 16 children’s books for
the pre-kindergarten crowd. Also based on
visual learning strategies, the I SEE I LEARN
series (stuartjmurphy.com/iseeilearn)
addresses social, emotional, health and
safety, and cognitive skills for young learners.
(Brooklyn, NY) is showing Seeing
The Blues, a series of large-scale
paintings celebrating blues music,
through mid November at Hayti
Heritage Center in Durham, NC.
1962
Painting the Navy, a show of
paintings by Wilma Parker
de Pavloff PT (San Francisco),
was on view in August at the
Naval War College Museum in
Newport, RI.
Helen Webber AE (Exton, PA)
created The Four Seasons of
Motherhood, an extended 8-page
Mother’s Day e-card, with
Dovetail Publications.
1965
In May Art Place Gallery in Fairfield, CT hosted Face Book: 2010,
an exhibition by Dave Pressler
ID (Shelton, CT). Dave also gave
a lecture with the show.
45th reunion
October 7– 9, 2011
In August Karen Moss PT
(Brookline, MA) showed her
installation The Commuter
in the window of Montserrat
College of Art’s Frame 301
Gallery in Beverly, MA.
1967
Geo Lloyd PT* (Portland, ME)
exhibited at GMS Gallery in
York, ME in the summer show
Who’s Counting: An Exhibition
Celebrating 15 years of Art,
Artists and Patrons at the George
Marshall Store Gallery.
(Berkeley, CA) had a solo show
titled Small Worlds… & Large at
Mercury 20 Gallery in Oakland,
CA in August.
In Portrait of an Artist, a spring solo show at the Canton [CT] Artists
Guild’s Gallery, Diane (Torrington, CT) exhibited works spanning
the past 40 years, including a recent group of mixed-media wall
assemblages like the one shown here.
RISDXYZ
Andrew Stevovich
70 PT
Donuts (2009, oil on linen, 19x
24") is among the evocative and
exquisitely executed paintings
in Alternate Universe, an October
solo show at Adelson Galleries
on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Andrew is represented
by Adelson and creates his
eminently contemporary, Renaissance-inspired paintings out
of his studio Northborough, MA.
Mary Curtis Ratcliff AE
Diane Wright 69 IL
44
Apparel designer Nicole Miller
AP recently met with RISD juniors
and grad students in Textiles
at her Manhattan showroom.
The visit was part of the students’
tour of NYC design studios,
showrooms and galleries in
their quest to learn about
different aspects of the textiles
and apparel industries.
1966
Amalie Rothschild GD
(NYC/Florence, Italy) wrote:
“I am happy to report a number
of interesting things happening
with my rock music photographs.
First, a selection of 28 pictures
appears in the Abrams book
Grateful Dead 365 by Holly GeorgeWarren (2008). Since 2009 Hal
Leonard Music Publishers has
used a number of my images
of Duane Allman…. I continue
to be with the Monroe Gallery
of Photography in Santa Fe and
was featured in a group show,
The Art of Sound, in February.
Last year I changed New York
galleries and am now represented
by Bonni Benrubi, where I’ve
been in several group shows.
Earlier this year I had a selection
of pictures in the Six Decades
of Rock’n’Roll exhibition
at Amerika Haus in Munich,
Germany, which is slated to
travel to other European cities
later this year and next year.”
1969
Painter of Small Objects, a new
poem by Ed Baranosky PT
(Toronto, Canada), was
published in the June 2010
issue of Lynx Magazine. He
runs a publishing business
out of his home, where he also
paints and restores artwork.
Pamela (Becker) Stoessell
TX wrote in to tell us that she’s
a “full-time professor within
the fashion design and merchandising programs at Marymount
University, Arlington, VA. I teach
courses in fashion industry and
its promotion, fashion show
production, textiles, textile design,
and visual merchandising.”
Howard Newman BID 69
Working from images of the 19th-century original, Howard and his
wife Mary reproduced a bronze horse trough that’s now installed at
the foot of Washington Square in Newport, RI, where they live. The
838-lb. replica is part of an ongoing restoration of the historic square.
Jane Hickey Caminos IL
(Watchung, NJ) presented a solo
exhibition of recent oil paintings
at the Wellfleet, MA library
in August. Titled Sentimental
Journey, the show featured
a series of narrative portraits
of the lives of women.
Jack Dickerson 69 GD
Jack (Brewster, MA) sent in
a photo of his latest painting,
Rowboat Waiting. As Jack
explains, he had meant to
start painting the John Deere
machines digging in his
back yard, but the rowboat
picture is what he ended up
with instead.
1970
1971
Graphic Intervention: 25 Years
of International AIDS Awareness
Posters 1985-2010 is the most
recent curatorial endeavor of
40th reunion
October 7– 9, 2011
Elizabeth Resnick GD/MFA
96 (Chestnut Hill, MA). She
worked with co-curator Javier
Cortes on the show, which is on
view this fall in the Stephen B.
Paine Gallery at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in
Boston. Elizabeth is a professor
and chair of the college’s Graphic
Design department.
Kate Frank Cohen
69 PH
Last spring Kate showed
photographs in two juried
exhibitions in Columbia County,
NY. A resident of Spencertown,
NY, she was also profiled
in an article in Berkshire Living,
a regional magazine.
Patrick Linehan 75 PH
bottom, far right: photo by John Bartelstone
1963
35th reunion
October 7–9, 2011
Last spring Carol Heft PT had
an exhibition entitled Transformation: bits and pieces at Blue
Mountain Gallery in NYC, where
she lives.
Stephen Talasnik PT (NYC)
Spencer Lawrence IL*
Richard Levine AR* (Lexington, KY), an architect and
professor at the University of
Kentucky, has earned the Passive
Solar Pioneer Award from the
American Solar Energy Society
for his achievements in solar
architecture and sustainability.
1976
Patrick’s recent photographs
were included in Searching for
Sanctuary, a group exhibition held
in the summer and early fall at
The Mary-Frances and Bill Veeck
Gallery in Chicago. He lives in
nearby Evanston, IL.
1973
Howard Gladstone FAV (NYC)
enjoyed a month-long painting
residency at Vytlacil in Sparkill,
NY in April; he presented his
work in their residents’ open
studio show Transcendence
and Tradition at the conclusion
of the residency.
1975
Dennis Congdon PT, professor
and head of RISD’s Painting
Department, and Toots Zynsky
73 GL/SC, a RISD trustee and
member of the RISD Museum
Board of Governors, exhibited
together last spring at Providence’s Lenore Gray Gallery in
a show titled Dennis Congdon +
Toots Zynsky 2.
Last spring Roni Horn SC (NYC)
had her first solo exhibition
devoted solely to drawings. The
show at Hauser & Wirth New
York included six new largescale works that were shown for
the first time.
Last May Kirk Magnus CR,
a professor of art and head of
the Ceramics department at Kent
[OH] University, exhibited his
Story Bowls at the Clay Place in
Carnegie, PA.
Mark Rabinowitz SC
(Alexandria, VA) was awarded
an American Academy in Rome
Prize for 2010-2011 in the
category of Historic Preservation
and Conservation.
Last summer Rory Marcaccio
showed the site-specific piece
Stream: a folded drawing last
spring at Storm King Art Center
in Mountainville, NY.
Joan Waltemath PT joined
the Maryland Institute College
of Art in August as director of the
Hoffberger School of Painting.
She notes that the MFA program
at MICA is noted for producing
generations of painters who
have had an impact on the world,
and she is excited to be working
with them.
Schaffer AE/MAE 79 (Vienna, VA)
John Whalley IL (Damaris-
served as an adjunct professor
of sculpture for Virginia Commonwealth University, Graduate
Department of the School of Fine
Arts. Her work was featured in
the Recent Works 10th Anniversary Show held in October at the
Fairfax Railroad Museum.
cotta, ME) showed paintings
at Greenhut Galleries in
Portland, ME in August.
Ellen (Schwartz) Wexler 71 AE
Allan Wexler BArch 72
This 60’-long granite tile structure cantilevers over the ticket
booths and train platform entrances at the LIRR Atlantic Terminal
in Brooklyn and has already won a 2010 Building Brooklyn Award.
Commissioned by the MTA, Ellen and Allan (allanwexlerstudio.com)
created Overlook to provide travelers with a place to pause and take
in the bustling activity in the atrium below. “It reminds us of the
scenic off-road viewing stations in National Parks that our parents
used to pull into on long summer car trips,” they say, adding that the
overlook offers “a much-needed break in our everyday journeys.”
Earlier this fall Henry Isaacs PT
(Sharon, VT) exhibited in Three
Colorists at Gleason Fine Art in
Boothbay Harbor, ME.
Jonathan Kaplan CR is the
curator at Plinth Gallery in Denver,
the only venue exclusively for
fine contemporary ceramics in
the area. The gallery showcases
a new artist at First Friday
openings each month and has
received a Denver Mayor’s Design
Award. Jonathan also continues
to exhibit his work nationally;
his series Nouveau Moche-Ware
was included in the 3rd Biennial
Concordia Continental Ceramics
Competition.
To submit updates for class notes, email [email protected].
fall 2010
45
Karen Hackenberg 78 PT
Talking Rain (2009, gouache on paper, 5.5x7"), one of Karen’s recent
works focused on water and the environment, was included in Shape
of Water, a regional juried show at the new Northwest Maritime
Center in Port Townsend, WA, where she lives.
1979
Ana Flores PT (Wood River
Junction, RI) participated in
spring open studios at I-Park
Foundations, where she is
an artist-in-residence.
Acrylic Innovation (September
2010), a new book by Nancy
Reyner IL (Santa Fe), is an
artist’s resource for ideas, styles
and techniques, and includes
paintings and process tips
from 64 painters. Her first book,
Acrylic Revolution, continues
to be a bestseller.
left: As a vice president at RTKL
Associates in Chicago, Keith is
currently designing mixed-use
projects in Shanghai, Kunming,
Chengdu (all in China) and
Mumbai. Closer to home, he and
his wife Mary renovated the
Northern Michigan lake house
shown here and featured in Dwell
(February 2010) and Traverse
Magazine (June/July 2010).
1978
1977
In July Deborah Gavel IL
(Albuquerque, NM) had a solo
show titled ROTA FORTUNAE
(Wheel of Fortune) at 5Gallery
in Albuquerque, NM.
Jay Litman BArch (Barrington, RI)
is a senior planning consultant
and architect for Fielding Nair
International and principal
of Litman Architecture, a multidisciplinary practice focused on
institutional, historic, commercial
and residential projects and
urban planning. Jay and his
wife Jill (Levine) Litman 79 IL
have two sons, Adam and Isaac
Litman 12 IL.
Alex O’Neal 79 IL
Chapelle des Penitents Noirs,
a solo show of Alex’s paintings,
was featured in Aubagne, France
as part of the summer Festival
d’Art Singulier. More images of
the Brooklyn-based artist’s work
are online at alexoneal.com.
46
RISDXYZ
Barbara Maslen IL creates
hand-painted murals for
residential and commercial
installation at her studio in
Sag Harbor, NY.
Robynn Smith PT (Aptos, CA)
had a solo show titled
MontereyNOW: Robynn Smith
from July to October at the
Monterey [CA] Museum of Art.
The exhibition was one in a
series showcasing local artists
who have made significant
contributions to the visual arts.
Last summer Valerie Hird PT
(Burlington, VT) showed
The Maiden Voyages Project:
An Exhibition of Visual Blogs at
Nohra Haime Gallery in NYC.
Etienne Perret SC/JM
(Camden, ME) participated in
the Maine Boats, Homes &
Harbors Show, an event held in
August in Rockland, ME.
The Sound of It, a show of ceramic
work by Arlene Shechet CR,
was on view earlier this fall
at Jack Shainman Gallery in NYC,
where she lives.
David Wiesner IL (see page 6)
In September T Barny SC
(Healdsburg, CA) had a solo
show titled Join Me in Santa Fe at
Hunter Kirkland Contemporary
Gallery in Santa Fe.
It’s Not What You Thought, Karen’s MFA thesis exhibition at Vermont Studio Center/Johnson State College,
was shown in April at the college’s Julian Scott Memorial Gallery. She also has a solo show in November
at Alexey von Schlippe Gallery at the University of Connecticut in Groton. Karen’s daughter Danica
Mitchell 14 just started the RISD/Brown dual degree program this fall and her older daughter, Ariel,
earned her BFA from MICA and a post-bac certificate from SMFA, Boston.
Susan (Kramer)
George 76 PT
Laurie Karp 76 SC
Susan’s Ocean Sky paintings are
on view through November 21
at Harris Gallery in Houston,
where she lives; she has also
shown recently in Chicago, Vero
Beach, FL and London. For the
past 10 years, Susan has worked
to provide a fresh look at the
meeting point between the
ocean and the sky. One of her
paintings can be seen in the
2009 movie Duplicity.
Steven Rosen IL (Brooklyn,
NY) wrote to RISD: “Never let
it be said that I don’t lead an
interesting life. I spent Friday
at the Dances of Vice Tango
Diablo party shooting portraits
of tango dancers (and folks who
like to dress like tango dancers).
Saturday was spent in Coney
Island frolicking with the mermaids at the annual Mermaid
Parade. Sunday was spent at
the Folsom Street East Festival,
taking portraits of gay men in
leather, rubber, and latex. Only
in New York, and that’s why
I love it here.”
Linda Fraser SC wrote to share
the news that after living in
Toronto for six years, she has
moved back to Melbourne,
Australia to continue her work
in sandcast glass sculpture
and other media.
William Jacobs BArch/MID
(Washington, DC) has been
appointed director of exhibitions
at the Library of Congress
following a 28-year career as
an exhibition designer for the
Smithsonian Institution.
Bonnie Katzman GD writes
to tell us her company BK Design
recently won the International
Special Events Society (ISES)
Esprit Award for Best Marketing/
Graphic Design under $25,000.
The award was for a project she
did in St. Tropez.
1981
30th reunion
October 7– 9, 2011
Last spring Daniel Ludwig SC
(Newport, RI) exhibited
Paradigms Lost at NYC’s Allan
Stone Gallery.
Preston Scott Cohen BArch
(Cambridge, MA) was noted
in Paul Goldberger’s New Yorker
review of the new Goldman
Sachs building in NYC. Preston
completed some of the interior
rooms of “serious consequence.”
Laura Honse PH owns the
Gallery Atomic Salon in
Hamburg, Germany, where she
recently exhibited her analog
color photography in a show
titled Glory and Shame.
Geoffrey Warner 77 PH*
Geoffrey’s Owl Stool, offered at
the recent Providence Fine
Furnishings Show, is one example
of his ongoing quest to create
affordable furniture that
emphasizes the natural beauty
of wood and exhibits fine craftsmanship. He sells the stool in
cherry or walnut with ash legs
(and in kit or finished form) out
of his studio in Stonington, ME.
Christopher Kirwan AR (NYC)
has been working with the Reignwood Group in Beijing this year
and enjoying his travels.
Laurie’s installation Water and Ways 1 (glazed earthenware, 100x
57x18") is included in Circuits Céramiques—La Scène française
contemporaine, a group show that continues through January 12, 2011
at Musée de Sèvres in France. Musée La Piscine in Roubaix, where
she had a solo show several years ago, recently bought one of her
earthenware installations based on 18th-century brocade from their
collection. Laurie is based in Paris.
David Mazzucchelli PT (see
page 10)
Deborah Ravin IL (Phoenix, AZ)
participated in Grand Canyon’s
Green Heart: The Unsung
Legacy of Plants, a group show
of botanical illustration at Kolb
Studio, situated on the South
Rim of the Grand Canyon. The
show ran last summer and will
be on view again from December
through February 2011. Deb’s
illustration Imperata brevifolia
(Satintail Grass) is done in pen
and ink on Bristol paper.
had a solo show in September
at the Munson-Williams-Proctor
Arts Institute Museum of Art
in Utica, NY.
The recipient of a 2009-10 A.I.R.
Gallery Fellowship, Annette
Rusin BArch (Brooklyn, NY)
showed Road Work, a site-specific
installation and drawings at the
Brooklyn gallery earlier this fall.
A series of 20 of her drawings
was also on view in the 2009
International Incheon [Korea]
Women Artists’ Biennale.
Jamie Hogan 80 IL
Stuart Karten 78 ID
In Ice Harbor Mittens (Down East
Publishing, October 2010),
Jamie’s colorful pastels accompany text by Robin Hansen.
She also illustrated Nest, Nook &
Cranny (Charlesbridge, 2010),
a book of poems by Susan
Blackaby about animal habitats.
Jamie showed in the spring
exhibition Looking Out, Looking
In: Portraits by Twenty-Five
Women Artists at Kingsborough
Community College in Brooklyn,
along with classmate Madeline
(Sorel) Kahn 80 IL (Brooklyn).
She has been teaching illustration at Maine College of Art
since 2003 and writes a column
called Art Roamings for the
Island Times.
A hearing aid designed by SKD,
the product design company
where Stuart is principal,
was selected for the current
National Design Triennial:
Why Design Now? The
exhibition is open through
January 2011 at the
Cooper-Hewitt, National
Design Museum in
New York. SKD also won
Silver IDEA Awards last
spring for two hearing
aids—the S Series
with Touch Control
and Zon.
Ann Reichlin CR (Ithaca, NY)
Katherine Kean 78 FAV
left: Atmospheric, Katherine’s
latest series of paintings, is on
view from November 2–27 at
TAG Gallery in Santa Monica, CA,
near where she lives in Tujunga.
Inspired by her travels, she
blends realism with an otherworldly viewpoint in depicting
natural wind, storm and
volcanic forces.
1983
1982
top left: photo by Brian Coon © 2010
Keith Campbell 78 AR
1980
Karen Rand Anderson 77 CR
To submit updates for class notes, email [email protected].
Beauty and the Beef, a show
of new work by Judith
Schaechter GL (Philadelphia),
was on view last spring at
Claire Oliver Gallery in NYC.
Tom Sienewiez BArch (see
page 11)
Andy Ziegler ID (River Vale,
NJ) developed the world’s first
Braille remote control for
a household consumer product.
His company has produced over
two million of the Magnalik
Braille remote control units for
a new Haier Energy Star line
of air conditioners.
fall 2010
47
1984
In September Claudia Flynn SC
(Wakefield, RI) had a solo exhibition entitled Reclamation at Hera
Gallery in South Kingstown, RI.
Robin McAvenia Kramer IL
(Manchester by the Sea, MA)
recently won the 2010 Innovation
in Design Award (in the Landscape category) sponsored by
Connecticut Cottages & Gardens.
Robin and her husband Dan
(a Brown graduate) have two
children in college, Jason at
Hamilton College and Madison
at Cornell.
Anne Elliott (Williams)
Merica BArch has been busy
launching Integrated Framing,
a new green building technology
that uses the empty channels
inside window framing systems
to collect and distribute power
and data in a more user-friendly
location—at the windows. Based
in Arlington, VA, she has already
1988
received a patent in China for
the new system and has patents
pending in the US, Canada and
the EU. Thanks to a Clean Tech
Grant from Autodesk, Anne was
able to acquire all the software
needed to do rapid virtual
prototyping for the system,
along with cost estimates and
energy analysis. Find out more
at integratedframing.com.
White 64 IL took part in last
spring’s Open Studios-Central
in Cambridge, MA.
Allison Massari IL (Tiburon, CA)
1985
Linda Zelenko 83 ID
Elizabeth Poulin Alvarez IL
York Street Studio, the interior
design and home furnishings
studio operated by Linda
(Washington Depot, CT) and
her husband Stephen Piscuskas,
was featured on the cover
of Elle Décor (June 2010). The
accompanying article discussed
the company, their home and
their family.
wrote to RISD: “My family and
I are moving to Auckland, New
Zealand in June so I regret that
I cannot attend my 25th RISD
reunion in October. I’ll be
completing an MFA in painting
at the University of Auckland.”
Mary Jane Begin IL wrote an
article for the Spring/Summer
2010 issue of Art Buyer Magazine
about transforming illustrated
characters from print to
animation.
1987
A solo show by Trine
Giaever IL (Piermont, NY)
was on view in April at the
city hall in Oslo, Norway. She
also showed recently at SIP
and Pisticci, both in NYC.
Allison Druin GD (Chevy Chase,
MD) was named associate
dean for research in the College
of Information Studies at the
University of Maryland. She will
apply her experience directing
the Human-Computer Interaction
Lab as she works on developing
college-wide partnerships with
industry, government agencies
and nonprofits. She also plans
to continue her research pursuits
in designing new technologies
for children.
In May architect Michael
Maltzan BARch (Pasadena, CA)
Jack Mathews BID 86
As an independent industrial
designer and commercial
sculptor based in Barrington, RI,
Jack has been under contract
with DC Direct, the retail division
of DC Comics, for the past seven
years. He creates limited-edition
sculptural products based on
DC’s extensive cast of licensed
characters, including Batman,
Superman, Wonder Woman and
Green Lantern. His sculpture
Superman vs Mohammad Ali was
featured recently in the LA Times
entertainment section.
48
RISDXYZ
received an honorary Doctor of
Engineering Technology degree
and delivered the Commencement address at Boston’s Wentworth Institute of Technology.
Newsweek (8.2.10) invited
him and two other leading LA
architects to envision the
future of work in the sprawling
metropolis best known for its
tangle of freeways and snarled
traffic. “Maltzan’s firm believes
the traditional office spaces
scattered throughout the city
will be replaced by all-purpose
buildings, where people move
between floors from their
apartments to offices to outdoor
recreation spaces,” the article
notes. See more at: www.
newsweek.com/feature/2010/
future-of-work.
are the proud parents of two
daughters, Claudia and Olivia.
Samantha is designing and
making belts and jewelry.
Wendy Gonick GD and Pat
Margaret Jackson GL
published Moche Art and Visual
Culture in Ancient Peru in 2008
(University of Mexico Press).
Stephen Burt 87 IL
Stephen’s work was included in the 2010 National Juried Exhibition at The ACCI Gallery in Berkeley, CA.
He also had two shows in Maine over the summer—a group exhibition at The Leighton Gallery in Blue Hill
and a solo show at Edward T. Pollack Fine Arts in Portland, where he lives.
Carol (Ware) Mojarrab AR
lives in Santa Fe with her
husband Vahid and their
children Xander and Leilah.
master metalsmith John Prip,
along with pieces by Didi, Peter
Prip , Janet Prip 74 SC and
Robin Quigley MFA 76 SC.
Jackie Saccoccio PT
Last spring Jeff Waring PT
(Middletown, PA) had a solo
exhibition at Highwire Gallery
in Philadelphia.
(West Cornwall, CT) exhibited
a “monumental installation”
at Eleven Rivington in NYC
last spring.
Last March Michael Scaramozzino IL (Wilmington, MA)
published a new book, Creating
a 3D Animated CGI Short: The
Making of The Autiton Archives
Fault Effect—Pilot Webisode
(Jones & Bartlett Publishers).
In May Didi Suydam JM/ID
opened a new gallery space for
Didi Suydam Contemporary, her
jewelry and sculpture business,
in Newport, RI. The gallery
is currently showcasing work
by the late RISD professor and
1986
25th reunion
October 7– 9, 2011
Michael Blier LA (Salem,
MA) is the principal at
landworks>studio in Boston.
The studio was awarded a 2010
American Society of Landscape
Architects Honor Award in the
category of General Design
for the project Theatre Retreat.
Two pieces by Daniel Clayman
GL (East Providence, RI) have
been acquired by museums in
In July Lisa Palombo IL
(Caldwell, NJ) was featured on
Whopple: Interviews with Artists
on whopple.com.
was one of 10 people selected for
inclusion in ReSolve, an international documentary film that
shares solutions for helping people
cope with post-traumatic stress.
Allison was excited to share her
perspective from the art world.
AFTER HOURS, a summer solo
show of work by Lucas Michael
ID (Los Angeles), was featured
at the Silverman Gallery in
San Francisco.
A children’s editorial illustration
by Sarah (Hand) Wisbey IL
(Rochester, NY) was accepted
for the spring publication of 3x3
Illustration Annual No. 7.
Banners, a solo show of work
by Karen Gelardi PT (South
Portland, ME), was featured
earlier this fall at Perimeter
Gallery in Belfast, ME. She is also
involved in The Group Formerly
Known as Smockshop, an artistrun enterprise that generates
income for artists whose work
is either non-commercial or not
yet self-sustaining.
David Collins 88 PT
Earlier this fall Kristen Gossler
David (NYC) had a solo exhibition last spring called In Bound at
Kenise Barnes Fine Art in Larchmont, NY.
PT (East Providence, RI)
exhibited in Quixotic at Hutson
Gallery in Provincetown, MA.
After years of working in a
high-pressure job in the fashion
1989
Samantha Grisdale PR (Los
Angeles) writes to tell us that she
and husband John Biggs 89 PR
industry, Rebecca Harkins AP
has started her own children’s
clothing company, Chirp &
Bloom. She is thrilled that she
can now work from her home
in Dallas and spend time with
her family while still doing what
Allison (Kluger) Rae 87 ID
Last year Allison launched Pulse Anatomy and Pulse R&D in Bucks
County, PA to support the development of medical devices. She
makes custom soft tissue anatomical models for research and
development, sales demonstrations and professional education,
and also provides industrial design, engineering, prototyping and
manufacturing services. Allison notes that creating organ and
tissue replicas requires a great blend of RISD problem-solving skills,
knowledge of biology and art/model-making expertise.
the past year: Object 4 was added
to the permanent collection of the
Palm Springs [CA] Museum of Art
and Pierced Volume was acquired
by the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, TN.
Diane Gorman-Sorg PT
(Stuttgart, Germany) works as an
art teacher and color consultant
in her husband’s architecture
office, Sorg und Frosch Planungs
Gmbh, and continues to paint
for herself.
she loves. She opened her Etsy
shop (under the name Chirp &
Bloom) last January.
So Yoon Lym PT (Edgewater,
NJ) had an exhibition entitled
The Dreamtime: Hair and Braid
Pattern Paintings at the Paterson
[NJ] Museum earlier this fall.
Leslie Rogers PT (NYC) was
interviewed by David Coggins
for the Huffington Post in July in
connection with his summer
show at Haunch of Venison, NYC.
Last spring Lisa Stefanelli IL
(NYC) exhibited sassyfras
paintings at NYC’s Heskin
Contemporary.
In January Stephanie Yoffee
GD (Rockville, MD) gave a
presentation on “How Museum
Internships Shape Careers”
to a group of college and postgraduate interns at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
She was an intern at the
museum in 1986 in the office
of exhibition design.
1990
Lisa Albin BArch (Brooklyn, NY)
and her company Iglooplay
exhibited at the spring
International Contemporary
Furniture Fair in NYC.
Eric Meier IL and his wife
Martha (West Warwick, RI)
aren’t sleeping much since their
second child, Chloe Elena, was
born on August 8, 2010. See more
at themeiers.blogspot.com.
Susan Pogany 81 IL
Last spring Hanna von Goeler
IL (Montclair, NJ) had a solo
show at the Hunter College/
Times Square Gallery in NYC.
In the past year Susan has
exhibited work in group shows
at Gallery 225 in Manhattan and
Grace Gallery at CUNY/NYCCT
in Brooklyn, where she lives.
To submit updates for class notes, email [email protected].
Sohyun Bae PT/SC participated
in the summer group show
Selections 2010 at Skoto Gallery
in NYC, where she lives.
Kimberly Becker TX wrote
to RISD: “I have been making art
of one form or another for about
twenty years. For many years
I was an upholstery designer in
NYC, working for manufacturers
and domestic cotton mills. After
my two children were born,
I ‘retired’ from the industry and
started making my own art.
I have explored painted art quilts,
porcelain, baskets, and painting.
I am now living in the Boston
area and painting daily.”
In conjunction with last
summer’s SOFA West show,
Karen LaMonte GL (Prague,
Czech Republic) spoke to the
Friends of Contemporary Art at
the New Mexico Museum of Art
in Santa Fe. After working
exclusively in glass, she recently
created a major body of work in
ceramic, which she says “was a
thrilling eye opener!” Karen now
hopes to continue her work with
large-scale ceramic pieces.
fall 2010
49
1991
20th reunion
October 7– 9, 2011
Eve Alyson PH (Seattle) is
the creative director for WonderChess, a fabulous game that
teaches children as young four
to play chess. She designed the
packaging for the company’s
games, which include WonderChess, WonderCheckers,
WonderGo and WonderLetters,
an innovative game that
teaches spelling.
Rebecca Chamberlain AP
(Brooklyn, NY) took part in
InContext Tours, an artists’ studio
walking tour in the Graham Area
of Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
Greg Foley AP (NYC) wrote to
update RISD on his good news:
“In addition to my work on
Visionaire/V Magazine/VMAN,
I’ve just released my fifth
children’s book, Willoughby &
the Moon (HarperCollins 2010).
And in November Viking will
release I Miss You Mouse (the
newest in the Thank You Bear
book series—winner of the 2008
Charlotte Zolotow award).”
project, which was screened as
the closing film at the Tribeca
Film Festival on April 30. Ryland
was also editor for Art Through
Time: A Global View, a 13-part
series produced by Annenberg
Media and available online
at learner.org/courses/globalart/.
The series examines themes
connecting works of art created
around the world in different
eras; it aired nationally on
PBS in September and includes
a photograph of the Pantheon
Nelson took during his RISD
EHP year.
Rebecca Hannon JM (Halifax,
Nova Scotia) recently began
a position as assistant professor
in Foundations at Nova Scotia
College of Art & Design. She had
a solo exhibition called Black
and White and Red all Over at
Ornamentum Gallery in Hudson,
NY, last summer.
Robin Pfahning IL and her
husband Ramunas Balcetis
welcomed their son Lukas in
February. Robin lives in Rhode
Island and teaches Argentine
tango at the Providence
Tango studio.
Melissa Prest PT (San
Francisco) has a new website
(melprest.com) and was part
of last spring’s STOP & GO
Tour—a tour of Europe by
visual artists and filmmakers
of stop-motion works.
Last summer Michael Rich IL
(Providence) exhibited new
mixed media pieces in the solo
show Intimate Landscapes
at Patricia Ladd Carega Gallery
in Center Sandwich, NH. He
has exhibited there for the past
seven years.
Michael Riley GD (Los
Angeles) and his company Shine
received an Emmy nomination
for Outstanding Main Title
Design for the HBO Films production Temple Grandin.
Nakhee Sung 94 PT
left: Between You and Me, her
solo show of paintings, was on
view in September at Doosan
Gallery in NYC. Nakhee lives
in Seoul, Korea.
Mark Callahan PR (Athens,
GA) and his wife Ashley
welcomed their second son,
Arrow Ruskin Callahan, on
June 29, 2010. Arrow’s older
brother is named Copper.
Lisa Catalone GD (Bethesda,
MD) sent RISD samples of her
studio’s latest stamp designs
for the USPS—a series of four
After Yuan Hongdao (the waters have a secret method for flowing
beyond this world) (2010, ink on paper, six sheets, approx. 36x120")
is featured in the solo show The Talk That Walked (thetalkthat
walked.com), which runs from November 4 – December 19 at the
Main Library in downtown Miami. In the past year, Franklin has
written for The New Criterion, the Boston Weekly Dig, Big Red &
Shiny and two exhibition catalogues. His art has also been featured
in group shows in NYC, Miami Beach and Charlottesville, VA. (See
also page 64.)
Donald Robinson GD
(Peekskill, NY) wrote to RISD:
“Just wanted to reach out to the
RISD community and announce
the launch of GreenVybe.com.
GreenVybe LLC is an interactive
social network website for
sharing knowledge related
specifically to the environment
and natural health, thereby
promoting positive change for
both people and planet.”
David Stark PT (see pages
20–25)
Eulho Suh BArch (see pages
1992
Richard Dubrow BArch
(Tenafly, NJ) and his studio,
studio amd, won their second
Hugh Feriss Memorial Prize in
2010. The prize is the highest
award conferred by the American
Society of Architectural
Illustration for work in the field
of architectural illustration.
Sadie Jernigan Valeri
93 IL
Sadie earned the top prize for
still life in Art Renewal Center’s
2010 International Salon
competition for her painting
Bottle Collection (oil on panel,
18x24").
RISDXYZ
1993
Franklin Einspruch 90 IL
26–29)
50
Derek Taylor ID (Saco, ME)
sent in this bit of boast: “I can eat
50 eggs.”
Recent paintings by Bo Joseph
PT (NYC) were featured in
Berliner Geschichten, a threeperson summer show at Barry
Whistler Gallery in Dallas.
Work by Lucy King SC, assistant
director of admissions at RISD,
was featured recently at PeaceLove studios in Pawtucket, RI.
1994
Philip Crangi JM (NYC) has
enjoyed a successful career
since graduation, including
collaborations with Vera Wang
and Jason Wu. For GQ’s “Dress
Like a Rebel” series Philip
was asked about men wearing
jewelry: he wisely suggests
starting off with one item
you like and slowly adding
other pieces.
Drawings such as this were
featured in Traces and Accumulations, a summer solo
show at the Deffebach Gallery
in Hudson, NY. Patrick lives
in Marfa, TX.
MIND OVER MATTER
Buenos Aires-based artist/athlete Dolores Avendaño has
traveled the world in pursuit of seemingly impossible dreams.
Here she shares how she made them happen.
What did you discover as a transfer student at RISD?
Well, first, that I was not among the best students, who we called “God’s Gift to Illustration.” They seemed to already have all the talent they might ever need. But I kept
dreaming about becoming a children’s book illustrator, a dream I’d had since I was about
6 years old. So I drew and painted nonstop. Illustration was all there was for me.
Veronica Frenning CR
(Brooklyn, NY) was awarded
a 2010 Visual Artist Fellowship
from the Edward F. Albee
Foundation last spring. She was
also selected by The Abrons Arts
Center in NYC as one of six artistsin-residence for its 2010-2011
AIRspace residency program.
Marie Keller IL (Surry, NH)
Patrick Keesey
90 PT/GL
Shepard Fairey IL (Los
Angeles) was the inaugural
recipient of the AS220 Free
Culture Award at Foo Fest 2010
in Providence. He was honored
by artistic director Umberto
Crenca with a one-of-a-kind,
handcrafted Free Culture Award.
Shepard was also part of a
special Action Speaks forum at
the annual event. He is one of
many artists whose work was
showcased at the first MONIKER
international art fair (October
14-17), which coincided with
Frieze week in London.
stamps portraying memorable
Supreme Court justices. Catalone
Design Co. created the LOVE
stamp for the USPS in 2001.
received a grant from the US
Embassy in Czech Republic
to create a show with her
marionettes in July 2010. She
gathered a troupe of puppeteers
from Canada, Finland, Iceland,
Italy and the US to perform
A Bug Cabaret at Teatrotoc, the
international performing arts
festival in Prague.
Stephanie Schechter ID
(Providence) and husband, chef
Mark Garofalo, are excited to
announce the re-launch of their
Providence-based catering
company. Now called Fire Works
Catering, the firm is a full-service
gourmet caterer serving
Rhode Island and southeastern
Massachusetts. Stephanie
designed all the new branding
Denyse Schmidt 92 GD
When Denyse created Tried &
True (based on a traditional
pattern for Chinese coins) for
Pottery Barn, the company featured her Bridgeport, CT-based
quilting studio on its website.
She also recently designed
Squaresville, a new line of girls’
and crib bedding for Land of Nod.
and is Fire Works’ business and
marketing manager.
Work by Do Ho Suh PT (NYC) is
featured in A Perfect Home: The
Bridge Project, a solo show that
continues through December 23
at Storefront for Art & Architecture in NYC, where he lives.
His work is also included in a
group show continuing through
January 16, 2011 at Albright-Knox
Gallery in Buffalo, NY. (See also
pages 26–29.)
Dolores Avendaño 93 IL
How did you get started as a professional illustrator?
As soon as I graduated, everyone around me knew I was looking for work—even the
priest at Brown University! I went to every interview I could get. Finally, after two months
of intense search, a publisher in Manhattan gave me my first picture book. EMECE
publishers soon asked me to illustrate a Spanish picture book and right after that the
same publisher commissioned me to illustrate the first cover for the Spanish edition
of Harry Potter (written by J. K. Rowling). Since then I have illustrated all the Harry Potter
covers distributed in Spain, Latin America and even in the US.
How and why did you start running?
When I turned 30 I realized that if I didn’t begin to train seriously,
my other dream—to be an accomplished runner—would never come
true. About three years later, I ran the New York Marathon and then
became the first (and still the only) Argentine woman to run the
243-km Marathon des Sables in the Sahara Desert. I ran the 100
Himalayan Miles (finishing in first place in the women’s category),
a 42-km marathon across the Andes (in high altitude) and the
Mongolia Sunrise to Sunset 100-km race in the mountains. Since
then, I have gone on expeditions to the Andes and to the Southern
Patagonian ice field.
Kathleen Keeler-Hodgetts IL
(Santa Barbara, CA) is pleased
to tell RISD that she and
her seven-year-old daughter
Elizabeth enjoy reading together
“immensely.” Kathleen is creating
hand-drawn coloring books
for Elizabeth to use.
Nelson Ryland PH was one
of the editors of the documentary
Freakonomics, a film adaptation
of the bestselling book. Filmmakers Alex Gibney, Morgan
Spurlock, Heidi Ewing, Rachael
Grady, Seth Gordon and Eugene
Jarecki collaborated on the
Do the two parts of your life ever converge?
My experience at RISD has been truly invaluable, not only for my
art but also for my career as an athlete/adventurer. I now give
motivational talks and present at conferences about performance
under pressure and the importance of training the mind as well as the body.
An exhibition of more than 100 of Dolores’ Harry Potter originals is currently on view
in Buenos Aires.
For more information, go to doloresavendano.com.ar.
fall 2010
51
Charles Wilrycx
BArch 96
Charles (Ft. Lauderdale, FL)
was the lead designer on an
oceanfront multifamily project
on Ocean Boulevard in Delray
Beach, FL. He met challenges
presented by ecologically
sensitive native plants and sea
turtle populations by devising
a low-density, infill design
supported by technologies
intended to mitigate visible
light transmission, storm water
runoff and human activity.
1995
Michael Berg ID and Laura
Cary GD (Portland, OR)
welcomed a son, Calder Cary,
on May 26, 2010.
Chris Dina BGD (NYC) and his
wife Yukari are happy to announce
the arrival of their daughter
Emika Sekine Dina, born on
March 8, 2010. Chris and Yukari
have recently teamed up to design
custom pictograms and signage
for Hoshi Kodomo (Children’s)
Clinic in Saitama, Japan.
Additionally, three of Chris’ logo
designs have been selected for
inclusion in Brand Identity
Essentials, the fourth book in
the Essential Design Handbook
series (September 2010).
Kristina (Bell)
DiTullo 96 IL
Heather Henson IL (Hollywood)
Johanna Burns
Maxey 98 PT
Ellen Godena 97 PT
is the founder, president and
artistic director of IBEX Puppetry.
The work allows her to share
her views on “ancient themes in
a new medium”; she has performed throughout the country
including at RISD this fall.
Last spring Kristina (Cambridge,
MA), Ellen (Boston) and
Johanna (Northampton, MA)
presented 6.7.8, a weeklong
series of installation and
performance works at Mobius
arts space in Boston. In
September Kristina’s work was
included in the four-person
exhibition Pattern and Repetition
at Simmons College.
After being recognized as the
second top grossing and netting
studio in the US by Professional
Photographers of America, Ryan
Phillips PH went on to launch
PurePhoto.com in early 2010.
PurePhoto offers professionallevel services and education
direct to consumer DSLR users.
Ryan lives in Bend, OR with his
wife, two kids and a black lab
named Porter.
In July each of the artists who
performed at the Crossroads
Guitar Festival in Chicago was
given an Eric Clapton Crossroads
Duffel Bag designed especially
for the event by Andrea
Valentini BIA (Providence) and
a team of recent RISD graduates
including Seth Wiseman
MArch 09, Walter Zesk MArch
09, Rich Pelligrino 06 IL, Nina
Gils 08 FD, Stephanie Retz
10 ID and Jessica Desautels
11 IA. Proceeds from the event
support the Crossroads Centre,
a treatment facility founded
by Clapton to help recovering
addicts and alcoholics.
KRELwear, the clothing line
by Karelle Levy TX (Miami),
made its international debut in
Stockholm over the summer. The
line has been extremely popular
in the US and has been featured
in Harpers Bazaar and Elle.
Karelle is very excited to start
selling her line in Europe.
Jeff Hantman 95 PR
1997
Jeff’s three-dimensional mixed media works combine photography,
appropriated images and screen-printing on scrap plywood. They
were included in Residency Projects Part II, a fall exhibition at Kala
Gallery in Berkeley, CA, where he was a 2009-10 fellowship artist.
Jeff lives in nearby Oakland.
Cory Brookes BGD and his wife
Saul Chernick PR (Brooklyn,
Family Guy writer/producer
Seth MacFarlane FAV (Los
Angeles) is included in Vanity
Fair’s October list of the top 100
“New Establishment” types in
2010. In addition to continuing
his YouTube cartoon comedy
channel, Seth is working on a
live-action CGI hybrid called Ted,
which focuses on a man and his
teddy bear.
moving to Phuket, Thailand in
2008. They have since moved on
to Mollymook, Australia, where
Sally teaches kids to draw
through her business Da Vinci
Kids. She also exhibited landscape paintings at Shoalhaven’s
Artfest 2010. To keep in touch,
visit davincikids.com.au or
sallywillbanks.com.
1996
appointed an assistant professor
of Foundation Studies at RISD
as of this fall.
15th reunion
October 7– 9, 2011
Laura Brooke-Yattaw IL/MAE
01 (Cranston, RI) recently
married Demian Yattaw.
Marc Cavello FAV (Locust
Valley, NY) released his
twenty-first album, B MADNESS,
in July.
Michelle Courtois AP and
Eric Mongeon 95 IL
Eric (North Eastham, MA) recently spoke at the TEDxBoston
conference about 4 by Poe, his illustrated collection of short stories
by Edgar Allan Poe. Each season for one year, he is releasing a short
story by Poe in the form of an illustrated, individually bound
limited-edition softcover volume.
52
RISDXYZ
Melissa had a son, Porter Edward
Brookes, on January 3, 2010 in
Philadelphia.
Nathaniel Pearson 93 ID
(Brooklyn, NY) had a son,
Sebastien Lane Pearson, on
March 18, 2010.
Sally Csavas PH married Jeff
Willbanks in Las Vegas before
Shawn Greenlee PR has been
David Hanson FAV (see page 9)
Jen Matic GD recently relocated
from NYC to San Francisco to
join Banana Republic (Gap Inc.)
as senior director of Art and
Design. In this position she is
co-leading branding and visual
communications in advertising
and in-store applications; she is
also the creative marketing lead
for the international and Edition
segments of the organization.
David Medina IL married
Whitney Schecter on March 20,
2010 in Virginia.
NY) recently exhibited new work
in Borrowed from the Charnel
House, a solo show at Max Protetch Gallery in NYC. The exhibition of highly detailed pen and
ink drawings demonstrated
his penchant for borrowing from
the relics of art history and transforming them into the elements
of his own visual language.
Ari Benjamin Soltysiak was
born on July 19, 2010 to Mark
Soltysiak BArch (Boston) and
his wife Randi.
1998
Alison Evans CR has opened
a gallery in Yarmouth, ME called
Alison Evans Ceramics. She
features her own work as well as
pieces by other artists including
Rebecca Saundres 98 GL*.
In addition to completing a recent
site-specific commission at
UMass Amherst (see page 10),
Anna Schuleit PT (Dublin, NH)
delivered the keynote address
at the Alliance of Artists Communities Conference in Providence
in October. She also did the set
design for the Ivy Baldwin Dance
production of Here Rests Peggy
at the Chocolate Factory in NYC
and will be talking with students
at RISD’s European Honors
Program in Rome when she visits
in late November.
1999
Val Britton PR (San Francisco)
Kati London PT (NYC) was
recently named one of “35
Innovators Under 35” by MIT’s
Technology Review magazine.
She is a vice president and senior
producer at the NYC game
company Area/Code.
ColorQuarry, the design studio
run by Amanda McCorkle GD
(Central Falls, RI), has launched
a new website, colorquarry.com,
which highlights work she has
done for 826 Boston, Mass MoCA
and other nonprofits. Amanda is
also happy to announce the birth
of her first child, Ada Grey Katter.
completed a fellowship at Kala
Art Institute in Berkeley, CA in
July; her fellowship exhibition
was on view through August. She
is showing Mapping: Memory and
Motion in Contemporary Art at
the Katonah [NY] Museum of Art
through January 2011.
Suzi Cozzens GD (Oak Park, IL)
received a fellowship from the
University of Iowa to study
papermaking in September with
the Macarthur Foundation award
winner Timothy Barrett.
Rachel Doriss TX and her
husband Joel Hamilton welcomed
Stephanie Diamond PR (NYC)
participated in the summer show
Day-to-day at NYC’s Martos Gallery.
The exhibition showcased artists
who incorporate the notion
of time in their work.
Maria Virginia (Marivi) Gonzalez 94 GD
Maria’s project Interior Landscapes earned an honorable mention
in the photo competition sponsored by Duke University’s
Daylight Magazine/Center for Documentary Studies. She lives
in Asuncion, Paraguay.
Brian Chippendale PR*
(Providence) had a solo
exhibition titled Fruiting Bodies
at Cinders Gallery in Williamsburg, NY in June. He recently
finished an 800-page comic
called If N’ Oof, to be released
this fall by Picturebox.
Eric Sabee 97 IL
Eric (American Canyon, CA) illustrated the new fast-paced fantasy
card game Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer (Gary Games).
It features multiple factions, demons, heroes and constructs from
different planes in a battle to determine which player will ascend
to godhood.
their first child, Coco Doriss
Hamilton, on December 23, 2009.
They live in Brooklyn, NY.
Jason Fernald ID and
Gwendolyn Fernald (Portsmouth,
NH) welcomed a daughter, Kaia
Lizabeth, on May 26, 2010. Kaia
joins her big sister Chloe.
Alicia Goodwin GD (Kittery,
ME) opened Drift Contemporary
Art Gallery in Kittery, ME last
spring, with the goal of attracting
top-notch emerging and established visual artists from all
over the country. She has featured
work by alumni Frank Poor
MFA 92 SC (Cranston, RI),
Caroline Rufo 88 GD (Needham,
MA), Lorraine Nam 10 IL
(Brooklyn, NY), Tyson Jacques
10 PR (Providence), Joe Delaney
BArch 85 (Portland, ME),
Christian Berman BLA 10
(Westport, CT), Adam Doyle
98 IL (Long Island City, NY) and
Jane Hesser 02 PH (Providence)
in various exhibitions throughout
the summer and fall. Alicia
will be participating in the
Takt Kunstprojektraum artistin-residence program in Berlin,
Germany during November and
December 2010.
In July Eric Kos IL (Alameda,
CA) was part of an exhibition
at Uptown Body & Fender in
Oakland featuring reproductions
of pinball art. Eric explains that
he and the other artists took
some of the finest works by
pinball designers and revisioned
them as paintings and murals.
He is the co-owner and founder
of the Alameda Sun newspaper,
but decided to dust off his
paintbrushes for this show.
Museum of Craft and Design.
Each artist used either paper,
wire, wood or fiber to transform
a section of the museum.
Lunch Lady and the Cyborg
Substitute (2009, Knopf Books
for Young Readers), the first book
in the Lunch Lady graphic novel
series by Jarrett Krosoczka IL,
won the Children’s Choice Award
for 3rd to 4th Grade Book of the
Year. It was also nominated for
a Will Eisner Comic Industry
Award for Best Publication for
Kids at Comic Con in July.
Amanda DumasHernandez 97 GD
Amanda’s Chicken Purse
appeared as the cover image
on the July 2010 issue of
the French news publication
Courier International. She lives
in Atlanta.
Paul Hayes IL (San Francisco)
has been making large-scale
installation art from paper and
participated in FourSuite: 4 Artists
| 4 Materials | 4 Sites, a summer
show at the San Francisco
To submit updates for class notes, email [email protected].
fall 2010
53
In July and August Daniel
Bruce SC (Long Island City, NY)
exhibited Make A Wish, an interactive sculptural installation,
at WAVE HILL Sunroom Project
Space in Bronx, NY.
Katie Herzog PT (Los Angeles)
Andrew Kuo 99 GD
Andrew’s illustration/commentary piece Wheel of Worry
ran in the New York Times
Magazine’s May 16, 2010 issue
focusing on worth.
2000
Last summer Dan Abdo FAV
and Jason Patterson 99 FAV
(both Brooklyn, NY) created the
dance project Hapless Hooligan
in ‘Still Moving’ with Art
Spiegelman and Pilobolus at
Joyce Theater in NYC.
In May Carey Ascenzo SC
(Brooklyn, NY) was part
of a 64-artist exhibition called
WORKS ON PAPER at Big&Small/
Casual Gallery at her studio
building in Long Island City.
Olivia (Olive) Moffett Scappaticci
was born to Rachel Moffet ID
and Nick Scappaticci ID on
July 28, 2010. The family lives in
Cranston, RI.
Jack Ryan BArch (see page 11)
2001
10th reunion
October 7– 9, 2011
Adrianna Bamber IL (San
Francisco) exhibited in PONY UP,
BOT last summer at Design Guild
SF. (See also page 7.)
had a solo painting show called
Informel at LA’s Actual Size
Gallery in August.
Jen White PH and Sharon
Matt Lamothe FAV, Julia
Katy Horan IL and Daniel
Noh PR got together in Los
Rothman IL, Jenny Volvovski
Bloomfield FAV were married
Angeles last year to launch a web
design, branding and graphic
design studio; in 2010 they
renamed it Drawing from
Memory. The new name is a toast
to Jen and Sharon’s long history
together as friends as well
as a metaphor for the concrete
realization of abstract ideas.
GD (see page 6)
on April 3, 2010 in Austin, TX,
where they now live.
2002
Ryan Kundrat ID was married
on October 3, 2009 to Amy
Grabowski in Eastford, CT.
The couple lives in Bethel, CT
and both work at ARK Projects,
a public relations and design
firm. Ryan has also started Ryan
Kundrat Jewelry.
Jesse Ragan GD (Brooklyn, NY)
has been helping to plan and
coordinate a new certificate
program in typeface design at
Cooper Union. Jesse is teaching
the core hands-on typeface
design class in the program,
which debuted this fall.
Uhuru, the Brooklyn-based
furniture design company
headed up by Bill Hilgendorf
ID and Jason Horvath ID,
launched its second “local
materials” line for New York
Design Week in May. Uhuru’s
Coney Island Line is crafted from
reclaimed wood taken from the
demolished iconic boardwalk.
Tana Martin Llinas GD was
2003
Amy (Exner) Bloom BArch
and Jeremy Bloom ID
welcomed new baby Max Paul
Bloom on Sunday, June 27
at 1:15pm in Winchester, MA.
Michele (Glick) Erez PT/MFA
04 AE is living in Israel, where
she teaches English for Berlitz
and makes jewelry and cards.
She got married in May 2010;
she and her husband are raising
a guide dog puppy.
had a solo show in May at the
Guerrero Gallery in San Francisco
entitled These Are the Days
of Miracle and Wonder. Forty
of his latest works were on view,
including one that was also
featured in the March 2010 issue
of Dwell magazine.
Sharon Mary Martin on June 4
at Auberge de Soleil, a hotel in
Rutherford, CA. Joel is a senior art
director for Rosetta, an advertising and marketing agency
headquartered in Hamilton, NJ.
He works in the NYC office.
The LA Times Magazine
highlighted young LA designers
in May, and David Wiseman
FD was among them. David is
currently working on a commission for Dior in China for an
installation that incorporates
500 porcelain lily-of-the-valley
blossoms—a motif commonly
used by Dior—that will cover
part of the ceiling and walls
of the flagship Dior boutique
in Shanghai.
Brian Martin 98 IL
Arrival (oil on canvas, 23.5x32") is among Brian’s painting featured
in BroadstreetStudio Exhibition (thebroadstreetstudio.com), a
three-person show held in October at Principle Gallery in Alexandria,
VA. Brian lives with his wife Amy in Seekonk, MA.
Sonjie Feliciano
Solomon 02 ID
Joel Savitzky (NYC) married
Sarah and her husband David
Rand 97 GD are excited to
announce the birth of Jack
Marley Rand, born on July 24,
2010 in Mount Kisco, NY. Jack is
shown here with his big brother
Max, who is 4. Sarah continues
to teach studio art to students
in grades 6-12 at Wooster School
in Danbury, CT.
Alex Lukas IL (Philadelphia)
married in 2009 to Leopoldo
Llinas and now lives in Miami,
FL. She is owner of the
design and branding studio
R+M Collaborative.
Kristian Rangel BGD (The
Woodlands, TX) was part of an
October group show entitled
Subtle Arrangements at the Gelabert Studios Gallery in New York.
Sarah (Acheson)
Rand 98 IL/MAT 99
Sonjie had a summer solo
show at Causey Contemporary
in Brooklyn, where she lives,
and also worked on a recent
installation by SOFTlab architecture at Bridge Gallery in NYC.
In August Sarah Small PH
(Brooklyn, NY) showed work
in a photography exhibition at
Bleicher/Golightly in Santa
Monica, CA. The show featured
seven artists whose work
explores intriguing narratives.
2004
Arla Bascom TX (Brooklyn, NY)
Michael Sherman IL
Nancy Wells AP re-launched
(Brooklyn, NY) wrote to RISD
about his busy summer
exhibition schedule including
shows in Basel, Switzerland,
Chelsea and Harlem.
her brand Smashing Darling
in Providence last spring. She
moved to New York four years
ago and took a break from her
own designing, but now she’s
back and having fun working in
Providence. Check out her new
line at smashingdarling.com.
David Sherry PH (Brooklyn,
NY) was included in MoMA P.S.1
Contemporary Art Center’s
Greater New York exhibition this
summer and fall.
Mila Zelkha BArch 01
Mint Condition Homes, the company Mila runs in Oakland, CA
to transform foreclosed properties into quality, affordable housing,
recently won two 2010 Partners in Preservation Awards from the
Oakland Heritage Alliance. “I renovate these homes sustainably,
using green materials and a vintage-inspired aesthetic that highlights
the historic character of each one,” she says.
BEFORE
Send us your XYZ info!
Tell us what you’re up to and we’ll share your news with the RISD community.
Here are some of the ways you can contribute to your magazine:
upcoming deadlines:
1/ submit updates (professional and personal) to class notes
email [email protected] (subject line: class notes)
April 1 for Spring 2011 (due out in May)
2/ send us your responses to the content of each issue
email [email protected] (subject line: feedback)
To submit information via post, write to:
3/ send in story ideas for articles or subject matter you’d like us to cover
email [email protected] (subject line: story suggestions)
To speak to the editor: call Liisa at 401 454-6349
54
RISDXYZ
December 15 for Winter 2011 (focused on food /due out in February)
sold her company’s pottery at
SummerWare in July. SummerWare is the first of a series of
seasonal market days showcasing
the talents and new work of local
ceramic artists in Brooklyn.
Bryan Boyer IA (San Miguel,
CA) is a design lead at Sitra,
the Finnish Innovation Fund—
an independent government
endowment that reports to the
Finnish Parliament. His Strategic
Design Unit is working on
Helsinki Design Lab 2010.
Noah Breuer PR (Brooklyn, NY)
participated in New Prints 2010/
Spring, a group exhibition at
the International Print Center
New York in May and June. Work
for the show was selected by
Philip Pearlstein.
AFTER
Melissa Santram Chernov IL
was featured on “Seven
Impossible Things Before
Breakfast,” a blog about books,
on May 2, 2010.
Last spring Anthony Dihle GD
(Washington, DC) gave a visiting
artist lecture on design and
printmaking at Towson
University in Baltimore.
Michael Neff PH (Brooklyn,
NY) showed in Structured,
a group exhibition on view last
spring at Spattered Columns
at Art Connects in SoHo.
Last spring Heather Hedin
Peacock IL (Phoenixville, PA)
exhibited in the Yellow Springs
Art Show 2010 in Chester Springs,
PA, and was named the 2010 Art
Show Poster winner.
Last spring Ryan Trecartin FAV
(Los Angeles) took part in Seven
on Seven: Connecting Art &
Technology at the New Museum
in NYC. Organized by RHIZOME,
the event paired seven leading
artists with seven game-changing technologists in teams of two,
and challenged them to develop
something new—an application,
social media, artwork or product—
in one day. This fall the Museum
of Contemporary Art Pacific
Design Center in LA hosted an
exhibition of his piece Any Ever,
which he has been working on
since 2007. (See also page 31.)
Who Needs the Explorers Club
Anyway, a solo exhibition
by Christopher Ulivo PT
(Brooklyn, NY), was held earlier
this fall at Susan Inglett Gallery
in NYC. Christopher was featured
recently in Time Out New York.
Jane Kim 03 PR
In addition to earning her BA in
Science Illustration from California State University last spring,
Jane participated in the student
show Illustrating Nature at the
Pacific Grove Natural History
Museum. One of her illustrations
was selected to promote the
exhibition in the spring issue
of ARTWORKS Magazine.
2005
Jamie Allen IL received a full
scholarship from the Dedalus
Foundation to participate in the
Vermont Studio Center Residency
Program. She focused on mixedmedia paintings during her
four-week stay in October. Follow
her work at jamierallen.com.
Character Design for Games and
Animation volumes 1 and 2,
movies by Cameron S. Davis IL
(Cornelius, OH), were released in
July by The Gnomon Workshop.
Cameron walks the watcher
through his creative designmaking process from story idea
to fully rendered design and
discusses character design
fundamentals.
Mark Ellingwood ID has
developed ProPel Paddles,
paddles for canoeing, kayaking
and whitewater rafting that can
be used by people with varying
physical abilities and mobility.
He explains that he was
motivated by his love of the
outdoors and a desire to develop
tools for people who have limited
choices in current equipment.
Look for the paddles and more
at propelpaddles.com.
Aaron Gilbert PT (Brooklyn,
NY) won the Rosenthal Family
Foundation Award in Painting
from the American Academy
of Arts and Letters. The award is
presented to a “young American
painter of distinction.”
RISD XYZ, Two College Street, Providence, RI 02903
To submit updates for class notes, email [email protected].
fall 2010
55
2005 continued
Timothy Liles FD launched his
three-piece furniture collection
New New England in May at the
CITE Goes America exhibition.
The show was held at the CITE
Showroom in NYC and was
co-curated by Alissia MelkaTeichroew MID 04.
Cara Llewellyn IL is a senior
designer in the children’s book
department at Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt, and she recently
moved to Boston’s South End.
She has designed a large number
of books including Bone Soup
by Cambria Evans and Little
Panda by Renata Liwska. She
had the pleasure of working
with David Macaulay BArch 69
on Built to Last, a newly illustrated, colorful compendium
of his beautiful classics Castle,
Cathedral and Mosque.
Sung Hee “Katie” Park GD
and Dr. Jason Jikang Song
were married on June 20, 2010
at the Tides Estate in North
Haledon, NJ. Katie is working in
Manhattan as a graphic designer
at Coty, the fragrance maker,
where she specializes in
packaging design.
When I Was Six, an exhibition
of recent work by Eric Telfort IL,
was featured at the Bulawayo Art
Gallery in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe,
where he lives.
Matthew Mignanelli
05 IL
Earlier this fall, the Medicine
Agency Gallery in San Francisco
featured Matthew’s newest
paintings on birch panel, canvas
and paper. The NYC-based
artist’s work was also included
in the Awesome Number One Big
Fun Group Show! at the same
gallery. His recent solo exhibition
at Recoat Gallery in Glasgow,
Scotland nearly sold out.
Lana Williams TX* (Wilmette,
IL) was part of designboom mart
at the International Contemporary
Furniture Fair in NYC last spring.
2006
Kelly Eident AP (Woodbridge,
CT) has created a witty dress that
is printed with the cuts of meat
that correspond to each body part.
Brandon Herman PH (Los
Angeles) took part in a group exhibition at Envoy Enterprises in NYC
called Blue, Bluer, Orange Blues.
2007
Alex Auriema AR (Woodstock,
VT) is one of the recipients of the
Transient Spaces—The Tourist
Syndrome research and production grant. His residency took
place from February to April at
Lanificio25 in Naples, in cooperation with the Franco Rendano
Association and the program
napoliconnected. Alex presented
his residency project, Economy
of Dissonance, at the Transient
Spaces—The Tourist Syndrome,
Napoli exhibition in April.
RISDXYZ
Diana Schoenbrun 04 IL
Based in Brooklyn, Diana wrote, illustrated and made the silly creatures featured in her new book Beasties:
How To Make 22 Mischievous Monsters That Go Bump in the Night (Penguin Perigee, August 2010).
Asher Dunn FD let RISD
Meghan Gordon PT (NYC) had
know that he has started his
own studio, Studio Dunn, in
Pawtucket, RI. In May the studio
launched its first collection
of contemporary furnishings
and a website, studiodunn.com.
Asher also exhibited at the 2010
International Contemporary
Furniture Fair in NYC.
a solo show at Michael Rosenthal
Gallery in San Francisco in
September. She will be in residence at the Lower Manhattan
Cultural Council Workspace
program from September through
May; she also received a New
York Foundation for the Arts
fellowship in painting this year.
Rachel Guardiola PT is
serving as an environmental
education extension agent for
the US Peace Corps in Saint
Louis, Senegal. Her blog can
be found at rachelguardiola
.blogspot.com.
Xephyr Inkpen IL (Pascoag, RI)
designed and produced three
articles of clothing/costuming
for the Pyramid Collection
national catalogues (pyramid
collection.com). Sales are going
very well; Xephyr has moved production to India and is looking
into expanding the clothing line
as well as beginning a jewelry line.
For the past six years Megha
Khandelwal GD (New Delhi,
India) has been designing,
manufacturing and supplying
her line of hand-crafted sterling
silver jewelry to design houses,
boutiques and retailers in NYC,
56
programs, make discoveries, and
learn together in an informal
setting. In addition, he designed
and implemented engaging educational programs for over 200
young people at local community
centers to bring the museum’s
activities to children in need.
California and Dallas. She has
plans to open a US flagship
jewelry store for her company
Libra in the near future.
Last summer Sami Nerenberg
ID (San Francisco) returned from
Kathmandu, Nepal, where she
was working as a marketing and
sustainability consultant for
a social enterprise.
Chardonnay Pickard IL
became public relations director
at Clodagh Design in December
2009 after assisting with a
variety of successful launches,
including the W [hotel] Fort
Lauderdale, Yogaworks SOHO,
and products for Bentley Prince
Street, Mark David, Perennials
Fabrics, Visual Comfort and
Duralee fabrics. She is responsible
for the promotion of all Clodagh
Design, Clodagh Signature and
Jessica Hess 03 IL
Jessica’s work was included in several shows last spring, including
Looking East at Galerie d’Art Yves Laroche in Montreal, Singles at
Geoffrey Young Gallery in Great Barrington, MA, Selections From the
Cultural Corridor V at the Storefronts Artists Project in Pittsfield, MA,
and As They See It at White Walls expansion gallery in San Francisco,
where she lives. In addition, one of her illustrations was published
in San Francisco Weekly’s “Best of SF 2010” issue.
Clodagh Collection projects,
products and events. Clodagh
Design is located in New York’s
Noho neighborhood.
Nikolay Saveliev GD (NYC),
Jessica Walsh 08 GD (NYC),
Michael Freimuth 03 GD (Har-
rison, NY) and Joe Marianek
03 GD (Providence) are among
the 50 winners in the Young
Guns 8 competition sponsored
by the Art Directors Club. ADC
Young Guns is an international,
cross-disciplinary competition
that identifies the world’s most
promising young creative professionals, age 30 and under.
2008
Dino Almaguer-Cigno FD
(Washington, DC) was featured
at the first ever Art House
Open House in Washington, DC
last summer with his work
Papurniture. Described by the
artist as “art first, functional
furniture second,” the pieces are
composed of 100% recycled
paper and feature no-VOC paint.
Elizabeth Grammaticas PT
(Boston) recently organized and
participated in Teen TV Residue,
a group show at The Distillery
Gallery in South Boston.
Mike Hahn ID (see page 9)
Charlie Immer IL (Hagerstown,
MD) had a solo show at NYC’s
Last Rites Gallery during the
month of June. His show Peeled
studies what lies beneath when
smooth creatures peel away
layers and reveal their complex
inner workings.
Harrison Love IL was featured
in The Late Work, a book of artwork from several artists creating
a dialogue on the future of art.
Margaret Middleton ID
(Oakland, CA) wrote an article for
her blog that was also published
on Museum 2.0, a blog by Nina
Simon. In “A Tale of Two
University Museums” she
discussed the RISD Museum and
the Edna W. Lawrence Nature
Lab, focusing on the difference
between museum users and
museum visitors.
as an assistant art teacher for the
Lower School. In the meantime,
I have decided to continue
working on my own art, experimenting with different forms
and media.”
Laura “London” Shirreff TX
and Joseph Segal MFA 09 TX
are part of Waste Not Want Not,
a design collective in Providence
that specializes in creative reuse.
The artists and designers use
sophisticated techniques—
machine knitting, shibori dying
and silk screening, among
others—on discarded, unwanted
and recyclable materials, from
t-shirts to cashmere to bullets,
to create inspired and one-ofa-kind clothing, accessories
and jewelry.
Korakrit Arunanondchai PR
(Brooklyn, NY) was interviewed
by The Bangkok Post last
summer because his work is
starting to appear in art galleries;
it’s also in demand in the technology and fashion industries.
For the Dell Design Studio, which
he was selected for in summer
2009, he came up with four
abstract patterns that are now
available to customers.
2009
Monica Alisse GD wrote to
RISD: “My animation Guess The
Typeface, based on a Typeradio
recording, has been screened
in The Graphic Design Museum
in Breda, The Netherlands for
a Typo Film Festival (April 2009)
and also chosen with around
34 other short typography animations for Upload Cinema’s
monthly screenings in Cinema
De Uitkijk in Amsterdam. I now
live in Madrid, Spain, working
To submit updates for class notes, email [email protected].
John Verdery IL (see page 7)
Sarah Young SC won the 2010
Danny Kim ID (see page 8)
Outstanding Student Achievement Award from the International Sculpture Center. Her work
was featured in the October issue
of Sculpture magazine and in
the Grounds For Sculpture Fall/
Winter Exhibition catalogue.
Fuzzy Insides, a film directed by
2011
Michaela Olsen FAV, was one
Samantha Gosling IL/PT, who
of ten films chosen for the
first-ever Cartoon Brew Student
Animation Festival held in May.
calls art her “territory,” earned
the 2010 Bermuda Society of Arts
(BSoA) Bursary award.
2010
Jake Zien GD (see page 9)
Dorion Barill IL (Pittsburgh,
PA) was the curator for a show
of fellow RISD graduates called
No More Hotdogs at the DV8
Gallery in the Pittsburgh area.
Other 2010 alumni participating
included Christina Svenningsen PR (Katonah, NY), Alison
Dubois IL (NYC), Myles
Dunigan PR (Worcester, MA),
Marlene Frontera IL
(Barcelona, Spain) and KJ
Martinet IL (NYC).
Work by Charlie Thornton
BArch (New Bedford, MA) and
his father John Thornton was
featured in a two-person show
that just completed its run at
Phillips Academy’s Gelb Gallery
in Andover, MA.
Connie Weng AP and Emma
Walsh AP won summer
internships through the Fashion
Scholarship Fund, a national
nonprofit association consisting
of influential members of the
fashion community. They were
two of only fifty-six students
chosen for the prestigious
positions; Connie worked at
Donna Karan and Emma at
Polo Ralph Lauren.
Anna Kukuchek 06 GD
+ William Keith
Zollman II BArch 06
Anna and William (Phoenix)
were married on April 17, 2010
at the Desert Botanical Gardens
in Phoenix, AZ.
Art Buyer Magazine (Spring/
Summer 2010) featured Zoe
Brookes IL and Allie Runnion
IL and their final projects for
Artistic License, a course taught
by Mary Jane Begin 85 IL in
RISD’s Illustration Department.
Carl Maxwell Douglas FAV
(Nashville, TN) was employed
at Providence Children’s Museum
as an AmeriCorps Museum
Educator from September 2009
to August 2010. At the museum,
he facilitated hands-on, openended play to encourage visiting
children and their families to
explore interactive exhibits and
fall 2010
57
Graduate Class Notes
KEY
current majors
APApparel Design
ArchArchitecture
CR
Ceramics
DM
Digital + Media
FAV
Film/Animation/
Video
FD
Furniture Design
GD
Graphic Design
GL
Glass
IA
Interior Architecture
ID
Industrial Design
IL
Illustration
JM
Jewelry +
Metalsmithing
PH
Photography
PT
Painting
PR
Printmaking
SC
Sculpture
TX
Textiles
1961
50th reunion
October 7– 9, 2011
former majors
1966
ADAdvertising Design
45th reunion
October 7– 9, 2011
AEArt + Design
Education
Julie Wagner MFA SC (El Rito,
LALandscape
Architecture
MD
Machine Design
TC
Textile Chemistry
TE
Textile Engineering
FIfth-year
bachelor’s degrees
BArchArchitecture
BGD
Graphic Design
BID
Industrial Design
BIA
Interior
Architecture
NM) recently exhibited new work
at The Gallery at Pioneer Bluffs
in Matfield Green, KS.
A Tradition of Play
Judith Unger
69 SC/MAT 70 CR
Bunny’s paintings are featured
in a solo show at Providence’s
Chazan Gallery at Wheeler
through November 10. Earlier
this fall her work was shown
in Burlington, VT, at Wellesley’s
Davis Museum and in Denver.
This year she’s living at her
home in Vermont while on
leave from Wellesley, where
she teaches.
Judith’s large sculptural vessels
were on view in Woman, a
summer show at the Catamount
Arts Gallery in St. Johnsbury, VT,
where she lives.
1976
Two photos by Rosalie N. Post
James Engebretson MFA CR
67 PT/MFA PH, Sands of Change
and Green Bats, Barker Dam, CA,
were accepted into the Blanche
retired recently after teaching
glass at the University of
Wisconsin River Falls for 33
35th reunion
October 7–9, 2011
40th reunion
October 7– 9, 2011
MFA
Fine Arts
MID
Industrial Design
MIA
Interior Architecture
MLALandscape
Architecture
OTHER
CEC
Continuing
Education Certificate
FS
enrolled for
Foundation Studies
only
*attended RISD, but
no degree awarded
deaths
Joseph Smith O’Neil 38
Diploma of Pawcatuck, CT on
July 3, 2010.
Joyce G. (Swirsky) Franklin
44 PT of Brewster, MA on
August 8, 2010.
Norma Berger Green 45 AP
RISDXYZ
William M. Wagner 55 GD
Kenneth J. Bosted BArch 69
of Crystal River, FL on March 22,
2010.
of East Providence, RI on
July 14, 2010.
Denis Pratt 72 AR* of
of Tolland, CT on January 14,
2010.
Barbara Weber 49 IA of Essex,
CT and West Newbury, VT on
August 2, 2009.
Dennis Izzi 50 AE of North
Providence, RI on August 19,
2010.
Barbara C. (Warner) Maslen
Alice Fromuth-Robinson
51 LA of Yarmouthport, MA on
April 8, 2010.
Raymond Crompton 49 MD
of North Smithfield, RI on
August 4, 2010.
58
Walter Francis James 49 MD
of Arlington, VA on July 28, 2010.
48 PT of Olympia, WA and
Lunenburg, VT on February 24,
2010.
Transit, a sculptural installation
by Wendy Ross MAE (Bethesda,
MD), was included in the spring
exhibition A Century of Design:
The US Commission of Fine Arts,
1910-2010 at the National Design
Building in Washington, DC.
Arthur P. O’Sullivan 53 MD
of Newport, RI on May 27, 2010.
Lionel B. Sherrow 55 ID
of Huntington Valley, PA on
April 23, 2010.
James Rowe Fowlie 57 CR
of Tampa, FL on April 22, 2010.
Stephen P. Irza 57 MD of
Woonsocket, RI on June 20, 2010.
Richard Wood 57 AP of
Montpelier, VT on January 8,
2010.
Kennebunk, ME on July 7, 2010.
Andrew Boettcher 82 GD
of San Francisco, CA on June 26,
2010.
Marilyn Puschak 83 GL*
of Mollymook, Australia on
November 11, 2009.
Andrew S. Bray BArch 85
Donn DeVita 58 IL* of East
Dennis, MA on March 13, 2010.
of Severna Park, MD on July 12,
2010.
Benjamin Weiss 67 MA of
Walter F. Pasieka BArch 87
Providence, RI on August 11, 2010.
of Greer, SC on August 21, 2010.
1975
Last summer Steven
Branfman MAT had an
exhibition called Mastering Raku
at Newport [RI] Potters Guild.
The show corresponded to
right: © Kathie Florsheim 2008. All rights reserved.
Teaching
1977
years. He continues to operate
his own studio in Hudson, WI.
photos courtesy of the RISD Archives / top: Arthur Griffin © 1944
MAT
(Jamestown, RI) exhibited photographs from her series Totems
at Gallery 4 in Tiverton, RI. Many
of the pictures were twisted
versions of personally significant,
autobiographical shots. Also
featured in the show were selfportraits by Jane Tuckerman
MFA PT (Westport, MA) in 1973.
Jane appeared in many forms in
the series: covered in a doll dress
or obstructed by a cloud-like blur.
1973
master’s degrees
MArchArchitecture
Alma Davenport MFA PT
Ames National Juried Exhibition
at Borderland State Park’s Ames
Mansion in North Easton, MA
and Abstraction in Photography
at the Vermont Photography
Workshop.
BLALandscape
Architecture
MAArt Education
(formerly MAE)
his book of the same title,
which Lark Books published
in a revised edition in 2009.
David Akiba MFA PH (Jamaica
Plains, MA) showed photographs
earlier this fall in Knot This
Broken Thread, a solo exhibition
at Alibi Fine Art in Chicago.
1971
Both in the studio and beyond, every generation
of RISD students has intrinsically understood that
creativity springs from a willingness to play around
and try new things—including futzing with apparel
on fashionable dolls just prior to WWII, acting in
the student pageant in 1913 or dressing in style for
the 1961 artists’ ball.
Bunny Harvey
67 PT/MFA 72
Kathie Florsheim
MFA 74 PH
Gotcha is from Kathie’s latest
documentary photographic
series Living on the Edge, which
focuses on a coastal community
in Matunuck, RI.
To submit updates for class notes, email [email protected].
In July the façade of Boston’s
Institute of Contemporary Art
came alive with streaming poetry
presented by Jenny Holzer
MFA PT (Hoosick Falls, NY), who
collaborated with choreographer
and dancer Miguel Gutierrez
to present a new work in the
Co Lab: Process + Performance
series at the ICA.
Susan Sklarek MFA SC,
who teaches in RISD’s Textiles
Department and through
Continuing Education,
earned CE’s 2010-11 Teacher
of Excellence Award, which
was presented at last spring’s
CE certificate program
graduation ceremony.
1978
New works by Laurence
Young MAE PR were featured
over the summer at Alden
Gallery in Provincetown, MA,
where he lives.
fall 2010
59
1979
Linda Hudgins MAE sent in
this update on her teachings
around the world: “After turning
over the Spartanburg Day School
to other teachers who also love
RISD (we’ve had several students
admitted), in 1992 I went off
to teach art in Botswana. After
three years I went to China,
where I taught art for a year
before teaching English in Guilin
for two years. Home after that
to set up studio again. The rest
is on my website, lindahudgins
art.com. Now I’m meeting
interesting RISD graduates in
this area (Polk County, NC).”
1981
30th reunion
October 7– 9, 2011
Robert Tedrowe MFA FD
(Columbus, IN) wrote in to say
that he’s producing furniture,
decorative objects and mixedmedia sculpture in his shop and
gallery in south central Indiana.
1986
1982
25th reunion
October 7– 9, 2011
Brad Buckley MFA SC (Potts
Point, Australia) has started
a new position as associate dean
(Research) at Sydney College of
the Arts. His new book Rethinking
the Contemporary Art School: The
Artist, the PhD, and the Academy
(Nova Scotia College of Art and
Design, 2010) has been getting
positive reviews around the
world; he convened a conference
loosely based on the book with
Tim Marshall (provost, The New
School) and Joel Towers (dean,
Parsons) in October. His work
was also on view recently in
John Willis MFA 86 PH
Since 1992 John (jwillis.net) has been photographing at the Pine
Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, earning the trust of the
Oglala Lakota Sioux community and its elders. In Views from the
Reservation (Center for American Places, September 2010), his black
and white images and color plates—accompanied by poetry and
other words from the reservation—paint a poignant portrait. Ken
Burns applauds it as “a beautiful, painful book” and RISD Photography Professor Henry Horenstein 71 PH/MFA 73 confirms that “every
photograph is a classic: carefully seen, lovingly captured and
painstakingly executed.” All proceeds help the reservation.
a solo show at Tsukuba [Japan]
University Art Gallery and a
group show at the Dalhousie Art
Gallery in Halifax, Canada.
1988
Virginia Barrett MAT (San
Francisco) has published a travel
memoir entitled Mbira Maker Blues:
A Healing Journey to Zimbabwe
(Jambu Press/Studio Saraswati,
2010). The book includes her
own illustrations and song lyrics.
Bob Martin MFA PH (Cranston,
RI) exhibited Family Pictures last
spring at Moses Brown School’s
Krause Gallery in Providence.
1989
W. Spencer Finch MFA SC
(Brooklyn, NY) was the keynote
speaker at the Northeast Regional
Conference of the Society for
Photographic Education, held
in Providence at the beginning
of November. The conference
focused on The Experiential in
Photography.
1991
20th reunion
October 7– 9, 2011
1992
Katie Salen MFA GD (see
page 14-19)
1994
15th reunion
October 7– 9, 2011
1997
Victoria Crayhon MFA PH
(Providence) received a
Fulbright scholarship to do
photography work in the Russian
Federation for seven months
starting in January 2011. She will
be based in Vladivostok.
KyungEn Kim MFA SC (see
pages 26-29)
After 10 years as creative director
at Metropolis, Criswell Lappin
MFA GD (Brooklyn, NY) accepted
a new position this fall as design
director at Farhenheit 212, an
innovation consultancy in NYC.
Last spring he and his studio
WellNow Design created the new
design of RISD XYZ.
Last spring Nermin Kura
MFA CR (Providence) lectured,
exhibited and taught a workshop
on her clay techniques at the
International Ceramic
Symposium in Israel. The US
Department of State’s Bureau
of Educational & Cultural
Affairs awarded her a grant in
recognition of her participation
in the symposium.
Gayle Wells Mandle MFA PT/
NC), the interactive director
at Boone Oakley, was with the
firm for the relaunch of Boone
Oakley.com in May 2009. The
website, built completely inside
of YouTube, has garnered
international attention and
won multiple awards, including
a 2010 Cannes Gold Cyber Lion
and a 2010 Webby Award.
PR (Doha, Qatar) was invited to
curate a show last April at Leila
Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery
in Manhattan. The exhibition,
Beyond the War: Contemporary
Iraqi Artists of the Diaspora,
brought together the work
of seven Iraqi artists who were
forced to leave their war-torn
country and now live in various
parts of the world.
Maryjean’s work was included in
two recent exhibitions, the I-95
Triennial at the Museum of the
University of Maine/Bangor
and the San Diego Book Arts
3rd National Juried Show at UC/
San Diego. After 39 years of
teaching, Maryjean has retired
from Stonehill College and now
lives in Belfast, ME.
RISDXYZ
1996
Bill Allen MFA PT/PR (Charlotte,
Maryjean Viano
Crowe MFA 81 PH
60
In June and July Susan
Breary MFA PT/PR (Putney, VT)
exhibited in Contemporary
Naturalism at the Gerald Peters
Gallery in Santa Fe.
1999
William Christenberry MFA
FD (Washington, DC) has won
the Jimmy Ernst Award in Art
from the American Academy
of Arts and Letters. The award
is given to an artist “whose
lifetime contribution to his or her
vision has been consistent and
dedicated.” You can find his work
at christenberryonline.com.
Make it Bigger, a solo show by
Paul Housberg 75 PT/MFA 79 GL
Lawrence Cromwell MFA PT/
Paul specializes in site-specific and architecturally integrated works
in glass and recently unveiled this installation at the Governor Philip
W. Noel Judicial Complex (formerly the Kent County Courthouse) in
Warwick, RI. He lives in Jamestown, RI.
PR (Baltimore), was featured
at the Beckler Family Members
Gallery in Delaware last spring
and summer.
2000
Following on the heels of two
RISD alumni who competed
during Season 7, Kristin HaskinsSimms MFA GD (Philadelphia)
was selected as a contestant on
Lifetime’s popular show Project
Runway. She made it through
several episodes of the 8th
season before being eliminated.
the company one of the “100
Brilliant Companies of the year”
to watch. She exhibited last
summer at the New York International Gift Fair.
Intertidal, a solo show of
photographs by Jesse Burke
MFA PH (Rumford, RI), was
exhibited recently at Clampart
in NYC.
Michele Jaquis MFA SC has
been appointed the first director
of Interdisciplinary Studies
at Otis College of Art and Design
in Los Angeles. In her new role,
she oversees the interdisciplinary studio concentrations and
minors (Art History, Community
Arts Engagement, Creative
Writing, Cultural Studies, Sustainability, Teacher Credential
Preparation) while continuing
to teach in the Integrated
Learning and Artists, Community
and Teaching programs.
Dungjai Pungauthiakan MFA
GD (Brooklyn, NY) has been
promoted to creative director
at Metropolis magazine, where
she has worked as the associate
art director since graduating
from RISD.
2001
After becoming friends while
working on their MFAs at RISD,
Adam Eckstrom MFA PT
and Lauren Was MFA 04 SC
progressed to couplehood in
Brooklyn in 2006 and were
married in 2007. They also began
to collaborate artistically, finding
inspiration in the discarded
lottery tickets they’d collect
on walks with their dog. The
results—sculptural installations
created from thousands of lottery
tickets—are staggeringly colorful,
meaningful and bittersweet.
10th reunion
October 7– 9, 2011
2005
Melissa Borrell MFA JM has
Shadi Khadivi MArch (Albany,
Presence (Veils), a solo show of
moved her studio, Melissa
Borrell Design, to Austin, TX.
Entrepreneur Magazine named
NY) married Jason D’Cruz
on July 10, 2010. They met in
Providence.
Cynthia Farnell MFA PH’s
larger-than-life photocopy
transfers, was on view last spring
at McClellanville [SC] Arts
Center. Earlier in the year, she
exhibited in Transitive
Geographies: Contemporary
Visions of an Evolving South at
Georgia College and State
University. Cynthia lives in
Conway, SC.
Blooming Cherry Tree at Twilight,
Somerville, MA (2010, archival
inkjet photograph, 23x34.5")
is among the photos Mary
exhibited earlier this fall in
Twilight Garden, a solo show at
Gallery NAGA in Boston.
Todd Lambrix MFA SC is an
assistant professor of Core
Studies at Parsons The New
School for Design in NYC.
Robin M. Tagliaferri 86
IL/MA (Cranston, RI) has been
appointed executive director
at the Forbes House Museum
in Milton, MA.
2003
Work by Mark Bowers MAT
(Evanston, IL) was on view
recently at Chicago’s Ann Nathan
Gallery, where he has been represented since 2007. His paintings
Jennifer Lin MArch (Cambridge,
Mary Kocol MFA 87 PH
were featured in Art Chicago
2009 and he was recently
selected for the Vermont Studio
Center’s Frankel Anderson
Chicago Artist Award. He completed a residency at the center
in August. Mark is a tenured
instructor at New Trier High
School in Winnetka, IL.
2004
In the summer and early fall
work by Deana Lawson MFA
PH (Trinity, NC) was included
in the Greater New York show
at MoMA P.S.1.
Alissia Melka-Teichroew MID
(Brooklyn, NY) of byAMT Studio
presented her Jointed Jewels
collection in New York last
spring. The line is a union of new
and old, organic and industrial,
functional and decorative.
She also presented her Peasant
Collection—a playful and
innovative furniture series of
friendly and familiar shapes that
are balanced with slightly surreal
and off-kilter features.
Matt Monk MFA 91 GD
Findings: Matthew Monk was
on view last summer at FARM
Project Space and Gallery in
Wellfleet, MA, which Susie
Nielsen MFA 05 GD founded to
focus on contemporary processdriven art. Matt is a professor
of Graphic Design at RISD.
MA) was appointed to the board
of directors for the New England
Foundation for the Arts last
summer. She is an architect at
Linnea 5 Inc in Boston.
Fo Wilson MFA FD (Milwaukee,
WI) curated The New Materiality:
Digital Dialogues at the
Boundaries of Contemporary
Craft for the Fuller Craft Museum
in Brockton, MA. The exhibition
is open until February 6, 2011 and
includes work by RISD alumni
Brian Boldon MFA 88 CR,
Shaun Bullens MFA 07 FD and
Susan Working MFA 00 FD.
2006
Ashley Pigford MFA GD
(Newark, DE) had a solo
exhibition last spring at Urban
Institute of Contemporary Art
in Grand Rapids, MI.
Lauren Bollettino MArch
married Nicholas Sberlati on
October 24, 2009. They moved
from Manhattan to Chicago
shortly after the wedding.
2007
Adam Geremia MID (see
page 9)
Anjali Srinivasan MFA GL
(Haryana, India) and Yuka
Otani MFA 07 GL (Forest Hills,
NY) were co-curators of The
Post-Glass Video Festival, an
exhibition that debuted at
Heller Gallery in New York and
traveled to Sydney, Australia
and other locations.
Christopher Robbins MFA DM
(Little Neck, NY) has joined
the SUNY Purchase College
sculpture faculty as an assistant
professor of Art + Design,
a tenure-track position.
Kevin Morosini MFA PR and
Jerry Mischak 73 PT exhibited
together last spring in the show
Two Guys From Providence
at DRIVE-BY in Watertown, MA.
A painting by Mark Pack MFA
PT (Wilmington, DE) was
acquired recently by The New
Community South Hospital in
Indianapolis.
To submit updates for class notes, email [email protected].
fall 2010
61
2008
Jeanne Jo MFA DM (NYC)
and Milton Stevenson MFA SC
established a gallery in Brooklyn,
NY called Tompkins Projects in
fall 2009. Last summer Jeanne’s
work was shown in Objectified:
the domestication of the
industrial at the Honfleur Gallery
in Washington, DC. She also
curated The Wrong Side of Reno:
30 Years of Punk and Hardcore
Music from the Biggest Little City,
an exhibition that’s open at the
Nevada Museum of Art through
March 2011. She also recently
began doctoral studies at the
University of Southern California.
Making Allyah, a video by
Nathaniel Katz MFA DM (Jupiter,
FL) and Valentina Curandi, was
screened in the Moscow [Russia]
Biennial for Young Artists in July.
New Natives, another video they
made together, was selected for
cameraVideo at the Fondazione
March in Padova, Italy and the
Tina B. Festival in Prague, both
in October; it also appeared
at the LOOP festival in Barcelona,
Spain (May) and the Kaunas in
Art festival in Lithuania (July).
Nathaniel also collaborated
with an Italian and a German
artist for a recent show called
Hinterland at Dada Post, an art
space in Berlin, Germany.
Michael Radyk MFA TX
(Philadelphia) has been selected
as the fall visiting artist-inresidence in fibers at Oregon
College of Art and Craft. During
his residency, he will make
two presentations and continue
his textiles research by exploring
light, material and the interaction
of place and abstraction.
Annie Feldmeier
Adams MFA 02 PT
Yong Joo Kim MFA 09 JM
Yong Joo (Providence) was among the 58 artists from around the
world invited to participate in LOOT 2010, the popular biennial sales
exhibition of contemporary jewelry held in October at the Museum
of Arts and Design in NYC. Sandra Enterline 83 JM (San Francisco)
and Kiwon Wang MFA 91 JM (NYC) also participated in the MAD show
again this year. Jong Joo’s piece Reconfiguring the Ordinary (velcro +
silver, 2x4x 2") is shown here.
Rothschild MID (see page 9)
2009
Shoham Arad MID (Boston)
wrote to RISD to let us know
that she is working with Chris
McCray MID 08 (Syracuse, NY)
at Syracuse University on a
project called COLAB; an article
she wrote about the project was
published recently on Core77.com.
Caleb Larsen MFA DM (see
page 8)
Eli Levenstein MFA FD (NYC)
wrote in to say: “I’m very excited
to be a part of Material World,
a show that opened on April 24
at Mass MoCA, and will continue
through to February 27, 2011.
I was commissioned by curator
Susan Cross to design and install
a reading room to accompany
the installations of artists Michael
Beutler, Orly Genger, Wade
Kavanaugh and Stephen B.
Nguyen, Tobias Putrih, Alison
Shotz 87 TX and Dan Steinhilber.
In creating the space of the
Reading Room, my primary goal
was to offer a moment for pause
and reflection on the work of
these artists. While the room is
inviting, it can at times be
confrontational as it plays with
the fluid boundaries between
art and design, object and space,
nature and technology, and
interior and exterior space.”
Monica Martinez MFA SC
(San Francisco) had a recent solo
show at EyeLevel BQE Gallery
in the Williamsburg section
of Brooklyn.
City-inspired 3D drawings
by Luke O’Sullivan MFA PR
(Jamaica Plains, MA) were
on view last summer at arsenalARTS in Watertown, MA.
Huy Vu MFA GD (see page 9)
Jenna Goldberg
MFA 04 FD
Falling Water Cabinet (2008,
painted, carved and handprinted basswood and poplar,
75x28x18") is among the pieces
Jenna exhibited in a summer
solo show at Gallery NAGA in
Boston. She lives in Providence.
RISDXYZ
Pinky Wings by
Emily Rothschild MID 08
Requiem: Lincoln Park Conservatory, Annie’s public art sound
installation, recently transformed the Fern Room at Lincoln
Park Conservatory in Chicago,
where she lives.
Tom Weis MID and Emily
62
Wings for
your pinkies.
Wear a pair
or fly with one.
Recess Activities, Inc. in NYC
was the site of Brand New Bag,
the spring 2010 MFA Sculpture
exhibition. Terra Goolsby MFA
SC, Anders Johnson MFA SC,
Jonggeon Lee MFA SC, Alee
Peoples MFA SC, R.C. Sayler
MFA SC, Joshua Webb MFA SC
and Brett Windham MFA SC
all showed their work.
The Wassaic Project, an artist-run,
sustainable, multidisciplinary
arts organization in “the hamlet
of Wassaic, NY,” is run by Colin
Williams MFA DM, Bowie
Zunino MFA 09 SC and Jeffrey
Barnett-Winsby MFA 06 PH
and has proven to be hugely
successful. The new organization has already won awards,
including the 2010 Historic
Preservation Commendation
Award from The Garden Club
of America.
Ryan Arruda MFA GD
(Worcester, MA), Lauren V.
Francesconi MFA GD
(Providence), Lindsay M.
Kinkade MFA GD (Providence),
Jae Un Jeon MFA GD (La Crescenta, CA), Alpkan Kirayoglu
MFA GD (NYC), Cameron D.
Neat MFA GD (Seattle), Marcos
A. Ojeda MFA GD (Providence),
Heather K. Phillips MFA GD
(Pleasanton, CA), Elise S.
Porter MFA GD (NYC), Kate M.
Quinby MFA GD (Providence),
2010
Taylor M. Stapleton MFA GD
Based on the quality of her work,
Sooyeon Kim MFA JM was a
finalist for the 2010 Daisy Soros
Prize for Fine Arts, which offers
fine arts graduate students
the opportunity to study at the
International Summer Academy
of Fine Arts Salzburg in Austria.
and Jeshurun L. Webb MFA GD
(Providence) set up a shop based
on their thesis exhibitions and
exhibited at the Brooklyn Flea
over the summer. Visit the Make,
Do website at makedoshop.com
to learn more about the designers
and their work.
available in gold vermeil,
white powder coated or rodium-plated
risdstore.com
overnight shipments available on request
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helped open the world
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when you were a student.
It’s still here for you.
2010–11 exhibition highlights
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2011 Faculty Biennial
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20% of your Alumni Membership is directed to the
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illustration by
Franklin
Einspruch
91 PT
64
RISDXYZ
After more than a decade of painting,
Franklin began playing around with comics,
the genre that got him interested in art
in the first place. October to November is
among the watercolor vignettes he posts
periodically on the site he created for his
comics illustrations, The Moon Fell On Me
(themoonfellonme.com).
Please submit your own visual commentary about anything that’s on your mind.
Our favorite will appear in the next issue.
For details email: [email protected].
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design by: Juana Medina Rosas 10 GD
With 42 Alumni clubs + contacts located across
the country and around the world, you’ll find
it easy to stay close to RISD no matter where
your talents take you.
To locate an alumni club near you, visit us online at risd.cc/clubs_xyz
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