Rhode Island School of Design’s alumni magazineFALL 2010

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.

CONTRIBUTORS

P U B L I S H I N G D I R E C T O R

Becky Bermont

E D I T O R

Liisa Silanderlsilande@risd.edu 401 454 6349

C R E AT I V E D I R E C T I O N

WellNow Designwellnowdesign.com

Criswell Lappin MFA 97 GD Nancy Nowacek Dungjai Pungauthaikan MFA 04 GD

D E S I G N/ P R O D U C T I O N

Kate Blackwell Elizabeth Eddins 00 GD Sarah RainwaterKaren Vanderbilt MFA 12 GD

C O N T R I B U T I N G W R I T E R S

Anna CousinsFrancie LatourLiisa Silander

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

Duke Graham

P R I N T I N G

Lane PressBurlington, VTprinted on 70# Sterling

Matte, a recycled stock

R I S DX Y Z

Two College Street

Providence, Rhode Island02903-2784 USA

Published three times a year by RISD’s Media + Partners group, in conjunction with Alumni Relations.

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

Paula Martiesian 76 PTis 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).

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).

Morgan Blair 08 IL says she “grew 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.

Patrick J. Hamilton 86 GD 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.

Dave Calver 76 IL, a professional 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.

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 sub-mission, 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.

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.

No Place Like HomeIn 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.

6

Starkly Sensual 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.

Fall 2010

Conversationsabout RISD, the new magazine, art, life, the world

Listento reflections, opinions, what’s on our readers' minds

Lookat good gifts, smart stuff, architectural interventions

2

5

Six Degrees updates from clubs, the Alumni Association, Alumni Relations

30

14

46

62

51

7

26

21

Where We Are class notes and profiles, undergraduate first, graduate second

Two College Street Maeda’s message, faculty news, a glimpse of studios/student life now

Drawing Boarda visual commentary on the world as we know it

35

42

64

Impact news about scholarships, donors, the RISD Annual Fund

40

01

Playing to Learn 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.

6

Non-Profit Org.

U.S. Postage

PAID

Burlington, VT 05401

Permit No. 19

Rhode Island School of DesignTwo College StreetProvidence, RI 02903 USA

The RISD Alumni Association connects you to people, places,

art, new ideas, old friends and just plain fun.

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_xyzdesi

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SometimeS it feelS like people in the artS 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

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 enor-mous 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 child-hood: 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: risdxyz@risd.edu.02 riSDXYZ

editor’s message by

Liisa Silander

illustration by

Morgan Blair 08 IL

THE BEST PART OF WORK

Editor’s letter, letters to the editor, excerpts from online exchanges.

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 accompany-ing text on page 55 [of the Spring 2010 issue]. I would rather be entirely without future publica-tions than subject my family to this graphic pornography again.

Alessa (Kahn) Keenan 90 CR

Edgartown, MA

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.

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.

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Follow RISD at twitter.com/risd and facebook.com/risd1877. Fall 2010 03

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.

Rich Hendel 62 GD

Chapel Hill, NC

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 “forward-thinking 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

Is that paola antonelli with RISD XYZ?

a reader on a NYC subway.

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

Los Angeles, CA

HOTHOTHOT

DEAR JOHN

Just finished feasting on XYZ. A compelling diet: Easy to digest, a delight to the eye.

Ed Howell 53 IL

Indian Rocks Beach, FL

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

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 oppor-tunities 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

NOT SO HOTThe 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

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.

Anna (Wareham) Koon 93 IL

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.

WHOLE RESPONSE

Let us know what you think about this issue: risdxyz@risd.edu.04 riSDXYZ

KINESTHETICS CONTINUED

CORRECTIONS

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 at the Alumni Council meeting [10.10.10]

in reference to information overload and

e-communications from RISD

THOUGHT The new interdisciplinarity.

mairéad Byrne

Assistant Professor of English

from her new book of poetry

The Best of (What’s Left of) Heaven

10WOrds

or less

Nobody but the Nazis ever asked anybody for

their papers.Seth macfarlane 95 FAV

commenting on Arizona’s

anti-immigration law

In response to our question in the last issue, mary florence (Camp-bell) hauck 44 AP (lancaster, Pa) made us smile with her sticky note comment and care- ful annotation of each of her class- mates’ names.

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 announce-ment of his death in the last issue [page 36]. The photo was shot in 1969.

Mary Florence (Campbell) Hauck

Hermine Szala

Bette PepperBethany

Gleason

Janet Bentley

Readers reflect, write, shout, share what’s on their minds.

To submit your own commentary, email risdxyz@risd.edu (subject line: listen). Fall 2010 05

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.

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.

although Some of my SmartaSS frienDS might

Say otherwiSe , 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 boy-cotts, 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

THE ACCIDENTAL ACTIVIST

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.”

AND THERE’S

MOREDavid 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.

Great for Giving

06 RISDXYZ

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?

davidweeksstudio.com baggubag.com

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 book- by-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

ExquisitE Pull-Outs

Ode to CreativityFor his new picture book Art & Max (Clarion Books, October

2010), three-time Caldecott Medal-winner David Wiesner

78 IL “began by playing around with different media” and

quickly realized that his own exploration would lead to

a meditation on the creative process itself. In his inimitable

Wiesner way, he had two desert lizards follow the same path

of discovery as he had in bringing them to life on the page. The

horned lizard Arthur—or Art, as the double-entendre of the

title suggests—is an established artist who is about to paint

a traditional portrait when his frenetic cohort, a collared lizard

named Max, bursts onto the scene wanting to make art, too.

The beautifully rendered story unfolds from there, with Kirkus

calling it “a wildly trippy, funny and original interpretation

of the artistic process” and School Library Journal concluding

that Wiesner’s latest is “picture-book making at its best.”

houghtonmifflinbooks.com/wiesner

Matt Lamothe 02 FAV

Julia Rothman02 IL

Jenny Volvovski

02 GD

David Wiesner 78 IL

Chico Bicalho 85 SC 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.

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.

kikkerlandshop.com

FAll 2010 07

chrisbradydesign.com

Toys for LivingChances 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

illustrator based in Hope, RI. “My art and design is nearly

always geared towards children, or towards grown-ups who

refuse to grow up,” she points out on her site. “I believe the

stories and pictures that stick in our heads when we’re young

have a lot to do with what we gravitate towards as adults.”

lizgouletdubois.com/shop

worldwidefred.com

Yoka Yields UnAverage JoeActive in the custom toy movement, Ukranian-American artist

and illustrator Adrianna Bamber 01 IL makes art in a tiny

studio in San Francisco’s Mission District, where she says,

“Art is my life. Life is my art.” Bamber has worked as a toy

designer for both mainstream and designer companies such

as STRANGEco, and created her one-of-a-kind 100 Characters

Yoka and Where’s Joe? toys in response to invitations to

participate in two recent shows. Though her Yoka (acrylic and

ink on plastic, 3” h) sold recently on her Etsy store, her Average

Joe Schmoe interpretation (acrylic and ink on wood, 6” h) is

featured in a November sales exhibition at Lift Designer Toy &

Gallery in Detroit, MI.

abamber.com

abamber.etsy.com

liftdetroit.com

Art and SoleHeed the wise Holzer-ism PROTECT

ME FROM WHAT I WANT—unless

what you want is a pair of Keds subtly

sporting the dictum of Jenny Holzer

MFA 77 PT herself. When you snap up

some sneakers from the limited-edition

KedsWhitney Collection, which also

includes a funky canvas weave sneaker

designed by Laura Owens 92 PT, pro-

ceeds 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

Arunanondchai 09 PR). His plan is to

work in a “minimalist aesthetic with both

art lovers and sneakerphiles in mind.”

keds.com

electrolitesfootwear.com

johnverdery.com

John Verdery 10 IL

Adrianna Bamber

01 IL

Liz Goulet Dubois 89 IL

John Ewing MFA 07 DM johnewing.orgFor 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.

Smart Stuff

08 RISDXYZ

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 evo-lutionary 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 alterna-tives; 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

sMARtER tHAN sMARt

Buy It on eBayWith A Tool to Deceive and Slaugh-

ter Caleb Larsen MFA 09 DM has

pinpointed and obliterated the line

between art and commerce, while rais-

ing squirm-inducing questions about

meaning and value. In the piece, he pro-

grammed this featureless black acrylic

cube connected to the internet to list

itself on eBay every 10 minutes—ad

nauseam. Each new owner is contractu-

ally required to keep it connected and to

send it on to the next purchaser. Tool is

on view in the Electrohype 2010 biennial

at Ystads konstmuseum in Sweden from

November 27 through January 30, 2011.

caleblarsen.com

sherwoodmeister.com

Danny Kim

09 ID

Caleb LarsenMFA 09 DM

Tae Ashida 87 AP jun-ashida.co.jpLast 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/618The 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 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.

phonetalks.org

FAll 2010 09

Making FriendsNow that robot innovator David Hanson 96 FAV and his

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 conversa-

tions, 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

Old Cars>New LivesPeople 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

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

Zien’s Quirky OutletIn June Core 77 predicted that the new Pivot Power “creative

outlet” designed by Jake Zien 11 GD may be the “first mass-

market hit” for Quirky, the online product development com-

pany 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

David Hanson

96 FAV

Emily RothschildMID 08

Huy VuMFA 09 GD

Tom Weis MID 08

Jake Zien 11 GD

Judith Schaechter 83 GL projectsite.unitedstatesartists.orgThis 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.

James Carpenter 72 IL jcdainc.comIn 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.

Architectural Interventions

10 RISDXYZ

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 seem-ingly 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 psychi-atric hospital where she staged the sound installation Habeas Corpus a decade ago. anna-schuleit.com

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Entertaining ModernismAfter making it onto countless critics’ 2009 “best-of” lists,

Asterios Polyp (Pantheon, 2009) has earned cartoonist

David Mazzucchelli 83 PT even more recognition in 2010. It

won the LA Times Book Prize for Graphic Novels, the National

Cartoon Society’s Reuben for Best Graphic Novel and three

Comic-Con Eisner Awards: Best Graphic Album, Best Writer/

Artist and Best Lettering. In Mazzucchelli’s “huge, knotty mar-

vel” (Publishers Weekly), readers follow the title character—

an acclaimed architect of mythological proportions—through

his tragic fall from grace and later attempts to rebuild. The

New York Times calls Asterios Polyp “maddening and even

suffocating at times,” but ultimately praises it as “a dazzling,

expertly constructed entertainment.” Oddly enough, Enter-

tainment Weekly says: “It’s as if John Updike had discovered

a bag of art supplies and LSD.” And NPR’s reviewer finds it

simply “remarkable for the way it synthesizes word and image

to craft a new kind of storytelling.”

randomhouse.com

Anna Schuleit98 PT

David Mazzucchelli

83 PT

RISD alums+faculty 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 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.

americansforthearts.org boxoffice460.com

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Schools for HaitiJack 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

being built throughout the country; by the end of this fall,

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

in RISD’s Architecture Department—reports that while the

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

A Better Big HammockLast summer Assistant Professor of

Architecture Hansy Better could think

of no better way to pursue her passion

for “bringing people together through

the design of public art and objects”

than to build a giant hammock at the

Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway in

Boston. Starting with a $1,000 grant

from the Awesome Foundation, she

raised another $5,462 for the project

via KickStarter and in August worked

with volunteers to weave and assemble

the 8 x 38-foot “interactive symbol of

community” in the park. After getting

plenty of use, the hammock has now

been packed away for the winter, but it

just may be headed to a city park near

you in 2011.

thebighammock.org

Jack Ryan BArch 00

Bankable NeedsTom Sieniewicz BArch 83, a principal at Chan Krieger Sien-

iewicz in Cambridge, MA, kept a compelling fact in mind as he

designed a new warehousing facility for the Greater Boston

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

83,000 clients each week, the center maximizes natural light.

And through its prominent rooftop signage and clever depic-

tion 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

Hansy Better

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“����I�want�extraordinary,�and�often��that�trans�lates�into�trying�something�I’ve�never�tried�before,�inventing�some-thing�I’ve�never�seen�before.”�David�Stark�91�PT

“��I�just�fell�in�love�with�games.�I�became��fascinated�with�the��way�that�video�games��construct�worlds.”��Katie Salen MFA 92 GD

“�I�was�brought��up�in�an��artistic�envi-ronment�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

Fall 2010 13

“�Given�our�crossed�paths,��it�made�perfect�sense�for��us�to�work�on�a�project��that�deals�with�the�notion��of�home�and�place.”�Do Ho Suh 94 PT

Katie Salen MFA 9214 RISDXYZ

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 choreo-grapher 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

A true game-lover, Katie Salen MFA 92 GD once co-designed a surrealistic “board game” in which resi-dents of Minneapolis-St. Paul strategically moved 25-foot-tall game pieces around the city.

GRAPHIC DESIGN

by Francie Latour

FAll 2010 15

to learn

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-CHANGERNow in its second year, Quest’s radical model for what a school can be is already changing the conversation about how a

The kids at Quest to learn, a new public school in Manhattan, are being taught through an experimen- tal curriculum based on gaming and game design principles.

GRAPHIC DESIGN Katie Salen MFA 9216 RISDXYZ

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

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

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.

FAll 2010 17

“this idea that you meet kids where they are, you build on their strengths and interests, and you create alternative environ- ments 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 MISSIONSo, 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.

“ I don’t feel like I was trained to be a graphic designer. I feel like I was trained to be a design thinker.

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.

GRAPHIC DESIGN Katie Salen MFA 9218 RISDXYZ

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 explora-tion 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

presented in a game-like way, and it’s a combination of the physical and the digital.”

PRODUCTIVE FAILUREIf 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.”

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.”

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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.”

For more on Katie’s work, go to risd.edu/xyz.

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

The sixth- and seventh- graders now studying at Quest seem to be more engaged, with teachers noting fewer “eyes glazed over” when they present new concepts.

“ That need to know is what we’re trying to create in the kids.

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.

21David Stark BFA 91 FAll 2010 PAINTING

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

David Stark creates conceptual events and experiences designed to delight all the senses.

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Foundation, an organization that counters poverty in New York. The team also goes beyond expectation in producing extra- ordinary weddings, bar mitzvahs and birthday celebrations.

“We create experiences about all the senses,” Stark explains. “It’s all-encompassing—the food you eat, the enter- tainment 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 trans lates into trying something I’ve never tried before, inventing something I’ve never seen before, getting at that tantalizing idea waiting to be unwrapped.”

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 Metro-politan 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

“ 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.”David Stark 91 PT

A clever and resource-ful 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 unex-pected “edibles” rather than in vases.

For a Robin Hood Foundation fundrais-er, Stark’s team drew playful, chalkboard cityscapes of New York to emphasize the foundation’s goal of creating a better city by erasing poverty. An inexpensive, read-ily available material, the chalk not only reinforced the foun-dation’s educational mission, it allowed guests to interact with the sets and props by adding their own “graffiti.”

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SURPRISE AND DELIGHT Among the tantalizing ideas Stark and his team have un-wrapped 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 table- scapes 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.

Stark made this tower ing 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.

“ It suddenly occurred to me that events are a lot like art installations.”

David Stark BFA 9124 RISDXYZ

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.

“ I learned to break the rules and do it really, really well.”

PAINTING

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.” ph

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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 col lect. Why? Because this art masquerades as a party, a magical environment in which people have FUN, pure and simple.”

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

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.

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PAINTING Do Hoh Suh BFA 9426

No Place Like Home

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.

ARCHITECTURE Eulho Suh BArch 91 SCULPTURE KyungEn Kim MFA 97RISDXYZ

FAll 2010 27 FAll 2010 27

A floor piece of high-pressure 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 Seongbuk-dong 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.

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 collabo-rated 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 extra-vaganza 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, uncompro-mising 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.”

PAINTING Do Hoh Suh BFA 94

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28 RISDXYZ

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.

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.”

“ 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

ARCHITECTURE Eulho Suh BArch 91 SCULPTURE KyungEn Kim MFA 97

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FAll 2010 29To comment on this article, email risdxyz@risd.edu.

30 RISDXYZ

PHILLY LEADER WEAVES

CONNECTIONS

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 continu-ally 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 back- grounds—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

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.”

“RISD grads tend to be very open-minded. They’re constantly looking for new things and new sources of inspiration.”

Keep connected to RISD through the Alumni Association’s network of clubs around the country and the world.

Fall 2010 31

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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 offer-ings like this add a different flavor than more tradi-tional 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.

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

SEIBERT FUND SUPPORTS ALUMNI ART

WHO’S YOUR SWEETHEART?

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 exhibi-tion 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.”

RISD clubs are jumping—quite literally so in Colorado, where alumni recently gathered at the Museum of Contemporary art in Denver.

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.”

Take a Stand (2006, mixed media, 90x72x78") by Ryan Trecartin 04 FAV and Lizzie Fitch 04 FAV

CLUB ACTIVITY ON THE RISE

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32 RISDXYZ

IN THE USA

A r i zo n A ( P h o e n i x )

Amanda Blum 98 CR

At l A n tA

Becky Fong 05 GD

Au s t i n

Dianne Mullen BArch 82

B os to n

Karen Fox BIA 74

C h i C Ag o

Kyle Henderson BArch 99

Co lo r A d o

Jim Leggitt BArch 73

Co n n e C t i C u t

Michael Esordi 91 GDKaren Healey 90 GDJim Healey BArch 91

dA l l A s

Steven Kinder 97 IDDave Ramos MFA 06 GD

h o u s to n

April Rapier Irvine MFA 79 PH

m i d - h u ds o n VA l l e y, n y

Joan Sussman 72 PH

los A n g e l e s

John Kim 01 ID

m A i n e

Mira Alden 03 GD

m i d w e s t

Stephanie Henry 87 GDRobert Wright 76 PT

n e w h A m Ps h i r e

Christine Hall 00 ID

n e w m e x i Co

Nat Hesse 76 SC

n e w o r l e A n s

Carrie Lee Pierson-Schwartz 93 GL

n e w yo r k

Polly Carpenter 77 PT Michael Neff 04 PH

n o r t h e r n C A l i f o r n i A

Kristina DiTullo 96 IL

P h i l A d e l P h i A

Laila Ahmadinejad 01 GD

P o r t l A n d, o r

Brian Bainnson BLA 87/88 AR

r h o d e i s l A n d

Linda Coulombe MAT 86

sAVA n n A h

Jamie Kutner 06 PR

RISD BY DESIGN 2010This 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 thought-provoking 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.

1

2

3

4 5

AlUmNI ASSocIATIoN coNTAcTS

Find email addresses for officers

and club leaders at:

risd.cc/clubs_xyz

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.

Fall 2010 33

s e At t l e

Kyle Gaffney BArch 91Bill Gaylord BArch 77

s o u t h f lo r i dA

Nessie Ruiz 06 PH

s t. lo u i s

Patricia Boman 85 GD

t w i n C i t i e s ( m i n n e s otA )

Peter Zelle 87 GL

u tA h

Deanpaul Russell 95 ID

wA s h i n gto n , d C

Anthony Dihle 04 GD

ABRoAD

A r g e n t i n A

Andres Rosarios BArch 97

Au s t r A l i A

Brad Buckley MFA 82 SC

B A h A m A s

John Cox 95 IL/MAT 96Dionne Benjamin-Smith 91 GD

Co lo m B i A

Sylvia Montana 90 GD

d u B A i

Anika Azad 97 GD

g e r m A n y

David Incorvaia 96 FAV

h o n g ko n g

Donald Choi BArch 80Frank Chow BLA 92Rex Wong BArch 03

i n d i A

Praneet Bubber MArch 97Anuradha Parikh BArch 82

n e w z e A l A n d

Rick Lucas 72 IL

P e r u

Claudia Ferrari BGD 91Claudia Hernandez 90 PT

r o m e

Denise Fralley MLA 02

s o u t h ko r e A

Chang-ho Han MFA 01 GDYunjin Lee 97 ILNamoo Kim MFA 09 GDWon Hee Cha 08 SC

tA i wA n

Su-Yi Wun BArch 99

t h A i l A n d

Amornpimol (Viravan) Thanakitamnuay 86 GD

1. These alumni look like they’ve barely skipped a beat since they last saw each other.

2. Marina Brolin 85 GD and her class-mates had fun comparing notes on the past 25 years.

3. Helga Jorgensen 60 GD reminisces with a friend at her 50th reunion reception.

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. 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 risdxyz@risd.edu to help us identify anyone shown in these photos.

6

7

8

9

AlUmNI coUNcIl oFFIcERS

P r e s i d e n t Nat Hesse 76 SCSanta Fe, NM

V i C e P r e s i d e n t Meghan Reilly 01 GD Merrimac, MA

Co m m i t t e e l i A i s o n s Carolyn (Mills) Peck 71 AE Hampton, GA

Michael Martella BArch 91 Philadelphia, PA

For more, follow John on our.risd.edu + twitter.com/johnmaeda. Fall 2010 35

A glimpse of what’s happening at the heart of campus— with the president, students, faculty and staff.

repurpose remakerethink redoreuse Get more information and apply at

risd.cc/adaptive_xyz

RISD’s Interior ArchitectureDepartment is accepting applications to two new Graduate Programs in Adaptive Reuse:

Master of Arts inInterior Architecture[ 1+ years ]

Master of Design inInterior Studies (Adaptive Reuse)[ 2+ years ]

Rhode Island School of Design

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

Now registering for Winter term courses. Classes start January 10.

Spring CE and summer Pre-College Program registration begins January 10, too!

Join us! Open HouseFriday, January 14

5:30-7pm 20 Washington Place

Providence

CE Never SleepsHunDREDS oF CouRSES oFFERED yEaR-RounD FoR aDultS, tEEnS + CHIlDREn

risd.edu/ce

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 val-ues 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.

As RIsD’s pResIDent 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 Centen-nial 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 differ-ence 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 inter-national 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

CORE VALUES

message by

John MaedaRISD’s President

Support STEaM in Congressas 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 advo-cating 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).

Portrait of Mrs. Jesse Metcalf by the american impressionist painter Frank W. Benson (1862–1951)

For more, follow John on our.risd.edu + twitter.com/johnmaeda. Fall 2010 35

A glimpse of what’s happening at the heart of campus— with the president, students, faculty and staff.

repurpose remakerethink redoreuse Get more information and apply at

risd.cc/adaptive_xyz

RISD’s Interior ArchitectureDepartment is accepting applications to two new Graduate Programs in Adaptive Reuse:

Master of Arts inInterior Architecture[ 1+ years ]

Master of Design inInterior Studies (Adaptive Reuse)[ 2+ years ]

Rhode Island School of Design

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

Now registering for Winter term courses. Classes start January 10.

Spring CE and summer Pre-College Program registration begins January 10, too!

Join us! Open HouseFriday, January 14

5:30-7pm 20 Washington Place

Providence

CE Never SleepsHunDREDS oF CouRSES oFFERED yEaR-RounD FoR aDultS, tEEnS + CHIlDREn

risd.edu/ce

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 val-ues 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.

As RIsD’s pResIDent 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 Centen-nial 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 differ-ence 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 inter-national 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

CORE VALUES

message by

John MaedaRISD’s President

Support STEaM in Congressas 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 advo-cating 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).

Portrait of Mrs. Jesse Metcalf by the american impressionist painter Frank W. Benson (1862–1951)

36 RIsDXYZ Fall 2010 37

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For more campus news, go to our.risd.edu.

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Caroline Hust

10 TX is one of the three top win-ners 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

thors 10 AP,

Hayley Johnson

10 AP, sheridan

Irwin 10 AP and

Jessica Castel-

lano 10 AP wowed the crowd at lincoln Center.

Four students won major recogni-tion 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 “nerve-wracking” and “awesome.”

ELLE invited RISD to help celebrate its 25th anniversary via a runway show and design competi-tion, 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

ELLE PRESENTSRISD STUDENTS’DESIGNS IN NYC

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

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.

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 des-

perately need the critical thinking and

refreshing originality RISD grads infuse

into the world.

“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

GLOBE-TROTTING RESEARCHERSRISD’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 philoso-phy. 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.

MAkING SCIENCE VISIBLEIn 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 informa-tion, go to risd.cc/adaptive_xyz.

TwO NEw GRAD PROGRAMSRISD, Brown and the University of Rhode Island are among a coalition of nine RI colleges and univer-sities 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 understand-able 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, associ-ate provost for Academic Affairs. Watch for more news on this new initiative as studio projects begin to unfold.

36 RIsDXYZ Fall 2010 37

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Caroline Hust

10 TX is one of the three top win-ners 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

thors 10 AP,

Hayley Johnson

10 AP, sheridan

Irwin 10 AP and

Jessica Castel-

lano 10 AP wowed the crowd at lincoln Center.

Four students won major recogni-tion 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 “nerve-wracking” and “awesome.”

ELLE invited RISD to help celebrate its 25th anniversary via a runway show and design competi-tion, 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

ELLE PRESENTSRISD STUDENTS’DESIGNS IN NYC

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

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.

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 des-

perately need the critical thinking and

refreshing originality RISD grads infuse

into the world.

“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

GLOBE-TROTTING RESEARCHERSRISD’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 philoso-phy. 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.

MAkING SCIENCE VISIBLEIn 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 informa-tion, go to risd.cc/adaptive_xyz.

TwO NEw GRAD PROGRAMSRISD, Brown and the University of Rhode Island are among a coalition of nine RI colleges and univer-sities 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 understand-able 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, associ-ate provost for Academic Affairs. Watch for more news on this new initiative as studio projects begin to unfold.

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 col-lections and have both earned accolades from artists, curators and critics, and influenced countless other photographers.

Earlier this year the Joe Deal Archive was estab-lished at the University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography. Since his death, family and friends have also donated approximately 50 photo-graphs 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.”

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 com-mitted 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 dis-tance learning through an early version of Skype-like software. Both in the studio and beyond, his enthusi-asm 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. to

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38 RIsDXYZ

Faculty Newsbitsassociate 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-

cipated in SkowheganTalKS, a lecture

series at the Skowhegan School of

Painting and Sculpture featuring some

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 Mesk-

waki 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.

JOE DEAL (1947–2010)

“ The RISD community has just lost a great artist, friend, professor, former provost and museum advocate who had a special gift for communicating.” Jan Howard, curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, RISD Museum

GARY METz (1941–2010)

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.

It’s never too early to think about your own legacy.

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.

“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

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 giftplanning@risd.edu.

give to risdrisd.edu/giftplanning

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 col-lections and have both earned accolades from artists, curators and critics, and influenced countless other photographers.

Earlier this year the Joe Deal Archive was estab-lished at the University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography. Since his death, family and friends have also donated approximately 50 photo-graphs 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.”

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 com-mitted 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 dis-tance learning through an early version of Skype-like software. Both in the studio and beyond, his enthusi-asm 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. to

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38 RIsDXYZ

Faculty Newsbitsassociate 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-

cipated in SkowheganTalKS, a lecture

series at the Skowhegan School of

Painting and Sculpture featuring some

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 Mesk-

waki 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.

JOE DEAL (1947–2010)

“ The RISD community has just lost a great artist, friend, professor, former provost and museum advocate who had a special gift for communicating.” Jan Howard, curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs, RISD Museum

GARY METz (1941–2010)

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.

It’s never too early to think about your own legacy.

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.

“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

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 giftplanning@risd.edu.

give to risdrisd.edu/giftplanning

A look at some of the many ways people invest in RISD and support current and future generations of students.

40 RISDXYZ

“I was a RISD student before I was a RISD student. The school was just always there for me.”

FINDING A CALLING

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.

phot

o by

Jim

Ros

en

For Carol Goldenberg Rosen 71 IL her love of RISD seemed predes-tined. 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 unpre-pared 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

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, serv-ing 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,

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 muse-ums 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

For more on giving to RISD, go to risd.edu/give. FAll 2010 41

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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 pio-neered 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

FOUNDATIONS SUPPORT RISD STUDENTS

Solid ResultsRISD 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 scholar-ships 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 Rela-tions, 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.”

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 achieve- ments of our alumni. They also

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 unre-stricted 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 representa-tives 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.

42 RISDXYZ

underGraduate Class notes

1975 1995 2000 2005199019851980197019651960

Dolores Avendaño 93 IL

Sally Csavas 96 PH

Ed Baranosky 69 PT

Jonathan Kaplan73 CR

Sylvia Montana90 GD

Margaret Jackson87 GL

Marlene Frontera 10 IL

Anika Azad97 GD

Jerry Williams65 PT

Karen LaMonte 90 GL

614alumni referenced

2000smost referenced classes

Brooklynmost popular stomping ground after graduation

Kimmost common alumni

surname (237)

Lee2nd most common alumni

surname (228)

moLLymooK,AustrALiAfurthest location from RISD

28# of RISD clubs in the US

Graphic Designmost common major among alumni club leaders

1938earliest class reference

14# of RISD clubs abroad

relative attendance at 2010 reunions

43 Fall 2010 To submit updates for class notes, email risdxyz@risd.edu.

1947Last 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.

1949James Clark PT had a birthday

party/exhibit at Center of the

Earth Gallery last spring in

Charlotte, NC, where he lives.

1953Leo Irrera SC and Eva

(Amman) Irrera IL (Washington,

DC) wrote to update RISD on

their news: “Leo has had com-

missions 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.”

1954Jim 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

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.”

1955Mary 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.

1957Women’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.

1958Merle Temkin TX (NYC) is

the recipient of a 2010 Pollock-

Krasner Foundation Award.

1959Last 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 pro-

duction 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.

Esterruth (Feldman)

Rumpler TX/BArch 84 sent in

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 grand-

daughters and as he is a prize-

winning photographer we have

great shots of all of them.”

1960Judith (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.

Sherrill (Edwards) Hunnibell 64 AECloud 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.

David Estey 65 PTDavid 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.

Jerry Williams 65 PTJerry (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.

Wilmot Winslow IL (Lowell,

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.

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.

44 RISDXYZ

1969Painter 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.

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.

1962Richard Levine AR* (Lexing-

ton, 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.

1963Painting 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.

1965In May Art Place Gallery in Fair-

field, CT hosted Face Book: 2010,

an exhibition by Dave Pressler ID (Shelton, CT). Dave also gave

a lecture with the show.

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 George-

Warren (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.”

Stuart Murphy 64 ILMATH = FUN! Selected Artists from Stuart J. Murphy’s MathStart Series is on view through December 29 at Gallery Della-Piana, the

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 Charles- bridge 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.

1966 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.

1967Geo 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.

Mary Curtis Ratcliff AE (Berkeley, CA) had a solo show

titled Small Worlds… & Large at

Mercury 20 Gallery in Oakland,

CA in August.

Diane Wright 69 ILIn 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.

Andrew Stevovich 70 PTDonuts (2009, oil on linen, 19x24") is among the evocative and exquisitely executed paintings in Alternate Universe, an October solo show at adelson Galleries on the Upper East Side of Man- hattan. andrew is represented by adelson and creates his eminently contemporary, Ren- aissance-inspired paintings out of his studio Northborough, Ma.

Kate Frank Cohen 69 PHlast 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.

Pamela (Becker) Stoessell

TX wrote in to tell us that she’s

a “full-time professor within

the fashion design and merchan-

dising programs at Marymount

University, Arlington, VA. I teach

courses in fashion industry and

its promotion, fashion show

production, textiles, textile design,

and visual merchandising.”

Jack Dickerson 69 GDJack (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.

45 Fall 2010 To submit updates for class notes, email risdxyz@risd.edu.

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

Schaffer AE/MAE 79 (Vienna, VA)

served as an adjunct professor

of sculpture for Virginia Common-

wealth University, Graduate

Department of the School of Fine

Arts. Her work was featured in

the Recent Works 10th Anniver-

sary Show held in October at the

Fairfax Railroad Museum.

1970Graphic Intervention: 25 Years

of International AIDS Awareness

Posters 1985-2010 is the most

recent curatorial endeavor of

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 Massachu-

setts College of Art and Design in

Boston. Elizabeth is a professor

and chair of the college’s Graphic

Design department.

1971 40th reunion October 7– 9, 2011

1973Howard 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.

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.

Spencer Lawrence IL*

(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.

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.

1975Dennis 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 Provi-

dence’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 large-

scale works that were shown for

the first time.

Ellen (Schwartz) Wexler 71 AE Allan Wexler BArch 72This 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.”

Robert Carsten 73 SCBased 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.”

1976 35th reunion October 7– 9, 2011

Last spring Carol Heft PT had

an exhibition entitled Trans-

formation: bits and pieces at Blue

Mountain Gallery in NYC, where

she lives.

Stephen Talasnik PT (NYC)

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.

John Whalley IL (Damaris-

cotta, ME) showed paintings

at Greenhut Galleries in

Portland, ME in August.Howard Newman BID 69Working 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.

Patrick Linehan 75 PHPatrick’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.

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46 RISDXYZ

1979Ana 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.

1980In September T Barny SC

(Healdsburg, CA) had a solo

show titled Join Me in Santa Fe at

Hunter Kirkland Contemporary

Gallery in Santa Fe.

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.

1977In 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 multi-

disciplinary 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.

1978Last 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)

Keith Campbell 78 ARleft: 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).

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 crafts- manship. He sells the stool in cherry or walnut with ash legs (and in kit or finished form) out of his studio in Stonington, ME.

Katherine Kean 78 FAVleft: 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 other- worldly viewpoint in depicting natural wind, storm and volcanic forces.

Karen Hackenberg 78 PTTalking 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.

Susan (Kramer) George 76 PTSusan’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.

Alex O’Neal 79 ILChapelle 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.

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.

47 Fall 2010 To submit updates for class notes, email risdxyz@risd.edu.

top

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010

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.

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.

Karen Rand Anderson 77 CRIt’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.

Christopher Kirwan AR (NYC)

has been working with the Reign-

wood Group in Beijing this year

and enjoying his travels.

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

Laurie Karp 76 SC laurie’s installation Water and Ways 1 (glazed earthenware, 100x57x18") 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.

Stuart Karten 78 IDa 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.

Jamie Hogan 80 IL In Ice Harbor Mittens (Down East Publishing, October 2010), Jamie’s colorful pastels accom- pany 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 illustra- tion at Maine College of art since 2003 and writes a column called Art Roamings for the Island Times.

1983Preston 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.

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 mer-

maids 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.”

1982Ann Reichlin CR (Ithaca, NY)

had a solo show in September

at the Munson-Williams-Proctor

Arts Institute Museum of Art

in Utica, NY.

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.

48 RISDXYZ

1984In September Claudia Flynn SC

(Wakefield, RI) had a solo exhibi-

tion 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 Land-

scape 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

Carol (Ware) Mojarrab AR

lives in Santa Fe with her

husband Vahid and their

children Xander and Leilah.

Jackie Saccoccio PT (West Cornwall, CT) exhibited

a “monumental installation”

at Eleven Rivington in NYC

last spring.

Last March Michael Scar-

amozzino 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

master metalsmith John Prip,

along with pieces by Didi, Peter

Prip, Janet Prip 74 SC and

Robin Quigley MFA 76 SC.

Last spring Jeff Waring PT

(Middletown, PA) had a solo

exhibition at Highwire Gallery

in Philadelphia.

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

Jack Mathews BID 86as 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.

Stephen Burt 87 ILStephen’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.

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.

1985Elizabeth Poulin Alvarez IL

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.

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)

received an honorary Doctor of

Engineering Technology degree

and delivered the Commence-

ment address at Boston’s Went-

worth 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.

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 Ameri-

can 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.

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.

Last spring Hanna von Goeler

IL (Montclair, NJ) had a solo

show at the Hunter College/

Times Square Gallery in NYC.

49 Fall 2010 To submit updates for class notes, email risdxyz@risd.edu.

are the proud parents of two

daughters, Claudia and Olivia.

Samantha is designing and

making belts and jewelry.

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 artist-

run enterprise that generates

income for artists whose work

is either non-commercial or not

yet self-sustaining.

Earlier this fall Kristen Gossler

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

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

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 post-

graduate interns at the Smith-

sonian American Art Museum.

She was an intern at the

museum in 1986 in the office

of exhibition design.

1990Lisa Albin BArch (Brooklyn, NY)

and her company Iglooplay

exhibited at the spring

International Contemporary

Furniture Fair in NYC.

Linda Zelenko 83 IDYork 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.

Allison (Kluger) Rae 87 IDlast 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.

1988Wendy Gonick GD and Pat

White 64 IL took part in last

spring’s Open Studios-Central

in Cambridge, MA.

Allison Massari IL (Tiburon, CA)

was one of 10 people selected for

inclusion in ReSolve, an inter-

national 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.

1989Samantha Grisdale PR (Los

Angeles) writes to tell us that she

and husband John Biggs 89 PR

1987A 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.

Margaret Jackson GL published Moche Art and Visual

Culture in Ancient Peru in 2008

(University of Mexico Press).

In July Lisa Palombo IL

(Caldwell, NJ) was featured on

Whopple: Interviews with Artists

on whopple.com.

David Collins 88 PTDavid (NYC) had a solo exhibition last spring called In Bound at Kenise Barnes Fine art in larchmont, NY.

Susan Pogany 81 ILIn 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.

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.

50 RISDXYZ

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.

Recent paintings by Bo Joseph

PT (NYC) were featured in

Berliner Geschichten, a three-

person summer show at Barry

Whistler Gallery in Dallas.

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. Film-

makers Alex Gibney, Morgan

Spurlock, Heidi Ewing, Rachael

Grady, Seth Gordon and Eugene

Jarecki collaborated on the

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 pro-

duction Temple Grandin.

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

26–29)

1992Richard 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.

Franklin Einspruch 90 ILAfter 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.)

Sadie Jernigan Valeri 93 ILSadie 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").

Nakhee Sung 94 PTleft: Between You and Me, her solo show of paintings, was on view in September at Doosan Gallery in NYC. Nakhee lives in Seoul, Korea.

1991 20th reunion October 7– 9, 2011

Eve Alyson PH (Seattle) is

the creative director for Wonder-

Chess, a fabulous game that

teaches children as young four

to play chess. She designed the

packaging for the company’s

games, which include Wonder-

Chess, 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).”

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

51 Fall 2010 For more information, go to doloresavendano.com.ar.

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 artists-

in-residence for its 2010-2011

AIRspace residency program.

Marie Keller IL (Surry, NH)

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

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 & Architec-

ture 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.)

stamps portraying memorable

Supreme Court justices. Catalone

Design Co. created the LOVE

stamp for the USPS in 2001.

Work by Lucy King SC, assistant

director of admissions at RISD,

was featured recently at Peace-

Love studios in Pawtucket, RI.

1994Philip 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.

Denyse Schmidt 92 GDWhen Denyse created Tried & True (based on a traditional pattern for Chinese coins) for Pottery Barn, the company fea- tured 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.

Patrick Keesey 90 PT/GLDrawings such as this were featured in Traces and Accu-mulations, a summer solo show at the Deffebach Gallery in Hudson, NY. Patrick lives in Marfa, TX.

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.

Derek Taylor ID (Saco, ME)

sent in this bit of boast: “I can eat

50 eggs.”

1993Mark 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

M I N D OV E R M AT T E R dolores avendaño 93 IL

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 Illu- stration.” 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.

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.

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.

52 RISDXYZ

1997Cory Brookes BGD and his wife

Melissa had a son, Porter Edward

Brookes, on January 3, 2010 in

Philadelphia.

Saul Chernick PR (Brooklyn,

NY) recently exhibited new work

in Borrowed from the Charnel

House, a solo show at Max Pro-

tetch Gallery in NYC. The exhi-

bition of highly detailed pen and

ink drawings demonstrated

his penchant for borrowing from

the relics of art history and trans-

forming them into the elements

of his own visual language.

Brian Chippendale PR* (Providence) had a solo

exhibition titled Fruiting Bodies

at Cinders Gallery in Williams-

burg, NY in June. He recently

finished an 800-page comic

called If N’ Oof, to be released

this fall by Picturebox.

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.

1995Michael 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).

Heather Henson IL (Hollywood)

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 per-

formed throughout the country

including at RISD this fall.

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 professional-

level 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.

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.

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 land-

scape paintings at Shoalhaven’s

Artfest 2010. To keep in touch,

visit davincikids.com.au or

sallywillbanks.com.

Shawn Greenlee PR has been

appointed an assistant professor

of Foundation Studies at RISD

as of this fall.

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.

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.

1996 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

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

Jeff Hantman 95 PRJeff’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.

Charles Wilrycx BArch 96Charles (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.

53 Fall 2010 To submit updates for class notes, email risdxyz@risd.edu.

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 esta-

blished 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 artist-

in-residence program in Berlin,

Germany during November and

December 2010.

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

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.

Ari Benjamin Soltysiak was

born on July 19, 2010 to Mark

Soltysiak BArch (Boston) and

his wife Randi.

1998Alison 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*.

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.

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 Commun-

ities 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.

1999Val Britton PR (San Francisco)

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

Kristina (Bell) DiTullo 96 IL

Ellen Godena 97 PT

Johanna Burns Maxey 98 PTlast 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.

Maria Virginia (Marivi) Gonzalez 94 GDMaria’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.

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.

Amanda Dumas- Hernandez 97 GDamanda’s Chicken Purse appeared as the cover image on the July 2010 issue of the French news publication Courier International. She lives in atlanta.

Eric Sabee 97 ILEric (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.

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.

54 RISDXYZ

Katy Horan IL and Daniel

Bloomfield FAV were married

on April 3, 2010 in Austin, TX,

where they now live.

Alex Lukas IL (Philadelphia)

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.

2000Last 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.)

Jen White PH and Sharon

Noh PR got together in Los

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.

2002Uhuru, 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

married in 2009 to Leopoldo

Llinas and now lives in Miami,

FL. She is owner of the

design and branding studio

R+M Collaborative.

Brian Martin 98 ILArrival (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.

Andrew Kuo 99 GDandrew’s illustration/com- mentary piece Wheel of Worry ran in the New York Times Magazine’s May 16, 2010 issue focusing on worth.

In July and August Daniel

Bruce SC (Long Island City, NY)

exhibited Make A Wish, an inter-

active sculptural installation,

at WAVE HILL Sunroom Project

Space in Bronx, NY.

Katie Herzog PT (Los Angeles)

had a solo painting show called

Informel at LA’s Actual Size

Gallery in August.

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.

Kristian Rangel BGD (The

Woodlands, TX) was part of an

October group show entitled

Subtle Arrangements at the Gela-

bert Studios Gallery in New York.

Joel Savitzky (NYC) married

Sharon Mary Martin on June 4

at Auberge de Soleil, a hotel in

Rutherford, CA. Joel is a senior art

director for Rosetta, an adver-

tising and marketing agency

headquartered in Hamilton, NJ.

He works in the NYC office.

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.

Sonjie Feliciano Solomon 02 IDSonjie had a summer solo show at Causey Contemporary in Brooklyn, where she lives, and also worked on a recent installation by SOFTlab archi- tecture at Bridge Gallery in NYC.

Here are some of the ways you can contribute to your magazine:

1/ submit updates (professional and personal) to class notes email risdxyz@risd.edu (subject line: class notes)

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3/ send in story ideas for articles or subject matter you’d like us to cover email risdxyz@risd.edu (subject line: story suggestions)

upcoming deadlines:

December 15 for Winter 2011 (focused on food / due out in February)

April 1 for Spring 2011 (due out in May)

To submit information via post, write to:

RISD XYZ, Two College Street, Providence, RI 02903

To speak to the editor: call Liisa at 401 454-6349

Send us your XYZ info! Tell us what you’re up to and we’ll share your news with the RISD community.

Matt Lamothe FAV, Julia

Rothman IL, Jenny Volvovski

GD (see page 6)

2003Amy (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.

55 Fall 2010 To submit updates for class notes, email risdxyz@risd.edu.

2005Jamie Allen IL received a full

scholarship from the Dedalus

Foundation to participate in the

Vermont Studio Center Residency

Program. She focused on mixed-

media 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 design-

making 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.”

Michael Sherman IL

(Brooklyn, NY) wrote to RISD

about his busy summer

exhibition schedule including

shows in Basel, Switzerland,

Chelsea and Harlem.

David Sherry PH (Brooklyn,

NY) was included in MoMA P.S.1

Contemporary Art Center’s

Greater New York exhibition this

summer and fall.

The LA Times Magazine

highlighted young LA designers

in May, and David Wiseman

FD was among them. David is

currently working on a com-

mission 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.

2004Arla Bascom TX (Brooklyn, NY)

sold her company’s pottery at

SummerWare in July. Summer-

Ware 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.

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-chang-

ing 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.

Mila Zelkha BArch 01Mint 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.

Jane Kim 03 PRIn addition to earning her Ba in Science Illustration from Califor- nia 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.

Nancy Wells AP re-launched

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.

Sarah (Acheson) Rand 98 IL/MAT 99 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.

BEFORE AFTER

56 RISDXYZ

2005 continuedTimothy 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 Melka-

Teichroew 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 illu-

strated, 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.

Lana Williams TX* (Wilmette,

IL) was part of designboom mart

at the International Contemporary

Furniture Fair in NYC last spring.

2006Kelly 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 exhi-

bition at Envoy Enterprises in NYC

called Blue, Bluer, Orange Blues.

2007Alex Auriema AR (Woodstock,

VT) is one of the recipients of the

Transient Spaces—The Tourist

Syndrome research and pro-

duction grant. His residency took

place from February to April at

Lanificio25 in Naples, in coopera-

tion 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.

Meghan Gordon PT (NYC) had

a solo show at Michael Rosenthal

Gallery in San Francisco in

September. She will be in resi-

dence 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 pro-

duction 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,

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

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

Jessica Hess 03 ILJessica’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.

that identifies the world’s most

promising young creative pro-

fessionals, age 30 and under.

2008Dino 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.

Matthew Mignanelli 05 ILEarlier 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.

57 Fall 2010 To submit updates for class notes, email risdxyz@risd.edu.

Asher Dunn FD let RISD

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.

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 art-

work 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.

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-of-

a-kind clothing, accessories

and jewelry.

2009Monica 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 anima-

tions for Upload Cinema’s

monthly screenings in Cinema

De Uitkijk in Amsterdam. I now

live in Madrid, Spain, working

programs, make discoveries, and

learn together in an informal

setting. In addition, he designed

and implemented engaging edu-

cational programs for over 200

young people at local community

centers to bring the museum’s

activities to children in need.

Danny Kim ID (see page 8)

Fuzzy Insides, a film directed by

Michaela Olsen FAV, was one

of ten films chosen for the

first-ever Cartoon Brew Student

Animation Festival held in May.

2010Dorion 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 Svenning-

sen 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.

Diana Schoenbrun 04 ILBased 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).

as an assistant art teacher for the

Lower School. In the meantime,

I have decided to continue

working on my own art, experi-

menting with different forms

and media.”

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 tech-

nology 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.

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, open-

ended play to encourage visiting

children and their families to

explore interactive exhibits and

Anna Kukuchek 06 GD + William Keith Zollman II BArch 06anna and William (Phoenix) were married on april 17, 2010 at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix, aZ.

John Verdery IL (see page 7)

Sarah Young SC won the 2010

Outstanding Student Achieve-

ment Award from the Interna-

tional Sculpture Center. Her work

was featured in the October issue

of Sculpture magazine and in

the Grounds For Sculpture Fall/

Winter Exhibition catalogue.

2011Samantha Gosling IL/PT, who

calls art her “territory,” earned

the 2010 Bermuda Society of Arts

(BSoA) Bursary award.

Jake Zien GD (see page 9)

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.

58 RISDXYZ

phot

os c

ourt

esy

of th

e RI

SD A

rchi

ves

/ to

p: A

rthu

r Grif

fin ©

1944

D E AT h SJoseph 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 of Arlington, VA on July 28, 2010.

Alice Fromuth-Robinson

48 PT of Olympia, WA and

Lunenburg, VT on February 24,

2010.

Raymond Crompton 49 MD of North Smithfield, RI on

August 4, 2010.

Walter Francis James 49 MD

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

51 LA of Yarmouthport, MA on

April 8, 2010.

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.

William M. Wagner 55 GD

of East Providence, RI on

July 14, 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.

Donn DeVita 58 IL* of East

Dennis, MA on March 13, 2010.

Benjamin Weiss 67 MA of

Providence, RI on August 11, 2010.

Kenneth J. Bosted BArch 69

of Crystal River, FL on March 22,

2010.

Denis Pratt 72 AR* of

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

of Severna Park, MD on July 12,

2010.

Walter F. Pasieka BArch 87 of Greer, SC on August 21, 2010.

KEY

current majors

AP apparel Design

Arch architecture

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

former majors

AD advertising Design

AE art + Design Education

LA landscape architecture

MD Machine Design

TC Textile Chemistry

TE Textile Engineering

fIfth-year bachelor’s degrees

BArch architecture

BGD Graphic Design

BID Industrial Design

BIA Interior architecture

BLA landscape architecture

master’s degrees

MA art Education (formerly MaE)

MArch architecture

MAT Teaching

MFA Fine arts

MID Industrial Design

MIA Interior architecture

MLA landscape architecture

other

CEC Continuing Education Certificate

FS enrolled for Foundation Studies only

* attended RISD, but no degree awarded

A Tradition of Play 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.

59 Fall 2010

Graduate Class notes

To submit updates for class notes, email risdxyz@risd.edu.

right

: © K

athi

e Fl

orsh

eim

20

08.

All

right

s re

serv

ed.

1961 50th reunion October 7– 9, 2011

1966 45th reunion October 7– 9, 2011

Julie Wagner MFA SC (El Rito,

NM) recently exhibited new work

at The Gallery at Pioneer Bluffs

in Matfield Green, KS.

1971 40th reunion October 7– 9, 2011

Two photos by Rosalie N. Post

67 PT/MFA PH, Sands of Change

and Green Bats, Barker Dam, CA,

were accepted into the Blanche

Ames National Juried Exhibition

at Borderland State Park’s Ames

Mansion in North Easton, MA

and Abstraction in Photography

at the Vermont Photography

Workshop.

1973David 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.

James Engebretson MFA CR

retired recently after teaching

glass at the University of

Wisconsin River Falls for 33

Bunny Harvey 67 PT/MFA 72 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.

his book of the same title,

which Lark Books published

in a revised edition in 2009.

Alma Davenport MFA PT

(Jamestown, RI) exhibited photo-

graphs 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 self-

portraits 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.

1976 35th reunion October 7– 9, 2011

1977In 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.

1978New works by Laurence

Young MAE PR were featured

over the summer at Alden

Gallery in Provincetown, MA,

where he lives.

Judith Unger 69 SC/MAT 70 CR 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.

Kathie Florsheim MFA 74 PHGotcha is from Kathie’s latest documentary photographic series Living on the Edge, which focuses on a coastal community in Matunuck, RI.

years. He continues to operate

his own studio in Hudson, WI.

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.

1975Last summer Steven

Branfman MAT had an

exhibition called Mastering Raku

at Newport [RI] Potters Guild.

The show corresponded to

60 RISDXYZ

In June and July Susan

Breary MFA PT/PR (Putney, VT)

exhibited in Contemporary

Naturalism at the Gerald Peters

Gallery in Santa Fe.

1996 15th reunion October 7– 9, 2011

1997Victoria 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/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.

1999William 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

Lawrence Cromwell MFA PT/PR (Baltimore), was featured

at the Beckler Family Members

Gallery in Delaware last spring

and summer.

2000Following on the heels of two

RISD alumni who competed

during Season 7, Kristin Haskins-

Simms 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.

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 interdisciplin-

ary studio concentrations and

minors (Art History, Community

Arts Engagement, Creative

Writing, Cultural Studies, Sustain-

ability, Teacher Credential

Preparation) while continuing

to teach in the Integrated

Learning and Artists, Community

and Teaching programs.

2001 10th reunion October 7– 9, 2011

Presence (Veils), a solo show of

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.

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.

2003Work by Mark Bowers MAT (Evanston, IL) was on view

recently at Chicago’s Ann Nathan

Gallery, where he has been repre-

sented since 2007. His paintings

1979Linda 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 mixed-

media sculpture in his shop and

gallery in south central Indiana.

1982Brad 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

Maryjean Viano Crowe MFA 81 PHMaryjean’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.

a solo show at Tsukuba [Japan]

University Art Gallery and a

group show at the Dalhousie Art

Gallery in Halifax, Canada.

1986 25th reunion October 7– 9, 2011

1988Virginia 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.

1989W. 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

1992Katie Salen MFA GD (see

page 14-19)

1994Bill Allen MFA PT/PR (Charlotte,

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.

John Willis MFA 86 PHSince 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 Photogra-phy 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.

61 Fall 2010 To submit updates for class notes, email risdxyz@risd.edu.

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.

2006Ashley 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.

2007Adam 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.

were featured in Art Chicago

2009 and he was recently

selected for the Vermont Studio

Center’s Frankel Anderson

Chicago Artist Award. He com-

pleted a residency at the center

in August. Mark is a tenured

instructor at New Trier High

School in Winnetka, IL.

2004In 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.

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.

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.

2005Melissa Borrell MFA JM has

moved her studio, Melissa

Borrell Design, to Austin, TX.

Entrepreneur Magazine named

Paul Housberg 75 PT/MFA 79 GLPaul 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.

Mary Kocol MFA 87 PHBlooming 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.

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 process- driven art. Matt is a professor of Graphic Design at RISD.

the company one of the “100

Brilliant Companies of the year”

to watch. She exhibited last

summer at the New York Inter-

national Gift Fair.

Intertidal, a solo show of

photographs by Jesse Burke

MFA PH (Rumford, RI), was

exhibited recently at Clampart

in NYC.

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.

Shadi Khadivi MArch (Albany,

NY) married Jason D’Cruz

on July 10, 2010. They met in

Providence.

Jennifer Lin MArch (Cambridge,

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

62 RISDXYZ

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 arsenal-

ARTS in Watertown, MA.

Huy Vu MFA GD (see page 9)

2010Based 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.

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 organiza-

tion 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 Cres-

centa, 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),

Taylor M. Stapleton MFA GD

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.

2008Jeanne 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-in-

residence 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.

Tom Weis MID and Emily

Rothschild MID (see page 9)

2009Shoham 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

Annie Feldmeier Adams MFA 02 PTRequiem: Lincoln Park Conser- vatory, annie’s public art sound installation, recently trans-formed the Fern Room at lincoln Park Conservatory in Chicago, where she lives.

Jenna Goldberg MFA 04 FDFalling Water Cabinet (2008, painted, carved and hand- printed basswood and poplar, 75x28x18") is among the pieces Jenna exhibited in a summer solo show at Gallery NaGa in Boston. She lives in Providence.

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.

The RISD Museum helped open the world of art and design to you when you were a student. It’s still here for you.

2010–11 exhibition highlights

Lynda BenglisChanging Poses: The Artist’s Model2011 Faculty BiennialCocktail Culture Newly restored Ancient, Medieval and Early Renaissance galleries

risdmuseum.org

20% of your Alumni Membership is directed to the Phil Seibert [BFA ’67 IA] Alumni Acquisition Fund, which supports the purchase of works of art by RISD alumni. Join today! Call 401.454.6322 or join online at risdmuseum.org/join.

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among the watercolor vignettes he posts periodically on the site he created for his comics illustrations, The Moon Fell On Me (themoonfellonme.com).

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

illustration by

Franklin Einspruch

91 PT

Please submit your own visual commen-tary about anything that’s on your mind. Our favorite will appear in the next issue. For details email: risdxyz@risd.edu.

64 RISDXYZ