April - May - Summer 2012 Issue - Maryland Institute College of Art

Transcription

NEWS, EVENTS, & EXHIBITIONS
April–May–Summer
’12
MARYLAND INSTITUTE COLLEGE OF ART
THE UNTOLD STORIES
OF IRAQI REFUGEES
ALUMNA/FACULTY MEMBER CHRONICLES PLIGHT
THROUGH PHOTOGRAPHY
SPECIAL FOCUS: FILM
ALUMNUS CREATES NEW
BALTIMORE LANDMARK
LOVE CONNECTIONS
HARD AT
WORK:
JOSEPH SHEPPARD ’53 CREATES ICONIC STATUE
CENTEROFFOR
CAREER DEVELOPMENT
BASEBALL LEGEND BROOKS ROBINSON
ON CAMPUS
SPECIAL FOCUS: GLOBAL REACH
BEZALEL ON TOUR / UNDER COVER / SIGNALTO.NOISE
MFA THESIS
I, II, & III
/ & MORE
SMALL
BUSINESS
SHOWCASE
ART & SCIENCE FUSION
MICA ON STYLE
FASHION-FORWARD STUDENTS, ALUMNI, & EVENTS
ON CAMPUS
COMMENCEMENT EXHIBITION & ARTWALK
MFA THESIS EXHIBITIONS
FAT PIG & REASONS TO BE PRETTY
Find up-to-date event details
and expanded information at fyi.mica.edu.
Find up-to-date event details
and expanded information at fyi.mica.edu.
NEWS
EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS
MICA Venues
Main Building
1300 W. Mount Royal Ave.
Brown Center
COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT
Sophomore Creates Colorful Menagerie at Zoo 14
MICA Community Offers Summer Activities for City Youth 21
Fox Building
Bunting Center
INNOVATION
Art and Science Fusion 10
National Endowment for the Arts Funds Ceramics Residency 11
Senior Send-Off 27
The Gateway
GLOBAL
Alumni Making a Global Impact 6
Summer Travel Intensives Reach Around the Globe 12
MICA’s Art Education Impact Spreads Worldwide 16
April
MFA Thesis I
Through 5/4
MICA Welcomes New Associate Dean 11
Now on Shelves: New Books by MICA Faculty & Alumni 15
What’s in a Name? 19
Environmental Design Classes Help Public Understand History 20
Artists Inspired by Appalachia 22
Student & Departmental
Exhibitions
Small Business Showcase 4
Alumnus Captures Baseball Legend in Bronze 9
FX Network Picks Up Alumna’s Web Series 13
MICA Makes a Splash in Miami 25
Alumni as Style Makers 34
(this page) Daniel Shea ’07, Removing Mountains, 2007.
(Story, page 22)
(cover) Image from the unveiling of baseball legend Brooks Robinson’s statue,
sculpted by Joseph Sheppard ’53, just northwest of Camden Yards in Baltimore
(Image courtesy Maroon PR and the Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation).
(Story, page 9)
38
45
4/2
Lecture: Wangechi Mutu
42
4/3
Lecture: Gary Graham
42
4/5-4/15
Fat Pig and reasons to be pretty
36
4/6-4/15
MFA Thesis II
38
4/9
Lecture: Lisa Sanditz
42
4/11-4/25
Amalie Rothschild ’34:
Vestments
41
32
43
4/18
Lecture: Alicia Volk
43
4/18
Lecture: Lee Mingwei
44
4/20
Vestments Tour & Lecture
41
4/20
Caribbean Carnival
45
4/20-4/27
MA in Social Design
Thesis Show
39
4/20-4/29
MFA Thesis III
38
4/21
Milquetoast: Experimental
Fashion Event
Showcase Live!
32
43
45
4/23
Lecture: John Zinsser
4/16
Lecture: Post Typography 4/19
4/22
4/13-4/14
Transcend: Annual Benefit
Fashion Show
Animation and the Language of
Classical Indian Dance
44
Lecture: Candy Chang
44
4/25-5/16
MFA in Community Arts
Thesis Exhibition
39
4/25
Projector Performance: Sandra
Gibson & Luis Recoder
45
4/27
Last Blast
Jewelry Center at Meadow Mill
3600 Clipper Mill Road
5/5
4/19
Through 4/1
CONNECTIONS
ALUMNI
Dolphin Building
100 Dolphin St.
May
45
MICA Masters Benefit Art Sale 29
5/10
ArtWalk
29
5/11-5/14
2012 Commencement
Exhibition
29
39
Summer
MICA Gallery Hours
Monday through Saturday,
10 am–5 pm
Sunday, noon–5 pm
Closed major holidays
MICA PLACE Hours
6/1-6/20
Staff Exhibition
Studio Center
131 W. North Ave.
MICA PLACE
814 N. Collington Ave.
5/24-6/13
Community Art Collaborative
Exhibition
Mount Royal Station
1400 Cathedral St.
40
By appointment; contact
Kristy Taylor at 410.225.2254
or ktaylor03@mica.edu
6/28-7/14
MFA in Studio Art Thesis
Exhibition
40
7/6-7/13
Second- and Third-Year MFA
in Studio Art Exhibition
Twitter: @mica_news
40
7/20-8/5
2012 Janet & Walter Sondheim
Artscape Prize Semifinalists
46
7/25-7/27
MA in Art Education
Thesis Exhibition
facebook.com/mica.edu
YouTube: MICAmultimedia
41
Flickr: MICAmultimedia
8/9-8/16
School for Professional &
Continuing Studies
Student Exhibition
41
mica.edu/googleplus
President: Fred Lazarus IV Vice President of Advancement: Michael Franco, EdD Associate Vice President of Institutional Communications: Cedric Mobley
Editors: Jessica Weglein, Libby Zay, Lorri Angelloz Contributing Editors: Tamara Holmes, Murjani Sowell Designer: Mike Weikert ’05
Thank you for your support of MICA and its programs! MICA’s exhibitions and public programs receive generous support from the Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Special Programs
Endowment; the Amalie Rothschild ’34 Residency Program Endowment; The Rouse Company Endowment; the Richard Kalter Endowment; the Wm. O. Steinmetz ’50 Designer in Residence
Endowment; the Rosetta, Samson, and Sadie B. Feldman Endowment; the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive;
and the generous contributors to MICA’s Annual Fund. BBOX—Betty • Bill • Black Box—is named for Betty Cooke ’46 and Bill Steinmetz ’50.
Although every effort is made to ensure the completeness and accuracy of Juxtapositions, information does change. We suggest you confirm event details by checking MICA’s website at
mica.edu, where you will also find driving directions and a campus map. Events and exhibitions are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. To request disability accommodations,
call 410-225-2416 or email events@mica.edu. For more information, to adjust your subscription options, or to submit story ideas or comments, email news@mica.edu or call 410-225-2300.
© 2012 Maryland Institute College of Art
04
ALUMNI
ALUMNI
Small Business Showcase
R|S Design
It comes as no surprise that many members of the MICA community showcase their creative and artistic talents through
their own small businesses and product lines. These enterprises are often the heart of communities, and their support leads
to increased jobs and tourism in their neighborhoods. Below, several MICA alumni detail the inspiration behind their small
businesses and share a few words of wisdom for those looking to step out on their own.
Eau Claire, Wisconsin / rsdesign.co
Rachel Schimelman ’04
Mother Made
Hannah Brancato ’07 ’10 ’11 and Julia Di Bussolo ’06 ’07
Baltimore, Maryland / mothermadebaltimore.com
Founded in East Baltimore by alumnae Hannah Brancato ’07 ’10 ’11 and Julia Di Bussolo ’06
’07 along with community members Netta Chaney, Laurel Ash, and Natasha Miller, Mother Made
is a cooperatively operated program that produces reusable textile products, such as shopping
bags and hand-dyed napkins. Armed with eco-friendly merchandise, the women are producing a
positive effect in their neighborhoods and the environment by offering alternatives to the usage
of plastic and paper, thus reducing the amount of trash and litter these items leave behind. The
founders made it their mission to promote financial independence through job training for single
mothers, who create and sell the products.
Di Bussolo came up with the concept of Mother Made after hearing about the effectiveness
of women-run businesses and microloans in Rwanda. “The mothers I work with in East Baltimore
are strong, courageous, and creative. Why are we not investing more in the empowerment of
women in the United States?” Earning an MFA in Community Arts, Brancato already understood
how important community engagement is. “As an artist, my goal is to make art and culture that
lends itself to grassroots community development and that highlights powerful women. So when
I heard about Mother Made starting, I was excited to use my skills to help get the business off
the ground.”
And what pearl of wisdom do the founders offer future business owners who want to make
an impact? “Business owners should consider the broad social implications of their company,
their product, and their brand.”
Branding identity for Human Design by Rachel Schimelman ’04.
The idea of a design business came to Rachel Schimelman ’04 during her sophomore year, but it
didn’t become a reality until she graduated. “I’ve always been interested in controlling my own destiny,
having the ability to make the key decisions and a schedule that fits me as an artist and designer,” she
said. Her business, R|S Design, offers design and photographic services, priding itself on high quality,
reasonable prices, and fast turnaround. The services run a spectrum from headshots for actors and
musicians to photography for functions and weddings to website and print design.
Schimelman credits her time at MICA positively as an influence for her choice to start a business.
“Without my peers, teachers, and the quality education I received, I wouldn’t be the artist I am today.”
And if she could give some words of wisdom? “Expect to work a lot because for the first few
years you’ll want to take on anything that comes your way,” she said. “And you may end up working
two jobs—one that pays the bills and your dream job. But eventually, the bill-paying job and your
dream job become one.”
Baltimore Print Studios
Kyle Van Horn ’03 and Kim Bentley ’08
Baltimore, Maryland / baltimoreprintstudios.com
Reusable textile product from Mother Made.
Kim Bentley ’08 and Kyle Van Horn ’03
inside Baltimore Print Studios.
StudioSwan
After watching MICA produce talented graduates year after year who were looking for a place to
print, Kyle Van Horn ’03 and Kim Bentley ’08 decided to open up Baltimore Print Studios in the
city’s Station North Arts & Entertainment District. “The department has grown so much in the past
few years that it’s difficult for alumni to come back into the [Printmaking Department] to continue
producing work,” shares Van Horn, who is also a manager in the printmaking studio at MICA.
“We just set out to create a studio that had the equipment we wanted to use and thought others
would like to as well.” The shop is stocked with the items needed for letterpress and screenprinting for
those who are well versed. And for those who aren’t, the pair offers classes and workshops to aid on
the printmaking journey.
For those looking to create their own career path, Van Horn and Bentley have some very simple
advice: “Find the thing you love to do and figure out how to make that your job. And work with people
that excel where you fall short.”
Small Oak Press and Bindery
Gail Foster ’78
Carrie Tuccio ’10
Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia / studioswan.com
New York, New York / smalloakpress.etsy.com
After graduating from MICA, alumna Gail Foster ’78 went on to get her MFA at Parsons
The New School for Design. With her husband, Tom Swanston, she started a profitable
gallery and art advisory business hosting exhibitions and selling commissions and artwork
for a number of clients, including faculty member Raoul Middleman and his wife, Ruth.
However, despite their successes, the couple yearned to return to the studio. After
much thought and conversation, the pair decided to go for their dreams. They opened up
StudioSwan and haven’t looked back once in 23 years.
In addition to the support of her husband, Foster credits her time at MICA with helping to
drive her down this path. “The classroom and studio experiences focused me on the independent
mind and heart required to be an artist. Also, the faculty demonstrated that the life of an artist
was a good and righteous one—a life well lived to be pursued as much as possible.”
For future entrepreneurs, Foster offers this bit of advice: “Don’t forget that as an artist, you
must live your work, persistently.” She added some words of wisdom from Buddha that she lives
by: “All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we
think, we become.”
Journals designed by Carrie Tuccio ’10.
Businesses are often started in pursuit of extra income based on a hobby or talent, but some begin during
a time of necessity. “I started making journals and sketchbooks to sell about a year ago when I was laid
off from my job in a fine arts screenprinting studio,” Carrie Tuccio ’10 began. “I had started purchasing
some basic screenprinting equipment with the idea of setting up a small home studio for personal creative
work.” The idea blossomed into Small Oak Press and Bindery. Tuccio uses traditional binding techniques
and tools, and inspiration from the herbs growing in her kitchen for the cover designs.
For Tuccio, many factors went into her creations; the most notable is the convenience factor of the
sketchbooks. “Being transient myself, I like to keep my journals and sketchbooks at a good travel size.
That way, you never miss an idea or a chance to sketch!” The skills she acquired at MICA combined
with opportunities to meet and learn from other artists helped shape her drive and confidence. “Those
experiences drove me to believe that I can make it on my own.”
Tuccio believes that flexibility is the key to running a small business. “The advantage of being a
creative person is that you can re-imagine your products and services to meet the needs of your clients.
It’s a different kind of challenge, but I have learned an incredible amount from having to push my skill
set and my limits to fit my clients’ vision of what they want.”
For more information on MICA-owned small businesses, visit www.mica.edu/shop.
Gail Foster ’78, Forward, charcoal on paper, 2008.
05
06
GLOBAL
Alumni Making a Global Impact
While it’s clear that MICA artists and designers have made their mark in Baltimore, many have also applied their
talents to improve communities overseas. Here is a sampling of success stories that highlights the power of MICA’s global reach.
Jenny Sidhu Mullins ’09
A 2010-2011 recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, alumna Jenny Sidhu
Mullins used her fellowship to work in India, researching spiritual tourism and
Buddhist painting techniques. “I learned different ways of making and viewing
art as a part of an artist’s life,” she said. “For example, in the case of a thangka
painting [a Tibetan silk painting with embroidery], each painting is seen as a
sort of meditation.”
With interests in both eastern and western culture, as well as work that
questions cultural stereotypes, Mullins found herself gravitating toward
spiritual locales such as Amma The Hugging Saint in Kerala and the home
of the Dalai Lama in exile at McLeod Ganj. In the process, she learned that
master painters in India often used art to preserve their culture. “Rather than
exploring and commenting on contemporary culture, they attempted to hold
onto traditions from the past that are quickly becoming extinct,” she said.
“Every day was very much an adventure,” she said. She also enjoyed the
many new relationships she cultivated and credits MICA for helping her learn
the value of an artistic network. “My experience at MICA was invaluable,” she
said. “Having a network of artists and two years to clarify my work in a boiler
pot atmosphere was essential in getting to where I am today.” Having received
her MFA from MICA, Mullins’ work is exhibited internationally and was
recently added to the American Embassy in Mumbai’s permanent collection.
She is now based in Washington, DC.
Gabriel Albin ’04
After graduating from MICA with a degree in general fine arts, Gabriel
Albin joined the Peace Corps “to break out of the norms of American life
and see how I could travel and contribute to other communities,” he said.
He landed in Cameroon, West Africa, working with the local government
to train teachers in information technology. But he didn’t neglect his art.
He performed illustration and design work for local youth development
projects and taught art classes to high school students. “I really saw
my time in Cameroon as a time of inspiration,” he said. “I’ve made many
photographs and sketches, and now in the studio back in America, I’ve
been reflecting on my experiences and my work.”
His time in Cameroon wasn’t without challenges. He worked hard to
break communication barriers and adjust to cultural differences, but his
MICA education taught him the art of perseverance. “What I learned
at MICA was that challenges are there to be overcome, and there are
many solutions to be discovered along the way,” he said. “And I can’t
overemphasize the creative outlook and ability to see art in anything that
I developed during my time at MICA.”
(this page top to bottom) Jenny Sidhu Mullins ’09 in her studio in Kerala, India; An image reflecting the
beauty Gabriel Albin ’04 found in Mount Cameroon, an active volcano in Cameroon; Royal guards at the
Chefferie de Bamenjoun, West Region, Cameroon by Gabriel Albin.
(opposite page top to bottom) Haya Sehgal ’99, Haa; Stephanie McKee ’10 provides art instruction to
inmates in Durban, South Africa; Preparation for Social Action training center located in Jinja, Uganda.
GLOBAL
Haya Sehgal ’99
Graphic design alumna Haya Sehgal returned to her home country, Pakistan, eight years ago with
her art education in tow. “MICA gave me a thorough and well-rounded educational experience. I
felt that it not only completely disciplined me and helped me explore and develop my creative skills,
but also helped me mature as a person.”
Those skills came in handy as Sehgal took a job at the International School in her
hometown of Karachi as a visual arts instructor. She worked primarily with 11- to 16-yearold students. “I had a very open-minded administration, and they let me design my own
curriculum,” she said. “I concentrated on the conceptual and developmental stages in every
project so the students learned to focus on why they had created something rather than only
the finished product.”
Since leaving the International School, Sehgal has shown her work at exhibitions, including solo
shows that took place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates in November 2009 and Pakistan last
May. Her paintings often feature Islamic themes and concepts, and she enjoys creating abstract art
and calligraphy in abstract styles. Her work also reflects her experience and cultural wisdom she’s
attained by living and working in both the United States and Pakistan. “I loved working in both
countries,” she said. “Both experiences have been life changing in a very positive manner.”
Stephanie McKee ’10
While working on her BFA in painting in 2010, Stephanie McKee took part in the SIT Study
Abroad program, which offers undergraduate students opportunities to study overseas. That
led her to Durban, South Africa, where she participated in a program called Social and Political
Reconciliation and taught inmates painting and fine art to help them prepare to reintegrate
into society. “The prisons don’t orchestrate a lot of programs, and they rely on outside
stakeholders to provide what inmates need, especially psychologically and emotionally,” she
said. “So art gives them an activity in their day, it helps stop the erosion of the mind that
happens from being incarcerated, and it helps restore their relationships with their families.”
In 2011, McKee became a recipient of exchange program provider World Learning’s Alice
Rowan Swanson Fellowship, which allowed her to return to South Africa, once again bringing
art to prisoners in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal Province. “I feel like I was made to be an
artist, and I feel like I was put on this earth to make it a better place,” she said. Her work with
prisoners allowed her to do both.
McKee credits MICA with sparking her love for community engagement. “I began freshman
year with a community arts class called Finding Baltimore,” she said. “I think MICA’s drive to get
their students involved in the Baltimore community is what led me to do the work I did in South
Africa.”
Ruth Enslow ’09
Ruth Enslow grew up with the idea that the world is one country and everyone plays a
part in making it prosper. So it’s little wonder the New Zealand native and environmental
design graduate would end up living and working in Uganda, where she was asked to use her
architectural skills to create a training center for a youth-based distance learning program called
Preparation for Social Action. She worked with a construction engineer and received advice
from an architect to put her plans into action. Currently, two dormitories and a dining hall are in
use with provisions for more buildings to come in the future. “Working in another country with a
supportive network allowed me to do an unimaginable project,” she said.
Her MICA thesis helped to prepare her for this role. “My thesis ended with a model of my
own on a constructed space that can be both constructive and instructive,” she explained. Today
she’s proud of what she’s sparked: a training facility settled on a hill overlooking Lake Victoria.
With a love for education, Enslow also plans to spend the next year teaching at a homeschooling
center. In most of her activities, she focuses on expanding the knowledge of those around her.
“In some ways, [the] success in providing a space to explore and generate knowledge reminds
me of my positive experiences at MICA,” she said.
Story continues on next page.
07
08
GLOBAL
ALUMNI
Robert Janz ’64
Since graduating from the Rinehart School of Sculpture in 1964, Robert
Janz has had a long and varied international art career. It started with a
Fulbright fellowship in Spain just after graduation, which Janz said “was a
brilliant beginning.” After some time in London, he found himself completing
a Deutscher Akademischer Austausch-Dienst (DAAD) fellowship in Berlin,
where he counts among his many milestones the ability to draw on the
Berlin Wall long before it came down. From there, his work has led him to
complete residencies in places such as Guernsey, Puerto Rico, Ireland, and
France, as well as many locations in the United States.
The 79 year old was on the road for six months last year completing a
residency at the Centre Culturel Irelandais in Paris and an exhibition at the
Peppercanister Gallery in Dublin. “Although I sell work in Berlin and Ireland,
the work I enjoy doing the most tends to be ephemeral—my specialty is
transitory work,” said Janz, whose recent projects have involved a series of
drawings with water on rock while in Ireland and the rearrangement of a
series of chairs during his residency in Paris.
This spring, Janz will make history as the first artist invited to have
a second solo show at the John David Mooney Foundation International
Currents Gallery in Chicago. Titled Slow Kinetics, the exhibition explores
aspects of motion, change, and transience through the subtle arrangement
and rearrangement of paper shapes throughout the duration of the
exhibition. Keep up with the progress of Slow Kinetics on his blog,
slowkinetics.blogspot.com.
(top to bottom) All work by Robert Janz ‘64. Janz arranges chairs for his Chaises Paris series;
Photo of the Slow Kinetics series in progress.
MICA Masters
Benefit Art Sale and Reception
Saturday, May 5th
noon to 4:00 PM
Graduate Studio Center, 131 W. North Avenue
Browse and buy affordable works of art from trailblazing
graduate students and visit their studio spaces.
See artwork from students in the Mount Royal School of Art,
Hoffberger School of Painting, Rinehart School of Sculpture,
MFA in Graphic Design, MFA in Photographic & Electronic Media,
and Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Fine Arts programs.
Enjoy this rare opportunity to visit the studios and facilities of
the College’s graduate programs.
Learn more at fyi.mica.edu
A percentage of the proceeds will support a graduate-specific scholarship.
Alumnus Captures Baseball Legend in Bronze
During his career as a third baseman for the baltimore orioles,
Brooks Robinson won 16 Gold Gloves and set Major League Baseball records for
games, putouts, assists, chances, double plays, and fielding percentage. A recently
completed statue of the Hall of Famer, by Joseph Sheppard ’53, is Baltimore’s newest
landmark. Located outside Oriole Park at Camden Yards at the intersection of the
Baltimore-Washington Parkway and Washington Boulevard, it is the “gateway to
downtown” for traffic arriving into the city from the south. The nine-foot bronze statue
features a bright gold painted glove and may be one of the first in the world to have a
quick response (QR) code attached that allows visitors to access more information from
a smart phone. It was gifted to the city by the Dorothy L. and Henry A. Rosenberg
Jr. Foundation and the Babe Ruth Birthplace Foundation. Among the speakers at the
dedication ceremony were Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, U.S. Senator Barbara
Mikulski, and Baseball Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson.
Sheppard, a MICA alumnus and former instructor, is the creator of sculptures and
paintings featured in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, The Baltimore
Museum of Art, and the Carnegie Museum of Art, among others. His portraits include
that of Pope Benedetto XVI, which hangs in Vatican City, and of President and Mrs.
George H.W. Bush, which can be seen at the George Bush Presidential Library. He also
designed the Holocaust Memorial in Baltimore and other noted works of art.
Joseph Sheppard ’53 at the dedication ceremony for the Brooks
Robinson statue (Photo by Bill Hughes).
Ravens Linebacker Selects
Alumnus for T-Shirt Design
Brian Propst, jr. ’10 recently designed the
official “Ball So Hard University” apparel for Baltimore
Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs, who created a national
sensation when he announced the fictional university as
his alma mater in an NBC graphic during a televised game
on November 6, 2011. Propst, who majored in painting
with a studio concentration in illustration while at MICA,
is no stranger to sports. He won the 2003 Maryland State
Championship in wrestling at 145 pounds and went on to
wrestle as a collegiate athlete. After a motorcycle accident
ended his wrestling hopes, Propst made his way to MICA.
Today, he says his most personal works are related to his
background as an athlete, as he uses competition to convey
his interests in spirituality and humanity. The apparel can be
found at tsizzle55.com.
Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs with Brian Propst, Jr. ’10 (Photo by SportStar Designs).
09
10
INNOVATION
CONNECTIONS
Jeanne Quinn, Everything Is Not As It Seems, porcelain, wire, paint, electrical hardware, 2009.
MICA hosted a meeting in the fall in relation to the formation of a proposed Network for Sciences, Engineering, Arts, and Design.
Art and Science Fusion
With a recent National Science Foundation
grant, MICA has taken leadership in the formation of a
proposed Network for Sciences, Engineering, Arts, and Design
(NSEAD). The long-term initiative, in partnership with Texas
A&M University and University of North Carolina, aims to
develop a national network structure that will act as the leading
advocate for collaboration among the arts, design, sciences, and
engineering fields, fostering innovation, research, and learning
that impact community sustainability and economic growth.
NSEAD, which is scheduled to launch this summer, will
advocate for research and creative work, learning and education,
partnerships, innovation, and economic development across
academia, nonprofit organizations, industries, and funders.
The national network aims to serve in the following capacities:
development of the emerging research community; collaboration
and project matchmaking facilitation; expertise referrals; largescale, cross-institutional collaborations; forums to share best
practices in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and
mathematics) learning; and philanthropic opportunities for a
wide array of organizations.
In recent decades, the rapid evolution of computational
media and technologies has enabled an emerging field of
collaborative and cross-disciplinary practices that combines
the skills and knowledge of scientists and artists. As physicists
and engineers have developed new imaging techniques, visual
artists experimented with the innovative expressive potentials
they enabled, often influencing further development of these
technologies. Visual artists and musicians created computer
languages and algorithms while pushing technologies for
composing and recording in fields of software engineering,
artificial intelligence, graphics, and visualization. In addition,
an entire ecosystem of academic programs, research conferences,
gallery exhibitions, museum programs, and municipal events has
emerged through such groundbreaking investigations.
For years, MICA has played a leading role in the
discussion and development of collaborative practice, research,
and education in art and science. The National Endowment
for the Arts recently granted $25,000 to fund the Creative
Residency in Ceramics and New Technologies project, headed
by Ceramics Department Chair David East (see more on page
11). In February, Gunalan Nadarajan, vice provost for research
and graduate studies at MICA, co-organized and presented
at an American Association for the Advancement of Science
conference on the challenges and potential of developing art
and science collaborations for a globalized innovation-driven
economy.
“We are mindful that the United States’ progress and
competitive edge in the global economy rely upon forward
thinking and transformative efforts that integrate the sciences
with the arts and humanities. Expanding and amplifying the
intersections of the sciences and arts in our country are critical to
this success,” said Nadarajan. “NSEAD will operationalize these
creative intersections by developing a pilot network to support
transdisciplinary, collaborative work, bridging STEM research
with creative practices in the arts.”
National Endowment for the
Arts Funds Ceramics Residency
Recently, MICA was awarded a $25,000 grant from the
National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) that will fund the Creative
Residency in Ceramics and New Technologies project. Headed by Ceramics
Department Chair David East, the residency will host a group of five nationallyand internationally-known ceramics artists for three weeks at MICA from Sunday,
June 3 to Sunday, June 24. The overall goals of the project are to enable ceramic
artists to gain valuable experience in a range of new digital fabrication technologies
and provide a forum for the general public that will ignite a renewed interest in
ceramics.
“I am thrilled and honored to receive this support from the NEA to
continue my work on the initiative,” said East upon hearing the news. “This
grant will enable MICA to continue developing its leadership role in ceramics
and new technologies and will support a group of leaders in the field in exploring
the potential of these new methods of working, as well as future pedagogy and
programs within the MICA community.”
Under the leadership of East, the project team consists of ceramic artists Neil
Forrest, Rory MacDonald, Julie York, and Jeanne Quinn. The group will focus its
time in residence on works that explore new methods of working and engage in
critical dialogue about the effect and importance of these new tools. Following the
residency will be exhibitions of the works created and a symposium, tentatively
scheduled for late fall 2012, that will be hosted on campus.
MICA Welcomes New
Associate Dean for Student
Health & Wellness
In March, MICA welcomed Bryant K.
Ford, PhD, as the new associate dean for
student health & wellness. The associate
dean’s role is to provide leadership for offices
within the Student Affairs Division related
to health and wellness, including student
health, student counseling, and the new
MICA Fitness facility.
With a wealth of experience as
Dartmouth College’s director of health
promotion and staff psychologist, Ford is
ready for the task. He is beginning his tenure
as a “sponge soaking up all the information” he
can about the campus and its healthcare views
and needs so he can best fill this new role and
lead MICA’s expanding and comprehensive
care for its community. Ford expressed his
admiration for the students’ academic abilities
and dedication to interpersonal development,
and plans to start a student health advisory
committee so students can continually have a
voice about their care.
11
12
GLOBAL
GLOBAL
Summer Travel Intensives Carry Students
and Lifelong Learners Around the Globe
MICA’s Summer Travel Intensives immerse students and lifelong learners in places of great aesthetic, cultural, and
historical resonance and offer the unique opportunity to study with MICA faculty and earn college credit. And, as many participants
discover, the intensives also enable them to grow both personally and professionally—not only as artists and designers, but as citizens
of the world.
As Tracy Jacobs, director of marketing and enrollment development at the College’s School for Professional and Continuing
Studies, explains, “One of the most rewarding aspects of my job is hearing students who participated in an intensive explain how
the program impacted them as an artist and as a person. Sometimes, studying in the program is a key transformational experience
that affects them when they return to school. For others, it’s a confidence builder, giving them the courage to be a world traveler and
more. Many don’t realize going in just how meaningful short-term study with MICA faculty can be.”
In 2012, students of all backgrounds are invited to take part in Summer Travel Intensives held in New York City; Turkey; São
Tomé and Príncipe; Berlin, Germany; Sorrento, Italy; Seoul, South Korea; Greece; Cetamura, Italy; and Nicaragua.
New York City / Sunday, May 13–Friday, June 8
Open to rising sophomores through second-year graduate students, the
New York City intensive allows participants to visit galleries and museums,
meet curators and practicing artists, and immerse themselves in the vibrant
culture of the city—while they live in Manhattan and work in their own
studio space in Brooklyn’s DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge
Overpass) neighborhood.
surrounding region while living on campus with Korean National University
of Art (K’ARTS) students.
Greece / Wednesday, June 27–Saturday, July 7
The K-12 Artist Teacher Greek Island Workshop begins in Athens where
students are immersed in Greek art and mythology. Participants then move
on to the island of Skiathos, where they begin their own studio investigations
in a retreat-like setting at Studio Mirovili, situated in a contemporary villa
overlooking olive groves and the Aegean Sea.
Cetamura, Italy / Thursday, June 28–Saturday, July 28
MICA’s Cetamura program offers the opportunity to follow the processes of
excavation and conservation of archaeological artifacts. Students will work
at the archaeological site of Cetamura in the Chianti Mountains of Tuscany.
Nicaragua / Thursday, July 5–Saturday, August 4
Participants explore the mountainside city of Estelí and partner with Casa
de Cultura, a center for promotion and exhibition of art and culture, and
build relationships with artists, art collectives, and community organizations.
Then they travel to Limay, an isolated village with a wealth of artists, where
they collaborate and connect to empower and teach local youth.
For more information on MICA’s Summer Travel Intensives,
visit mica.edu/summertravel.
FX Network Picks Up Alumna’s Web Series
Turkey / Friday, May 18–Saturday, June 9
This intensive brings students to Istanbul and Bursa, famous for the
production of silks, and to archeological sites along the Aegean coast as
they learn about ceramic tiles, textiles, and folk costumes as well as textile
production and traditional dyeing and weaving techniques.
São Tomé and Príncipe / Friday, May 25–Friday, June 29
The island nation of São Tomé and Príncipe, off the west coast of Africa, is
the setting for students as they create illustration or painting projects in
preparation for participation as exhibiting artists in the country’s Biennial of
Art and Culture.
Berlin, Germany / Friday, June 1–Friday, June 22
Students in this intensive will get a behind-the-scenes look at the 7th Berlin
Biennale for Contemporary Art, visit the studios of artists, have insider
discussions with critics and curators of contemporary art, see work in local
galleries, and attend lectures and sites associated with the biennale.
Sorrento, Italy / Sunday, June 24–Friday, July 20
Students in this program experience southern Italy and develop their artistic
voice through plein-air explorations while living in a former monastery
overlooking Mount Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples.
Seoul, South Korea / Monday, June 25–Friday, July 20
Set in one of Asia’s most dynamic cities, the summer program in Seoul,
South Korea allows students to be inspired by this unique city and
Abbi Jacobson ’06 and Ilana Glazer
(Photo by Eric Michael Pearson).
Created by Abbi Jacobson ’06 and Ilana Glazer, Broad City is an offbeat web series
centered on the misadventures of two female best friends. The show has developed a
cult following online and has received national attention from The Wall Street Journal,
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and The New York Times. The show also caught the eye
of Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation star Amy Poehler, who teamed up
with Jacobson and Glazer to take the show to television. With Poehler on board as an
executive producer, the quirky comedy has received a script commitment from FX for a
half-hour series.
“We were pretty overwhelmed with excitement,” said Jacobson when asked how she
reacted to the news. “It was a pretty surreal time, and we were just on top of the world.”
Broad City began in fall 2009, when Jacobson and Glazer were looking to create
some new material in video form. “Both of us came to a point where we felt we weren’t
creating enough in our own voice. We had a unique dynamic and figured we’d just run
with that,” Jacobson said. The duo are both alumnae of the Upright Citizens Brigade
Theater in New York and continue to work on individual stand up and improv projects.
According to Jacobson, MICA had an influence on the show. “Although I didn’t
have the show in mind when I was a student, being in the General Fine Arts Department
enabled me to explore various mediums. Minoring in video sparked my interest in the
moving image, writing, and acting,” she shared. “My years at MICA allowed me to train
myself to have to come up with ideas quickly and figure out how to execute them.”
To view a webisode, visit broadcitytheshow.com.
13
14
CONNECTIONS
Now on Shelves:
New Books by MICA Faculty & Alumni
The Changing Face of Portrait Photography:
From Daguerreotype to Digital
Written by faculty member Shannon Thomas Perich, the associate curator of the Smithsonian’s Photographic History Collection, this
richly illustrated volume takes the readers on a journey through the photographic process, uses, and evolution from the mid-19th to
the 21st century. For this project, Perich studied nine iconic photographers: Julia Margaret Cameron, Dorothea Lange, Richard Avedon,
George K. Warren, Gertrude Käsebier, Nickolas Muray, Henry Horenstein, Lauren Greenfield, and Robert Weingarten.
It Can Be Solved By Walking
In search of a place of self in an urban ecosystem, faculty member Jennifer Wallace put together this book-length poem and collection
of photographs. She began the book in 2009 while working on the documentary film, Inter:View, a conversation about nature and the
city. During the journey, she discovered that cities, not often thought of as ecosystems, are bursting with nature as well as human fears
and desires. Her writing and photographs attempt to create glimpses of Baltimore that allow her readers to view the city without
preconceptions or illusions as to what urban areas are supposed to be.
Saidie May: Pioneer of Early 20th-Century Collection
Saidie May
Pioneer of Early 20th Century Collecting
Susan Helen Adler
Susan Adler Davis ’79 pens the life and adventures of the Baltimore-born Saidie Adler May and Blanche Adler, her sister. An American
expatriate, May lived in Paris from the late 1920s to the beginning of World War II. During this time, she helped artist Marc Chagall
escape the Nazi occupation and also became a patron of abstract painter Alfred Julio Jensen. As longtime friends of the arts, she and
her sister began acquiring and sending art to US museums while they were abroad and became benefactors to many of them, including
The Baltimore Museum of Art. Author and alumna Davis is the great niece of May.
Love and Capital:
Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution
Mary Gabriel ’84 brings to life the tragic saga of the Marx family in this book that details Karl Marx’s politically obsessed professional
life and tumultuous personal life, with his wife Jenny von Westphalen at the helm. While their marriage shared passionate and joyous
moments, it was also filled with tragedies of financial despair, infant mortality, and many infidelities—one that produced an illegitimate
son. But Gabriel does more than just outline his career and family life. She has shown her readers that without the women in Karl
Marx’s life, the revolutionary thinker history knows may not have existed.
Sophomore Creates Colorful Menagerie at Zoo
(
In 2012, visitors to the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore will no longer walk past a
bare, 150-foot concrete wall as they exit the tram that carries visitors to the
facility’s major exhibitions. Thanks to MICA student Colleen O’Connor Collins
’14, they’ll instead be greeted by a bevy of vibrant, eye-catching animals gracing
a mural that has transformed the once bleak space. Collins worked throughout
fall 2011 to complete the mural, which was a project of MICA’s Community Arts
Partnership, a program that provides the Baltimore community with enriching
art-based educational experiences.
Printmaking Faculty Member’s Blog Receives Major Grant
Started by faculty member R.L. Tillman, former faculty member Jason Urban, and Amze Emmons, Printeresting is
a blog that highlights the ways print serves art and design and how the medium influences pop culture. Founded in
2008 by the trio, the blog is now authored by multiple contributors and is billed as “the thinking person’s favorite
online resource for interesting printmaking miscellany.” The dynamic posts range from news to critical commentary.
Whether you’re a curious novice or an expert in the field, Printeresting welcomes all and recently was welcomed
with some big news.
In December, Printeresting was awarded a $30,000 grant from the Arts Writer Grant Program, presented
by Creative Capital and The Andy Warhol Foundation in recognition of the team’s past writing and in support of
future research. The founders met the news with a mix of pride and humility. “To say that we’re speechless would
be an understatement,” the creators wrote in a blog entry. “This grant has been awarded to many great art
writers, and we are truly honored to be in such good company.”
Amze Emmons, faculty member R.L. Tillman, and
former faculty member Jason Urban.
15
16
GLOBAL
GLOBAL
MICA’s Art Education Impact
Spreads Around the World
Though MICA’s roots are in Baltimore, members of the MICA art education community are spreading seeds of art-based
empowerment across the world. Not only are alumni and faculty members participating in a wide range of art education programs
abroad, but the College and the Nathan Cummings Foundation recently sponsored the online publication of the Community
Arts Journal, a publication that centers on the historical aspect of organizations and collectives from several regions around the
world. Led by Ken Krafchek ’95, graduate director of MICA’s MA and MFA in Community Arts programs, the one-of-a-kind
journal stimulates dialogue and supports continued local and national investment in community arts. To read more, visit mica.edu/
communityartsjournal. Following, artists and teachers with ties to MICA detail their experiences overseas.
Documentation by local news media of the photojournalism project,
Azerbaijan Children’s Shelter, Baku (Photo by Ken Krafchek ’95).
Azerbaijan, Eurasia
(top to bottom) Karen Carroll, EdD (center) with elementary art
teachers; High-school students in Singapore prepare for art exams.
Singapore, Asia
Karen Carroll, EdD, dean of art education, helped
expand MICA’s reach overseas when she spent a
month in Singapore last summer as a consultant.
While there, she helped the Singapore Teachers’
Academy for the aRts (STAR)—a new initiative
by Singapore’s Ministry of Education—to develop
art education for the primary and secondary
schools in that country. Carroll also did a series
of workshops for elementary art teachers and
provided advice and counsel regarding all levels
of education and teacher preparation. “My role
was really to assess where they were at in the
development of art education programming in
their schools,” Carroll said.
A delegation from STAR visited MICA in
early March to meet with faculty from the MAT
program, observe teachers in Howard County,
and consult with Carroll. She envisions many
opportunities for collaboration between MICA and
the academy in the future. MICA will try to recruit
some students from the school, while Singapore
will likely recruit some students from MICA as
art instructors. Some teachers in Singapore are
also thinking about coming to MICA to enroll in a
graduate program, and the College is developing
a proposal for supporting a Center for Excellence
that would become a hub for training teachers.
“They want more creativity, and they know they
want a more child-centered curriculum. These are
things they can develop with some training and
support,” Carroll said.
“You can talk about community-based art in theory,
but its practice really doesn’t come into focus until
you go to other places in the world,” said Krafchek.
Natalie Tranelli ’10 ’11 and Anne Kotleba ’12
found that out firsthand when they traveled with
Krafchek to Azerbaijan earlier this school year
to facilitate photography projects in the capital,
Baku, and the second-largest city, Ganja. Kotleba, a
current MFA in Community Arts student, describes
this US Embassy-funded project as “an opportunity
to share our community arts philosophy on a
greater scale, using photos as a vehicle to lift up
the voice of otherwise invisible young people.”
In Baku, the group worked with youth from
the Azerbaijan Children’s Shelter, many of whom
are orphans, refugees, or homeless. “The youth
executed a series of self-portraits, and then
completed a photojournalism-style project where
they told their story from their perspective. They
went out into the community and photographed
people and places important to them,” said
Tranelli, who received her MA and MFA in
Community Arts in 2010 and 2011 respectively.
In Ganja, they trained college students during the
day and then sent them home with cameras to
photograph their personal stories.
Krafchek conducted monoprint workshops at
multiple locations throughout the country while
also helping to train the volunteers and youth
that worked on Tranelli and Kotleba’s projects.
“From my perspective as a teacher, watching
these students conduct very complex projects in
a new context and succeed was very gratifying.
I’m hoping this is a stepping stone to similar
initiatives on an ongoing basis.”
(top to bottom) Participants of The Art of Solidarity program work
on murals; a video lab in Casa de Adolescentes y Jóvenes.
Nicaragua, Central America
Every summer, MICA students and lifelong
learners have the opportunity to travel to
Nicaragua for a month-long community arts
collaboration with Nicaraguan artists (see page 13
for more). For Maria Gabriela Aldana ’03 ’06, an
alumna and Nicaraguan who’s been leading such
groups since 2004, “The Art of Solidarity program
is a dream come true.”
For four weeks, program participants build
relationships with over 50 people, including artists,
collectives, and community art organizations, while
also discussing social and political issues of the day.
Both Baltimore-based artists and those in Nicaragua
benefit from the program, said Aldana, who earned
a general fine arts degree in 2003 and an MA in
Community Arts in 2006. “We are all learners and
teachers so we work toward common goals with a
lot of conversations about our process.”
Aldana, the community outreach coordinator
for the Creative Alliance at the Patterson, credits
MICA with providing some of the inspiration
for the program. “MICA gave me new lifetime
influences and access to some of the best artists
in the world,” she said. “I came in thinking I was
some hot and amazing artist and left finding a
greater purpose and use for art.”
Story continues on next page.
17
18
GLOBAL
INNOVATION
Graduate Students
Transform Construction
Site Into Art Gallery
When construction crews renovating the Studio
Center replaced street-level brick walls with
floor-to-ceiling windows, a unique gallery space
was born. Dubbed “The Temporary” by MICA’s
inaugural MFA in Curatorial Practice class, the
exhibition venue exists solely as a window space
that allows anyone passing along North Avenue
to see the work displayed inside. Curated by
the students who gave the gallery its name,
The Temporary will have hosted 10 exhibitions
before its scheduled demolition in May
2012, when the next phase of Studio Center
renovations begins.
To learn what is currently on view at The Temporary,
visit fyi.mica.edu.
Photo taken at the SmART Summer Institute in St. Croix (Photo by Nora Howell ’10).
A participant at one of Jaime Bennati’s ’08 ’11 workshops puts the finishing touches on a craft.
Brazil, South America
Another MICA alumna who is shedding light on the international art scene
is Jaime Bennati ’08 ’11, who has spent a lot of time living and working in
Brazil. “Since graduating from MICA, I have been interested in work that is
created through community involvement,” said Bennati, who received her
BFA in sculpture and her MA in teaching.
Over the past two years, Bennati has spent more than a year’s worth of
time in São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Ouro Preto, Brasilia, and Rio de Janeiro,
where she has family. Late last year, she was awarded a partnership to
work with the University Federal of Goiás in Goiânia, Brazil, providing
insight to college students and assisting with art exhibitions through an
artist grant funded by the Maryland Arts Council. “I was invited to present
my work and give the students a perspective about the American art scene
as well as talk about my experience going to an art school in the United
States,” she said. She found that MICA’s reputation preceded her. “MICA
has really established itself as a prestigious school. Many of my friends in
Rio in the design department know of the work of MFA in Graphic Design
Program Director Ellen Lupton and the school so it is internationally wellknown, which is really honorable.”
Bennati is currently working with photo and video classes in Goiânia
and has plans to begin teaching techniques to a group of women who
meet weekly to create crafts out of recycled materials. Earlier this year,
a sculpture Bennati made using bus tickets she collected in Brazil was
showcased in a paper show at Goucher College called Paper Shapers. “I
think now more than ever I am using my experiences at MICA as a way to
expand my career in the art field,” she said.
St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands
Cynthia Hatfield ’04, an adjunct professor at the University of the Virgin
Islands who received an MA in Art Education from MICA, wanted to
create a community arts program similar to what she experienced at
MICA. She raised funds and started the SmART Summer Institute, a sixweek community arts program that Hatfield said “gave the island’s most
gifted teen artists a place to gain skills and build friendships they wouldn’t
normally have access to.”
Last summer, the program took place at three sites—the Caribbean
Museum Center for the Arts, the neighborhood of Mon Bijou, and the
University of the Virgin Islands. Joining Hatfield in the yearlong planning of
the project were Nora Howell ’10 ’11 and Michelle Faulkner ’10 ’11, both of
whom received an MA in Community Arts and an MFA in Community Arts.
Through community-centered art experiences, more than 100 of the island’s
youths learned new artmaking, problem-solving, and conceptual skills. “The
program was designed to use art as both the means and focal point for
youth to express themselves as well as the issues that mattered most to
them,” Howell said.
The friendships forged between the youth, teachers from the island, and
MICA students still resonate. “I still get emails updating me on what they’re
doing,” Faulkner said. The program’s success was also a testament to MICA’s
ability to train art leaders since MICA “gave me the skills, the training, the
practical experience, as well as the confidence that I needed to lead my
teaching team and the youth at the Caribbean Museum,” Howell said.
While the three SmART Institute programs were different, they all
built upon MICA’s belief in the power of cultural exchange. “These types
of exchanges can lead us to even more effective and transformational
approaches to art,” Hatfield said.
What’s in a Name?
The Pinkards’ history of involvement with
MICA mirrors the personal energy the family
invests in Baltimore: long-term and impactful.
The College was fortunate to have Walter D.
Pinkard’s leadership on MICA’s Board of Trustees
from 1957 to 1973. His son, Wally Pinkard,
followed in his father’s footsteps and served from
1982 to 1990. “[MICA] is one of the very few
truly national institutions in Baltimore, the kind
of institutional jewel that not many cities can
boast of having,” Wally Pinkard said. In May
1998, MICA named the Pinkard Gallery in the
Bunting Center in honor of the family’s longterm support. The gallery is primarily used to
spotlight faculty through a series of solo shows
over the academic year, but the space is also used
to showcase the annual thesis, foundation, and
commencement exhibitions.
19
MICA Community
Offers Summer Activities
for City Youth
SUMMER
ART CAMP
Ad
Keep a young person you know
intellectually and creatively stimulated
this summer.
From drawing to painting to photography
and everything in between, workshops
for students from pre-school to 8th
grade are designed to spark creativity,
encourage invention, and nurture
artistic innovation.
Workshops begin June 18, 2012.
For more information, visit
www.mica.edu/yps
Students from John Wilson’s ’68 ’85 environmental design class assemble a cannon for the Maryland Historical Society.
Environmental Design Classes Help Public
Understand History
Since 2004, faculty member John Wilson ’68 ’85 and his environmental design
students have been assisting dozens of area museums and historic buildings in realworld community service projects aimed at teaching students the crucial role artists and
designers play in the public’s understanding of history.
Wilson, who served in the United States Naval Reserve from 1958-62, has been
a faculty member at MICA since 1972 and is also a design coordinator for the Naval
Academy Business Services Division in Annapolis, Maryland. Under his leadership,
students have designed everything from interactive displays to graphic support
materials for organizations such as the Federalsburg Historical Society, Caroline County
Historical Society, Baltimore Historic Ships, and many more.
President of the Maryland Historical Society Burt Kummerow said MICA has
been a huge asset to the organization. “The students have shown remarkable talents in
analyzing some of the challenges both inside and outside of the 168-year-old museum
and library,” he explained. Recently, four students—Leslie Giron ’12, Nicolas Pascual
’13, Kyle Sullivan ’13, and Sol Winer ’13—were tasked with designing a full-scale
replica of a shipboard cannon that will be on display at the Baltimore Visitor Center
until May, when it finds a permanent home at the Maryland Historical Society. This
and other installations are important parts of an exhibition being installed at the
museum for the city and state’s bicentennial commemoration that begins in June.
“In this time of budget shortfalls, the imaginative help from future designers has
not only given the students valuable on-the-job training, but it has given institutions
assistance that they might not otherwise be able to afford,” said Kummerow, adding he
looks forward to continued work with the College.
For the past 15 years, the School for Professional & Continuing Studies
has coordinated a partnership with the Parks & People Foundation to provide
arts programming for approximately 70 rising second, third, and fourth graders
at one branch of the SuperKids Camp—a six-week program designed for
Baltimore City Public School students in need of remedial help for reading. As an
enrichment partner, MICA writes a grant to secure funding for the camp, hires a
site coordinator and six art instructors, and provides a venue for an art exhibition
that acts as a capstone for the camp.
Campers start the day with breakfast and attend a reading class. After recess,
they attend art classes designed to reinforce the reading curriculum. Students
rotate on a two-week schedule between three art activities: ceramics, mural
painting, and bookmaking. In ceramics, many students are introduced to clay for
the first time and learn the importance of the word fragile, while in murals and
bookmaking, the students learn several different artmaking techniques and create
an array of mini projects. Several field trips and other extra-curricular activities
are also woven into the program.
“The kids developed a sense of pride in their work and took ownership over
what they had accomplished, which was awesome to see,” said Caitlin Kambic ’12,
who is currently pursuing her Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) and has worked
with the SuperKids Camp the past two summers. “It was so nice to come into camp
each day and see how excited the kids were to work with clay. Most of the campers
didn’t have clay experience, and sometimes had no art experience,” she said, adding
that she was lucky to have taught a medium she is so passionate about.
Eric Allard ’10 ’11 had just received his MAT and was looking for a summer
job when he heard about the position for a bookmaking instructor. “Coming out
of the MAT program I was completely ready to handle the students and had no
trouble adjusting to the way the camp was run,” he said. “Because of the broad
knowledge I received through MICA classes, I was able to teach bookmaking
without a problem, despite never actually taking a class on the subject while in
school.”
Since finishing his work with the SuperKids Camp last summer, Allard
has gone on to work with developmentally delayed children in a special needs
preschool in Owings Mills, Maryland. Kambic hopes to volunteer with the
SuperKids Camp program again in the future.
Students from the SuperKids camp at their capstone exhibition at MICA.
21
22
CONNECTIONS
CONNECTIONS
Artists Inspired by Appalachia
Aaron McIntosh
Whether the Appalachian region is considered “home sweet home” or other pursuits have led them to the mountains,
these MICA staff, faculty, and alumni have taken inspiration from one of America’s most forgotten regions.
“For me, being from Appalachia is defined more by family, culture, and tradition than by geography,” said Fiber
Department faculty member Aaron McIntosh, who grew up in the Appalachian mountains of East Tennessee. “I
come from a family of quilters, tinkerers, hobbyists, and hoarders,” he said, adding that his family’s Depression-era
frugality left them reluctant to throw anything away. “Discarded materials make up a base of my visual vocabulary,
including piles of moldy fabric, yellowed newspapers, canning jars, rusty tools, and other relics.”
“Often in my work I begin by looking at a traditional art form, object, or artifact from my upbringing or family
lore that has stuck with me through the years and then find ways to insert my own contemporary voice,” McIntosh
said. “For instance, in a recent set of works I took traditional quilt patterns and embedded large images of desirable
men into the piecing. This contrast of subjects subverts the surface meanings we bring to quilts—that they’re purely
decorative, homespun objects of women’s adoration.”
McIntosh’s teaching experience also includes positions at Virginia Commonwealth University and James Madison
University. “MICA is the first school I’ve taught at where I’ve felt comfortable creating entire projects that revolve
around narrative,” he said, adding that the final project in his Pattern/Digital Print course involved students pairing
up to swap stories, and then translating those stories into patterned cloth and creating an object commemorating
their partner’s story. “The results were fantastic, the students really enjoyed the exchange, and we all learned
something about everyone’s background.”
aaronmcintosh.com
Rachel Sitkin ’02
rachelsitkin.com
(top to bottom) All artwork by Rachel Sitkin ‘02. So This is West Virginia,
gouache on paper, 2009; Logan, WV, gouache on paper, 2009.
Staff member and MICA alumna Rachel Sitkin ’02 is a landscape painter who was inspired to
begin exploring industrial, residential, and agricultural geometries after reading Alan Weisman’s
The World Without Us, a novel that explores the idea of how our planet would respond without
the presence of humans. After researching the region, she applied for a small grant to travel to
West Virginia to see the mines firsthand.
“With the workers’ conditions and lax environmental laws in mind, I expected to be disgusted
by what I saw when I made that first visit,” Sitkin said. “But the enormity of the mines and
the graceful, sweeping curves dug out of the hillside were just so impressive and beautiful as a
representation of our ability to manipulate our surroundings. I found that work that addressed
this dichotomy added a depth that was lacking in a didactic approach that merely reiterated
what we are ‘supposed’ to think about environmental devastation.”
In her projects Surface Mining and So This is West Virginia, Sitkin depicts the outcome of
human presence on the landscape—what she sees as the simultaneous beauty and destruction
humans are capable of. Her work has been featured in New American Paintings, City Paper, and
Style magazine, among others, and she has shown throughout the mid-Atlantic region as well as
in Lima, Peru and Cortona, Italy.
“I learned so much at MICA, most importantly the value of research in creating a new body of
work and sparking ideas,” said Sitkin, who is now an assistant director of career development at
the College. “The technical skills I learned enabled me to clearly and sensitively render these unique
landscapes, but more importantly the confidence and work ethic I acquired during my time as a
student prepared me to have a long and versatile career as an artist,” she said. “I know that if I
have a sincere interest and drive, I can realize most any project I dream of.”
Aaron McIntosh, Bedroom Buddies, 2010.
James Veenstra ’87
Jackson Martin ’07
jacksonmartin.com
“Growing up in Appalachia has had everything to do with shaping my work, but I’ve only come
to realize this in the last few years,” said Jackson Martin ’07, who lived on a commune on the
very edge of the region until age 10. The insight he gained as a child is immediately evident in
the Rinehart School of Sculpture graduate’s installation and sculptural works, which blend the
natural elegance of organic materials with the finite modernity of man-made mediums.
Among other accolades, Martin’s work was chosen by the Frederick Meijer Gardens &
Sculpture Park in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan for display during ArtPrize 2010, and he
was invited to install one of his works in the sculpture park at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New
York. His work was also featured in Sculpture magazine in both 2008 and 2009.
Martin now lives with his wife and daughter in Charleston, South Carolina where he teaches
at the College of Charleston and works for the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. He
considers the skills he learned at MICA to be the foundation of his ability to be a good teacher
and guide. His plans for 2012 include an installation titled Moving Mountains for South Korea’s
Jara Island International Baggat Art Exhibition as well as several other shows.
“Appalachia will always influence my work because it is at the foundation of who I am, and I
will never escape that,” he said. “I look forward to my new surroundings, not because I hope to
get away from who I am, but rather because I am excited about how it will merge and meld with
what I already bring to the table.”
James Veenstra ’87, Hers, mixed media, 2011.
Hoffberger School of Painting alumnus James Veenstra ’87 counts southwest Virginia’s scenic beauty as one of his
artistic inspirations. In fact, the New Mexico native describes some of his paintings as “Jappalachian,” a mixed media
style that takes traditional Japanese painting attributes—such as working in panels—and then adds elements like
duct tape around the edges.
A teacher at Mountain Empire Community College in Big Stone Gap, Virginia and the nearby University of Virginia’s
College at Wise, Veenstra said the term “Jappalachian” was inspired by his students’ interest in Japanese pop culture
in lieu of the regional culture. “There is a striking similarity of cloud and mist formations in the valleys here to the
Japanese ‘floating world’ paintings so—with my wry sense of humor—I wanted to combine the two cultures.”
Besides teaching, Veenstra has worked as a muralist for the past 18 years, with works at the Smithsonian
National Museum of American History and Harborplace in Baltimore, plus many other institutions, commercial
spaces, and private residences. “Many of the technical skills I learned at MICA and as a commercial muralist,
have influenced the way I work,” said Veenstra, who added that studying with peers from other backgrounds and
countries was one of the highlights of attending MICA.
Daniel Shea ’07
danielpshea.com
A drive to find the source of the energy he uses is what first led Daniel Shea ’07 to the coal mining region of
Appalachia. “It’s such a bizarre thing, to be so distant from the process behind the light switch,” said Shea, who
received the 2007 Meyer Photography Traveling Fellowship from MICA and ended up spending three years
documenting the coal industry. “Over the years, the project took on a much different scope as the multiple political
and cultural circumstances surrounding modern coal mining practices proved much more interesting,” he said.
Shea surveyed the social and political institutions surrounding mountaintop removal for his series Removing
Mountains (2007) and later went up river to Ohio to complete a follow-up project, titled Plume (2009-10), which
focused on the communities that live in the shadow of coal-fired power plants. The resulting photographs have been
extensively exhibited nationally and internationally, and featured in publications including City Paper, Vogue (Korea),
and Urbanite, as well as online on NPR’s The Picture Show and Photography for a Greener Planet. Throughout the
project, Shea maintained a more sculpture-based studio practice and photographed editorial content for publications
such as TIME, Dwell, Wired, The Wall Street Journal, Popular Mechanics, and many more.
Shea teaches at Columbia College Chicago and is currently enrolled in an interdisciplinary MFA program at the
University of Illinois at Chicago, where he works mostly with sculpture and installation. “I don’t know if I’ll go back
to Appalachia anytime soon, but my new work explores the post-industrial ruin, inspired by years of traveling to the
region to deal with a massive entity like the coal industry.”
(top to bottom) All artwork by Jackson Martin ‘07. Photos from Collapse
(All-Purpose), 2010-2011; Threshold, burlap, jute twine, grommets, soil,
juniper trees, 2009.
Daniel Shea ’07, Removing Mountains, 2007.
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24
MICA Makes a Splash in Miami
MICA Alumni and Faculty Make a Statement During Art Basel 2011
Factory Installed
On view through Sunday, May 27 at the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, Factory Installed is an exhibition organized around the idea
of installation-based art practice. From a pool of nearly 600 applications,
recent alumna Natalia Gonzalez ’11 was one of six artists chosen to work
in residence creating brand new site-specific works. Situated in the lower
level of the museum, Gonzalez’s installation fills a space atypical for a
gallery: a narrow, dark passage with walls of stone. “I made this work with
careful observation of the existing elements of the space: the cracks in the
floor, the gaps in the walls, the surrounding sounds, and the lighting were
taken as a premise,” said the Bolivian-born artist. “I responded to these by
incorporating lengths of steel, wire, pulleys, shadows, and automated lights
positioned, directed, and orchestrated to a looped sequence. It is the idea
of drawing a visual ‘score’ in a specific place.” See more images from the
exhibition at mattress.org.
Natalia Gonzalez ’11, Light Recordings, steel, automated lights, wire, pulleys, plumb bob, concrete,
shadows, 2011.
Art Basel is billed as “the most prestigious art show in the Americas.”
More than 260 leading galleries and 2,000 artists from North America,
Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Africa participated in 2011. MICA
alumni and faculty have built a following at Art Basel in Miami over many
years, but the College itself made its official presence known for the first
time in December 2011.
In partnership with New York’s Museum of Arts and Design (MAD)
and the Betsy Hotel Foundation, MICA managed to stand out amongst
the world’s most talented artists by hosting a packed reception at the Betsy
Hotel. The reception was attended by MICA Graduate Dean Emerita
Leslie King-Hammond, PhD; Lowery Stokes Sims, PhD, a 1988 MICA
honorary degree recipient; trustee Rick Gonzalez, Jr. and his wife; Alumni
Council Co-Chair James Rieck ’87 ’03 and his wife Judy Lichtman ’89,
Gary Koeppel ’75, Alayna Wool ’05, and other alumni; MICA Vice
President for Advancement Michael Franco, EdD; and members of the
media. Famed artist Joyce Scott ’70 regaled the crowd by singing several
classical, jazz, and rhythm and blues standards.
However, the reception was just one of many places to catch MICA
alumni. From recent graduates to internationally-known artists with
portfolios that span decades, their work could be seen across Miami and
Miami Beach at Art Basel and other concurrent showcases. While works
by Matt Johnson ’00 and Shinique Smith ’92 ’03 were featured at Art
Basel, the detailed skateboards and portraits painted by Jason Bryant
’04 were a highlight of the Aqua show, and a painting by trustee Michele
Modell ’10 was prominently displayed at the SCOPE show. Other alumni
were part of booths at SCOPE curated by alumni-owned galleries, such
as the New York-based Like the Spice Gallery owned by Marisa Sage ’02
and the Baltimore-based Jordan Faye Contemporary, founded by Jordan
Faye Block ’05. A painting by Katie Miller ’07 ’11 was among the work
by alumni shown at the PULSE show, where Woo Jin Chang ’11 and
Dan Gioia ’11 were award winners. Naomi Fisher ’98 performed a special
piece at Miami’s Vizcaya Museum and Gardens associated with her Jungle
Sweat, Roseate installation, which was covered in Artforum and The New
York Times. In all, dozens of alumni were spotlighted in myriad shows
during the massive art festival.
MICA’s 2011 official presence and strong support for the alumni
in the show—evidenced by President Fred Lazarus IV’s visits to shows
in the Miami area to see alumni artwork—are a precursor to intensified
involvement by the College in Miami Art Basel-related activities in years
to come.
(top to bottom) Naomi Fisher ’98, Jungle Sweat, Roseate; Joyce Scott ’70 at MICA’s
Betsy Hotel reception; Jason Bryant ’04 stands by his work.
25
INNOVATION
THE sTory of amErica’s
grEaT arT scHool
Senior Send-Off
MICA’s graduating class exemplifies leadership, creativity, and excellence. Highlighted are just a few students who have
made a difference on campus and in their communities, and have their sights set on impacting the greater world.
A grAduAtion gift thAt will lAst A lifetime!
Allison Eve Samuels (fiber with a photography
concentration and gender studies minor)
A champion for self-expression
Allison Eve Samuels, Try Your Best series, hand embroidery on
cotton with interchangeable captions.
For Allison Eve Samuels, self-expression is the root of all creativity. So it’s
little surprise the fiber major from Croton-on-Hudson, New York has spent
much time at MICA ensuring that everyone’s voice is heard. While serving as
president of the Student Voice Association, Samuels sat on a number of panels
and committees with hopes of helping MICA operate as effectively as possible. “I wanted to build a
greater sense of involvement between students and staff and an awareness of what’s going on behind
the scenes,” Samuels said.
Samuels is also a tireless crusader for sexuality and gender expression. In the fall of 2009, Samuels
launched MICArotica, an erotic art and literature publication that features submissions from students,
faculty, and staff. “Sexuality, sexual health, and gender expression are issues that really hit close to
home for me so this magazine has been a great way to start the discussion on a personal level as
opposed to keeping things theoretical,” Samuels said.
Samuels’ thesis will also reflect the theme of self-expression. Samuels is creating a mural that will
be embroidered with the results of a survey in which people describe how they personally identify
themselves. “If more attention is paid to our own understanding of our sexual identities and personal
interactions then I believe we would be able to embrace each other and understand each other on a more
basic level,” Samuels said. “That’s at the heart of my work at MICA, and that’s what I hope to be doing for
the rest of my life in various capacities.”
Caitlin Deane
(ceramics with a curatorial studies concentration)
Schooling others on the virtues of service
When Caitlin Deane started her first semester at MICA, she was immediately
impressed by the Community Arts Partnership (CAP) program. “In high school
I was doing a lot of community service, and I wanted to find a way to blend
my love for art with my love of helping other people,” the Bucks County,
Pennsylvania native said. Thus began a college career marked by service, as Deane interned in the CAP
office and participated in many projects, including a senior citizen art program and a stint teaching art
classes at a rehabilitation facility.
In 2009, Deane created another forum for giving back when she came up with the idea to start an
alternative spring break program. Rather than traipsing to Miami or the Caribbean, students would use
their time off to travel throughout the country to participate in community projects. “I really wanted
to have a goal to set and bring a new group of students together,” she said. The first year, students
worked with Habitat for Humanity in Pennsylvania, and last year they worked with the Youth Service
Opportunities Project and the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, DC.
The ceramics major is weighing future plans with options ranging from teaching community classes
to joining AmeriCorps. Regardless of what decision she makes, two things are for sure: She’ll make use
of the artistic skills she’s gained at MICA, and “My biggest goal is to be able to help out in whatever
community I end up in,” she said.
Class of 1907 on Main Building Grand Staircase
Making History/Making Art MICA is a great gift at a
great 20% discount. This discount is valid through
May 31, 2012 only on purchases made online at
store.mica.edu or in person at the MICA Store
(Mt. Royal Avenue & Dolphin Street).
CongrAtulAtions to the ClAss of 2012
–An eXCiting new ChAPter in miCA’s historY!
Caitlin Deane, With Legs In, local Maryland clay adobe, 2011.
27
28
INNOVATION
Jessica Emily Marx (photography)
Turning opportunity into artistic excellence
Artwork by Jessica Emily Marx from the Crowns series.
For Jessica Emily Marx, the MICA experience has transcended the classroom.
Not only has the photography major from Westchester, New York worked as
a resident assistant for the past two years, she’s also served as a co-curator of
the Wilgus Gallery, a student-run gallery in the Photography Department. If
that’s not enough, she’s also taken part in both the Experimental Fashion Event
and the Annual Benefit Fashion Show.
Why such a busy schedule? “I’ve taken on the mentality of never saying no if there’s an opportunity
to do something,” she said. “And that’s helped me have a more optimistic outlook on everything and feel
more reassured as an artist.”
For her thesis, Marx has created eight different hats out of recycled fabric from her childhood and
then photographed them using the original fabric as a background so the hats appear camouflaged.
She was then rewarded with the opportunity to showcase that installation in MICA’s Pinkard Gallery
in January. Marx has also served as an organizer of The Business of Photography, a daylong event that
brought workshops, portfolio reviews, and other activities related to photography to MICA.
After graduation, her goal is to become a photographer for an arctic line of cruises because she’s
inspired by ice and arctic climates. And her time at MICA has given her the courage to pursue it.
“Coming to MICA was completely life-changing,” she said.
Ryan Paige Rommel (graphic design)
Expanding personal limits through leadership
Ryan Paige Rommel’s artist book, Mom’s Advice, encases many
loose-leaf prints, each revealing a piece of her mother’s advice for
her and her sister.
Ryan Paige Rommel understands the power of first impressions. In her role
as a student coordinator for MICA’s Orientation Program for the past two
years, the graphic design major from Dallas, Texas made it her mission to
ensure that new students see MICA in the best light possible.
“I have always made sure I soak in the fact that I am around an
incredible community of artists,” she said. “So I really encourage any of
the new students coming in to soak that up as much as possible, too.” In
her role, she’s overseen orientation leader training and helped to coordinate adventure tours, which
introduce new students not only to MICA, but to the surrounding city of Baltimore. She also serves as
a leadership mentor, dishing out support and a friendly face to underclassmen as needed.
When she’s not helping others make the most of their MICA experience, Rommel may be found on
the runway. “I’m truly honored to be wearing garments that my peers have put so much time into, and
it’s a blast learning how different creative minds work within a major completely opposite of mine,”
she said. Rommel also designs custom wedding invitations at a local boutique and intends to apply to
letterpress studios that do custom invitations and event design after graduation.
While it’s clear that Rommel values giving back, she noted she benefits as much as the students she
helps. “Overall, being a student leader has pushed me to become a stronger person. I owe a lot of my
happiness to MICA,” she said.
Sam Grossman (drawing)
Making a difference collaboratively
Sam Grossman, from Biopistemology: the Study of Biological
Science Vol. 1 (Photo by Erik Puotinen).
Sam Grossman arrived at MICA as a shy young man, but the drawing major
from Lawrenceville, New Jersey will be graduating as one of the senior class’s
most active student leaders. “When I came in as a freshman, I was scared,
so I wanted to become an orientation leader to tell freshmen that it’s OK if
they’re scared too,” he recalled. In the process, he discovered he had a knack
for getting people involved, and he used that skill to benefit a number of
organizations on campus.
In his sophomore year, he became president of OY!, the Jewish organization on campus. He’s also
served as the vice president of the MICA Improv League and been active in MICA’s Student Voice
Association. He’s even tried his hand at running a jazz club.
Most recently, Grossman has taken part in the Occupy MICA collective, an offshoot of the national
movement that concerns itself with issues affecting the country, the city of Baltimore, and MICA.
“Every Occupy group describes itself as a group without a leader when in fact it’s a group full of
leaders,” Grossman said. “That’s what attracts me to it.”
After graduation, Grossman hopes to eventually apply his leadership skills—and what he’s learned
at MICA—to the world of alternative education. “What I love about MICA is that in the classrooms
there is always some element of critique and discussion,” he said. “I would like to open up a school, and
that would be the basis of the classes.”
MICA Masters Benefit Art Sale
Saturday, May 5, Noon–4 pm
Studio Center, 131 W. North Ave.
This annual benefit art sale offers a chance to browse and buy affordable
works of art from students in the Mount Royal School of Art, Hoffberger School
of Painting, Rinehart School of Sculpture, MFA in Graphic Design, MFA in
Photographic & Electronic Media, and Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Fine Arts
programs. A percentage of the proceeds from the event will support a graduatespecific scholarship. The sale, which includes a reception, is a rare opportunity to
visit the studios and facilities of the College’s graduate programs.
ArtWalk 2012
Your support
empowers
artists and
designers who will
change the world.
Join the growing family of MICA donors
by supporting students like Aaron with
a tax deductible donation. Simply return
the enclosed envelope or donate online at
www.mica.edu/give
Ad
Thursday, May 10, 5–9 pm
Campuswide, starting at Cohen Plaza, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave.
Tickets: $25 for exhibition and casual supper
Stroll through the MICA galleries, mingle with young artists and fellow
art enthusiasts, and discuss the students’ artwork at the preview party for the
2012 Commencement Exhibition. ArtWalk guests can purchase outstanding work
by graduating seniors before the exhibition opens to the public at this visually
energizing 3K walking tour.
In between strolls and after the exhibition closes at 8 pm, guests are invited to
relax and enjoy casual dinner fare and have a glass of wine with the student artists.
For more information and to purchase tickets online, visit mica.edu/artwalk.
2012 Commencement Exhibition
Friday, May 11–Monday, May 14
Campuswide
Special Gallery Hours: Friday, 11 am–8 pm; Saturday–Monday, 11 am–5 pm
Campuswide Reception: Sunday, May 13, 1:30–5 pm
The 2012 Commencement Exhibition highlights works by nearly 400 emerging
artists in the undergraduate class of 2012. By transforming the College’s permanent
galleries, hallways, classrooms, and open spaces into one expansive gallery space, each
student is able to show a substantial body of work.
Programs of Study: animation; ceramics; drawing; environmental design; fiber; general fine arts;
graphic design; illustration; interaction design and art; interdisciplinary sculpture; humanistic studies;
painting; photography; printmaking; and video and film arts.
“Receiving a scholarship has brought
me much hope and encouragement in
my aspirations to become a better artist.
Thanks to my scholarship donors, I will
be able to do my best and further my
abilities.”
— Aaron Chung ’13
30
31
House & Home
The National Building Museum in Washington,
DC has selected MICA’s Gateway as one of
seven residential spaces to be featured in a
life-sized film for its House & Home exhibition.
The long-term exhibition uses photographs,
artifacts, models, and films to show the complex
residential landscape of America. For 24 hours, a
camera crew captured the inside of The Gateway
apartment of students Danny Well ‘14, Lindsay
Iredale ‘14, and Gray Lamb ‘14 to make a timelapse film of a day in the life of several MICA
students and the spaces they occupy. The film will
be projected from floor-to-ceiling as part of the
exhibition, which opens on Saturday, April 28. For
more information, visit nbm.org.
Students Danny Well, Lindsay Iredale, and Gray Lamb inside The
Gateway (Photo by Ariel Efron for Local Projects).
Tragicomedy
Faculty member and alumna Cara
Ober ’05 will hold her second solo
exhibition with Civilian Art Projects
in Washington, DC from Friday, May
11 through Saturday, June 16. The
exhibition, Tragicomedy, features
new works on canvas and paper that
expose cultural rifts between the
ideal, the imagined, and everyday
reality. Borrowing heavily from
classical antiquities and her son’s
cache of toys, Ober continues to
explore the relationship between
iconic images and text, emphasizing
overlapping systems of personal
and public narration. Learn more at
civilianartprojects.com.
Cara Ober ’05, Each Time and Grow Up,
ink on cut paper.
MICA on Fashion
At MICA, “fashion” is not limited to what people wear.
It is instead an exploration of how fiber and textiles can be used
as means of artistic expression and societal engagement. The
following page demonstrate a few of the ways MICA students
and alumni are making strides in the fashion world.
Rise of the Alters by Amelia Stinnette ’12 and Erik Clark ’12 for Transcend (Photo by Derek Blanks ’00).
32
on Fashion:
This Spring, MICA Goes BeyondMore
Fashion
Season
Additional
Programming
Each spring, mica goes beyond a typical fashion season to showcase an elevated vision of how design can impact the
world. Two headlining events, Transcend, the Annual Benefit Fashion Show, and Milquetoast, an Experimental Fashion Event, will give
MICA students the ability to showcase their abilities to create inventive clothing that inspires thought and action. These two distinct
shows—both featuring original, purposeful designs—aim to usher in a new view of fashion and offer a fresh perspective on design,
proving once again that Baltimore is a center of fashion and design innovation. For more information, visit mica.edu/fashion.
Transcend:
Milquetoast:
Friday, April 13, 9 pm (MICA Community Show) and
Saturday, April 14, 8 pm (General Public Show)
Brown Center: Falvey Hall, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave.
Tickets: $15 Students; $20 General Public (MICA Community Show:
$7 Students; $12 Faculty and Staff),
available at the MICA Store, 1200 W. Mount Royal Ave.,
and store.mica.edu; limited tickets will be sold at the door
Saturday, April 21, 6 and 9 pm
2640 (St. John’s Church), 2640 Saint Paul St.
Tickets: $5, available at the MICA Store, 1200 W. Mount Royal Ave.,
and store.mica.edu; limited tickets will be sold at the door for $10
Annual Benefit Fashion Show
The 19th annual benefit fashion show, Transcend, is
a runway show that will explore the outward manifestation of
the unconscious mind. The designers were asked to go beyond
the expected and transcend their normal, accepted thought
processes and reveal a hidden layer of themselves through
their garment making. Transcend allows audience members
to walk behind the synaptic workings of the designer’s brains
and visually see the manifestations of their inner thoughts
and aspirations. People use garments as a means of expressing
themselves, choosing to conceal or reveal. Whether this
is through the purchase of clothes or breaking the rules
of construction, people identify with garments as delicate
illustrations that mirror their internal impulses. Through
manipulation, clothing becomes the body itself and reveals
aspects of a persona. Transcend represents a place that is
metaphysical, emotional, and spiritual. These delicate domains
manifest in the realm of fashion; they address solutions,
challenge the norms, and provide a visual model of unceasing
impact.
After the show, audience members are invited to mix and
mingle with the designers and view an exhibition of fashioninspired photography, illustration, and fiber arts in the lobby
of Falvey Hall. Fashion pictorials of the students’ designs
captured by celebrity photographer Derek Blanks ’00 will be
part of the exhibition. The fashion show is sponsored by the
Office of Diversity & Intercultural Development.
Designers: Jessica Emily Marx and Alexz Giacobbe, Michelle Kim,
Stephanie Santos, Allina Liu, Jordan Matthews, Olivia Taliaferro,
Hayley Martell, Samantha Bloom, Evyn Fong and Kurina Sohn, Amelia
Stinnette and Erik Clark, and Leanna Pascual
Alumni Fashion Panel
Friday, March 30, 6-7:30 pm
mica will welcome several fashionforward panelists back to the College to speak
about their experiences in the industry. This event
is sponsored by the The Joseph Meyerhoff Center
for Career Development.
Experimental Fashion Event
Lecture: Gary Graham
Tuesday, April 3, 11:30 am
Brown Center: Room 320, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave.
At the annual experimental fashion event, artists
and designers from the Fiber Department’s Multi Media
Event class transform 2640 (St. John’s Church) into a venue
for innovative fashion and costume design by pushing the
boundaries of fashion and art through live performances
and projected video. A capstone for the Experimental
Fashion Concentration, the class enrolls students from
various departments, including interdisciplinary sculpture,
photography, and illustration. Over the course of eight
months, students design and craft their own body of
work based on the garment, recruit their own models and
performers, select music, and choreograph their show. At
the same time, the students work collaboratively to produce
and promote the event, choosing the site, name, and graphic
identity. Students’ work taps into the power of clothing as a
semiotic device, communicating constantly shifting ideas and
beliefs about the body, social relationships, and the spirit of the
times. Their work speaks to the performative nature of fashion
and the overlapping of the runway, the stage, and the theater
of the streets.
See page 42 for more information.
Robot Fest
Saturday, April 14–Sunday, April 15
National Electronics Museum,
1745 W. Nursery Rd., Linthicum Hts., MD
Interactive art and smart fabric
projects from students enrolled in smart
textiles design courses, offered jointly with The
Johns Hopkins University, will be on display at this
wearable technology fashion show at the National
Electronics Museum (near Baltimore/Washington
International Thurgood Marshall Airport). For
more information, visit robotfest.com.
USA Science &
Engineering Festival
Saturday, April 28–Sunday, April 29
Walter E. Washington Convention Center, 801 Mount
Vernon Place, NW, Washington, DC
This year, the name Milquetoast (meaning a timid person)
was chosen as a counterpoint to the lively event and a tip of
the hat to the political climate in this presidential election year.
The evening will involve more than 150 people, from designers
and their models to participating performers, including roving
costumed characters. Music and sound will be provided by DJ
J-No and other local musicians.
Students from the Wash and Wear
and Wearable Technolog y classes
Designers:
Antonina Clarke, Thea Elisabeth Curley, Naomi Davidoff,
Natalie Ebaugh, Giovanni Flores, Morgan Frailey, Alexz Giacobbe,
Maya Lisa Akabane Graffagna, Kelsey LaSeur, Jessica Emily Marx,
Georgia Caroline Milton, Michela Reina, Stephanie Santos, Anna Strain,
Jacqueline Wadowsky, and Katharine Weintraub; graphic design
assistance provided by Alex Dougherty
(clockwise from top) Let Go by Evyn Fong and Kurina Sohn for Transcend (Photo by Derek Blanks ’00); The Smart Textile Circus
by Matthew Reading ’12 is an example of the type of work that will be featured at Robot Fest and the USA Science & Engineering
Festival; Cirque d’Armoire (detail) by Naomi Davidoff ’13 for Milquetoast.
will hold a fashion show that incorporates fashion
design, art, and technology at the USA Science
& Engineering Festival, a science exposition in
Washington, DC. Every model will not only be
wearing an outfit that makes a “fashion statement”
but also uses engineering technology, such as
microcomputers, LEDs, sensors, motors, and
conductive thread. For visitor information, visit
usasciencefestival.org.
33
34
ALUMNI
ALUMNI
MICA Alumni as Style Makers
More FashionForward Alumni:
Whether they’re designing the next generation of ballerina flats, the first four-year fashion design program in Maryland,
or uniforms for soccer teams, these fashion designers are proving MICA alumni have style.
Laura Rasmussen ’10
Caroline Cecil ’06
Ballerina flats by LUV Footwear.
As design director for LUV Footwear, a startup in San Francisco’s Bay Area set for product launch
this spring, Caroline Cecil ’06 uses shoes as a canvas. “Our goal is to use a modern ballerina flat as
a work of art. We want it to inspire meaningful ideas around the world,” Cecil explained.
Cecil said she is thrilled to work for LUV’s creator, internationally-renowned designer
Michael Toschi, who owns several footwear technology patents and has created designs for
iconic brands including Nike, Ugg, and Esprit. She’s also eager to get the word out about a oncea-year opportunity for artists and designers to give voice to their art by submitting their work
for use on shoes. The top 50 submissions will be showcased on luvfootwear.com, and the top 15
will make up the “Open Call Assortment,” a collection of the LUV ballerina flat that will be sold
worldwide. “It’s an amazing opportunity, especially for MICA students. They have the chance to
create a work of art and have that work showcased on shoes worn around the world,” she said.
Since leaving MICA, Cecil has worked across the country, going from Target Corporation
in Minnesota, where she managed the print and pattern design for two categories of the junior
girl’s brand, Xhilaration, to Maine, where she worked for the highly creative and acclaimed
product/pattern designer, Angela Adams. She later moved to California, where she landed a gig
at Levi Strauss & Co. researching the history of men’s workwear in America from the 1800s to
the 1950s for the Red Tab brand’s Workwear Collection launch.
“My experience in understanding design for a mass audience, understanding that the design
has to be both creative and sellable, is why I’m here,” said Cecil. “I’m back working with a global
product, but it’s a product with a purpose—and art is at the heart of it.”
She continued, “My experience at MICA has helped, too, because at MICA I was taught to
indulge in creativity. I was taught to take an idea and work through it... to be deeply considerate
about a concept, explore the best physical expression of that idea, create the work, and then
stand behind it. In today’s world of surface and product design, understanding this process will
set you apart as a designer and design-thinker.”
Sally M. DiMarco ’72
Draping Basics by Sally M. DiMarco ’72. (Photo by Fairchild Publications).
Long before becoming the program coordinator for Stevenson University’s newly-launched major
in fashion design, Sally M. DiMarco ’72 established herself as a well-known figure in Maryland’s
fashion world as an educator and author. She led the fashion design program for Baltimore City
Community College (BCCC) for more than three decades, and in 2010, she authored Draping
Basics, a text adopted by more than 24 colleges and universities across the country.
“I left BCCC after 31 years, but never really fully retired,” she noted. “I lectured at colleges
and did workshops, and my book came out. Then this opportunity came along. It’s a four-year
program, the first in the state of Maryland, and it’s very career oriented, as we’re preparing
students to become technical fashion designers. It’s unique as well because we’re teaching
students technical fashion design for three markets—men, women, and children. ”
With such drive and ambition in the industry, it is no surprise that DiMarco comes from
a long line of fashion-forward people. “My family came from Italy, and they were all in the
fashion industry as hat designers or menswear designers. I knew from the start what I
wanted to do.”
“I think there’s more respect for fashion design now, and that’s wonderful. I’m happy that
others appreciate the creativity that goes into fashion design, the art that goes into making a
dress,” she said. “I still love to paint, but fashion is it for me.”
Designs for collegiate soccer jerseys Jenna Pugh ’07 worked on at Under Armour.
Jenna Pugh ’07
When Jenna Pugh ’07 began her undergraduate studies at MICA, she was convinced her
passion was in painting. “I’ve been sewing since I was in middle school, but I saw it as just a
hobby. My art focus was in drawing and painting so naturally I decided to major in painting at
MICA,” she said. “But I noticed that I didn’t have the same passion other painting majors had. I
was sewing in my free time and waiting until right before a project was due to paint. Something
clicked, and I realized where my focus really was.”
She switched her major to fiber during her junior year and hasn’t looked back. Today,
Pugh is a designer at Under Armour, and her work can be seen on professional and college
athletes worldwide.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Pugh said. “I used to design soccer products for all of Under Armour,
but it’s grown so much that I specialize in design for professional and college soccer teams. I
research team histories and traditions, and then I get to interpret those findings every year.
There’s a huge retail component as to why teams get new uniforms every year, so it’s fun that I
get to constantly try new ideas.”
Pugh currently designs for 19 college teams and four professional clubs. “Tottenham Hotspur
in the English Premier League will begin wearing Under Armour this summer, and they’re one of
the most watched teams in the world. There are followers of their league everywhere so it’s kind
of amazing I get to see my work showcased on such a large scale,” Pugh said. “I also had a lot of
fun working on uniforms for the soccer team at the University of Maryland. They weren’t tied to
a lot of history with their uniforms so they let us be really creative.”
She continued, “By switching majors, I had to work really hard to graduate on time. But I
did it, and the timing worked out great. I got the job at Under Armour not long after graduation,
and I’ve been here long enough to see our department go from 12 people to over 60. I definitely
made the right choice.”
Laura Rasmussen ’10 is working as a graphic
and web designer for Splashlight Studios, a
photo and video production studio for the
high fashion industry based in New York City’s
SoHo neighborhood. The firm’s clients include
Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, Macy’s, ALDO,
and Neiman Marcus, among others. Rasmussen
designs everything from billboards to websites,
and recently created a slew of magazine
advertisements as clients prepared to launch their
new lines in spring.
One of Rasmussen’s more unique roles at
Splashlight, however, is her work outside of
fashion. As she puts it, “Splashlight sponsors
a USF2000 racecar driver, and I manage his
website and design the graphics on new cars
when he gets them. I even write press releases.
It’s kind of different compared to work in
fashion, but it’s a lot of fun.”
Kandice Levero ’04
MICA graduate and fashion designer Kandice
Levero ’04 recently launched Le Vero, a brand of
glittering accessories inspired by living in both
the United States and her current home—Tokyo,
Japan. This spring, the collection was showcased
at Tokyo’s 2012 Rooms show, an international
trade show featuring the best of Japanese
fashion and design. Participation in the show
is highly selective, and past exhibitors have
launched successful brands after taking part in
Rooms.
This past fall, items from the Le Vero line
were displayed at Daikanyama, Tokyo, where she
was able to garner the attention of buyers from
shops and department stores. Over summer 2011,
Levero visited Baltimore for a fashion shoot at
the Senator Theater, highlighting the parts of her
collection inspired by the historic theater.
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36
Spotlight on Rivals
of the West,
MICA’s Student-Run
Performing Arts Team
because they see very powerfully. Those students in that first class
had a keen ability to visualize a play and act it out.”
The performance aspect of the class continued, as students
put on the scenes assigned to them wherever they could find
space—in an auditorium in Mount Royal Station, in painting
studios, and even outside. The creation of the Brown Center,
home to Falvey Hall, marked a milestone in performance at
MICA, and Shipley took advantage of the opportunity that new
space afforded almost immediately.
“The first thing we did was we took the scenes we were doing
When faculty member Christopher Shipley, PhD came to
in class—scenes from 13 different plays—and strung them
MICA more than 25 years ago, he was immediately struck by the
together artfully. We would perform them publicly at no charge,
students he encountered.
and the auditorium was almost always packed,” he said. “It was a
“MICA wasn’t like the typical undergraduate setting at a
great deal of fun, even though it was hard work. We had to learn
university, where maybe 20 percent of students know what they
what to do about sound and lighting in a space that’s not really
want to do when they start. Every student here was committed to
a theater space. But our students are problem solvers. You give
the work of being an artist,” he explained. “They knew from the
them a task, and they make it work.”
time they were holding a crayon in each hand during kindergarten
Shipley’s class staged full-length plays in Falvey Hall for two
that they were an artist. They had a calling. It was remarkable
years until the BBOX was built, allowing for more ambitious
to me, and it reminded me of my time at The University of
stage productions. The Contemporary Drama elective forged the
Chicago—a pure kind of experience and a very intellectual one.
way for the creation of the current performance offerings.
There were no apologies to the commitment to art and the study
“Theater is perfect for an art school,” Shipley said. “It is
and practice of it. That’s why I fell in love with MICA.”
the absolute collaborative experience where everyone can get
Shipley earned two degrees from the University of Maryland
together and produce something that doesn’t just exist in class
and a PhD from The University of Chicago, and came to
but is out there in the world where students are soon going to
MICA through the College’s efforts to build what would
work. And we involve everybody in the production, from staff
become a renowned liberal arts program. Currently working
members to students to faculty. It’s a way to get together as an
for the Humanistic Studies and Foundation departments, the
entire community, and it works. It’s project-oriented, which is
first elective course he taught was Contemporary Drama. He
the way education is going. It fits MICA’s culture.”
has taught the class every year since, expanding performance
He added, “I’ve had fantastic support at MICA. There is a
opportunities over the years to include Rivals of the West, a
willingness to be open and subversive and creative. Like our
student-run performing arts team that forms annually in his
students, we make things work.”
course titled The Play’s the Thing.
This year, the company will stage two provocative Neil
LaBute works, Fat Pig and reasons to be pretty, in MICA’s
BBOX. Students across majors will take part in the production
through roles that include stage managers, lighting and sound
technicians, set design and construction, costumers, prop
fabricators, actors, and more.
The first such performances under Shipley’s guidance were
much simpler. “We started off that first elective class by talking
about the play as a repository of ideas. Then, students would put
on scenes where they had to direct and act and later write about
the experience. I knew from my training that a play doesn’t exist
on the page—it has to be performed to be understood, much
like music,” he said, adding, “As I taught the course, I realized that
MICA students are doers and seers. Artists are deep intellectuals
Photo from last year’s performance of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire (Photo by Rachel
Verhaaren ’11).
Coming to the
This Spring
Stage
The Gateway: BBOX, 1601 W. Mount Royal Ave.
Tickets: $10, students; $15, general admission ($5 discount
available for purchasing tickets to both shows)
Tickets will be available at the MICA Store (1200 W. Mount
Royal Ave. and store.mica.edu), online at Brown Paper Tickets
(brownpapertickets.com), and at the door on the day of the
event.
Who decides what is beautiful—or rather, who
is beautiful? What is beauty, after all? Neil LaBute, one
of America’s hottest and most controversial young playwrights, takes on these beguiling questions in two of his
most celebrated plays—Fat Pig and reasons to be pretty.
MICA’s student theater company, Rivals of the West,
will present both of these critically acclaimed and provocative plays over two weekends this spring. Don’t miss
the drama that beauty—or its absence—stirs.
Fat Pig
Thursday, April 5; Saturday, April 7; Friday, April 13; and
Sunday, April 15, 8 pm
Fat Pig is the clever but touching story of a
stereotypical young professional named Tom who falls in
love with a confident, plus-sized librarian named Helen.
The play explores how society treats a romance between
the two.
reasons to be pretty
Friday, April 6; Sunday, April 8; Thursday, April 12; and Saturday, April 14, 8 pm
(above) Photo from last year’s performance of Tennessee Williams’ A Streetcar Named Desire (Photo by
Rachel Verhaaren ’11)
(opposite, top) Students rehearse for Fat Pig (Photo by Danny Well ’14).
in reasons to be pretty, a cast of four young
working class friends and lovers become increasingly
dissatisfied with their dead-end lives—and each other.
More information is available at rivalsofthewest.org.
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38
Off the Rails:
MFA Thesis Exhibitions
Three upcoming exhibitions will feature thesis work from Master of Fine Arts
candidates in MICA’s MFA in Graphic Design, Hoffberger School of Painting, Mount
Royal School of Art, MFA in Photographic & Electronic Media, and Rinehart School
of Sculpture.
Fox Building: Decker, Meyerhoff, and Fox 3 galleries, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave.; Bunting Center:
Pinkard Gallery, 1401 W. Mount Royal Ave.; North Avenue Market, 15 W. North Ave.
MFA Thesis I
Friday, March 23–Sunday, April 1
Reception: Friday, March 23, 5–7 pm
Gallery Talk: Tuesday, March 27, 3–5:15 pm, beginning in Decker Gallery;
Wednesday, March 28, 1–3:30 pm, beginning in Meyerhoff Gallery
MA in Social Design students working in their East Baltimore studio at MICA PLACE.
Featuring: Elizabeth Ashe (Mount Royal), Rachel Beamer (Photographic & Electronic Media), Pablo
Friday, April 20–Friday, April 27
Bunting Center: Pinkard Gallery, 1401 W. Mount Royal Ave.
Reception: Friday, April 27, 5–7 pm
MA in Social Design Thesis Show
García López (Rinehart), Rachel Held (Rinehart), Alice Hom (Graphic Design), Jin Hwan Kim (Graphic
Design), Jenny Kutnow (Graphic Design), Grimm Lee (Mount Royal), Sean McDonough (Hoffberger),
Eric Mortensen (Graphic Design), Chelsea Ragan (Mount Royal), Cathleen Sachse (Mount Royal),
Aura Seltzer (Graphic Design), Gavin Stewart (Photographic & Electronic Media), Arisha Trifonova
(Photographic & Electronic Media), Jeffrey Vincent (Hoffberger), Adam Void (Mount Royal), and
Cameron Zotter (Graphic Design)
Living and working in East Baltimore, students in the MA in
Social Design program are challenged to explore the designer’s role and
responsibility in society, produce new ways of thinking, facilitate new
institutional collaborations, utilize design to bring about social change,
and develop contexts in which their ideas can be sustained.
The program implements a project-based curriculum emphasizing
learning by doing; extensive studio and field experience creates
opportunities to work on collaborative, issue-based projects with a variety
of disciplines, organizations, and community members. The thesis show
provides a first-hand look at the innovative approaches and ideas for
positively impacting communities.
MFA Thesis II
Friday, April 6–Sunday, April 15
Gallery Talk: Tuesday, April 10, 3–5:15 pm, beginning in Fox 3 Gallery;
Wednesday, April 11, 1–3:45 pm, beginning in Meyerhoff Gallery
Featuring: Misha Capecchi (Mount Royal), Micheal Cor (Hoffberger), Noel Cunningham (Graphic
Design), Zoe Friedman (Mount Royal), Jessica Gibson (Photographic & Electronic Media), Timothy Hoover
(Graphic Design), Julie Horton (Hoffberger), So Hyun An (Photographic & Electronic Media), Abdulmari
“Toym” de Leon Imao (Rinehart), Jessica Karle (Graphic Design), Jonathan Latiano (Mount Royal), Aviv
Lichter (Graphic Design), Lloyd Lowe (Photographic & Electronic Media), Travis Masingale (Photographic
& Electronic Media), Skye McNeill (Graphic Design), Laini Nemett (Hoffberger), Margaret Rogers (Mount
Royal), Michal Rotberg (Graphic Design), and Jen Smith (Photographic & Electronic Media)
Featuring: Danah Abdulla, Kyla Fullenwider, Leah Harper, Briony Hynson, Remy Peritz,
Ben Peterson, Elise Roy, Julie Sayo, and Becky Slogeris
Community Art Collaborative
Exhibition
MFA Thesis III
Thursday, May 24–Wednesday, June 13
Fox Building: Fox 3 Gallery, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave.
Reception and Community Festival: Thursday, May 24, 4–7 pm, Cohen
Plaza and Fox 3 Gallery, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave.
Community Art Fair: Saturday, June 9, 10 am–2 pm, Cohen Plaza and Fox 3
Gallery, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave.
Friday, April 20–Sunday, April 29
Gallery Talk: Tuesday, April 24, 3–5:15 pm, beginning in North Avenue Market;
Wednesday, April 25, 1-3:45 pm, beginning in Decker Gallery
Featuring: Sean Bennett (Mount Royal), Brian Conaty (Mount Royal), Jennifer Coster (Rinehart),
Caroline Covington (Rinehart), Madeleine Cutrona (Mount Royal), Jonathan Duff (Mount Royal),
Abraham Garcia (Graphic Design), Rolando Gutierrez (Graphic Design), Sung-Hwa Kim (Hoffberger),
William Knipscher (Photographic & Electronic Media), Kimberly Alexa Llerena (Photographic &
Electronic Media), Clara Kohn Marquez (Graphic Design), Ali Wendy Miller (Hoffberger), Margaret
Rorison (Photographic & Electronic Media), Cheyenne Seeley (Mount Royal), Zachary Michael Storm
(Mount Royal), Heather Stratton (Photographic & Electronic Media), Aggie Toppins (Graphic Design),
and Carly Witmer (Hoffberger)
(top to bottom) Jenny Kutnow (MFA Graphic Design), 16 Days,
inkjet print; Jeffrey Vincent (Hoffberger), Funeral, acrylic on panel,
2012; Sean Bennett (Mount Royal), more security PLX!, social
security card, aluminum, lamp wick, black abs plastic, Plexiglas,
MDF and aluminum hardware, 2011; Adam Void (Mount Royal), The
Golden West, acrylic, gold leaf, ballpoint pen on nautical print.
The community art collaborative (CAC) exhibition will
include artwork made by youth in partnership with CAC during
the 2011-12 year. During the Community Festival, art activities and
performances will be available to the public, while the Community
Art Fair will feature a marketplace with art and crafts for sale as well as
family-friendly activities.
(clockwise from top) Shana R. Goetsch, Beyond Rorschach - Test 18; Anne Kotleba,
Be Heard, acrylic on canvas, 2011; Jessica Haywood Wyatt, Wedding Dress.
MFA in Community Arts
Thesis Exhibition
Wednesday, April 25–Wednesday, May 16
MICA PLACE: The Rouse Company Foundation Gallery,
814 N. Collington Ave.
Reception: Saturday, May 12, 5–7 pm
This thesis exhibition combines the work
of students using their own creative voices while
investigating the relationship of the citizen artist
and art to community building and advocating
positive change. The installations are located
in the historic East Baltimore neighborhood at
MICA PLACE (Programs Linking Art, Culture,
and Education).
Participating artists:
Shana R. Goetsch, Anne
Kotleba, and Jessica Haywood Wyatt
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Staff Exhibition
Amalie Rothschild ’34:
Vestments
Friday, June 1–Wednesday, June 20
Fox Building: Decker and Meyerhoff galleries, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave.
Reception: Thursday, June 7, 5–7 pm
For the first time in more than 10 years, MICA will
present works by its talented staff. Organized by MICA’s
Staff Enrichment Council in partnership with the MICA
Alumni Association and the Department of Exhibitions,
the exhibition will be juried by Mount Royal School of
Art alumnus and chairman of the MICA Alumni Council
James Rieck ’87 ’03. Tapping into the talent of almost 400
employees—a large percentage of whom are practicing artists
and MICA alumni themselves—the exhibition is anticipated
to be a rich and varied visual experience.
Wednesday, April 11–Wednesday, April 25
Brown Center: Rosenberg Gallery, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave.
Reception and Book Signing: Friday, April 20, 5:30–7:30 pm
MICA Staff Exhibition, 2000. Image courtesy of the MICA Archives.
MFA in Studio Art
Thesis Exhibition
L. Chapin Shearer, Cake Box, stoneware, yarn, and found objects.
Thursday, June 28–Saturday, July 14
Fox Building: Decker and Meyerhoff galleries, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave.;
Reception: Friday, July 13, 6–8 pm
MA in Art Education
Thesis Exhibition
The summer thesis exhibition for the MFA in Studio
Art program will feature the work of nine graduating artists
from this unique low-residency program. Designed to expand
understanding of contemporary art through research-based
studio practice, this interdisciplinary program consists
of four intensive six-week summer residencies combined
with independent work during the academic year. Areas of
concentration include the full range of contemporary art
practices. Although the program promotes interdisciplinary
approaches to art production, students are encouraged to
work in ways most appropriate to their individual research.
Wednesday, July 25–Friday, July 27
Jason Andrew Bowles, 5 tools a gift to Bart, mixed media, 2009.
During their two summer residencies on MICA’s
campus, the art educators enrolled in the MA in Art Education
(MAAE) program produce a conceptually related series of
artworks. These artworks and the students’ thesis research
studies on exhibition at the Pinkard Gallery mark the students’
graduation from the MAAE Program at MICA.
Featuring: Rebecca Belleville, Laura Lynn Emberson, John Kildahl,
Annette Luycx, L. Chapin Shearer, Linda Whelihan, and Meghan Zanskas
School for Professional &
Continuing Studies Student
Exhibition
Featuring: Jason Andrew Bowles, Mark Dixon, Chas Foster, Christian
Hali, Patti Meyers, Dianne Pappas, Solange Roberdeau, Bernadine
Schroyer, and Bart O’Reilly
Second- and Third-Year
MFA in Studio Art Exhibition
Thursday, August 9–Thursday, August 16
Reception: Thursday, August 16, 5–7 pm
Friday, July 6–Friday, July 13
Artwork by David Marion from the 2011 School for Professional & Continuing Studies Student Exhibition.
This exhibition includes work by students in MICA’s
continuing studies studio courses. The exhibition includes
drawing, painting, ceramics, jewelry, photography, printmaking,
and sculpture.
A native baltimorean, Former trustee Amalie
Rothschild ’34 (1916-2001) was an extremely versatile
and imaginative artist. This exhibition is of a body of sculptural
work based on the form of the liturgical vestment with each piece
created out of a unique mixture of materials.
Rothschild left behind some 1,500 works—more than 350
of which are in private collections and museums, including the
Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Phillips Collection, The Baltimore
Museum of Art, the Walters Art Museum, the Honolulu Academy
of Arts, and The Israel Museum, Jerusalem. While Rothschild
began her career as a painter of regional cityscapes and genre
scenes in a figurative style, she soon discovered European
modernism which expanded her approach to her work. She
became best known for her abstract, geometric works in Plexiglas,
aluminum, bronze, bark, handmade cast paper, and particle board,
but she also painted using the more traditional mediums of oil,
acrylic, and watercolor.
Rothschild was a major force in the Maryland art world.
She was president of the Maryland Artists’ Union, founded
the Baltimore Outdoor Art Festival (1953-1968), co-founded
Gallery One (the first co-operative artists’ gallery in Baltimore),
co-founded Maryland Art Place, served on the boards of MICA
and The Baltimore Museum of Art, and taught at Goucher
College as well as the Metropolitan School of Art.
Author’s Tour and Lecture
Friday, April 20, 1–5:30 pm
Brown Center: Rosenberg Gallery, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave.
MICA will celebrate the legacy of Amalie Rothschild
’34 and the publication of the book, Life and Work of Amalie
Rothschild, with a tour led by the book’s essayists. Programming
will begin with an author’s tour of the exhibition from 1-2 pm,
followed by lectures by essayists Percy North (2:15 pm), Susan
Isaacs (3:15 pm), and Amalie R. Rothschild (4:15 pm), whose
essays appear in the book. The event will be followed by the
exhibition reception and book signing.
(background) Amalie Rothschild ’34, Hippolyte, aluminum, Plexiglas, gold leaf, chain, 1972.
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Wangechi Mutu
Gary Graham
Lisa Sanditz
Monday, April 2, 10:30 am
Brown Center: Room 320,
Tuesday, April 3, 11:30 am
Wangechi Mutu is a Kenyan artist
whose work acts as a commentary of
a social and personal nature where the
female body functions as a dominant
site of engagement and provocation. Her
hybrid figures are embedded in unknown
landscapes, possessing an abject allure.
Reflecting her background, where she
acquired a deep sensitivity for material
salvaging, recycling, and reclaiming,
Mutu’s samples come from printed image
sources, including medical diagrams,
glossy magazines, anthropology and
botany pictures, pornographic materials,
and traditional African arts. The artist’s
signature aesthetic combines tactile
surfaces and fleshy images saturated with
physical and conceptual wit, regenerating
the narrative and placement of the
contemporary African female body. Mutu’s
work is included in major collections such
as the Museum of Modern Art in New
York, Whitney Museum of American
Art in New York, Studio Museum in
Harlem, New York, the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art, and the Deutsche
Guggenheim Museum in Berlin. This talk
is sponsored by the Hoffberger School of
Painting.
New York-based Fashion designer
Gary Graham’s background in costume
and textile design is evident season after
season. His collections are rich with casual
luxury and a sense of history. Signature
prints and jacquards are designed to
incorporate visual clues that articulate
the underlying themes of each collection.
Inspirations for past collections have
included fresh reinterpretations of Dust
Bowl-era portraits or antique engravings
of botanical specimens. His approach is
reflected in his trademark fitted jackets,
fluid dresses, and knits—all rendered
in a rich palette with varied textures,
achieved through the meticulous washing
and dyeing processes that are associated
with his name. Graham’s collections are
represented in specialty boutiques and
department stores worldwide. He was
named a finalist in the 2009 Council of
Fashion Designers of America/Vogue
Fashion Fund. His talk is part of the Fiber
Department’s Mixed Media Series.
Lisa Sanditz, a native of Missouri, is
an American landscape painter eternally
searching for ways to find the sublime in
the most unexpected areas. While respecting the traditions of her predecessors,
Sanditz has taken a new and inventive
path in the realm of landscape painting.
Her wildly colorful works function as
stylistic and informational quilts, opening
doors into strange, polluted, and mysterious impressions of collapsing space. These
items teeter between the seductive and
the grotesque, but regardless are accessible through the dynamic tension of their
design. She embraces despoiled and rotten landscapes and transforms them into
picturesque scenes of great beauty and
power. Sanditz has taught at Bard College
in New York, San Francisco Art Institute,
Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,
Rhode Island School of Design, and
Minneapolis College of Art and Design.
This talk is sponsored by the Hoffberger
School of Painting.
Post Typography
Greatest Misses
Monday, April 16, 7 pm
Brown Center: Falvey Hall,
Faculty members Nolen Strals ’01
and Bruce Willen ’02 of the Baltimore
design studio Post Typography give a
behind-the-scenes peek at the design
process, illustrated with never-before-seen
projects that fell short, missed the mark,
or were blown off-target by the fickle
winds of client taste.
Originally conceived as an avant-garde
anti-design movement, Post Typography
specializes in graphic design, conceptual
typography, and custom lettering/illustration with additional forays into art,
apparel, music, curatorial work, design
theory, and vandalism. In 2007, Strals
and Willen incorporated Post Typography
as a full-time design studio, where they
continue to work for a variety of clients
including The New York Times, U.S. Green
Building Council, John Legend & The
Roots, and Random House. The studio
recently wrote and designed Lettering &
Type, a book on lettering and typeface
design, published by Princeton Architectural Press. This lecture is sponsored by
the Graphic Design Department.
Art@Lunch: Alicia Volk,
Global Art History,
a View from Japanese
Modernism
Lee Mingwei
Wednesday, April 18, 2:15 pm
Born in Taiwan and currently living in
New York City, Lee Mingwei creates both
participatory installations, where strangers
can explore issues of trust, intimacy, and
As associate professor and
self-awareness on their own and through
director of graduate studies at the
one-on-one events, where visitors explore
University of Maryland, Alicia Volk’s
these issues with the artist himself through
research spans a range of mediums and
eating, sleeping, walking, and conversing.
critical issues in modern and contemporary
Mingwei’s projects are often open-ended
Japanese art. This lecture will introduce
scenarios for everyday interaction that
key monuments of Japanese modern
take on different forms depending on the
art and place them in both domestic
participants. Time is central to this process,
and international context. The focus
as Mingwei’s installations often change
will be on oil painter Yorozu Tetsugorō,
during the course of an exhibition. who devoted his career to resolving the
Mingwei’s exhibitions have been displayed
sometimes uneasy relationship between
at the Museum of Modern Art in New
perceived dichotomies, such as native and
York, Whitney Museum of American Art
foreign, and past and present—some of
in New York, Brooklyn Museum in New
the defining challenges of Japanese modern
York, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
art. While reflecting upon the recent trends
in Boston, Los Angeles County Museum
toward global histories of art, this lecture
of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art
will demonstrate how such developments
Cleveland, Museum of Contemporary Art
in Japanese modern art both participated
Taipei, and Queensland Gallery of Modern
in the various discourses of European
Art in Australia. He has also been featured
modernism and expanded the scope of
at biennials in Venice, Lyon, Liverpool,
modernism’s possibilities and achievements.
Taipei, and Washington, DC, as well as in
The Art@Lunch lecture series is organized
the Asia Pacific Triennial of contemporary
by the Department of Art History, Theory,
art. His talk and residency are funded
and Criticism with support from the Office
by the Mixed Media Lecture Series with
of Academic Services.
support from the MFA in Curatorial
Practice.
Wednesday, April 18, 12:30 pm
Lisa Sanditz, Deflated Christmas, 2010.
Design by Gary Graham (Photo by Alex Antitch).
Wangechi Mutu
Bruce Willen ’02 and Nolen Strals ’01 of Post Typography.
Alicia Volk
Lee Mingwei
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Animation and the
Language of Classical
Indian Dance
Candy Chang
John Zinsser
Thursday, April 19, 7:30 pm
Thursday, April 19, Noon
Main Building: Room 100,
Internationally recognized
artist, designer, and urban
planner Candy Chang believes the
design of our public spaces can better
reflect what is important to us as a
community and as individuals. Combining
street art and graphic design, she
transforms simple objects such as stickers,
stencils, and chalkboards into powerful
tools that spark conversations in public
spaces. Chang was named a “Live Your
Best Life” Local Hero by Oprah Magazine
and has been recognized as a TED Senior
Fellow and an Urban Innovation Fellow.
In Chang’s talks, she poses new
strategies for civic life and inspires listeners
to think differently. Through her own
life stories, she illustrates how seemingly
disparate experiences in countries from
Kazakhstan to South Africa to Finland have
come together to incite fresh perspectives
and form a coherent philosophy. Her
provocative and intimate talks explore the
power of introspection in public space
and what we can learn from our collective
wisdom. This lecture is sponsored by the
Graphic Design Department.
As an abstract painter, John
Zinsser has been exhibiting in the United
States and Europe for 25 years. In 1987, he
co-founded Journal of Contemporary Art,
a magazine devoted entirely to interviews
with artists and special projects. He has also
written extensively for the periodicals Art in
America and Flash Art. As a teacher at New
School University and New York Academy
of Art, Zinsser discusses contemporary art
practices within their larger art historical
contexts. He invites a wide range of possible
readings in his own work, from Freud-based
psychology to popular culture sources.
In a review of his show, Abstract
Memory, that debuted last spring
at Larry Becker Contemporary Art
in Philadelphia, Robin Rice of the
Philadelphia City Paper writes: “Zinsser’s
commitment to lush, well-orchestrated
accidents reminds us of nature. His use of
engineered pigments, silvers, rust primer,
and alkyds keeps us in the artifice of
civilization.” This talk is sponsored by the
Hoffberger School of Painting.
Mandakini Trivedi was a professor
of dance for almost 10 years at Nalanda
Nritya Kala Mahavidyalaya, a premier
institution for the performing arts in
Mumbai, India. She was initially trained
in Mohini Attam by Smt. Kanak Rele,
PhD, and received an MFA from Bombay
University. Trivedi earned the Central
Government Junior Fellowship for research
in Mahini Attam, under which she studied
dance from several masters in the field.
She is an accomplished performer, teacher,
and choreographer who is involved in
various aspects of dance education and
expression. As the creative head of the
Nateshvari Dance Gurukul, she is working
toward reviving the yogic traditions in
Indian dance and creating awareness about
the approach to Indian dance as a means
of self-evolution. She has authored two
books: The Yoga of Indian Dance and Sutras
On Dance. This event is sponsored by the
Animation Department.
Projector Performance:
Sandra Gibson &
Luis Recoder
Departmental
Exhibitions
Wednesday, April 25, 7 pm
Wednesday, March 21–Monday, April 9
Mount Royal Station: Middendorf Gallery
Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder
will present a lecture about their work
with light and sound that includes a
performance using film projectors. In
an interview with the artists, art critic
and curator Ed Halter said: “In their
collaborative film performances, Sandra
Gibson and Luis Recoder employ simple
mechanical means to hypnotically
elaborate ends. Sixteen-mm loops, spray
bottles, colored gels, unfocused lenses,
and hand-shadows combine, through
rehearsed recipes, into slowly mutating
light-sculptures: morphing color-fields,
angel-white auras, fusing penumbrae,
pulsing vertical lines. Built upon occulted
rhythms of film projection, their work
retains a personal, human scale, even as
the viewer succumbs to its transportive
powers. Their performances melt
the projector’s machine materialism
into ethereal experiences.” This event
is sponsored by the departments of
Interaction Design and Art and Video and
Film Arts.
Tuesday, April 3–Sunday, April 15
Fox Building: Fox 2 Gallery
FIBER
PAINTING/GENERAL FINE ARTS
SUSIE BRANDT’S FIBER CLASS
Wednesday, April 11–Sunday, April 22
Main Building: Main Gallery
CERAMICS
Thursday, April 12–Thursday, April 26
Mount Royal Station: Middendorf Gallery
ILLUSTRATION
Thursday, April 12–Sunday, April 29
Brown Center: Brown 3 and 4 galleries
SENIOR THESIS
Tuesday, April 17–Sunday, April 22
Student Events
Caribbean Carnival
Friday, April 20, 3–7 pm
Cohen Plaza, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave.
(Rain location: Meyerhoff House: Dining Hall, 140
W. Lafayette Ave.)
Caribbean Carnival celebrates the unique culture
of the Caribbean islands with literature, music,
food, entertainment, and arts and crafts. This
event is sponsored by the Office of Diversity &
Intercultural Development.
Showcase Live!
Sunday, April 22, 8–10 pm
The Gateway: BBOX, 1601 W. Mount Royal Ave.
This student-run event is a culmination of the
year’s Coffeehouse programming, where students
showcase their talents outside of the realm
of visual arts. Now in its ninth year, this event
features music, acting, comedy, poetry, and
dancing.
Last Blast
Monday, April 23–Sunday, April 29
Friday, April 27, 3–7 pm
Cohen Plaza, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave.
(Rain location: Meyerhoff House: Dining Hall, 140
W. Lafayette Ave.)
Student
Exhibitions
After a hard year of studies, students can finish
off the semester with an afternoon of fun, games,
music, and barbeque. This annual MICA tradition
is sponsored by the Student Activities Office.
GENERAL FINE ARTS
HANNAH HILL ’12
(General Fine Arts)
Decoration Day
Monday, April 2–Friday, May 4
Gateway: Gallery Two
HUNTER SAVOY JAFFE ’14
(Photography)
Heartstrings
Gateway: Gallery One
NATHAN MILLER ’12 (Painting)
Gilgameshy
Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder (Photo by Christoph Kniel).
John Zinsser
Meyerhoff House: Piano Gallery
Theo Willis ’12 (Painting)
1,000
Mandakini Trivedi
Candy Chang (Photo by Randal Ford).
Bunting Center: Student Space Gallery-Pinkard
Artwork by Theo Willis.
45
46
ESSAY
Artscape 31 Again Makes MICA
the Center of Baltimore’s Art World
Art School / Art Museum
for the 31st time , MICA will serve as anchor for Artscape, the nation’s largest free arts
festival, this July. As in past years, crowds of hundreds of thousands are expected to sample art,
culture, and cuisine in the streets around campus and in MICA’s galleries. Though originally designed by
President Fred Lazarus IV and other city leaders to bring diverse populations of the city together, the
festival now draws audiences from all over the globe.
As part of its sponsorship for the festival, MICA provides campus space and facilities and hosts
exhibitions such as the annual Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize Semifinalists. The prize is one of
the most prestigious cultural awards in Maryland: a $25,000 fellowship. Jurors this year include Brooklynbased multimedia artist Shinique Smith ’03; Jane Hait, co-owner and director of Wallspace Gallery in New
York City; and Carlos Basauldo, curator of contemporary art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
A number of MICA students and alumni, as well as a wide variety of other artists, can be found
exhibiting or selling art at the festival. MICA also typically provides programming through various
departments, including the MA in Community Arts program, in which graduate students have
facilitated artmaking workshops with young children attending the festival.
Artscape continues to prove that art enthusiasts span the spectrum of ages, races, genders,
and cultural backgrounds. The 2012 festival will take place Friday, July 20–Sunday, July 22. More
information about Artscape can be found at artscape.org.
2012 Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize Semifinalists
(top to bottom) Photo by Phylicia Ghee ’10; Photo by Cedric Mobley.
Friday, July 20 and Saturday, July 21, 11 am–9 pm; Sunday, August 5, 11 am–8 pm
Fox Building: Decker and Meyerhoff galleries, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave.
Reception: Thursday, July 19, 6–9 pm
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
For the most up-to-date information and additional news, events, and exhibitions as well as videos,
photos, artwork, and interactive features, visit Juxtapositions online at fyi.mica.edu.
Cornel West, PhD
Phyllis Plattner, Skies (detail), oil and gold leaf on linen on panel, 2010.
Constitution Day
Chronicles of War:
Other People’s Pictures
Thursday, September 20, 7–9 pm
MICA and the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland commemorate
Constitution Day with a free symposium held annually to recognize the
ratification of the United States Constitution and continue MICA’s tradition
of leadership in raising and exploring important political issues. This year’s
symposium is entitled We the People: Freedom of Assembly and Political
Speech, and will be headlined by the prominent scholar and activist Cornel
West, PhD.
October 2012
In Chronicles of War: Other People’s Pictures, faculty member Phyllis
Plattner will exhibit altarpiece-shaped, multiple panel, oil, and gold leaf
paintings based on art historic imagery and photo journalism. These
paintings grow out of the profound impact of her experiences living in
foreign cultures, including Mexico and Italy, as well as from her horror at the
ubiquity of war in global history.
Sign up to receive weekly event or monthly news updates at www.mica.edu/signup.
“MICA provides
creative fuel for
Baltimore.”
conversation. Ben Levy ’09, a MICA graduate
and curatorial assistant who works in the
By Doreen Bolger
Prints, Drawings, & Photographs Department,
Director, The Baltimore Museum of Art
curated MICA’s Senior Print Show last year.
When MICA faculty member Trudi Ludwig
As I reflect on this particular moment in
Johnson chaired the BMA’s Print, Drawing
Baltimore, I am struck by how connected we all
& Photograph Society (PDPS) from 2008 to
are—not just by social networks and handheld
2010, she led an initiative to recruit student
devices, but by a thriving arts community with
members, whose participation is made
a shared set of values and commitments. Recent
formal and informal partnerships between MICA affordable by PDPS members who appreciate
the students’ presence and perspective.
and The Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA)
The BMA’s Contemporary Print Fair,
demonstrate the impact of this connectivity.
When a leading art school and a major museum which brings leading print dealers to Baltimore
biennially, has featured MICA work in a variety
work together, the results are exponential for
of ways—in a dynamic sales booth at two
students, for audiences, and for the city.
Many talented MICA faculty and graduates recent fairs and this year through the creation
of a special Print Fair poster. The poster will
are featured in BMA exhibitions, from solo
be designed by MICA visiting artist Trenton
shows to exhibitions celebrating the Sondheim
Prize semifinalists and the Baker Artists Awards. Doyle Hancock using MICA’s Globe Poster
MICA students recently co-curated the popular archive, and it will be produced by MICA
students. Hancock is also creating a limitedPrint by Print: Series from Dürer to Lichtenstein
edition print to benefit both institutions. Don’t
exhibition. Two undergraduates—Nick
miss his artist’s talk at the Museum or the panel
Clifford Simko and Jennifer Tam—interned
discussion with the creators of Printeresting, a
at the BMA this summer and were among
premier blog about printed matters that counts
the students who selected the themes and
MICA faculty member R.L. Tillman among its
works for the exhibition as part of a Johns
founders (see page 15 for more information).
Hopkins University Museums & Society
Program seminar taught by BMA curator Rena Our collaborations reach beyond the
physical boundaries of the campus and the
Hoisington. This semester Nick is continuing
his work by cataloguing photography portfolios. Museum. My MICA colleagues play leadership
roles on the boards of organizations dedicated
Another MICA intern, Tommy Doyle, is
to the common good of the entire arts
cataloguing contemporary prints and posting
community—Maryland Citizens for the Arts,
his favorite discoveries on a tumblr blog.
the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, and
In 2011, more than 350 students in
Station North Arts & Entertainment District.
MICA classes met with BMA curators in the
This time and effort are a reflection of their
Museum’s Print Study Room, where they
commitment to community.
viewed great examples of prints, drawings,
And perhaps most of all, I have the joy of
and photographs from the Renaissance to the
encountering dozens of talented young MICA
present. The BMA’s treasure trove of 65,000
graduates who have chosen to make their way
works on paper offers endless possibilities for
here in Baltimore, contributing their innovation
learning. This includes the extraordinary George
to a city that needs their energy and vision.
A. Lucas Collection—20,000 works by French
MICA provides creative fuel for Baltimore—
19th-century masters—which passed from
MICA to the BMA in 1995, and now serves as a visual artists, curators, educators, musicians,
foundation for studying art history and artmaking. writers, gallerists, and performers—who are
problem solvers and visionaries. The potential
The collaboration goes back and forth
for the arts and for Baltimore is endless.
between the two institutions like an ongoing
47
Maryland Institute College of Art
Baltimore, Maryland 21217
Your love is just not enough.
We need you to like us, too.
MICA news, event information,
artwork, and video delivered
straight to you.
facebook.com/mica.edu
Thursday, May 10th, 2012
5:00 PM – 9:00 PM, campuswide
Starting at Cohen Plaza, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave.
TICKETS: $25 for exhibition & casual supper
This hot ticket preview party for the 2012 Commencement
Exhibition is your only opportunity to see artwork from
the world’s most talented emerging young artists, meet
the artists, and purchase their work before the show
opens to the public. A spectacular 3 kilometers of art
installed in 7 buildings along the Mount Royal Cultural
Corridor. Purchase tickets online at www.mica.edu/artwalk.

April - May - Summer 2012 Issue - Maryland Institute College of Art

Transcription

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