04
news & events
BRIDGE
PARTNERS
The Parsons Scholars program, which provides art and design education to low-income New York City public high school students, partnered with Architecture for Humanity on a design studio. Students developed concepts for park shelters at High Bridge, a pedestrian bridge connecting Manhattan and the Bronx. Students consulted with the local community, explored the latest design modeling technologies, and met with guest lecturers from major firms such as Polshek Partnership.
TEXT
MESSAGES
Visitors to The Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at Parsons are greeted by repeating motifs that span the wall with ambiguous dates and names in hand drawn lettering: “Princess Diana, 12 August 1923,” “SOS Titanic, 3 July 1831.” The piece, Cartes de Visite, is a wallpaper created by Michael DiPietro, a student in the Integrated Design Curriculum. “It’s about the meaning of text. When you read something, you tend to automatically think that it has some kind of truth to it,” he says. Cartes de Visite was the winning entry in a schoolwide student competition.
MASTERFUL Parsons is launching four master’s programs that respond creatively and critically to the rapidly evolving field of design. MFA in Transdisciplinary Design students will engage in projects whose complexity calls for new interdisciplinary approaches. MA in Fashion Studies students will explore fashion as object, image, practice, theory, and concept. The online MS in Design Management program will provide practicing designers with the business skills they need to get ahead in competitive times. The MFA in Fashion Design and Society program will train designers to become fashion leaders and engaged global citizens. Visit www.newschool.edu/thinkparsons.
BAGGED
Parsons students are making their mark on the fashion world, with products gracing stores across the country this fall. Ellen Tracy tapped Parsons juniors to reinvent the white shirt; winning designs sold out at Bloomingdale’s stores this past summer. Legendary Italian shoe and accessory designer Cesare Paciotti debuted a shoe designed by Kwame Brako-Adu ’09 at its New York flagship store as part of the citywide Fashion Night Out. And in its first partnership with Parsons, Henri Bendel introduced a handbag designed by Nanae Takata ’09 in its Madison Avenue store. Parsons also collaborated with Lucky Brand to rethink their classic slouch bag; the winning design, by senior Jordan Richards, will debut in stores this fall.
FELLOWS TRAVELERS
The Open Society Institute’s Public Health Program, which supports healthrelated nongovernmental organizations, granted fellowships to eight students from Parsons’ School of Art, Media and Technology this summer. Students worked with the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa in Namibia; the Association for Self-Advocacy in Croatia; the Network of Zambian People Living with HIV/Aids; Hospice “Casa Sperantei,” in Brasov, Romania; and the Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association and Health Action International Africa, both in Nairobi, to develop communications plans, facilitate training, and devise effective implementation strategies.
ILLUSTRIOUS
Work by alumni and faculty of the Illustration program have recently made it into the public eye. Bob Sikoryak ’87 published Masterpiece Comics, which gives classic literary works a 20thcentury comic twist. On Tender Hooks is the first monograph of acclaimed alumna Isabel Samaras ’87, whose
pop-surrealist art has attracted a cult following. Ice Age 3, by Peter De Sève ’80, builds on the characters he developed for the first two installments of this popular animated film series.
SPOTLIGHT
Parsons’ School of Constructed Environments recently took part in two major lighting design events showcasing its faculty and students. In New York, the school hosted a daylighting workshop as part of the annual Light Fair International. The workshop, taught by faculty member Matthew Tanteri, included an exhibition of work by MFA Lighting Design students at the school’s gallery in Greenwich Village. Parsons also collaborated with the Targetti Foundation in Florence on a workshop led by MFA Lighting Design director Derek Porter and other faculty from Italy, in which an international group of designers developed hypothetical lighting schemes for the historic area surrounding the Palazzo Strozzi and Piazza della Repubblica in Florence. See page 2–3, images 7–8.
SUPPORT STRUCTURES
The Michael Kalil Endowment for Smart Design fosters understanding of design intersections between nature and technology, supporting a heightened sense of responsibility for the sustainability of built environments. The title of Kalil Fellow is awarded to one or more distinguished recipients annually, as are three $5,000 fellowships to student, faculty, and outside practitioners. Alumni are encouraged to apply. The call for project proposals will go out in December. In February 2010, the Kalil Endowment will present schoolwide events including a public award ceremony and a roundtable discussion. For more information, visit www2.parsons.edu/sce/kalil/index.php.