Cut/Paste: News from MCAD Issue #1

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Cut/Paste is designed by Hannah Taylor ’19.

Poster art by Eddie Perrote ’14, a freelance illustrator based in Brooklyn, NY. eddieperrote.com

Thank you supporters.

This publication is a celebration of the vitality of the MCAD community, even during a challenging time. We want to acknowledge everyone who has supported MCAD by making a gift, including the sixty-one donors who have contributed more than $110,000 to the Emergency Student Assistance Fund.

The MCAD community is generous and resilient, and in difficult times that is clearer than ever.

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01 Attendees at the “Meet President Sanjit Sethi” event at Tattersall Distilling hosted

by Boriana Strzok ’08 of 5IVE, October 2019.

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Cut/Paste: News from MCAD is a new alumni publication from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Expect a designforward piece that aims to strengthen and connect the MCAD community: highlighting the success and creative leadership of alumni, sharing opportunities to engage with the college, and showcasing alumni and student work.

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P3—4 Start Here: Letter from President Sanjit Sethi

P5—6 Keep in Touch: Engagement Opportunities P7—8 Say Goodbye: Honoring Karen Wirth and retiring faculty

P9—10 Spread Love (not germs): Shoutouts to and from MCAD alums Table of Contents

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P11—16 Made @ MCAD

P17—20 Take Pride: Alumni Features Kobby Appiah ’11 Sishir Bommakanti ’18

P21—22 Celebrate: Alumni Achievement Awardee Aldo Moroni ’76

P23—26 Stay Home: MCAD community responds to COVID-19

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Dear MCAD Alumni, I have been thinking a lot about a powerful quote by the Sufist poet Rumi: “New organs of perception come into being as a result of necessity. Therefore... increase your necessity, so that you may increase your perception.” I believe we are in a moment when our necessity has been dramatically increased by the onset of this pandemic.

As creative practitioners, we acutely understand that our needs cannot only be focused on food and shelter alone, but also that we have a necessity for cultural connection, inspiration, and community— maybe now more so than ever before.

We are living in a moment of heightened perception where there are certain things we can see, hear, and feel in ways we haven’t been able to before. As a community of makers, thinkers and leaders, we understand this better than many. Now is the time for bold ideas, bold gestures, bold thinking, and risk-taking. We are seeking vastly different ways to connect and make linkages with one another because our mobility and interactions have been limited and curtailed. We are making objects that feel more precious because of what we miss Start here

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or may have lost. We have an opportunity to reposition ourselves in the world: to reposition our practice, our relationships, and the systems around us. This is what gives me heart. You, our talented alumni, are going to show us a path forward.

I am always interested in hearing about your work and how MCAD can support you. Many of you responded to my fall postcard, and those thoughtful answers have helped to shape my thinking during my first year as president. Enclosed is another question: “What does Cultural Leadership mean to you?� These postcards are an invitation for a conversation and a chance for us to ruminate together on the values that we care deeply about.

I hope that seeing the incredible work of your peers in these pages brings you solace, optimism, and inspiration. I also hope it brings you closer to the vibrant, resilient MCAD community that we are. May this message find you and your families healthy and in good spirits.

All my best, President Sanjit Sethi

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Postcards you sent to Sanjit last fall. Don't forget to return the postcard included in this publication with your thoughts on Cultural Leadership.

Keep in Touch

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Here for you

Coming soon

Keep learning with a major Continuing Education discount As part of MCAD’s commitment to lifelong learning, we are offering a new opportunity for alumni to access Continuing Education classes.

Starting this fall, MCAD alumni may take one noncredit course per semester at 75% off, on a spaceavailable basis. This benefit includes all adult classes, both campusbased and online. From personal enrichment to career development, we hope you’ll find something that serves you! For more details visit:

On (Topic): Cultural Leadership With a goal of engaging more deeply in the local and global conversations around creative practice and pedagogy, MCAD is launching On (Topic): a publication and podcast engaging artists, designers, and creative leaders in conversation around a relevant subject. In its inaugural year, On (Topic) will delve into the idea of cultural leadership.

In this time of global pandemic, how can creative practitioners contribute to building lasting change, and how can institutions like MCAD prepare students to work with communities to create solutions? Keep an eye on your email for details.

mcad.edu/continuing-education/ discounts Prep for your next career move Career Development is available for you. They’re prepared to review your resumes and cover letters, provide assistance regarding interviewing and job searching, and answer questions pertaining to your career path.

Learn more: mcad.edu/career-services

The MCAD Art Sale November 19-21, 2020 Because it is the greatest MCAD get-together of the year, our hope is that by November we will be able to celebrate and showcase our artists in a BIG way. Stay tuned.

The MCAD Gallery We have great exhibitions planned, but COVID-19 concerns have everything on hold. For updates and show announcements, visit: mcad.edu/gallery

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Honoring Karen Wirth This spring Karen Wirth will retire as Vice President of Academic Affairs.

Karen began her career at MCAD as an adjunct professor in the early 1990s. She returned in 2003 as a professor and Fine Arts Chair, and in 2011 was promoted to Vice President of Academic Affairs after a national search. She served as Interim President of MCAD for the 2018-19 academic year. We asked a few special people to help us highlight Karen’s exceptional contributions to MCAD. Amanda Lovelee ’10, MFA: As a teacher you taught me the meaning of confidence combined with grace and vulnerability. As a mentor you showed me that growth is hard work. As an artist you taught me how to bend mediums and labels.

Thank you for sharing some of your magic with me. I look forward to watching your practice grow and to seeing the many more marks you will make.

Howard Quednau, Professor and Fine Arts Chair: Karen Wirth has given so much to this institution; it is hard to sum up in these few words. Yet, amongst all the roles Karen has played, I suspect the most important to her is that of educator. She has mentored countless students and faculty with zeal, focus, and compassion. It is telling that her “retirement” plans include teaching a newly created textile class for MCAD students in the fall.

Say Goodbye

Karen will undoubtedly approach her next adventures with the same grace and sense of purpose that have been the hallmarks of her long and varied career. While I can’t quite imagine MCAD without her, I know that she has left the college a better place; one that will owe much of its future successes to her diligence and presence.

Gerald Ronning, Professor and Liberal Arts Chair: Karen’s commitment to MCAD, its students, faculty, and staff is unparalleled. Part of her legacy is already apparent in the ways that we have risen to the challenge of this pandemic, and when the college clears the immediate crisis I am certain we will have time to reflect upon her extraordinary contribution to MCAD’s enduring strength. She has been a great mentor and champion and has contributed to the most satisfying years of my professional life. I am grateful for the opportunity to have been her colleague and friend.

Now it is time for well-deserved and

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Julie Reneé Benda ’16, MFA I knew from the moment I met Karen that she had something I wanted one day. She resonated a self-trust that was strong and powerful, and I knew I would need to find that if I were going to live into my whole potential as an artist, and as a human.

Of course, when I had the opportunity to work with Karen one-on-one, I got a crash course in what will undoubtedly take me a lifetime of practice to master. None-the-less, Karen gave me exactly what I needed as a guide, a mentor, and a leader. She gave me a vision of a future I wanted to see, and that is fuel to keep you going through anything. My question now is: is it too late? Wirth 2020?

A Note from Karen: I am grateful for all of the many experiences I have had at MCAD, shared with so many wonderful people. I still remember the students in the first Visual Studies foundation class I taught in 1991—and their projects! From adjunct faculty member to interim president, I have experienced the depth of the MCAD community, its strong commitment to students and enduring belief in what we do. It has been a gift to be a part of it, and I look forward to seeing the next generations of artists and designers lead the way.

Thank you for the years of wisdom Along with Karen, four longstanding and influential faculty members are retiring this spring.

We are grateful for their admirable contributions to scholarship, building MCAD programs, and educating the next generation of artists and designers. We wish them the best in their future endeavors and look forward to seeing what their next chapters hold.

Frenchy (Nancy) Lunning Thomas Pope Dave Novak Lynda Monick-Isenberg These messages are only excerpts.

To read the full notes, and more about all the retiring faculty, visit: mcad.edu/thank-you-2020

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As we all stay home to flatten the curve and protect our community, we asked you to tell us about your amazing friends who deserve a shout-out.

What you shared really brightened our day, and we hope seeing it here brightens yours.

Nathan Motzko ’16 “I met Nathan while I was working in the Service Bureau, and his work in design, illustration, and animation was really inspiring to see. In fact he was one of the first people I would talk to when I started getting into animation and motion graphic processes.”

—Sishir Bommakanti ’18, MFA

01 Nathan Motzko Fancy Cape, 2020 Digital illustration

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Jessica Radanavong ’18 “Jessica is taking advantage of extra time indoors and out by holding more fabulous fashion and portrait photoshoots, and has recently been experimenting with bold colors and lines in postprocessing” —Katie Rose Kaufman ’18 Chris Selleck ’16, MFA “Other then their works being fantastic, the work engages the body, specifically the queer male body and it being vulnerable.

(People don’t like to talk about the male body being vulnerable or the male figure in general.) The installations, sculptures, and photographs are cohesive and create strong relationships when paired together.” —Lindsay Splichal ’12 Maria Camila Prada Torres ’18 “I met Maria Camila my freshman year in the Entreprenurial Studies program. When she isn’t using her business brain she builds her practice in illustration and painting. Back then, we bonded over cooking and new recipes and dreamed of writing and designing a cookbook together. Four years later and both working from home (her in St. Paul, me in Minneapolis), we have finally found the time to start our cookbook.”—Hannah Taylor ’19 Anne-Cecile Malle-Barlow “My wife Anne-Cecile (former MCAD student) is valiantly front-lining: providing anesthesia and working on the intubation team at work, then going home and sewing masks. She’s literally a trooper, and part of the solution. Annie, I just want you to be and stay safe.” ­—Mark Barlow ’88

PS: who are we missing?

Check the back cover to see how to share news with us.

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An annual all-student juried exhibition What does it mean to be Made at MCAD? At a moment when most of the college's students and staff and all of the faculty are "sheltering-at-home" amid the COVID-19 pandemic, this annual all-student juried exhibition has taken on a different resonance.

Although in its form and structure it highlights individual achievement and prioritizes competition, as the title suggests, the exhibition is really about community. To be Made at MCAD means to be made at a certain place, surrounded by certain conditions of support. And while these conditions have changed, the support that guides, nurtures, and challenges our students has not gone away. The Made at MCAD exhibition, as it was briefly installed for a mere five days, is a monument of sorts to what was. May we all play a part in maintaining the community that makes MCAD—now, and in the future.

—Kerry Morgan, Gallery Director

01 David Ruhlman Second-year MFA The Shy Occultist Gouache on wood panel Juror’s Choice Award

04 Xingzi Liang + Dawn Yang Second-year MFA Eight Cuisines Digital book and prints Juror’s Choice Award

02 Camilo Aguirre Second-year MFA Dispossession Photogravure People's Choice Award

05 Marvin Chang Senior, Graphic Design HIV Digital print Juror’s Choice Award

03 Kendall Dickinson Second-year MFA i've never felt more like me Pill bottles, medicine cabinet, pills Juror’s Choice Award

06 Peyton Woller + Sydney Abbott Senior, Furniture Design + Junior, Furniture Design Table and Tray Walnut and fiber President's Award

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Made @ MCAD identity (as seen on outer panels) designed by Nicky Dolan ’21, DesignWorks student designer ndolan.studio.mcad.edu/hi

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Kobby Appiah ’11 Kobby Appiah ’11 is the Creative Technology Director at KNOCK, inc., overseeing all web development projects. “Basically, everything that involves even a little bit of coding crosses my desk.”

When asked if he went to MCAD knowing he’d get into coding, he laughed, “No, God, no. I got in as a drawing and painting or illustration major.”

He ended up in web and multimedia environments when he realized that “it’s easier for me to figure out why this piece of software isn’t working than for me to mix flesh tones.”

The only issue? “I wasn’t wellversed in computers. I was the only non-nerd in a group of nerds.” Luckily, he worked under Tyler Stefanich ’09 (“great man”) in DesignWorks, and through him, met Ben Moren ’10 who is now a fullTake Pride

time professor at MCAD. “We had a bromance right away. Ben and Tyler were good friends and I snuck under their wings.”

For Appiah, work is rewarding because the tasks are “fun” (this coming from a guy who figures out quantum computing with his friends on the weekends), but also because of the opportunity to do good. “KNOCK has the large clients, but we also do a lot of work for the community, what I call ‘for the culture’ [...]

So on the one hand you’re doing a project for some large client with an unlimited amount of money, and on the other hand you’re building a grocery store in North Minneapolis.”

He stays engaged in the community outside of his day job as well: “Almost all of the freelance projects I’ve done have been for the greater good in some way. It’s part of the ‘each one, teach one.’ I got an incredible

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amount of help when I was coming up. An immeasurable amount of help. And I made it as far as I have because a lot of people gave me a hand, a lot of people sacrificed, a lot of people paid for my mistakes. Once you get to a point where you’re able to, it’s part of your growth as a person to bring someone else up.”

One great example of a freelance project is working with Sahan Journal, a nonprofit digital newsroom dedicated to providing authentic news reporting for and about immigrants and refugees in Minnesota. “I was brought in through someone I knew at MCAD. Being an immigrant myself, I remember being like ‘Ok we’re making a real deal news publication just for immigrants?

When are we starting? We’ll worry about money stuff later, when are we starting? I was in right away.”

Appiah and his high-school friends run a scholarship program at their alma mater, St. Anthony Village High School, to “get people some of the help we didn’t have.” And, his commitment to bringing people up extends into his management style. “I wouldn’t want someone working or studying under me to spend time

figuring out something I already know. The way society moves forward is that you make sure the people coming after you make it further than you do.”

“I think it’s more important for your community to think of you as a good person, a helpful person, than to have the greatest portfolio ever.”

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alumni features

Take Pride

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Sishir Bommakanti ’18, MFA Sishir Bommakanti ’18, MFA is a freelance illustrator and animator based in the Twin Cities. He creates work that ranges from the surreal, mythological, absurd, and experimental for publications, articles, covers, personal commissions, and much more.

“These drawings are a form of worldbuilding. During my MFA thesis I researched historical manuscripts and maps to understand how to create topological narratives. This process evolved into a consistent body of work where I create strange, fantastic stories that all connect with each other in a composition. I've always wanted to create fictional stories, and creating these ‘manuscripts’ is one way of visually writing these narratives.”

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Sishir Bommakanti MFA ’18 Plastic Yuga

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Sishir Bommakanti MFA ’18 The Void Manuscript (detail)

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Congratulations Aldo Moroni ’76 Aldo Moroni ’76 is the recipient of the 2020 MCAD Alumni Achievement Award. Moroni has worked as a studio artist for more than forty-five years, with a focus on “narrative sculpture.” In recognition of his prolific impact, December 13, 2020 was declared “Aldo Moroni Day” by the City of Minneapolis. About Moroni’s work, Mayor Jacob Frey said, “While it's predominantly buildings, you somehow find this way of making it about people and community.”

Originally from Chicago, Moroni has spent most of his life in Minneapolis. His works can be found in every corner of the Twin Cities, with permanent installations at Mia, the State Capital, the Cedar-Riverside light rail station, and a 6,000-pound epic stoneware wall sculpture at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

His work combines storytelling, historical research, and complex questions about civilizations into “mock archaeology,” with inspiration ranging from the entire history of the Americas to the Marcy Holmes neighborhood of Minneapolis.

After being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, Moroni began working on his last epic project, Blind Cortez–a huge landscape built of clay, wax, and mastic representing the Americas–which he may or may not finish. As part of his legacy, he is working to ensure that his studio space in the California building is open to the public after he is gone–the Legacy Makers Place.

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A Note from Aldo:

Forty-eight years ago I stepped onto the grounds of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design for the first time. In 1972 it was only the Morrison Building, the additions to the Minneapolis Institute of Art and the new Children’s Theatre Company were also under construction. I had no clue how the institutions would change over the coming years. I really had no clue how I would be changed. Together we have grown and matured. I am honored to be included along with my fellows as this year’s distinguished alumni.

Watch an intimate and insightful video conversation between Aldo and Sanjit at mcad.edu/Aldo 01 Photo by Lisa Roy Photography

02 Aldo Moroni in collaboration with Justine Tucker The Synoptic Codex of Mesoamerica

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Stay Home:

MCAD Community Responds to COVID-19 Quarantine crafting (for a cause)

Be a good deal kinder

Make It Red, a creative studio run by Russell Hrachovec ’99, John James ’02, and Mark Beacock (exchange student at MCAD in 1998), created in-store posters in response to a call for Britain's advertising and PR industries to apply creative thinking to coronavirus messaging.

PS: Need another way to kill time on the internet? Make It Red project stuff-that.com is a promo piece/game “that might help you while away the time if you’re self-quarantining.”

It was named a CSS Winner Site of the Day.

Stay home

Teresa Audet ’11 pivoted when her classes, residencies, and sales were canceled due to COVID-19. She focused on online sales, including a popular basket-making kit for people taking up new crafts during the stayat-home order. One weekend in April, ten percent of Audet’s sales went to support the CERF + Craft Emergency Relief Fund.

Making Masks

The MCAD 3D Shop partnered with Nordeast Makers to print PPE for healthcare workers. Faculty member Gretchen GasterlandGustafsson is busy sewing face masks. Get involved at weneedmasks.org

Online art classes before they were cool

While many people are adapting to life in a pandemic, Lois DeWitt ’65 was ready. She has been offering free online art classes for thirteen years at free-online-art-classes.com

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A Healing Practice

Leslie Barlow ’16, MFA is finding ways to connect despite the stay-at-home order. She taught an online figure drawing class with the Walker Art Center which “was super weird teaching to hundreds of people online, but an incredibly uplifting experience knowing we were in community making art together!”

She has also started a portrait project via video chat, which she’s sharing on her Instagram page (@ljplinko).

“Art is such a healing practice for so many. Even though we are isolated, we are very much still interconnected. The way we will get through and survive these times is through our connection and support of one another. Video calls are one joyful and complicated way we do this—amplifying the desire to see and be close to one another, to have

some sense of normalcy, but through a tech fog, adding a strangeness that reminds us this desire cannot be fully realized at this moment...”

“Art is such a healing practice for so many”

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F*ck you coronavirus

Roshan Ganu ’20, MFA conducted a Zoom workshop “F*** you coronavirus” with SOOVAC. “Unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures, we are going to make a comic.”

Thank you art teachers

For the spring semester, Rochelle Schultz ’00 normally taught seventy-three art students per day. Since school closed, she has been teaching a ceramics unit through paper learning packets, and sent home one pound of clay to each student.

She hopes they create vessels or sculptures and deliver them to a tote at the front door of the school. Schultz plans to fire the returned works, then glaze them next school year.

Gone with COVID

Peng Wu ’13, MFA was in China visiting family when COVID-19 hit. Since then, he has been quarantined with his family in Hefei, but that hasn’t stopped him from working.

He collaborated on Pretty Poor Artists to raise $1,700 for healthcare workers, his four-part video One Sky was commissioned

by SOOVAC, and now he’s working on Gone With COVID to grieve virus-related cancellations.

Stay home

No Holds Barred

Piotr Szyhalski is working on a COVID-19: Labor Camp Report series, which he posts daily to his Instagram (@laborcamp).

“The world has changed in ways that we could not have conceived,” he told the Walker Reader.

“Literally the whole world is experiencing this one thing, and it's rife with criminality.

Being in this moment awakened in me the need to skip the nuance and just go straight for the f *cking jugular. I gave myself permission to do it.”

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END NOTES Before You Go As Sanjit stated in his letter, you, our talented alumni, are going to show us a path forward.

Please share your valuable thoughts and ideas by returning the postcard with your answer to the question: What does Cultural Leadership mean to you?

And if you have feedback, concerns, ideas, or thoughts about this publication in particular, send us an email at: communications@mcad.edu

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We scattered resources throughout this publication, and we hope something might be relevant to you. Here’s a recap:

Learn more about the 75% discount on Continuing Education classes for alumni: mcad.edu/continuing-education/discounts Seek help with your resume, cover letter, or the job search process from Career Development: mcad.edu/career-services Read full messages to Karen Wirth, plus more on all five retiring faculty members: mcad.edu/thank-you-2020 Tell us when you’ve done something amazing: mcad.edu/share-news MCAD doesn’t exist in a vacuum. We love the Twin Cities arts community, and are grateful to all of the individuals and organizations working hard to build community and share resources during this pandemic.

Springboard for the Arts maintains an evolving list of resources for information, exchange, and support at: springboardforthearts.org/coronavirus Minnesota Citizens for the Arts created a centralized list of grants and resources for artists and arts nonprofits at: artsmn.org/coronavirus Pollen Midwest is nurturing a community of care during the COVID-19 crisis through stories, art, and virtual events at: pollenmidwest.org/are-you-ok

01 DesignWorks student designers collaborated at a zine workshop with visiting artist Jerome Harris, October 2019

“How do you pick the features for these alumni publications?”

TALK BACK We follow you back on Instagram. We set Google alerts so that when you’re in the news and mention MCAD, we see it. But mostly, we rely on you telling us when something awesome happens.

Just tell us! When you're in the news, have a big show, or win an awesome award, let us know at: mcad.edu/share-news Make sure you (and your friends) are on the list. Do you get alumni emails from MCAD? Did your MCAD friends get this publication? Don't miss out. To make sure you're on the list, update your information at: mcad.edu/alumni-information-update Follow us. Instagram and Facebook @mcadedu and Twitter @mcad, don't forget to tag and dm us too. We can't wait to hear from you!

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