new and noteworthy
new and noteworthy
SWOON Swoon (Caledonia Curry), B.F.A. ’02 $35 (Abrams, 2010) This is the first monograph on the street artist Swoon (a.k.a. Caledonia Curry, a painting major at Pratt), whose first works on Brooklyn city walls appeared in 1999. Introduced by famed gallery owner Jeffrey Deitch, the monograph brings the reader to streets around the world to see Swoon’s life-size prints and paper cutouts. It includes striking images from her most recent project, Swimming Cities, and brings readers inside her art collective, Toyshop. Swoon’s captions and essays by her and fellow artists accompany the photographs. Swoon’s work is held in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the Tate Modern. Available at bookstores.
L ump Brooches Timothy McMahon, B.F.A. Jewelry ’04 LumpBrC with rainbow moonstone, $1,500 LumpBrD with rose quartz, $1,500 Timothy McMahon, a jewelry technician and visiting instructor in the Department of Fine Arts, uses classical techniques and materials such as copper, brass, lump enamel, pigmented resin, powder coating, and semi-precious stones to create a framework for exploring the surrealistic concept of explosive beauty. In these brooches, organic mounds seem to boil up and present gems to the surface, which are captured and held by brightly colored prongs. The brooches swell and bubble to suggest the unbridled growth of nature, contained within a structured design. McMahon’s sculptural, one-of-kind brooches are available through charonkransenarts.com.
Nebula Lara Knutson, B. Arch. ’99 $65 Alumna architect Lara Knutson is back at Pratt, pursuing a master of industrial design degree, yet she still finds time to design jewelry as well. Her necklace, Nebula, is composed of microscopic glass beads forming a reflective glass fabric that glows when the light is behind the wearer. Like a cloud of stardust, Nebula gives off flashes of luminescence in necklaces of two different sizes (at the same price) and a matching bracelet ($40). The jewelry is spiral knit in a machine and hand assembled. Available at MoMA stores and at The Future Perfect in Manhattan.
Ma za a r , B a za a r: Des ign a n d Vis u a l Cu ltu re in Pa k is ta n Edited and designed by Saima Zaidi, M.S. Communications Design ’00 $66 (Oxford University Press, Karachi, 2010) This encyclopedic effort by Pratt alumna Saima Zaidi provides an overview of the impact of diverse cultures assimilated by this region over several millennia. Mazaar, Bazaar comprises 33 essays by an array of artists, critics, scholars, curators, and important advertising people, including two photo essays and a collection of political cartoons. Divided into five parts, the book covers Pakistan’s popular street iconography, local products and their branding, the creation of a graphic national ideology, typography, and finally a visual history of the country. Zaidi teaches typography and history of design in the Department of Visual Studies, University of Karachi. Available through oup.com.pk.
T h e A rt o f B ei n g a Dad Mark Wagner, B.F.A. Communications Design ’83 $24.95 (Blurb, 2009) The Art of Being a Dad is a creative collaboration between a dad, who is a traditional and digital artist, and his two small children. The illustrated book provides a visual account of their relationship for the first seven years. It also chronicles Wagner’s journey as he navigates the colliding worlds of babies and career; co-parenting and being a man; the restrictions and freedom of parenting; and the awe, beauty, and exhaustion of being a dad. Available through theartofbeingadad.com.
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SBiR Rin gs Sallyann Corn, B.I.D ’09 Joseph Kent, B.I.D ’09 $110 wood, $32 silicone Challenging the definition of jewelry are Seattle-based alumni Sallyann Corn and Joseph Kent, industrial designers who have created SBiR, a jewelry collection of pieces they call “So Big it’s Ridiculous.” Their unusual rings are handmade from non-traditional materials such as scrap hardwoods sliced through with metal. Their rings of colorfully chiseled silicone also offer a bold new style of personal adornment. Available in wood through fruitsuperdesign.com. Available in silicone in stores and through fruitsuperdesign.com by winter 2010.
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