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P R AT TFOLIO
Santiago Piedrafita
Jorge Oliver
Santiago Piedrafita Named Chair of Graduate Communications Design Department Santiago Piedrafita, a designer, scholar, and educator, has been named chair of the Graduate Communications Design Department. Piedrafita received an M.S. in Communications Design from Pratt in 1994. His pedagogical philosophy aims to prepare graduates for a world of accelerating technological change, growing participation from audiences and users in the design process, and a high demand for designers with interdisciplinary skills and knowledge. As a designer, Piedrafita has worked for renowned studios such as J. Abbott Miller’s Design/Writing/Research, before transitioning to join Pentagram, and Chermayeff & Geismar Inc. (now Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv), as well as in the design departments of prestigious cultural institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
Jorge Oliver Selected as Chair of Film/Video Department The Film/Video department recently welcomed Jorge Oliver, an independent filmmaker, actor, and professor, as its new chair. Oliver will oversee the department as it opens its new headquarters at 550 Myrtle Avenue. When completed, the department’s home base will include greatly updated facilities including two sound stages, a sound-mixing facility, and a screening room with 100 seats. As a professor, Oliver has instructed his students in film production, film scholarship, photography, screenwriting, and acting for camera. His work as a filmmaker includes the 2013 feature-length documentary Free to Love (Libres Para Amar), which spotlights a grassroots initiative to prevent the addition of a discriminatory amendment to the Puerto Rican constitution.
Greg Drasler’s Multiplex (2013) | Image courtesy of Greg Drasler
Four Pratt Artists Awarded 2014 Guggenheim Fellowships A diverse selection of four artists affiliated with Pratt Institute were awarded fellowships from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, including Susan Bee, visiting professor, Humanities and Media Studies; Pier Consagra, adjunct associate professor, Foundation Art; Greg Drasler, adjunct assistant professor, Fine Arts; and alumnus Hamid Rahmanian (M.F.A. Computer Animation ’97). Every year, 200 of the 4,000 artists who apply from across the country receive this prestigious award. The 12-month fellowship, which starts in the beginning of May, provides funding for the artists and enables them to develop, produce, and exhibit new projects.