Chandler O’Leary 03 IL Chandler (anagram-press.com) is a contributing illustrator and overall project designer for the Tacoma Playing Cards project, producing a poker tournament-quality card deck that showcases the history and iconic architecture of Tacoma, WA, where she lives. Among the 14 Tacoma artists contributing to the project are Brian Hutcheson MAT 08 and veteran NW rock poster designer Art Chantry. The cards were released in early November.
Last spring John C. Gonzalez IL (johncgonzalez.com) participated in an exhibition of work by alumni of Skowhegan’s residency program at the 92YTribeca in NYC. Based in Boston, he and his partner Johanna are excited to announce the birth of their first baby, Orion, who was born in August.
Evan Olin 05 IL
2003 continued As a contributing editor to PRINT Magazine, Christopher Butler FAV (Carrboro, NC) writes the Interaction column. His first book, The Strategic Web Designer, became available from HOW Books and Amazon in September. He is on the Advisory Board for the HOW Interactive Design Conference and was a scheduled speaker for this fall’s Washington and San Francisco meetings.
In September Jessica Hess IL (jessicahess.com) had a solo exhibition of Bay Area urban landscapes in gouache on paper entitled Fade and Finish at Spoke Art Gallery in San Francisco, where she lives. Work by Alex Lukas IL (Philadelphia, PA) is included in Beyond the Parking Lot, a group show that continues through early November at Artisphere in Arlington, VA.
Rebeca Raney 03 PT Rebeca collaborated with the clothing company Madewell on Rebeca Raney X Madewell, a collection that includes a cashmere sweater, pendant necklace, silk scarf and silk blouse. With her sister Raquel, she cofounded RANEYTOWN, a NYC-based design studio that specializes in branding and custom letterpress. In December she’s having a solo show called RANEYTOWN at Primary Projects as part of Art Basel Miami (in Florida).
Inspired by the Joni Mitchell song Big Yellow Taxi, the show asks whether we are responsible for restoring disused paved-over landscapes to their original condition. The Sister, the latest album by Marissa Nadler IL/MAT 04 (marissanadler.com), was applauded in The New Yorker as “austere and enchanting.” It’s available on CD and vinyl. Jessica Wimbley PT was one
of 35 arts professionals from around the world to attend the Association of Academic Museums and Galleries Leadership Seminar at Northwestern University. A museum coordinator at Pomona College Museum of Art, Jessica also started a program called Art After Hours that was highlighted in the publication Inside Higher Ed. She is finishing up a graduate program in arts management at Claremont [CA] University and is represented by the Los Angeles gallery Western Project, where she had her first solo show, I am Katrina, in July.
2004 For a full week next June Jef Bratspis ID (Burlington, VT will ride the 545 miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles on his bike for AIDS/LifeCycle to raise money and awareness in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Jef hopes to raise $5,000 through his web page: tofight hiv.org/goto/Bratspis. 82
RISDXYZ
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Vamp is among the tattoos that have earned Evan more than 50 awards to date. After becoming fascinated with the art form while still at RISD, he and his wife Kara opened PowerLine Tattoo (powerlinetattoo.com) in Cranston, RI, in 2011 and now employ four other artists, including Jessica Brennan 05 IL.
Earlier this fall, Brooklyn indie band Yeasayer, fronted by Chris Keating FAV, began a transcontinental trek to promote their third album Fragrant World. Never ones to settle for the familiar, each album has redefined their sound, this time with a more minimalist bent. For Yeasayer’s last tour, Benjamin Phelan 05 ID worked on a sculptural light device for the stage. This round they partnered with digital artist Casey Raes (a former student of President Maeda’s at MIT and the inventor of Processing, now used in RISD Foundation Studies studios) to create a set using mirrors, projections and fractured light to complement the music.