Visual Arts Journal is published twice a year by SVA External Relations.
SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS 209 East 23rd Street New York, NY 10010-3994
Since the publication of the fall/winter 2025–26 Visual Arts Journal, the first issue in the magazine’s new format, we have received many welcome notes from readers.
As I wrote in my last letter, we will continue to experiment with how best to present stories about and of interest to our community. To that end, this new issue features typeface modifications, an increased page count, and other updates. Your comments, as always, are appreciated; write us at news@sva.edu.
You may also recall an announcement of a more momentous change: the transfer of ownership of the School of Visual Arts from my family, which had run the College since its 1947 founding, to the SVA Alumni Society, a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Due to this change, the College may now accept undergraduate applications through Common App, the widely used college-application platform, and we have also hired a grants manager, Meredith Saucier (BFA 2006 Film and Video), to prospect for, research, and prepare grant applications to secure funding to support our educational mission.
I hope you enjoy this issue of the Visual Arts Journal
president school of visual arts
COVER
Yuan Fang, Juice of the Rhizome Ignites the Endless Sea (detail), 2025, oil on canvas. Courtesy of the artist and Skarstedt, New York. (See page 28.) facebook.com/schoolofvisualarts instagram.com/svanyc threads.net/@svanyc tiktok.com/@svanyc x.com/sva_news youtube.com/user/svanewyorkcity sva.edu/journal
MY SVA
For this issue’s My SVA, artist and MFA Illustration as Visual Essay student Zhenyu Pan (BFA 2024 Illustration) drew an imaginative scene inspired by her experience in a book-binding workshop at the College. “Teamwork made the process magical,” she says.
Pan has continued to collaborate with her schoolmates: In 2024, she, BFA Illustration senior Phoebe O Chou, and Huilin Gui (BFA 2023 Illustration) created Pretty Wishes, a zine dedicated to showcasing the work of women artists. To see more of Pan’s work, visit zhenyupan.com or @zhenyu.pann.
News and events from around the College
Let There Be Lights
THIS SEPTEMBER, SVA Galleries will kick off its 2026–27 exhibition calendar with “A Vivid Blur,” a group show of light-based artwork curated by Chicago-based artist and educator Kacie Lees (MFA 2011 Fine Arts). “A Vivid Blur” will present work by artists such as Lena Daly, Paul Simon (MFA 2019 Photography, Video, and Related Media), and Celeste Voce. The exhibition will be on view at the SVA Chelsea Gallery, 601 West 26th Street, 15th floor, from Tuesday, September 1, through Saturday, October 31, with a reception on Thursday, September 10, from 6:00 to 8:00pm.
A week later, an exhibition honoring the late illustrator Brad Holland, initiated by MFA Design Co-Chair Emeritus Steven Heller, BFA Comics and BFA Illustration Chair Viktor Koen (MFA 1992 Illustration as Visual Essay), and BFA Illustration faculty member Jonathan Twingley (MFA 1998 Illustration as Visual Essay), will open at the SVA Gramercy Gallery, 209 East 23rd Street. The Holland show will be on view from Tuesday, September 8, through Saturday, September 19.
THIS PAGE, CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT Kacie Lees, Unseen Color Panels , 2023, phosphor powder, gel medium, and wood panel; Lena Daly, Ghost Pepper 2 , 2025, glass, noble gas, and aluminum; Paul Simon, Spinal Excision, 2025, welded found steel, neon, and electrical components; Celeste Voce, Diffuse Form, 2026, gelatin silver print. On view at “A Vivid Blur” this fall at the SVA Chelsea Gallery.
OPPOSITE, FROM LEFT Paul Simon, Signal (not medusa), 2023, steel, aluminum, bulbs, wiring, and hardware; Lena Daly, Ghost Pepper 2 , 2025, glass, noble gas, and aluminum. On view at “A Vivid Blur” this fall at the SVA Chelsea Gallery.
Artful Assemblies
Last year saw the publication of two books featuring substantial contributions from SVA community members.
CLOCKWISE FROM ABOVE Photographs and lens-based artworks by Ina Jang, Joni Sternbach, Hye-Ryoung Min, Yael Eban and Brea Souders, and Edie Bresler, from A Yellow Rose Project (2025).
IN SEPTEMBER, Texas A&M University Press published A Yellow Rose Project: Responses, Reflections, and Reactions to the Nineteenth Amendment, weeks after the 105th anniversary of American women winning the right to vote. A Yellow Rose Project, which also comprises a traveling exhibition and related programming, debuted in the amendment’s centennial year. The book, edited by Meg Griffiths and Frances Jakubek, features contributions from 106 female photographers, including Edie Bresler (BFA 1984 Photography), Yael Eban (MFA 2014 Photography, Video, and Related Media), Ina Jang (MPS 2012 Fashion Photography; BFA 2010 Photography), Katelyn Kopenhaver (BFA 2016 Photography and Video), Sara Macel (MFA 2011 Photography, Video, and Related Media), Hye-Ryoung Min (MPS 2009 Digital Photography), and Joni Sternback (BFA 1977 Photography).
That same month, the SVA Graduate Center hosted a reading and reception to celebrate the publication of The Education of a Design Writer (Allworth Press, 2025), co-edited by Molly Heintz (MFA 2011 Design Criticism), MA Design Research, Writing, and Criticism chair, and Steven Heller, MFA Design co-chair emeritus.
Conceived as a resource for designers and writers of all levels, The Education of a Design Writer comprises more than 60 essays and interviews, nearly all written by or featuring SVA alumni, faculty, and administrators.
Entries
LAST OCTOBER, 20 hand-painted fiberglass spheres appeared throughout Manhattan’s Hudson Square neighborhood, each bearing an illustration inspired by a local resident’s story. Titled “Walk to Water 2.0: Hudson Square Storyline,” the project was led by MFA Visual Narrative alumnus and faculty member Jenny Goldstick (2015), with contributions from several SVA community members and support from the Hudson Square BID. MFA Visual Narrative alumni Srobana Bhattacharya (2024) and Rose Vincelli Gustine (2023) worked with Goldstick to interview 100-plus Hudson Square residents, whose stories Goldstick then sorted and analyzed, developing metrics on which the team of artists would base their work. That team included Jensine Eckwall (faculty, BFA Illustration; BFA 2013 Illustration), one of two principal artists; Maya Jain (MFA 2024 Visual Narrative), lead assistant for artwork production; Ella Romero (MFA 2017 Visual Narrative), who hand-lettered the spheres, and Kurt McRobert (BFA
2009 Illustration), who led the painting of the data visualizations on the spheres’ sides and bottoms; and MFA Visual Narrative students Drew Bullock (BFA 2024 Illustration), Catherine Krahn, Sofia Musacchia, and Natya Regensburger, as well as BFA Illustration student Evelyn Ess, all of whom served as painting assistants.
MFA Visual Narrative administration and faculty, SVA Visible Futures Lab staff, RisoLab faculty member Kelli Anderson, and Diana Poon (MFA 2024 Visual Narrative) also contributed.
“Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of this large-scale public arts grant project was the teamwork and collaborative spirit required to carry out the vision,” Goldstick says. “And of course, who is better suited to do that than SVA students, alumni, and faculty?”
From
THIS PAGE AND OPPOSITE, BELOW Hand-painted fiberglass spheres for “Walk to Water 2.0.”
OPPOSITE
left: SVA alumni Nikki Scioscia, Maya Jain, and Jensine Eckwall work on the Hudson Square public art project, “Walk to Water 2.0.”
Photos by Jenny Goldstick and Nikki Scioscia.
An Artist (and Alumnus) in Gracie Mansion
ONE OF THE BIGGEST political stories in the U.S. last year was New York City’s mayoral election, in which Zohran Mamdani, a little-known New York State Assembly member, soundly defeated former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, among others, to become the city’s first Asian American and Muslim mayor—as well as its youngest, at age 34, in more than 100 years. And in January, when Mamdani was sworn into office, it was with his hand on a Quran held by his wife, artist and SVA alumnus Rama Duwaji (MFA 2024 Illustration as Visual Essay).
Though Duwaji has kept a low public profile, she attracted increasing media interest during Mamdani’s campaign for her role as an informal advisor, her personal style, and her art, which often celebrates Arab and Muslim people and traditions. (Duwaji is a first-generation Syrian American who grew up in the U.S. and Dubai.)
Her work has appeared in publications like The New Yorker, Vogue, and The Washington Post. She is also a ceramicist and ceramics instructor. In an interview with The Cut published shortly before the inauguration, she said she would continue her art practice, and use her newfound status as First Lady to advocate for her fellow creative workers.
“There are so many artists trying to make it in the city,” she said. “I think using this position to highlight them and give them a platform is a top priority.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and First Lady Rama Duwaji at Mamdani’s ceremonial inauguration in January. Photo by John Lamparski/Getty Images.
COMMENCEMENT 2026
On Thursday, May 14, the School of Visual Arts will hold its 51st annual commencement exercises at Radio City Music Hall, celebrating the achievements of some 1,100 graduates of the College’s 30 bachelor’s and master’s degree programs.
This year’s ceremony will feature a speech by the artist and alumnus KAWS, a.k.a. Brian Donnelly (BFA 1996 Illustration), who will receive an honorary doctorate from SVA. Over the past 30 years, KAWS has produced a vast and diverse body of work, and his paintings, murals, sculptures, and graphic and product designs, which playfully riff on pop-culture animations and iconography, have achieved a rare global prominence. His art has been exhibited extensively in museums and galleries around the world and appeared on sought-after apparel, figurines, and more. His work is in the public collections of institutions such as the Brooklyn Museum, New York; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Texas; and National Gallery of Victoria, Australia.
Congratulations to the SVA Class of 2026!
The ceremony will be livestreamed on sva.edu starting at 11:30am. Look for recaps and highlights from commencement and related activities on SVA’s website and Instagram (@svanyc) in the following days.
SVA DEI guest speakers for 2025–26 included Bettina L. Love (below and, with MFA Design for Social Innovation Chair Miya Osaki, far left), Miguel Cardona (bottom left and, with SVA student Maria Antonia Mancera, left), and Larry Spotted Crow Mann (bottom right).
Community Connections
The 2025–26 academic year has been another busy one for SVA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
THE OFFICE HELD a series of public talks throughout the year, featuring the likes of former U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, writer and educator Larry Spotted Crow Mann, author and academic Bettina L. Love, former U.S. Congressman Jamaal Bowman, and actress and writer Eva Reign. SVA DEI also continued to host community-building events on campus, like its Lunch and Dinner with Strangers meals, coffee-and-donut hours, and food trucks serving free shaved ice and popcorn.
In January, the office published the results of its 2025 Higher Education Data Sharing (HEDS) Consortium Campus Climate Survey, which polled students, faculty, and staff on their experiences at SVA. The key findings—overall campus climate satisfaction, sense of belonging, and experiences with discrimination or harassment—tracked closely with national averages. However, among those respondents who said they had experienced discrimination on campus, 83% said that they did not report it, indicating work to be done in fostering trust at the College. (The national average for this statistic is 69%.) To read the report, visit sva.edu/dei.
The first DEI Dialogue, an open forum for SVA community members to discuss timely issues affecting their lives, took place in February. The topic was ICE and immigration, and the event was cohosted by the SVA International Student Office and VASA, the College’s student government.
“Communication is needed on campus to help folks find common ground, but also to bring folks together,” says Dru Alvez, assistant provost for SVA Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. “SVA has many silos, and without these opportunities to connect, how else can we break them down?”
On Sunday, June 28, the College will again participate in the 2026 NYC Pride March, one of the largest annual LGBTQIA+ civil-rights demonstrations. SVA DEI held a student competition to design a logo for the occasion, which will appear on the SVA marchers’ shirts and banners. BFA Comics student Luca Zihan Chen created the winning entry.
Merch Collabs
For more on the SVA Campus Store’s alumni collaborations, visit svacampusstore.com.
In December, the SVA Campus Store launched I ♥ SVA, a line of sweatshirts and mugs that bear an illustration of hugging hearts by MFA Illustration as Visual Essay graduate and faculty member Hyesu Lee (2011), and which pay homage to late faculty member Milton Glaser’s indelible I ♥ NY design. The collaboration was the first in an ongoing series of alumni partnerships. The second, unveiled this spring, featured two long-sleeved T-shirts by Pablo Delcan (BFA 2012 Graphic Design). Both are inspired by Prompt Brush, the designer’s “non-generative AI art model,” for which he creates illustrations based on text prompts—in this case, a tired art student and the SVA pigeon, a.k.a. Savvy, the College’s mascot.
A roundup of notable SVA news
Last
year, BFA Illustration student
and Queens native Sammi Wu won the Queens Public Library’s first Banned Books Library Card Design Contest. In addition to a $2,000 cash prize, her illustration of children sharing a book on the city’s 7 train was featured on a limited-edition library card.
Last fall, SVA Theatre Director
Adam Natale, BFA 3D Animation and Visual Effects
Chair Jimmy Calhoun (BFA 2003 Animation), and SVA External Relations Director Angie Wojak (BFA 1990 Media Arts) hosted a virtual talk with Zach Cregger (BFA 2004 Computer Art), director of last summer’s horror hit Weapons, for an SVA audience.
BFA Fine Arts
opened a new glassworks facility last year, established by department faculty member Zoe Schwartz, who teaches a course on glass fusing and stained-glass techniques in the space.
Last November, the Visual Arts Press, SVA’s in-house design studio, and the SVA Archives debuted Carton Club, a new publication highlighting materials in the archives’ collections. The first issue, dedicated to designer and illustrator Seymour Chwast’s chewing gum–inspired work, is available for free at SVA’s libraries and Student Center.
MFA Illustration as Visual Essay
has partnered with Rizzoli New York to host an ongoing series about the art and craft of the picture book at the Rizzoli Bookstore in Manhattan. The first talk, last December, featured program alumni Cecilia Ruiz (2012) and Stephen Savage (1996), who is also a BFA Illustration faculty member.
In January, BFA Film faculty member
Amy Taubin won a Grace Dudley Prize for Arts Writing, awarded annually by the Robert B. Silvers Foundation, for outstanding achievement in critical writing on the arts or cultural history.
In
February,
the Fulbright Program
included SVA as one of its “top-producing institutions” for the 2025–26 academic year. This is the second time that the College has received the designation.
Longtime BFA Design faculty
member Eric Baker created the latest 2026 SVA poster, “Talent Doesn’t Become Art Without Great Teaching,” which went up in subway stations around the city in February.
In March, BFA Interior Design
seniors Fanyu Wu and Minxuan Zhong were among those named in Metropolis ’s 2026 “Future 100,” the magazine’s annual list of exceptional architecture and design students in Canada and the U.S.
In June, BFA Visual and Critical Studies
will welcome the first cohort of its new residency program, Art as Political Practice. The four-week program supports artists and writers whose work engages with contemporary political and social conditions and will culminate in an exhibition at the SVA Flatiron Gallery and public performances.
AN ARTFUL JOURNEY
The art world lost one of its preeminent advocates of contemporary Latin American art last October when Carla Stellweg, a curator, historian, writer, and longtime SVA faculty member, died at the age of 83 in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Stellweg was born in Indonesia to Dutch parents in 1942. In her late teens she moved to Mexico, where several years later she began her career working with curator Fernando Gamboa. She went on to co-found Artes Visuales, an influential bilingual quarterly; served as deputy director of Museo Tamayo, in Mexico City; wrote and lectured widely; and taught in SVA’s Art History and BFA Visual and Critical Studies departments from 2005 through 2021. Her most recent book, an anthology titled Being and Becoming: Crossing Borders and Other Barriers, was published by Cubo Blanco last fall.
SVA Art History and BFA Visual and Critical Studies Chair Tom Huhn with Carla Stellweg at Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, in 2023.
Current Mood
THE 82ND WHITNEY BIENNIAL , one of the art world’s most high-profile and longest-running events, opened this March at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and this year’s edition features contributions from several SVA alumni.
Joshua Citarella (BFA 2010 Photography), Andrea Fraser (1983 Fine Arts), and Michelle Lopez (MFA 1994 Fine Arts) are among the 56 participating artists and artist collectives, and the biennial’s curatorial team included Carina Martinez (MA 2022
LEFT Michelle Lopez, still from Pandemonium, 2017–25, 360degree animation, silent, 20 min. Image courtesy of the artist.
Curatorial Practice), who is the museum’s current Rubio Butterfield Family Fellow.
“I’m humbled and so proud to have contributed to this challenging show alongside Marcela Guerrero, Drew Sawyer, Beatriz Cifuentes, the museum’s exceptional exhibitions team, and each participating artist,” Martinez says. “For me, the Biennial’s conceptual themes of relationality and kinship have carried through all aspects of this collaborative effort.”
The 2026 Whitney Biennial is on view through Sunday, August 23. For more information, visit whitney.org.
Sweet Return
LAST NOVEMBER , BFA Animation welcomed back alumnus Rebecca Sugar (BFA 2009 Animation), best known for creating the beloved animated series Steven Universe (2013–19), to celebrate the release of their latest album, Lonely Magic. Students, staff, faculty, and alumni filled the SVA Theatre to hear Sugar and their collaborators and fellow BFA Animation alumni Chris Burns (2003), Ian Jones-Quartey (2006), and Alex Myung (2009) talk about how SVA shaped their artistic sensibilities and fostered their enduring creative partnerships. The panel discussion, moderated by BFA Animation Chair Hsiang Chin Moe (MFA 2008 Computer Art), followed a screening of three music videos from the album, and recent alumnus
Kaylee Park (BFA 2024 Animation), who worked on one of the videos, was invited on stage by Sugar to discuss the experience. The afternoon concluded with an acoustic performance by Sugar, after which Sugar and Myung visited several animation classes. Lonely Magic is Sugar’s follow-up to their first album, Spiral Bound (2023), though some of their earliest songwriting was
for the animated series Adventure Time (2010–18), for which they worked as a storyboard artist. Since Steven Universe ’s premiere, Sugar has continued to write songs for their own animated projects as well as for shows like Amphibia (2019–22) and, most recently, a song for artist and game developer Keita Takahashi’s newest video game, To a T (2025).
Products, services, and more by SVA alumni
Roll Play
Seven years ago, Bunny Steven (BFA 2013 Fine Arts) started her company, BKIFI, or the Brooklyn Instant Film Initiative, by selling rolls of 35-millimeter photo film pre-stamped with grid, line, and dot patterns. Steven, who experiments with photographic processes in her own art practice, was inspired by a discontinued (and sought-after) Polaroid film that superimposed a ghostly numbered and lettered grid on its photographs.
BKIFI now offers more than 20 pre-stamped black-and-white and color 35-millimeter film rolls and packs ($17.50 – $34), heart-stamped large-format film ($12 – $20), disposable cameras ($25), and filters for instant-film cameras ($5), all of which are sold online and in camera stores worldwide, as well as customized films for companies and special events. bkifi.com
Dynamic Duo
Sisters Amanda (BFA 2017 Photography and Video) and Christine Louis started Concept Louis, their creative agency and studio in Newark, New Jersey, three years ago. The studio—a Black-owned, 1,100-squarefoot loft in Newark’s historic Ironbound neighborhood—is available to rent for photography, film projects, and special and community events. It also serves as home base for the sisters’ agency, which offers creative consulting in art direction, production, and branding for the editorial, hospitality, and social media industries. conceptlouis.com
Concept Louis is both a photo and events studio available for rent and home base for an agency specializing in creative consulting for the editorial, hospitality, and social media industries. Images courtesy of Concept Louis.
On Deck
For the past few years, Pantheon Longboards, a skate and snowboard company, has been producing decks ($195 and up) featuring art by Rafa Alvarez (MFA 2012 Illustration as Visual Essay), an illustrator whose work has appeared in publications like The New Yorker and Variety, and a longtime skater himself. Six of his designs are currently available online and in skate shops around the world, including some of the company’s signature “commuter” longboards, designed for comfortable, long-distance rides. Alvarez’s art also appears on Pantheon’s recently introduced snowboard, the Boreas ($600).
pantheonboards.com
Screen Time
Movies and TV with SVA alumni and faculty
Last year, In the Making, a PBS series profiling rising cultural talents, released this short documentary on BFA Illustration faculty member and Cuban American artist, illustrator, and memoirist
Edel Rodriguez, whose defiantly political work, informed by his own life experience, has been exhibited, published, and talked about around the world. Watch it on pbs.org.
“AFTER HE HAD A FEW DAUGHTERS, MY FATHER WAS HOPING FOR A SON. BUT I WAS BORN A GIRL.”
Cutting Through Rocks
This Oscar-nominated documentary, directed by Sara Khaki (MFA 2012 Social Documentary Film) and Mohammadreza Eyni, tells the story of Sara Shahverdi, an Iranian woman who becomes
the first female councilmember of her village. Streaming and purchase information was not available as of press time; for more information, visit gandomproduction.com.
Edel Rodriguez: Freedom Is a Verb
“I SKI BECAUSE I NEED TO BE IN NATURE EVERY DAY, AND I LOVE IT MOST WHEN I CAN BE IN THE SNOW.”
Big Mountain Soul: Ski Africa
Brendan Russo (BFA 2007 Film and Video) co-directed this documentary feature, which follows a team of skiers and snowboarders of color as they traverse the back-country terrain of
Morocco’s Atlas Mountains. After touring festivals since last fall, the filmmakers are planning theatrical runs at independent movie houses; for more information, visit sorcerycinema.com.
A goat aspires to greatness in a basketball-like sport dominated by larger animals in this animated film, which is the feature co-directorial debut of Adam Rosette (BFA 2007 Animation).
GOAT opened in theaters earlier this year and will be available to stream or buy this summer. Rosette’s earlier credits include The Wild Robot (2024) and The Bad Guys (2022).
and faculty
Art/Photography
COLLABORATION: FRANK
OCKENFELS 3 x DAVID BOWIE
Frank Ockenfels 3 (BFA 1983 Photography)
Abrams Books
Hardcover/e-book, $65/$31.10
KEMBRA PFAHLER
Kembra Pfahler (1982 Fine Arts); with contributions from Anohni, Jeffrey Deitch, Rick Owens, and John Waters
Rizzoli
Hardcover, $75
SLIP ME THE MASTER KEY
Thomas Prior (BFA 2002 Photography); with a text by Tobias Wolff
Loose Joints
Softcover with cloth jacket, $73
Children’s/Picture
THE ADVENTURES OF CIPOLLINO
Gianni Rodari, translated by Antony Shugaar: illustrated by Dasha Tolstikova (MFA 2012 Illustration as Visual Essay)
Enchanted Lion Books Hardcover, $29.99
FACING FEELINGS: INSIDE THE WORLD OF RAINA TELGEMEIER
Kevin McCloskey (MFA 1986 Illustration as Visual Essay) TOON Books
Hardcover/e-book, $13.99/$7.99
ZOHRAN WALKS NEW YORK
Millie von Platen (MFA 2021 Illustration as Visual Essay) Calkins Creek Hardcover/e-book, $18.99/$10.99
Fiction
GREAT BLACK HOPE
Rob Franklin (faculty, Humanities and Sciences)
Simon & Schuster/Summit Books Hardcover/paperback/e-book/ audio, $28.99/$19/$14.99/$25.99
Nonfiction
CONJURING THE VOID: THE ART OF BLACK HOLES
Lynn Gamwell (faculty, Art History, Humanities and Sciences, BFA Visual and Critical Studies); foreword by Neil deGrasse Tyson The MIT Press Hardcover, $44.95
DESIGN FOR PRIVACY: KEEPING PERSONAL INFORMATION PRIVATE
Robert Stribley (faculty, Continuing Education); foreword by Harry Brignull Rosenfeld Paperback with e-book/e-book, $54.99/$44.99
THE FUTURE OF HACKING: THE RISE OF CYBERCRIME AND THE FIGHT TO KEEP US SAFE
Laura Scherling (BFA 2008 Graphic Design)
Bloomsbury Academic Hardcover/e-book, $34/$30.60
NIGHTSHINING: A MEMOIR IN FOUR FLOODS
Jennifer Kabat (faculty, MA Design Research, Writing, and Criticism) Milkweed Editions Paperback/e-book, $20/$10.99
PHOTO OBSCURA: THE PHOTOGRAPHIC IN POST-PHOTOGRAPHY
Natasha Chuk (faculty, Art History, MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media) The University of Chicago Press Hardcover/paperback, $114.95/$44.95
REIMAGINING MODERN
ARCHITECTURE: EMILIO DUHART, 1940–1970
Evelyn Meynard (MA 2023 Design Research, Writing, and Criticism) Actar Publishers Hardcover, $49.95
UNSEPARATE: MODERNISM, INTERDISCIPLINARY ART, AND NETWORK AESTHETICS
Steven Henry Madoff (chair, MA Curatorial Practice) Stanford University Press Hardcover/paperback/e-book, $84/$21/$21
ArtistYuan Fang isthe only thing she’s good s e m e s e r. t college as a business to back it up. She started
By Greg Herbowy
2019Visualand
that being a painter atdoing. This is the sort of thingthat stol fo a r t istsliketosay,but in Fang ’s case, at least, she has the record student in Boston, but only for a
Yuan Fang, Open Fire, 2024, oil and charcoal on canvas, 86 5/8 x 66 15/16 in. Image courtesy of the artist and Skarstedt, New York.
Shethen
enrolledatSVA
as a photography student, but soon realized that the kind
of photography she was interested in—composed, non-narrative work—would require working in a studio. This would mean collaborating with others, which Fang says is a nonstarter. “I’m really bad at teamwork,” she says. By the time she transferred into the College’s BFA Visual and Critical Studies program, which balances studio courses with an extensive humanities curriculum, she was thinking about jobs she could take to support herself while she pursued her art practice.
“I was, like, ‘Maybe I can be an art writer,’” she says. “That was a failure. That didn’t work out. And I interned and worked at a few galleries, but I’m pretty bad at those jobs.”
Fang makes abstract paintings. Six days a week, for as many as 12 hours a day, she works in her spacious, sparely furnished Brooklyn studio. Each painting is an act of discovery and improvisation, made without drawings or preparatory studies. Each features winding, curvilinear forms that teem, billow, interlace, and sprawl in organic and unpre-
PREVIOUS, FROM LEFT
Yuan Fang in her Brooklyn studio; Yuan Fang, Fire in the Chest, 2025, oil on canvas, 59 1/16 x 66 15/16 in.
LEFT
Yuan Fang, Three Holes, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 78 x 95 in.
Images courtesy of the artist and Skarstedt, New York.
dictable ways. Fang’s canvases are usually large and immersive, measuring up to about eight feet tall. She recently started making paintings on small wood panels, too, a more intimate process that she takes up every few months as a break from the larger work, and which she compares to writing in a journal.
There is a well-known notion that people, when presented with an unfamiliar or unrecognizable image, will instinctively find in it patterns or familiar objects that are not actually there. (Less well known is the name for this notion, pareidolia.)
Fang’s paintings can tempt viewers in this way, variously calling to mind everything from shifting
masses of flying birds to intractably knotted lengths of ribbon to the warping pathways of subatomic particles. In interviews and press materials, she has offered biographical connections to her art. She has compared its sense of perpetual, often churning motion to the waters she grew up around in the port city of Shenzhen, China. Her images, she has said, balance “vulnerability” with “resilience”; many of the paintings she made for her latest solo exhibition, “Spaying,” held at Skarstedt on West 25th Street last fall, were inspired by her concurrent breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. Ultimately, they are abstract works, irreducible and self-sufficient, with
Yuan Fang, Moth to Flame, 2025, oil on canvas, 78 3/4 x 66 15/16 in. Image courtesy of the artist and Skarstedt, New York.
their gnomic titles—Three Moves, Bloody Meteorite Falling From the Sky, Ah! Golden Pavilion—assigned after the fact.
Fang enrolled in SVA’s MFA Fine Arts program in the fall of 2020, a year after graduating with her BFA degree and near the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though she and her classmates could use their campus studios, masks were required at all times and classes—including critiques—were held online for a while. She had settled on painting as her medium by then, and considers herself essentially self-taught, technique-wise. “I think I took one undergraduate painting class,” she says, “which is kind
of hilarious.” MFA Fine Arts faculty member James Siena was a mentor of sorts, and is now a valued peer; last October, he joined her at Skarstedt for a public conversation about her work.
In the past five years, Fang has experienced the kind of vertiginous success that art-school teachers caution their students against expecting. Her first solo show with Hive Center for Contemporary Art, held in their Beijing gallery between her first and second year of the MFA program, sold out. In 2022, the year she completed her MFA, she had three solo shows in New York City and Los Angeles. Two years later, she became the youngest artist to have a
Yuan Fang, Bloody Meteorite Falling From the Sky, 2025, oil on canvas, 66 15/16 x 59 1/16 in. Image courtesy of the artist and Skarstedt, New York.
solo exhibition at Long Museum, in Shanghai. Her work has been shown around the world—in Beijing, Brussels, Dubai, Paris, Sydney, Tel Aviv, and more. In 2024, she won a coveted artist residency with Silver Art Projects, which provides recipients a 12-month, rent-free artist studio in the Financial District (where, Fang notes wistfully, there are many more lunch options than her Brooklyn studio’s neighborhood). In January, she began a three-month residency at He Art Museum in Foshan, China.
A lot has happened, in other words, and quickly. And with that success, as with success in any other creative field, can come pressures to produce, to sell.
Fang, however, would not have it otherwise. “I don’t feel like the success I’ve had has stopped me from experimenting or trying new things,” she says. “Besides, I’ve never wanted to try any crazy experiments, like making videos or anything like that. Painting full time is great, but maybe in the future I will become a sculptor. Who knows?”
Yuan Fang is represented by Skarstedt and Hive Center for Contemporary Art. Her work is in the permanent collections of institutions such as the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; Lafayette Anticipations, Paris; and Long Museum. Her next solo exhibition will be on view at Hive Center for Contemporary Art in Shanghai this fall.
ABOVE Yuan Fang in her Brooklyn studio.
OPPOSITE Yuan Fang, Juice of the Rhizome Ignites the Endless Sea, 2025, oil on canvas, 66 15/16 x 78 3/4 in. Images courtesy of the artist and Skarstedt, New York.
OPPOSITE Yuan Fang, Ah! Golden Pavilion, 2025, oil on canvas, 86 5/8 x 67 in.
ABOVE Yuan Fang, Fire Dance, 2025, oil on wood panel, 14 x 11 in. Images courtesy of the artist and Skarstedt, New York.
OMS: SHOW FOUR ED RE
BY DIANA McCLURE
GALLERIES
Beau Allen Collins outside of his gallery, Construct, which opened in Atlanta last fall. Image courtesy of Construct Gallery.
The art market, like all markets, is in a perpetual state of flux. But the need for art itself—for its power to induce us to dream, investigate, wonder, and reflect—is a constant. In an uncertain time, a handful of SVA alumni are staking their claim in the future of art and the places where it is shown, creating and cultivating galleries that not only host exhibitions but serve as community hubs where artists and enthusiasts can converge.
Read on to discover recently opened alumni owned spaces in California, Georgia, Germany, and Washington.
LOS/NR directors
C Fodoreanu and Jerry Strohkorb (above) are also working physicians, and say their gallery focuses on work exploring “the human body and human experiences.”
LOS/NR
(LEVEL OF SERVICE NOT REQUIRED)
7910 Ivanhoe Ave., La Jolla, CA losnotrequired.com / @losnotrequired
ORIGINS In 2024, four artists and working physicians founded LOS/NR, named loosely after medical billing shorthand. Of those founders, C Fodoreanu (MFA 2024 Art Practice) serves as the gallery’s art director, and Jerry Strohkorb, who is based in Houston, is its executive director. Both continue their work as doctors. “We opened the gallery out of love,” Fodoreanu says. “We wanted to create a place to extend and multiply our medical practice into artistic knowledge.”
LOCATION LOS/NR occupies a former fashion boutique in Southern California’s oceanfront neighborhood of La Jolla, with other galleries and the Museum of Contemporary Arts San Diego within walking distance. Neon lights keep the space brightly lit, “almost like a medical examination room,” Fodoreanu says.
CURATORIAL APPROACH The gallery showcases a mix of local, emerging, and nonconformist artists whose work focuses “on the human body and quintessential human
experiences.” An early highlight was LOS/NR’s 2024 world premiere of The Symbiotic Blues, a nine-channel video study of eastern Long Island’s woodlands and beaches by artist Frank Gillette.
COLD TREATS From the start, LOS/NR has offered ice cream at its openings—mostly cones and always multiple flavors. “There is an implied reaching out toward something happy when it comes to ice cream, toward an innocence which, like a child’s innate artistic ability, gets lost over time,” Fodoreanu says.
UP NEXT This fall, LOS/NR will present the second iteration of their Physician Invitational exhibition, organized with the Physician Wellness Committee of Kaiser Permanente San Diego and featuring art created by local health-care workers.
“We opened the gallery out of love,” Fodoreanu says, and LOS/ NR aims to build community, offering free ice cream at openings and exhibiting a mix of local, emerging, and nonconformist artists. Images courtesy of LOS/NR.
CONSTRUCT
1200 Menlo Dr. NW, Ste. C, Atlanta constructgallery.com / @constructgallery
ORIGINS Before opening Construct last fall, Beau Allen Collins (BFA 2017 Photography and Video) logged time in nearly every imaginable support role in the arts—archivist, conservation assistant, framer, handler, preparator, and more— and completed a mentorship with Pace Gallery.
LOCATION After a near-total gut renovation, most of it done by Collins himself, Construct
moved into what once housed a private classic car collection in Atlanta’s West Midtown, where art, industry, and film and TV production overlap.
CURATORIAL APPROACH
Collins envisions Construct as a gallery that treats art and design as complementary cultural forces and takes material, process, and structure seriously. “I’m interested in work that sits between disciplines and what happens when artists are given time, context, and real support,” he says, “not trend cycles or fast visibility.”
ON PLACEMAKING In Atlanta, Collins says, artists and designers often share workspaces, materials, and ways of thinking. That proximity produces artists who think structurally and designers who think conceptually. “That’s what attracted me to opening
here,” he says, “and it’s pushed me to program across media, rather than defaulting to any single format.”
UP NEXT After a busy start— participating in the Atlanta Design Festival, mounting Construct’s debut exhibition last fall, and presenting the gallery’s first group show earlier this year—Collins is looking into other fairs and festivals and institutional partnerships. “Running a gallery demands obsession, not just with art, but with the infrastructure that keeps it alive,” he says. “The business side is heavier than people realize.”
With Construct, Beau Allen Collins aims to treat art and design as complementary forces. The debut exhibition featured sculpture by Logan Wayne White. Images courtesy of Construct.
GALERIE AND
Warschauer Str. 10, Berlin galerieand.com / @galerie.and
ORIGINS Artists Clara Gross (MA 2022 Design Research, Writing, and Criticism) and Ian Jehle became friends in 2020, when they met at the GlogauAIR artist residency in Berlin, and began curating shows together in 2023. Last April, they opened Galerie And, their nonprofit exhibition space.
LOCATION Located in a former travel agency in East Berlin’s Friedrichshain neighborhood, Galerie And is a few streets away from the famous nightclub Berghain and around the corner from Karl-Marx-Allee, a boulevard known for its Soviet-era architecture.
CURATORIAL APPROACH
Galerie And “is the gallery equivalent of a black box theater,” Gross says, designed to accommodate experimental formats that platform interdisciplinary and research-driven creative practices. “We are interested in a sense of curiosity and rigor in an artist’s practice,
and an openness to working together to develop what might be an unusual project.” Its debut show, last year’s “Mix and Mingle,” brought together 25 diverse artists to work on a set of collective digital drawings, with the process captured in three animated films.
HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE
“Berlin is a city that’s good for making and testing ideas, even if it’s not necessarily centered on selling art,” Gross says. “Artists and audiences are open to work that is outside of traditional formats. Being based here has provided us with a community and audience that might not come as easily elsewhere.”
UP NEXT Gross and Jehle are planning a summer residency with a filmmaker, and a fall sound sculpture installation.
“As the gallery is developing, we’ve started receiving proposals and seeking out new artists,” she says. “Having a clear mission has helped attract like-minded collaborators.”
Gross and Ian Jehle
created Galerie And as a space for experimental formats.
“Berlin is a city that’s good for testing ideas,” Gross says. Images courtesy of Galerie And.
ORIGINS Devon Dunham (BFA 1998 Fine Arts), who cofounded SlipStitch Studio with his husband, Otto Chan, as an initially online endeavor in 2020, traces the idea—and name—for the project to his senior year at SVA. “My studio mate Karen Young and I were envisioning a space that would support artists and be a facilitator, rather than owner, of culture,” he says. “‘SlipStitch’ came from a weaving technique that Karen would use to let the light through.”
LOCATION In 2022, SlipStitch opened its first space in Pioneer Square, Seattle’s historic arts district. Last year, Dunham and Chan moved their operation to a turnkey gallery space in Georgetown, the city’s oldest neighborhood, a former indus-
trial area that is now home to many artists and makers.
CURATORIAL APPROACH
“We look for creators with a profound understanding of why they create, why they’ve chosen a specific medium, and what they are trying to communicate,” Dunham says. SVA artists who have shown at SlipStitch include BFA Fine Arts alumni Lordy Rodriguez (1999) and Peter Hristoff (1981), who is also a longtime faculty member at the College.
MARKET DISRUPTIONS Dunham and Chan hope to help shift the art world away from predatory practices that have eroded trust between galleries and creators. “Our mission is simple: to connect artist and audience,” Dunham says. “Our favorite moments are those sparks of connection—when artists and patrons truly
engage, and we get to play translator between worlds.”
UP NEXT Dunham and Chan have created a SlipStitch arts nonprofit, which is now working to establish a first-ever annual Georgetown art fair and other shows. ◆
SlipStitch has presented work by Nichole DeMent (top left, above right), the Mathscaper collective (top right), and Peter Hristoff, among others. Images courtesy of SlipStitch.
SlipStitch co-founder Devon Dunham (below left, center) traces the initial idea for the gallery, now located in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood, to his senior year at SVA.
Man
About
BY GREG HERBOWY
Town
Photograph by WILL ALLEN-DUPRAW
In the five years since Jesse Kirsch (BFA 2008 Graphic Design) and his wife, Dianne, founded their two-person design studio, No Plan, they have built a portfolio that reflects their up-for-anything approach: a 2,100-square-foot outdoor mural in Washington, D.C.; a mixed-media wall sculpture for the capital’s NBCUniversal/Telemundo affiliate; a die-cut cassette sleeve for an Atlantic Rhythms album.
What truly stands out, though, is the degree to which No Plan is, as Kirsch puts it, “hyperlocal.” After years of living and working in New York City and Portland, Oregon, the Kirsches moved in 2013 to Takoma Park, Maryland—not far from where Dianne had grown up, in Northern Virginia—to put down roots. Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Kirsch, stuck at home and
“IT WASN’T OUR PLAN TO BE THE LOCAL DESIGN STUDIO. IT JUST STARTED TO HAPPEN.”
facing dwindling responsibilities at his day job, began working on side civic and commercial projects for his adopted hometown. Today, the day job is long gone, and No Plan designs are woven throughout the community’s culture and streets, seen on store signs, T-shirts, menus, posters, and more.
On a recent Zoom call, Kirsch gave the Visual Arts Journal a virtual tour of No Plan’s work, providing a look into his creative process and inspirations, and a snapshot of the thriving community that he and his family call home.
“It wasn’t our plan to be the local design studio. It just started to happen,” he says. “This place is known for its indie spirit. People here like small businesses, independently run stuff. It’s a great community.”
Map continues on page 58.
Laurel Leaf
WASHINGTON, D.C.
In 2019, looking to step away from the computer and indulge his interest in pre-digital design and printing, Kirsch bought a 19th-century letterpress and set up a studio in his garage, where he made prints and cards to sell online and in local stores. During the COVID shutdown, he created three TAKOMA PARK–themed posters on his press, the sales of which raised some $10,000 for two local business-relief grants.
Soon after, a local coffee shop, Takoma Bev Co (see next spread), asked to repurpose his poster of Roscoe—a wild rooster that famously roamed the town in the 1990s, becoming its unofficial mascot—into a T-shirt to raise money for its furloughed workers.
Since then, No Plan has worked on several other community-minded projects in Takoma Park. For MAIN STREET TAKOMA , Takoma Park’s business association, Kirsch has designed T-shirts and stickers, as well as posters advertising its annual TAKOMA PARK STREET FESTIVAL , its PAJAMARAMA holiday market, and 2024’s one-off DINKY LINE event, which spotlighted businesses located along the town’s onetime trolley route. No Plan has also designed an annual report and refreshed the business cards, letterhead, and PowerPoint templates of the city’s government.
Among
No
Plan’s
more recent
projects
was
identity
work—including the signs, color scheme, and design of the menus, which feature illustrations by Dianne—for JUNEBERRY GARAGE, a restaurant, patio, and bar located in a former auto-body shop and gas station just over the border in Washington, D.C.
IT’S ALWAYS A GREAT TIME AT THE GARAGE
“We’ve gotten into a rhythm where I’m doing more of the typography and design, and she’s been getting into illustration more and more,” Kirsch says of his and Dianne’s working dynamic. “We named ourselves No Plan because every project is a process of discovery. Even our idea for what the studio would be has changed. I originally thought it was going to be a letterpress studio with some design work on the side. I’m the more entrepreneurial type— Dianne likes stability—but it’s been working out.”
Lost Sock Roasters
Motorkat
Takoma Bev Co
TAKOMA PARK, MARYLAND
Zinnia Further north Juneberry Garage Further west
Kirsch reached out to Lost Sock Roasters, a coffee shop and small-batch roasting company, after he saw signs announcing its first café, to be opened as part of a renovated theater in Washington, D.C.’s Takoma neighborhood, just next door to Takoma Park.
Using LOST SOCK ’s name as inspiration, Kirsch built out a “playful concept,” eschewing the obvious sock imagery in the logos or signs “because if it’s lost, it’s supposed to be something you look for,” he says. Instead, tube sock–like stripes appear on bags of Lost Sock coffee beans and, at Dianne’s suggestion, the café’s cups. He also wrote the all-caps line on the store’s A-frame sign: “COME IN. GET LOST.”
After designing a Roscoe the Rooster T-shirt to support this café’s staff during the COVID shutdown, TAKOMA BEV CO engaged No Plan for an identity overhaul. Kirsch redesigned the shop’s wren emblem, created new cups, and designed a new unofficial logo of sorts for hoodies and hats, with the letters CO set inside a coffee cup on a saucer.
TAKOMA
No Plan first designed the logo for Takoma Park plant store INDIGRO when it was opening its original location. The owner asked for something bright, variegated, and warm; Dianne created a line drawing of a monstera leaf partly overlapping a distant sun, which became the basis for the studio’s first-ever neon work, made in this case with less costly LED lighting.
Last year, Indigro joined with Cheeky’s Vintage, a vintage furniture and home goods shop, and House Mouse, a secondhand book store, to form the three-in-one destination LAUREL LEAF, located next door to Takoma Bev Co. Kirsch’s Laurel Leaf logo—incorporating a lampshade, plant leaves, and a hardcover book’s spine—nods to each business in the collective.
The
name for People’s Book, a husband-and-wife-owned
bookstore that opened in 2023, has two origins: Takoma Park’s nickname of “the People’s Republic of Takoma Park” (“It’s, like, 99 percent liberal here,” Kirsch jokes, “and I’ve wondered where the one percent is.”), and Peoples Drug, a now-defunct chain of pharmacies in the area.
PEOPLE’S BOOK afforded Kirsch his first opportunity to design a true-blue neon sign (“It’s not cheap,” he says), as well as a chance to collaborate with an artist friend of the owners, who painted a lightning bolt–shaped pencil on an interior wall.
In 2024, Takoma Park chef Thuy-Tu Tran expanded her
local Vietnamese food truck, MU I TIÊU (Vietnamese for “salt and pepper”), into a brick-and-mortar restaurant and small specialty food shop, hiring No Plan to create signs, menus, and labels for containers of her homemade sauces, pickles, and drinks.
The logo is based on the handwriting of Tran’s grandmother, whose home cooking serves as inspiration for Mu i Tiêu’s offerings, while a blocky, street-sign-inspired type serves as the restaurant’s workhorse font. Mu i Tiêu’s sign employs both: The blocky letters, painted on the exterior wall, are
visible during the day; an overlaid neon sign, reproducing Tran’s grandmother’s script, switches on at night.
As with No Plan’s Juneberry work, Dianne drew the illustrations that appear on Mu i Tiêu’s menus, cards, and totes, this time in the style of a two-tone Risograph print.
“Any chance we get to make something look not-digital, we take,” Kirsch says. “Older designs and prints have always appealed to me, even just the way that the ink lies down on the paper. I’m always telling clients, ‘Don’t buy your paper from Staples.’ You want your paper to have some weight to it, some texture and grain. It’s another place in the design process where you can have fun.”
PHOTOS BY JESSE KIRSCH, COURTESY OF NO PLAN.
OPPOSITE A gold leaf–painted window at Soko, a Takoma Park butcher shop for which No Plan created signs, merchandise, and more.
RIGHT For No Plan’s work on
a restaurant in Silver Springs, Kirsch’s brother (and fellow SVA alumnus) Joshua made this wooden
Zinnia,
zinnia sculpture for the property’s gate.
Roscoe the Rooster, it turns out, is not the only legendary animal from 1990s-era Takoma Park:
It was not uncommon in those days to see a mysterious motorcyclist cruising the city’s streets with his cat perched on the gas tank wearing a tiny helmet of her own—a phenomenon so odd it earned coverage in The Washington Post and kids’ magazine National Geographic World.
When Kirsch suggested using Motor Cat, as the cat was known, as the inspiration for MOTORKAT, the American restaurant the Takoma Bev Co team opened a few doors down from the café in 2023, his clients initially balked—“One of the owners is not a cat person,” he says— but were soon all in. “I was like, ‘You’re going to be the ‘Takoma Park restaurant.’ You should own it and show it off.” Other historical nods include a restaurant postcard featuring a photo of the building exterior from the 1970s; a nine-foot-tall neon blade sign that hearkens back to an even earlier era; and large numerals on the menus, in the style of old grocery-store ads.
“I’m not a huge fan of, ‘Everything has to be perfect and you can only use two typefaces,’” Kirsch says. “I like to use an eclectic mix of inspirations, so while something might be evocative of a different time, it’s not anchored to any one era.”
Mu i Tiêu
Motorkat u People’s Book
Laurel Leaf
Takoma Bev Co
Soko Independence
Inset locations are further east.
TAKOMA PARK, MD
Zinnia, one of No Plan’s largest projects to date,
is in Silver Spring, Maryland, a few miles northwest of Takoma Park. The restaurant—run by the same team behind Takoma Bev Co and Motorkat—occupies a historic tollhouse and its grounds, and comprises indoor and outdoor dining, a café, and a tavern. The house was first converted into a restaurant, called Mrs. K’s Toll House, nearly 100 years ago, and was an area institution for generations of D.C.–area residents before closing in late 2020.
To reflect the site’s layered history and the multiple dining options it offers, Kirsch took an eclectic approach while keeping the
painted the flowers on the café’s espresso machine.
overall brand identity of the zinnia flower. He created the primary, Z-shaped logo; Dianne drew the zinnia pattern for the coffee cups; a coworker from Kirsch’s former day job illustrated the zinnia on the debossed menu covers (historical illustrations appear elsewhere on the menu); and another artist friend
No Plan’s first branding job in Takoma Park was for SOKO , a butcher and sandwich shop dedicated to working with local, sustainable farms. Kirsch designed a utilitarian-style logo, merchandise like shirts and patches, labels for the store’s line of jarred foods, and, of course, its signs.
Over the past several years, No Plan has amassed a network of artist collaborators, including a neon sign maker in Philadelphia and local wood- and metalworkers. One of Kirsch’s brothers, fellow SVA alumnus Joshua (BFA 2009 Fine Arts), who is a sculptor and fabricator in Los Angeles, has contributed to No Plan projects on occasion; for ZINNIA, he reproduced Kirsch’s zinnia-bloom logo in cypress to adorn the property’s gate.
For Takoma Park’s longrunning
Fourth of July parade, No Plan donated a new banner design, now in its fourth year of use, as well as a Roscoe shirt with an Independence Day theme. (In 2023, U.S. Congressman and local resident Jamie Raskin, seen above, served as the parade’s grand marshal.)
“Takoma Park’s INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE is one of the
oldest in the country— it has a great history and is a beloved tradition—and I believed it needed designs that felt on par to what it represents,” Kirsch says. “These are the types of projects that rarely get any love, as they are all run by volunteers, and design is not usually at the top of the list. Being able to sit with family and friends and watch the banner go down the street, and see people wearing the shirts, is very gratifying.”
POINT OF
CONVERGENCE
WHAT
HAPPENS WHEN AN ARTIST’S EYESIGHT—BUT NOT HIS VISION—FADES?
By DIANA M c CLURE
Since meeting in SVA’s digital photography lab when they were BFA Photography students
at the College, Matt Cetta (2011) and Christina DeOrtentiis (2013) kept up a friendly online acquaintance. A little over a year ago, they connected to discuss collaborating on a portrait of him, and she shared her interest in developing a series on health care in America. Cetta’s response? “I have a much more interesting story.”
Cetta sent DeOrtentiis a link to the blog he had started to capture his experience of living with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative eye disease that he was diagnosed with in 2018. In vivid prose and images, he chronicles his grieving process, his pivot to enrolling in culinary school in upstate New York, and the unwavering support of his family.
“When I went through the images and read what he wrote, I immediately messaged him again and said, ‘We need to jump on a phone call,’” DeOrtentiis says. Soon after that, their collaborative portrait project, “Unseen Crucible,” began to take shape.
DeOrtentiis’s background is in fashion photography, and she is at home at red-carpet affairs like the Tribeca Film Festival and movie premieres. But by last year, she was looking to work with people on a more intimate level. “I wanted to hear their stories, really get to know a person, and then together, interpret their journeys in a photographic way,” she says.
After Cetta spoke openly with DeOrtentiis about his evolving experience with retinitis pigmentosa—what he actually sees and the emotions he feels—DeOrtentiis took some time to process what he had said, intellectually and intuitively. By the time they got together last June, their interaction felt seamless.
“We just kind of vibed during the photo shoot,” Cetta says. “It was only a few hours.”
From there, DeOrtentiis created a series of multimedia images and a short video, using an array of techniques to portray, both straightforwardly and metaphorically, Cetta’s experiences with vision loss—incorporating scanning, lighting distortion, and in-camera effects.
“It was very important, specifically for Matt, to create an experience,” she says. (Cetta himself experimented with photographic effects in his SVA thesis project, pretreating his film canisters with substances like bleach and vinegar.) The project’s ultimate aim is to immerse the viewer in Cetta’s interiority—not just how his condition is altering his sight, but how it is changing the way he thinks about and moves through the world.
The ultimate aim of “Unseen Crucible” is to immerse the viewer in Cetta’s interiority—not just how his condition is altering his sight, but how it is changing the way he thinks and moves through the world.
Before Cetta’s diagnosis, he worked primarily in manual mode on his camera—independently adjusting settings like shutter speed and depth of field—and had begun to build a career as a food photographer; his past clients include Condé Nast and Ocean Spray. As his condition has progressed, he has become more reliant on autofocus, though his compositional approach is largely unchanged.
“The center of my eye is still pretty good,” he says. “It’s a bit snowy sometimes, or like high-grain motion-picture film. Like, right now I’m looking at my television and the edges are kind of wobbling, like a plucked guitar string.” One of the lessons he’s learned, he says, is that “blindness is a spectrum.” Approximately 15 percent of people who have eye disorders are fully blind, while many more have low or impaired vision but are considered legally blind.
Cetta and DeOrtentiis hope to share “Unseen Crucible” with as many people as possible. The project has been featured in PetaPixel, an online photography publication, and next January, the two will discuss their collaboration at an event hosted by the National Arts Club in Manhattan.
“There are many people out there not just with visual impairments, but disabilities of all kinds,” Cetta says. “I want them to know that their diagnosis isn’t the end. They can still do something that matters to them.”
Cetta now works with a doctor he trusts and has a daily exercise regimen to boost his body’s production of lactic acid, which can slow his vision loss. This effort has made a world of difference, he says, as has a mantra he has come to embrace over the past year: Push through. ◆
Diana McClure is a writer and photographer based in New York City. Her work has appeared in Art Basel magazine, Art21, Cultured , catalogs, monographs, and other publications.
The new SVA Archives website is a searchable portal for materials relating to SVA history, as well as the work of preeminent designers, illustrators, and art directors.
Screenshots from the new website for SVA Archives and the Glaser Design Archives.
Christina DeOrtentiis works in celebrity portraiture, fashion photography, and red-carpet coverage. Her work has appeared in publications such as The Hollywood Reporter, Lucire, Marie Claire, and People Images courtesy of Christina DeOrtentiis.
Matt Cetta is a food photographer and writer, recipe developer, and digital content producer. His work has appeared in publications such as Condé Nast Traveler (UK) and Food52, and on the Culinary Institute of America’s online channels. Images courtesy of Matt Cetta.
Abdool Corlette (BFAFilm2013 and findsVideo) his inanswer story.
By Mark Kingsley
When speakpeople branding,about they usuallyaboutspeak the things that are easily reproduced in media: Q+A
logos, taglines, packages, products. But those are just markers of the deeper levels of association that comprise a brand. We live in a world where we encounter thousands of ads daily, including billboards, TV, social media, and online pop-ups. How does a brand break through that noise and create a connection?
Abdool Corlette (BFA 2013 Film and Video) finds his answer in story. Since 2023, Corlette has worked as the head of brand at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), one of the nation’s oldest and most prominent civil-rights defense organizations. Before that, he logged nearly seven years at GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQIA+ media-advocacy nonprofit, rising to the position of creative director of both the organization and its annual red-carpet event, the GLAAD Media Awards.
Building from his Indo/Afro-Guyanese Caribbean heritage, his circle of friends and colleagues, and his lived experience, Corlette describes his approach as “heartwork.” This means centering the human element in each project so that it can “reach people and inspire them to action,” he says. It’s the same philosophy that undergirded the independent project that inadvertently launched his branding career, Other Boys NYC (2017), a 50-part online documentary series on the lives of queer and trans New York men that he co-created with classmate Adam Vazquez. Corlette recently spoke with the Visual Arts Journal about his attraction to storytelling, his path to a career in branding, and his ACLU work to date.
I’m curious how you developed your storytelling at SVA.
I would say that I’m a writer and a storyteller first. What I do now, even with design, starts with the story.
You cannot be a successful artist if you don’t understand story telling. At SVA, I had been concentrating on directing, but then I realized that I wanted to focus on writing—I saw that I had the most to gain in developing an understanding of narrative arcs.
I’ve always felt like an idea engine, like I have almost a surplus of ideas. So where do I put them? Screenwriting gave me that outlet, and also a way to process my life, my environment, and the changing world. I wrote so many scripts. By the time I graduated, I had written maybe five features and over 20 short films.
Whatever happened to those scripts?
Well, the realities of joining the workforce came quickly. I parked screenwriting, because I saw that what was happening in digital media was rewarding and immediate.
And I was concerned with what was happening socially. I think that the access that folks have now, and the interest there is in a more diverse range of storytelling, just wasn’t the case when I graduated in 2013. Nobody was interested in hearing stories about Black, brown, or queer people, or immigrants. I was constantly being told, “This isn’t for a mass audience,” and it was disheartening.
I didn’t believe that. And the real turning point was working with Adam Vazquez on Other Boys NYC. That project launched a thousand ships. It blended everything we had learned, from storytelling to production to how to get earned media. And I think we realized that storytelling was changing in the digital media landscape, from how we told stories to how short it needed to be for audience consumption.
We built a web interface and partnered with Slay TV, a Black queer media company, to corelease the episodes. And they were all done in time for the project’s launch, so we were able to release them steadily. I figured that if maybe 20% of the interviews were of folks already plugged into the media landscape, they would be incentivized to promote their episode and the series. We built a whole ecosystem that fed itself.
How big was your crew?
Tiny. No matter how big a budget I get now, I still go back to that. When you don’t have a lot is when you create things that last and that matter.
It looks like Other Boys overlapped with your work at GLAAD. So I’m assuming that was the calling card to get your first production job at GLAAD. It definitely was. I think every place where I’ve worked understands the need to connect with a range of people across different communities in order to expand their reach.
What I do now, even with startsdesign, with the story. Youbecannot a successful artist if you don't understand storytelling.
As ACLU’s head of brand, Abdool Corlette oversaw last year’s Freedom to Be campaign for trans rights, which incorporated events across the country and culminated with the installation of a 250-plus-panel quilt in Washington, D.C.
You worked your way up at GLAAD quickly, going from a video production manager to creative director. Was anyone mentoring you?
This was my first experience working under a really good boss, Courtney Brown Warren (MFA 2000 Design). She saw that I could do the job if I had just a couple more years to cook. So she worked with me on a step-by-step plan that we presented when she left. I saw what was needed at the organization and built a road map. There’s a power in truly believing in yourself and in what you’re putting out there. It helps other people to have more trust in you when you don’t have as much experience or history with them that they can work off of. And I was happy with the dynamics at GLAAD. There was a lot of trust, and I developed a shorthand with leadership.
After learning how to operate within financial limitations, the limitations of organizations, and the limitations of other people at GLAAD, you’re now at the ACLU. How did you make the transition to the ACLU?
I was about to take a sabbatical from GLAAD—I was writing my first feature in eight years—when this opportunity at the ACLU popped up. I knew an election was coming, and I could not turn down the opportunity to be on the main line of civil liberties defense during this administration.
I think what was exciting about this opportunity was the ACLU’s incredible history. To be there, at this time, where I would be able to work across so many areas, not just LGBTQ campaigns, but racial-justice work, immigration, and reproductive rights. There are so many areas to explore.
One of the highlights of your ACLU tenure so far has been Freedom to Be, a trans-rights campaign tied to the U.S. v. Skrmetti case and which concluded with an installation of a 250-plus-panel quilt on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Can you speak a little bit more about that effort?
At the beginning of any project, we start at the end and work backward from there. What do we want the headline to say? What do we want the image to be? When we talk about what makes something successful, it’s not just about “X amount of clicks” or “the engagement rate was this,” it’s how it makes people feel in the moment and the cultural impact it will have years beyond its inception. How do we want people to feel?
With Freedom to Be, I was thinking about landmarks: LGBTQ landmarks, the National Mall, the AIDS Memorial Quilt, the Capitol building. And I knew it was my turn in this next leg of the relay race.
Freedom to Be was a true “360” campaign. We had the storytelling component, with videos spotlighting trans youth and adults and families across the United States that we shot over the course of a few months.
We plugged in with local communities, and I got to bring the skills I had perfected at GLAAD early into the campaign. We held a big rally in front of the Supreme Court, and we launched a creator campaign where we partnered with two organizations, Social Current and People First, to spread the message.
Then, for the finale, we had been working across 35 states to host quilt-making events everywhere from backyards to Pride festivals to family living rooms. And all of it culminated in a massive day of resistance in D.C. on May 17. We bused and flew in folks from across the country.
I programmed that whole event, from all of the creative to the technical run of show to the speakers’ notes. And with earned media placement, we had hits from live news to print media. When I reflect back on it, I remember looking around the space and seeing how relaxed, how happy . . . how seen people felt. We captured this cultural zeitgeist, and we gave people what they needed and wanted in this divisive moment.
OPPOSITE
And seeing my team’s fighting energy, seeing how collaboratively every department worked, and everyone’s collective ownership of it. . . . That will be one of my proudest professional moments—and it doesn’t hurt that the campaign won two Webby Awards in the Public Service and Activism category.
So I know that you’re beginning a brand refresh for the organization. . . . We’ve completed it. It launched last June.
We held the Freedom to Be event in May, and the brand refresh was live a week after. We did it in tandem. We also launched the Letters to America campaign, which highlighted the experiences of people who immigrated in search of safety, the challenges they faced on their journey to the U.S.–Mexico border, and their hopes and dreams for a new beginning in the United States.
It was an exhausting year, but I think a value I bring is that I will go right to the worst problem and untangle it. We cannot compete if our brand does not visually compare to newer, more nimble, plugged-into-the-zeitgeist organizations, if our look and feel does not reflect the times.
It also seems that the work you did to get buy-in from ACLU management for Freedom to Be was, in a sense, Trojan-horsing the brand refresh. I just knew problems were there because so many affiliates were stretching and working outside of the old guidelines. Freedom to Be soft-launched
Other Boys NYC (2017), a 50part docu-series by Abdool Corlette and fellow SVA alumnus Adam Vazquez. THIS PAGE
Pre-ACLU, Corlette was the creative director for GLAAD and the GLAAD Media Awards.
the new colors before the brand refresh. I know that’s not ideal, but I needed people to see what it could look like if we did the refresh. It was a roll of the dice, but it worked out and set the groundwork for the full refresh.
Wonderful. Your career path is inspiring for anyone who wants to become a brand strategist. They don’t necessarily have to go to business school; they just have to pay attention to people. Yes.
It seems that you’ve built a productive and fulfilling life, remaining true to your personal identity. That’s rare.
It’s so funny how parents don’t quite understand what you do for work, especially so from immigrant families. I visited my mom in Florida during Ramadan, and she wanted to show me a lecture by one of her favorite imams. At the end of it, she said, “You know, in the Quran it says when you have a choice between prayer and justice, you always choose justice. I think that’s what you’re doing, right? You’re choosing justice.” And it was the most touching thing I’ve ever heard her say, because it was her trying to understand how your work can make a life-changing impact when you are centered in justice.
This conversation has been condensed and edited. Mark Kingsley is a brand strategist, designer, author, and MPS Branding faculty member.
HOLDING COMPANY
SVA Archives’ new website documents the College’s crowded, consequential history
IN THE FALL OF 1965, School of Visual Arts students were offered a rare opportunity: a course in children’s book illustration taught by prolific artist and writer Edward Gorey, best known for his darkly funny, absurdist picture books.
Gorey was in some ways a curious choice of instructor, says author Mark Dery, who consulted the SVA Archives while researching his 2018 Gorey biography, Born to Be Posthumous. Not only did he have “very little formal training in art,” Dery says, “only one of his hundred-odd (and I do mean ‘odd’) little picture books was written and illustrated with children in mind—The Bug Book (1959).” He was also likely
not much of a lecturer: “As the man himself conceded, he had a wildly discursive mind, to put it charitably.” And yet, Dery points out, Gorey not only taught the
course, he did so with apparent success, as he taught it again the following spring and returned to the College with a similar offering the following year. Screenshots
The new SVA Archives website is a searchable portal for materials relating to SVA history, as well as the work of preeminent designers, illustrators, and art directors.
mation than before, its content still represents only a fraction of the Archives’ holdings, says head archivist Beth Kleber.
The announcement for Gorey’s fall
1965 course—illustrated and
written
by the artist himself and laid out in the
format of a book jacket—is just one of 3,000-plus artifacts that are now available to artists,
historians, and the general public at the new website for the SVA Archives and Milton Glaser Design Study Center and Archives.
Built with CollectiveAccess, an collection-management system, the site now serves as a searchable digital-collections portal for the SVA Archives, comprising materials related to the College’s history, and the Glaser Design Archives, comprising original
art and print samples from preeminent designers, illustrators, and art directors with close ties to SVA. Features include search-filtering tools; downloadable collection guides, including undigitized materials; and a highlights section where the Archives staff present curated image sets from across the collections.
Although the new site houses vastly more imagery and infor-
“Now that the online archive framework is in place, we’re looking forward to adding to our digital collections in the months and years to come. Along with making it possible to share our rich holdings, most of which are unpublished or hard to find, we hope that the site tells the story of SVA’s legacy over the past 75 years. It offers evidence of the real-world impact of the many incredible artists and designers—like Edward Gorey—who’ve passed through SVA in one way or another, as students, faculty, or participants in our events and exhibitions.”
Read on for a sampling of what the new SVA Archives website has to offer, and visit it online at archives.sva.edu.
More than 3,000 artifacts from the SVA Archives and Milton Glaser Design Study Center and Archives are now available to browse at archives.sva.edu, ranging from documentation of the College’s extensive exhibition history to rare or unique recordings and works of art.
Showpieces
Materials from nearly 500 exhibitions and events from throughout SVA history are currently online, documenting the College’s dedication to celebrating creative excellence in a variety of fields and media. This poster, from 2005, promotes a show of Turkish ceramics, curated by faculty member Peter Hristoff (BFA 1981 Fine Arts).
True Originals
The archives is also home to a wealth of original drawings, collages, and works on paper. In 2013, Laurie Burns, daughter of the late designer and International Typeface Corporation cofounder Aaron Burns, donated 25 screen prints by members of the Italian artists collective Galleria de Deposito. Ten have been digitized to date, including five by the late artist Piero Dorazio, from 1967.
Correspondence and Curios
Container List, an SVA Archives staff blog, announces new acquisitions and spotlights material in the collection that illuminates underappreciated and obscure chapters in cultural history. An entry from last fall covered the late punk musician Helen Wheels, who performed at the College in the 1970s and ’80s and corresponded with SVA founder Silas H. Rhodes, as seen in the handwritten letter above.
Now Hear This
More than three dozen recordings of notable guest lectures and other events at SVA are now online, with brief excerpts available to the public and the complete recordings available via SVA login. Speakers include artists Salvador Dalí and Agnes Martin, author Joseph Heller, documentarian Albert Maysles, and comedian and filmmaker Mel Brooks, who visited the College in 1972.
“When things are going well but you feel you’re in a rut, you must have the courage to break out and discover the parameters of your own talent. It’s quite possible that, if you’re really creative, you can do much better work.”
MEL BROOKS
SVA ALUMNI
Notes + Exhibitions: Group Efforts
SVA alumni achievements from June 1 to November 30, 2025.
Notes
Exhibitions
To share your recent career news, write to alumni@sva.edu. Due to the volume of information we receive, not all submissions may be included.
SVA alumni worked on films that were screened at Tribeca Film Festival, NYC, 6/4 – 6/15/25: Zackary Drucker (BFA 2005 Photography) co-executive produced State of Firsts (2025); Kevin Fletcher (MFA 1999 Photography and Related Media) was cinematographer of Paradise Records (2025); Nelson Isava (BFA 2013 Film and Video) produced ATTAGIRL! (2025); Greg Olliver (BFA 1996 Film and Video) co-directed Raoul’s, A New York Story (2025); Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana (MFA 2012 Social Documentary Film) directed Backside (2025); Scott Alexander Ruderman (MFA 2016 Social Documentary Film) was cinematographer of Jimmy & the Demons (2025); the late Lynn Shelton (MFA 1995 Photography and Related Media) was featured in Are We Good? (2025); and Ti West (BFA 2003 Film and Video) directed and co-wrote the music video of Kid Cudi’s “Neverland” (2025).
Daina Higgins (BFA 2001 Fine Arts) and Rita Maas (BFA 1981 Photography) had work in the group exhibition “New Drawings,” Kentler International Drawing Space, NYC, 6/14 – 7/20/25.
Linda Stillman (1972 Graphic Design) and Amy Talluto (MFA 2001 Fine Arts) had work in the group exhibition “etheReality,” Ann Street Gallery, Newburgh, NY, 6/21 – 8/31/25.
Several SVA alumni were honored with 2025 Print Awards, Print, 6/23/25: Vidisha Agarwal (MPS 2024 Branding), Soumya Gupta (MFA
2024 Design), Trang Hoang (BFA 2025 Illustration), Dong Hyun Kim (BFA 2025 Design), and Peilin Li (BFA 2022 Illustration) were first-place student honorees; Doga Bircan (MFA 2024 Design) was a second-place professional honoree; Sooyoung Yang (BFA 2023 Illustration) was a third-place student honoree; and Nathan Fox (MFA 2002 Illustration as Visual Essay) was an illustrator on the comic book project that won the Clampitt Paper Professional Selection.
John von Bergen (BFA 1996 Cartooning) hosted a release party for the latest edition of his “UFO-UMIS” drawing series, UFO-UMIS #50, in collaboration with the Autoimmune Association, Studio Anselm Dastner (owned by Anselm Dastner [BFA 1996 Graphic Design]), NYC, 6/26/25.
Jessica Reisch (MFA 2024 Computer Arts) launched and collaborated with Austin Willis (MFA 2025 Fine Arts) on “The Lake Erie Listening Project,” FEED Media Art Center/Erie Art Company, Erie, PA, 7/6 – 7/13/25.
Manuela Arnal (MFA 2025 Fine Arts), Elizabeth Castaldo (BFA 2007 Fine Arts), Ashley Garrett (BFA 2008 Fine Arts), and Kenny Rivero (BFA 2010 Fine Arts) participated in Upstate Art Weekend, NY, 7/17 – 7/21/25.
Noa Charuvi (MFA 2009 Fine Arts), Amy Decker (BFA 2003 Graphic Design), Michael De Feo (BFA 1995 Graphic Design), Jeronimo
Elespe (BFA 1999 Fine Arts), Florencia Escudero (BFA 2010 Fine Arts), Eric Graham (MFA 2013 Fine Arts), Nadia Haji Omar (MFA 2014 Fine Arts), M. Benjamin Herndon (BFA 2012 Fine Arts), Gary Petersen (MFA 1987 Fine Arts), and Erika Somogyi (BFA 1999 Fine Arts) had work in the group exhibition “Spectrum,” Kristen Lorello, NYC, 7/25 – 8/15/25.
Thordis Adalsteinsdottir (MFA 2003 Fine Arts), Willie Cole (BFA 1976 Media Arts), and Michelle Weinberg (BFA 1983 Fine Arts) were recipients of the 2024–25 Pollock-Krasner Foundation grants, 7/31/25.
Bridget Badore (BFA 2013 Photography) was a panelist, and Jason Crowley (BFA 2015 Photography) and Pacifico Silano (MFA 2012 Photography, Video, and Related Media) were recipients of the NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship for Photography, New York Foundation for the Arts, NYC, 8/12/25.
Brian Belott (BFA 1996 Fine Arts), Paul Gabrielli (BFA 2005 Fine Arts), Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt (1967 Media Arts), Masamitsu Shigeta (BFA 2018 Fine Arts), and Marianne Vitale (BFA 1996 Film and Video) had work in the group exhibition “The World Is Garbage,” Situations and New Discretions, NYC, 9/4 – 10/18/25.
Storm Ascher (BFA 2018 Visual and Critical Studies) and Ryan Cosbert (BFA 2021 Fine Arts) were featured in “At the Armory Show, First-Time Artists Steal the Spotlight,” Hyperallergic, 9/5/25.
Michael De Feo (BFA 1995 Graphic Design) curated, and Ashley Garrett (BFA 2008 Fine Arts) and Kurt Lightner (MFA 2004 Fine Arts) had work in the group exhibition “Inter|States,” Last Days Gallery presented by Craven Contemporary, Kent, CT, 9/20 – 11/16/25.
Dawoud Bey (1977 Photography), Albert Chong (BFA 1981 Photography), the late Darrel Ellis (1986), Adrian Piper (1969 Fine Arts),
and Lorna Simpson (BFA 1982 Photography) had work in the group exhibition “Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955 – 1985,” National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 9/21/25 – 1/11/26.
Will Rosado (BFA 1993 Illustration) and Edwin Vazquez (MFA 2009 Illustration as Visual Essay; BFA 2007 Cartooning) had work in the group exhibition “¡Wepa! Puerto Ricans in the World of Comics,” Wachenheim Gallery, Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, New York Public Library, NYC, 10/4/25 – 3/8/26.
Andrea Burgay (BFA 2005 Fine Arts) and William Patterson (MFA 2019 Fine Arts; BFA 2013 Visual and Critical Studies) had work in
María Berrío (MFA 2009 Illustration as Visual Essay), Chioma Ebinama (MFA 2016 Illustration as Visual Essay), the late Keith Haring (1979 Fine Arts), and Guadalupe Maravilla (BFA 2003 Photography) had work in the group exhibition “Shifting Landscapes,” Whitney Museum of American Art, NYC, 11/1/24 – 1/25/26.
Zai Thakoor (MFA 2025 Products of Design) won and Liwen He (BFA 2025 Interior Design) was a finalist in the Product/Architecture/ Interiors category, Global Creative Graduate Showcase, 11/4/25.
MFA 2023 alumni Janine Brown and Alison Pasquini had work in the group exhibition
1984 Media Arts) was the subject of Benita (2025).
SVA alumni participated in New York Comic Con, NYC, 10/9 – 10/12/25: Ian Bertram (BFA 2012 Cartooning), Tyler Boss (BFA 2014 Cartooning), Russ Braun (MFA 1991 Illustration as Visual Essay; BFA 1989 Media Arts), Aaron Campbell (MFA 2003 Illustration as Visual Essay), Nathan Fox (MFA 2002 Illustration as Visual Essay), Joshua Hixson (BFA 2014 Cartooning), Clinton Hobart (BFA 1998 Illustration), Edwin Huang (BFA 2010 Cartooning), Justin Jordan (BFA 2006 Cartooning), Andrea Kendrick (BFA 2013 Cartooning), Michelle Krivanek (BFA 2017 Animation), Emilio Lopez (BFA 2004
Gowanus Open Studios, Arts Gowanus, NYC, 10/18 – 10/19/25.
Milo Ferguson (BFA 2023 Animation), Sara Ho (BFA 2013 Animation), and Jim McKenzie (BFA 2011 Computer Art, Computer Animation, and Visual Effects) participated in a panel, “Scared to Create Your Art or Film? Do It Anyway!,” hosted by Nicholas Manfredi (BFA 2015 Computer Art, Computer Animation, and Visual Effects), as part of a live episode of Nick’s Friends in Film podcast; and Hsiang Chin Moe (MFA 2008 Computer Art) participated in the panels “Animation Advocacy: Building a More Inclusive Industry,” presented by the BRIC Foundation, and “WIA at LBX,” presented by Women in Animation; Lightbox Expo, Pasadena, CA, 10/24 – 10/26/25.
“Becoming Plastic,” City Lights Gallery, Bridgeport, CT, 11/6/25 – 1/17/26.
SVA alumni were involved in films that were screened at DOC NYC 2025, 11/12 – 11/30/25: Jamie Deradorian-Delia (MFA 2020 Social Documentary Film) co-produced and Adam Evans (MFA 2020 Social Documentary Film) co-edited Free Leonard Peltier (2025); Bennett Elliott (BFA 2010 Film and Video) produced and Jenni Morello (MFA 2011 Social Documentary Film) was cinematographer of We Met at Grossinger’s (2025); Sasha Friedlander (MFA 2011 Social Documentary Film) edited Beyond (2025); Hansen Lin (MFA 2020 Social Documentary Film) produced Always (2025); Bao Nguyen (MFA 2011 Social Documentary Film) directed The Stringer (2025); and the late Benita Raphan (BFA
Cartooning), Mark Morales (BFA 1991 Media Arts), Lee Knox Ostertag (BFA 2014 Cartooning), Bill Plympton (1969 Cartooning), Joe Quesada (BFA 1984 Media Arts), Indra Rodies (BFA 2019 Animation), Koren Shadmi (BFA 2006 Illustration), Joshua Swaby (BFA 2020 Cartooning), Toma Vagner (BFA 2017 Illustration), and Keith Williams (BFA 1980 Media Arts).
MFA 2025 Products of Design alumni Tao Tao Holmes and Zai Thakoor, through their creative studio, Lunch Special, wrote and designed the 2025 Scholar and Alumna Survey Report, LCU Fund for Women’s Education, NYC.
Max Kornfield (BFA 2020 Visual and Critical Studies) and Jessica Reisch (MFA 2024 Computer Arts) were 2025 recipients, U.S. Fulbright Program.
Dawoud Bey (1977 Photography), The Blues Singer, Harlem, NY, 1976, gelatin silver print. National Gallery of Art, gift of the Charina Endowment Fund in memory of Robert B. Menschel. On view in “Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955 – 1985,” National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 9/21/25 – 1/11/26.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT Davina Hsu (MFA 2023 Fine Arts), Heart Coherence, 2025, natural wool felted on soft foam and gold-leafed epoxy; Adored, 2025, natural wool felted on soft foam; Play, 2025, natural wool felted on soft foam; The Shift, 2025, natural wool felted on soft foam. On view at “Heaven on Earth,” Turley, Hudson, NY, 9/20 – 11/2/25. Photos by Davina Hsu, courtesy of Turley.
Notes + Exhibitions
SVA ALUMNI
Individual Notes
1962
William Hogan (Illustration) had work in the group exhibition “Painted Visions and Earthen Forms,” Cross Pollination Gallery, Lambertville, NJ, 8/8 – 8/21/25.
1966
Stephen Salmieri (Photography) was featured in “Stephen Salmieri’s Coney Island in black and white—in pictures,” The Guardian, 7/10/25.
1968
Richard Rutner (Media Arts) had work in the Almost Real Things Austin Studio Tour, 4th Street Gallery, Austin. 11/8 – 11/9/25 and 11/15 - 11/16/25.
1969
Nina Yankowitz (Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “In the Out/Out the In,” Museum of Fine Arts St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, FL, 6/21 – 9/21/25.
1971
Terry Berkowitz (Fine Arts) had work in the group exhibition “People’s Flag Show,” Judson Memorial Church, NYC, 11/9 – 11/15/25.
1972
Kathleen McSherry (BFA Media Arts) had work in the group exhibition “Cerulean Arts Collective Members’ Exhibitions,” Cerulean Arts Gallery, Philadelphia, 6/4 – 6/29/25.
Luke Ryan (Illustration) had a solo exhibition, “Luke Ryan—Mondo & More,” Urban Aftermath, Albany, NY, August 2025.
1973
Marilyn Church (Illustration) had work in the group exhibition “Moment of Motion,” The Lucore Art, Montauk, NY, 11/6 – 12/2/25.
1975
Margaret McCarthy (BFA Fine Arts) had work in the group exhibition “New York Pride: The Fight for Marriage Equality,” New York State Museum, Albany, NY, 5/24/25 – 2/22/26.
Jerid O'Connell (Photography) was featured in “Jerid O’Connell of Rousers on the Energy of the Punk Scene Surrounding Their Unreleased ‘1979 Sire Sessions,’” Glide Magazine, 10/13/25.
1976
Jorge Luis Rodriguez (BFA Fine Arts) unveiled his permanent art installation, “Harlem Melodic Moments,” Park Avenue Viaduct, East 116 Street, MTA Arts & Design, NYC, October 2025.
1978
William Antin (BFA Photography) was interviewed in “Photographer Shares His Images of 1970s New York for the First Time,” My Modern Met, 9/23/25.
1979
Todd Groesbeck (BFA Media Arts) had work in the group exhibition “Coast Guard Art Program: Inaugural Exhibition,” Salmagundi Club, NYC, 7/1 – 7/29/25.
John Michael Pelech (BFA Media Arts) had work in the group exhibition “SCNY: The Unexpected,” Salmagundi Club, NYC, 11/18 –12/5/25.
Amy Sillman (BFA Fine Arts) had a two-part exhibition, “Oh, Clock!,” comprising a solo show of her own work, 3/22 – 8/31/25, and a curatorial project, 3/22 – 12/31/25, Ludwig Forum for International Art, Aachen, Germany.
1980
Patricia Bellucci (BFA Fine Arts) was a semi-finalist, Pure Street Photography Awards, 10/13/25.
1981
Renee Folzenlogen (Fine Arts) organized a large-scale community quilt project, “Mending America: One Stitch at a Time,” Montclair Public Library, Montclair, NJ, 6/13 – 7/31/25.
Peter Hristoff (BFA Fine Arts) had work in the group exhibition “The Twilight World: Queer Magic at the Edge of Midnight,” Gallery 52, Jeffersonville, NY, 6/21 – 7/20/25.
Barbara Kolo (BFA Media Arts) had work in the group exhibition “The Craft,” KP Projects Gallery, Los Angeles, 6/28 – 7/26/25.
Kenny Scharf (BFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Emotional,” Modern Art Museum Shanghai, Shanghai, 6/29 – 10/8/25.
Erika Somogyi (BFA 1999 Fine Arts), Untitled (Poppies), 2025, oil on canvas. On view in “Spectrum,” Kristin Lorello, NYC, 7/25 – 8/15/25. Image courtesy of the artist and Kristen Lorello.
Susan Leopold (BFA Fine Arts) had work at Affordable Art Fair, Boston, 10/23 – 10/26/25.
Joey Skaggs (BFA Media Arts) organized the protest, Trump’s Military Parade Revisited, Trump Tower, NYC, 6/14/25.
1983
Paul Leibow (BFA Media Arts) had work in the group exhibition “The Bias Inside Us,” Monmouth Museum, Monmouth, NJ, 8/9 –9/7/2025.
Kenneth Wenzel (BFA Photography) had work in the group exhibition “65th Arrowhead Regional Biennial,” Duluth Art Institute, Duluth, MN, 10/6 – 12/19/25.
1984
Ellen Mansfield (BFA Media Arts) unveiled her mural, “Canopy of Connection,” Anythink Library, Brighton, CO, 11/12/25.
Lydia Panas (BFA Photography) had a solo exhibition, “Gorgeous Discontent,” Kemerer Museum of Decorative Arts, Bethlehem, PA, 11/14/25 – 2/22/26.
1986
Kevin McCloskey (MFA Illustration as Visual Essay) had a solo exhibition, “Walking Around Hoboken: 40 Years Later,” Hoboken Historical Museum, Hoboken, NJ, 11/16 – 12/21/25.
Gerald Obregon (BFA Media Arts) won the President’s Award, Dade Art Educators Association, Inc., 9/20/25, and was named 2025 Secondary Art Educator of the Year, Florida Art Education Association, Tallahassee, FL, 10/18/25.
Annie Sprinkle (BFA Photography) was co-director of Playing with Fire: An Ecosexual Emergency (2025) which won the Audience Choice Award, Santa Cruz Film Festival, Santa Cruz, CA, 10/8 – 10/12/25.
1987
Aleathia Brown (BFA Media Arts) had work in the group exhibition “For Liberation and For Life: The Legacy of Black Dimensions in Art,” Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, NY, 8/23 – 12/31/25.
Gary Petersen (MFA Fine Arts) had work in the group exhibitions “Reconnect,” 11/14/25 – 1/17/26, Berlin, and “Connect,” 12/4/25 – 2/14/26, Munich, Walter Storms Galerie.
1988
Daniel Hess (BFA Fine Arts) was featured in “Eight Questions for Dan Hess,” Bungalower, 10/26/25.
Catya Plate (Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Catya Plate: An Animated Ecological Short Film Trilogy,” Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA, 6/14 – 7/26/25.
Mary Salvante (BFA Media Arts) curated vanessa german’s “Breathe from the Diaphragm: our eyes are in our lungs,” Rowan University Art Gallery and Museum, Glassboro, NJ, 9/2 – 11/1/25.
Gary Simmons (BFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Rush,” Cookie Factory, Denver, 11/8/25 – 5/9/26.
1989
Al Nickerson (BFA Cartooning) was interviewed in “Episode 393: Al Nickerson,” King Dolphin TV!, 8/6/25.
1990
Kevin Banks (BFA Media Arts) self-published Sloane: The Art School Underworld of ’80s NYC (2025).
1991
David H. Reuss (BFA Media Arts) juried “Imagination 25,” Mills Pond Gallery, St. James, NY, 10/11 – 11/9/25.
1992
David Bleich (BFA Illustration) was production designer on KPop Demon Hunters (2025), Netflix.
Johan Grimonprez (MFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “All Memory Is Theft,” ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany, 6/7/25 – 2/8/26.
Lynn Pauley (MFA Illustration as Visual Essay) was featured in “The Daily Heller: Neon’s Red Glare and Signs Bursting in Air,” Print, 7/3/25.
Jenny Polak (MFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Labor Market,” Cuchifritos Gallery, Artists Alliance Inc., NYC, 9/5 – 11/8/25.
Judy Richardson (MFA Fine Arts) had work in the group exhibition “Land and Sea,” Exhibit 208, Albuquerque, 9/12 – 10/4/25.
Christine Romanell (BFA Graphic Design) had an installation, Sacred Transition, Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ, 9/13/25 – 8/9/26.
1993
Lauren Berkowitz (MFA Fine Arts) had work in the group exhibition “The Mourning After,” RMIT Design Hub Gallery, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, 7/24 – 9/20/25.
Notes +
Exhibitions
Shawn Martinbrough (BFA Illustration) was interviewed in “How Representation in Comics Changes Everything,” CGTN America, 7/12/25.
1994
Mary Carter Taub (MFA Fine Arts) installed a permanent public artwork, Loop de Loop, SouthPark Regional Library, Charlotte, NC, 8/12/25.
Sharoz Makarechi (BFA Advertising) was featured in “Sharoz Makarechi of Substance and Plaid America Takes a Humanist Approach to Branding,” Muse by Clios, 10/15/25.
Riad Miah (BFA Fine Arts) had work in the group exhibition “The Only Way Out Is
Coral Reef Animals Coloring Book (2025) and Ocean Adventure: Costa Rica Coral Reef Coloring Book for Adults (2025), Aiden Ashlyn LLC.
Lori Earley (BFA Illustration) created the cover artwork for Ilia Yordanov’s No Content (2025).
Jane D. Marsching (MFA Photography and Related Media) was selected for the newest cohort of the Public Art Accelerator, Boston Public Art Triennial, September 2025.
1996
Kristina DiMatteo (BFA Graphic Design) was named creative director, opinion, The New York Times, 11/25/25.
Club of Red Bank, Red Bank, NJ, 10/19/25 and 10/25/25.
Mark Willis (BFA Illustration) had work in the group exhibition “CB8M Fall Art Show,” James Cagney Place, NYC, 10/4/25.
1999
Eileen Ferara (MFA Illustration as Visual Essay) had work in the group exhibition “Uneasy Terrain: The Landscapes of Eileen Ferara and Tracy Duhamel McFarlane,” Watchung Arts Center, Watchung, NJ, 9/13 – 10/25/25.
Artem Mirolevich (BFA Illustration) had work in the group exhibition “Material & Myth,” Salomon Arts Gallery, NYC, 10/19 – 10/30/25.
Jose Alvarez (D.O.P.A.) (Fine Arts) had work in the group exhibition “DayDream,” Leonhardt Galleries, Berkshire Botanical Garden, Stockbridge, MA, 6/6 – 8/10/25.
Michael De Feo (BFA Graphic Design) had work in the group exhibition “Two Voices in Tandem,” Craven Contemporary, Kent, CT, 7/19 – 9/14/25.
Laurie Douglas (MFA Illustration as Visual Essay) co-wrote with Darcee Douglas and illustrated Ocean Adventure A to Z: Costa Rica
Justine Kurland (BFA Photography) had work in the group exhibition “A Sublime Obsession: Photographs from the Hazlitt Collection,” Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, Tampa, FL, 10/9/25 – 1/11/26.
1998
Naomi Katz Plotkin (MFA Fine Arts; BFA 1996 Fine Arts) opened her private art studio in Brooklyn Navy Yard to visitors, Open House New York Weekend, NYC, 10/18/25.
Mark O’Brien (BFA Illustration) is location manager on Season 8 (2025–26) of FBI (2018 – ), CBS.
Tim Tobin (BFA Fine Arts) had work in the group exhibition “Art in October,” Woman’s
Gideon Rubin (BFA Fine Arts) had work in the Ryan Lee Gallery booth, Aspen Art Fair, Aspen, CO, 7/29 – 8/2/25.
Patricia Silva (BFA Photography) directed Bright Vignettes: How Astoria Got Its Pride (2025), which screened at Queens World Film Festival, Kaufman Astoria Studios Zukor Theatre, NYC, 11/14/25.
Erika Somogyi (BFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Verdant Dream,” Kristen Lorello, NYC, 11/1 – 12/20/25.
2000
Eric Rhein (MFA Fine Arts; BFA 1985 Fine Arts) screened The Mountain, Fall Open
Studios, Mana Contemporary, Jersey City, NJ, 10/19/25.
2001
Yevgenia Davidoff (BFA Fine Arts) had work in the group exhibition “CraftTexas 2025,” Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, 9/6/25 – 1/31/26.
Daina Higgins (BFA Fine Arts) had work in the Sunset Park Open Studios, Sunset Park Wide Open, NYC, 10/17 – 10/19/25.
Leo Jimenez (BFA Computer Art) was featured in “Leo Jimenez, teaching visual art and revealing people’s talents,” Amsterdam News, NYC, 10/16/25.
Phil Buehler (MFA Photography and Related Media) and his public art exhibit, “Wall of Shame” were featured in “‘Don’t forget’: mural brings attention to the January 6 rioters pardoned by Trump,” The Guardian, 7/7/25.
Amy Decker (BFA Graphic Design) had work in the group exhibition “Explosion Robinson,” Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery, NYC, 7/16 –8/15/25.
Johnny Han (BFA Computer Art) was featured in “Felt but not seen: Crafting grounded, story-based VFX for DC Studios’ The Penguin,” Computer Graphics World, 9/16/25.
Installation view, “Flora Non Grata” a solo exhibition by Julianne Nash (MFA 2018 Photography, Video, and Related Media), Amos Eno Gallery, NYC, 6/19 – 7/27/25. Photo by Julianne Nash.
2002
Marlena Buczek Smith (BFA Graphic Design) was selected in the social poster category, United States International Poster Biennial 2025 Edition, 7/7/25.
Federico Muelas (MFA Computer Art) published a series of comics, “BOLD Buddies Stories,” depicting the cancer journeys of three survivors from the Bronx Oncology Living Daily (BOLD) program, Annals of Internal Medicine, Volume 178, Number 6, 6/10/25.
2003
Kevin Amato (BFA Photography) photographed “Gregg Araki Wants to Talk About Sex,” i-D, 9/19/25.
Jennifer Panepinto (MFA Design) had work in the online group exhibition “Daily Program/ Season #2,” Fellowship, 2/26 – 12/16/25.
2004
Reuben Negron (MFA Illustration as Visual Essay) had work in the group exhibition “Don’t Look Now: A Defense of Free Expression,” Art at a Time Like This, NYC, 10/10 – 10/25/25.
Joseph Petrick (BFA Film and Video)—a.k.a. Morley—published his debut novel, Dead Flowers (Matchbook Press, 2025), as an audiobook.
2005
Domingo Milella (BFA Photography) had a solo exhibition, “Il Teatro del Tempo,” Polo Bibliotecario Regionale ex Rossani di Bari, Bari, Italy, 6/5 – 6/29/25.
Philip Read (BFA Cartooning) won an editorial award in Illustration/Photo Illustration/Print or Interactive Graphics for “Chronicles of Wake Forest,” North Carolina Press Association, 9/18/25.
Sophia Shalmiyev (MPS Art Therapy) was a recipient of the Spark Award for Oregon Artists, James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation, Portland, OR, 11/14/25.
Brittany Sullivan (BFA Film and Video) was featured in “Greenpoint at Work: Brittany Sullivan, Owner and Creative Director at Grace and Grit Flowers,” Greenpointers, NYC, 10/29/25.
2006
Fabian Tejada (MFA Computer Art; BFA 1998 Computer Art) was nominated for a 2025 Emmy Award, Director Content, for “PHXDW — Oasis Opening,” Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Litchfield Park, AZ, 11/8/25.
2007
Elizabeth Castaldo (BFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “– Born of Chaos,” Ottinger Room Gallery, Croton Free Library, Croton-onHudson, NY, 7/3 – 8/28/25.
Heather Drayzen (BFA Illustration) had a solo exhibition, “Towards the Sun,” My Pet Ram, NYC, 10/10 – 11/9/25.
Lisa Elmaleh (BFA Photography) wrote “The promised land remains elusive for asylum seekers,” High Country News, Paonia, CO, 6/1/25.
Brendan Russo (BFA Film and Video) codirected Big Mountain Soul: Ski Africa (2025), which premiered at the 45th Breckenridge Film Festival and won the Audience Award, Breckenridge, CO, 9/18 – 9/21/25.
2008
Joseph Bennett (BFA Fine Arts) was executive producer of “Cliff’s Edge,” an episode of his series Common Side Effects (2025 – ), which was nominated for a 2025 Emmy Award, Outstanding Animated Program, National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, 77th Emmy Awards, Los Angeles, 9/14/25.
Benjamin Bobkoff (MPS Digital Photography) had work in the group exhibition “Family Pride,” Ted & Nune Studio, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY, 6/13 – 6/15/25 and 7/19 – 7/26/25.
Cat Del Buono (MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media) was featured in “Snapshot of the Month: Catherine Del Buono – Italy
Ashley Garrett (BFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Psyche,” September Gallery, Kinderhook, NY, 8/16 – 10/12/25.
Dana James (BFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Ink Moon,” Hollis Taggart, NYC, 9/4 – 10/11/25.
Tristan Zamula (BFA Photography) had work in the group exhibition “Summer Exhibition 2025,” Main Galleries, Burlington House, Royal Academy, London, 6/17 – 8/17/25.
2009
André da Loba (MFA Illustration as Visual Essay) won the 2024 Portuguese Illustration National Award for his book Contos Cantados, Direção-Geral do Livro, dos Arquivos e das Bibliotecas (Directorate-General for Books, Archives and Libraries), Lisbon, Portugal, July 2025.
Barbara Kalina (MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media) had a solo exhibition, “What Is a Photograph,” Main Street Community Center, Windham, NY, 7/12 – 8/9/25
John MacConnell (MFA Illustration as Visual Essay) had a solo exhibition, “Sum of Its Parts,” Childs Gallery, Boston, 11/21/25 – 1/11/26.
Trish Tillman (MFA Fine Arts) had work in the group exhibition “Banshees Remix,” Asya Geisberg Gallery, NYC, 6/27 – 8/8/25.
Edwin Vazquez (MFA Illustration as Visual Essay; BFA 2007 Cartooning) designed Batman: Revolution by John Jackson Miller (Random House Worlds, 2025).
2010
Joshua Citarella (BFA Photography) was featured in “The Leftist Podcaster Who Studies Online Radicalization,” The New Yorker, 9/27/25.
Dustin Randall Keirns (BFA Photography) was featured in “MOPD Reviews: Dustin Randall Keirns: In Regard to Nature,” Lenscratch, 7/1/25 .
C. Bay Milin (MPS Digital Photography) had a solo exhibition, “Down Through, to the Marrow,” Durham Arts Council Allenton Gallery, Durham, NC, 7/11 – 10/5/2025.
Luther Mosher (BFA Cartooning) was interviewed in “Luther Mosher Strikes Red Gold with Mars Lightning,” The Comic Book Yeti, 7/10/25.
Devin Oktar Yalkin (BFA Photography) photographed “The Interview: Sean Penn Let Himself Get Away with Things for 15 Years.
Not Anymore,” The New York Times Magazine, 9/27/25.
2011
Cindy Hinant (MFA Fine Arts) had work in the group exhibition “Paintings for Horses,” installed on the side of a barn adjacent to a horse farm, Middlefield, MA, 10/22/25 – 1/23/26.
Min Ha Park (BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation, and Visual Effects) was featured in “Min ha Park: ‘I think about creating situations where things don’t immediately explain themselves,’” The Art Newspaper, 6/2/25.
Michele Washington (MFA Design Criticism) won the Steven Heller Prize for Cultural Commentary, AIGA, NYC, 11/12/25.
2012
Sebastian Ebarb (MFA Design) was featured in “The designer behind Newton’s new city seal,” WBUR, Boston, 7/11/25.
Elektra KB (BFA Visual and Critical Studies) had work in the group exhibition “Fibration III: Anxiety and Hope,” L’Space Gallery, NYC, 9/4 – 10/25/25.
Kacie Lees (MFA Fine Arts) was a visiting artist, Museum of Glass, Tacoma, WA, 6/4 – 6/8/25.
➔ Continued access to SVA MyID and @sva.edu email
➔ Subscriptions to the monthly alumni newsletter and the Visual Arts Journal
➔ Access to the SVA Library and its on-site resources
➔ 20% tuition discount on in-person and online SVA Continuing Education courses
➔ Invitations to Career Development workshops and access to the online job board
Photo by M.J. O'Toole (MPS 2020 Digital Photography)
Photo by M.J. O’Toole (MPS 2020 Digital Photography)
Kim Smith Claudel (MFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Paper Prototype,” Carnation Contemporary, Portland, OR, 10/4 – 10/26/25.
2013
Supranav Dash (BFA Photography) had work in the group exhibition “Legacies of Identity: Queer Histories of Third Genders,” Melkweg, Amsterdam, 7/18 – 8/24/25.
Sam Grinberg (BFA Cartooning) hosted and had work in the Silver Lake Comics art fair, Silver Lake Shorts, El Cid, Los Angeles, 11/8/25.
Chemin Hsiao (MFA Illustration as Visual Essay; BFA 2011 Animation) was featured in “Local Express: Chemin Hsiao,” Queens Gazette, NYC, 8/27/25.
Vanessa Powers (BFA Fine Arts) was featured in “Bringing New Life to Empty Subway Shops,” The New York Times, 10/28/25.
Matt Shaw (MFA Design Criticism) wrote “The Meaning of Trump’s Gilded Age Rumpus Room,” The New York Times, 8/4/25.
Minseop Yoon (MFA Fine Arts) created a window display for Hermès, Shinsegae Department Store Main Branch, Seoul, October 2025.
2014
Nadia Haji Omar (MFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Sunbird,” Kristen Lorello, NYC, 9/13 – 10/25/25.
Andrea McGinty (MFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “A Village,” presented by Chozick Family Art Gallery, LUNCH (Located Under NADA’s Central Headquarters), NYC, 7/8 –8/15/25.
Inaya Graciana Yusuf (MFA Social Documentary Film) edited Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa (2024), which won in the Documentary category, 85th Peabody Awards, Los Angeles, 6/1/25.
2015
Nicasio Fernandez (BFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Light Whispers,” Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, 8/21 – 10/16/25.
Kathie Halfin (MFA Fine Arts) had work in the open studio event “Fiber in Focus,” TI Art Studios, NYC, 9/12 – 9/14/25.
Carlos Jaramillo (BFA Photography) screened his short documentary, Heart of the Valley (2025), Now Instant Image Hall, Los Angeles, 10/24/25.
Melissa Malzkuhn (MFA Visual Narrative) was named to the Forbes Accessibility 100 list, 6/17/25.
Tali Margolin (BFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Memories That Can Be Touched,” Pratt Munson Gallery, Munson Museum of Art, Utica, NY, 11/14 – 12/12/25.
Hiann Lee Prum (BFA Advertising), who works at Factory360, designed the L.L.Bean NYC Residency, NYC, 10/18 – 11/30/25.
Patrick Rafanan (MPS Fashion Photography) animated the illustration in “‘You’re Going to Lose Your Mind’: My Three-Day Retreat in Total Darkness,” The New York Times, 10/21/25.
Jocelyn Tsaih (BFA Design) created a public art installation for art and culture space UNICE, Suzhou, China, 2025.
Heath Wagoner (MFA Products of Design) was featured in “Wallpaper* USA 400: The people shaping Creative America in 2025,” Wallpaper*, 8/11/25.
Justin Zhuang (MFA Design Criticism) was a featured speaker on cultural archives and identity, “We Made This Monster,” Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore, 10/25/25.
2016
Lila Allen (MA Design Research, Writing, and Criticism) launched the online design publication Wrong House, 9/9/25.
Hoi Chan (BFA Design) was featured in “Explorations in colour and luminescence with Hoi Chan,” Creative Boom, 10/1/25.
Katelyn Kopenhaver (BFA Photography and Video) was featured in “Smile, Subtext, and
I’m incredibly grateful for the generous support from this program. This opportunity allowed me to focus more deeply on creating work that speaks from the heart.”
I’m incredibly grateful for the generous support from this program. This opportunity allowed me to focus more deeply on creating work that speaks from the heart.”
Shaohan Fang
Shaohan Fang
MFA 2025 Photography, Video, and Related Media Alumni Scholarship Award | @shanefang_
MFA 2025 Photography, Video, and Related Media Alumni Scholarship Award | @shanefang_
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Questions? Email alumnisociety@sva.edu.
Portrait by Nir Arieli (BFA 2012 Photography).
Portrait by Nir Arieli (BFA 2012 Photography).
Mary Carter Taub (MFA 1994 Fine Arts), Loop de Loop, 2025, SouthPark Regional Library, Charlotte, NC. Photo by Sally Van Gorder.
Page from Ocean Adventure: Costa Rica Coral Reef Coloring Book for Adults (2025), by Laurie Douglas (MFA 1995 Illustration as Visual Essay) and Darcee Douglas.
Subversion: The Magnetic Work of Katelyn Kopenhaver,” Portray, 9/16/25.
Georgia Lale (MFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Ev Toútw Nína – In This Sign Conquer,” A.Antonopoulou.Art, Athens, Greece, 10/23 – 11/29/25.
Jonathan Shatoff (BFA Film) was a finalist in four categories for his screenplay Wet Paint, written with Fred Soligan: Big Indie Pictures Fellowship, The Donners’ Company Award, Enderby Entertainment Award, and Josephson Entertainment Screenwriting Award, Austin Film Festival 2025, 10/15/25.
2017
Hakim Bishara (MFA Art Writing) was named editor in chief, Hyperallergic, 10/5/25.
Adam Cable (MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media) had a solo exhibition, “Domestic Tectonics,” Amos Eno Gallery, NYC, 6/19 – 7/27/25.
Adebunmi Gbadebo (BFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Watch Out for the Ghosts,” Nicola Vassell, NYC, 9/4 – 10/18/25.
Kyung Tae Kim (MFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Shop [SHäp]—Shopped (p.)—
Shopped (p.p.),” Dohing Art Gallery, Seoul, 7/1 – 8/9/25.
Aya Rodriguez-Izumi (MFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Recreation and Violence,” Turley, Hudson, NY, 11/15 – 12/21/25.
Jinghan Zhang (MFA Computer Art) co-founded a creative agency, Art Ascend Studio, based in the greater NYC area, 2025.
2018
jiwoong, a.k.a. Jiwoong Jang (BFA Photography and Video), had a solo exhibition, “Tread Water,” Blade Study, NYC, 11/6 – 12/19/25.
Pedro Mesa (MFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “The Oracle of Latin American Women,” Consulate General of Colombia in New York, NYC, 11/13 – 12/13/25.
Emma Rose Milligan (MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media; BFA 2015 Photography) pitched and photographed “Inside the First-Ever Martini Expo, Where the Classic Cocktail Is Forever,” Bon Appétit, 9/17/25.
Julianne Nash (MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media) had a solo exhibition, “Flora non Grata,” Amos Eno Gallery, NYC, 6/19 –7/27/25.
2019
Gyum Youn (BFA Design) worked on the branding for Night Market (Thursdays and Fridays, 5/29 – 10/17/25) and Holiday Market (11/13 – 12/24/25), Urbanspace, Union Square Park, NYC.
2020
Eva Louise Hall (MFA Visual Narrative) was featured in “MIRA – Eva Louise Hall’s Dark, Textural Dive into Creative Exploitation,” Stop Motion Magazine, 11/13/25.
Notes +
Exhibitions
Taha Long (MPS Directing) produced Afterword (2025), which premiered at Kaohsiung Film Festival, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 10/10 – 10/26/25.
Carlos Rosales-Silva (MFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Mariposa,” Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Salt Lake City, UT, 6/27 – 9/13/25.
2021
Carolina Paz (MFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “imagining spaces,” A.I.R Gallery, NYC, 10/18 – 11/16/25.
Sanika Phawde (MFA Illustration as Visual Essay) won the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Series for “Wedding Juice and other Melodra-
Dylan Rose Rheingold (MFA Fine Arts) was featured in “Dear Nostalgia, Innocence Sends Its Best,” Flaunt, Issue 199: Fleeting Twilight, 6/24/25.
2023
Davina Hsu (MFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Heaven on Earth,” Turley, Hudson, NY, 9/20 – 11/2/25.
Yanmei Jiang (MFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “A Toe in the Water,” Gallery 456, Chinese American Arts Council, NYC, 9/5 –9/19/25.
Nianxin Li (MFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “Neon Haze,” Upstairs Gallery, Uffner & Liu, NYC, 9/5 – 11/1/25.
mas,” Small Press Expo, North Bethesda, MD, 9/13 – 9/14/25.
2022
Yuan Fang (MFA Fine Arts; BFA 2019 Visual and Critical Studies) had a solo exhibition, “Spaying,” Skarstedt Chelsea, NYC, 9/4 –10/25/25.
Xayvier Haughton (MFA Fine Arts) participated in Summer Open Studios Triangle, NYC, 8/7/25.
Ailyn Lee (MFA Fine Arts; BFA 2017 Illustration) had a solo exhibition, “Once Again My Autumn Lamp,” Uncool Gallery, NYC, 11/20 – 11/29/25.
Ashley McLean (BFA Photography and Video) was featured in “Photographer Ashley McLean Knows Getting a Subject to Surrender Is Half the Work. Here’s How She Does It.,” Cultured, 9/18/25.
Caroline Taylor Shehan (MA Curatorial Practice) gave remarks at the screening event “Karimah Ashadu: Scenes of Labor,” e-flux Screening Room, NYC, 6/5/25.
Xinyue (Joyce) Wu (MFA Products of Design) founded PinPaint, an NYC–based design brand that transforms personal stories and emotions into wearable DIY accessories, and hosted a launch event in July 2025.
2024
Valentina Berdegue (BFA Illustration) was featured in “Illustrator Valentina Berdegué talks about her inspiration,” and appeared on the cover of El Mural, 8/8/25.
Alice Blackwood (BFA Comics) had a solo exhibition, “Read Between the Vines,” 53 Bridge Street, NYC, May – September 2025.
Lulu Luyao Chang (MFA Fine Arts) was a recipient of a 2025–2026 AALANA & BIPOC Inclusion Fellowship, Chicago Sculpture International, Chicago, 7/1/25.
Aimee Chen (MFA Computer Arts) was featured in “The Art of Seeing: A Dog, and Something More—An Interview with I Wen (Aimee) Chen,” Bios Monthly, 10/28/25.
Sophia Victor (MPS Art Therapy; BFA 2010 Fine Arts) was featured in “Black Women, Black Faith—Sophia Victor’s ‘Ekklesia’ Honors the Spiritual Traditions That Raised Us: ‘My Art Was Always to Please God’,” Madamenoire, 9/5/25.
Jessie Wang (BFA Interior Design) designed the restaurant Mt. ShooTao Hot Pot, NYC, 7/7/25.
2025
Meryl Chan (BFA Animation) was featured in “Filipina makes waves with her thesis film promoting environmental awareness,” philstar.com, 7/1/25.
Ian Costello (BFA Photography and Video) had work in the group exhibition “YANIV—You accomplish, navigate & inspire vividly,” The London Art Center, London, 9/13 – 9/15/25.
Dina El-Aziz (MFA Visual Narrative) was the recipient of Honoraria in Theater, 2025 Princess Grace Awards, Princess Grace Foundation—USA, 8/5/25.
Lily Hyon (MFA Fine Arts) had work in the group exhibition “Flesh Is the Reason,” Lubov, NYC, 9/6 – 10/5/25.
Alex M. Lee (MFA Visual Narrative) created the narrative video game “Road Trip to the End of the World,” which was selected as Best Student Work, Narrascope 2025 Showcase, Drexel University, Philadelphia, 6/20 –6/22/25.
Phoenix Logan (BFA Film) screened his thesis film, The Pleasure of Being Someone Else (2025), SOHO International Film Festival, NYC, 10/11/25.
Christa May (MA Design Research, Writing, and Criticism) was on the panel “Designing Motherhood: A Conversation on Design, Health, and Humanity,” Museum of Arts and Design, NYC, 10/23/25.
Lev Pinkus (MFA Fine Arts) had a solo exhibition, “So Far,” Nueva Asociación Sudamericana de Artistas Locos (NASAL), Mexico City, 9/4 – 10/25/25.
Xinyi Yang (MFA Illustration as Visual Essay) was interviewed in “Meet Xinyi Yang,” Bold Journey, 7/29/25.
To share your recent career news, write to alumni@sva.edu. Due to the volume of information we receive, not all submissions may be included.
Installation view, “The World Is Garbage,” Situations and New Discretions, NYC, 9/4 –10/18/25, featuring work by Marianne Vitale (BFA 1996 Film and Video; foreground) and Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt (1967 Media Arts; back right). Courtesy the artists and Situations, NYC, and New Discretions, NYC.
Lynn Pauley (MFA 1992 Illustration as Visual Essay), State Motel, Florida, acrylic on paper. Pauley’s work was featured in “The Daily Heller: Neon’s
and
Red Glare
Signs Bursting in Air,” Print, 7/3/25.
Alumni Legacies
In Memoriam
The School of Visual Arts mourns the loss of the following alumni, all of whom died over the past year. To share news of an SVA alumnus’s passing, write to alumni@sva.edu.
CLAUDIA TEDESCHI SHEIMAN
(BFA 1987 Photography) died on May 5, 2025, at the age of 74. Sheiman grew up in Brooklyn, and after graduating from SVA taught photography at Mercer County Community College and Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey), both in New Jersey.
SEAN CHRISTOPHER
(MFA 2006 Fine Arts) died on May 19, 2025, at the age of 54. Born in Texas, Christopher received his BFA from Laguna College of Art and Design in California. In addition to pursuing his own practice, he taught art at Cal Poly Pomona, inspiring countless students.
EDWARD C. FIGUEROA
(BFA 1981 Media Arts) died on June 7, 2025, at the age of
66. Figueroa was born and raised in Manhattan, and after attending SVA became a master clocksmith and lived in Dutchess County, New York.
MATTHEW Z. KELLY
(BFA 2013 Photography) died on June 30, 2025, at the age of 33. Kelly grew up in Massachusetts. After graduating from SVA, he worked as a photographer, photo editor, and photo director for such organizations as Apple, Vox Media, and, most recently, Chase Bank.
FEDERICO SAVINI
(MPS 2010 Digital Photography) died on July 22, 2025, at the age of 68. Savini was an artist, photographer, and 40-year employee of Pratt University, where he worked as a lecturer and lab technician.
CARL DREW HAMLIN (BFA 1982 Media Arts) died on August 12, 2025, at the age of 77. Born in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Hamlin enlisted in the U.S. Air Force after high school and was stationed in Washington, D.C. He attended Fordham University before enrolling at SVA, and pursued a career in advertising and design, ultimately retiring from RCA Records as a senior art director.
ANTHONY (TONY) D’ADAMO (1955 Illustration) died on September 15, 2025, at the age of 94. D’Adamo was a New York City native and Korea War veteran, and enjoyed a long, prolific, and diverse career as a cartoonist and illustrator. For more than 15 years, he was a staff illustrator for Newsday.
HARRY C. CONNINGTON (1986) died on October 1, 2025, at the age of 64. Connington grew up in the Hudson Valley and Manhattan, and attended SUNY New Paltz, the Woodstock School of Art, and the Art Students League of New York in addition to SVA.
RUSSELL J. VON SAUERS, JR. (1965), died on October 6, 2025, at the age of 81. Von Sauers served in the U.S. Army after attending SVA and, upon returning to his hometown of Port Jervis, New York, established a successful freelance illustration career and volunteered with the local fire department.
ELEANOR R. SHERMAN (1966 Advertising) died on November 7, 2025, at the age of 81. Sherman was born and raised in New York City and worked as an X-ray technician, writer, and promotional product developer before founding Technowipe, Inc., which manufactures and sells wipes for cleaning medical devices.
MICHELE SINGER REINER (BFA 1978 Photography) died on December 14, 2025, at the age of 70. In tragic news that occasioned tributes and headlines around the world, Singer Reiner, a photographer and movie producer, was killed in her Los Angeles home along with her husband of 36 years, filmmaker Rob Reiner. The Reiners were as well known for
their activism as for their films. Singer Reiner, a daughter of a Holocaust survivor, advocated for early childhood education, environmental protection, and marriage equality, among other causes.
CARMEN PHILLIPS GARRIGIA (BFA 1981 Fine Arts) died on February 17 at the age of 83. Phillips Garrigia worked at SVA for a quarter-century, first as an admissions specialist and later as a mailroom supervisor, and was beloved throughout the College community for her warmth, humor, and dedication. She retired in 2006 but kept close ties with her former colleagues. She was an artist, avid bird-watcher, and lover of good music and meals shared with friends and family.
CLOCKWISE FROM OPPOSITE Anthony D’Adamo (second from right) as a young art student; stained-glass-style illustration by D’Adamo; Rob Reiner and Michele Singer Reiner.
Alumni Legacies
Honoring
STUDENT RECOGNITION
2026 Alumni Scholarship Awards
727 Award
Olivia Kuczek with thesis partners
Devin Carrigan and Matt Voss, BFA Design
Dayanara Soriano, BFA Design Alumni Scholarship Award
Ronnie Ahlborn, MFA Computer Arts
Crystal Bao, BFA Illustration
Sophie Barfod, MA Curatorial Practice
Jeremie Candio, MFA Interaction Design
Thanks to generous contributions from alumni and supporters, the SVA Alumni Society awarded a total of $62,500 to these students in support of their thesis projects.
Sheila Carr, MFA Fine Arts
Calais Chen, MFA Computer Arts
Hyeonghoo Cho, MFA Computer Arts
Eunjin Choi, BFA Illustration
Ying Chung, MFA Interaction Design
Leyla Cui, BFA Illustration
Paige Davis, MAT Art Education
Nikari Dominguez, MFA Visual Narrative
Alexandra Donsky, BFA Animation
Sawyer Feng, MFA Computer Arts
Sebastian Garcia with thesis partner
Isabela Soares, BFA 3D Animation and Visual Effects
Grace Ha, BFA Animation
Linds Hamilton, BFA Comics
Seoyoung
Danielle Jeon, BFA Animation
Bixuan Ji with thesis partner Jeff Xie, MFA Computer Arts
Shing Yin Khor, MFA Visual Narrative
Mina Kim, MFA Fine Arts
Tatiana Kireicheva, MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media
Iris Lang, MPS Digital Photography
Ae Duk Lee with thesis partner
Yuetong Pan, MFA Design for Social Innovation
Justine Lee, BFA Animation
Min Lee, MFA Visual Narrative
Jasmine Lin, BFA Animation
Charlie Luo, MFA Computer Arts
Fangzi Luo, BFA Illustration
Michelle Lutochir, BFA Animation
Tutu Ma, MFA Fine Arts
Xiaolu Ma, MFA Fine Arts
Violeta Maria G. Maffei Cabrera with thesis partner
Maxim Davidoff, BFA 3D Animation and Visual Effects
Marilyn Mangan, BFA Animation
Emily Moon, BFA Animation
Julia Newman, MAT Art Education
Tash Nikol, MA Design Research, Writing, and Criticism
Phoebe O Chou, BFA Illustration
Jayce Parisi, MFA Computer Arts
Seeun Park, MFA Interaction Design
Yena Seo-Yeon Park, MFA Fine Arts
Ash Paul, MAT Art Education
Allison Rowell, BFA Animation
Cindy Shang with thesis partner Freya Xue, BFA 3D Animation and Visual Effects
Christina Shi with thesis partners Ellie Hui and Alice Xia, BFA 3D Animation and Visual Effects
Claudia Shi, MFA Fine Arts
Hao Jie Sim with thesis partners
Lan Fu and Kelsey Zhang, MFA Design for Social Innovation
Ben Simon, MFA Visual Narrative
Arielle Stabin, BFA Illustration
Kelly Tang, MPS Art Therapy
Yihe Tao with thesis partner
Thenea Sun, MFA Computer Arts
Danielle Tuiran, MPS Film Directing
Hope Wang, MFA Interaction Design
Siyi Wang, BFA Illustration
Zhicheng Wang, BFA Photography and Video
Amani Williams, MFA Fine Arts
Nevaeh Williams, BFA Animation
Alli Wolf, MFA Visual Narrative
Tianjie Xiang, BFA Illustration
Christine Xu, BFA Photography and Video
Eni Xu, BFA Animation
Jade Yoon with thesis partner
Jinhong Park, BFA 3D Animation and Visual Effects
Emily Zhang, MFA Computer Arts
Shanlian Zhou, BFA Illustration
Carl Zhu, MPS Digital Photography
Amelia Geocos Memorial Award
Michael Fried, BFA Fine Arts
BFA Illustration and Comics Award
Nandinie Andlay, BFA Illustration
Dylan Duseau, BFA Illustration
Chunyu Jin, BFA Illustration
Violet Shibo Zhu, BFA Illustration
Bob Guglielmo Memorial Award
Lila Ozture, BFA Comics
Benjamin Young, BFA Comics
Jack Endewelt Memorial Award
Briar Houlne, BFA Illustration
Sue Kim, BFA Illustration
James Richard Janowsky Award
Lyn Li with thesis partner
Leo Gianfagna, BFA Film
Lawrence P. Moody Memorial Award
Matt Haller, BFA Film
MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Award
Siyang Lim, MFA Illustration as Visual Essay
Elaine Mou, MFA Illustration as Visual Essay
Alex Smith, MFA Illustration as Visual Essay
Alison Staffin, MFA Illustration as Visual Essay
Yiou (Miki) Zheng, MFA Illustration as Visual Essay
Beatrix Zhou, MFA Illustration as Visual Essay
Michael Halsband Award
Clarisse Lo, BFA Photography and Video
Yanrong Ren, BFA Photography and Video
Sylvia Lipson Allen Memorial Award
Amber Dacanay, BFA Fine Arts
Lucy Gaehring, BFA Visual and Critical Studies
Hilda He, BFA Fine Arts
Gretchen Alexandra Kotz, BFA Fine Arts
Thomas Reiss Memorial Award
Mosab Mohamedelamin (Abushama), MFA Photography, Video, and Related Media
William C. Arkell Memorial Award
Erin De La Mota, BFA Film
Honoring Excellence
CLOCKWISE FROM OPPOSITE, TOP LEFT
Sue Kim, Bone Black , 2026, Procreate, pencil; Marilyn Mangan, Spires That Touched the Stars , 2026, digital; Yena Seo-Yeon Park, Blue Moon, 22926, oil on canvas; Carl Zhu, Where Steel Follows the River’s Memory, 2025, digital photograph; Elaine Mou, 432 Park Avenue Reinterpreted, 2025, digital.
original art for a brochure, undated, watercolor on paper. Image courtesy of the Glaser Design Archives.
