All posts by amt

Ingo Fast–Illustrator and World Traveler

Illustration Alumni, Illustration Industry, Publications, Randomly Intriguing, , , , ,

Friend of the Illustration Department and Parsons Alum–Illustrator Ingo Fast–spent almost a year traveling around the world, illustrating the whole time.  When he got home, he relaxed a little while.  And then set out once again, this time for thirteen months!  Recently, How Magazine featured an article about his journeys and work; you can read the whole article here (just use the small arrows at the bottom to advance pages).  You can also see images from his travel here and here.

Fascinating stuff!

Student Street Art in La Romana!

Class Projects, Illustration Faculty, Illustration Industry, , , , , ,

Adjunct Faculty Dan Weise recently taught a Street Art workshop in the Dominican Republic at Parsons’ affiliate Altos de Chavon.  He kept a blog detailing his experiences with the students as they explored graffiti, animation, and murals.  It’s chock full of amazing photos of the art created during the workshop, as well as links to student blogs.

Good work to Dan and all the amazing artists/students involved!

Tara McPherson Coloring Book!

Illustration Faculty, Illustration Industry, News, Publications, ,

Dark Horse Deluxe joins with Tara McPherson to design the Somewhere Under the Rainbow Coloring Kit! This fantastic “kit” comes in an easy-carry heavy-gauge clear vinyl bag with zipper enclosure, and includes: 96-page coloring book featuring 48 pieces of outstanding black and white art by Tara McPherson. This book has concealed spiral binding and stiff covers and includes unique box of 24 crayons in modern colors. But that’s not all! Four color-them-yourself postcards, and a deluxe sticker sheet are included in the spiral bound book.

This is available at cool stores everywhere on August 27, 2008, but you can pre-order your kit here.

Congratulations, Trey!

Illustration Alumni, Illustration Faculty, News, , ,

Wonderful news from Parsons Illustration faculty and alum Trey Hoyumpa:

I went into labor Monday and had a baby girl Tuesday afternoon at 12:34pm. Her name is Madison Grace Hoyumpa and she weighed in at 7lb 4 oz (Parker was 7lb 6oz). She looks a lot like Parker when he was born except she has a dimple on her right check which, of course, is super cute. We were released from the hospital yesterday – both Madison and I are doing great. We are all totally sleep deprived, but are enjoying the time together. It’s a kick seeing Parker with Madison. He’s going to be an awesome big brother.

Congratulations, Trey!  She’s gorgeous.

In the Land of Retinal Delights: The Juxtapoz Factor

Exhibitions, Illustration Alumni, , , , ,

In the Land of Retinal Delights: The Juxtapoz Factor
On view through October 5th, 2008
Laguna Art Museum

In the Land of Retinal Delights: The Juxtapoz Factor is an exhibition that presents the work of 150 artists and posits that there has been a huge, but unacknowledged art movement taking place in this country for the last 40 years. Since 1994, this ground swelling of lowbrow, surrealistic, pop, figurative, narrative work has coalesced and found a voice in the pages of Juxtapoz magazine published in San Francisco. This rag has become the most widely read art magazine in the US. It is an influencing force on the aspiring artists of Generation Y and the Millennials, who are now enrolling in art schools in numbers never seen before.

Juxtapoz magazine was founded by Los Angeles-artist Robert Williams. The “Juxtapoz aesthetic or lowbrow art” is almost always figurative, and is inspired by movies, TV, advertising, black-velvet painting, psychedelic posters, pulp porn, sci-fi and horror, carnival art, comics books and all things lower- and middle-class. The Magazine has and does provide a voice and validation for a brand of artist, like Williams, who has not been accepted traditionally by the typical art-world infrastructure of collector, curator, and critic. However, since its founding, it has been the clear focal point for having been the inspiration for the creation of its own infrastructure that supports Juxtapozian art with galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and New York, collectors, followed by critical attention, followed by museum exhibitions at adventurous institutions. With it’s growing success Juxtapoz has been a major contributor to the reemergence of painting again as a valid practice for artists since the mid-1990s, running counter to forty-years of art-school canon that focused on the Conceptual practice of context, collectivization, and dematerialization of the art object.

For the last decade the art establishment (collector, curator, and critic) has argued that the idea, or construct, of an art movement is outmoded. This exhibition explores the idea of a “Juxtapoz Factor.” Is it an organized movement operating under a singular manifesto? Or is it a wave of talented overlooked artists who decided to reach out to the public and create their own canon?

Check out the full description here, along with a listing of all the fantastic artists involved.  You might notice Illustration Alum Isabel Samaras in that list.  Congrats to her!  You can also read more about the show in this write-up by Richard Chang in the OC Register, who proclaims that this show “could very well be the art show of the year.”  High praise.

Laguna Art Museum
307 Cliff Drive
Laguna Beach, CA 92651

[ images by Robert Williams (top) and Isabel Samaras (bottom) ]

Ru Kuwahata (’05) works with They Might be Giants

Illustration Alumni, Illustration Industry, , , , ,

[wpvideo 8DxB8MQC]

Straight from the Illustration Inbox…

This is Ru Kuwahata (graduated in 2005) and I just finished co-directing a music video for the band They Might Be Giants, and it will be released on Playhouse Disney channel within the next few weeks.  The production was done in house with a company that I started with my husband in 2007.

Check out a behind-the-scenes blog post about the creation of the video here–it has tons of fascinating pictures of how this unique artwork was put together.


Congrats to Ru and Tiny Inventions (and TMBG) on the great work!

“Beasts! in Movies” Competition

Call for Entries, Competitions, Illustration Industry, , , , ,

Jitter-Magazine has announced an international illustration competition Beasts! in Movies.  Here are the details they passed along to us:

Jitter is the only German magazine focusing on illustration, comic art, and animation. Each issue covers a key issue like “drawing”, “music”, “laughter”, “fashion”–the forthcoming issue (October) covers “beasts”. In our categories interview, artist portrait, art show, image+narration, we present illustrators and designers, talk with art directors, publishers, university lecturers, gallery owners; we review comics, dvd, books on illustration, design, animation and fine art and related theory.

The main purpose of jitter is not only to show great artwork and artists but to have a close look at their context. We look on contemporary and historic illustration in regard to philosophy, psychology of perception, semiotics, media theory and art history. We believe that picture making is deeply rooted in mankind and not a thing of modernity or luxury.

Beasts! in Movies Competition
Entry of this competition is free.
Deadline is September 30th, 2008.

Beasts! What would man be without the creature? Whether admiration or contempt, emotion or horror, the ambivalent relationship between man and creature has been the source of countless stories of all cultures.
Seeing himself as creation’s crowning glory, man keeps his distance to nature only to use it as screen for all kinds of desires and fears. Over and over again this has been the reason for movies; whether they aim for
a romantic view of a primordial lost world, used at the same time as a metaphor for the innocent of childhood or they aim for the darkest nightmares of an unnameable evil hidden in any unknown terrain — even in our own basement. The fascination of the creature is a never ending source.

All professional illustrators and students of art programs are eligible to enter. Work must be dated after August 2007 and should have beasts who appeared in movies as a theme. These beasts can be real, fantastic, harmless or menacing. The manner of the beast’s demeanor, its appearance alone, in pairs or in masses, as well as the staging of the encounter between human and beast are interesting starting points.

Work must have the size relations 1:2,35 (cinemascope) and be submitted in digital format. Work will be
evaluated through a professional jury. All selected work will be showcased in Berlin in an exhibition at a cinema of the Yorck cinema-group. Faber-Castell and Adobe have kindly made available prizes amounting to Euro 3300.

We are especially happy to have a distinguished panel of judges including Armin Abmeier, Publisher (Die Tollen Hefte), GER; Andrew Coningsby, Representative (DebutArt Ltd & The Coningsby Gallery), London GB; Dr. Rolf Giesen, Deutsche Kinemathek Berlin, expert for phantastic film, GER; Steven Guarnaccia, Parsons New School for Design, New York USA; Andrea Offermann, Illustrator, GER; Prof. Albrecht Rissler, Illustrator, GER; Sabine Witkowski,Curator and Cultural Manager, H. Torsten Wolber, Illustrator, GER.

Download an entry form here!  Good luck.

Follow-up: Electric Windows Beacon

Follow Up, Illustration Faculty, , , , ,

From the Illustration Inbox: a follow-up about the Electric Windows project sponsored by OPENSPACE gallery (headed by Adjunct Faculty Dan Weise):

WOW! What an amazing project!

With the exception of a little rain here and there the Electric Windows weekend was a huge success! For those of you that missed it or did’nt know about the project check out the wrap-up below:

On the weekend of May 17th, we organized and awesome outdoor painting project with our friends at Beacon Art Supply and Burlock called Electric Windows. It was an amazing 3 day event that brought together 18 artist to create murals for the windows of a 18th Century factory building in Beacon NY. The project was a HUGE success and the pieces will be up on the building for the next year. So if you are in Beacon, definitely come by and check out the building.

You can see pictures from the event here!

Congrats to Dan, OPENSPACE, and all the incredible artists involved in this cool project!  Bonus: check out this great video that Cool Hunting put together about the project:

[brightcove vid=1648122220&exp=1640183789&w=300&h=260]

Work in the Illustration Department!

Current Students, employment, General Info, Interviews, ,

The school year is almost upon us, which means that the Illustration Department is looking for Federal Work-Study students!  This is a great opportunity to work closely with members of the Department and get valuable experience with Photoshop, art installation, and various other exciting areas.  We need people who are reliable, punctual, meticulous, and ready to try new things.  If you have experience and expertise in taking photos, hanging art, working with digital imagery, or website development, you are exactly what we are looking for!

There will be an open interview process on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, August 19th and 20th AND Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons, August 26th and 27th.  If you are eligible for Federal Work-Study and are interested in working for us, we invite you to stop by one of these afternoons between 2 and 4 p.m.

Bring a resume and be ready to tell us why you are perfect for the job.  If neither of those dates work for you, make sure you at least email us so we know you are interested in a position.  Working here in the department is a wonderful experience.  It’s a chance to really get involved with departmental events and processe and generally, it’s a great opportunity.

Those dates and times again:

Tuesday, August 19th 2-4 p.m.
Wednesday, August 20th 2-4 p.m.
Tuesday, August 26th 2-4 p.m.
Wednesday, August 27th 2-4 p.m.

Requirements: Current student at Parsons or the New School, a resume, Federal-Work Study eligibility, enthusiasm, high levels of skill, and willingness to learn.

We hope to see you soon!