This winter Mei Kanamoto, a recent Parsons Illustration Alumni worked with the Metropolitan Opera on their holiday campaign; “The Magic at the Met”. She describes her experience after graduating and working with Met on the campaign:
“Right after graduation, I started working for two creatives who are working as co-creative directors and art directors for the Metropolitan Opera. A few month in, I was asked to illustrate for the upcoming holiday campaign. Although up until now I have not been aware of the magnitude of the project, every little work given to me has been precious and important, even dog sitting.
I was asked to create 4 posters, animation and 4 title art. The beginning of the project was the time I struggled the most since I had to adjust my medium and style. In October and November when we were making the animation (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FbzaGDuNE9M). I often visited the Met Opera and the street surroundings. One night I was invited to see the show for the first time in my life at Lincoln Center. I did not really realize how amazing the opportunity was up until I saw the performance. It inspired my work to a next level and made me want to make this project even more successful. Most importantly, however, I was blessed to be around an amazing team of talented people who guided me through the project step by step.
It has not hit me yet that my illustration can be seen in places like the New Yorker magazine, subway stations, and even as the cover of the Timeout magazine—and not to mention the TV commercial that’s on air now. It has truly been a surreal and magical experience,”
From “Muddy: The Story of Blues Legend Muddy Waters.”
This year marks the 65th anniversary of the Best Illustrated Children’s Books Award — and the first year of the Times’ partnership with the New York Public Library on the honor. Called, The New York Times/New York Public Library Best Illustrated Children’s Books Award. The Times and NYPL share a mission: to recognize the best in children’s literature and bring great books to young readers.
The 2017 judges featured The New School’s Illustration Professor, Steven Guarnaccia, the author and illustrator of numerous books; Marjorie Priceman, the author and illustrator of many children’s books and the winner of two Caldecott Honors and two New York Times Best Illustrated Books Awards; and Louise Lareau, the head librarian of the New York Public Library Children’s Center.
Alumni of color and Students of color are invited to break bread, reflect and strategize around experiences of race and identity at Parsons and within creative industries.
Sheila C. Design Center, Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries
66 5th Ave, Ground Floor
New York, NY 10003
Closing reception with artist talk: October 27th, 6-8pm
(under)REPRESENT(ed) is an exhibition that features Parsons School of Design alumni of color whose creative practices explore the lived experience of race and aim to dismantle systems of racism. Initiated and organized by a collective of alumni of color, this exhibition features a range of disciplines which simultaneously address and resist the systemic exclusion that prevails in educational and professional institutions and practices.
A video from a digital and physical archive that affirms the future of people of African descent; a design research project lessens the impact of hurricane season on one alum’s hometown in the Dominican Republic; a children’s book fable reveals an allegory of the dangerous journey migrants often face to enter the United States; an online syllabus resource explores the intersections of fashion and race; photographs reflect on the historic status symbol and power of hair in Korean culture, which resonates in communities across the globe; and a multimedia project promotes citizen journalism and challenges the normalization of police violence.
“We are moved by an urgency to foreground the power generated by creative practices,” said the curators of the exhibition. “Our own experience as students, practicing artists, designers, educators and cultural organizers tells us that this work isn’t always given its due criticism or celebration in the classroom and other institutional spaces.”
People of color have been pioneers in fields of art and design, although they continue to be significantly underrepresented in positions of power and compensation. Despite the rich foundational contributions by Black, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous communities to these industries, they are often rendered invisible. The curators of this exhibition stake a claim for the centrality of those most deeply impacted by these oppressive frameworks in an era which challenges our existing tools of resistance.
The Parsons alumni featured in the exhibition are (AMT Alums in bold):
Salome Asega, MFA Design and Technology ’14 Rikki Byrd, MA Fashion Studies ’16 Raquel de Anda, MS Design and Urban Ecologies ’15 Nelson de Jesus Ubri, BFA Architectural Design ’15 Patricia Encarnación, BFA Communication Design ’14 Noelle Flores Théard, MFA Photography ’14 Scherezade Garcia, BFA Illustration ’90 Alston Green, CGRD Illustration ’72 Kim Jenkins, MA Fashion Studies ’13 Leslie Jimenez, BFA Fine Arts ’12 Sara Jimenez, MFA Fine Arts ’13 Yuni Kim Lang, BFA Communication Design ’09 Jeana Lindo, BFA Photography ’17 Joy McKinney, MFA Photography ’14 Joiri Minaya, BFA Fine Arts ’13 Ron Morrison, MS Design and Urban Ecologies ’15 Inyegumena Nosegbe, BFA Communication Design ’16 Ayodamola Okunseinde, MFA Design and Technology ’15 Isaac Paris, BFA Communication Design ’78 Kaitlynn Redell, MFA Fine Arts ’13 Jeff Staple, Illustration Ken Tanabe, MFA Design and Technology ’04 James Terrell, MFA Painting ’02 Duncan Tonatiuh, BFA Integrated Design Curriculum ’08, BA Liberal Arts ’08 Robert Liu-Trujillo, BFA Illustration ’10 Christopher Udemezue, BFA Integrated Design Curriculum ’08
…
Organized by a collective of Parsons Alumni of Color
Havanna Fisher, BFA Fashion Design ’14, BA The Arts ’14 Scherezade García, BFA Illustration ’90 Joelle Riffle, BFA Communication Design ’13 Yelaine Rodríguez, BFA Fashion Design ’13 Sable Elyse Smith, MFA Design and Technology ’13 Nadia Williams, BFA Fashion Design ’01 (under)REPRESENT(ed) equity + social justice advisor: Gail Drakes (under)REPRESENT(ed) research assistant: Claudine Brantley, BFA Candidate of Photography ’18 (under)REPRESENT(ed) research assistant: Barbara Byrd, BFA Fine Arts ’17
Contact us at underrepresented@newschool.edu
The exhibition will run from October 14, when an opening reception for Parsons alumni will be held, until October 29.
FERNANDEZ: What medium do you prefer to work in? Why?
COE: I prefer pencil then woodcut then litho. I prefer to draw as if it were painting and cut wood like a drawing. It’s elegant and simple.
The Veal Skinner, 1991. Stone lithograph.
FERNANDEZ:What do animals mean to you? How did your experience living near a slaughterhouse shape that meaning?
COE: The injustice of the way animals are bred to be slaughtered is intolerable. The pain animals feel is more than they can bear. The meat industry has exponentially become increasingly psychotic, murdering trillions of animals every year and devastating wildlife, human health, and the planet. Animal liberation is a social justice movement, like any other, it demands an end of all animal use. Slaughterhouses are concealed from most people, but in my childhood, the slaughterhouse was my house.
FERNANDEZ: In order to create graphic, violent imagery of animal cruelty, did you rely on visiting slaughterhouses or mostly work from memory?
COE: The imagery is the reflection of reality drawn to create change. Many of the scenes I have witnessed directly. Some I have not drawn at all, yet. As Beckmann said about being in the trenches of WW1 – my art eats here.
FERNANDEZ: As an illustrator who works in multiple mediums, what techniques do you use specifically to communicate these graphic scenes to an audience?
COE: When I started out as an illustrator there was little color in mass media publications, so I was trained to stay within black and white, and used tone to suggest color. I rarely work for commercial publications any more, as create my own words and images. I lean toward sequential reportage work. I invented my own art world, within the art world, but stay within the concept that technique is the test of sincerity. My gallery and my frequent book publisher are extremely supportive.
Sue Coe, Red Slaughterhouse, 1988. Excerpted from Cruel, page 71.
Butcher to the World, 1986. Excerpted from Cruel, page 20.
FERNANDEZ: Would you consider your artworks to be a form of activism? If so, what does it mean to you to be an activist/protester?
COE: I do consider art and activism to be one and the same. If people are not protesting by now, they are not paying attention. The crime is indifference. I can raise money for different non profits selling cheap prints, people get ‘art’ and the pleasure of knowing they are helping. Anyone can do this.
FERNANDEZ: With your artwork regarding animal cruelty and human injustice, what impact do you intend to have on an audience?
COE: I believe in truth based activism. Deteriorating social conditions create the resistance, as well as embolden the extreme right. We are the audience (now defined as product) witnessing the crime of corporate greed and destruction of life. How that impacts me personally, is making the art which slows time down long enough to resist.
FERNANDEZ: In the height of political chaos, what role do you feel that art and design hold in relation to politics?
COE: Art and design, if it is linked to mass struggle can be highly effective. You can’t have a political art uncoupled from political struggle. The ruling class are attempting to silence dissent, by blaming the victims. It’s the oldest trick in the book, along with divide and conquer. Art is a positive non-violent way people can speak to each other across walls and borders.
Wall Street Walk by Sue Coe, 2012. 2 Color Lithograph 36”x26”
Sue Coe’s work, Wall Street Walk, which she made in the Print Shop at Parsons and is now part of The New School Art Collection,details in the video below where the terms “wall street” and “stock market” originate from.
The Pictoplasma Conference presents 8+ hand-picked key lectures by the world’s most influential artists and upcoming talents, cutting-edge graphic, toy and game designers, and leading animation filmmakers. It is the meeting point for 500+ international attendees, offering the chance to learn from, be inspired by, and rub shoulders with some of today’s most innovative and avant-garde visual creators. Read more.
Date: November 17
Time: 10:00 am to 10:00 pm
Location: 66 West 12th St., New York, NY 10011
Free tickets are available to THE NEW SCHOOL staff, students and Faculty with Reservation here, while supplies last. Space and seating is limited. Register here.
On October 21st, Pat Cummings will be the 2017 Keynote speaker at Rutger’s 48th Annual One-on-One Plus Conference. It offers aspiring writers and illustrators an opportunity to have their work reviewed by more publishing professionals than attend any other conference of its type. Additionally, on Oct. 1st, former Parsons faculty member Paulette Bogan will be featured. And on Oct. 15th, Paul O. Zelinsky who also taught Children’s Book Illustration at Parsons will be speaking. Read more.
Motomichi, in collaboration with DJ Kanizzle, will choreograph a pulsating 4-hour score to accompany his signature red, black and white patterns and giant monster characters projected on the facade of the Hotel La Fonda on Taos Plaza.
About the Paseo Project The Paseo Project is a 501c-3 nonprofit whose mission is to transform art through community and community through art. The Paseo Party on the Plaza is the Paseo Project’s fourth annual fall outdoor art event. It is again part of Taos Fall Arts Festival’s opening weekend events.
The Paseo Party on the Plaza at a Glance Saturday, September 23, 2017, 7:00 to 11:00pm
Historic Taos Plaza, a free event
This event is sponsored by The Town of Taos, Taos County Lodgers Tax, the Lor Foundation, Taos Community Foundation, and many generous private donors. STEMarts@ThePaseo is supported in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding is provided by the Martin Foundation, the Nina E. Nilssen Scholarship Fund, US Bank, and Americorps VISTA.
Cornerstone Theater Company. Photo: Kevin Michael Campbell
(Boston, MA) The New England Foundation for the Arts announces $630,000 in six new grants during the seventh year of the National Theater Project. NTP supports the development and touring of new theater works.
The National Theater Project (NTP) promotes the development and touring of artist-led, ensemble, and devised theater works. Modeled on NEFA’s National Dance Project, NTP functions as a full system of support for devised theater, which in addition to funding animates an informed, interactive network of producing theaters, presenters, and ensembles.
Since the first round of NTP grants in 2010, NEFA has infused over $5 million into the field through the program. To date, 57 new theater works have been supported; touring of those works has reached 42 different states across the U.S. NTP projects have toured to large and small arts presenters, military bases, universities, regional theaters, and festivals. Leadership support for NEFA’s National Theater Project is generously provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
“We are proud to support this group of visionary artists, and appreciate our long partnership with the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which enables NEFA to support both artistic creation and the touring of new work in communities across the United States,” said NEFA executive director Cathy Edwards.
Grants for this round ranged from $90,000-$125,000. In addition to the Creation and Touring grant, each recipient will also receive $10,000 towards capacity building for touring the project. The six grant recipients are:
Cornerstone Theater Company, Los Angeles, CA, for Urban Rez
Kaneza Schaal, Brooklyn, NY, for JACK&JILL
Manual Cinema, Chicago, IL, for The End of TV
Phantom Limb Company, New York, NY, for FALLING OUT
Rebecca Mwase & Ron Ragin, New Orleans, LA, for Vessels
Theater Grottesco, Santa Fe, NM, for PIE
In addition, NTP will award Finalist Development grants totaling $30,000 to assist in further development of four applicant projects.
“I am so excited about this cohort of grantees whose projects address issues of identity, incarceration, gentrification, climate change, and racism,” said Quita Sullivan, program director for theater at NEFA. “The breadth and depth of these projects is breathtaking!”
Organizations interested in presenting any of these works – or works from previous grant rounds – may apply for an NTP Presentation Grant after contacting its tour coordinator; learn about all the projects with NTP touring support available on a searchable directory on www.nefa.org. NTP also provides travel support for arts presenters interested in seeing projects. Contact program director Quita Sullivan at qsullivan@nefa.org or 617.951.0010 x531 to learn more.
About NEFA
The New England Foundation for the Arts invests in the arts to enrich communities in New England and beyond. NEFA accomplishes this by granting funds to artists and cultural organizations; connecting them to each other and their audiences; and analyzing their economic contributions. NEFA serves as a regional partner for the National Endowment for the Arts, New England’s state arts agencies, and private foundations. Learn more at www.nefa.org.
