Category Archives: Education

Mannes Opera: Parsons Collaborative Studio Spring 2014 Info Session TONIGHT 9/24

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Are you a Parsons senior undergraduate or graduate student interested in working on a spring ’14 design studio collaboration with the Mannes Opera’s artistic and design team, students and production support?

Are you a faculty member interested in getting involved, or integrating a production-related project into your design course?

Then Join us for the Mannes Opera: Parsons Collaborative Studio Spring 2014 Info Session TONIGHT!

Tuesday September 24
6 to 7pm
79 5th Avenue, 16th floor, AMT hub

To support this partnership between Parsons and the Mannes Opera, we’re looking for individuals interested in:

  • costume design
  • set design
  • prop construction and management
  • program and promotional materials graphic design

Anyone with talents in fine arts, illustration, interior design, fashion design, construction, drafting, modeling, hair and makeup styling, graphic design, lighting design and a general interest in theatrical performance and opera is strongly encouraged to come to Tuesday’s info session!

This cross school, cross design collaborative studio will be led by Parsons part and full time faculty, with the studio meeting on Fridays in the spring. Engagement will begin with meetings in November, continue with attendance at Mannes Opera‘s production in December, develop in the studio course in the spring, and culminate with rehearsals and the final Mannes Opera production in May.

Applications to the course will be done through interviews and with the permission of the instructors-open to senior undergraduates and graduate students.

Come find out more this exciting co-production of Parsons and Mannes Opera!

For more information contact: Leslie Henkel at henkell@newschool.edu

Mannes Opera performance of "Falstaff" (2011)

Mannes Opera performance of “Falstaff” (2011)

Need extra credits? Sign up for The Teaching Project – Early Imagination Collab!

Education

There’s still room to join  The Teaching Project, taught by Fine Arts faculty member Shane Aslan Seltzer. This is a 3-credit, project-based course that looks at progressive early childhood education approaches as a means for activating our studio processes through observational and material research. The class will primarily investigate the Children’s Museum of Art (CMA) as a site for innovative contemporary production centered around children, including projects which will integrate the Tweet Exhibition at CMT. Parsons Students will coproduce new works under the title, Tweeting: The Bird Show, an interview series conducted with CMA staff and visitors representing their “bird-selves.”

Exploring social media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter, Parsons students will also create their own hashtag “bird watching” projects online, adding another participatory layer to the Tweet exhibition.

The class is open to all School of Art, Media & Technology upper-level undergraduate degree students. Find out more about the course here: PSAM 3710 – Collaborative Research Studio: The Teaching Project – Early Imagination, and more about the instructor and her thoughts on the class, children’s arts education and Twitter, below!

tweetforwebsite

AMT: To start, Shane, what brought you to CMA in the first place?

SHANE ASLAN SELZER: CMA has a wonderful new Director Barbara Hunt McLanahan, who knows Anthony Aziz (BFA Director AMT). She reached out through Facebook about starting new partnerships and Anthony thought this would be exciting for Parsons to get involved with. He brought myself and Anthony Whitfield (Social Engagement Director ADHT) into conversation with CMA’s staff. After initial meetings, we held a roundtable brainstorming session that included six Parsons faculty and six CMA staff members. My class is the first incarnation of this partnership, but the hope is that it will grow in a variety of ways in the coming years.

AMT: Has working with children aways been part of your arts practice?

SAS: My mother is a leader in progressive early childhood development. Early on, I was exposed to child centered learning that emphasized my own perspective, imagination, observation and hands on learning. My graduate thesis was about how many studio based art practices are closely aligned with object relations theory (D.W. Winnicott) and project based learning strategies (Reggio Emilia).

AMT: What fascinates you most about Twitter? 

SAS: I’m thinking about Twitter as a form of poetry. The limit of 140 characters or less asks you to make very clear decisions about how you write. It’s evolving into a new pattern for human manipulation.

AMT: Who should take this class and why?

SAS: People who want to understand how project based work happens within the context of large institutions should definitely take this class. It will help you shape your ideas to work with specific audiences and focused interactions. You will learn about project proposals, development, execution and assessment. People who are intrigued by modes of communication and who want to explore collaboration and co-production will gain valuable skills in this class. People who find children an inspiration for ideas and processes will have lots of fun in this class. 

AMT: What outcomes are you hoping to achieve with this class? 

SAS: We are going to pitch, develop and execute new works that will be included in CMA’s fall exhibition. We are going to better understand the unique culture of CMA and how artists can collaborate with them on programming.

AMT: What do hashtags mean to you? 

SAS: Hashtags create social archives by using keywords to tag posts (this includes images, links and text). No one has really agreed on what any given hashtag means, so the archive provides a range of interpretations. For example #birdwatching has a lot of images of birds, cats, and golfers, but it also has a good amount of landscapes with no subject. What we will do with these archives has yet to unfold, we use them to increase the number of people who may see our posts, but we also use them to categorize our posts for future reference.

Art13 Benefit Auction

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PS126 / Manhattan Academy of Technology is holding its annual Art13 Benefit Auction on Tuesday, June 21st. The auction helps to fund the school’s art program, as well as being an opportunity to showcase work by the students of school. The event is being hosted by Cey Adams of Def Jam records and will be held at Lombard-Freid Projects.

The auction includes work from current and recent Parsons Illustration Faculty members Melinda Beck, Gregory Benton, Edward del Rosario, James Gallagher, Jordin Isip, Tara McPherson and Chang Park as well as Illustration Alumni William Hatch Crosby, AJ Fosik, Hiro Kurata, Paula Searing and Hazel Lee Santino. Jordin Isip helped to organize the event and collect the work.  Over 50 students from PS126 will also be featured in the exhibit.

Clockwise, starting at top left: Chang Park, Hiro Kurata, Edward del Rosario, Tara McPherson, Hazel Lee Santino, AJ Fosik.

Tickets are $20, or $10 for students. The auction runs from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. (bidding on items ends at 8).

Lombard-Freid Projects
518 West 19th Street
New York, NY 10011

More about the event.
Online gallery for PS126 students.
Some of the artwork donated for the auction.

Francis Jetter’s “Cry Uncle” on display in the Illustration Program

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CRY UNCLE
by Frances Jetter
8th Floor Gallery
Illustration Department
2 West 13th Street L Building

Through April 30, 2011

We are pleased to extend an invitation to visit Parsons Illustration to view CRY UNCLE, by Francis Jetter.

If you are not familiar with the work of Frances Jetter you will find this art engaging in many ways.

The work is a 23 page accordion fold book that Frances wrote, designed and illustrated. The 18″ x 24″ images are impeccably printed from linoleum cuts, on translucent, handmade, Japanese paper. The content is truly compelling; a graphic account describing and addressing the horror of torture through a political lens. By all accounts, and certainly in my humble opinion, it is an aesthetically stunning and impassioned piece. It challenges us on an intellectual and visceral level and shares the beautiful tactile mastery of her medium.

Given the recent interest and proliferation of exhibitions throughout the New School University and the city offering variations on sequential narrative straddling both the fine art and the communications fields, this work has the exceptional qualities that enable it to rest comfortably in both realms.

Editions of this book (limited to 15) have been acquired by various notable institutions, among them, The New York Public Library.

Frances Jetter is an alumna from Parsons and has maintained a highly distinguished profile in the communications field for three decades.

Please find an opportunity to visit the 8th floor of 2 West 13th L building to the Illustration Department gallery, to see this exceptional piece of art.

The exhibition will be up through the end of April.

I encourage you to visit her website as well. www.Francesjetter.com.

–Wendy Popp, Parsons Illustration Adjunct Faculty Member

Guest Entry: From Norway to NYC

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We’re really delighted to share a guest entry from Parsons Illustration student, Vilde Kleppe Braanaas:
When I was 21 it was a very good year; I’ll never forget it. Fall 2010 I came to New York City to study illustration at Parsons with little experience from that specific field. I am a Norwegian woman currently finishing my Bachelor degree in Visual Communication at The National Academy of the Arts and Design in Bergen. I had never before explored illustration in the depth that I felt it deserved, and my fear of ruining blank pages was one that I had to confront. My school in Norway encourages going abroad and for me New York was a natural choice as a cultural Mecca.
Although I was in the illustration program I also took classes in Fine Arts and Design and Management. Working with different professors and students from all over the planet in a dynamic and supportive atmosphere was truly inspiring and broadened my perspective on designing for the global village the world has become.
On the critical side I had expected a greater focus on environmental issues, since this is emphasized in the schools profile. I thought this would be embedded in every process. Parsons has a lot of power, and above all the institution should produce thoughts. We can set norms instead of trends, change minds and affect how we relate to each other and our surroundings.
The Dean, Sven, told all of us in a meeting in August that during our education we had to travel somewhere fundamentally different from what we were used to and explore it in order to grow as designers. Coming from a tiny organic farm on a Norwegian mountain, Parsons, New York and everyone in it, gave me impulses I know I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else. I hope to return to the city soon, because there is yet so much to experience, share and create.
Links to Vilde’s blog and portfolio:

Caty Bartholomew interviewed by Groovy Careers

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Little Red Riding Executive by Caty Bartholomew

Sophomore Concepts and Toy Design faculty member Caty Bartholomew was recently interviewed by the fine folks over at Groovy Careers. Caty talked about teaching, working as a freelance artist, and how awesome toys are.  Here’s a snippet:

You are an artist and a teacher. What’s the grooviest part of your work? What’s the most fun? It’s a great balance. Being an artist is a pretty solitary experience. Teaching is outward and group-oriented.

Illustrating is great. I love making pictures, creating characters and stories, communicating ideas. It’s rewarding to see my image in print, in The New York Times, or some other magazine or newspaper, knowing how many people will come across it.

How did you get into teaching?

I was feeling very fulfilled in my freelance illustration career, when a teaching job kind of fell in my lap. I agreed to do it because I have a knee-jerk response of “yes!” to almost any career opportunity that comes my way. I was truly surprised to discover how creative teaching can be. Art school is a rich and stimulating environment. The student work is inspiring and I often invite guest artists to come in and talk about their work. I also enjoy creating a curriculum and crafting the exercises and assignments to support my teaching goals.

Last year we made people-size marionettes of some of the characters in Pinocchio and dangled them out of the eighth floor window to the street. We had a great time and bystanders seemed to enjoy the show.

Here’s the link to our class blog: toyconceptsparsons.wordpress.com

Make sure you read the rest of her interview here.  Stay groovy, Caty!

Opposing Sides to IP Legal Issues, Conflicts Examined, Discussed & Explained, for Graphic Artists

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Opposing Sides to IP Legal Issues, Conflicts Examined, Discussed & Explained, for Graphic Artists
Wed, November 17, 7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Pratt Institute Manhattan
144 W. 14th Street, Room 213
New York City

Join the Graphic Artists Guild as they welcome intellectual property lawyers Thomas A. Crowell, Esq. and Sheafe B. Walker, Esq. who will discuss copyrights, trademarks, rights of publicity, and other legal issues pertaining to graphic artists.  The New York Chapter is the largest and oldest (inc. 1971) chapter of the Graphic Artists Guild, a labor union of commercial artists and related industries. Since 1967, the Guild’s mission has been to raise industry standards and help improve visual creators’ professional careers.

The plot unfolds by way of a comic book spread for “The Adventures of Maggot Man,” an intentionally problem-ridden comic written by Mr. Crowell and illustrated by Allan Norico and created for this year’s NY Comic Con legal seminar. Mr. Crowell and Mr. Walker will take opposing views as they pull back the curtain to show you how lawyers debate the issues of copyright and trademark infringement, fair use, and parody.

Illustrator Allan Norico will shed some light on how to work with a lawyer in ensuring that your artwork raises as few legal issues as possible.
——–

Thomas A. Crowell, Esq. is a founding partner of the law firm of Saperstein & Crowell, LLP. He is a NYC based attorney whose practice includes copyright, licensing, film, and television, among other areas (see his website, www.thomascrowell.com for more details). The executive director emeritus of NJ Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, Mr. Crowell teaches film and television law at the School of Visual Arts and has organized and conducted the comic book legal workshops at NY Comic Con for the past 4 years. He is also the author of “The Pocket Lawyer for Filmmakers,” (Focal Press, 2007).

Sheafe B. Walker, Esq. is founder of the Law Office of Sheafe Walker and has represented Art Harlem and its affiliated artists (www. sheafewalker.com). Mr. Walker has presented lectures on copyright and contract issues faced by artists, creators and publishers at the New York Comic Con and the School of Visual Arts. Mr. Walker is a contributor of “The Pocket Lawyer for Filmmakers,” (focal press, 2007).

Alan Norico is a character designer and illustrator whose clients include Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, DreamWorks, Sony PlayStation, and Microsoft. http://3distic.blogspot.com
——–

Special Fall Discount!
Pre-register, and members pay $10, non-members pay $15
Full price is $15 for members and $20 for non-members
(Students and Seniors get $5 off these prices)
Free for all Pratt students, faculty, and staff

To Register: Use the PayPal button below, email ny@gag.org, call 212-791-3400 ext 11, or fax 212-791-0333. You can also download a registration form from our website, newyork.gag.org and mail to 32 Broadway, Suite 1114, New York, NY 10004

Pictoplasma NYC on November 13th at Parsons

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Parsons The New School for Design will present Pictoplasma NYC, a conference celebrating the artistic creation of character design, on Saturday, November 13 from 3-10 p.m.. Featuring lectures, panel discussions, and short film screenings, the event is part of Illustration Week, an annual programming series across New York City that showcases the best in international character design and art.  The conference will be held at Tishman Auditorium, The New School, 66 West 12th Street, New York. Admission is free, but registration is requested via email to pictoplasmaparsons@gmail.com. Pictoplasma NYC is supported by folioplanet.com.

The conference was organized by Pictoplasma founders and curators Lars Denicke and Peter Thaler, and Steven Guarnaccia, chair of Illustration at Parsons. Among the featured participants is Ice Age character designer Peter de Seve, a well-known illustrator, New Yorker cover artist, and Parsons alumnus, who will discuss the process of creating iconic characters. In addition, Guarnaccia will moderate a panel discussion on how creative skills developed in art school can translate into work-life projects and careers, featuring a range of Parsons alumni: animation director Aaron Stewart, artist Motomichi Nakamura, and ornamental painter Andy Kehoe.

Also presenting are two members of the Australian design collective Rinzen, known for its video and audio remix project, RMX. New York-based designer Craig Redman has a creative output filled with twisted optimism and simple messages executed in a colorful, bold style. His character Darcel has become a fashion icon and is often featured at famed Parisian boutique Colette, where he recently had a solo exhibition. Berlin-based designer Rilla Alexander is inspired by vintage children books and mythical stories to create characters with complex identities through a blending of illustration, graphics and 3D design. Her RMX project, Neighbourhood, involved 20 blank plush dolls that were passed around the world being reworked and remade.

Illustrator Nathan Jurevicius will discuss his most acclaimed project to date, Scarygirl. Since her creation in 2001, Scarygirl has developed a following of fans throughout the world and has been the subject of a game, graphic novel, numerous limited edition vinyl toys and travelling shows, and a forthcoming feature film.

The program will conclude with a screening of Characters in Motion 2010, a 75-minute collection of animated short films, music videos and motion graphics. Each film was selected for its innovative and style-setting character design and the intriguing way these protagonists involve the viewer in surreal settings.

Pictoplasma is acclaimed for its unique focus on contemporary character design and art. Timeless publications showcase the work of a global scene of illustrators, graphic designers and animation filmmakers. The annual conference in Berlin is the meeting point for an international audience. The inimitable mix of selected animation programs, the lively exchange between the various disciplines and face-to-face artist lectures, allowing a personal glimpse into the character centered universe of the protagonists, have proven highly inspiring and highlight the importance of characters in contemporary visual culture. Whether illustration, animation, graphic design, street or fine art – the emphasis is not on the limits of style or format, but on the shared dedication to explore character-driven aesthetics. After its US premiere in 2008, the event is now returning to New York for the second Pictoplasma NYC edition. For more information, please visit www.pictoplasma.com.

In the BFA Illustration Program at Parsons The New School for Design, one of the most prestigious and comprehensive schools of art and design in the world, students are poised to become influential, pictorial communicators. Through studio and digital course work, the program builds proficiency in drawing and media-based skills; creativity in concepts and problem solving; awareness of art and design and current social and cultural concerns; and fluency in technological tools and software. For more information, please visit http://www.newschool.edu/parsons/bfa-illustration/.

Pictoplasma NYC 2010
November 13, 2010
3-10 p.m.
Tishman Auditorium
66 W. 12th

Free and open to the public, but please RSVP to: pictoplasmaparsons@gmail.com.

 

New York Art Book Fair this week!

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Printed Matter presents the fifth annual NY Art Book Fair, November 5–7 at MoMA PS1, Long Island City, Queens. Free and open to the public, the Fair hosts over 200 international presses, booksellers, antiquarian dealers, artists and publishers from twenty countries, offering the best in contemporary art-book publishing.

Philip Aarons, Chairman of the Board for Printed Matter, said: “The NY Art Book Fair is the premiere venue to find what’s new in art publishing. While it has spawned the next generation of independent art book fairs world-wide,  it remains the biggest, the best, and by far the most fun.”

The NY Art Book Fair includes special project rooms, screenings, book signings, and performances, throughout the weekend. Other events include the third annual Contemporary Artists’ Books Conference and The Classroom, a curated series of informal conversations between artists, together with readings, workshops and other artist-led events.

A list of exhibitors, event schedule, and more information is available at www.nyartbookfair.com.

HOURS AND LOCATION

Printed Matter, Inc. presents The NY Art Book Fair
November 5–7, 2010
Preview: November 4, 6-9 p.m.
MoMA PS1
22-25 Jackson Ave at the intersection of 46th Avenue
Long Island City, NY

Free and open to the public:
Thursday, November 4, 6-9 p.m.
Friday, November 5 and Saturday, November 6, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
Sunday, November 7, 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

SPECIAL PROGRAMMING

Artist’s Project
Leidy Churchman takes over the lobby with a large set of facsimile book paintings on wood. Drawing upon the stacks at the Museum of Modern Art Library Library with friend and librarian David Senior, Churchman traces a unique and fetching portrait of artists’ publications from the last hundred years.

Special Project Rooms
Select exhibitors take over entire galleries: AA Bookstore with Bedford Books (London), Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI; New York), Fillip and A.AAAARG.ORG (Vancouver; Los Angeles), and Picturebox (Brooklyn). Andrew Roth (New York) exhibits a retrospective of PPP Publishing. Goteblüd (San Francisco) presents an exhibition of more than six hundred Riot Grrrl zines, with a working photocopy station. Werkplaats Typografie (Arnhem), the Dutch super-school, brings its entire student body to design, produce, and sell books while you watch.

The Classroom
The Classroom is a curated series of informal conversations between artists, workshops, readings and other artist-led events, with continuous enrollment for all fair-goers throughout the weekend. Participants include: Casco (Utrecht),  f.ART magazine (New York), Golden Age (Chicago), J&L Books with Jason Fulford (Atlanta), Kodoji Press with Erik Steinbrecher (Zurich), Little Joe(London), The New Dreamz with Rose Luardo and Andrew Jeffrey Wright (Philadelphia), Onomatopee (Eindhoven), Roma Publications with Jo Baer (Amsterdam), Seems (San Francisco), Sumi Ink Club (Los Angeles), Swill Children (Brooklyn), Triple Canopy (New York and Los Angeles) and Alexis Zavialoff of Motto (Berlin), among others. The Classroom is organized by David Senior, the Museum of Modern Art Library.

Contemporary Artists’ Books Conference
The  Contemporary Artists’ Books Conference is a dynamic, two-day event focused on emerging practices and debates within art-book culture. This year’s sessions address a wide array of subjects, including: experimental libraries, the so-called zine renaissance, fusion of art and design in typography, contemporary criticism, and new pedagogical approaches to the ever-expanding field of artists’ books. The first day of the conference ends with a lively pecha kucha, a rapid-fire event in which invited speakers have just five minutes to comment on an artwork. Full-conference registrants receive a specially commissioned book by Emily Roysdon, an interdisciplinary artist and writer who examines the intersections of choreography and politics. Roysdon’s book is a meditation on vintage photographs of the New York piers by queer photographer Alvin Baltrop.

HIGHLIGHTS

Featured Countries
This year, the NY Art Book Fair celebrates eighteen cutting-edge publishers from The Netherlands, including a project room by Kunstverein Amsterdam (Amsterdam) and Witte de With(Rotterdam), together with a variety of book launches and informal presentations in the Dutch Pavilion. Other countries represented include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and United States.

Antiquarian Dealers
Exhibitors present collections of rare Conceptual Art, Minimalism, Fluxus, and the avant-garde from Japan, Europe, and North America. Exhibitors include: John McWhinnie @ Glenn Horowitz(East Hampton), Harper’s Books (East Hampton), Marcus Campbell(London), Steven Leiber (San Francisco), Sims Reed (London), Stefan Schuelke (Cologne) and others.

Artists & Activists
This diverse group of politically minded artists and collectives focus on the intersection of art and activism. Exhibitors include: Journal of Aesthetics and Protest (Los Angeles), GuerrillaGirlsBroadBand (New York), The Yes Men (New York), Bread and Puppet (Glover, Vermont), Center for Urban Pedagogy (Brooklyn), and Temporary Services(Chicago), among others.

Zines by Artists
A lively selection of international zinesters will represent independent publishing at its most innovative and affordable. Exhibitors include: The Holster (Brooklyn), Nieves (Zurich), Ooga Booga (Los Angeles), and ZINE’S MATE (Tokyo), among others. A special section of queer zines includes our favorites, from Original Plumbing (San Francisco) and Girls Like Us (Amsterdam) to PINUPS(Brooklyn).

EDITIONS

Printed Matter presents new limited editions by artists Rachel Harrison, Christian Holstad and Misaki Kawai, published on the occasion of the NY Art Book Fair 2010. Purchase of these editions supports the Fair, ensuring the event remains free and open to the public.