Category Archives: News

Lisa Lugrin and Clement Xavier at Parsons on September 8

A SLIDESHOW LECTURE BY LISA LUGRIN & CLÉMENT XAVIER ON “L’EPISODE”
Time:  September 8–7:30pm – 10:00pm
Location:  The Bark Room, 2 W. 13th, Lobby, New York, NY

LISA LUGRIN & CLÉMENT XAVIER along with a group of other recent graduates of the l’École européenne supérieure de l’image in Angoulême, France have formed a comic-strip association called “NA.” For the past two years, they have published “L’Episode,” an international comics-review printed on the rotary press of a local newspaper. The review features the work of young authors from around the world and is aimed at readers outside of the comics world. It is distributed in bookshops, cinemas, theaters and other alternative spaces.

The association conducts workshops for children through various social service organizations and published books of their work. Lisa and Clément have also produced a 42-page comic for a local French newspaper, and a screenplay and illustrations for a short cartoon produced by French TV Canal +.

Free and Open to the Public!

Alumni Update Week: Danielle McManus Sails on the Amistad

Parsons Illustration Alum Danielle McManus recently took part in a sailing trip from Mystic Seaport to New London, CT to celebrate the homecoming of the ship Amistad.  Danielle was invited by the non-profit organization Amistad America and took the opportunity to draw up a storm.  Above and below are a couple of her pieces from the trip, but you should hop over to her blog, A Love of Drawing,  and check more of her work.  Thanks for keeping us updated, Danielle!

Alumni Update Week: Jonathan Jay Lee in Marvel Comics and Peninsula Magazine

Parsons Illustration Alum Jonathan Jay Lee dropped us an email recently with some REALLY exciting news.  Straight from his email, here are the details:

Just wanted to drop a note and mention that Strange Tales MAX hardcover book came out!  It’s the short 4 page story I did while in my senior year (2007) for the anthology and should be available in Forbidden Planet or Jim Hanley’s.

Also, I’ve got a 3 spread article in the latest Peninsula Magazine, the issues focuses on Beijing Shanghai and HK, and they also specifically mention me graduating from Parsons in the article. It’s available from all the Peninsula Hotels…

Jonathan is right on the money that Strange Tales is available at Forbidden Planet and you can read the feature on him in Peninsula Magazine online (a screenshot is below)it starts on page 40!  Of course, it goes without saying that you should check out Jonathan’s work on his website.

Congratulations, Jonathan!  Keep up the amazing work.  And Illustration Alumni, keep us in the loop so we can feature your accomplishments on the blog.  Stay in touch!

[top image: courtesy of Jonathan Jay Lee and Marvel Comics; bottom image: from Peninsula Magazine]

Summer Reading: Invisible Man on display!

Since last year, Parsons faculty member and instructor for Illustration Concepts I, Les Kanturek, has been in charge of helping organization exhibitions in the Illustration lobby display cases.  Over the summer, he’s created a rich treasure trove of visuals related to the Illustration summer reading book: Invisible Man by H.G. Wells.  Above, you can see a somewhat cryptic detail from the display–you’ll have to make a visit to the 8th floor lobby yourself to see the whole picture. Over at his class blog, Les writes the following:

The Illustration Department’s Summer Reading Project for 2010 is H. G. Wells’ classic “The Invisible Man”.  First published in 1897, Wells’ science fiction novel gives us the timeless iconic mad experimenter who suffers from his scientific over-reaching, he plays with forces of nature he cannot control and pays with his life.  Griffin’s invisibility can be seen as both a superpower and a curse.  He is a victim and the aggressor.  Taking place in the small English country town of Iping, location is crucial to the story. The mysterious stranger that appears terrorizes the locals in a very noir-ish fashion.  The idea of paranoia contained in a small town is a theme artist and author Jeff Lemire handles brilliantly in “The Nobody”, a graphic novel based on Wells’Invisible Man.

Read the rest of his entry here.  And make sure to come peruse Les’s thoughtful and delightful display when you’re in the neighborhood.  While you’re at it, take time to look at the other displays as well, which include student work, alumni sketchbooks and drawings, and a whole case devoted to artists’ books in conjunction with Illustration Chair Steven Guarnaccia’s “PictoZine” class.  There’s a lot of inspiration on view.  Don’t miss it!

Maria Berrio helps create “Windows to the Future” in Harlem

Parsons Illustration Alum Maria Berrio recently took part in a wonderful project to create art with children.  Here are some of the details:

Youth from Harlem RBI’s REAL Kids Summer Program worked with Colombian-American artist Maria Berrio to create the piece, entitled “Windows to the Future”. The mural is an expression of the youth’s hopes, dreams, and aspirations. It depicts a youthful, colorful city in which children are playing together reaching towards the sky, with the words “Dreams Come True” written across the scene. During the creative process, the young artists were encouraged to visualize their dreams for the future, and I truly believe that through this meaningful artwork, they learned that dreams can come true. Indeed, Rich Berlin agrees that this notion is “a familiar theme for both CITYarts and Harlem RBI, whose missions both focus on empowering youth.”

You learn more about the project and see more pictures here.

Congratulations to all the children involved and to Maria for being part of such a valuable project.

Chelsea Nordstrom’s work featured on NOTCOT

Work by Chelsea Nordstrom, former student in Noel Claro‘s “Beyond the Page” class was recently featured on NOTCOT and got over 2,000 hits in less than 24 hours!  Her “light dependant, lazer cut perpetual calendar” can be seen above and you check out more of Chelsea’s work at her website, which you can find here.

Fantastic work, Chelsea!

Parsons Illustration 2010 Grads selected for 3×3 Magazine

Youngsoo Kim: Sea Mine Gumballs with Tusks

Parsons Illustration is very pleased to announce that five of our recent graduates were accepted into 3×3 Magazine’s 7th Annual Student Competition. The works were all created for their Senior Thesis Projects.  The talented students are as follows:

Youngsoo Kim
Sea Mine Gumballs with Tusks (seen above)

Stella Lee
Endless

Garrett Pruter
Asylum 2

Katie Turner
Boy with Glasses

Min You
Through Mind

[slideshow]

Parsons Illustration students design products for Barnes and Noble!

Parsons Illustration students submitted sketchbooks and finished works to Barnes & Nobles creative executives. Once they narrowed down the selection, we worked directly with the Barnes & Noble art director to develop 18 pieces of artwork. The process was very collaborative and we received feedback on each round of revisions. Ultimately, they selected 3 pieces of art to feature on their products. Two of them were done by Camden Dunning (the coffee journal and the laundry bag) and one was done by Katie Turner (the cute boys journal). Each product has a tag on the back with artist’s credit and a description of the Illustration program at Parsons. They’ll be on display with all the back-to-school products beginning this week nationwide at Barnes & Noble stores.  See more images of the products (some taken by Noel Claro and some by Barnes and Noble) in the slideshow below.  Kudos to Katie and Camden!!

[slideshow]

STRAND FAMILY HOUR EVENT with Steven Guarnaccia on Thursday!

July 22 03:30PM – 04:30PM
Strand Bookstore
Corner of 12th Street and Broadway

For children of all ages and their caregivers…a special reading.  Free and open to the public!

Parsons Illustration Chair Steven Guarnaccia will read from his new book, The Three Little Pigs: An Architectural Tale. With subtle nods to such famous architects as Frank Gehry, Phillip Johnson and Frank Lloyd Wright, this clever tale combines the classic story with a sophisticated design sensibility. The book, which combines fun with a lesson about function, is a delight for readers big and small, in a hip, modern and eye-catching way.

See the whole Strand calendar of events here!