Illustration Chair Steven Guarnaccia and Alum/Adjunct Faculty George Bates seemed to have had a good time at the Parsons Alumni Cocktail Party, which happened on April 18th. You can see more snaps here!
And hey, are you an alumni? Update us on projects, successes, deviations, sketches–ANYTHING! We love to know what’s going in your life. Also, hook up with Parsons Alumni services to get the word on job opportunities, get-togethers, and other news from your classmates.
The Parsons Reunion is for all alumni (all class years, all programs) and is an annual opportunity to gather your classmates, reconnect with Parsons, and network with fellow alumni. We encourage you to take the weekend to reconnect with Parsons and your fellow alumni. See below for information about the various events, ticketing, and more.
This year, 2009, is also a special reunion for the classes of 1959, 1969, 1974, 1979, 1984, 1989, 1994, 1999, and 2004!
8:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. View Spanning the Decades: 100 Years of Student Work from the Kellen Archives in the Gimbel Library. On display will be examples of student work from 1906 through 2007, including sketches, travel diaries, presentation drawings, and more. Departments and disciplines represented in the exhibit include Advertising Design, Communication Design, Costume Design, Environmental Design, Fashion Design, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interior Architecture & Design, Product Design, Printmaking and Photography.
4:00-5:00 p.m. Tour Parsons’ Kellen Archives. The Kellen Archives documents the history of Parsons, with materials including archival records, manuscripts, posters, art and design works on paper, oral histories, photographs, films, videotapes, serials and ephemera. Wendy Scheir, Director of the Kellen Archives, will lead the tour and answer alumni questions about the materials. An RSVP to alumni@newschool.edu or 212-229-5662 x3784 is required for this event. Please indicate your class year or any questions you have about Parsons history when you RSVP, as the information on display will be specially geared towards alumni attendees. For more on the Archives, click here.
5:00 -8:00 p.m. Visit Parsons’ Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at 66 5th Avenue. In the Aronson Gallery you’ll find a student project called “Oyster Gardens” led by faculty member Mara Haseltine. In the Kellen Gallery you can view “Into the Open: Positioning Practice,” which is coming from the Venice Biennale of Architecture.
6:00-8:00 p.m. Join Felicitas Oefelein ’95 and Christine Leitner ’95 for a reception celebrating the launch of their new website, DESIGNintermix, a networking resource for designers.
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!
Parsons will host a panel at Comic-con in July 2008, featuring Parsons Faculty and alumni in a conversation about how art school, and in particular a Parsons Illustration education, prepares young artists to enter these areas of professional activity. The panel is titled:
“Toys, Comics and Characters: Illustrators as Entertainment Entrepreneurs”
Friday, July 25th, 2008
3:30-4:30 p.m.
Comic-con International
Room 32AB
San Diego Convention Center
111 W. Harbor Drive
San Diego, CA
Faculty and alumni joining us on the panel include: Tara McPherson (Parsons faculty, Vertigo Comics creator), Abby Denson (Alumna and Lulu Award Winning Cartoonist/Author of Tough Love: High School Confidential), Nora Krug (Parsons faculty, BLAB! contributor and internationally published illustrator) and Brian Wood (Parsons alumnus, iconoclastic indie creator of DMZ among other works). The event will highlight the Illustration department’s curriculum and career paths our alumni have followed, while offering attendees information on Parsons degree programs.
Following the panel will be an alumni reception hosted by New School Alumni Relations. Alumni attending Comic-con (or located in Southern California) and industry friends are invited to join Parsons faculty and representatives from Alumni Relations and Career Services for refreshments and conversation.
Illustration alum and talented artist Kae Nishimura will be visiting Parsons this coming Monday. After graduation, Kae went on to publish works like I Am Dodo: Not a True Story and her most recent book, Bunny Lune. Here’s an excerpt from a review of her work:
Join Bunny Lune, an imaginative young rabbit, as he learns how to travel to the moon in Kae Nishimura’s delightful children’s story, “Bunny Lune.” …Adults and children alike will love this hilarious tale of adventure and self-discovery. Illustrated by Nishimura herself, the story is chock-full of wacky characters populating an even wackier storyline. Children of a multicultural bent will especially enjoy the images of rabbits dressed up in traditional Japanese kimonos and drinking green tea. “Bunny Lune” is a must-read bedtime story for all who dream of flying to the moon.
Kae will be speaking about her books and her artistic process in an informal talk during Pat Cummings‘ Children’s Book class. All are welcome to attend and here her speak.
Kae Nishimura
December 3rd at 1:30 p.m.
2 W. 13th, Room 1104
David Horvath, Illustration Department alum and co-creator of Ugly Dolls (with his wife Sun Min Kim, who is also an Illustration alum!), has a new toy out based on the title character from his first picture book, Bossy Bear. Both the book and the toy are available now at Giant Robot and online.
Additionally, the first ever Uglycon will be held this December. Here’s some info from David’s blog:
UGLYCON!
Saturday December 8th at 6PM!
GIANT ROBOT
618 Shrader St
San Francisco, CA 94117
COSTUME CONTEST! Dress up as your favorite or least favorite UGLY
and win super secret prizes!
What is Uglycon? It’s original art, prints, paintings, hand made Uglys,
limited production Uglycon exclusives, and fun for all!
____
Congratulations to David and Sun Min on their continued success after Parsons!
(all images by David Horvath and Giant Robot)
Leo and Diane Dillon
Monday, November 5th, 2007
Room 510
66 W. 12th Street
1 p.m.
The prolific husband and wife team of Leo and Diane Dillon first met as students at Parsons School of Design. The only illustrators to have won American’s highest award for children’s book illustration, the Caldecott Medal, two years in a row, Leo is also the first African-American artist to win the award. They won in 1976 for Why Mosquitos Buzz in People’s Ears and in 1977 for Ashanti to Zulu.
Respected for their versatility, distinctive style, integrity and the thorough research they bring to each project, the Dillons have won the Hamilton King award, The Boston Globe/Horn Book Award, the Coretta Scott King award, the Society of Illustrator’s Gold Medal, the New York Times Best Illustrated award and the Hugo award for science fiction illustration, among others.
Recently, they have been writing as well , adding titles such as Mother Goose Numbers on the Loose, Jazz on a Saturday Night and Rap a Tap Tap to their constantly growing list of over 45 children’s books.
All are welcome to attend this exciting event!
Announcing the official Supertouch Halloween art show, “The Beast Within,” curated by Jamie O’Shea, opening October 31st at the East Village’s SHOWROOM NYC GALLERY in conjunction with Tristan Eaton’s Thunderdog Studios. Featuring introspective monster art reflecting the participant’s personal demons (hence the title), the show features new & original work by over 65 artists including Pushead, Phil Frost, Stephan Jay Rayon (Hysteric Glamour), Doze Green, Eric White, Ron English, Louie Cordero, Tristan Eaton, Andy Cruz/House Industries, Mars-1, Steve Bliss, Shepard Fairey, D*Face, REAS (Todd James), Travis Louie, Rhode Montijo, Friends With You, Nathan Cabrera, Tim Biskup, Eric Elms, Kelsey Brookes, Jim Woodring, Mark Dean Veca, Erik Foss, Gary Baseman, Slick, Nathan Jurevicius, James Jean, Usugrow, Glenn Barr, Mike Moon, Gomez Bueno, Pete Fowler, Rick Griffin, Nate Van Dyke, Stanley Mouse, Andrew Brandou, Makoto Kobiyashi, Miran Kim, Peter Taylor, Scott Campbell, Jordin Isip, Melinda Beck, Joel Dugan, Jeff Soto, Elizabeth Huey, Jacaeber Kastor, Mark Smith, Carl Dunn, Junko Mizuno, Mike Sutfin, Rich Jacobs, Taylor McKimens, WK Interact, 123 Klan, Filth, Calma, and many more. Lots of surprises are in store, including limited-edition merchandise like the Pushead-designed shirt (produced by 10 Deep) shown below. New York City’s the best place on Earth to spend Halloween and “The Beast Within” is the best place to spend your hard-earned dough on some amazing artwork. Don’t be late, first come, first severed…
For more info: http://www.supertouchblog.com/2007/10/19/nycannouncing-the-supertouch-halloween-art-show/