Parsons Internship Fair!
January 31st, 2008
10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
T. Lang Center, 55 W. 13th, 2nd Floor
50 + businesses at Parsons’ largest internship fair ever! Employers include Target, Gucci, Cooper-Hewitt, BCBG Maxazria, Bloomingdale’s, Abercrombie & Fitch, Mad Magazine, Sesame Workshop, and many more.
Bring your resume!
If you weren’t able to attend the Illustration Department’s mini-symposium “Illustration in the Age of Anxiety” this past November, you are in luck! FORA.tv has an archive of the event which you can view at their website. The symposium focused on how illustration handles times of unease and anxiety in our culture, from the atomic anxiety of the 1950s to today’s wars and upheaval and featured three conversations lead by prominent and accomplished writers illustrators. For full descriptions of each session, check out our original write-up and make sure to head over to FORA.tv and watch the video.
[pictured above from left to right: Ruth Marten, Tara McPherson, and Nora Krug.]
Join us for: Apple Cider and Snacks
Time: 11:30 a.m. until we run out!
Date: Tuesday, December 18th
Where: Outside the Illustration Office (Room 806, 2 W. 13th)
(Illustration by Steven Guarnaccia)
In October, Illustration Chair Steven Guarnaccia and Full-time Faculty member Nora Krug visited Altos de Chavon, a unique design school located in La Romana, Dominican Republic. According the the school’s mission statement:
The vigorous art and design program leads to the Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degree in one of four major concentrations: fashion design, graphic design, interior design, and fine arts/illustration. Under a unique controlled-curriculum arrangement with Parsons School of Design, qualified School of Design graduates gain automatic acceptance into the BFA program at Parsons’ New York or Paris campus or at participating art and design institutions throughout the United States.
Steven and Nora led a week-long workshop about illustration and got the chance to share their personal experiences and work with the students of Altos. To read a little more about their visit, drop by El Amarre (here’s an English translation of the page).
Over the next week, there will be several posts featuring books, crafts, art, and various other wares created by Illustration Department students, alums, and faculty members. Here’s a sneak peek, starting with items from two Illustration Alums. Enjoy!
Illustration Alum Isabel Samaras has created a limited edition jigsaw puzzle out of her recent painting Song of Birth: The 3 Magi. Here’s what she says on her blog:
The edition for this puzzle is only 50, they are $50 each (plus shipping), and they have 50 pieces — just kidding! They actually have 192 pieces — *that* oughta keep you busy for a while!
Learn more about this special item here and make sure to visit Isabel’s website to see more of her work.
Coco Masada (Illustration, ’83) recently opened an online store, showcasing apparel and merchandise featuring her artwork. Browse her collection of ornaments, t-shirts, and other goodies here. See more of Coco’s work on her website.
Illustration Faculty Wendy Popp has several books available including One Candle. A brief description reads:
Amidst the food and the festivities of Hanukkah, Grandma and Great-Aunt Rose tell their story. Bunting’s touching and joyous story about the importance of remembrance is exquisitely rendered by Popp’s remarkable pastels.
Wendy has taught Sophomore Concepts in the Illustration Department for a number of years. Find copies of her book here!
Check back soon for new posts with more gift ideas!
Re-Imagining the Chair
Opening Reception
Wednesday, December 12, 7-9pm
DWR West 14th Studio
408 West 14th Street
New York, NY 10014
Phone: 212.242.9449
Just in case you’ve forgotten what all the excitement is about:
Parson’s design students deserve a sitting ovation!
Once again, Parsons’ students have raised the bar with their well-tapped imaginations and fearless style. Incorporating materials of their choosing, students from Parsons’ Illustration department will exhibit their own inspired interpretations of the simple yet virtuous Bellini Chair by Heller. Using the Bellini as a blank canvas, students started with an idea on paper and finished the project fabricating a full-scale prototype. The students will join us for a reception at the West 14th Studio to share with you the fruits of their labor.
The “re-imagined” chairs will be critiqued by an esteemed panel of judges, including Alan Heller of Heller and floor covering designer Sandy Chilewich. Chairs will be exhibited in Studio through the month of January. Refreshments will be served!
Don’t miss this exciting event! Reception is open to all. Hope to see you there!
The New School’s Weekly Observer included a write-up of Bellini chair creative project that Illustration Department students have been working on over the course of the semester. Here’s an excerpt:
Re-imagining the Chair is a semester-long project of the Beyond Editorial course, taught by Parsons faculty member and alumna Kenna Kay. The course explores the ever-expanding realm of illustration, going beyond the traditional boundaries of the printed page to look at toys, animation, clothing, skateboards, and food packaging. The project was developed with Bradford Shane Shellhammer, the studio proprietor and blogger for Design Within Reach, who is also a student in Parsons’ AAS program.
For the project, students were asked to reexamine an everyday object, the chair, taking into account the experience of sitting, the usefulness of the object, the human form, social conventions, style and culture. The design could be personal, political or fanciful, as long as it makes the viewer think about the chair “in all its chairness.”
Read the rest of the article here, as well as the other write-ups on this blog, located here & here. Additionally, don’t forget the opening reception which happens in just a couple of days!
Re-Imagining the chair
Wednesday, December 12, 7-9pm
DWR West 14th Studio
408 West 14th Street
New York, NY 10014
Phone: 212.242.9449
Bush by Nora Krug
Back in October, Spraygraphic Apparel interviewed Illustration FT Faculty Nora Krug for their blog. Spraygraphic strives to highlight artists and designers that create culturally conscious, socially active and politically provocative work. Here’s an excerpt from Nora’s interview:
Describe your working process when creating a new work.
NK: I easily get bored once I notice I’m using similar concepts, compositions and media and I try to always explore new themes and ways of working. When working on a personal piece the process can be really torturing. I can get very deeply involved and forget where I am. Every time it feels like I’m starting at the very beginning, like a puzzle with thousands of parts, and no reference image on the cover. I take a long time for sketches and I often have no idea what the final piece will look like. Every line I draw can be a struggle. But when I’m done and happy with the way it looks I feel extremely fulfilled. It’s a completely different story with my commercial work. I work much faster there and have a good sense of what the final piece will look like.
What kind of things do you do when you get blocked or find it hard to create something?
NK: I get very annoyed and angry and can’t stop thinking about possible solutions. It takes me an hour or so of socializing and thinking of something else until I emerge on the surface again. Usually the only way out is continuing to draw and redraw until it works. Sometimes it also helps me to distract myself while I’m working, because then the whole focus isn’t only on my fear of not being able to create what I want. I love listening to BBC Radio 4 and 7 online.
Where are you currently finding your inspiration?
NK: In everything. People, films, music, books, other people’s art. I’m also very inspired by peoples’ lives that have nothing to do with the arts.
Make sure you read the rest of the interview here for more insights about Nora’s work and interests.
Also, you can access the archive of other fantastic artist interviews by Spraygraphic here.
Congratulations, Nora!
This fantastic sketchbook drawing was created by former Illustration Department Faculty member John Hendrix during our recent symposium “Illustration in the Age of Anxiety” which took place on Saturday, November 10th and featured lectures and panels by full-time faculty members Nora Krug, Ben Katchor, adjunct faculty members Ruth Marten and Tara McPherson, and legendary illustrators Ed Koren and Ed Sorel.
Visit John’s blog to see his other interpretation of the Symposium, as well as interesting tidbits on his own work and from around the Illustration field.
(Image by John Hendrix)
Jill Bliss and Saelee Oh at GR2
Los Angeles, CA
December 8 – January 9
Giant Robot presents Hidden Habitats, an art show featuring the work of Jill Bliss and Salee Oh. Jill graduated from the Illustration department and has since given presentations to our students as an alum & visiting artist. Here is an excerpt from the official press release:
Jill Bliss grew up on a family farm in Northern California where everything was hand-built or cultivated-the food, the house, the farm machinery, and even the family computers. Since graduating from the Parsons School of Design & the California College of the Arts, her professional background has included fashion design, illustration, and design theory. Whether designing limited-edition paper goods or fine art pieces, all of her work reveals a fondness for combining fabric, paper, and other found materials.
For this show, the artists will make individual and collaborative drawings, paper cut-outs, sewn soft sculptures, and other pieces that expand on the theme of their third collaborative calendar, Hidden Habitats. The artwork depicts houses, shelters, buildings, and dwellings incorporating and blending into nature. These dwellings are sometimes human-sized, but more often than not sized for real and imagined animals, reptiles, or bugs.
In this body of work, both artists explore the underlying structures of nature, the inherent beauty and interdependence of these structures, and human nature’s interpretation of and dependence upon them. The original drawings, many of which have been altered or expanded upon since the making of the calendar, will also provide insight into the artists’ digital and hand-drawn collaborative process.
For more information about the exhibition, visit the Giant Robot site.
GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
gr2.net
(310) 445-9276