The Daily Hub

Liz Waytkus, MS Historic Preservation ’11, discusses her time at Pratt, wide-ranging career, and approach to historic preservation in an interview with Madame Architect. “If we are going to save architecture of the 20th century, especially with sites that are misunderstood and often disliked by the public, we need an all-hands-on-deck approach.”

Cesar Santalo, BFA Fine Arts (Drawing) ’95, is featured in the documentary Patria y Vida: The Power of Music for his collage mural “349.” The mural, installed in the entrance of FIU’s College of Law, “weaves the visual aesthetics of contemporary Cuba and Cuban artists while offering a visual narrative that complements chapters of the documentary.”

President Frances Bronet is featured in PoliticsNY’s 2023 Power Players in Education list, recognized for her commitment to workforce development, climate action, and interdisciplinary learning. “I have always been a learner and a teacher,” she said in a Q&A for the publication. “My journey started during my adolescence when I began tutoring.”

Amy Chien, MArch ’23, and Marissa Zhao, MArch ’23, won the Material Lab Prize 2023 for their project Decomposition and Restoration. “We designed a composite bio-plastic and bio-rubber building wrap textile that can also—in its secondary use after wrapping modules in shipment—be used in a variety of geotechnical and site remediation applications according to the woven pattern that the material is molded into,” they wrote.

Brooklyn Rail reviews several recent exhibitions across a range of mediums from Chair of Fine Arts Jane South. “South’s work traverses public and private space, revealed and immanent, and also the hidden and forgotten.”

Jean Shin, adjunct professor-CCE of fine arts, has a new work on permanent display in the lobby of the Perelman Performing Arts Center. Water’s Echo features thousands of hand-sewn mother-of-pearl shell buttons to depict New York waterways and shed light on efforts to preserve biodiversity.

Nicole Rifkin, BFA Communications Design (Illustration) ’14, featured a tote bag designed by Alexander Heir, BFA Fine Arts (Printmaking) ’06, in her cover illustration for the latest issue of The New Yorker. “I bet you there are thousands of people on the subway every day who are going home or to the studio to create something that might change your life for the better,” she said of the subway-themed cover.

Kenneth Cobonpue, BID ’91, reflects on the state of Filipino craft and design and spotlights up-and-coming designers for Vogue Philippines. “Only on this island can I find the quality of craftsmen and artisans who can transform my dreams into reality,” he says. 

Daniel Lopatin, MSLIS ’10, is profiled in the latest issue of The New Yorker, which delves into his “career writing elegiac, otherworldly electronic compositions using computers, synthesizers, and digital scree.” Lopatin says he wanted to become a librarian because “the human instinct to preserve and to document the past while it’s falling to rubble is one of the most romantic things I can possibly think of.”

Kellan Cantrell, MS City and Regional Planning ’17, discusses his new role as village planner for Scarsdale, New York, along with how he approaches issues of affordability, sustainability, and zoning in an interview with Scarsdale 10583. “I have never been accused of being artistic but being a Planner is like being a painter, you bring together other professionals into a project in order to paint the overall picture of that project,” he said.