The Daily Hub

Mickalene Thomas, BFA Fine Arts ’00, was honored at The New Museum’s 2024 Spring Gala, and will receive the Vanguard Award at the upcoming Los Angeles LGBT Center Gala. “My art has always been about more than pretty pictures,” she said. “Seeing the deep dark complexities of Blackness, of the Black body and its loveliness, is what pushes me forward to making what I make. It’s about creating a language that resonates and that challenges societal norms.”

Visiting Assistant Professor of Fine Arts and Pratt>Forward Coordinator Yasmeen Abdallah, MFA Fine Arts ’15, was interviewed in Shoutout LA. “I am interested in ephemera, aftermaths, and the stories told and secrets kept by imprints and objects that speak to our contemporary culture,” she said.

Matías Piñeiro, associate professor of film/video, received a Special Mention in the International Award category at the 46th Cinéma du réel International Documentary Film Festival for his film You Burn Me.

Pratt Institute is listed among the 30 best film schools in America by Backstage. “Instead of having students choose one specialty, Pratt focuses on educating them as ‘total filmmakers’ by teaching every step of the process and promoting interdisciplinary collaboration.”

Seymour Nussenbaum, BA Illustration ’48, was one of three surviving veterans from the U.S. military’s “Ghost Army” to be awarded a Congressional Gold Medal for their heroic contributions during WWII. The Ghost Army used “inflatable tanks, phony uniforms, fake rumors and special effects to deceive German forces.” Several of the students in Pratt’s Industrial Camouflage Program—which researched and developed camouflage techniques to support the defense effort—would go on to join the Ghost Army.

Salman Toor, MFA Fine Arts (Painting) ’09, listed among Artsy’s “10 Contemporary Painters Reviving Impressionism.” Toor’s paintings “frame their scenes similarly to the Impressionist café paintings, where the scenes seem to spill beyond what’s immediately visible in the frame.”

New York City-based multimedia artist and educator Alex Strada will be Pratt’s 2024/25 Fine Arts Civic Engagement Fellow. In addition to teaching in the Fine Arts Department, the role involves developing programming and/or workshops connecting the fellow’s practice to internal and external communities.

Sylvia Chen, BID ’23, was honored at German design council’s “one&twenty” competition at Milan Design Week. Her team’s cargo scooter was among 21 winning designs of the competition, organized by the Foundation Council for Design. “One&twenty” supports young talents who are “shaping a more sustainable and inclusive world.”

The first solo show by Kosuke Kawahara, MFA Fine Arts (Painting and Drawing) ’20, is reviewed in Two Coats of Paint by Michael Brennan, adjunct professor-CCE of fine arts. The inaugural exhibition at RAINRAIN gallery’s new Chinatown location, Kawahara’s Exotic Star is “the most adventurous painting exhibition I have seen in some time,” writes Brennan.