A roundup of ideas and projects from around the Institute
Pratt alumna SJ Fuerst, who studied painting, was interviewed about her surrealist pop paintings, solo show Gimme Some Sugar, and Andy Warhol for Hunger Magazine. “As an artist, you want as many people as possible to look at your work and be like, ‘I understand’ or ‘I connect with it,’” Fuerst says.
A new article in the London Review of Books contextualizes and considers Last Day in Lagos, a book of photographs by Marilyn Nance, BFA Communications Design (Graphic Design) ’76, that also includes essays and interviews.
Fashion design alum Emilio Sosa is the costume designer for Broadway play A Beautiful Noise, off-Broadway play Breaking the Story, and upcoming movie, Descendants: The Rise of Red.
Pat Steir, BFA ’62, was honored at Print Center of New York’s Spring Benefit 2024, covered by Surface Magazine. Steir also spoke with Art Historian Pepe Karmel for The Brooklyn Rail. “If you do something, it has to be from the heart,” said Steir. “The heart shows up in great art and poetry.”
A sculpture by Ben LaRocco, adjunct associate professor – CCE of fine arts, will be included in the Harlem Sculpture Gardens debut art project, which places installations in local public parks. LaRocco’s sculpture, created in collaboration with Carol Diamond, will be installed at the Morning Side Park location.
Pratt Institute was listed among the Best Fashion Schools for Design, Marketing, and More in the US by Vogue. “As a whole, Pratt Institute has a prestigious reputation for excellence in the arts, so it only makes sense that they’d have a top-ranking fashion design program, too,” writes Kendall Becker. “The School of Design emphasizes the art of cultural storytelling through the lens of fashion—basically, this program is a solid option for those who have avant garde aspirations or are looking to enter the luxury market. With immediate access to NYC, students have secured internships at Thom Browne, Zero Maria Cornejo, and The Row, to name a few.”
Chen Chen, BID ’07, and Kai Williams, BID ’06, were profiled in the New York Times about their new furniture collection. “This line of work is all about designing a process,” Williams told the Times. “Each thing can be slightly different. It’s the process that is the product for us.” Their latest knife design for Craighill was also featured in Design Milk.
Pratt alumna Anna Park, who studied Illustration and Fine Arts, is profiled in Vogue about her black-and-white drawings made with charcoal or India ink. “The absence of color was never really a conscious decision,” Park tells Vogue. “It’s similar to someone picking up an instrument, and it feels right or natural. There are so many formal qualities that I wanted to explore within the world of charcoal, paint, and ink that I didn’t need color.”
Cait Opperman, BFA Photography ’12, was interviewed for We Present’s New Rules: Navigating photography’s unfixed future about her photography background and starting her creative studio, FLOWERS. “People trust you if you are confident in your abilities and have the evidence to back it up,” she says.
Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, MFA Communications Design ’15, is featured in The New York Times. Her installation, the primitive sign of wanting, is part of the exhibition New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.
From Pratt Institute News
From Pratt Institute News
