Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Practice Carlos Motta was named the 2025–26 Keith Haring Chair in Art and Activism from Bard College. As the Keith Haring Chair, he will be a fellow at Bard’s Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) and the Bard Human Rights Program, will teach a class across departments, and will deliver a lecture in the spring. Motta will continue to do his work at Pratt simultaneously with this fellowship in the spring semester.
The Daily Hub
A roundup of ideas and projects from around the Institute
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The Chicago Reader reviewed Cornerstone, a solo exhibition in Chicago’s Hyde Park Art Center by Yasmin Spiro, BFA Fine Arts (Painting) ’99; MFA Fine Arts (Painting and Drawing) ’04. “Sound and smell aren’t the only senses Spiro engages to focus attention on the question of home. For her, materiality is central; each element of her work is layered with reference, history, and memory, revealing how our ideas of home are bound by our relationship to the land and the things we build upon it.”
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Nat Mesnard, visiting instructor of associate degrees, describes how they developed the role-playing card game Assemblage in an article for Edge Effects. “Beginning with archetypes, Dream Askew invites players to develop the game’s narrative foundation through emergent conversations on character relationships. Assemblage, I decided, would be similar: in conversation, my players would define not just single characters, but entire species—a collection of simultaneous, overlapping ‘we’ voices.”
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Edel Rodriguez, BFA Painting ’94 and Visionary Awardee 2019, created the most recent cover of The New Yorker entitled “Mayor Mamdani,” depicting incoming mayor Zohran Mamdani smiling on a crowded subway. For more examples of Pratt alumni and faculty who have contributed to the magazine, see the recent story “Pratt and a Century of the New Yorker”.
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Swarali Karulkar, MS Dance/Movement Therapy ’16, is premiering her documentary film, Body Unveiled, at the upcoming New York Documentary Film Festival, with its world premiere to follow at the Awareness Film Festival. Body Unveiled explores how trauma is stored within the body and how the key to reclaiming agency and healing lies within. Karulkar produced the film to raise awareness—especially within the South Asian community—about the powerful role movement and the body can play in healing deep-rooted trauma.
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Fine Arts alumnus Mario A. Robinson was selected as the first-ever Save Ellis Island artist-in-residence. “Mario Robinson is the perfect artist to interpret the south side of Ellis Island. His sensitivity to American history is beautifully told through the stillness found in his paintings,” said Jim Dessicino, museum creative director for Ellis Island.
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Four Pratt faculty and alumni were featured in the 40 Under 40 North America list by the World Architecture Festival (WAF), in collaboration with The Architect’s Newspaper: Laura Salazar-Altobelli, assistant professor of undergraduate architecture; Erik Martínez, BArch ’10; Juan Sala, BArch ’16; and Isaac Michan, MArch ’13.
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Kay Moon, BFA Fine Arts ’25, received the Sculptors Guild Roosevelt Scholarship. Their work Beings of Light and Fire is on view at the MORA Museum of International Art in Jersey City, NJ, through December.
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Isabelle Brourman, MFA Fine Arts ’19, received a New York Press Club “Continuing Coverage – National Magazine” award for her illustrations for the series “Trump on Trial” in New York Magazine.
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Gabrielle Nicole, BFA Fine Arts ’13, launched her new jewelry collection, Ruveil, at an event hosted in collaboration with GEM X. The collection is inspired by her work as a sound meditation specialist.
More Pratt Institute News
Leading by Example
Spencer Giuliano, BArch ’26, thrives on the soccer field and in the studio, all while helping fellow student-athletes balance the demands of both worlds.
Designing Her Way to Her Dream Job
From Pratt Institute News
Recent alumna Renata Dominguez always knew she wanted to work in design. Now, just one year post-grad, she’s thriving at one of the biggest international branding agencies.
Seeing the City: Tours, Talks, and More
From Pratt Institute News
This fall in New York City, students went to the newly renovated Frick, explored innovative materials at a circular design brand, and heard from famed director Spike Lee.