It’s always great to hear positive feedback about our graduates, but it’s particularly fine when the kudos are so high. I’m referring to art director Irene Gallo’s comments on her blog http://igallo.blogspot.com/2009/08/cassandra-diaz.html about Cassandra Diaz IL’09. The story of how Irene “found” Cassandra is a little bit of a “Two Degrees of Separation” story. Cassandra, along with all our other senior students, participated in the Illustration Showcase in May where our students Skyped portfolio reviews with noted NY art directors. Irene Gallo was one of those art directors, but did not Skype with Cassandra — here is where it gets interesting. Images from Cassandra’s indy published comic Estrellita made their way via noted illustrator Sam Weber, who has taught part-time in the IL Dept., to Irene and now Cassandra is her new “art crush.” The intersection of our valued part-time teachers, the great things they have to say about our students, events like Showcase, the benefits of technology like Skype to get our graduates work in front of notable art directors and the enduring talent of our graduates makes for a perfect storm of success. Cassandra’s work has been included in the Society of Illustrators Student Competition and was a Zankel Scholars finalist in 2008. See her site at http://cassandradiaz.blogspot.com
Consider this for an internship credit to fulfill a 300-IL Elective or a Studio Elective
Create! Dont Hate is a partnership program between AIGA and Worldstudio. Our goal is to connect graphic designers with high school students interested in visual arts and have them create slogans/posters that could become billboards throughout the city. Topics include domestic violence, stopping crime, love your city, take care of sidewalks, etc.
The program lasts four weeks, volunteers will meet will the students once each week. You can either participate on your own or team up with other designers.
Location:
Patapsco High School
8100 Wise Ave
Baltimore, MD 21222-4898
The dates scheduled are:
1. October 2nd 9:30-10:30am
2. October 9th 9:30-10:30am
3. October 23th 9:30-10:30am
4. October 30th 9:30-10:30am
The deadline to get involved is August 31st. If you are interested, we will send you detailed information.
This program will showcase the power of design to ignite change to the general public and business community so please join us in this exciting initiative!
To see other programs that are happening in other cities, visitwww.designigniteschange.org
For more information email viviana@baltimore.aiga.org.
Sarah is one of 24 recipients, 700 applications. This is the second consecutive year that she has been recognized. You can see the jury and other competitors of this scholarship at http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/worldstudio-scholarships-2009
Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to see 5 top illustrators show off their stuff! Just remember to get your tickets ahead of time! You can’t beat the $10 rate.
An exciting new exhibition at the Society of Illustrators. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. More information at: pages.lightthenight.org/nyc/manhattn09/societyofillustrators
Marika McCoola IL’09 has work selected for CMYK Magazine #45, due to hit newsstands in October 2009. Illustrator Victor Juhasz was the judge who chose her work, a piece she made for Whitney Sherman’s section of Sr Thesis. Marika explains her process as ”Sculptural elements were made from Sculpey®, fabric, wire, paint, cardboard and found objects. A series of photographs were then taken and altered slightly in Photoshop.” You can see her work at www.marikamccoola.com or contact her at Marika McCoola, 37 Cunningham Ave., Glens Falls, NY 12801
Emily Flake © 2009
Emily Flake IL’99 has a forthcoming anthology,
Love Is a Four-Letter Word, out now! This is her entry is in comics form, right next to her long-time idol Lynda Barry. The book also features stories from Junot Diaz, Kate Christensen, and many others - check out the website here:
http://www.loveisa4letterword.com/
Emily also has lots of new work up at http://www.eflakeagogo.com
Love Is a Four-Letter Word cover
In Rama’s words “It’s a cool magazine either way. Enjoy!” You can reach Rama at (818) 545-1531, by email at rama@ramahughes.com or visit http://www.ramahughes.com
Rama has been producing art and teaching a comics course at Art Center in Pasadena, CA. He says, “This week, my most recent cartooning students at Art Center completed the second volume of COMICS! The 28 page comic book collects the best of their gags, comic strips, and ‘long’ two to four page graphic short stories.” You can see selected pages at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramahughes/sets/72157619643494099/
During June, the students of Alain Corbel’s Spring 2009 Sequential Art class exhibited work at a comics convention in Saint-Brieuc, Brittany, France. The comics convention, called “Bulles a Croquer” (Word Balloons to Crunch), was unique in that it offered both comics and gourmet food. http://www.bullesacroquer.net/index.php
Because of this gastronomic theme, the MICA students created comics about the infamous gourmet Gargantua, a character from the book “Gargantua and Pantagruel” written by French author Francois Rabelais in 1534. These comics were displayed in large format and collected in an anthology which was sold during the convention. This exhibition follows a show in Beja, Portugal in which Alain displayed work from his Fall 07 Sequential Art class.
Recent MICA graduate Max Hallinan IL‘09 accompanied Alain Corbel to “Bulles a Croquer”, where he was introduced to well-known French comic creators such as Jean-Claude Fournier, Emmanuel Lepage and had the opportunity to make contacts with French publishers.
Students involved: Robin Rodowsky, Timothy Yingling, Laura Allen, John Bylander, Christie Sheridan, Ian Kahler, Thomas Kieley, Kirsi Twomanen, Emma Maatman, Alexis Morgan, Quentin Gibeau, Mellis Tuck, Alon Braier, Rebecca Mock, and Craig Bowers.
