This month at the College offers MFA Illustration as Visual Essay’s annual book exhibition project, a BFA Interior Design student exhibition and much more.
Rama Duwaji, Book Yallah, Eat!, 2023, digital. On view at “The Book Show.”
Rama Duwaji, Book Yallah, Eat!, 2023, digital. On view at “The Book Show.”
Classes and coursework may be dwindling in the final days of the semester, but events and exhibitions at the School of Visual Arts are plentiful through the end of December. A multitude of talks and lectures by internationally renowned artists, writers, thought leaders and curators presented by a handful of graduate departments, and open studios and shows in nearly every gallery space will usher in the holiday season and the new year. From socially minded interior design projects and visiting speakers to the continued evolution of AI in art, programming this month is expansive and thought-provoking.
Xinze Li, Box World, 2022, digital rendering. On view at “Designing Reentry: Transforming Spaces for a Fresh Start”.
Xinze Li, Box World, 2022, digital rendering. On view at “Designing Reentry: Transforming Spaces for a Fresh Start”.
EXHIBITIONS
Through Friday, December 1 | “Artist’s Journal: Letterpressed” | SVA Flatiron Project Space
For over 10 years, BFA Visual & Critical Studies students and invited guests have been creating a biannual zine called the Artist’s Journal. In collaboration with Peter Kruty Editions of Brooklyn, this exhibition presents a letterpress-printed version of the autumn 2023 issue. Participating artists are all members of the department’s community, including students, alumni, faculty and administrators.
Through Saturday, December 9 | “Wilde Mind” | SVA Chelsea Gallery
SVA Galleries presents an exhibition celebrating the singular life and legacy of Richard Wilde, the inaugural chair of the College’s BFA Advertising and BFA Design programs, who retired in 2019. Designed by former student and colleague 3D Design chair Kevin O’Callaghan (BFA 1980 Media Arts), “Wilde Mind” takes viewers on a journey from Wilde’s humble beginnings and early inspirations to his teaching years and his personal and professional creative pursuits.
Students from the MFA Fine Arts program in their studios. Work by the nearly 60 emerging artists in the program will be on view at MFA Fine Arts Fall 2023 Open Studios.
Students from the MFA Fine Arts program in their studios. Work by the nearly 60 emerging artists in the program will be on view at MFA Fine Arts Fall 2023 Open Studios.
Wednesday, December 6, 2023 – Saturday, January 13, 2024 | “The Book Show” | SVA Gramercy Gallery
The annual exhibition of book projects by 19 artists from the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay, curated by instructors Anna Raff (MFA 2009 Illustration as Visual Essay) and James Ransome, challenges first-year students to conceive, write and illustrate a book. Whether a children’s book, graphic novel, self-help book, or visual essay—the assignment is based on a personal experience or subject matter that is meaningful to them.
An exhibition of work by 24 BFA Interior Design: Built Environments students embarks on a mission to transform the spaces that single parents and their children inhabit during the challenging reintegration process into society. Third-year students in the Studio Design course were assigned to create a true “home” for 20 single parents and their children, cultivating a compassionate community where renewal, recovery and rebirth can thrive.
Through Sunday, December 31 | “Living Heritage” | Saint-Paul, 13210 Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France
For more than a decade, SVA and the Valetudo Association have held a series of public exhibitions of inspiring artwork, ranging from painting and photography to animation and illustration. This year, SVA and Valetudo celebrate the restorative power of art and the joy that comes from experiencing it with others, with work on view by SVA alumni practicing within the disciplines of fine art, illustration, photography, animation, video and computer art. They exude a life-affirming spirit of continuity fitting to this year’s theme while celebrating more than a decade of inspiring creative collaboration.
Claudia Griesbach Martucci, Gypsies. On view at “Living Heritage.”
Claudia Griesbach Martucci, Gypsies. On view at “Living Heritage.”
EVENTS
MFA Fine Arts presents a talk by Jennifer Coates, an artist working in Brooklyn and Lakewood, PA. She is the 2021 recipient of the John Koch Art Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, a 2021 NYFA Award in painting, a 2019 Fellowship at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation and a Sharpe Walentas Studio residency (2018-2019). Coates’s work has been written about in Art Critical, BOMB Magazine, Hyperallergic, Smithsonian Journeys, The Brooklyn Rail, The Huffington Post and Two Coats of Paint, among other publications.
Tuesday. December 5, 5:00 – 6:00pm | The Artists Roundtable: Tony Oursler (New York) | Online
MA Curatorial Practice presents a talk with artist Tony Oursler. Deeply rooted in conceptualism, Oursler’s work conjures multimedia and immersive experiences that combine traditional art-making tools with new technologies. He is known for his work with moving images, installation and projection, drawing inspiration from telecommunications, narrative evolution, conspiracy, social media, facial recognition, mysticism and environmental concerns.
What do design, community and social change have in common? MA Design Research, Writing and Criticism presents a talk by Yin Kong, director of Think!Chinatown, and Amanda Ramos of the Innovation Field Office for a conversation about creating a better world through design.
Friday, December 8, 6:30 – 8:30pm | Think in 4D by Erica Heinz | 136 West 21st Street, 3rd floor
MFA Interaction Design presents a talk with Erica Heinz on the occasion of her new book, Think in 4D. Heinz has been a design consultant in New York City for 20 years, with a client list that includes Nike, Google, The Gates Foundation, The New York Times, and many startups and grassroots organizations. She has taught interaction design at SVA, Parsons, Skillshare, Fortune 100 accelerators and other startup incubators and has spoken on topics from counterculture to CSS.
Anjali Kamat, A newfound freedom, 2023, digital. On view at “The Book Show.”
Anjali Kamat, A newfound freedom, 2023, digital. On view at “The Book Show.”
Monday, December 11, 6:00 – 9:00pm | BFA Fine Arts Open Studios | 335 West 16th Street
BFA Fine Arts presents its fall 2023 open studios. Fourth-year students will open their studios for viewing, along with other exhibition spaces throughout the building.
Tuesday, December 12, 3:00 – 5:00pm | Kenneth Tam | 133/141 W 21st Street, Room 101C, and online
MFA Fine Arts presents a talk by Kenneth Tam, an artist based in Houston and Queens who works with video, sculpture, installation, movement, performance and photography. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, he examines themes including the performance of masculinity, the transformative potential of ritual and expressions of intimacy within groups. In addition to many solo exhibitions, Tam is a recipient of the Foundation for Contemporary Arts grants to artists in 2023 and his work is in the collections of the Guggenheim, LACMA, Hammer Museum, Cantor Art Center, Dallas Museum of Art and Minneapolis Institute of Art. Tam is currently an assistant professor at Rice University and a faculty member at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College.
MA Curatorial Practice presents a talk with Ragnar Kjartansson, an artist who engages multiple artistic mediums, creating video installations, performances, drawings and paintings that draw upon myriad historical and cultural references. An underlying pathos and irony connect his works, with each deeply influenced by the comedy and tragedy of classical theater. Kjartasnsson blurs the distinctions between mediums, approaching his painting practice as performance, likening his films to paintings and his performances to sculpture.
MPS Digital Photography presents a talk with photographer Howard Schatz as part of its i3: Images, Ideas, Inspiration lecture series. Schatz has received international acclaim and over the last 30 years 23 major books of his work have been published. Schatz has won virtually every award in photography and has had over 100 museum and gallery exhibitions worldwide. Schatz has made images for such advertising clients as Nike, Reebok, Sony, Adidas, MGM Grand Hotel, Virgin Records and Mercedes-Benz.
MA Curatorial Practice presents a talk with internationally celebrated artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and curator Kathleen Forde. Lozano-Hemmer uses digital technologies and machine learning to develop works of art that powerfully engage viewers in new ways to engage memories as individuals and collectively. His works point to the promise of intelligent machines while questioning what artificial memory production may also portend. In this talk, Lozano-Hemmer and Forde will discuss the artist’s machine-mediated practice, focusing on his most recent immersive art environment, Atmospheric Memory, and its implications for surveillance, collective memory and border politics.
Meet 56 artists from around the world pursuing an MFA in fine arts at SVA at the department’s fall 2023 open studios.