The semester kicks off with a new Masters Series exhibition, curator and photography talks, alumni film screenings, and more.
Ivan Chermayeff, Ukak, 1992, mixed media collage, 36 x 28 ½ inches. On view at “Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff.”
Ivan Chermayeff, Ukak, 1992, mixed media collage, 36 x 28 ½ inches. On view at “Copy, Cut + Paste: The Visual Language of Ivan Chermayeff.”
With SVA’s campus back in full swing, expect a packed month of events and exhibitions in September, including film screenings, major retrospectives, artist talks and more. Gallery spaces, classrooms and the theatre will be packed all month long with opportunities to engage with world-renowned curators and artists, and just about every medium, including illustration, painting, collage, photography, and animation.
EXHIBITIONS
BFA Visual and Critical Studies presents an exhibition of new work by BFA Fine Arts Chair Suzanne Anker, curated by fellow SVA faculty member Peter Hristoff (BFA 1981 Fine Arts). Anker is a visual artist and theorist working at the intersection of art and the biological sciences. Her practice investigates the ways in which nature is being altered in the 21st century. Concerned with genetics, climate change, species extinction, and non-human life forms, she calls attention to the beauty of life and the “necessity for enlightened thinking about nature’s ‘tangled bank’.”
Through Thursday, September 5 | “Around and Again” | SVA Flatiron Gallery
An exhibition of multimedia work by 10 SVA students selected by a jury of their peers. The artwork in “Around and Again” explores how societal expectations shape people’s lives. Some of these influences include gender roles, family expectations, grieving and the loss of play and curiosity as one grows up. The exhibition features a range of forms, including illustration, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture. From paintings influenced by the digital workspace to cultural embroidery techniques used to challenge labels, these works evade easy categorization.
Through Saturday, October 12 | “The Masters Series: Stefan Sagmeister” | SVA Chelsea Gallery
An award and exhibition honoring design giant Stefan Sagmeister, who has also taught at SVA, the 2024 Masters Series will be a career retrospective that includes elements of Sagmeister’s past exhibitions, published books, design and film work, incorporating multiple “eras” of the artist’s long and storied career. More than three decades of sketchbooks, many posters including ones commissioned by SVA as part of the College’s “subway poster” series, and design work dating back to the late 1980s will be on view. The show will include a miniature theater where Sagmeister’s film will screen on a loop, interactive installations, and even special take-home posters for visitors to the gallery.
Ying Wang, Shape of Time, 2024, digital, 9 x 16 inches. On view at “ILLO/COMX Preview.”
Ying Wang, Shape of Time, 2024, digital, 9 x 16 inches. On view at “ILLO/COMX Preview.”
SVA Archives presents a collection of nearly 50 rarely seen collage works by the late Ivan Chermayeff, following a significant donation of hundreds of the design legend's works by his family to the Milton Glaser Design Study Center and Archives in 2020. While Chermayeff is best known for revolutionizing the field of visual communication and designing hundreds of recognizable corporate and institutional logos as one-half of Chermayeff & Geismar—the design firm he co-founded with Tom Geismar in the late 1950s—the pieces on view are largely personal works. His collages were his own form of drawing, by which he could both exploit the meaning held by the items and create new, unexpected associations.
SVA presents “The Mental Health Poster Project,” an exhibition of 24 posters by undergraduate, graduate, and Continuing Education students, curated by BFA Illustration and BFA Comics chair Viktor Koen. From pragmatic to esoteric, this is a series of quote-based posters expressing the complex and psychosomatic implications of the most delicate contributor to psychological and emotional well-being. Just a few years after a relentless world pandemic that redefined health, both physical and mental, on the individual and collective levels, this exhibition grapples with its effects by trying to engage viewers through a method that could possibly be described as pictorial therapy.
Thursday, September 12 – Tuesday, September 24 | “ILLO / COMX PREVIEW” | SVA Flatiron Gallery
An exhibition of work by BFA Comics and BFA Illustration graduates from the class of 2024, showcasing the upcoming BFA Illustration and BFA Comics year-end publication. The exhibition and publication feature some of the best senior pictorial and storytelling accomplishments from the programs’ most recent graduates, as well as conversations between esteemed faculty and alumni, and thought-provoking essays from industry luminaries.
EVENTS
A film screening of works by four graduates of the MFA Photography, Video and Related Media class of 2024: Anastasia Caulfield, Guanyu Liu, Jiani Wang, and Royee Weng. These four films explore the range of possibilities that today’s young video artists can make, from documentary to experimental.
Wednesday, September 4, 9:00 – 10:00am | The Curatorial Roundtable: Filipa Ramos (Tokyo) | Online
MA Curatorial Practice presents a talk with writer and curator Filipa Ramos, PhD. Ramos is Lecturer at the Arts Institute of the HGK/FHNW, Basel. Her research focuses on how contemporary art engages with nature and ecology. Her upcoming book, The Artist as Ecologist, will be published by Lund Humphries in 2025.
Tuesday, September 10, 7:00 – 8:30pm | i3 Photo Lecture: Eric McNatt | 136 W 21st St, room 418F
MPS Digital Photography presents a talk with photographer Eric McNatt, part of its i3: Images, Ideas, Inspiration lecture series, curated this fall by Julie Grahame. With a career spanning two decades, McNatt’s work has been featured in a variety of publications, including The New York Times Style Magazine, Vogue, ESPN: The Magazine, People, O Magazine, Interview, Paper, Vibe, Spin and New York Magazine. His commercial portfolio includes collaborations with notable clients such as A&E Entertainment, Sony/Columbia BMG, NBC/USA Network, and EURO RSCG (now HAVAS). Additionally, McNatt has engaged in artistic projects with luminaries like Yoko Ono (in conjunction with Gallery LeLong), choreographer Miguel Gutierrez (Whitney Biennial) and choreographer Sarah Michelson (BAM Next Wave Festival).
Stefan Sagmeister, Chaumont, 2004, lithograph, 69 x 46 ¾ inches. On view at “The Masters Series: Stefan Sagmeister.”
Stefan Sagmeister, Chaumont, 2004, lithograph, 69 x 46 ¾ inches. On view at “The Masters Series: Stefan Sagmeister.”
MA Curatorial Practice presents a talk with Spanish writer and curator Enrique Juncosa. Juncosa will speak about three of his recent exhibitions: “Black Light, Secret Traditions in Art since the 1950s,” Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, 2018; “Joan Miró, Absolute Reality, Paris 1920-1945,” Guggenheim Bilbao, 2023; and “Miquel Barceló, We are All Greek,” Fundació Catalunya-La Pedrera, Barcelona, 2024.
MFA Products of Design presents a talk with Cameron Tonkinwise, an international expert in design studies and transition design. Tonkinwise’s recent design research projects focus on helping people recover from natural disasters, prepare for rising summer temperatures, plan for aging and participate in energy transitions. The three design objectives that appear in these cases are visualizing path dependencies, social resonances and mediating between autonomy and support, or what Annemarie Mol has called “the logic of choice and the logic of care.”
Suzanne Anker, noted artist and chair of BFA Fine Arts at SVA, speaks about her innovative work in the concurrent exhibition at the Flatiron Project Space, exploring the onrushing ecological catastrophe.
MA Curatorial Practice presents a talk with curator Jovanna Venegas. In recent years, Venegas has dedicated her efforts to international contemporary art, working on exhibitions and projects across various regions in cities such as Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York, Gwangju, and San Francisco. This talk will delve into recent exhibitions, the commissioning process, and curatorial work as an act of dialogical care, emphasizing the importance of building trust and relationships with artists. Additionally, it will cover the experience of managing and working with various teams across institutions—both large and small—including artists, production teams, and galleries.
Wednesday, September 18, 7:00 – 9:00pm | Animation Speak/Easy Vol. 11 | Rullo's, 560 5th Ave, Brooklyn
MFA Computer Arts presents an installment of Animation Speaky/Easy, a screening and discussion series for animation lovers in New York City. This interactive, in-person event invites three guest speakers to each share an animated short that inspires them, followed by a lively audience discussion. The mission is to create a space that brings together curious, inspired art-makers who are passionate about animation and its constantly changing forms. Doors open at 7:00pm, screening begins at 7:30pm. No cover. Rullo’s will have food and drink available for purchase.
An artist talk with SVA's 2024 Masters Series Award and Exhibition honoree, prolific designer Stefan Sagmeister.
Saturday, September 21, 3:30 – 10:00pm | 14th Annual SocDoc Thesis Showcase | SVA Theatre
MFA Social Documentary Film presents the 14th Annual SocDoc Thesis Showcase featuring films from the class of 2024 by Luyang Niko Chen, Yinlin Chen, Melodie Rosen, and Lu Yao, followed by Q&As.
Zhenyu Pan, The Great Blue Yonder-The Other Lands, 2023, silkscreen on paper, 9 x 12 inches. On view at “Around and Again.”
Zhenyu Pan, The Great Blue Yonder-The Other Lands, 2023, silkscreen on paper, 9 x 12 inches. On view at “Around and Again.”
MPS Digital Photography presents a talk with photographer, book artist, and retired art professor Ellen Wallenstein, part of its i3: Images, Ideas Inspiration lecture series, curated this fall by Julie Grahame. Wallenstein works in several mediums including photography, drawing, and collage. Her current work has been concentrated on the making of daily cyanotype images on cloth. Wallenstein's photographs, books, and 'zines are in various public and private collections and have been exhibited internationally. She currently exhibits her artwork at the Carter Burden Gallery in New York City.
Tuesday, September 24 –Sunday, September 29 | After School Special | SVA Theatre
Featuring some of SVA’s most accomplished film, television, animation, and visual effects alumni, the 10th anniversary of this multi-day festival will include screenings and Q&As with industry insiders that offer behind-the-scenes looks at the world of television and cinema. A full schedule and list of participants is below (subject to change) and can also be found at svatheatre.eventbrite.com.
MPS Art Therapy presents Dr. Girija Kaimal, EdD, MA, ATR-BC, who will give this year’s Valery Daniels Memorial Lecture. Dr. Kaimal—professor and chair of the Creative Arts Therapies department at Drexel University Health, Arts, Learning and Evaluation (HALE) research lab—will present an overview of how the arts are intertwined with human history.
BFA Visual & Critical Studies and the Honors Program welcome back Frances Fox Piven—political scientist, activist and, according to Glenn Beck, one of the “nine most dangerous people in the world”—to analyze the upcoming presidential election, democracy and politics today. What explains the continuing instability of American politics? What coalitions are in play to impact this upcoming contest? What are the potential consequences of the race? What role has Gaza played in the year's developments? Do we have cause for optimism?