Visual Arts Briefs

As part of the yearly season of film and television awards, the Visual Effects Society (VES) presents an annual slate of prizes for the best effects artistry in more than 20 categories of film, animation, television, commercials and video games. This year’s VES nominees have been announced, and seven SVA alumni and faculty members have been singled out.

For their work on Pepsi’s The Flight of the Penguin commercial, James Dick (BFA 2007 Computer Art), Seth Gollub (BFA 2005 Computer Art), Spencer Leuders, (Faculty, BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects Department) and Andy Walker (Faculty, BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects Department) are up for Outstanding Animated Character in a Broadcast Program or Commercial; Golub and Walker are also nominees for the same Pepsi ad in the Outstanding Visual Effects in a Commercial category.

In the category of Outstanding Matte Paintings in a Feature Motion Picture, Brenton Cottman (BFA 2003 Illustration) is nominated for his work as lead matte painter for the hit film Avatar.

The 8th Annual VES Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 28, in Los Angeles. Visit visualeffectssociety.com for more information.

A recent article in The New York Times turned a spotlight on a new exhibition called “Decode: Digital Design Sensations” at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. One of the digital artists included in the show is Joshua Davis—who is on the faculty of both the graduate and undergraduate computer art programs at SVA—and the museum has also included MFA Computer Art Department Chair Bruce Wands’ book Art of the Digital Age in its selection of related reading. “I have been helping with the ‘Digital Pioneers’ exhibition, says Wands, “and of the artists included, Paul Brown, Charles Csuri, Barbara Nessim, Lillian Schwartz and Roman Verostko are in my book.”

Wands will be keeping his UK connection going through the new year, when he travels to London for a British Computer Society conference titled Ideas Before Their Time: Connecting the Past and Present in Computer Art, taking place Wednesday, February 3, 2010. He will be presenting a paper—“Creating Continuity Between Computer Art History and Contemporary Art”—that traces more than half a century of computer art history, focusing as much on the organizations that have supported digital work over the year as the artists themselves. “The responsibility for the development, support and archiving of this art form [historically], and until now, has fallen primarily to visionary computer art organizations and galleries,” says Wands in the paper. For a taste of his expertise on the topic, read an interview Wands gave to the Web site Flavorwire earlier this year, in conjunction with his department’s event, Technocultures: The History of Digital Art: A Conversation.

Image: Art of the Digital Age (Thames & Hudson, 2006).

• MFA Design Department faculty member Stefan Sagmeister is the winner of the 2009 Lucky Strike Designer Award. This international design award from the Raymond Loewy Foundation recognizes a designer whose work has helped improve the social and cultural conditions of everyday life. The jury said of Sagmeister, “His work is highly creative, bold and innovative. It combines philosophy, politics and socially relevant subjects with avant-garde design; it’s democratic and accessible to everyone.”
• Critics at The Onion’s A.V. Club compiled their list of the 25 Best Comics of the ‘00s, and three members of the SVA community made the cut: alumnus Michael Kupperman (BFA 1998 Fine Arts) for Tales Designed to Thrizzle (Fantagraphics, 2005–present); BFA Illustration and Cartooning Department faculty member David Mazzucchelli for his graphic novel Asterios Polyp (Pantheon, 2009); and alumnus James Sturm (MFA 1991 Illustration as Visual Essay) for The Golem’s Mighty Swing (D&Q, 2000).
• At this fall’s NYC Metropolitan Area College Computer Animation Festival (MetroCAF), 10 of the 26 digital animations selected for the festival came from the BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects and MFA Computer Art Departments. The 2009 MetroCAF continues a multi-year run for the College as one of the festival’s top contributors. Click here for the complete list of 26 honorees.
• The Art Directors Club (ADC) recently announced the recipients of its 2009 National Scholarships, and three of the eight winners were students in the BFA Advertising and Graphic Design Department: Yumi Nakamura won the $2,500 ADC Scholarship in Graphic Design; Kaya Ono won the $2,500 Sahre, Victore, Wilker Scholarship in Graphic Design; and Youngbum Kim won the $500 Jeffrey Metzner and Carin Goldberg Scholarship.

Image: Stefan Sagmeister with his Lucky Strike Design Award; photo by Elias Wessel.

Apple’s iTunes App Store recently reported more than two-billion downloads of the 100,000 programs available in its collection of digital applications for the iPhone. One new app appearing in the store comes from the imagination of alumnus Jung-mi Lee (BFA 2007 Computer Art), who worked with other artists and programmers at Strategic Design Lab to create the game Rat Busters. The game is a point-of-view adventure that puts the player in the sewers and subway tunnels of Gotham City (loosely based on NYC), which is infested with giant rats engineered by the evil Dr. Wasabi. After choosing one of three different characters—Hans, Luke or Mia—gamers then start shooting the irradiated rats and making their way through 12 levels of action. Rat Busters is available through the iTunes Store for $1.99, and gamers can click here to read more or purchase the app.

In addition, students in MFA Interaction Design Department faculty member Christopher Fahey’s Interaction Design Fundamentals course have completed a class project that generated new apps specifically for use in New York City. The resulting apps ranged from Book ‘Em, a GPS-powered program that locates the nearest branch of the New York Public Library, to New Green City, which gives updated details on the city progress toward its goal to reduce carbon emissions 30% by 2030. For more on this project, visit the MFA Interaction Design Department blog.

Image: Screen shot from Rat Busters.

• Lynda Benglis (faculty member, BFA Fine Arts Department) is the subject of two feature articles in the December issue of Art in America, which also has her work on the cover.  One of the articles, “Shape Shifter,” focuses on her 40-year traveling retrospective exhibition currently at the Irish Museum of Modern Art and her influence on young artists today. Benglis’ work is included in the exhibition “Octet: Codes and Contexts in Recent Art,” currently on view at the Visual Arts Gallery, 601 West 26 Street, 15th floor.
• Recent graduate Sean Hannon (BFA 2009 Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects) was featured in Arts & Leisure. After working as an actor for many years, Hannon enrolled at SVA in his early 50s to study animation. He was also one of the student speakers at the College’s Commencement exercises this past May, and he currently works as a freelance 3D animator and modeler.
• The 2010 Arts Abroad program at SVA was just featured in the January issue of surfer magazine. Faculty member and surfer staff photographer Art Brewer will lead an eight-day course on action surf photography in Rincon, Puerto Rico, March 6 – 14, 2010.  Click here for more information about the course.
• Robot 6, a blog of Comic Book Resources, recently interviewed alumnus Dash Shaw (BFA 2005 Illustration) about his forthcoming book The Unclothed Man in the 35th Century A.D. (Fantagraphics, 2009). The book is a collection of short stories Shaw did for the quarterly Mome anthology as well as storyboards and drawings for an animation project he created for the Independent Film Channel (IFC).

Image: Art in America, December 2009 issue.

During the last week of October, three SVA department chairs traveled to China to attend the Adobe Design Achievement Awards (ADAA). This prestigious annual competition recognizes the best work in a dozen disciplines, including animation, interactive design, motion graphics and photography, with over 3,200 entrants from around the world. Katrin Eismann (MPS Digital Photography Department), John McIntosh (BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects Department) and Alice Twemlow (MFA Design Criticism Department) were at the ADAA exhibition and ceremony in Bejing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts in support of SVA’s two competition finalists, alumnus Daniel Bolliger (MPS 2009 Digital Photography) and current student James Kyungmo Yang (MFA Design Department). In addition, two SVA students were ADAA semifinalists: Juhee Cho (BFA Advertising and Graphic Design Department) and Nathan Friese (MFA Computer Art Department).

According to Eismann, “This was the first time that the ADAA was held outside of North America. The high point of the event was the opening ceremony of the Icograda World Design Congress, which featured many high-profile speakers (including Twemlow) and of course the ADAA announcements. All of this took place in the fabulous National Centre for the Performing Arts—a truly stunning building in the center of Beijing.” As is fitting for the chair of a graduate photography program, Eismann had her camera with her in Beijing and shared several of her photos with the Briefs:

Images: Katrin Eismann, 2009: (top to bottom) the 2009 ADAA ceremony; the award finalists in Beijing; alumnus Daniel Bolliger and his work at the ADAA exhibition; the National Centre for the Performing Arts.

This year’s New York Television Festival is touching down in the city September 21 – 26, providing a week’s worth of events and screenings for both established and emerging members of the industry. Lost Cities, a project created by current BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects Department student Dillon McCarthy and alumnus Chad Von Nau (BFA 2006 Computer Art), will be shown as part of the festival’s Independent Pilots Competition on Thursday, September 24, 6:15pm, and Friday, September 25, 5pm.

“Lost Cities is an adventure tourism series that explores lesser-known cities in the U.S.,” say the comedy show’s creators, adding, “It’s also completely made up.” The episodes are hosted by a character named Nate Starkey, whose attempts to show various locales in a positive light invariably uncover each location’s worst qualities. For information on the Lost Cities screenings, click here.

On Friday, May 15, SVA’s class of 2009 was joined by family, friends and other guests for the College’s 34th annual commencement exercises. More than 5,000 audience members gathered at Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan as President David Rhodes conferred 806 degrees upon candidates from 16 departments.

Two students took to the podium to represent their fellow graduates. Sean Hannon (BFA 2009 Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects) talked about the enthusiasm and support this year’s class required in order to stay focused while in the midst of global fiscal troubles, while Joanna Nebrosky (MFA 2009 Illustration as Visual Essay) used a humorous story about her great-uncle Ralph to examine the “creative solitude” needed by today’s artists to nurture their craft and vision.

President Rhodes then addressed the graduating students, speaking of the power of images to clarify the world around us and the Class of 2009’s responsibility to be key players in that process. The president concluded his speech by marking the transitional nature of the day: “Enjoy the last day of your old life. Tomorrow you will begin anew.” Keynote speaker Robert Caro, an eminent political historian best known for his biographies of Lyndon Johnson and Robert Moses, drew parallels between art and politics, noting that, “Art can do for politics what it can do for everything else: throw new light on it.”

Images: (top) Graduation students at Radio City Music Hall; (bottom) keynote speaker Robert Caro. Photos by Joe Sinnott.

After the Oscar season ends in Hollywood, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences turns its attention to up-and-coming filmmakers for its annual Student Academy Awards (SAA). SVA alumni are regular fixtures in the lists of finalists and winners for the awards, and this year is no exception. Of the 36 students chosen as finalists for the 36th annual edition of the SAA, three come from the College: Kwibum Chung (MFA 2008 Computer Art) is a finalist in the Alternative category, and Anca Risca and Joji Tsuruga (both BFA 2008 Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects) were chosen in the Animation category.

The three dozen finalists will all participate in a week of movie-industry events in Hollywood, culminating in a gala awards ceremony on Saturday, June 13, when the Academy will announce winners in the Alternative, Animation, Documentary and Narrative categories.

Image: Kwibum Chung, still from Matter, in a quiescent state, prepares itself to be transformed, 2008.

Visitors to the recently opened SVA Theatre at 333 West 23rd Street will find plenty going on there in early May. In addition to the ongoing Dusty Film and Animation Festival, the College is joining forces with the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting (FTB) to present Careers in Animation, in which several industry professionals will come together on Tuesday, May 5, at 8pm, for a discussion about the New York animation business. The speakers are Academy Award-nominated animator Bill Plympton (1969 Cartooning), animator Aaron Augenblick (BFA 1997 Animation), animator Debra Solomon, author and director David B. Levy, distributor Catherine Branscome and commercial animator Norma Toroya. The event is free, but attendees need to RSVP to message@film.nyc.gov.

The following week, the theater will host a pair of programs highlighting student work. On Monday, May 11, 6 – 9pm, the BFA Advertising and Graphic Design Department presents a screening of Motion Graphics work. These original animations were made by students in the program’s Digital Video track, which tests the limits of type to move off the page and into time and space. Then, on Wednesday, May 13, 7 – 10pm, will be Encore!, a screening of thesis projects created by graduating seniors from the BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects Department. Both events are free and open to the public; for a complete list of SVA events in the theater and elsewhere, click here.

Images: (top) Still from Motion Graphics Screening promotional video, 2009; (bottom) Christian Haniszewski and Rogelio Olguin, still from Abyssus, 2009.