Visual Arts Briefs

The Society of Illustrators (SOI), 128 East 63rd Street, is hosting “Blow Up: Hanuka, Shimizu, Weber,” a new exhibition spotlighting the work of three SVA alumni: Tomer Hanuka (BFA 2000 Illustration), Yuko Shimizu (MFA 2003 Illustration as Visual Essay) and Sam Weber (MFA 2005 Illustration as Visual Essay). On view September 1 – October 16, the show brings together the artists’ different backgrounds (Hanuka is from Israel, Shimizu comes from Japan and Weber is Canadian) into what the SOI is calling a “visual melting pot of contemporary image making.”

Hanuka’s works were developed during research for an upcoming graphic novel, The Divine, which is scheduled to be published by First Second Books later this year; Shimizu contributes images that use traditional wood-cut print techniques to address contemporary political and social issues; and Weber’s pieces are based on Western portraiture but quickly veer into anxious and mysterious moods. SOI is hosting an opening reception on Friday, September 10, 6:30pm, with a suggested donation of $10; contact kb@societyillustrators.org by Friday, September 3, to RSVP.

Image: Sam Weber, The Crow Proce, 2010.

The New York Press profiled recent graduate Matt Barteluce (MFA 2010 Illustration as Visual Essay) for his poster designs for the Manhattan political group Tea Party 365. In addition to making signs for rallies, Barteluce also illustrates cartoons inspired by Tea Party issues under the pseudonym Slim Dodger.

MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Department Chair Marshall Arisman talks about how he transitioned from a saxophone player to a graphic designer to an illustrator in Episode 47 of the Escape From Illustration Island podcast series. Arisman was a guest on the series and his interview will be divided into two podcasts. Click here to listen to part one.

Russian police detective Arkady Renko investigates the death of a prostitute found in a trailer parked in Moscow’s Komsomol Square in Martin Cruz Smith’s latest novel, Three Stations (Simon & Schuster, 2010). Alumnus and BFA Illustration and Cartooning Department faculty member Stephen Savage (MFA 1996 Illustration as Visual Essay) illustrated the cover of the Sunday, August 15, New York Times Book Review to accompany a review of the thriller.

See Savage’s original illustration below, and click here to view the Book Review cover.

Telling the story of a girl who dresses up as a witch for Halloween and tries to fly, the children’s book Only a Witch Can Fly is illustrated by alumnus Taeeun Yoo (MFA 2005 Illustration as Visual Essay). Yoo’s linoleum-block-print illustrations use a muted palette of green, brown, orange and black, and earned her the 2010 Ezra Jack Keats Award for New Illustrator. Presented by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation and the New York Public Library, the awards are given to one writer and one illustrator each year.

In describing her personal philosophy, illustrator and alumnus You Byun (MFA 2009 Illustration as Visual Essay) tells Communication Arts, “The nature of truth is often double-sided and fickle; I create images that show conflicting moods (bliss and sadness, abundance and quiet), that reflect that duality.” In an interview with the magazine, Byun discusses her first paid illustration assignments and how she deals with creative block.

Image: Communication Arts Web site.

From President Barack Obama to musician Kurt Cobain, alumnus Hanoch Piven (BFA 1992 Graphic Design) has created collage-style caricatures of famous people using everyday objects that reflect the person’s character. Piven spoke with fellow alumnus and SVA faculty member Yuko Shimizu (MFA 2003 Illustration as Visual Essay) in Illustration Friday about the caricatures, including the first one he completed while at SVA: Saddam Hussein, with a line of matches forming his mustache. Piven also has a DIY variant of the caricatures available as an iPhone app.

Piven’s work was included in the exhibition “The Wilde Years: Four Decades of Shaping Visual Culture” at the Visual Arts Gallery in fall 2009.

SVA took home the School of the Year award at the ADC 89th Annual Awards Ceremony, hosted by the Art Directors Club (ADC), an international organization for creatives in integrated media. The award was given to the school with the most cumulative ADC Cubes won across all categories, and SVA tied with Miami Ad School for the honor.

A number of SVA students were recognized individually for their projects. Alumnus and current MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Department student Jungyeon Roh (BFA 2009 Illustration) won a Gold Cube in the Illustration category for her book Today is Sushi Day. Bronze Cubes were awarded to Alex Sunyoung Koo (BFA 2009 Advertising) and Julissa Ortiz (BFA 2009 Advertising)  in Collateral Advertising; and to Wesley Gott, a current student in the MFA Design Department, for Television and Cinema Design. Jang Cho (BFA 2010 Advertising), Marianna D’Annunzio (BFA 2010 Advertising), Sungkwon Ha (BFA 2009 Advertising) and Eunjung Yoo (BFA 2010 Graphic Design) also received Merit awards for their advertising and design submissions.

The awards ceremony took place on Wednesday, May 19, at the SVA Theatre, 333 West 23 Street. Cubes were presented by top industry professionals including Richard Wilde, chair of the BFA Advertising and Graphic Design Department. SVA students, alumni and faculty were also featured in the Art Directors Annual 88.

Image: Jungyeon Roh, from Today is Sushi Day, 2008.

• The Fathers Are Coming Home (Margaret K. McElderry, 2010) is the latest children’s book illustrated by alumnus and BFA Illustration and Cartooning Department faculty member Stephen Savage (MFA 1996 Illustration as Visual Essay). The book, with text from a posthumously discovered manuscript by Goodnight Moon author Margaret Wise Brown, tells the story of a sailor returning to his son after being away at war. Alongside the human story, Savage and Brown show the universal nature of the emotional connections between parent and child as a number of animal and insect fathers also come home to their children.
• Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight, the 2009 feature documentary about longtime SVA faculty member and current Acting Chairman Milton Glaser, is now available on DVD (New Video Group, 2010). Directed by Wendy Keys, the film looks at the life and work of the iconic designer and includes interviews with alumnus Deborah Adler (MFA 2002 Design) and MFA Design Department Co-chair Steven Heller. In addition to the full-length documentary, the DVD also includes a panel discussion about Design of Dissent, a book co-authored by Glaser and fellow faculty member Mirko Ilic.
• Sharon Lee Levine’s (BFA 1981 Animation) self-published book The Perfect Raindrop is an environmentally themed story that moves across the planet and universe with 26 full-color illustrations. The Perfect Raindrop is available directly from the author at stores.lulu.com/theperfectraindrop.

In addition to their coursework and thesis projects, students in the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Department have been busy this semester contributing illustrations to some of New York City’s most popular magazines. The Goings On About Town section of the April 26 issue of The New Yorker featured an illustration of the band Kings Go Forth by Andrew Roberts. Jonathan Bartlett contributed an illustration to a recent Op-Ed piece in the April 24 The New York Times. Bartlett’s black-and-white drawing of a Boy Scout ensconced in a bell jar accompanies Paul Theroux’s portrait of the Scouts and a call for change in the organization’s current procedures. And the April 22 issue of Time Out New York featured an illustration by Will Varner in its Photo Finish section, in which an illustrator adds to a reader-submitted photo. (Other students and graduates from the department have also created work for this section of the magazine, including current students Nathan Bulmer, Christopher Darling and Brendan Leach; 2009 graduates Josh Bayer, Joanna Neborsky, Rich Tu and Edwin Vazquez; and 2008 graduates Dunja Jankovic and Sophia Wiedeman.)

For those looking for an opportunity to see work by all 19 students graduating from the department this May, the exhibition “Selections from Thesis Projects in the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Department” will have a reception on Tuesday, May 4, 6 – 8pm.  The show brings together books, figurative paintings, comic books and narrative series, and is curated by faculty member David Sandlin. “Selections” runs from April 30 – May 15 at the Visual Arts Gallery, 601 West 26th Street, 15th floor.

Image: Jonathan Bartlett, Follies, mixed media; from “Selections from Thesis Projects in the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Department”