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Outstanding Alumnus: Jahil Nelson
Jahil Nelson pursued two lifelong passions at the Savannah College of Art and Design: art and baseball. Growing up in Northern California, he attended an experimental middle school that emphasized art and computer programming education. Throughout high school, Nelson continued to study what was then strictly analog video, and created animation by way of flipbooks. He arrived in Savannah with a strong background in video technology at the beginning of the digital age.
"Some schools are either solely tech- or theory-based; I chose SCAD because I had the impression that it was the most complete combination of both, and it was." Nelson got a front-row seat at SCAD to see the convergence of video editing, graphic design and animation into the computer. "I got my first real sense of this reality during my second year at SCAD when they brought in the first Avid systems," Nelson said. Avid was the first system to introduce modern concepts in nonlinear editing, such as timeline editing and clip bins. "I had a chance to be part of the first generation that really understood this."
"After that, I could not get enough," Nelson continued. "I learned the Avid system (editing), picked up Illustrator (design), enhanced my Photoshop skills and learned After Effects (animation) [at SCAD]. Of course, it’s not just about the software, but the basic principle of art and what these tools can do to enhance your creative energy." Nelson backed his already advanced technical knowledge with classes in color theory and 3-D design, which he says raised his level of artistry. "SCAD was the first environment where I was immersed in an artist community," Nelson said.
Jahil Nelson (B.F.A., film and television, 1998), Gangs of London, Maya, 2006.
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In addition to his studies, Nelson played first base for the Bees from 1994-98 and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film and television. Following graduation, he landed a job in San Francisco as a postproduction coordinator/Avid engineer for CNET Television, which formerly produced news shows for the SciFi channel and the USA and NBC networks. After six months, Nelson decided he wanted to explore the artistic side of the industry and took a job doing motion graphics and compositing for commercials for Total Media.
In 2000 Nelson moved on to an editor position at Sony PlayStation in San Diego, Calif., editing and creating cinematic effects for video games. Since then, he’s worked his way up to compositor, project lead and, most recently, postproduction supervisor. Nelson leads a team of more than 20 people and is responsible for overseeing the production of games and marketing videos.
"My job's mostly about bridging the gap between creative-minded artists and the technology in the daily process used to make these high-end productions," Nelson said. "I am constantly switching between the left and right sides of my brain, whereas the teams I manage and work with tend to be one or the other."
Nelson attributes his well-rounded abilities to his training at SCAD. "Every project is different; sometimes I fill the creative gaps and sometimes I deal with logistics, but it is the passion for the work that I developed at SCAD that allows me to see my team through any challenge with positive enthusiasm."
In 2004, Nelson and his team filmed, edited and produced a 30-second promo for NFL GameDay in an unprecedented two-week timeline for a project that would normally run three months. The spot featured animated versions of Dan Marino, Deion Sanders, Jim Nantz and Boomer Esiason, and aired during Super Bowl XXXVIII. "I am the one reminding people that creating something is always supposed to be fun even when it is very challenging," Nelson said. "I think about the collaborative and nurturing environment I had at SCAD and try to pass this on in my everyday work."
"In an industry that is full of tech-savvy people, it has been my general sense of good design that has often set me apart," Nelson said. "SCAD gave me everything I needed to hit the ground running. By the time I graduated, I had thousands of hours of experience with cameras and editing systems, as well as solid experience in real production environments."
Other game credits include "Socom" I-III, "MLB" 2004–06, "Warhawk," "Lair" and "NBA" for PlayStation 3, "Killzone" for PlayStation Portable, "ATV Offroad Fury" 1–3, "God of War," marketing for "Sly Cooper" and "Locco Rocco" and branding for PlayStation 3. Nelson recently finished a shoot with Kobe Bryant for Sony's new NBA game on PS2, PSP and PS3. He and his team are in preproduction for spots for the new "Socom" games on PSP and PS2, as well as compositing aspects of "Lair" for PS3. He lives in San Diego.
Outstanding Alumna: Lisa M. Robinson
Lisa M. Robinson (M.F.A., photography, 1999)
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Different disciplines of art always intrigued Savannah native Lisa Robinson, although she said she never gave much thought to pursuing it as a career. Photography was something she continued to dabble in after taking a high school photo class taught by the late Jack Leigh, author of five photography books and known for his commissioned portrait of the "Bird Girl" statue for the cover of New York Times bestseller "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil."
"Art was something I always did to maintain my mental sanity," Robinson said. "It was something I did for myself in college and even after college." She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Columbia University in New York, and the arts remained a secondary interest. Following college, Robinson headed to New Orleans as a Teach for America Corps member, where she taught second grade for three years and then high school English.
Robinson had a revelation of sorts after her best friend asked her what she loved about teaching. "I think it's the yearbook," she answered. "I love the photography." Robinson and her student yearbook staff resurrected the school's darkroom and produced around 85 percent of the black and white photos. "The students loved it," Robinson said. "I loved it."
Lisa M. Robinson (M.F.A., photography, 1999), Winter Pool, chromogenic print, 2003.
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Robinson headed to Argentina in 1995 and took many photographs during the last two weeks of her stay. She headed back to Savannah, unsure about her teaching career, and enrolled at SCAD as a nondegree seeking student in photography.
It was love at first sight. "Photography was a realm I knew little about, but I wanted to know more, so I kept taking classes," Robinson said. Once she decided to pursue a master's degree in photography, Robinson chose to stay at SCAD and continue the relationships she'd built with the students and faculty. "I realized everything I wanted was right in front of me," Robinson said. "I believe the breadth and depth and challenge of my SCAD education would surpass that of any other graduate school in the country."
After earning an M.F.A. in photography in 1999, Robinson headed back to Argentina on a Fulbright Scholarship to teach workshops and make more photographs. Robinson credits her time at SCAD with building a strong foundation for her work that reaches beyond technical training.
"My experiences at SCAD rooted me in the important things: in making work that comes from a personal place, in embracing the community that surrounds photography, in persisting through difficulty in order to achieve long-term goals and in being a sincere person while doing it," Robinson said.
The SCAD photography faculty, many of whom Robinson counts among her dearest friends, left a lasting impression on her and her style of photography. "I think the professors who taught me and guided me are constantly manifesting themselves in my work, primarily through their extraordinary standard for quality," Robinson said. "The SCAD photo faculty always felt like a family to me, and that sensation really connected me to the medium and its history in ways that continue to feed me."
Lisa M. Robinson (M.F.A., photography, 1999), Winter Pool, chromogenic print, 2003.
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Upon her return to Savannah in 2000, she taught photography at SCAD, and then headed back to New York in 2001 where she currently lives and works. For the past five winters, Robinson has been photographing in the snow.
Growing up in the South, she developed a fascination with snow because of its absence in her life. "When I moved up to New York for college, snow was a magical thing," Robinson said. "When I moved back to New York as a photographer it was a completely different thing. In 2002 I was traveling through upstate New York; I began making photographs in the snow, and I made images I had never seen before."
The images Robinson produced reminded her of Japanese ink drawings, and she found herself wanting to continue exploring the mystique surrounding snow. Her snow photographs attempt to create visual poetry by observing and capturing ordinary objects in her environment.
Robinson’s solo exhibition "Snowbound," a body of work that has evolved over the last five years, is making stops in Savannah, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Denmark and Argentina.
"I seek out the signs we leave behind in the landscape, and hope to reveal something of ourselves in the process," Robinson said.
Article by Emily Green
