News and Media

Article By: Amanda Tower
Published: Mar 4, 2009

The American Craft Council invited the Savannah College of Art and Design and Virginia Commonwealth University to participate in its School to Market program at the council's Wholesale Show in Baltimore, Feb. 24-26.

The program helps bridge the gap between educational programs and the marketplace for sculptural and functional craft. Students from the SCAD fibers, furniture design and metals and jewelry departments designed and constructed a booth and curated their work for the show.

The incredible opportunity gave students a first-hand experience in booth design, installation and speaking about their work to the public with the intention of generating work for the wholesale market.

Students in the exhibition design minor designed the booth, choosing materials for its construction and aesthetic ingredients, such color scheme and layout. Participating students are Megan Shaggott, Gunter Watkins, Laura Shoenthaler, Shannon Slane, Isabel Posse, Ryan Maxey and Jenny Chu.

Furniture design M.F.A. candidate Chuck Heydinger, also shop monitor for the department, was instrumental in constructing the booth, which showcased, along with other students' work, his brightly colored, silicone wall clocks.

Other students who participated in the project are: fibers M.F.A. candidates Karin Soderholm and Andrea Gray; furniture design M.F.A. candidate Jonathan Anderson; metals and jewelry M.F.A. candidates Baiyang Qiu and Ashley Warsaw; undergraduate fibers students Ashley Cole, Allyson Burke, Kay Wolfersperger, Ashleigh Spurlock, Kendall Glover, Despina Papadeas, Beth Kane, David Frank and Gabriela Nazario; undergraduate furniture design students Tucker Waugh, Katie Whitaker, Natalie Stoppelli, Nicole Runde, Heather Wenz, David Murphy and Eric Payne; undergraduate metals and jewelry students McKenzie Roth, Adam Mendel, Tirza Soobitsky, Alison Bear, Brittany Isenberg and Debbie Pancake; Elizabeth Fryman (B.F.A., furniture, 2008) and Wei Hsin.