When alumnus Jon Gosier returned to SCAD Savannah in early February to be a judge at StartUp 2022, it was a homecoming over two decades in the making. It was also a moment of confluence, as the serial entrepreneur's newest venture, a fin-tech company called FilmHedge, was recently awarded backing by SCADpro Fund.

"I like to share knowledge," says Gosier (B.F.A., sequential art), "and I enjoy addressing the business challenges people face that I think I can solve."

With FilmHedge, Gosier has created a company that is both a marketplace for film investors and a database of financial information. FilmHedge allows filmmakers to use debt to finance their films, while providing investment partners with opportunities to earn passive income from media lending. "By answering questions of efficiency and trust on the investor side, we make it easier for filmmakers to gain necessary access to capital," Gosier explains.

"FilmHedge is the first time where all my passions, skills, and interests have aligned: it's finance, it's media, it's tech. One of the biggest challenges for young filmmakers is rarely do they learn the financing side. Because that's a critical piece, it sets a lot of people back. I get to remove a complex barrier that they often don't know how to solve."

"Providing SCADpro funding to FilmHedge was something we went into without hesitation," says SCADpro Fund director Ray Crowell. "What Jon previously created with companies like Audigent demonstrates how far ahead he is of the competitive media curve. The fact that he is also a deeply empathetic speaker, writer, and leader makes him a perfect fit."

Conversation with Gosier is wind-ranging and edifying. He speaks of his post-collegiate days in Atlanta working as a sound engineer for everyone from Tyler Perry to André 3000, then details the years he spent living in Kampala, Uganda, where he founded the tech consultancy known as Appfrica.

While in Africa, Gosier, a prolific blogger, received an email from tech entrepreneur Angela Benton (M.F.A., graphic design, 2007). At the time, neither Benton nor Gosier knew that the other had attended SCAD. But after Gosier moved back to Atlanta in 2017, Benton mentioned that SCADpro Fund had backed her new venture Streamlytics. Gosier's own SCADpro Fund experience was on the near event horizon. In storytelling terms, this was Jon and SCAD's callback moment.

In 1998, after graduating from Cedar Grove High School in Ellenwood, near Atlanta, Gosier enrolled at SCAD Savannah to study sequential art. "SCAD did a great job bringing leaders from the comic book industry in to review student portfolios. The artist Joe Quesada came and complimented my work while giving me honest criticism. I realized I wasn't all-in with drawing, but I knew I couldn't give up storytelling."

Fastforward to StartUp 2020, when Gosier listened to dozens of pitches from SCAD student teams for products and services that served needs in the marketplace. It was the storytelling component of those pitches that, in Gosier's estimation, proved a key differential.

"At first I thought the students had been working on these projects all year, but no—most of them were created within a couple weeks, and they'd also being doing this during midterms. Their pitches were deeply impressive, and made me reflect on my own foundational SCAD experience," Gosier says.

"I'm happy to be part of what SCADpro is doing, both for FilmHedge, and for the new generation of SCAD students. I love SCAD. The SCAD ethos of creativity has guided me throughout my life."

Photo: Bret Hartman.

Benny Goldberg is redefining "peak" performance.

Goldberg (B.F.A., industrial design) has won the Global Footwear Award 2022 in Sports Performance, student division. His winning design, The Street Hiker, featuring colorways inspired by U.S. National Parks, is "designed to be worn by fashion and streetwear enthusiasts as they explore the urban world."

"I set my alarm and woke up in the middle of the night to check the announcement," Benny says, with a mixture of pride and disbelief. "To win is so sick."

The highest global recognition for ground-breaking footwear designs, the Global Footwear Awards acknowledge both professional and emerging designers. Goldberg's design was selected by an impressive panel of judges, including shoe designers, product managers, and style editors from powerhouses like Puma, Adidas, Hugo Boss, and British GQ.

Benny began designing his boot in The Development of Product Form (IDUS 250) with Professor Rafael Corazza in Spring 2021. As Benny recalls: "The project prompt was a mood board with luxury hiking gear. Some [of my classmates] designed flashlights, water bottles, and backpacks. I focused on footwear because that's my passion."

Benny sketched a boot with a rocky midsole, extending his concept to a plastic heel cup "like a mountain on the back." He transferred early iPad sketches into Rhino and kept working.

"I saw Balenciaga and other companies making hiking-type boots, but people don't really wear them to go hiking," Benny says. "My idea was to bring the mountain to the street, so you're literally walking on a mountain range as you walk down the street."

Benny rendered the Street Hiker in Keyshot, selecting colorways eye-dropped from photographs of Glacier National, Yosemite, and the Grand Canyon. He refined his design and its presentation in Fall 2021, in Portfolio and Resumé Development (IDUS 316) with Professor Paul McGroary.

"From the beginning of portfolio class, Benny had a strong vision of what he wanted to achieve, and he worked tirelessly to make that happen," McGroary says. "He took chances, made wonderful mistakes, and developed. The result is an edgy set of deliverables that ooze design poise and professionalism."

"Designing a shoe is really fun because it's problem solving," Benny says. "You know what you want it to look like, you've done the sketches, but getting the shapes to work, getting the lofts and lines to come together, that's the challenge."

Were Benny solely focused on academic projects, his Global Footwear win would be impressive. Yet this artist-athlete is also the starting goaltender for the SCAD men's lacrosse team, whose season is now in full swing.

Growing up playing lacrosse and ice hockey in and around Birmingham, Michigan, Benny says he always felt like something of an outsider—until his parents sent him to Savannah for SCAD Summer Seminars, the pre-college program for high school students.

"My Summer Seminar experience changed me," Benny says. "From that moment I owned the fact that I wanted to do art. SCAD has always felt like home to me."

Witness Benny's fresh portfolio here,

and come see him protect the net this Saturday, Feb. 26,

as SCAD men's lacrosse takes on Point University at the SCAD Athletics complex.

"SCAD is a family, especially for students from abroad," says foundation studies professor Fatemeh Hosseini (M.A., motion media design, 2019). "Think about leaving your culture and country, not knowing what will happen. I made that decision when I came to SCAD as a student. Now when I tell students that I'm sharing the journey they're going through, it resonates."

On a rainy Friday afternoon, Hosseini is sitting upstairs in Foxy Loxy after class at Arnold Hall. As she resets her coffee cup in its saucer, she is not intentionally being gestural, but there is an inherent sense of emphasis in her action. For this artist-educator, life is not a rehearsal.

When Fatemeh came to SCAD as a graduate student in 2015, she already held a master's degree in painting from Alzahra University in Tehran, Iran; had taught drawing, painting, and sculpting classes at Moon Gallery in Karaj; and worked as a commissioned artist in municipal beautification projects in major Iranian cities including Mashhad and Tehran.

"I grew up in Iran in a supportive family of artists, where much of my drive and inspiration was formed," she says. "That life experience now helps me. I'm teaching from my heart."

"Fatemeh is an artist who is dedicated and diligent, and I admire her passion for study and eagerness for aesthetic expression," says SCAD motion media professor Minho Shin, who taught Hosseini in Motion Media Design Techniques II (MOME 206), where she created a stunning promotional film for the VGIK International Film Festival.

While pursuing her master's at SCAD, Fatemeh also earned two College Reading and Learning Association (CRLA) certifications, enabling her to work as a mentor and tutor for SCAD students, and setting the stage for her joining SCAD faculty in Fall 2021.

This academic year, Professor Hosseini is teaching Drawing for Storyboarding (DRAW 206) and Storyboarding Essentials (DSGN 208). These foundation studies courses are primarily for students who will go on to major in film and television and animation—disciplines where Hosseini herself has achieved award-winning excellence.

"Being a SCAD professor is wonderful. When I am teaching, it's an ongoing conversation about film, filmmaking, storytelling, and shot design. In a class of 20 students, these are 20 individuals with 20 different ways of storytelling creating 20 different storyboards. I design my syllabus in a way that covers everything that they need to know. In every classroom session I teach, I demonstrate, I give students time to work on their assignment, and I give them feedback, one-on-one.

"In the time that I've been here, I've seen the consciousness of SCAD students grow. That's because of how hardworking the faculty is—professors helping students any way they can."

As her coffee cools, Fatemeh continues to exude warmth. "I tell my students, the purpose is not to be famous, it's to express life itself and speak of the truth. That's the true definition of happiness. Happiness is there for the artist as long as they're involved in creation, to make the world a better place."

See more at fatemehosseini.com.

View her "Blind Drawing, Bold Imagination" workshop, designed while a gradute student at SCAD. 

StartUp is a week-long design challenge, led by the SCAD user experience design club known as FLUX and supported by the SCADpro collaborative design studio. Now in its eighth year, StartUp continues to foster entrepreneurship and collaborative design thinking between students from over 30 different academic majors.

This year, close to 95 teams drawn from over 300 students are competing Feb. 4-11 for over 40K in cash prizes. Over the course of the week, students are able to interact with industry guests and alumni mentors from companies including IBM, Google, Zillow, Mailchimp, and TikTok Creative Lab.

On the ultimate day, with final judging underway, StartUp student directors Lara Felderspiel (B.F.A., user experience design) and Amadeus Cameron (B.F.A., user experience design) found time to talk. What follows is a condensed version of that conversation.

Lara Felderspiel: I directed StartUp last year with Savannah Wilkinson (B.F.A., user experience design). This year, I knew I couldn't do it alone, and Amadeus and I had worked together for an alumni app designer named Joe Kennedy (B.F.A., user experience design, 2018). I knew Amadeus would be a great partner.

Amadeus Cameron: At the time, it was a big question: "Would you be interested in being the new co-director?" It was affirming to be asked to put together this massive event.

LF: All the StartUp outreach was student-led, including deciding who we wanted as the mentors and judges. Finding sponsorship means we're able to print t-shirts and bags and offer prizes. This year our sponsors are Gulfstream and Savannah Economic Development Authority (SEDA).

AC: StartUp means connecting students with leading industry professionals as much as possible. These are leaders of companies, and when they get an awesome pitch from a student, they ask, "Can I see their portfolio?" We're facilitating that level of contact and potential hiring opportunities.

LF: This year's StartUp theme is "Where do we go from here?" We really wanted to dive into moments in history that impacted the whole world, and how we can build from there. When the iPhone was introduced, it changed tech, and human connection. We wanted to focus on research and applying it to the future.

AC: And we wanted students to look at their own past and ask the question, "How was I affected?" I grew up in the suburbs of Nashville, without a way to get to town, a bike was too dangerous, and sometimes I felt trapped. How can we make the suburb-to-city experience more accessible for kids?

LF: The judges listen to 12 to 15 pitches and pick one to advance to the final. Each pitch is four minutes long, plus a four-minute question and answer session with the judges.

AC: The prompt is wide-angle and open-ended, and as a result the judges are seeing so many different views of how our students work.

LF: Later this afternoon, everyone comes back together for a Zoom call, and we'll announce the finalists, and then they present in front of 500 or so people on Zoom. The judges will break out, make their decision, and we'll present first, second and third places, plus Fan Favorite, and our new MVP Award. It's exciting!

AC: Passion counts!

StartUp student directors Lara Felderspiel (left) and Amadeus Cameron.

Follow StartUp on Instagram to see the announcement of the winners!

"What techniques can you use to elevate your own storytelling?" asks Kwame Nyong'o, professor of animation. "How can you subvert traditional tropes, alter structure, and get deeper into your characters' personalities to make them more interesting and complex?"

Recognizable around Montgomery Hall for his radiant dashikis and quick smile, Professor Nyong'o joined SCAD faculty in Fall 2021, after two decades living and creating in Nairobi, Kenya. There, he worked on projects ranging from UNESCO's Africa Animated! Program to the beloved Disney Channel series Tinga Tinga Tales. Last year, he directed the UN Environment-sponsored film "The Wonderful Story of Aisha, Ali and Flipflopi the Multicoloured Dhow Boat"—the first-ever Kenyan short to be selected for Annecy International Animated Film Festival.

This acclaimed storyteller could have remained in East Africa's cosmopolitan capital, but as he says, "My wife and I thought it would be interesting for our children to live in the States if the opportunity arose." A message in early 2020 from SCAD senior faculty recruiter Nick Oji (who Nyong'o calls "an amazing dynamic fellow") led to Zoom conversations with SCAD chair of animation Chris Gallagher and associate chair John Webber.

"From those initial discussions, I felt the positive sense that everyone here is on the same team," Nyong'o says. "My colleagues went out of their way to talk to me, and as I heard and read about the philosophy and culture of SCAD, I understood the university as a place that embodies the values I believe in." Finally, Nyong'o says, "My wife, Wanzilu, who is open-minded and super intelligent, is the one who actually said, ‘Let's move to Savannah.'"

SCAD chair of animation Chris Gallagher is delighted by the department's new addition: "Kwame is an outstanding professor who adds a unique style and perspective to enrich our students' lives. He has worked extensively across almost every role in animation, which means he is equipped to push our students to create art to their highest potential—the level they need to reach to be truly successful."

In his inaugural SCAD academic year, Nyong'o is teaching a gamut of courses including Core Principles of Animated Storytelling and Concept Development (ANIM 275), Collaborative Experiences: 2D Production Pipeline (ANIM 372), and Animation Aesthetics and Practice (ANIM 705). "One of the things I emphasize is how to take something from your own experience, your own cultural background, and infuse that into your storytelling," he says.

An author of note, Nyong'o has written and illustrated an acclaimed series of children's books "showcasing the positive side of life in Kenya, with regular kids with normal challenges. My intention is for kids outside Kenya to see people in Kenya living their lives. It's nice that the books have been popular in Kenya too."

Should his surname seem familiar, it's not a coincidence. Professor Nyong'o is cousins with Oscar-winning actor Lupita Nyong'o. (Kwame: "I don't think my students at SCAD know we're related. Maybe I'll ask her pop up sometime via Zoom to say hello!") Kwame also mentions his brother Tavia ("a big-time professor at Yale") as nudging him towards the fruits of academic life.

"My teaching instinct goes back to my grandfather, Canon Hesbon Nyong'o," Kwame says. "Originally from the western Kenya, he was one of the first English-speaking people from his part of the country. His value was that education is important and teaching is the best thing you can do. I'm happy to be doing that here now at SCAD."

Visit Kwame Nyong'o.

SCAD is proud to announce the formation of new multidisciplinary studio course Design for Good, an initiative of the university's community service design studio, SCAD SERVE. The ten-week courses engage students' creative brilliance to generate elevated, community-centered solutions aimed at making a difference in the university's hometown communities of Atlanta and Savannah.

For the inaugural Design for Good course, SCAD SERVE aligned with Sweet Auburn Works, an Atlanta non-profit organization dedicated to preserving, revitalizing, and promoting the commercial and cultural legacy of the Sweet Auburn Historic District. Sweet Auburn Works approached SCAD to collaborate on a multi-faceted implementation project reimagining and elevating the neighborhood's commercial corridor, while paying homage to its rich cultural legacy. Drawing from the university's global reputation for preservation, adaptive reuse, and historic revitalization, SCAD conceived the Design for Good course within SCAD SERVE, inspired by the university's forty-plus-years of uplifting community neighbors in need.

Launched in Fall 2021, SCAD SERVE Design for Good brought together students from the university's top-ranked degree programs in Atlanta and Savannah to research and formulate design solutions for two of Sweet Auburn Works' keystone initiatives: the newly launched SPARK Innovation Lab, and famed neighborhood institution Sweet Auburn Bread Company and its owner and pastry chef, Sonya Jones.

For the Sweet Auburn Bread Company project, SCAD students conducted an entrepreneur and business assessment, then formulated a strategy providing Chef Sonya with recommendations for storefront buildout, interior bakery redesign, marketing and branding, and visual communication strategy to help Sweet Auburn Bread Company reach new heights. The inventive and inspiring business design solutions developed by SCAD students will be formally implemented by Sweet Auburn Bread Company in the coming months.

SCAD SERVE's Design for Good curriculum, in partnership with Sweet Auburn Works, will continue throughout the 2022 academic year as SCAD students produce innovative design solutions to support the continued development of the SPARK Innovation Lab, a hybrid community/retail/office space intent on supporting local entrepreneurs housed in the renowned historic Odd Fellows Building at 220 Auburn Avenue.

"SCAD SERVE concentrates SCAD's considerable design-for-good actions with purpose and intention," said Dean Ballas, Senior Executive Director of Design for Good. "Students engaged in our Design for Good courses exemplify verve, design expertise, and academic prowess via incredibly meaningful solutions that improve quality of life. The impactful outcomes of the Sweet Auburn Works' SPARK Innovation Lab and Sweet Auburn Bread Company Design for Good courses are two notable examples of SCAD's community-focused design-for-good philosophy in action."

Designated a National Historic Neighborhood, Auburn Avenue in the heart of downtown Atlanta was home to Atlanta's highly prosperous Black community and businesses, financial institutions, churches and entertainment venues from the 1920s to 1950s. A cornerstone of the Black community, Atlanta civil rights leader John Wesley Dobbs—known as the unofficial mayor of Auburn Avenue—often commented that the street was paved in gold and affectionately dubbed the district "Sweet Auburn," a moniker that lives on today.

In addition to the neighborhood's home as the city's Black entrepreneurial and entertainment epicenter, Sweet Auburn is cemented as an iconic place in American history as the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, who was raised in the community along with many other civic, religious, and business leaders who have shaped Atlanta and the New South. Over time, the neighborhood fell victim to depopulation and disinvestment, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 to help protect its legacy. Despite the designation, Sweet Auburn has recently been identified as one of America's Most Endangered Historic Sites.

"The resurgence of Sweet Auburn will be guided by creativity, talent, empathy and an insistence on excellence," said LeJuano Varnell, Executive Director of Sweet Auburn Works. "Those are also guiding principles that the young professionals from SCAD's Design for Good courses have brought to the community."

Bank of America is an integral partner in the revitalization efforts of the Sweet Auburn neighborhood, by providing grants of up to $25,000 per business to local entrepreneurs through the Sweet Auburn Works Accelerator Fund. This grant is part of the company's five-year, $1.25 billion commitment to advance economic opportunity by supporting minority entrepreneurs.

Through SCAD SERVE's Design for Good course, SCAD students and faculty will continue to collaborate with Sweet Auburn Works and the neighborhood's vital flagship entrepreneurial ventures. The ongoing design projects continue to pay tribute to the strength of Atlanta's Black history, create conditions for a more equitable future, and pave the way for Sweet Auburn's rebirth and next generation.

For more information visit SCAD SERVE.

SCAD Atlanta student Linxin "April" Lu (M.F.A., advertising) has been awarded first place ($5,000 prize) at the Student Shark Tank competition at the Global Wellness Summit, for her idea for Sveeet, a portable saliva test for diabetic youth. Shaped like a fortune cookie, Sveeet is a concept device intended to use biocensors able to detect glucose levels. Lu accepted the award after presenting at the summit, held in Boston in December 2021.

In addition to April, the Sveeet project group included SCAD Atlanta students Zhentao "Evens" Xia (M.F.A., advertising), Yuxin "Elle" Yi (M.F.A., advertising), and Yuting "Tibo" Zhu (M.F.A., advertising). The students were guided by advertising professor Gauri Misra-Deshpande during graduate coursework culminating in the project.

"These SCAD Atlanta advertising students are prepared to create product ideas within the multi-billion-dollar wellness innovation industry," Misra-Deshpande said. "They are taught to understand market, audience, brand needs, and how to create a story that resonates with all stakeholders."

The students developed Sveeet in a virtual setting in 2021; they were grouped by professor Misra-Deshpande out of time-zone necessity, conducting their work live while in China. (All four students have since returned to in-person, on-ground learning in Atlanta.) 

"The diligent Sveeet team worked virtually from different cities in China," confirms Misra-Deshpande. "They and their class focused on audience definition, empathy mapping, product design exercises, and storytelling. Students with language and cultural diversity were guided through wellness market landscape and innovation paradigms to conceptualize solutions."

April prepared with SCADamp associate director and communication coach Greg Skura prior to her presentation on stage in Boston. The Shark Tank of Wellness awards were judged by Frank Pitsikalis, founder and CEO, ResortSuite; Amir Alroy, co-founder, Welltech Ventures; Karen Ballou, founder & CEO, Immunocologie Skincare, and Mia Kyricos, Chief Love Officer, Kyricos & Associates.

April Lu: "Because the Global Wellness Summit allowed one person on stage, I presented. As a team, we were all responsible for different roles: I was responsible for the video, Evens took charge of the digital prototype and 3D modeling, Tibo was in charge of branding, and Elle was in charge of research. Once we had our key selling point, we wrote a creative brief and went from there."

For the Sveeet team, connecting over Zoom was a daily activity. Unsurprisingly, when it came time to discuss her Global Wellness win with SCADworks, April coordinated her three other Sveeet team members for a video chat where they offered insights into their process, and reactions to the award.

Elle Yi: "With the focus on global wellness, we started with the realization that some of our own family members are diabetic, so we decided to focus on the blood sugar problem. The first part of our research was into the many products that already exist, and how it's gone beyond having to prick your finger into testing with saliva. So, we focused on designing a device that would do that."

Evens Xia: "As a group, we did a lot of prototyping to refine the idea. We changed the shape many times, until we settled on the curvy fortune cookie shape that we knew will appeal to children."

Tibo Zhu: "When we thought about branding, we knew the product would be the same worldwide, but it would have to be branded and advertised differently in different countries and cultures."

Linxin Lu: "Sveeet has the tagline 'The best is yet to come' and I was having difficulty pronouncing it.  I worked with our SCADamp coach Greg on that until I was comfortable saying it in competition. I was still nervous, but I realized I need to be ambitious when I speak English."

Evens: "She did a great job presenting the work, showing our idea, and expressing the emotions of the product. Sveeet is a concept that has real potential to be developed into a product in the global marketplace."

Congratulations to SCAD Atlanta student Rui Wang (M.F.A., advertising) who won second place ($2,500) at this year's Global Wellness Summit for his idea, a circadian-sensitive sleep skylight called Sora.

"Architecture needs to be more human," says Mateo Mantilla (M.Arch; B.F.A., architecture, 2020). "'Human' means designed for people, for health, for well-being. It means built environments where we can live better lives together."

Mantilla is the IDA Design Awards 2021 Emerging Architectural Designer of the Year, the latest accolade for this focused phenom. His winning proposal, Terminale Dell'Isola, was developed over two quarters in studio courses under the guidance and leadership of architecture professor Alice Guess. (The project also received the 2021 "Excellence Award" from AIA Georgia.) Working from Guess' prompt, Mantilla designed a new building and mixed-use environment for the relocation of an untenable cruise ship terminal in Venice, Italy.

"Sea level rise is challenging the way we design buildings, and in response, my building is designed to float by applying the same concepts of buoyancy that allow ships to float," Mantilla explains. "When the sea level rises to extreme levels, the building will hover freely. And there is the possibility of expansion through connecting similar modules, creating a floating community."

As tourism contributes to Venice's environmental crisis, cruise ships damage buildings' foundations, and the relationship between Venetians and visitors is exacerbated—issues addressed by Mateo.

"My proposal brings a new opportunity for locals to interact with the tourists," he says. "It presents a courtyard, market, soccer field, park, café, and performance space, creating places for community."

Mantilla's design process combines hand-drawn drafting and digital tools including Rhino ("which gives me freedom to explore shapes and details") and Lumion 3D ("which allows me to visualize and ‘walk through' my design"). This technical skill set is, in Mantilla's hands, beholden to storytelling.

"I begin with an image in my head. If I were to visit this place, what would I like to see people doing? What do I see? What's to my left and to my right? I designed a building resembling an island, showing possible aquatic activities, and how people can interact with the water without necessarily being in it."

What is clear is Mateo's determination to foreground humanity. His debates with professor Guess signify a commitment to questioning parameters to redefine what's possible. This is the student-faculty dynamic as it should be: expansive understanding, not rote execution.

Professor Guess: "Mateo is so bright, he at times needs convincing that there might be additional considerations for him to address. Sometimes I require convincing that his solutions are grounded in good design thinking. It's one of the things that makes Mateo a delight to have in the classroom. He is remarkably well-organized and brings passion to his work. He began by describing how the project had looked in a dream. That level of immersion is what drives Mateo's success."

This spring, Mantilla will complete his Master of Architecture degree. His thesis will focus on designing a neighborhood for his hometown, Bogota, Colombia.

Growing up, Mantilla remembers watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on TV—"I liked the construction, the design, and how much people enjoyed coming home to their new house." As a high school student in an International Baccalaureate program, he encountered SCAD at a college fair. "I applied to SCAD because I saw I would be surrounded by designers. My world has opened up here more than if I had stayed in Colombia."

Now, his work advances the idea that value may have a measure other than the financial, and that architecture can aspire towards egalitarianism.

"Architecture has to add value to the lives of people," Mantilla says. "Architecture is about more than buildings. It's about giving people a better quality of life."

See more of Mateo's work here.

"Growing up, my favorite thing about the newspaper was always the funny pages," says Jeanna Pappas (B.F.A., illustration, 2017; M.F.A., sequential art). "I think I was drawing before I learned how to talk, and in some ways, I haven't changed—give me a pencil and a napkin, and I'll have a good time."

Seated at a sunlit, windowfront table inside Neighborhood Comics in Savannah, Pappas is happy as a cat. Midway through a monthlong in-store residency, the artist can be found three afternoons a week drawing comics, engaging with interested patrons, and showing off fab feline merch: t-shirts, posters, and the newest issues of Jeanna's Mini Cat Comic! and Cat Nap.

In conversation, Pappas correlates a wide swathe of interests and influences, from the banjo stylings of Rhiannon Giddens to shoujo manga series Fruits Basket. Much like the cute comics on display, there's more to this artist than meets the eye.

Jeanna Pappas:

I applied online for the Neighborhood Comics residency and owner Lee Heidel got back to me within 24 hours. Lee said, we want you to be here being friendly, drawing, and speaking to customers. Which is great, because I get to talk to kids who are fascinated to see someone creating comics. One family came in, and the daughter was looking at my handmade cat comic and said to her mother, "Hey my brother always gets something, can I get this?" It was really heartwarming.

I create my comics in a limited palette and print them on toned paper, so they have an old newsprint feel. I print them myself at home, and every issue has a different linocut cover. I stamp them individually and hand-tie the binding with twine. The final product feels great in your hands.

There's something alluring about a page of funny cat antics. There have been cat comics for a long time—Garfield, Fat Freddy's Cat [from the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers], George Herriman's Krazy Kat—I collect all the cat comics I can. I'll write my master's thesis expanding on the existing scholarship of the history of cat comics.

When I graduated from Greenwich High School, I came to SCAD and started studying game development. I loved game design and 3D design, but realized I had to be more tactile with my practice. I switched my major to illustration, with a scientific illustration minor. Professor Kristie Bruzenak taught me gestalt principles and continuation theory. She showed how art nouveau pieces contain geometry—Fibonacci sequences, perfect circles, radiating lines. Even in decorative art, there's science.

I graduated in 2017 and decided to stay in Savannah. I was working at Planet Fun and around comics all day. I was still wondering, what's my trajectory? At the time I'd illustrated my first book, Tea With Death, by the poet Abigail Wildes, and had found my niche making illustrations in ink. I wanted to gain more technical ability and learn storytelling, so I decided to pursue my master's degree in sequential art.

This quarter I'm taking Writing for Sequential Art (SEQA 745) with professor Mark Kneece, writing a comic book script. I love writing and delivering zingers, but I was nervous about longform storytelling. Professor Kneece told me to write a story I want to read, and now I have a pitch about an all-girl biker gang who sweeps up another girl who doesn't necessarily want to be on the adventure but has a special skill….

I'm committed to having fun with comics. People today scroll through Instagram and look at images, and it shows that the short-form comic format endures, even on smart phones. Now you've got the four panel Instagram layout, but it's the same concept. The comic strip is doing just fine.

Put your cat mask on and come meet Jeanna at Neighborhood Comics!

SCAD has launched the new SCAD School of Business Innovation, which strategically incorporates a diverse array of top-ranked academic programs focused on preparing creative professionals to lead transformative change across key industries.

"For more than 40 years, SCAD has reinvented itself in service of our mission to prepare students for creative professions, always focused on the future," said SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace. "We changed the game for R&D with SCADpro, our innovation studio where students work directly with the world's most valuable brands—from Amazon and Google to Delta, Deloitte, HP, and Capital One. SCAD's buoyant partnerships with the professions are why SCAD grads have enjoyed a 99 percent employment rate for the last four years straight. Now, to ensure the continued elite career preparation of tomorrow's leaders in every sector of the global economy, SCAD invents again. I'm so pleased to announce the formation of the SCAD School of Business Innovation."

Bolstering SCAD's international reputation as the preeminent source of knowledge in the disciplines it teaches, the School of Business Innovation offers 15 graduate and undergraduate degrees in advertising and branding, business of beauty and fragrance, creative business leadership, design management, luxury and brand management, service design, and social strategy and management.

The SCAD School of Business Innovation prepares the next generation of creative leaders to navigate the rapidly changing business landscape through in-depth industry knowledge, design thinking, research, and collaboration. With curriculum focused on the fundamentals of business design and economics, quantitative insights, global supply chain management, lifecycle marketing, brand acceleration, social analytics and more, the school's premier degree programs empower students to become forward-thinking subject matter experts who will deliver transformative innovation to businesses.

SCAD School of Business Innovation leaders Victor Ermoli (standing, left) and Meloney Moore (standing, right) are flanked by (seated, left to right) faculty leads Chris Peeler, Alessandro Cannata, Oscar Betancur, and John Denham.

The School of Business Innovation is led by Dean Victor Ermoli. Also overseeing the School of Design, Dean Ermoli has been with SCAD for more than two decades and has led the curriculum design of several programs in both schools. Ermoli has been named one of the 25 "Most Admired Educators in America" by DesignIntelligence, holds undergraduate and graduate industrial design degrees, and leads through the lens of design and entrepreneurship. In addition to patents in the U.S. and Canada, and more than 30 years of design experience, Dean Ermoli has led studio classes where his students designed products for Coca-Cola, Fossil, Pentair, Dell Computers, and many more prestigious companies.

The School of Business Innovation is also led by Associate Dean Meloney Moore, who held executive and management leadership roles in companies including Estée Lauder, Liz Claiborne, and Toys "R" Us. Moore, who also leads the SCAD business of beauty and fragrance program, holds undergraduate and graduate business administration degrees and brings brand-oriented, global business perspective to the school leadership.

Learn more here.