"Key light" is a photography term describing the most important light source used in creating the form of a subject. The "key" idea also references problem-solving, unlocking, and deciphering.


The SCAD Key Light Alumni Photography Challenge 2021 was created by President Paula Wallace to provide a platform for alumni of the university's award-winning photography program. President Wallace asked a select group of graduates — each recognized for their unique gifts of design and execution — to take inspiration from the current SCAD FASH exhibition Albert Watson: The Light Behind the Lens. (When discussing his work, Watson often speaks about the importance of positioning the key light.) A team of judges, including professors, curators, and Watson himself, evaluated the photographs, providing feedback and awarding standout works.

"With this challenge, I can see the creative energy in the photographs," said Albert Watson. "It was clear the students set out to make a statement."

This presidential initiative challenged the graduates to consider Watson's work and expert use of light as a point of departure to achieve their own visions. Nineteen SCAD photography alumni participated in the Key Light challenge.

Through in-person and virtual tours of Watson's exhibition at SCAD FASH, these alumni engaged the museum as an educational and archival resource for projects that paid homage to Watson's keen eye and mesmerizing work. The challenge provided a unique opportunity for these accomplished alums to interact with the prolific master of photography. Each artist received an honorarium upon completion of their work. Key Light is representative of President Wallace's ongoing dedication to engaging alumni through providing creative opportunities, exposure and recognition.

Three honorees were selected as outstanding submissions in recognition of their interpretation of the iconic photographer's distinctive style, use of shadow and light, and creative vision.

The honorees are: Emily Earl (B.F.A, photography, 2007) for "Moonbather"; Sequoyah Wildwyn-Dechter (B.F.A. photography, 2019) for "Untitled"; and Shine Huang (M.F.A, photography, 2017) for "Tinker, Chef, Fish." As recognition for their work and selection, each artist was awarded an additional $2,000 honorarium. All photography submissions from the "Key Light" challenge, including video of the alumni master class interaction with Watson will be showcased on scadfash.org/key-light-challenge.

Michael James O'Brien, associate chair, SCAD photography: "All the artists who submitted were winners. We were so thrilled to see such creative and beautiful work from these talented artists from SCAD's top ranked photography program, and who I have also had the privilege of mentoring. Albert's in-depth commentary and his recognition of the accomplished SCAD alumni work made this challenge especially successful."

"I appreciate the premise of this challenge; create like one of the greats, but make it your own," said honoree Sequoyah Wildwyn-Dechter. "Having my work in front of Albert Watson's eyes is still a little surreal to me, but it's one of the reasons I'm so grateful to SCAD for providing these types of opportunities. You won't get them anywhere else."

"Moonbather," Emily Earl (B.F.A., photography, 2007, Savannah, GA), 2021.

"Untitled," Sequoyah Wildwyn-Dechter (B.F.A., photography, 2019, Atlanta, GA), 2021.

"Tinker, Chef, Fish," Shine Huang (M.F.A, photography, 2017, Shanghai, China), 2021.

See more work from the SCAD Key Light Alumni Photography Challenge 2021.

"I love to write about children in the eye of a hurricane who keep picking flowers," says Sierra Lawson (M.F.A., dramatic writing, 2021). "Later on, they think, How did I get through that?"

When Sierra speaks, her voice is recognizable from her scripts: witty, wily, unafraid of unvarnished truth. Her writing registers a musicality that swings from big smooch to gut punch, like the young woman in "Gin, Rocks" who tells her mother: "You could've checked in yesterday, or tomorrow. Or never quite frankly. Any of those options would have done me just fine."

"Sierra's world-building and characters produce some of the most layered and compelling work the dramatic writing department has seen," says SCAD professor Renee Bishop.  "She marries myth to action, driving her scripts to surprising and satisfying endings."

Told she's working in the potent tradition of playwrights like Edward Albee and Lorraine Hansberry, Philadelphia native Lawson demurs, choosing to celebrate TV shows she loved growing up like One Tree Hill. "I really want to write for television," Sierra says. "Still, my heart is open to anything, as long as I'm telling stories."

Sierra Lawson:

One theme I tackle in my writing is broken familial connections. That's what I know well. I spent many years wondering if I was going to be saved, but I had to be the savior. After my dad passed, I raised my little brother and sister. I couldn't hang with friends, I had to be home cleaning and cooking. I was 13, 14 years old. I had a lot of resentment towards my mother. Of course, I feel the need to write about it. People can relate to having someone who's a titan in your life who lets you down, as humans do.

"Gin, Rocks" is a spin-off of what I submitted when I applied to SCAD. I couldn't shake these two characters, so I wrote another telling of their fractured relationship. When an idea comes to me, it's rarely fleshed out or deep or profound; it's almost always one line of dialogue, and I will craft a whole story around that one line.

My final quarter, I took Writing the Television Comedy Pilot Script (FILM 434) with professor Chris Auer—love him, but he's tough. And I took Immersive Storytelling: Writing for Virtual Reality (DWRI 755) with Renee Bishop—adore her, such a ham. For my final thesis, I wrote an hour-long drama pilot about a reporter with a dark past who secures an interview with a world-famous recluse author who claims her success is due to an African river goddess no one has heard of.

Joseph Schwartzburt in SCAD career success encouraged me to follow people on LinkedIn who work at places that interest me, and share my pilot work. I sent thirty connection requests to individuals, with personal notes. One woman from Blumhouse Productions got back to me, and that led to my internship there during fall quarter 2020. I read scripts, wrote coverage, and gained insight into how a studio works. I was also one of 16 semi-finalists from over 2000 applicants for Circle of Confusion's Discovery Fellowship for my pilot "Sleeping Titans," about a single mother whose daughter becomes possessed by an ancestor.

As a Black woman, I can never forget our collective past. You can't negate the barriers we've overcome to get a fraction of what our counterparts have. If this wasn't supposed to be my path, I wouldn't be walking it. Genuine fulfillment comes from knowing what your gift to the world is, being able to do it, and impacting someone positively because of it. Which is what we're all here to do: make the world a little brighter for somebody else.

Visit Sierra Lawson!

Photos: Najja Lawson (B.F.A., graphic design)

As spring quarter crested towards commencement, Jillian Nadolski (B.F.A., preservation design, 2021) focused on completing two key projects.

Her collaborative vision "Suyay," a vaccine storage unit, was being readied for submission to the 2021 Biomimicry Global Design Challenge. Meanwhile "Homeward Bound," her plan for transforming decommissioned South Shore Line train cars into Little Free Libraries, conceived and completed in Studio VII: Luxury Design in the Built Environment (PRES 410), was due for presentation at Popular Culture Virtual Conference 2021 mere days after graduation.

"Having prided myself on being a pragmatic person, I initially faced the luxury design assignment with a little bit of resistance, because I was unsure how luxury fit into what I deemed to be a world of functionality," says the summa cum laude alumna. Tasked with creating a meaningful experience for end users, "I discovered the pure simplicity that can lie within the notion of luxury. I learned that knowledge itself is a luxury."

Jillian Nadolski:

I'm from Saint Joseph, Michigan directly east across the lake of Chicago. I'm born and raised on Lake Michigan, and when I wanted to be culturally enriched, Chicago was the place to go. I remember one day in a snow storm my dad insisted we jump in the car and go to Museum of Science and Industry. I recognize how lucky I've been to have parents who've fostered my creativity and thirst for knowledge and who helped me get to SCAD.

"Suyay: For a Better Tomorrow" was a group project for the class Biomimicry: Collaborative, Nature-inspired Innovation (SUST 439), part of my design for sustainability minor. The word "suyay" means hope in Quechua, the native language of Peru, where my teammate Marialejandra is from. Naming our project "Suyay" represents our commitment to deliver Covid-19 vaccines to the most vulnerable and remote communities in Peru. Our goal is to bring attention to the vaccine disparity that affects developing countries all over the world.

We looked at strategies of different organisms in nature. We studied the goldenrod gall fly, which chews into the stem of a goldenrod and creates an insulating gall, which helps protect it from external conditions. We took inspiration from the fly and designed a vaccine storage box with a mechanism that acts as a plug for the vial. To emphasize sustainable innovation, "Suyay" has a secondary application whereby the twist mechanism can be replaced with a water tap, so the box becomes a potable storage unit. Professor Scott Boylston guided us with positivity and expertise.

Those of us in developed countries usually don't have to struggle to have access to basic resources like running water and medicine. Here I am 22 years old, fully vaccinated, whereas elderly people in vulnerable communities around the world don't have the advantage that I have. It's truly a privilege check. It's not only knowledge that's a luxury, it's general access. 

Jillian Nadolski, "Homeward Bound" floor plan, top view, 2021.

With "Homeward Bound: Little Free Libraries from Decommissioned Train Cars," I leaned into the idea of the luxury of being cared for with compassionate design. I sourced information from the Chicago Literacy Alliance, including the fact that 61% of low-income households do not own any children's books. I designed a Little Free Library with a café, a place where visitors become as enveloped in the stories they're reading as they are enveloped in the books around them, a place to encourage and facilitate literacy. Professor CT Nguyen, chair of preservation design, was an invaluable resource as I refined the design.

My projects were influenced by circumstances I could not have predicted. Members of my graduating class know that the reality of the past year made our SCAD experience unique. We really, truly made the best of it. As a pioneer for a sustainable future, I'm looking forward to designing a better world.

Congratulations, Jillian!

"How can we sacrifice our planet with no thought for future generations?" asks Maren Krings (B.F.A., photography, 2003). "Are we not willing to give up even the smallest amount of luxury?"

What this photojournalist is saying certainly sounds familiar: Environmentalists have been decrying catastrophic consumerism long before Greta Thunberg stared down the world. What differentiates Krings is her dedication to promoting a single, actionable solution: industrial hemp.

In 2016, Krings, a German citizen, was on assignment in Italy, documenting traditional practices of hand-harvested wheat. There, she met a farmer who gave her a glimpse of the role hemp will play, she says, "in the creation of a system reset that can mitigate the damages of our modern economies."

That vision led Krings on a five-year mission. Living out of her car, she traveled to 26 countries—including Mongolia, China, Morocco, Iceland, Russia, Turkey, and Sweden—meeting industrial farmers, working with indigenous communities, and chronicling a journey both scientific and personal.

Photo by Maren Krings taken in Hanönü, Black Sea region, Turkey.

The publication of a book about the experience is now on the horizon. "It's a matter of finalizing the text, and assembling all the charts, data, and science that need to be translated into my concept," she says. Krings' book will include insights from more than eighty interviews she has conducted with industry experts.

While the climate impact storyteller is already something of a spokesperson for industrial hemp—Krings delivered a keynote address at the Swedish hemp industry's annual conference in early May, and recently published a feature in Sensi—she intends this book to be accessible to the casual consumer, and to include elements of her own Hero's Journey. "Our climate crisis is a crisis of perception. You can't fully explain it in numbers because statistics don't speak to our emotional state of being."

Krings is impressed by how today's SCAD students embrace sustainability, an awareness that has grown exponentially within a generation. She references the implementation of sustainable practices in photography studios, and the introduction of SCAD's design for sustainability program. In 2019, Krings reconnected with her former printmaking professor Robert Brown, and traveled to SCAD Atlanta to make photogravures on hemp paper. That experience helped create a sort of moral mandate for Krings, who is determined to have her book sustainably printed on hemp paper.

"My SCAD experience is intrinsic to my work," Krings says. "Professors Jenny Kuhla, Rich Gere, and Rebecca Nolan all contributed significantly to my development. At SCAD, I became interested in social documentary photography, then deeply engaged in that practice, until the camera became an existential part of my personality." Which brings Krings back to the matter at hand: a planet being edged over the brink by an occupying force called homo sapiens.

"Ours is a messed-up world, but if you are an optimist, that presents a challenge," she says. "There are wonderful solutions to be found."

Visit Maren Krings.

"At SCAD, we embrace collective genius and connection," said SCAD President and Founder Paula S. Wallace during this year's commencement. These aspects combined at a ceremony where President Wallace was aptly on hand to distribute popsicles to newly minted alumni.

Friday was a tad warm, Saturday nice and breezy. Both days lifted the spirits of the SCAD graduating class of 2021. Ceremonies in Savannah and Atlanta featured the in-person awarding of diplomas, as well as virtual features including a commencement address by Dan Levy. The award-winning writer, actor, director, and producer encouraged the more than 3,300 graduates to "always follow through."

"If you have an idea for something, in whatever form of the arts it is, if you have that painting that you have in mind, and it gets tricky and you are given that crossroads, 'Do I give up or do I keep going?'–always keep going," Levy said.

Keeping with SCAD's commitment to utilize the best aspects of all media, the university presented a digital commencement for all graduates, providing students and audiences around the world with a front-row seat to the momentous occasion. Following the digital ceremony, the Presentation of Degrees ceremonies took place at socially distanced, outdoor, in-person events in both Atlanta and Savannah, where faculty representatives called the names of graduates as they strode across the bespoke, radiant stage. Balloon sculptures by Jason Hackenwerth (M.F.A., painting, 2003) added to an atmosphere of well-earned fun.


After fifteen months of restrictions, the reality of togetherness brought a palpable frisson to the ceremonies. As President Wallace said: "'Once a Bee, Always A Bee'—our hive ever uplifts you!" Congratulations, SCAD Class of '21.

Revisit SCAD commencement 2021.

SCAD congratulates the Class of 2021 with digital and in-person commencement events Friday, May 28 and Saturday, May 29. The university presents a digital commencement at 9 a.m. ET on May 28 for all graduates, providing students and audiences around the world with a front-row seat to the momentous occasion. Following the digital ceremony, the Presentation of Degrees ceremonies will take place as socially distanced, outdoor, in-person events in both Atlanta and Savannah, where faculty representatives will call the names of graduates as they walk across the stage.

"SCAD Bees fly confidently into the professional world equipped with highly specialized knowledge learned at SCAD," said SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace. "We honor our 2021 graduates with ceremonies in Atlanta and Savannah—joyous, SCADified celebrations of their elite SCAD degrees."

The high-energy digital commencement will include keynote speakers, outstanding graduates, and special remarks from President Wallace as she confers degrees. The event will be live-streamed via YouTube with the link to the live broadcast at scad.edu/commencement. The digital event will be emceed by actor, composer, and SCAD alumnus Christian Magby (B.F.A., performing arts, 2016).

Acclaimed writer, actor, director, and producer Dan Levy will deliver the commencement address to more than 3,300 graduates during the virtual ceremony. Levy is an Emmy Award and Golden Globe recipient for his work on one of the most beloved shows on television, Schitt's Creek, which he co-created with his father Eugene Levy.

During the digital commencement, President Wallace will present two honorary degrees to esteemed visionaries Darren Walker and Xerxes Irani. Walker is a renowned philanthropist and president of the Ford Foundation, a $14 billion international social justice philanthropy. Irani is a third-generation creative professional and currently the principal creative director leading the Amazon Design Community. Other programming will include an original poem by celebrated poet laureate of Oregon and SCAD alumnus Anis Mojgani (B.F.A., sequential art, 1999), a performance by the SCAD HoneyBees, and a compilation video of the university's 2021 Outstanding Graduates from both the SCAD Atlanta and Savannah locations. The outstanding graduates represent an array of the university's top-ranked degree programs including animation, graphic design, fashion, illustration, industrial design, and user experience (UX) design.

Following the digital Presidential Conferment of Degrees, students and their family members are invited to in-person ceremonies in both Atlanta and Savannah. In Atlanta, two in-person ceremonies will take place on May 28 at the Ameris Bank Amphitheatre; the first will be for 2021 graduates and the second ceremony will be for 2020 graduates. In Savannah, there will be four ceremonies on May 28 and May 29 at Memorial Stadium that will be designated by school.

After a virtual academic year, the combination digital and in-person events unite SCAD graduates around the globe with pomp and circumstance in celebration of their milestone achievement.

For more information, please visit SCAD Commencement 2021.

This Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, May 14-16, SCAD Fashion hosts the annual SCAD Jewelry Trunk Show. The virtual marketplace allows collectors, aficionados, and friends of fashion to shop a stunning array of work representing diverse materials, processes, and aesthetics. Department chair Jay H. Song (M.F.A., jewelry, 2000), emphasizes makers who utilize a combination of traditional techniques with up-to-date technology, including Rhino 3D CAD software, ZBrush digital sculpture tools, and laser-welding and laser-cutting.

"SCAD jewelry students and alumni embrace unique circumstances to find innovative solutions," Song says.

Alumna Cinthya Cuba de Zabal (M.A., jewelry, 2008) is one of the 28 total students, faculty, and alumni whose work will be featured in this year's show. The Mexican-born artist and designer behind Nina Zabal LLC, Cinthya is known for the clean lines and modern shapes of her exuberantly colorful and fun jewelry made from polymer clay. While a SCAD graduate student, she was awarded First Place in Art Jewelry and Best in Show at the Southern Jewelry Travelers Association annual student design competition in Atlanta.

Nina Zabal jewelry is sold in venues including the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Quirk Gallery, Richmond, and now at SCAD Jewelry Trunk Show 2021.



Cinthya Cuba de Zabal:

My fine art and graphic design background informs much of my work. Jewelry is a three-dimensional expression of my personal aesthetic and my love for color, shape, and pattern. My inspiration draws from art, illustration, fashion, and interior design. Every one-of-kind Nina Zabal piece is crafted in Richmond, Virginia.

Polymer clay is an amazing versatile alternative material that has been around for decades and made a more contemporary comeback in the past five-to-seven years. It cures at a very low temperature (275°F) and is produced in qualities from hobby grade to professional. My work is almost completely polymer clay, with a few metal components such as titanium or gold-filled or plated elements. 

I work in collections or series that have different vibes and styles. The patterns I create are all clay, not painted, although I see the process very much like painting with clay. 

Cynthia Cuba de Zabal, earrings, polymer clay and titanium ear posts, 1.75 x 1.25 in.

Polymer clay is a very affordable alternative material. Part of my commitment to it is to heighten its creative value regardless of its relative affordability. It is different than working with gold or silver, materials that in their raw state are valued at thousands of dollars per ounce before a jewelry artist even touches them. Polymer clay jewelry is mostly about what you can make with it and how well you can master those materials. 

There are only a few other serious polymer clay artists in the U.S., like Ford/Forlano, and Kathleen Dustin, who work tirelessly to raise the profile of polymer clay. I do my best every day to master this incredible material and to execute pieces that are flawless and exciting to wear. With my current work I've created pieces that were technically more challenging, and also exciting for people who truly love and appreciate fashion and design. 

I'm always happy to participate in the events that are part of SCAD Fashion, both when I was a masters student and now that I'm a designer and maker on my own. The SCAD community has always embraced my work, and it is a pleasure to participate in Jewelry Trunk Show 2021.

www.ninazabal.com

SCAD Serve’s inaugural alumni ambassador Mariana Alvarez Zubillaga (B.F.A., fashion, 2018) is dedicated to supporting unhoused individuals in Savannah and Atlanta, Georgia. Inspired by her hat store Honest Bob, Zubillaga is requesting individuals interested in social justice help create and distribute bucket hats to those who are experiencing housing and shelter hardships.

“I designed the hat to be sustainable and easy to make,” Zubillaga said. “The pattern is simple to follow and everyone can help.” Interested volunteers can learn more about the project, and download the free printable pattern and sewing instructions. The hats provide protection during the sunniest months of the year and add a note of individual positivity too. 

Zubillaga founded her bucket hat boutique Honest Bob in Mexico City, Mexico after what she refers to as a “happy accident”: “I had just been hired to work on an Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu film as a costume designer. It was a huge gig, and then I was sent home due to the pandemic shutdown.” Unable to work remotely on the film, Zubillaga’s focus shifted to making meaningful works of art that could be cherished by friends and family.

“I made the first bucket hat as a birthday present for my boyfriend. I posted the image to Instagram and then immediately received requests for ten more.” Today, Honest Bob is a chic fashion imprint dedicated to cultural representation, social responsibility, and environmentally sustainable production methods, the same characteristics SCAD Serve holds in high esteem.

SCAD has a long history of supporting neighbors and partners over the years and SCAD Serve is one more way that the SCAD community is giving back. The initiative empowers Bees who are engaged in creative professions across the world to create meaningful design solutions that improve the quality of life for thousands of individuals in need. Focusing on four critical areas: food, shelter, clothing, and the environment, SCAD Serve will continue to work to create positive change.

“Building community, driving positive change in society, and caring for the environment are my values and they align perfectly with SCAD,” adds Zubillaga. “I’m honored to be a part of this project.”

Sign up for the Hats for Humanity!

SCAD is proud to announce Haleemah Sadiah (M.F.A., design for sustainability, 2021) as the inaugural Catapult Fellow, sponsored by Catapult Design. This prestigious field fellowship is awarded to a recent alumnus of the university's design for sustainability graduate program.

"I am thrilled to be the first fellow, and grateful for this opportunity," said Haleemah Sadiah. "To have the chance to work with Catapult Design is a dream come true, and I look forward to using my creative skills and the knowledge I learned at SCAD to make a real-world impact while working on projects during my tenure with Catapult."

From Bangalore, India, Haleemah recently completed her master's thesis working with Jaipur Rugs on increasing the agency of women carpet weavers in the village of Aspura. During her Catapult fellowship, Sadiah will work directly with the Catapult team of designers, engineers, and business specialists to create design solutions to complex social challenges. She will be involved with an array of domestic and international projects, and explore opportunities to create momentum for social innovation projects within the Savannah community.c

"We are delighted to have Haleemah join us so that she may continue to hone her design for sustainability skills through this Catapult fellowship," said Angela Hariche, CEO, Catapult Design.

Founded in 2008, Catapult Design addresses challenges facing humanity, such as food security, water and sanitation access, quality healthcare, mobility, and climate change. Catapult Design's portfolio spans over 70 design engagements with 51 clients in 14 countries. Notable partners include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Bank, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Asian Development Bank, Peace Corps, National Endowment of the Arts, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and Mastercard Centre for Inclusive Growth.

"Catapult Design has long been a leader in generating social impact for underrepresented communities," said SCAD professor Scott Boylston, graduate coordinator,  design for sustainability. "This fellowship represents an amazing opportunity for our alumni to work in the field to take their first bold steps into their new careers."

The Catapult fellowship was awarded in part on the basis of Haleemah's master's thesis. "Jaipur Rugs work with about 40,000 artisans and make beautiful hand-knotted carpets, their artisans often design their own rugs, which is relatively rare to see in the craft world," Haleemah explained. "That helps to bridge the gap between artisan and organization, but there are still many challenges, like the fact that artisans and management often speak different languages, and the artisans are not educated in design management. My project was focused on building cultural competence between the artisans and the organization that they work with." Haleemah's writing advances these ideas in her essay entitled "The Link Between Organizational Learning and Cultural Competence."

SCAD's design for sustainability program is focused on preparing students to pioneer organizational change, technological and material innovation, and citizen advocacy. Learn more about the program here.

 Congratulations, Haleemah!

"We're definitely taking the full dose," says Emily Furr (B.F.A., graphic design, 2000). She's referring, of course, to taking in the "Acid Tongue" series featured in her solo exhibition Star Tap, at SCAD Museum of Art.

Each "Acid Tongue" depicts a ruddy appendage emerging from a suggestive void, on the verge of gobbling up a psychoactive substance. The seven gouaches, collaged onto tawdry advertisements torn from the back pages of old magazines, are as deranging as the dreaded lysergic itself. One senses that Furr, standing beside her work in the SCAD Alumni Gallery, her face half-hidden behind a precautionary mask, is smiling.

"It's fun to work on something outside your comfort zone," she says of the series, which she painted in 2020 at home in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. "And you can't do oil paintings around a toddler."

Acid Tongue #1, 2020, gouache cutout on advertisement, 8 x 10 inches.

The gouaches are something of an outlier for an artist better known for her oils (which also feature prominently in Star Tap). The series' Pop aspect demonstrates a kinship to Pauline Boty's 1960s collage paintings, while its more explicit correlation is to British artist John Pasche's infamous, lascivious logo for The Rolling Stones. "Acid Tongue" is not, Furr says, a direct homage, "but it's the same sort of Mick Jagger energy, like, I'm so great, I'm going to lick you!"

Furr's great licks of paint have been presented in solo exhibitions at 12.26 Gallery, Dallas; Marfa International; and Sargent's Daughters, New York, where Mother Lode drew acclaim from Artforum and Artnet in 2018. In 2019, she was artist-in-residence of The Watermill Center, and in 2021, a featured artist at SCAD deFINE ART, conducted virtually. When the coast-is-clear call finally came this April, Furr traveled to Savannah to see own show.

The return prompted a trip down memory lane. "SCAD opened up a new language for me," she says of her time as a student. "I loved the foundational classes, meeting likeminded people, exploring the city. I had so much fun living in O-House, where I made fast friends. I had a great education at SCAD, and stayed in Savannah all four years."

After graduation, the Edwardsville, Illinois native worked as a graphic designer for major New York City agencies, while painting by herself at night. In 2018, she began pursuing her M.F.A. at Hunter College, which helped further unlock both professional connections and doors of perception.

Thirst Trap, 2020, oil on canvas, 96 x 72 inches.

The blockbuster oil "Thirst Trap" epitomizes Furr's cheeky cosmology, literally plumbing outer space on the Rube Goldberg tip. "That painting shows a planet as a pinball that's going to go through a crazy maze," Furr observes. "Most of my work depicts industrialism coupled with nature or the cosmos to show how incongruent they are."

An ability to combine precision with intuition is manifest. "If the paintings look controlled it's because they begin in a digital realm. I do all my initial sketching in Photoshop. I don't like to use the word 'design' [when I talk about painting] because that implies a function, but I map out a composition similar to how a designer would. Then when I'm painting, I let the painting dictate where it wants to go. I have fun."

Star Tap is on view through Sunday, May 9, 2021.

Quotes are from the writer's interview with Emily Furr, and from curator DJ Hellerman's virtual talk with Furr during deFINE ART 2021.