A sublime springtime day conspired with the breadth of inspiration for the 37th iteration of Sidewalk Arts Festival, one of Savannah's finest traditions, held Saturday in Forsyth Park. SCAD students and alumni, as well as high school student adepts, competed for cash prizes while attendees bore witness to their works-in-progress. Sidewalk Arts culminated with the announcement of winners shortly after 4 p.m. Peep these pictorial highlights from a glorious day, and the winners below.

Spirit Award: Julia Chamberlain, Samantha Greene, Madison Ellis, Spencer Kohl

Best of Show: Tiffani Blevins, Kalai Krishna, Maria Negrin, Kaylee Prislac, Blake Scott

Graduate Student Award: Sarah Cherry

SCAD Student, individual 1st place: Candice Woon

SCAD Student, individual runner-up: Julie Arnold

SCAD Student group 1st place: Maisy Dewey, Hannah Oelz

SCAD Student group runner-up: Sara Brindisi, Brianne Olsen, Victoria Williams

SCAD Alumni 1st place: Anna Oresko

SCAD Alumni runner-up: Eleanor Grix

High school first place: Courtney Meyer

High school second place: Anelia Lane

High school third place: Kenna Schindler

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Get your chalk charged, it’s Sidewalk Arts time! This Saturday, April 28, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., the paved walkways of Savannah's scenic Forsyth Park spring to life for the 37th annual SCAD Sidewalk Arts Festival.

Sidewalk Arts is one of Savannah’s finest traditions. The festival began in 1981, when SCAD president and founder Paula Wallace created the festival to draw the university and community together.

As President Wallace wrote in her memoir "The Bee and the Acorn" (Assouline, 2016):

"I didn't know it at the time, but a metaphor lived inside this new festival, a seed that would grow up through the garden of our little college and would touch every degree program, where the very rigor of the constraints compelled students to think in new ways."

This year, upwards of 900 SCAD students and alumni, as well as high school guest artists, will create colorful chalk masterpieces and compete for coveted prizes.

The artists represent a wide range of the carefully curated degree programs offered by SCAD, embodying distinct styles, backgrounds, interests, cultures and disciplines.

Sidewalk Arts is a highlight of SCAD Family and Alumni Weekend. Members of the SCAD family are invited to take a tour of SCAD to learn more about the university’s programs, and visit the SCAD Museum of Art to witness the latest exhibitions.

After snapping photos of your favorite sidewalk chalk art and tagging your posts with #SCADCHALK, find a spot on the lawn to enjoy good food and live music.

For more information and to plan your day, visit the offical Sidewalk Arts 2018 site.

What happens when nine SCAD alumni work together on a project? Meet "Future Puppet News," a new series premiering this week on YouTube. Here to tell us more is the show's creator and director Jacob Menache (B.F.A., film and television, 2011).

SCAD: What is "Future Puppet News" and where and when does it premiere?

JACOB MENACHE: "Future Puppet News" is an educational kids show that follows a puppet news team and their time machine in the year 3000. Each week, events in the studio send our news team back to a different jam-packed point in history. The show debuts on April 19th, and you can see it on the SoulPancake YouTube channel. 


SCAD: What is SoulPancake?

MENACHE: SoulPancake is a digital media company and the brainchild of actor Rainn Wilson, who you no doubt remember from "The Office." Maybe you're familiar with Kid President? That was a SoulPancake production. I started working at SoulPancake after graduating SCAD. They had an open call for pitches and I presented a loose concept for "Future Puppet News." I shot a test that involved one of our characters taking a glorious trip on a majestic air vessel. Little did that character know, he was on the final flight of the Hindenburg. The SoulPancake team loved it and "Future Puppet News" was born.

SCAD: How did your SCAD experience prepare you for your professional career?


MENACHE: Being in the film program at SCAD allowed me to take control of my learning experience. If you want to learn about different positions and be on set as much as possible, SCAD facilitates those experiences. Every time I was on a SCAD student set I honed as many different skills as I could, which allowed me to communicate across departments to more effectively and easily convey my vision. More than anything, SCAD introduced me to the people who eventually helped me make the show a reality.


SCAD: How do you balance writing humor that appeals to such a wide age-range while still being educational?



MENACHE: The humor was the easy part. We didn't want to talk down to kids, so we ended up writing what made us laugh. The hardest part was condensing big historical moments, often spanning years, into bite-sized pieces all ages could understand. In this first season we wanted to choose events like the Space Race, the Gold Rush, and the Dust Bowl that are well-known, but still contain some juicy mysteries. Some subjects were more difficult to tackle, but we had fun and sprinkled in some zany topics like "Nine Cats Who Changed History" and the story of who invented pants. In the end I wanted to create a show kids and parents could enjoy, learn from, and laugh at together.

SCAD: How many SCAD alumni were involved in "Future Puppet News"?


MENACHE: In total, there were nine SCAD alumni on set, in various roles:


Jacob Menache (me!), director/creator
Max Golden (B.F.A., film and television, 2011), writer/co-creator
Cody Ziglar (M.F.A., film and television), puppeteer/actor
Katelan Cunningham (B.F.A., writing, 2011), art department

Dave Cole (B.F.A., film and television, 2011), assistant direction

Adeshola Adigun (B.F.A., writing, 2013), script supervisor

Xiao Hou (M.F.A., sound design, 2015), sound design

Cindy Takehara (M.F.A., sound design, 2015), sound design

Corey Hayward (B.F.A., sound design, 2012), composer



Without SCAD alumni this project wouldn't exist. I did not set out to hire so many of my fellow former SCAD students for these jobs, but when it came down to who was best qualified it was clearly SCAD alumni.


The last day of winter quarter feels like spring, but inside Clark Hall, interior design students Lauren Brackett and Sydney White are focused on foster care.

Presentation boards, capsules of their 26-week, double-quarter projects, stand alongside books detailing their designs and supporting research.

"Our professor Christina Gonano told us to find a gap in society, something we can fix in design," explains Brackett (B.F.A., interior design, 2018). "I have a family friend who started an organization called Fostering Youth Independence, so my idea was to design the dream facility for what they're doing with foster children."

"I was in foster care as a kid," says White (B.F.A., interior design, 2018). "My experience revealed how unstable it is. So, I designed a place separate from foster homes, for foster children ages 7-13. It doesn't matter how many times foster kids move within a city, they still have a place that's there for them, outside of a home."

Lauren and Sydney had never met when they showed up on the first day of Gonano's "Interior Design Studio V: Design Thinking for Innovation" class, though both already planned on creating capstone projects focused on foster care. As Brackett explains, "We wound up sitting next to each other and sharing research, reading as many relevant scholarly articles as we could and dissecting them so we had facts and evidence to back our ideas up."

Brackett's "Third Point" design targets young adults who are leaving foster care and need a resource center where they can better manage that challenging transition. "The resources that are currently available are spread across so many platforms, so I thought, if I can bring career counseling and financial aid help into one place, they have a better chance to succeed." Bracket designed a center that also features a gym and a teaching kitchen, for a holistic, life skills approach to health.

White's "Tree House" design, with its ligneous materials palette, modular and organic, includes touch screens for activity planning, rearrangeable furniture, and lockers "where kids can put their stuff and leave it the entire time they're in the program."

The coursework made White reflect on her own experience: "Going to school as a foster kid, you know that you're different from everyone else. At a place like Tree House, everyone is equal. It creates camaraderie and community that kids might not have otherwise. That's important."

Brackett designed her center to be located in Santa Clarita, California. White set hers in Winter Park, Florida. Both explored specific details of site building, examining issues including transportation and proximity to adjacent services like restaurants, shops, schools and indoor and outdoor recreation.

Having both graduated after winter quarter, they now go forth into their lives: White moving to Florida where she will work as interior design associate for Marc-Michaels Interior Design, while Brackett heads to Texas to explore opportunities in Austin's professional interior design sector.

"We'll be back in Savannah," Brackett says. "We have a senior show Friday, June 1, the same day as our graduation ceremony."

White nods in enthusiasm. "It's definitely been a great experience at SCAD."

Join SCAD at Art Central, one of Asia's fastest-growing, annual art fairs, March 27-April 1, 2018. Visit Hong Kong's Central Harbourfront and view contemporary artwork from more than 100 exhibitors and mingle with artists, curators and art enthusiasts from around the globe.

SCAD will showcase artwork from alumni Monica Cook (B.F.A., painting, 1996) and Lavar Munroe (B.F.A., illustration, 2007) during this year's Art Central Hong Kong at booth F20. Cook and Munroe explore aspects of the uncanny in their works, shifting practice between painting and sculpture, formally and conceptually.

Monica Cook is known for her enduring practice exploring intimacy and reverence for the exposed and the vulnerable. Describing herself as a scavenger, Cook works with found objects that are reconfigured and made into uneasy, often surprising compositions. The artist creates narrative works bordering on the grotesque while eliciting pathos and empathy.

Lavar Munroe's painting practice incorporates elements of assemblage and collage, with composite pieces stitched and glued into a larger whole. Anthropomorphic figures that vacillate between the playful and macabre are the central motifs of his large-scale canvases. Often incorporating found and discarded materials, Munroe creates rich, painterly works that foreground his interest in history, anthropology and sociology.

This is the fourth consecutive year SCAD Hong Kong will join Art Central as an educational partner, with representatives from SCAD Hong Kong conducting daily tours of the art fair. The event is open to the public with the purchase of an Art Central ticket. For more information, visit the Art Central website or email [email protected].

Artwork by Monica Cook and Lavar Munroe is available for purchase through SCAD Art Sales, a full-service art consultancy.

The winners of SCAD Drawing Works 2018 have been announced, with Camille Gbaguidi (M.F.A., architecture) awarded top prize. The exemplary student work, currently on display at Alexander Hall Gallery, was judged by alumni mentor Caroline Farouki (M.F.A., interior design, 2010), who said: "The entries were incredible. It was a real challenge to select the winners!"

Undergraduate students from all SCAD locations and minors/majors were eligible. Diverse drawing practices were considered, demonstrating traditional and unconventional use of media, experimentation, aesthetic expressions, styles and formats.

"Drawing is a tool for expressing one's ideas," remarked Farouki. "SCAD students are learning incredible fundamentals and how to think and communicate their ideas from talented professors.

"I was honored to be asked to spend a few days with students and faculty to share my thoughts on how drawing is a major part of my process as an interior designer. I sat in on classes, gave feedback on student projects, and held a workshop called ‘Advice from a Professional.' I thoroughly enjoyed meeting all the students and am truly inspired by their work."

Best in Show ($1,000 Prize)
Outstanding in contemporary aesthetic and conceptual qualities, inventive use of composition and media handling techniques, fully expresses the unique attributes of drawing.
Winner: Camille Gbaguidi
Title: "Assemblage d'espaces"
Media: Digital illustration, inkjet print
Major: Architecture
Campus: Savannah
Caroline Farouki, judge: "The overall winner, Camille Gbaguidi, showed a variety of innovations in her drawing...from experimenting with perspective and layering, combining architecture work with illustration and fashion, and the overall composition was compelling."

Preparatory sketch/ideation ($500 Prize)
Demonstrating exploration into concept, content and composition, and use of sketch methods to inform and support research and development processes.
Winner: Nicholas Hammond
Title: "Site Analysis Notre Dame Cathedral: Architecture of Provence. Lacoste"
Media: Mixed media
Major: Architecture
Campus: Savannah
Caroline Farouki, judge: "The sketchbook winner, Nicholas Hammond, showed an incredible passion for experiential learning and experimentation in research."

Inventive exploration/play ($500 Prize)
Demonstrating creativity experimenting with traditional and/or nontraditional drawing media, expressive mark making, gestural approaches.
Winner: Oki Honda
Title: "Yellow Jacket"
Media: Digital painting over graphite sketch
Major: Illustration
Campus: Savannah
Caroline Farouki, judge: "The experimental drawing winning entry by Oki Honda is highly  compelling because it combines very gestural charcoal marks with digital drawing.  The color and movement are really intriguing."

Finished drawing/composition ($500 Prize)
Demonstrating drawing abilities in the production of a fully realized finished work.
Winner: Jenna Ward
Title: "Untitled"
Media: Charcoal
Major: Illustration
Campus: Savannah
Caroline Farouki, judge: "I awarded the completed work prize to Jenna Ward for a portrait that shows a real depth of emotion and beauty in the line work. Afterwards I learned the subject is the artist's grandfather, with whom she is very close."

Drawing Works 2018 exhibition through March 18 at Alexander Hall Gallery. All displayed artworks are for sale.

Her paint-spattered overalls cuffed to show stripey socks and leopard-print kicks, Trish Andersen (B.F.A., fibers, 2005) walks through a home that belongs to an artist, unmistakably. Skeins of vivid yarn, stacked by color, indicate intent. Between two rooms a missing wall exposes plywood joists studded with carpet nails, a frame awaiting something. A compressed air tube connected to a tufting gun dangles from the ceiling.

This is where Andersen crafted her massive tapestry, heroic in scale, nearly a quarter ton and 12 feet tall ("It's a beast!"), to celebrate the launch of Coca-Cola Georgia Peach, the new flavored pop from the Atlanta-based beverage company. "I've been drinking Coke my whole life," says the native of Dalton, Georgia. Having worked with companies including Anthropologie, Mercedes-Benz and Google, Andersen is a consummate artisan and accomplished professional who knows what it takes. As the sign upon her mantelpiece says: "WORK HARD AND BE NICE TO PEOPLE."

SCAD: What directions were you heeding with the creation of this piece?

TRISH ANDERSEN: Coca-Cola were looking for artists influenced by their hometowns, whether that meant materials or process or content. This inspired me to create work inspired by Dalton. In the early-20th century Dalton was a sleepy mill town and then, through the creation of bedspreads, and hand-tufting, it became "The Carpet Capital of the World."  I knew the history of Dalton growing up there, but it's wild that my worlds have come full circle and now I've tufted this piece for Coke.

SCAD: At a glance the piece appears abstract, before revealing figurative aspects.

ANDERSEN: There's the silhouette of the state of Georgia. Red lines represent the outlines of the Coke bottle. The sub-pattern is an abstracted version of a peacock feather. Back in the day there were peacock motifs on the bedspreads made in Dalton, which inspired the name "Peacock Alley" — part of US-41, the old highway up there, where people were selling them on the sides of the road.

In its color palette, my piece is very peach heavy, there are pops of sea foam, and the case for the Coca-Cola Peach soda is a creamy grey almost like newsprint, so I brought those tones in there too.

To create the piece took a little over two weeks. I was drinking Coke! The tufting goes quickly, it's the finishing that's a lot of work. You have to latex the back and do the frames. But you can get in a groove with the tufting. The physicality of the work is crazy! I have built-up callouses from using the tufting gun.

SCAD: Where can people see your piece in person?

ANDERSEN: It's hanging in SCAD Atlanta until May, but I don't know its final destiny. We'll see where it ends up. I hope it travels to Dalton too. Short of thinking of Dalton as home, I think of SCAD as home. SCAD is a huge part of my identity as an artist.  A lot of people I've worked with, lived with, shared studio spaces over the years are SCAD people. There's a go get ‘er done work ethic we share. The community is real. I've got their back and they've got mine.

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When it comes to the Academy Awards, it is a genuine honor to be nominated. Let's celebrate the unmistakable creative contributions of SCAD alumni across a stunning spectrum of this year's nominees!

At the 90th Academy Awards, SCAD alumni worked on nominated films including "Get Out," "Molly's Game," "The Post," "The Shape of Water," "Blade Runner 2049," "Star Wars: The Last Jedi," "Baby Driver," "War for the Planet of the Apes," "Beauty and the Beast," "Logan," "I, Tonya," "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," "Coco," "Lou," "Kong: Skull Island," "Ferdinand," "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail," and "The Boss Baby." Eleven of these alumni contributed their talents to more than one of these films. The diversity of these offerings is a testament to the exceptional preparation for professional careers these alumni received while students at SCAD, as implicitly acknowledged by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Academy is made up of approximately 7,000 filmmakers and film professionals, divided into 17 specific branches. These are the Academy members who vote for the Oscars, championing professionals from every facet of the business.

"SCAD's film and television program prepares students to master the entertainment arts through award-winning, acclaimed faculty and unparalleled access to industry tools, experts, and life-changing opportunities," said SCAD president and founder Paula Wallace. "This preparation, combined with hard work and drive, is how our students are set up for success."

Recognized across 14 different categories, SCAD alumni contributed to nominees for best picture, feature-length documentary, original screenplay, director, adapted screenplay, cinematography, film editing, sound editing, sound mixing, costume design, visual effects, production design, animated short, and animated feature.

Congratulations to the following SCAD alumni, whose work has been seen and loved by millions of moviegoers, and rightly celebrated by their peers, the Academy, and the entire SCAD family.

Harsh Agrawal (B.F.A., visual effects), "Coco"
Brent Austin (B.F.A., visual effects, 2013) "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" and "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail"
Nick Bartone (B.F.A., visual effects, 2008), "Coco" and "Lou"
Max Bickley (B.F.A., visual effects, 2008), "Coco"
Tyler Britton (B.F.A., visual effects, 2015), "The Shape of Water"
Joshua Brock (M.F.A., animation, 2012), "Ferdinand"
Erich Burchfield (M.F.A., visual effects, 2012), "The Boss Baby"
Won Young Byun (M.F.A., computer art, 2002), "The Boss Baby"
Jon Campbell (B.F.A., computer art, 2005), "Ferdinand"
Chris Chapman (M.F.A., computer art, 2001), "Ferdinand"
James Charles (B.F.A., visual effects, 2014), "Blade Runner 2049"
Aaron Conover (B.F.A., computer art, 2002), "Coco"
Ryan Coster (B.F.A., animation, 2011), "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2"
Matthew Crnich (B.F.A., computer art, 2001), "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2"
Jonathan Davis (B.F.A., computer art, 2004), "Ferdinand"
Diana Diriwaechter (B.F.A., computer art, 1997), "Ferdinand"
Melanie Dorn Carter (M.F.A., visual effects, 2008), "Blade Runner 2049"
Thomas J. Doolittle (B.F.A., sound design), "Baby Driver"
John Doublestein (M.F.A. animation, 2007), "Kong: Skull Island"
Ryan Duhaime (B.F.A., visual effects, broadcast design/motion graphics, 2007), "Beauty and the Beast"
Duarte Elvas (M.F.A. motion media design, 2014, B.F.A., video/film, 2003), "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" and "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail"
Jack Kenny Evans (M.F.A., visual effects, 2007), "Beauty and the Beast"
Cheri Fojtik (M.F.A., animation, 2011), "Logan"
'Neon' Shaun Galinak (B.F.A., visual effects, 2009), "Coco" and "Lou"
Caterina Grasso (M.A., visual effects, 2016), "Coco"
Dorien Gunnels (B.F.A., visual effects, 2010), "Coco"
Dave Hale (B.F.A., visual effects, 2009), "Coco"
Noah Hamdan (B.F.A., visual effects, 2012), "Logan"
Jesse Hildreth (B.F.A., visual effects, 2008), "Star Wars: The Last Jedi"
Daniel Irons (B.F.A., film and television, 2015), "Baby Driver"
Jessica Jackson (M.A., Advertising, 2010, B.F.A., film and television, 2008), "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2"
Siddarth John (M.F.A., animation, 2012), "Kong: Skull Island"
Lauren Adams Jones (B.F.A., film and television, 2011), "Baby Driver"
Annee Jonjai (B.F.A., animation, 2008), "Coco"
Anthony Kramer (B.F.A., computer art, 2004), "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2"
Vicki Lau (B.F.A., visual effects, 2014), "War for the Planet of the Apes"
Lian (William) Liu (M.A., visual effects, 2012), "Ferdinand"
Gian Ignacio Lombardi (B.F.A., visual effects, 2014), "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2"
Kirsten MacLeod (B.F.A., fashion, 2014), "Molly's Game" and "The Post"
Brandon Martin (B.F.A., animation, 2008), "Logan"
Dylan Maxwell (B.F.A., computer art, 1997), "Ferdinand"
Jason Mayer (M.F.A., computer art, 2004), "The Boss Baby"
Brian McCann (B.F.A., visual effects, 2010), "Beauty and the Beast" and "Kong: Skull Island"
Jie Meng (M.A., visual effects, 2015), "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2"
Johnathan Nixon (B.F.A., visual effects, 2007), "War for the Planet of the Apes"
Christy Page (B.F.A., visual effects, 2011), "The Boss Baby"
Max Patrucco (B.F.A., video/film, 2002), "Logan"
Brittany Piacente (B.F.A., animation, 2012), "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" and "War for the Planet of the Apes"
Clint Rea (B.F.A., visual effects, 2016), "Coco"
Brett Reyenger (B.F.A. visual effects), "War for the Planet of the Apes" and "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2"
Christopher Reynolds (M.F.A., sculpture, 2014), "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2"
Ryan Ruiz (M.F.A., visual effects), "War for the Planet of the Apes" and "Ferdinand"
Rebecca Runyon (B.F.A., production design, 2015), "I, Tonya"
Naveen Sabesan (M.F.A., animation, 2017), "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2"
Cody Samson (B.F.A., motion media design, 2017) "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail"
Eric Schultz (B.F.A., visual effects, 2014), "Blade Runner 2049"
Kevin Sears (B.F.A., visual effects, 2007), "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2"
Sorya Sean Serei (M.F.A., visual effects, 2014), "Beauty and the Beast"
Andy Siravanta (M.F.A., film and television, 2015), "Baby Driver"
Alexander Snow (B.F.A., animation, 2009), "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" and "Ferdinand"
J. Jeongyeon Son (B.F.A., visual effects, 2012), "Beauty and the Beast"
James Spadafora (M.F.A., visual effects, 2017), "Kong: Skull Island"
John C. Sparks (M.F.A., visual effects, 2006), "Beauty and the Beast"
Lizzi Stuart (B.F.A., motion media design, 2017), "Abacus: Small Enough to Jail"
Darren Sumich (B.F.A., animation, 2006), "Beauty and the Beast"
Michael Tanzillo (M.F.A., visual effects, 2008), "Ferdinand"
Aldrich Torres (B.F.A., visual effects, 2009), "Beauty and the Beast"
Ashley Travis (B.F.A., interior design), "Baby Driver"
Switzon S. Wigfall, III (B.F.A, motion media design, 2014), "Get Out"
Kevin J. Williams (B.F.A., animation, 2005), "Beauty and the Beast"
Ben Willis (B.F.A., computer art, 2005), "The Boss Baby"
D'Lun Wong (M.F.A., visual effects, 2007, B.F.A., computer art, 2001), "The Boss Baby"
Trevor Young (B.F.A., animation, 2008), "Ferdinand"

The above list was compiled from information submitted to Career and Alumni Success, culled from LinkedIn, and submitted by readers like you. If you are aware of a name missing from this list, please email information (Name, Degree, Year, Film, Role) to [email protected].

Last year, at the 89th Academy Awards, upwards of 45 SCAD alumni contributed to one or more Oscar-nominated film.

This year it's likely that even more SCAD alumni worked on Academy Award-nominated films. Are you one of them? Do you know someone who is? If so, we want to make sure proper recognition is given.

If you are aware of a SCAD grad who worked on a film nominated for a 2018 Academy Award, please email the relevant information (Name, Degree, Year, Film, Role/Credit) to [email protected].

In conjunction with the SCAD office of career and alumni success, SCADworks will celebrate these esteemed alumni with a blog post prior to the Academy Awards ceremony itself.

The number of SCAD alumni who worked on Oscar-nominated films is testament to the exceptional preparation for professional careers these alumni received while students at SCAD, as implicitly acknowledged by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Academy Awards will air live on ABC on Sunday, March 4 at 5 p.m., hosted by Jimmy Kimmel.