"When the hammer fell, my jaw dropped."

In a plum-striped button-down beneath a fitted midnight blazer, a gold ring glinting on his expressive right hand, Sotheby's jewelry vice chairman Frank Everett paused for effect. It was a mid-week afternoon on the top floor of River, and the special guest was delivering "The Art of the Jewel," his hour-long talk detailing the value points for art at auction. As he gestured toward a photograph of a breathtaking 19th century pendant, a full house of jewelry, fashion, fashion marketing, and luxury and brand management students leaned in.

"This pearl was worth about a million dollars," Everett said. "But because it could absolutely be traced to the collection of Marie Antoinette — it was still in the same family two hundred years after her death — we knew there was going to be a bidding war."

Everett summoned a collective gasp as he revealed that the last Queen of France's pendant wound up selling for $36 million. His talk was just getting started.

"I'm going to tell you about what I do at Sotheby's, why I think jewelry is art, and some of the best stories that highlight how we value objects of all kinds at Sotheby's," he said. "It's the same procedure whether it's a Rothko, a piece of Victorian silver, a watch or a wonderful piece of jewelry."

The Pope's Ferrari, Jackie O's fake pearls, Daisy Fellowes' Tutti Frutti necklace — the value of these items is increased by the association with its owner, Everett explained. Calling jewelry "that most personal of categories," he emphasized how emotion and psychology can drive art at auction.

"You try to let the market get excited about provenance," he said as he introduced a five-minute video detailing "The Alluring History of Ownership" where experts like Jonquil O'Reilly testified to the thesis. Then he showed an image of a Cartier lapis and gold bracelet that had been "a gift to Marlene Dietrich from Erich Maria Remarque." "I remember bidding on the phone with my client. I told them to keep bidding, they wouldn't regret it." The client won the auction; no regret ensued. "The value has to do with Dietrich's forward-thinking style, an aesthetic that endures today."

Everett spoke in the rapidly flowing cadence of an art auction setting, which worked quite well for a lecture to highly engaged students. An end-of-hour Q&A featured questions about industry trends and curating selling exhibitions. Ruth Wudtke (B.F.A., jewelry) asked, "Where do you think other market segments like fine jewelry and art jewelry fit within the idea of jewelry as art?"

"Artist jewelry is very interesting," Everett replied. "I had a gold necklace by Alexander Calder, which I thought would be worth five times as much as a silver one, and it wasn't, because that market doesn't want the gold one, they want the silver one. It's not always about the material — sometimes it's about what the market wants."

Backlit through River's tall windows by a cloudless blue sky, "The Art of the Jewel" was exactly what this market wanted. The event glittered like a gem. "It's my first time in Savannah," the special guest said. "I've been here twenty-four hours, and I think I might stay."

Like a diamond: Everett (center) visits with jewelry students in Fahm Hall.

On Friday afternoon in Hamilton Hall, a handful of students gathered in Studio A for a workshop by film professor Fatemeh Hosseini. "Film is not what is written in the script, it is what is seen in the image," Hosseini explained. "Through the action, you are revealing emotions — that's called blocking."
 
The workshop — "Unlocking Character Through Blocking" — exemplified Hosseini's teaching style, both intellectual and practical. Following an hour-long lecture, students broke into two groups and put their new knowledge to use, devising and shooting scenes where characters could only say two lines, and emotion and context had to be conveyed through blocking. Attendee Beatrise Ziedina (M.F.A., film and television, 2026) recounts her experience.

Blocking, Bergman, and big ideas: Hosseini leads her SCADextra workshop.

Beatrise Ziedina:
  
Professor Fatemeh Hosseini's SCADextra workshop "Unlocking Character Through Blocking" was phenomenal — a true masterclass. I attended as a graduate student and film editor, yet upon reflection, I think every SCAD film student should experience this class as taught by Professor Hosseini. Many student films can feel plain, even superficial, because of how little thought has been put into character blocking. But blocking is important. It adds emotion and depth and resonates with the audience. Not everything has to be said with words, and not everything can. Cinema is about visuals and subtext. A filmmaker must make the viewer think and feel.

Professor Hosseini walked us through scenes from Autumn Sonata (1978, dir. Ingmar Bergman), The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005, dir. Jacques Audiard), Wings of Desire (1987, dir. Wim Wenders) and L'Avventura (1960, dir. Michelangelo Antonioni). We discussed what is happening to each character and what is going through their heads based on the way they act and move. We talked about how the camera is moving around them, as well as how the scene is edited. Professor Hosseini explained how each scene is built and how many complicated layers there are. It is not enough simply to place a character in a location and give them lines. Their movement in combination with the camera movement, the tiniest gestures, the most subtle facial movements — like a small eyebrow raise — it is all part of the blocking.

I love how Professor Hosseini said that "the filmmaker is both a psychologist and an architect." While "psychologist" makes perfect sense, since a filmmaker is required to be one for character building, "architect" is something I had not thought of before. There is so much work that goes into building a great scene and even more into making a whole movie. It is more than writing a script, placing a camera in front of an actor and making them act.

This workshop was eye-opening. It changed my perspective as a filmmaker and the way I watch movies has changed now as well. Professor Hosseini focused on European cinema, which is different than American cinema. To make great movies, you have to be educated on cinema from all around the world. Professor Hosseini is brilliant, and I hope there are more workshops by her in the future. I will attend every single one. 

Connect with Beatrise Ziedina on LinkedIn.

Learn more about film and television degree programs at SCAD.

Display space in Sephora is at a premium, so when a beauty brand wins a place in the leading cosmetics store, they better make the most of it. "I wanted to do a big piece of furniture with trays that show the inspiration behind our product, a cabinet of curiosities," said Violette Serrat, founder and CEO of VIOLETTE_FR. "My team was like, ‘It's cute, but…"

Serrat — lithe, gap-toothed, radiating denim-clad Jane Birkinesque chic — was onstage at SCADstyle in the museum theater for Refinery29's 'Grab a Mic for Gloss Angeles' live with hosts Sara Tan and Kirbie Johnson. Over the course of an hour's chat, topics included the power of a red lip, why it's okay to apply makeup with your finger, and what it means to "have a Bridget Jones moment." Yet everything kept coming back to Sephora, where VIOLETTE_FR products went on sale "just three weeks ago, which is so major," Tan said.

Serrat, who worked as global beauty director for Estée Lauder before launching VIOLETTE_FR in 2021, offered some context: "Sephora had reached out to me the first week of launch, and I was humbled, and I told them, let me see where this goes, I'm not ready yet."

This year, Violette was ready, and Sephora was waiting. Products like Bisou Jelly (a sheer matte hydrating lipstick) and Petal Bouche (liquid matte lipstick) have been instant hits.

"Trust me, I went to the biggest Sephora in Los Angeles, and I went to the Sephora here in Savannah, and everything is completely sold out," Johnson told the audience. "The cast member there was like, ‘Whether they're 8 or 80, they're coming in and buying them all within the hour and we don't see it again until it's restocked.'"

Serrat, ever decorous, smiled: "What matters is we focus on building a healthy business. Not everything is about sales. Connecting emotionally is our biggest marketing asset."

That connection is made in part through VIOLETTE_FR's cabinet of curiosities — which appears amidst the precious space at Sephora, showcasing inspirations from Italian Renaissance art to Bowie's "mind-blowing" Starman. "People stop to look," Serrat explained. "No one is talking to them or selling to them. They connect on an emotional level, then come to the products. This thing that doesn't create direct sales, actually it does."

A high point came during the Q&A, when student Kai Cameron (B.F.A. business of beauty and fragrance) stood and asked, "About your product Objet de Reflexion, how were you able to connect the dots in the mind of the consumer between surrealism and fine art and beauty?"

"We created a story," Serrat said. "Objet de Reflexion is brass, brushed so well that you can see yourself in the reflection, even though there's no mirror. I thought, how can I help you look at yourself as a gorgeous creature instead of chasing perfection?"

The reflection became clear. As with VIOLETTE_FR, Serrat ruled SCADstyle 2025.

Strike a pose: question time at SCADstyle!

Style's biggest names arrive at SCAD for SCADstyle 2025, March 31-April 3. Tory Burch, Willie Charvarria, Peter Copping, and Eileen Fisher will all appear in person across four days of the university's premier design symposium, ready to connect with SCAD students a welcome public. It's time to challenge the limits of fashion, design, interiors, technology, and beyond.

Tory Burch is the executive chairman and chief creative officer, Tory Burch LLC. Designer and founder of her globally recognized fashion house, Burch continues to redefine the who, what, and wear of luxury. Having grown up on a farm in Valley Forge, Penn., and later studued art history at the University of Pennsylvania, Burch moved to New York in the 1990s, honing her expertise at Zoran, Harper's Bazaar, Ralph Lauren, and Vera Wang before launching her debut collection in 2004. She built her brand with a clear purpose: to create a lifestyle label that champions women. Burch's accolades include the 2024 TIME 100, Harper's Bazaar's Designer of the Year, and Forbes' Most Powerful Women in the World. Her book, Tory Burch: In Color, became a New York Times Best Seller.

California-born designer Willy Chavarria is the founder of WILLY CHAVARRIA. He began his creative career in commercial art before heeding his true calling in fashion. Chavarria's work channels a commitment to human dignity while uplifting the underrepresented through the transformative power of design. His collections blend a cinematic approach with contemporary political themes, creating garments that tell stories of resilience and identity. Inspired by his Mexican American heritage, street culture, and civil rights movements, Chavarria's work speaks to the beauty in everyday life. Chavarria received the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2021 and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum's National Design Award for Fashion Design in 2022. He was honored as the 2023 CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year.

Lanvin Group artistic director Peter Copping is a graduate of Central Saint Martins and the Royal College of Art in London. The British designer began his career at Sonia Rykiel with the "Queen of Knits" before joining Marc Jacobs at Louis Vuitton as head of womenswear, showcasing his ability to redefine and celebrate femininity. After more than a decade at Louis Vuitton, Coping was named creative director of Nina Ricci in Paris and Oscar de la Renta in New York. More recently, Copping served as head of couture at Balenciaga where he directed the ateliers for the reintroduction of the couture collection. Now, as the newly appointed artistic director of Lanvin, Copping lends his expertise and immaculate leadership to the legacy fashion and design house.

Eileen Fisher is the legendary founder of EILEEN FISHER, Inc., her namesake heritage brand known for understated, timeless design. Fisher established her original concept in 1984 — a system of shapes that work together to help women get dressed easily — that still defines her signature label today. A forerunner in sustainability, Fisher implemented a circular manufacturing model starting with the launch of her innovative Renew take-back program in 2009, designed to preserve the value of the brand's clothes at every stage, in any condition. To date, EILEEN FISHER has collected more than two million garments. The eco-atelier is a certified B Corp, leading a global movement for an inclusive, equitable, and regenerative economy. Fisher was the 2021 FIT Changemaker in Corporate Sustainability honoree and was named to the Forbes 50 Over 50 Visionary list that same year.

See you there!

Last year, while organizing Raul De Lara's solo exhibition at SCAD MOA, curator Haley Clouser received an email. It was from the artist, and he had some news: Born in Mexico and raised in Dallas, Texas, De Lara had the opportunity to return to San Miguel de Allende for the first time in 20 years.

"When I got the chance to go, I told you, ‘We're going to have to put a pause on the final body of work because I want to go experience something.' I knew it was going to change my practice," Raul recounted during his conversation with Clouser during deFINE Art 2025.

The results are now on display in Raices/Roots, visible in the museum's public-facing jewel boxes on Turner Street. Installation names include splashy hues "Guanajuato Purple," "San Miguel Orange," and "Mexico City Green." "All inspired by the colors I saw back home," De Lara said.

Inside the vivid boxes are giant leaves of monstera deliciosa, hobby horses with cactus saddles, and what appears to be a pleather-upholstered chair. These are De Lara's artworks, what Clauser described as "uncanny, playful wooden sculptures imbued with personal and culturally significant stories to celebrate and foster a deeper understanding of the immigrant experience."

"The monstera leaf shapes are direct replicas of two leaves I saw while walking around my uncle's neighborhood in Mexico City," De Lara explained of the hanging sculpture "Como Las De Mi Tierra / Like The Ones Back Home." Regarding native notions, De Lara explained that he left Mexico at age 12 for in the United States, where as a DACA recipient, he is not wholly free to leave. "However, I was granted emergency advance parole by USCIS to visit Mexico and see my grandmother one last time before her imminent passing."

Those deeper roots of Roots were unpacked by Clauser and De Lara during deFINE. As the smart artist and insightful curator spoke, De Lara wondered: "What part gets to be revealed through the artist, and what part gets revealed through the object? How do I share a personality, how do I share a spark of life?"

Humor plays a role. De Lara's woodwork brings materiality into question. "Over the years, I discovered the difference between a chair and a sculpture of a chair, which presents an interesting distinction for me to play with." 

Outside on Turner Street, pedestrian passed by on the sidewalk, glanced at the jewel boxes and did doubletakes. Were the jewel boxes now nodes for a home décor showroom? The title "Soft Chair" lands like a punchline.

"That playfulness is activated after the production of the artwork," Clouser said.

"My ethos with the work is that I like it to be modular, to be able to exist in place that maybe I can't travel to, or places where someone else will be taking care of the sculpture," De Lara said.

With Raices/Roots, that place is SCAD.

Installation view of Raul De Lara: Raíces/Roots at SCAD Museum of Art.
 

Tapestry artist Diedrick Brackens (b. 1989) has a particular affinity for allegories, narratives, muddy riverbeds and hand-dyed cotton. His new SCAD MOA exhibition the shape of survival, presented in the gallery of the museum's Walter and Linda Evans Center for African American Studies, "charts the small everyday expressions of living and dreaming," according to the artist.

The nearly seven-foot tall artwork "through the summer triangle" depicts a pair of eloquently posed silhouettes rond de jambe-ing on an orange-and-pink plaid dance floor. An inverted triangle adds symbolic depth, invoking African American cultural inheritance and queer identity.  The blackness of the silhouettes, Brackens says, is "a way to talk about the psyche."

The Mexia, Texas-born artist came to SCAD for deFINE Art 2025, and sat with SCAD MOA chief curator Daniel S. Palmer before a standing-room-only museum theater for an in-depth conversation.

"I'm always thinking about myth and storytelling," Brackens began. "The centerpiece of the show is called ‘birth of humility.' I was thinking about being from the South, being from a rural context. There's a trope that happens a lot with politicians [who] talk about their humble beginnings. You come from pig farmers? I was turning that imagery over in my head and using these pigs as a way of thinking about how people try to shape themselves as being from the humblest of beginnings."

Diedrick Brackens, "birth of humility," 2024, cotton and acrylic yarn. Courtesy of the artist and Various Small Fires.

Influenced by pioneers including Aaron Douglas ("one of the first African American artists I knew"), Kara Walker ("one of the first contemporary art exhibitions I saw") and the quiltmakers of Gee's Bend, Brackens emphasized the connection between the words text and textile: "It's there at the root in the Latin word texere, which means to weave or write."

Curator Palmer pointed out that the way some of the works are installed "allows us to see their actual tactility, the way they're made, the front and the back, while others are installed on the wall. I'm curious how you see your relationship with your art form and painting."

"The painters were jocks when I was in school, and I was never interested in being a painter," Brackens replied to general mirth. He added insight: "Color is transparent in textiles, and in most of painting color is opaque, so the way you build color in textiles is you have to see into the colors to arrive where you need to go."

When the floor was opened to questions, graduate student Sammy Baker (M.F.A. fibers; B.F.A. fashion, 2024) stood up: "Is it crucial to your work to be referencing stories that actually happened?"

"I have made explicit references to real life or historical events in works in the past, and I started to unintentionally become a steward to things that I did not experience," Brackens replied. "It's something I've built a different ethic around now. I have become much more careful about how I tell stories and what I'm pointing to. Sometimes what I'm after is a very lyrical thing."

As students leaned in, the artist wove them home: "There is something meditative about the full body sensation of weaving — I recommend it to anybody who's interested. It's the perfect language to tell almost any story."

Thanks to Diedrick Brackens and everyone who attended SCAD deFINE Art 2025!

SCAD has a decades-long legacy of contributing to the most prestigious cinematic art in the world — and the annual awards event that recognizes it. This year, 136 SCAD alumni and current students provided their industry talents to films nominated for the 97th Academy Awards. The awards ceremony will be televised live on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at 7 pm on ABC.
 
These talented filmmakers and artisans contributed to 18 films receiving nominations from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, including five Best Picture nominees, two Best Animated Film nominees, and all five films nominated for Best Visual Effects. These films include global blockbusters Wicked, Dune: Part Two, The Wild Robot, Inside Out 2 and critical favorite Anora.
 
"Our Oscar-nominated alumni are a source of pride and inspiration for all of our current students, alumni, and most of all their mentor professors who helped put them on these stellar paths," said Andra Reeve-Rabb, dean of SCAD's School of Film and Acting. "SCAD provides resources like no other university, and we send our students into the industry even before they graduate, placing them on film sets in Georgia, New York, Los Angeles, and beyond."
 
SCAD's School of Film and Acting and School of Animation and Motion have launched thousands of alumni into the movie industry, thanks to Oscar award-winning professors, resources that rival Hollywood studios, and stunning locations including an 11-acre backlot and two LED volume stages, two professionally run casting offices, and renowned film and television festivals.
 
Katerina Kojeva (B.F.A., production design, 2016) was the costume concept artist on Wicked, nominated for Best Picture, Best Costume Design, and Best Production Design. Alyssa Bracken (B.F.A., production design, 2012) was the assistant costume designer on A Complete Unknown which is nominated for eight awards including Best Picture and Best Costume Design. Wyatt Garfield (B.F.A., film and television, 2007) was the cinematographer on A Different Man which is nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. Actor Kayli Carter (B.F.A., performing arts, 2015) turns in another memorable star turn, as Maria Muldaur in the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.
 
Fifty-two of the alumni who worked on Oscar-nominated films graduated from SCAD with a degree in visual effects. Hyun Huh (B.F.A., computer art, 1999) was the visual effects modeling supervisor and Yukinori Inagaki (M.F.A., visual effects, 2008) was the character rigging lead on The Wild Robot. Ryan Gillis (B.F.A., computer art, 2004) and Steve Bevins (B.F.A., visual effects, 2013) were both VFX department supervisors on Wicked. Gina Niespodziani (B.F.A., animation, 2011) was the visual effects executive producer on A Different Man. These visual effects artists allow filmmakers to create worlds and scenarios that would be impossible to capture realistically on camera, expanding creative possibilities, enhancing storytelling, and immersing audiences in fantastical narratives.
 
"No matter how the voting goes, a SCAD alumni will be on the winning team for Best Achievement in Visual Effects on March 2nd!" said SCAD visual effects chair Gray Marshall. "The sheer number of our visual effects graduates who contributed to these nominated films, both animated and live action, is a proud moment for our department and for the university as a whole. Our alumni continue to push the boundaries of storytelling through innovation, artistry, and technical excellence."

“You are here because you are all beauty disruptors, and you don’t become a disruptor without taking a risk,” said Allure features director Dianna Mazzone Singh, pinkie-zagging the air for emphasis. The event was Beauty Unlocked, the panel’s theme was “Disrupting the Beauty Scene,” and Shiseido global chief digital officer Angelica Munson, e.l.f. Beauty chief integrated marketing officer Patrick O’Keefe, and Roblox beauty global client partner Jana Barocas held the keys.
 
Held in a glammed-out May Poetter Gallery, “Disrupting the Beauty Scene” was part of two primer-packed days of presentations and portfolio reviews. Students from degree programs as diverse as business of beauty and fragrance, fashion marketing and management, and user experience design filled the second floor of Poetter Hall to learn more. What they had in common was an interest in the professional journeys of Beauty Unlocked’s marquee guests.

“We are bold disruptors with a kind heart, and we are super proud of the work we do every day to democratize beauty,” said e.l.f.’s O’Keefe. After discussing brand collabs involving corpse paint and competitive wrestling, O’Keefe brought up the Indy 500 — specifically Katherine Legge, the only female driver in the race in 2024, and the ninth woman of all time to compete in Indianaplis. Last May, Legge took to the track in an e.l.f.-branded suit, helmet, and car, making e.l.f. the sole beauty brand to serve as a primary sponsor of a driver in the world’s largest single-day sporting event. “There are 350,000 people who attend the Indy 500, forty-eight percent of them are women and girls, and no brand was representing them,” O’Keefe said.
 
O’Keefe and Barocas were on the same panel for good reason: they are professionally conjoined via the branded experience “social tycoon game” inside Roblox called e.l.f. UP! “For Gen Z, inclusivity, creativity and self-expression are incredibly important, why they come to Roblox, and what we love about partnering with e.l.f.,” said Barocas. “Our users love to collaborate with their friends in real time, and we love partnerships with brands who can amplify that.”

Listen, hear: Allure's Dianna Singh (left) with Jana Barocas of Roblox. 

Roblox has 90 million users logging on every day, each averaging two-and-a-half hours on the immersive gaming and creation platform. As rewards proliferate, promoting products digitally becomes permeable, as Barocas explained: “Fifty-six percent of Gen Z say that styling their digital avatar is more important than styling themselves in the physical world, and we see many of our users updating their avatar daily. We know this generation is willing to spend when it comes to styling their avatar, and it all comes back to the reason users come to the platform in the first place: to have fun.”
 
For Roblox, e.l.f., and Shiseido alike, impressive global reach requires intent. “The channels are different in the UK and Asia,” explained Munson, leader of Shiseido’s digital transformation office. “You need a strong brand book and operating model on how you can train your team in those markets.”
 
Shiseido is the parent company of over 30 brands including Drunk Elephant and Narciso Rodriguez. Having started Shiseido’s center for digital excellence in New York with “a nimble multi-national team,” Munson now works at company headquarters in Tokyo, bringing healthy disruption to the 153-year-old business.
 
And the work never stops: During the Q&A, SCAD graduate student Trenton Jones (M.F.A., UX design) asked Munson to predict omnichannel job opportunities for user experience designers. She told him that she was, in fact, looking for a UX designer and that “we should talk.”
 
That’s Beauty Unlocked.

 With a smile: Shiseido's Angelica Munson.

Thanks to moderator Dianna Singh, and to everyone who attended SCAD x Allure Beauty Unlocked.

Special thanks to Glothar.

One of the most important festivals in Chinese culture, Lunar New Year is a time to gather joyfully with family, bid farewell to the past year, and welcome a new beginning. To ring in the Year of the Snake, SCAD invited two advertising students, Jiya Ren (M.A. advertising) and Katherine Wu (M.A. advertising), to create a limited-edition sticker set inspired by traditional Chinese elements.

Ren's keen eye for detail and Wu's logical approach to design led to a product where complex ideas are made simple and engaging. The duo's complementary strengths are reflected through their intricate and collaborative design process.

"For this project, we discussed the direction and content of the sticker set together to ensure consistency in style and theme across the series," Ren and Wu said.

The duo drew inspiration from Chinese couplets, essential literary symbols of blessings and well wishes for the new year. They selected 12 Chinese idioms as the textual basis for the sticker designs, incorporating snakes, traditional decorations, and SCAD references as visual components arranged on a red diamond background. "Through creative design, we aimed to share this traditional culture with the global SCAD community in a modern, digital format. We chose stickers as our medium because they express emotions in a fun, casual way that aligns with how young people communicate on social platforms today."

The phrase "welcome spring and fortune" from the sticker set signifies the arrival of a new season filled with blessings. SCAD design elements, like the bee and the honeycomb, are incorporated to bridge the traditional and modern elements. A key symbolizes unlocking both a bright new year and the unlimited creative potential at SCAD.

"As emerging designers, we can extract core elements from traditional cultures — such as patterns, colors, and symbols — and simplify them through modern design to enhance their visual impact," said Ren and Wu. "Through cross-cultural integration, we can create works that feature both Chinese characteristics and global appeal, helping traditional culture find new life in modern design."

SCAD advertising students Jiya Ren (left) and Katherine Wu (right).

Ren and Wu's process illustrates the beauty found in combining seemingly disparate components, as the two integrates contemporary and modern design as well as each other's individual styles. "The process deepened our understanding that design isn't just creative expression — it's an important tool for cultural exchange," they said.
 
Ren and Wu advise future SCAD students interested in cultural creative fields to deeply understand and appreciate traditional cultural core values as they draw inspiration.  "Pay attention to global design trends, cultivate an international perspective to broaden creative thinking, and actively participate in real projects to continuously improve your professional skills and cultural sensitivity through practice."

With the 2025 Chinese Lunar New Year approaching, Ren and Wu say that they discovered a warm international student community at SCAD devoted to heartfelt celebration and cultural exchange.

"We celebrate by gathering with other international students and friends, sharing traditional foods like mooncakes and tangyuan to maintain the festive atmosphere. We connect with family through video calls to feel the warmth of home. Through these ways, we can experience the traditional festival atmosphere even while studying abroad."

SCAD ISSO and CSA are jointly hosting vibrant Lunar New Year celebrations on Sat. Feb. 1.

Wishing everyone good fortune and abundant inspiration!

Andrew Meyer is a mentor who matters. At the moment, the film professor, producer and author is sitting in the sun outside a coffeeshop near the Jen Library, taking a few moments before his graduate-level production class to discuss his rollicking new memoir Walking in the Fast Lane. 

"While writing this book, one thing I realized is that in my professional career, I worked extensively with first-time directors," Meyer says. "I was mentoring them, only it was called producing. Then I turned to teaching, where I mentor students. I've really been a mentor all my life."

Walking in the Fast Lane recounts the Westchester, New York native's years in the music and film industries, from his days as a college student booking concerts by Miles Davis and the Grateful Dead, to vivid encounters with stars like George Harrison and Joe Cocker, to creating and running A&M Films, and collaborating with directors including Michael Apted (Bring on the Night) and Savage Steve Holland (Better Off Dead). (Anyone who attended the recent Trustees Theater showing of Better Off Dead knows the 1985 film is beloved by current students.)

This Friday, Jan. 24, Meyer will be in Atlanta for the SCAD Cinema Circle 40th anniversary screening and discussion of John Hughes' classic 1985 movie The Breakfast Club. As Meyer recounts in his memoir, in the early 1980s, a dewy Hughes had only recently left his job as an advertising copywriter to pen humor pieces for magazines. 

"At the time, John hadn't directed anything, but I'd read National Lampoon's Vacation and went to his house to meet him," Meyer says. "He told me, 'I wrote a script and the whole story takes place in one room. I thought if I wrote it all set in one room, you'd let me direct.' Well, the one room was a high school library, and the film was The Breakfast Club."

Like other Meyer-produced films including Birdy (1984) and Fried Green Tomatoes (1991), The Breakfast Club has transcended its era to achieve lasting status. Success is not easy to predict, Meyer says. "You're lucky to get a movie made, and even after it's made, you have to wait until you see the rough cut until you know if you might have a good movie."

Having a strong foundation in the classroom can make the difference. Meyer has now spent twenty years teaching at SCAD, cultivating multiple generations of film and televison professionals.

"My students are making short films, and I prepare them by having them know how to run a well-executed film set and be professional," he says. "When a student is a good filmmaker, people are drawn to them. The DPs and editors gravitate towards the director who is passionate and has a good story. When you see someone talented, you want to work with them. That's the same in film school and in the professional world. You have to have the right people around you."

One of those people is Kate Haley (M.F.A. film and television, 2024) who directed the excellent, 14-minute documentary film about Meyer, also titled Walking in the Fast Lane. Cleverly framed as a talk show interview called "That Fabulous Eighties Show," the doc succeeds as an imaginative, evocative depiction of Meyer — the boy, the man, the producer, and Zelig-like character hopscotching through time. It will screen along with The Breakfast Club on Friday.
 
"I had a run in a window of original work, and when I look back at it now, it amazes me," Meyer says. For now, he's enjoying the sun.

Professor Andrew Meyer on the set of director Kate Haley's documentary Walking in the Fast Lane.

Photo: Shambhavi Ramabhadran.