No time for naps: Audra Osborne (B.F.A., photography, 2011) stays busy in her adopted home base of Portland, Oregon. Founder of photo booth business Party Cat Events, Osborne also works for Photolucida, an arts nonprofit dedicated to promoting the work of emerging photographers.

SCAD: What inspired Party Cat Events?

AUDRA OSBORNE: I like to make things, and do a lot of paper crafts. I realized I could make a photo booth and run it myself. I started Party Cat in September 2015. The business really picked up this year, which makes me want to work even harder on it.

As for the name, I am definitely a cat lady. I like being home and I have a core group of friends, so for me to go into a social event business is pretty funny.

With Party Cat, I do everything small business owners do: accounting, marketing, props and backgrounds. My husband, Aaron Norberg (B.F.A., photography, 2011), also a SCAD grad, is my No. 1 unpaid intern.

SCAD: What goes into a Party Cat Event?

OSBORNE: I have standard props I bring and will make up to five new ones if people want something specific, like a hashtag. For my most recent wedding, I worked on a Hulk mask and an Iron Man mask. Some people have specific ideas and will show me a Pinterest board, while some will just send me their colors and tell me to run with it.

SCAD: How did you get involved with Photolucida?

OSBORNE: Photolucida is one of reasons I moved to Portland. It's an art and photography-heavy city, and I wanted to be in the same atmosphere SCAD provided, and have a support group. 

I've worked with Photolucida for four years, first as a volunteer, then for a stipend. As program manager, I'm in charge of Critical Mass, an online photo competition whose goal is to provide exposure to emerging photographers. Along with marketing and administration, my job is to find over two hundred jurors who have access to or are able to give photographers opportunities including exhibitions, publications, introductions to collectors and features on photo-famous blogs. There are awards, always a good incentive.

SCAD: How did your SCAD education prepare you for your career? 

OSBORNE: The facilities were amazing. Being able to use all types of cameras, scanners and darkrooms allows you to experiment with any type of photography you want. My professors were really key to my education. They were no-nonsense, and rather than being patted on the back their honest critiques shaped me going into the real world. 


SCAD: What's one lesson you learned at SCAD that guides you in the professional world?


OSBORNE: Photography professor Rebecca Nolan told us to apply to the job you want and not the one you're necessarily qualified for. Women statistically don't apply to jobs because of that fear. She told us to tell future employers that you'll learn anything you need to know that you don't know already. I tried not be anxious starting my own business. I just dive in and do it.

There are redwoods rising inside the museum. Printed on silk chiffon hung ceiling high, "Redwoods (Spirit)" are part of "Temporal," the ongoing show by Miya Ando at SCAD Museum of Art. Ando, of Japanese-Ukranian heritage, incorporates elements of her childhood in Japan and Northern California into works that soothe and move. During a gallery talk with SCAD head curator Storm Janse van Rensburg, Ando stated: "I'm looking for a vocabulary that is universal. I love the vernacular of nature." An edited version of her remarks follows.

MIYA ANDO:

We are all part of a system of nature. We are all having a transitory experience: the metal, the trees, our thoughts, we as people. There's beauty in recognizing the impermanent nature of our existence. There's a beauty in interconnectivity.

When I was a child living in the redwood forest in Santa Cruz, I saw that redwood trees, because they're so tall, would frequently get struck by lighting and become charred on the inside. My dad actually built my sister and I a fabulous redwood treehouse. I noticed that the charred wood on the inside of my treehouse was the same as the charred wood called Shou Sugi Ban, a traditional and regional exterior cladding in Japan.

My mother is Japanese and my grandfather was the head priest in a small Buddhist temple. Several generations prior to my grandfather becoming a Buddhist priest, my grandfather made swords. When I was a young woman being of mixed identity meant looking into my heritage. I became an apprentice in metalsmithing. There's a particular form of metalsmithing that is used on blades, it's very refined, and when the metal is folded and hammered and heated, something forms called a "hamon" – a cloudlike pattern on the edge of a sword.

With this exhibition, I thought a lot about the five elements. In Japan, there is an element that is air, or void. The title of my piece "Emptiness the Sky" stems from a "kanji," a word called "Ku" which means empty, but its second meaning is "sky." A poetic notion. In the east you have a glass half full with water and half full with emptiness. There is thing-ness to space. There is such-ness that takes volume.

The material choices of these works prepare one for what the metaphysical or spiritual underpinnings of the pieces are. The charred wood has been through a transformation, and then inside you have empty space.

These are experiential works, activated by the viewer, that change as your viewpoint changes, from different angles, as you move about the piece, so that one angle does not comprise "the piece." These are works that are difficult to Instagram.

We know we're inside of a museum but when trees are inside, when clouds are inside, it gives a different perception of what a space can be.

"Temporal" is on display through Sunday, Jan. 14, 2018 at SCAD MOA.

There are many reasons SCAD students and alumni attend Dragon Con, the annual four-day celebration of all things "geek." Be it the attraction of open video gaming sessions, the utility of networking with top film industry talent, or the joy of showing off cosplay outfits created in SCAD's Body as Concept course, Dragon Con shines with opportunities for Bees.

Hosted at locations across Atlanta, Dragon Con 2017 emphasized disciplines aligned with the specific interests of SCAD students and alumni. A discussion with animator and puppeteer Toby Froud of Laika attracted those interested in stop motion animation. Bees majoring in interactive design and game development appreciated speakers touting the importance of mobile gaming businesses. As Georgia's film industry soared to an economic impact of $9.5 billion in 2017, the relevance of SCAD degree programs including film and television and visual effects has never been higher.

SCAD alumni whose successes brought them to Dragon Con 2017 included Lauren Brown (M.F.A., illustration, 2011), lead environmental artist at EA Games Mobile. Brown spoke on the Saturday afternoon panel "Why Representation Matters in Video Games" where she explained how video games have changed during her time in the industry.

"For the SCAD students attending my panel," Brown said, "I hope they take away the fact that their voice matters, and that they can make a career in the video game industry. Since I've been in gaming, I've seen people making an effort to see different perspectives and put different-looking characters into their games. People value my input. It has been really empowering."

Lauren spoke about the camaraderie of her experience at SCAD, and how it prepared her for the professional workplace: "Before SCAD, I didn't know what it was like to work on a team of animators to create a product. Professional animation is all about working together. That sense of teamwork really prepared me for my career, and set an expectation of what is achievable."

Among the 86,000 Dragon Con attendees was Joe Karg (M.F.A., painting, 2011). An illustrator for Floyd County Productions who works on the hit FX series "Archer," Karg was happy to chat while overseeing the sale of his artwork in Dragon Con's Artists' Alley. "SCAD prepared me so much for the role I'm in now. We learned about how best to market ourselves, and SCAD encourages you to make your own path." Any advice for students attending conventions like this one? "Being at Dragon Con is about sharing our love of pop culture and comic books. Utilize your skill, show off your successes, and be unique in what you do. But most of all, use conventions like Dragon Con to be on the ground with people who enjoy your artwork as fans."

Dragon Con concluded this Labor Day, but expect to find the work of SCAD students and alumni present at next year's event, already scheduled for August 30 through September 3, 2018 in Atlanta. Visit scad.edu to learn more about the academic programs that prepare alumni to stand out at Dragon Con with rewarding creative careers.

Lucky Bone Studio is a boutique animation shop that cares about bringing positivity to the world. Founded by SCAD alumni Jessica Doll (B.F.A., animation, 2011), Max Golden (B.F.A., film and television, 2011) and Kathryn Nicolas (B.F.A., animation, 2012), Lucky Bone showcases storytelling skills the co-owners honed at SCAD. This weekend Lucky Bone premieres a new animation at PAX West for Child's Play, a charity dedicated to providing games and toys to children in hospitals worldwide.

SCAD: How did you all form Lucky Bone?

MAX GOLDEN: I wrote my first script that Jessica animated while I was still doing an internship during my senior year at SCAD. We continued to work together on various animations, and after graduation formed our own studio. I was a film major and Jessica and Kathryn majored in animation. Our distinct but complementary skillsets make for a unique mix. We tackle all kinds of projects, specializing in hand-drawn 2-D animation, creating everything from explanatory and informative videos to animated short films. We're ready to tell any story.  

SCAD: What clients has Lucky Bone worked with thus far?

GOLDEN: Our team has had the pleasure of working on projects with a number of charities and companies promoting social well-being including BabyCenter, a Johnson & Johnson company, and MeYouHealth, a platform focused on promoting health and wellness. Members of our team have worked on videos for big companies and brands like New York Magazine, PETA and Epicurious.

SCAD: How did SCAD prepare you to run your own business?

KATHRYN NICOLAS: There's something inherently entrepreneurial about SCAD. Everything about its structure rewards being self-motivated and promotes creative problem-solving. SCAD gave us impeccable, state-of-the-art technical skills, and instilled a drive to fix things on our own and forge our own path.

SCAD: Can you tell us more about your animation for Child's Play?

JESSICA DOLL: We're excited to be working with Child's Play. It's a great cause, bringing therapeutic play to kids in need. Our video helps them explain exactly how their charity works and shows how much of a difference they make in children's lives. We were thrilled when they told us it was going to make its premiere at this year's PAX West, a community-based gaming show being held in Seattle this September 1-4. We're hoping as many people see it as possible, and that we can keep using what we learned at SCAD to do something good for the world.

For more information on Lucky Bone Studio visit their website.

To learn more about Child's Play click here.

Students, faculty, and guests turned out en masse at the SCAD Museum of Art for the opening of "Other Situations" by Liliana Porter. The exhibition presents 30 object-based works and two video pieces by the New York-based Argentinian artist.
 
Porter and SCAD curator of exhibitions Humberto Moro reposed as the crowd coalesced. Prints and photographs lined the walls. Platforms topped with sculptural works were scrutinized by admiring attendees.
 
Moro introduced the gallery talk by describing the exhibition as "a revision" of Porter’s works from a career spanning five decades. Porter ruminated on the role of time in her creations. "I am really interested in the possibility of making simultaneous things that are fragmented," she said.
 
One of the exhibition’s thematic groupings collects several of Porter’s photographs of novel iterations of cultural icons. A Che Guevara mousepad and a Jesus keychain appear alongside a photograph titled "Joan of Arc, Elvis, Che." Miniature busts of Elvis Presley and Che Guevara are depicted with a slice of Brie from a brand named for the Maid of Orléans. As Porter previously noted, "This is what time does to heroes."

 
The bare settings of the work are intentional. "In general my work happens in an empty background, to try not to use context," she explained. "Context implies time. If you take the context away, you are able to see more directly, as a pure metaphor."
 
Porter’s installations include several from her "Forced Labor" series: Tiny figurines holding a paintbrush, a pickaxe, or a broom appear to be working on a relatively gargantuan scale.

 
"They are metaphors of us in front of tasks that are superior to our ability," Porter noted. "They don’t seem to be aware that maybe they won’t be able to succeed. That ignorance creates humor."

 
Porter discussed her small sculpture, "Disguise Dog," a canine figurine wearing a mask of another canine. "The subject of disguise is perfect for me because it is impossible to have a disguise. The mask you choose describes you."
 
Earlier this year, Porter wrote a description of one of her mixed media pieces, "Breaking News/The Way Out." Cards printed with Porter’s essay guide the viewer through "Other Situations," suggesting interpretations. The essay adds another layer to the combination of objects, drawings and photographs that comprise the exhibition.
 
The center of the gallery includes a space for viewing Porter’s video works "Matinee" and "Actualidades/Breaking News." Porter explained that her original foray into video arose from one of the subjects of her photographs, a toy that plays cymbals. She noticed the silence that followed each cymbal crash. "In order to show that silence, I have to show the noise. The only way to do it was with video."
 
At the conversation’s conclusion, the crowd mingled in the galleries. In the lobby, guests of a certain age joined General Consul Jorge López Menardi to sample Argentinian libations, courtesy of the Consulate General of Argentina in Atlanta. The art and conversation of Liliana Porter filled the evening with meaning for all.

"Other Situations" is on view through Sunday, Jan. 7, 2018 at the SCAD Musuem of Art.

SCAD alumna Erika E. Wade (M.F.A., dramatic writing, 2016) has come a long way from the four-year-old who jotted down Harry Potter-esque short stories back home in Birmingham, Alabama. This Los Angeles-based scriptwriter will debut her solo performance “The Rhythm & Da Blues” Aug. 24-27, 2017 at the 13th Street Repertory Theatre in New York City.
 
SCAD: What's one lesson your learned at SCAD?

ERIKA E. WADE: At SCAD, I learned to stop fighting the things I’m naturally drawn to. At first, I thought comedy writing was the scariest thing I’d ever heard, and then I just wrote in my own voice. I wrote things as I saw them, and it made people laugh.
 
SCAD: What was your first move after graduation?
 
WADE: I moved to L.A. for a summer internship at a literary agency. When it was over, I had to figure out whether I was going to stay in California or go back home.
 
The whole first year, I explored. I did a little standup, then the 2016 Funny Women Festival, a comedy festival just for women. I kept writing new content, even if it was just fleshing out an idea, and opportunities just started coming from everywhere. I wrote "The Mad Mad Scientist Play" for TinyRhino LA, a collective that organizes nights of ten-minute plays. Not only did I find my little place in the city, but I grew as a writer.
 
SCAD: Where do you find inspiration for comedy and playwriting?


WADE: I'm inspired by being nosey. I write on the train. In Starbucks, I watch people and mimic their voices under my breath. I write for the people, so they inspire me. I've also always been inspired by the work Suzan Lori-Parks does with rhythm and historical retellings.
 
SCAD: How are you preparing for your debut one-woman performance?

WADE: Good friend and SCAD alumnus Topher Cusamano (M.F.A., dramatic writing, 2014) has a theater company in New York City. I sent him "The Rhythm & Da Blues" and he asked if he could produce it. The universe aligned, and we developed an Off-Off-Broadway show at 13th Street.
 
I play twelve characters, and every rehearsal, I learn new things about them. My vocal coach helped me make a realistic plan for maintaining my voice. We wanted to make sure each character had their own soul, because I’m not doing wigs or outfits. I wanted to show black women in all their very real emotional ranges.

SCAD: If you could work with one other playwright on a project, who and why?

WADE: I’d love to work with Nilaja Sun. I love how she incorporates multiple characters in scenes. I read "No Child" in my Devising Solo Performances class at SCAD, and it made me rethink what's possible in solo performances. 
 
SCAD: What's your biggest piece of advice for writers getting into the industry? 
 
WADE: Once you accomplish a goal, celebrate, but work like you’re still not where you want to be. “Making it” shouldn’t be a thing. Focus on the work: The only way to be a real writer is to get things down on the page.
 

Supremely savvy style site Fashionista is currently assembling their annual list of the world's top fashion schools. If you're a SCAD alumnus with a degree in fashion, take a moment to make your voice heard. And if you're here familiarizing yourself with what the SCAD School of Fashion has to offer, read on.

At the undergraduate and graduate level, SCAD fashion students prepare to lead the ever-evolving world of fashion through a rigorous curriculum anchored by creative thinking and dynamic technology. Led by Michael Fink, dean for School of Fashion, and guided by professors with extensive industry experience, students explore fashion from the conceptual to the commercial, merging technical dexterity with personal vision to develop original fashion collections.
 
The SCAD School of Fashion offers degrees in accessory design, fashion, fashion marketing and management, and luxury and fashion management. SCAD offers related minors in menswear, fashion photography, fashion journalism, jewelry, fragrance marketing and management and more, allowing students to refine their focus and build expertise in their disciplines.
 
At SCAD, students converse with critics, designers, buyers and thought leaders like Imran Amed, Norma Kamali, Robin Givhan, Brandon Maxwell and Carolina Herrera who visit SCAD's global campuses to share their experience and insight. Each year, the Style Lab Mentor program affords SCAD fashion students the opportunity to interact one-on-one with established designers like Zac Posen, Catherine Malandrino, Stephen Burrows, Rachel Roy, Christian Siriano and Rafé Totengco. Students liaise with top industry professionals during signature events SCADstyle and SCAD FASHWKND, and the many unique workshops and critiques that bring fashion elite to the university.
 
In May 2017, at the inaugural SCAD FASHWKND, 43 students debuted their collections at a runway show in Savannah, held in the courtyard of the SCAD Museum of Art, featuring a recent installation by the internationally renowned Carlos Cruz-Diez. In Atlanta, the collections were displayed in tableaux vivants throughout the third floor of the university's main building. Both SCAD FASHWKND events featured a Shop The Runway retail component, where SCAD alumni shared and sold their designs.
 
In 2017, SCAD students won 20 YMA Fashion Scholarships, more than any other university in the history of the competition. SCAD graduates have won the Supima Design Competition for two consecutive years: In 2016 womenswear designer Jeffrey Taylor (B.F.A., fashion, 2016) earned the $10,000 grand prize in the 9th annual Supima Design Competition. He was invited to show his collection at Lincoln Center during NYFW, and later showed his collection during Paris Fashion Week. In 2015 SCAD alumna Kate McKenna-Schliep (B.F.A., fashion, 2015) won the Supima competition and showed her collection during Paris Fashion Week.
 
In Atlanta, SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film hosts exhibitions of work by world-renowned designers like Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera, as well as historic compendiums including “Embellished: Adornment Through the Ages” and “Shoes: Pleasure and Pain.” To elucidate the themes of each exhibition, SCAD commissions complementary films that are screened in the adjacent SCAD FASH Film Salon. Students can further their studies through the SCAD FASH permanent collection, an archive of more than 1,000 museum quality garments from designers like Oscar de la Renta, Coco Chanel, Marc Jacobs, Yves Saint Laurent, Vera Wang, and Givenchy.

Visit SCAD to learn more about the university's incomparable contributions to the world of fashion.

As students settled into their seats in a darkening SCADshow for "Ethel & Ernest," the buzz of SCAD AnimationFest was palpable. Adapted from a graphic novel by Raymond Briggs and voiced by actors including Brenda Blethyn and Jim Broadbent, the feature film is directed by animation master Roger Mainwood. At SCAD AnimationFest, Mainwood, who has seen the industry evolve significantly since his start in 1979, shared a sliver of his knowledge with SCAD students and readers.

SCAD: What do you hope SCAD animation students learn from seeing "Ethel & Ernest"?

ROGER MAINWOOD: I'm pleased that we are reviving the art of hand-drawn animation. One of my inspirations for using the software TVPaint was a film from 2009 called "My Dog Tulip." I thought if a two-person team can make a feature film using TVPaint, this gives us hope. We were going to make "Ethel & Ernest" using the traditional method of pencil on paper. We made a big decision around 2014, to move everyone over to TVPaint and draw directly onto Wacom tablets. You still have to do all the hard work of animation, but it does give a smooth workflow. I hope this inspires SCAD students to keep going with hand-drawn animation!

SCAD: How is technology affecting animation?

MAINWOOD: One of the big changes now is that there is so much work to do in post-production and compositing. Before, you had to get everything into the camera in one take. Now, you can play around with lighting and layers and compositing. Although I say "Ethel & Ernest" is a hand-drawn film, there is a lot of 3D computer work in there, on planes, buses and so forth. We gave the 3D animation the look of hand-drawn animation by making the linework around it sympathetic.

SCAD: How did the time period of the story influence the art direction for the film?

MAINWOOD: Researching the period was really pleasant. We had a lot of help from "Ethel & Ernest" author Raymond Briggs. He drew a plan for the house. In the book, you don't really get a sense for how the rooms connect to each other. I didn't realize there was a step from the kitchen into the scullery, where you had the sink. That kind of detail informed the way the animators animated, with a skip up and a skip down. Authenticity was the name of the game. We also researched the sound design. Our sound engineer went to Duxford Air Museum, where they still fly old World War II Spitfires. We had one of those fire up and take off, so he was able to capture that authenticity. We found a 1930s bike, so we could capture the ratchety sound of the wheels going ‘round. You aren't necessarily aware of it when you're watching the film, but if it wasn't there, you would be.

SCAD: What is your key piece of advice to SCAD animation students?

MAINWOOD: Draw, draw, draw, every chance you can. Even if you're working in 3D computer animation, you need that basis. I appreciate broad, cartoony animation but I've always done more naturalistic animation. No matter your style, I emphasize getting those drawing skills behind you. It's the best thing you can do.

Visit the "Ethel & Ernest" website to find a screening near you.

Cory Imig's site-responsive show "Notes on Sculpture" transforms the SCAD Museum of Art Emerging Gallery in ways bold and playful. Whether passing through or lingering in contemplation, visitors must assess their relationship to Imig's work.

"It's interesting how the installation influences how people navigate the space," said Imig (B.F.A., fibers, 2008). During a gallery talk hosted by SCAD MOA curator Amanda York, attendees embodied the artist's point.

Imig's show follows her 2016 installation at Gutstein Gallery in the "Push and Pull" group exhibition, as well as her bravura striations adorning the Tybee Island pier at Sand Arts Festival 2017. Her show at Emerging Gallery further signifies her status as an important artist with expansive ideas about scale and space.

The new exhibition features "Ribbon Piece," two intersecting, diagonal sections of green vinyl streamers secured to wall and floor by suction cups and ratchet straps. The gallery becomes a pelagic zoetrope, illuminating Imig's stated desire to create "a moment where people have to contemplate their relationship to the work and their relationship to the space. What type of art object is this? Is this a sculpture? Am I supposed to walk through it? Around it? Prompting people to question what type of experience they're having is something I'm interested in."

"Ribbon Piece" dominates, but other works are key to "Notes on Sculpture." One wall presents Imig's precise diagramming of Sol LeWitt's statement: "All ideas need not be made physical." The diagram gives the sentence a prehensile intensity, subverting and celebrating LeWitt's words.

"When I read LeWitt's 'Sentences on Conceptual Art' in 2007 it was another moment, like, 'Oh, this is interesting,'" Imig explained. "I went to the Writers' Studio in the Jen Library where Jennifer Trevisol spent countless hours with me diagramming all thirty-five of LeWitt's sentences. Some of the sentences are really complex so the diagrams became complex structures. One of the sentences is: 'These sentences comment on art, but are not art.' I loved the idea of turning those sentences into art. It fit so well with the conceptual movement."

Imig arrived for her SCAD MOA show fresh from a road trip to the American west where she witnessed epochal land art including Nancy Holt's "Sun Tunnels," Robert Smithson's "Spiral Jetty" and Michael Heizer's "Double Negative." Her interest in land art inspired fifteen framed pieces in "Notes on Sculpture," with strips of colored paper collaged across natural landscape photographs, rendering distances closer in the work than in reality.

"These are site proposals for possible installations that won't necessarily be built," Imig admitted. Of course, such epic installations are possible, as Imig proved with her red fabric opus at Tybee Island during Sand Arts.

As the gallery talk concluded, Imig greeted friends old and new. Exiting visitors navigated "Ribbon Piece" again. The work remained in play.