For centuries, the medieval village of Lacoste in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France has been an inspirational haven for artists. Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh, and Pablo Picasso all sought out its rolling hills and lavender fields.

As the European location of the premier global destination for art and design education, SCAD Lacoste is now celebrating twenty years of creativity and innovation with the unveiling of Promenade de Sculptures. The permanent installation of ten large-scale works embodies the ingenuity of ten student, alumni, and faculty artists — diverse representatives of SCAD's talented network.

Curated by President Paula Wallace and Chief Operating Officer Glenn Wallace, and organized by SCAD Museum of Art associate curator Ben Tollefson, the works pay homage to the beauty and magic of the Luberon Valley. The artists were chosen from an array of artistic backgrounds. They were inspired by personal experiences in Lacoste as SCAD students or faculty, or through alumni enrichment programs like SCAD's prestigious Alumni Atelier. SCAD's top-ranked programs in industrial design, graphic design, painting, fibers, fashion, and animation are all represented.


"The village of Lacoste is a space full of rich history and wonderful, hand-hewn structures," says SCAD sculpture professor Justin Archer. "Rest and inspiration have been a critical aspect of this village and the Luberon region as a whole, drawing in remarkable artists and thinkers for centuries."

Of his new bronze sculpture entitled En Plein Air, Archer believes it "recognizes that ephemeral beauty, found in the Luberon valley, is a necessary source of peace and restoration. The opportunity to cast this work in bronze at SCAD Studio in Atlanta, gave me the ability to contribute to SCAD's legacy in the region by inspiring local residents, SCAD students, and visitors. I'm tremendously grateful."

Archer conceptualized En Plein Air in the spirit of the Greek sculpture The Winged Victory of Samothrace (190 B.C.). He aimed for  harmony between beauty and permanence, strength and ephemerality — qualities that parallel the medieval structures of southern France. Rising seven feet tall, the bronze-cast figure gazes purposefully across the sprawling landscape. Weathering on the surface of the sculpture evinces Archer's exploration of the fragmentation of the figure and, for the artist, "serves as a reminder that, although we experience hardship, we can breathe in the hope of creation and offer that to others."

Esteemed alumna Ashley Benton (B.F.A., painting, 1990) found inspiration for her sculpture during her time as a 2019 SCAD Alumni Atelier ambassador in Lacoste. It was then that she began a new body of work: a series of small, seated figures commingling human and animal forms. Expanding the scale of those works, her new sculpture is Benton's largest work to date. Her bronze sculpture has the tantalizing title When they asked her "why?," Odile thought about it and replied, "why not?," and the lock on her heart opened.

Milan Bhullar, originally from Pune, India, is a current M.F.A. student in the SCAD furniture design program. Her new work, Transfiguration, is the expansion of an idea Bhullar developed in a class at SCAD. Transfiguration is a series of five stainless steel menhirs of varying sizes and colors that combine to foster a sense of introspection and retrospection. Viewers experience their shifting reflections in the faceted structure with the expansive landscape of Lacoste as a backdrop.

A reflection on the ancient need to seek quiet contemplation, Bradley L. Bowers' Ooma is a response to our contemporary age and a culture bombarded with distractions. The double-curved dome references historic architecture while employing cutting-edge 3D bioplastic printing technology. The intricate geometric lattice work creates a permeable threshold, juxtaposing the interiority and solace of the self with the exteriority of the surrounding sweeping views of the Luberon Valley. Bowers (M.A., furniture design, 2012; B.F.A., industrial design, 2010) continues to amaze.

Carla Contreras, Harmonie, acier et peinture automobile, 2022.

Inspired by the balance and creative energy of the Chattahoochee River ecosystems near her current home in Atlanta, Quito, Ecuador native Carla Contreras' first large-scale sculpture, Harmonie, is the result of a contemplative process driven by curiosity and fascination. With its vibrant colors and patterns, the work made from steel and automotive paint speaks to the "artist-nature-creation" phenomenon. Contreras (M.F.A. painting, 2020) connects this experience to being "attuned to a striking sunset by the river, the harmonious compositions of rock outcrops in the woods, the complexity of organisms like lichens, or the overwhelming smell of the lavender fields."

The powder-coated steel and Corten steel Tectonic Arch emerges from Kendall Glover's fascination with the arch form. Inspired by her collage practice, the work challenges viewers' assumptions of positive, negative, and dimensional space through the layering of colors and forms. As Glover (B.F.A., fibers, 2009) states: "When existing as a void, the arch may represent a passageway or portal. Stones of an archway hold each other in tension, distributing the pressure of the load. In Tectonic Arch, parts combine in a shared gesture, like alphabetic components that together form a phrase."

Andrew Herzog's background in graphic design and keen interest in language as a ubiquitous medium informs his sculptural practice. Herzog's seven-foot-tall, reflective, lenticular structure features a typeface inspired by French street signs. The title HERE/ICI reads either "here" or "ici" depending on the viewer's perspective. For Herzog, "public art should have some reflection of the space it inhabits." An homage to its location and its international audience, the work's reflective surface takes on the attributes of the landscape. Herzog (M.A., graphic design, 2013; B.F.A., graphic design, 2012) intends it as
a meditative reminder to honor the present moment, as mutable as the viewer's own experiences.

A paper airplane rendered in silicon bronze and embellished with silhouettes of the 12 zodiac signs, Melissa Richardson's sculpture Star-Crossed is imbued with universal symbolism. Its skyward orientation and the variable nature of its surfaces propose a sense of unity through our hopes and aspirations, our common connection to the stars, and our ever-changing human natures. Melissa is currently working towards her fashion degree at SCAD.

Wendy White's fabulously titled Raincloud (Neon Signs on Overcast Days) seems to achieve the impossible in aluminum and steel.  White (B.F.A., fibers, 1993) employs rain cloud as symbol to express the transience of a fleeting moment while making the intangible physical. In this work, White uses the precise shade "Curious Yellow," produced in 1971 by the Chrysler Plymouth car company, as a nod to the themes of Americana, car culture, and nostalgia that permeate the artist's larger oeuvre. White's cloud also engages pressing environmental concerns, serving, as the artist states, as "a reminder of weather's effect on human survival and nourishment as well as our ever-fragile connection to and dependence on the natural world."

Nuance in Repetition continues Justin Zielke's exploration of both realistic and abstract visual interpretations of the body to examine subjects of human experience. Zielke (M.F.A., animation, 2017) deployed  both traditional and digital approaches to create a bronze work exemplifies his fascination with the process of creation and its relation to individual identity. Through the obvious gestural marks rendered in grand scale, the larger-than-life-sized bust straddles familiarity and uncertainty.

In sum, the individual works represent something greater when experienced together in physical space. A grand unveiling on October 16, 2022 showed all the works in their permanent place. SCAD President Paula Wallace called the new Promenade de Sculptures as "a love letter to Provence writ large in the Luberon Valley. In celebration of 20 years of SCAD Lacoste, I cordially invite the public to tour our magnificent Promenade de Sculptures."

Visit SCAD Lacoste.

The wheels began turning in January 2020, in a course called The Human Factor, Design Thinking (SDES 502).

"Lauren Dodge walked into my classroom as a first quarter grad student with little understanding of the design process," says professor of innovation Nicholas Dine. "I saw her quickly mature into a deeply talented researcher and design strategist with a competitive spirit."

In fall 2020, Dine drafted Dodge (M.F.A., service design) into a ten-week SCADpro challenge for Snap-on, Inc. Dodge was one of 17 total students from nine different majors working on innovative designs for Snap-on's Bahco professional cycling tool line.

The project was right in Lauren's wheelhouse: cycling is the reason Dodge came to SCAD in the first place. After earning a dietetics degree at University of Georgia in 2015, Dodge began competing internationally for Automatic Racing. SCAD cycling coach Alec Hoover took note, and in late 2019, he offered Dodge a full scholarship to come to SCAD to earn her masters' degree and ride her bike.

"She is the one to always say yes to opportunity, to make the most of something," Hoover told Dodge's hometown media outlet.

In 2021-2022, Dodge was named SCAD Women's Cycling Most Valuable Performer. She was subsequently sidelined after fracturing her scaphoid in June, but on a recent sunny Savannah morning, Lauren, 29, jogged up to Big Bon Bodega wearing only a soft cast. "I'll be back on my bike tomorrow."

Lauren Dodge:

I had Professor Nick Dine my first quarter here. He knew I was into cycling. I'd drag my bike into class most of the time. When he became SCADpro professor for the Snap-on project, he found me a spot on the research team. The design challenge was creating bike tools — perfect!

There is a good bit left to do in the world of designing bike tools, and tools, period. Most tools have been created to be used by men, but the dilemma is that men entering the industry now do not have the same hand and arm strength that the tools were originally designed for. There's a need to redesign for the less brawny guy, which also makes tools more accessible to women. And there's increased interest in female mechanics entering the field. This exciting intersection of circumstances is the subject of my master's thesis. 

The SCADpro project led to an internship with Snap-on. Alex Whitman (B.F.A., industrial design), Thibaut Deluca-Verley (B.F.A., industrial design), and I all went to Snap-on headquarters in Kenosha, Wisconsin for three months in summer 2021, doing research and working with their innovation team. Snap-on has for many years been doing research on female mechanics. My thesis is 100 percent a result of the Snap-On SCADpro projects.

I've loved my SCAD experience. When I arrived, I had no idea I'd become a service designer. Service design is co-created, people-based system design. It can involve digital, it can involve manufacturing, but at its core service design means coordinating people and making the unknown pieces of human activity more known. You pitch your work to managers and department heads so that they're willing to take on your recommendations.

I'll finish my master's thesis and graduate in the spring. The final thing I absolutely have to do is get a medal at cycling nationals, because every other piece of my SCAD experience has been above and beyond what I could have expected.

Follow Lauren on Instagram!

For two SCAD alumni, a conversation about the underrepresentation of Caribbean people led to the creation a production company, Anacaona Pictures.

Mahalia Latortue (M.F.A., film and television, 2020) grew up traveling between her family’s home in New York state and their native Haiti, steeped in storytelling as part of a culture not often pictured in media.  She was inspired to invest in her future while attending SCAD as a graduate film and television student amid Atlanta’s thriving entertainment scene.

At SCAD, met kindred creative spirit Erik Francisco Medina (M.F.A., film and television, 2020), a native of Puerto Rico and former journalist, embarking on a similar journey to tell stories about the intersectionality of culture. Their like-minds created natural telepathy for screenwriting at SCAD.

Since graduating in 2020, Medina and Latortue have continued their shared mission to create a space where all cultures are valued, respected, and uplifted within media. They have produced several award-winning shorts championing Caribbean culture, people of color, and women in film, television, and documentaries. The year, Latortue’s “The Last Good Day” was a finalist in the best short screenplay competition at the Nashville Film Festival.

Through their company, Anacaona Pictures, Latortue and Medina are telling new stories featuring diverse voices in-frame and behind the camera. They credit their Caribbean-Latino community for their continued success.

Mahalia Latortue: Erik and I both love our cultures. The intersectional figure for our cultures is Anacaona, a Taíno chief, religious expert, poet, composer, and ruler of five tribes in Hispaniola. Eighty percent of Puerto Ricans identify as Tainos, and Anacaona was born on the island of Haiti. What's so fascinating about her is she is a woman leader who protected her tribes from extinction.  Anacaona is a symbol of strength. Who is a better icon to represent our writing and stories than Anacaona?

Erik Francisco Medina: My culture defines me. Before I'm Hispanic, I'm Latino. Before I'm Latino, I’m Caribbean. When we discuss more inclusive representation, it's exploring this intersectionality. We're fighting for our culture to be represented, uncompromised, and showcased as it is without diluting it.

Mahalia Latortue: When we co-wrote screenplays, everyone seemed to think it came from one person. As a writing duo, that is so hard to do. 

Erik Francisco Medina: Ninety-five percent of my film career is a collaboration with Mahalia.  I'm very grateful for that. SCAD opened those doors to see my career flourish and keep developing. We attribute collaboration and helping others to our continued success. As filmmakers, we can lean into the community and support each other no matter what. There's room for everybody in the industry as Latinos, being Hispanic.

Mahalia Latortue: What I find most inspiring about my Haitian culture is that even through adversity, people don't give up. It's an excellent metaphor for success, where you're striving towards your goal. Sometimes it's three steps forward, sometimes two steps back, and that's okay. That’s part of your journey to success.

Visit Anacaona Pictures!

"Time is a currency to me," writes Dominique Clayton (M.A., creative business leadership, 2018) in her essay in A Nickel Bag of Time. "I have to trade, sell, borrow, and sometimes steal it to get what I need done."

Clayton's essay, featured in the new issue of arts broadsheet FIND PEACE. KEEP PEACE., addresses the combined challenges of life as a gallerist, entrepreneur, and married mother of three. She may make it look easy — but like the old song goes, it ain't necessarily so.

After earning her master's degree via the virtual SCADnow platform, Clayton came to Savannah for the first time during deFINE ART 2022. Her generative insights lit up a panel on radical approaches to arts management.

Now, having brought her brick-and-mortar Dominique Gallery into the virtual world ("a good shift for me"), Clayton is working towards a new definition of what a 21st century gallerist can be.

What follows is condensed from an extensive, wide-ranging conversation.

Dominique Clayton:

Although I started my first gallery and exhibition program in 2015, it wasn't until 2018-9 that I really began going the extra mile, trying to build the network and do all things at the same time. During the pandemic, there was a lot of outreach to me and Black writers and artists to tap into our feelings and our insights on how to make change.

Institutions and collectors were wanting to make some kind of amends, or open up a dialogue, as if this was a brand-new issue. And a lot of the younger artists' protest art, and Black identity art, was created and seen through this lens. But if you were to look at works from Black artists in the 1970s, the images, the feelings, the struggle, were identical. It's a cyclical thing, where this new generation of artists and audiences, it's fresh to them, and it's forced them to be a bit more reflective. Those who care to look back and see what happened in the past and how it influenced today, those are the artists and thinkers who I respond well to.

A lot of my clients and the artists I work with are skewing younger; they're digital natives. One thing I ask these Instagram artists: How would anyone find you if Instagram broke? Where are you archiving your studio work? I think about my children, when they're in college, learning about this time in the arts, where are they going to get their information? So, I keep magazines. I keep newspapers. I keep clippings, and brochures from art fairs. As an older millennial, part of me is still analogue. One of the planned pivots for Dominique Gallery is to launch an in-house publishing wing, and provide that service for artists and for galleries that I collaborate with.

SCAD helped me figure out that I don't have to limit myself. The masters program in arts leadership was the best way for me to fully immerse myself in the arts and come out with useful management skills. In my cohort, we were all virtual friends, we came from different communities, some right out of SCAD undergrad, some were older and making a career switch. My colleague Lauren Jackson Harris (M.A., creative business leadership, 2017), founder of Black Women in Visual Art, is an art sister to this day. In October, I'm going to Venice with Lauren for an artists' retreat in honor of Simone Leigh and her participation in the Biennale. At the end of October, I'll be back in L.A. curating a show for an art auction for the Wearable Art Gala, an initiative from Ms. Tina Knowles and Richard Lawson.

When I have control over my time, I feel like the ultimate hustler. Time is truly a commodity. Five more minutes to sleep, or five more minutes to finish that article due at midnight—you don't realize how important time is until you have none left.

Photos of Dominique Clayton taken in South Central, Los Angeles, by Texas Isaiah.

Purchase the new issue of FIND PEACE. KEEP PEACE. to read A Nickel Bag of Time in full.

It's a fresh season at the renowned SCAD Museum of Art, with new exhibitions to epitomize change.

The new season unites an international roster of emerging and established artists whose practices reflect vital conversations within contemporary discourse. The diverse slate of shows represents varied mediums, approaches, and contexts, and includes a major presentation of work by Roxy Paine, whose large-scale, multimedia sculptures examine intricate systems, from the biological to the geological to the industrial, ultimately engaging deeply existential themes of humanity and the natural world.

"We are so exited to share these wonderful new exhibitions at the SCAD Museum of Art," said chief curator Daniel S. Palmer. "This fall, we showcase a geographically diverse range of artists who create compelling works varying in media and approach. With an assortment of impressive solo exhibitions and thoughtful group shows, the museum will be buzzing with a dynamism that is sure to inspire creativity and wonder for our students and visitors alike."

SCAD MOA proudly presents the first solo exhibitions in the U.S. for Anna Park, Maria Nepomuceno, and Shi Jinsong, whose practices each uniquely materialize the complexities and contradictions of culture within capitalistic societies. Also featured is the group show Aaron Douglas: Sermons in the museum's Evans Center for African American Studies, exploring the Harlem Renaissance artist's profound influence on creative practice today.

Many of SCAD's top-ranked degree programs — including painting, photography, sculpture, fibers, illustration, animation, and architecture — are reflected in this season's exhibitions and complementary events programming. This includes The Feminist Divine by Gisela Colon, on view through Jan. 2, 2023. Colón's dynamic sculptures offer mutable, perceptual experiences through the refraction, reflection, and emission of light. Generated with advanced production methods such as carbon fiber casting meant for aerospace applications, Colón's curvilinear forms emanate a seductive, iridescent glow. Fluctuating in color based on environmental conditions and where the viewer stands in relation to the work, the sculptures are visible in the Pamela Elaine Poetter Gallery and looking in from the museum's courtyard.

The SCAD Museum of Art features more than 10 dynamic gallery spaces presenting exhibitions and commissioned works by international emerging and established artists. Exhibitions range from painting, sculpture, and photography to digital media, fashion, and jewelry, complementing the artistic disciplines offered at the university. The museum also hosts public programming, including lectures, gallery talks, workshops, and film screenings, to enhance the dynamism of the exhibitions. This demonstrates the museum's continued mission to enrich the high caliber of education and cultural life of the Savannah community and beyond.

An award-winning architectural icon, the museum attracts visitors from around the world to the heart of Savannah's vibrant downtown historic district and incorporates the oldest surviving pre-Civil War railroad depot into its striking contemporary design. Recognized with awards from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, the Congress for the New Urbanism, the International Interior Design Association, and the Historic Savannah Foundation, the museum received the American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Architecture, a pinnacle achievement. Please visit scadmoa.org.

Banner image: Roxy Paine, "Stratigraphic no. 1" (detail), 2021, wood, epoxy resin, thermoset polymer, lacquer, and oil paint, 36 x 60 1/2 x 6 1/2 in. Courtesy of the artist and Kasmin Gallery, New York.

"The DNA of writing is authenticity. How do you get really honest with yourself?" asks dramatic writing professor Sandra Daley with a knowing smile. "I'm here to push students to access that place, which means tackling fears, being gutsy, and putting it all on the page."

Daley joined SCAD faculty full-time in Fall 2021. Previously a professor at Sarah Lawrence, she earned her MFA at Hunter College, where she studied under Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker and Pulitzer finalist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Daley's vibrant resume includes lauded work as an actor, director, writer, and dramaturg, as well as a producer with the OBIE Award-winning collective Harlem9.


"Professor Daley is a dynamic addition to SCAD dramatic writing, and her strong commitment to our students is evident in the open, supportive, and creative environments she fosters in all her classes," says dramatic writing chair Averie Storck. "Her passion and energy are tremendous! In her first year, she led the writers' room of Episode 3 of the SCAD original sitcom G.R.I.T.S., while student scripts from her playwriting classes are being used in cross-departmental collaborations. We're lucky to have her as part of our faculty."

This quarter, Daley is teaching courses including Introduction to Playwriting (DWRI 272) and Writing the Television Drama Pilot Script (FILM 438). "I feel grounded in what it is I bring to the classroom and what I bring to the SCAD community, and to these new, young student writers," she says. "Being a Black woman and being Caribbean means having a different perspective around the conversation of identity—especially for young people who are identifying around gender, sexuality, and mental health challenges. Students are looking for validation for their voices."

Within the space of a few minutes of conversation, Daley references Lynn Nottage, Alvin Ailey, Charles Mee, Lorraine Hansberry, Henrik Ibsen, Dominque Morisseau, and Sophocles. This significant swathe confirms her expansive knowledge base—and stimulates curiosity.

"Most of my students are not only learning how to write, they're trying to understand what playwriting is really about," she explains. "The biggest thing I can show them is how to tell compelling stories in short form, and how to honor the words on the page."

Daley's nurturing approach is feedback-based. "I take a lot of time to give students individual attention, so that they feel heard and respected, because the process is hard." Coddling is avoided. "My prompts take students out of their comfort zones. I'm giving you something that frees your brain."

SCAD dramatic writing embraces both stage and screen. While noting the disparities between playwright and TV writer as professions, Daley envisions a new working model for today's dramatic writer.

"There's something about the TV world right now that I love: the platform is broad, with experimental work. TV has that type of collaborative writers-room writing that is reassuring, whereas playwriting can feel lonely. I'm happy teaching both here now at SCAD. I feel appreciated in our wonderful and quickly growing dramatic writing department."

Their dynamic is potent. This summer it pointed to the Luberon Valley.

In July, Gonzalo Hernandez (M.F.A., fibers, 2019; M.A., painting, 2018) traveled to SCAD Lacoste as an Alumni Atelier associate. Professor Todd Schroeder was there teaching painting. Working in person, the duo began to create large-scale prints exploring layered techniques.

"Participating in the Alumni Atelier program in Lacoste allowed me to develop multiple projects," says Hernandez. "Knowing that Todd was there was an extra incentive, providing us with the opportunity to work together."

Schroeder has been a mentor to Hernandez since 2017 when Gonzalo—then an M.A. painting student—took his class Experiential and Conceptual Art (PNTG 766), exploring Surrealism and Dada and learning, in Schroeder's words, "to foreground objective strategies aimed at generating composition."

After earning his master's degree in painting, Gonzalo worked with Schroeder as a teaching intern. Hernandez acknowledged Schroeder's influence in the title of the painting "):) (gracias Todd)" in his solo show at SCAD MOA in 2020. The pair collaborated on the exhibition "SIH" —an acronym for Spanish Is Hard—at THE END in Atlanta in 2021. Something larger was taking shape: originally student and professor, the two became closer to peers.

"With my collaborations with Gonzalo, I focus my attention on a kind of hypersensitivity to associations, and I think Gonzalo does the same," Schroeder says of their summer in the studio and classroom spaces of SCAD Lacoste.

"Todd drew an arrow up and an arrow down," Hernandez says. "I began thinking about what that means, conceptually, and I thought of ‘los de abajo' and the sense of ‘let's pull up the people who are underdogs.'"

A native of Lima, Peru, Hernandez mentions the popular TV program ‘Los de arriba y los de abajo' "which was a bit like Romeo and Juliet, about an upper-class woman who falls in love with this poor guy from another level of society. It was one of the biggest telenovelas that we had in Peru in the 1990s, with lots of references to its political moment."

In the new work, text and image comingle, optically jittery, indicating upheaval and urgent motion.

"We wanted to play with the idea of how does it feel when things are going up and down?" Hernandez says. "The process began with Todd making a painting, then we'd take a photo of it and put it into Photoshop and use a blur filter to give the idea of movement. At the same time, I'm creating text, creating layers, seeing how it goes."

That exploratory mentality is a key to the process that Schroeder instilled in Hernandez at SCAD. Foregrounding process over result, the painting professor emphasizes staying "open to developments no matter how peripheral to any original conceit; in fact, to look to the peripheral for guidance."

Later this year, Hernandez will manifest a full slate of projects, including a SCAD commission for Design Miami and a solo exhibition at La Galería Rebelde in Guatemala, while Schroeder will return to teach at SCAD Savannah.

There are more arrows in their quiver.

Tucked on a back wall at the Gutstein Gallery, Jana Marie Cariddi's painting "Dwelling to Devise a Way Out" is a lurid bombshell. Part of the group show Supernatural!, the acrylic-on-wood-panel pulses with humor and color. Its sense of being alive is, perhaps paradoxically, something a 2D artwork can achieve only through total commitment and kinetic intent.  

The title of the painting may be a nod to Ibsen's 1879 play A Doll's House, that enduring urtext for domestic dissatisfaction. As Cariddi (B.F.A., painting, 2015) says: "I'm trying to bring the house and the body together. They're both dynamic things that shelter us, and I like blurring the qualities that separate the two."

The work has kinship with Suellen Rocca's skew-whiff oils, Gilbert Shelton's freaky underground comix, and the uncanny visions of Leonora Carrington. But it is manifestly in touch with Cariddi's roots as a New Jersey punk rocker too. That aspect of the painting—its punkness—bristles with barely-tamed energy.

Disembodied facial features grieve; a lone molar languishes behind bars; a bulbous bicep powers a hand gripping a bouquet of funky tendrils. Meanwhile, a cutaway appears to reveal the studio of the artist herself. The brave painter embraces anarchy to achieve unity.

With her toy poodle Sid Vicious on her lap, Cariddi connected via Zoom from her home in Wisconsin to discuss the work.

Jana Marie Cariddi, "Dwelling to Devise a Way Out," 2021. Acrylic on wood panel.

Jana Marie Cariddi:

The painting in Supernatural! is actually the first painting I made in grad school. I'm now in the graduate painting program at University of Wisconsin-Madison, where I'm also teaching drawing to undergrads. One of the things about teaching is that it's super important to be confident. Students can pick up on that readily, and I think that's made me more confident in my abilities to teach. In my studio practice, I've been forced to be more confident because I have less time—I make decisions quicker and get in the studio when I can.

I consider myself somebody who really resonates with humor. I need it to get by. It's cathartic and it's necessary. For that to come out in my work is only natural. It's also quite a dark painting in some ways, but the fact you can look at it and laugh is part of my intention. I want it to resonate and feel familiar.

My drawing process is intuitive and spontaneous. I use Micron pens, and let the drawing evolve from my subconscious. My painting process is the opposite: I take the drawing and plan and execute step by step to turn the drawing into the painting.

When I made the sketch for this painting, I was looking at Rube Goldberg devices. I love how they go in all sorts of directions and can defy gravity. The environment is nonsensical. The dollhouse comes up in my work a lot, as a nod to girlhood. I grew up in the ‘90s watching a lot of Nickelodeon like Pee-wee's Playhouse, and Polly Pocket toys, where houses open up and have little rooms that somehow connect. I use a lot of geometry, but I consider myself an organic thinker.

As a SCAD undergrad I had a great professor for color theory, Deborah Mosch (M.F.A., illustration, 1991), who completely flipped me on my belly and taught me the power of colors. I started out studying illustration, and then was told: "If you like to solve problems be an illustrator, and if you like to ask questions be a painter." A week later I switched my major to painting. The SCAD painting faculty is wonderful. Professor Vanessa Platacis taught me so much about professionality, and she influenced and inspired me to be a hard-edge flat painter.

For me, my attraction to painting is that I have this crazy imagination and a need to express myself all the time. It could never be anything other than painting.

Visit Jana Marie Cariddi!

Supernatural! is on view at Gutstein Gallery through Fri. Sept 16. The exhibition is free and open to the public.

"For 75 days I studied the lavender growth daily, waiting for the purple to appear," wrote Nikole Nelson (B.F.A., interior design, 2007) in a mid-June Instagram post. "And on my last few days in Provence, it did."

Nelson's words represent the wonder of surrender, and the corresponding potential for artistic creation. Of her experience as a Spring 2022 SCAD Lacoste Alumni Atelier ambassador, she says: "Awakening to the earth's rhythms in that place in time was powerful for me."

Founder of the Hawaii-based art and design studio BLKCORAL, Nelson is familiar with great expectations. She has created conceptual environments for clients including Coach, Kate Spade, Tory Burch, and New Balance. For her SCAD Alumni Atelier project, Nelson created botanical artworks from flora sourced in the Luberon Valley. Her sculptural work Emergence, an undulating wave of lavender and pressed peony, was purchased by local collectors Barbara Hummel and Xavier Coll. "I'm thrilled the original piece will live on in Lacoste," Nelson says.

Recounting her Alumni Atelier experience, the artist's gratitude is palpable.

Emergence, lavender and pressed peony, 25" x 30", 2022.

Nikole Nelson:

I was first in SCAD Lacoste as a student in 2006, sixteen years ago, in the fall. Lacoste is a medieval village, so not much has changed aesthetically over time. Being there this spring, I thought it was going to be green and in bloom. Reality connected me to the fact that the seasons have rhythms, just like there's a rhythm within us. The earth was saying, this is the pace, you can't go any faster. There's so much magic in the land that it's undeniable.

The day I arrived I went into Café Beauregard and walked table to table and let the students know to feel free to talk to me. No matter what discipline you're studying there's always an opportunity to collaborate and have a conversation. When students came to my studio, I would always give them something—perhaps a Palo Santo stick and dried flowers and twine—that they could create with in their journals when they left.

I've been mentoring students for 15 years, primarily interior design students, so it was exciting in Lacoste to work with animation and fibers and painting and all kinds of majors. I love giving back to our future generations. SCAD thrives on reciprocity.

My plan in Lacoste was to make a large round sea of lavender. I wanted to sculpt the base then place the lavender over it. I realized I was not going to have access to the lavender I needed. I was going to have to pivot, like I've done with clients a million times. I gathered what I could and went to nurseries and befriended gardeners and got pointers on where to find lavender.

At that point at Acorn Cottage a peony bloomed that was ten inches across. It barely fit in my press. It was so beautiful that it took my breath away. I'd never seen one before in nature. I waited until the bloom period was done to let it be in its full glory. I pressed the peony for a week then put it into the silica so it's still sculptural and retains its depth. The work was photographed by my fellow Alumni Atelier ambassador Justin Zeilke (M.F.A., animation, 2017).

My Alumni Atelier Lacoste experience keeps giving beyond the 10-week quarter. I came home with a bounty of pressed and dried flowers and new concepts to explore. Moving through the power of the blooms I've begun communicating with the roots, going deeper into both myself and the earth. I'm excited to continue a more sculptural approach and see where the French botanicals take me.

Botanical transnational: Nikole Nelson at SCAD Lacoste.

Nikole Nelson would like to extend thanks and mahalo to President Wallace and Alumni Atelier director Tiffani Taylor (M.F.A., painting, 2020; M.A., art history, 2003; B.F.A., painting, 2002).

The SCAD Alumni Atelier, conceived and endowed by SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace, enriches the creative and professional endeavors of distinguished SCAD graduates.

Learn more about the Alumni Atelier program here.  

SCAD President Paula Wallace is proud to announce the creation and contribution of the SCAD Collection for Meals on Wheels Atlanta (MOWA). The permanent exhibition of SCAD artworks will adorn MOWA's new headquarters in West Midtown and the adjacent venue space 1705 West.

The SCAD Collection for MOWA features more than 50 artworks, personally selected by President Wallace and SCAD Chief Operating Officer Glenn Wallace. The dynamic exhibition will illuminate and enliven the new space, inspiring volunteers, guests, and the community. The gift fortifies the university's position as a leader in the Atlanta arts community. It aligns with the mission of SCAD SERVE, the community service design studio focused on uplifting local communities with design-driven solutions in the critical need areas of food, shelter, clothing, and environment. SCAD maintains a longstanding relationship with MOWA, in support of the organization's commitment to aid seniors in metro Atlanta struggling with food insecurity.

"Glenn and I were delighted to curate a special collection of more than fifty SCAD artworks to be exhibited at Meals on Wheels Atlanta," said President Wallace. "This SCAD collection complements the positive energy and meaningful work of MOWA by imbuing their handsome offices and events spaces with the joy of fine art. SCAD and Meals on Wheels Atlanta share a heart for the underserved of this wondrous city. Glenn and I wanted to do something special for our friends at MOWA to thank them for their important work."

Aliyah Salmon and Trish Andersen create Handled with Care, mixed yarns, 2022.

Fourteen notable SCAD alumni artists are featured in the dynamic exhibition. All the artworks showcase the creative artists represented by SCAD Art Sales, the university's in-house art consultancy and curatorial studio.

The esteemed visual alumni artists, from an array of SCAD's top-ranked degree programs including painting, illustration, fibers, photography, sculpture, and fashion design, were hand-selected to create original works of paintings, sculptures, large-scale installations and murals for this permanent exhibition to elevate and enrich the MOWA and 1705 West spaces. The works evoke the vibrancy of Atlanta and the SCAD spirit of altruism and community.

"The incredible generosity of President Wallace throughout the years is punctuated in this art exhibition that celebrates our new venue, 1705 West, and captures the essence of MOWA's mission," said MOWA CEO Charlene Crusoe-Ingram. "The artworks and their SCAD creators are a reflection of our colorful city, the seniors we serve, and our staff who deliver food, compassion, and care that our aging neighbors urgently need."

SCAD alumni artists featured in the SCAD Collection for MOWA include:

Trish Andersen (B.F.A., fibers, 2005)
Aliyah Salmon (B.F.A., textile design, 2018)
Kent Knowles (B.F.A., painting, 1997; SCAD painting professor)
Marcus Kenney (M.F.A., photography, 1998)
Abigail Chase Miller (M.A., sculpture, 2019)
Adrienne Dixon (B.F.A., painting, 2011)
Brandon Sadler (B.F.A., illustration, 2009)
Chris Skeene a.k.a. Blockhead (B.F.A., photography, 2006)
Ayana Ross (M.F.A., painting)
Dan VanLandingham (M.F.A., painting, 2011)
Tim Kent (B.F.A., painting, 2014)
Hasani Sahlehe (B.F.A., painting, 2015)
Michael Porten (M.F.A., painting, 2012; B.F.A., illustration, 2004)
Lauren Coggins-Tuttle (M.F.A., painting, 2012)

For information about Meals on Wheels Atlanta, please visit mowatl.org.

Banner image: hand-painted mural by Kent Knowles.

MOWA HQ image with work by Hasani Sahlehe and Marcus Kenney, 2022.