After two decades "chasing the creative pursuit" at Martha Stewart and BarkBox, delivering projects for Gatorade and Rooted, and thriving as a director at powerhouse consultancy Smart Design, Dan Grossman (B.F.A., industrial design, 2005) knows his stuff. "My industrial design superpower is where design and business intersect," he says. "When you take on a project as a designer — it could be a chainsaw or a blender or flushable wipes — you unlock something in your brain that sticks with you for life."
 
Today, the gregarious, genial New Yorker is cofounder of LOO, the new, plant-based brand of bathroom wipes that come in snazzy, 100% recyclable packaging. "With LOO, we’re committed to making a better wipe," Grossman says. "We come from a deep bench of professional experiences and hold ourselves to a high standard. We’re proving LOO is market fit."

Flush life: new LOO Wipes.

Now swipe back: Twenty-five years ago, teenage Dan was attending Ardsley High School in Westchester County, thinking he’d stay local for college. "Then I saw that SCAD had just done the EXO Spyder Concept Car. That’s when I learned about industrial design, like, wait, it’s computer art plus building things? I knew from day one that I wanted to study industrial design."
 
Grossman recalls a "really interesting era" at SCAD before the advent of smartphones. "Industrial design was focused on the fundamentals: sketching and CAD modeling. There was a professor named John Kolko who got us reading and talking about user behavior and cognitive decision-making when interacting with a product. The whole world of digital product design began happening. That was all highly formative for me."
 
During his junior year, Grossman took a big step into the creative world as a chainsaw-drawing intern at Husqvarna. He followed this with a stint at NiCE LTD designing perfume packaging for Hugo Boss. "I went from thinking about the engineering challenges behind leaf blower ergonomics to designing a little glass bottle that evokes emotion," he says. "My industrial design experience at SCAD prepared me to move between those two worlds, and really see them as part of the same world."
 
Victor Ermoli, Dean, SCAD De Sole School of Business Innovation and School of Design, speaks glowingly of Grossman: "When Dan was a student and I was his professor, his leadership qualities were already impossible to miss. He advocated fiercely for his fellow students and approached every challenge with an unwavering determination to succeed. I’m incredibly proud to see how he's thrived in an industry that's constantly evolving. In 2020, we were thrilled to bring Dan back as our industrial design alumni mentor, where he reviewed student portfolios, collaborated with our IDSA (Industrial Designers Society of America) student chapter, and guided students on how to land that crucial first job after graduation. Dan continues to embody the very best of SCAD's industrial design program — passionate, driven, and always ahead of the curve."
 
Today, Grossman lives in Grand Rapids, Mich., where he and his wife Kate run loveit.studio. A punk rocker at heart (he just saw NOFX on their farewell tour), he continues to feel a profound connection to The University for Creative Careers.
 
"Studying industrial design at SCAD prepared me to enter a trade I was passionate about," says Grossman. "Best of all, I’m still passionate about it."

Superpowered design: connect with Dan Grossman.

"No dream is too big," said Sabrina Spanta (B.F.A., fashion, 2016) from the stage of Trustees Theater. "You're only one step away."
 
The Afghani-American fashion designer was speaking from the heart, and from experience. On Thursday afternoon, she appeared alongside director Leslie Merlin (B.F.A., film and television, 2005) following a screening of "One Step Away." The powerful, 12-minute documentary focuses on the designer's courageous journey, depicting her early childhood in Afghanistan, her emigration to the United States as a nine-year old, her life growing up with adoptive parents in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, her time at SCAD studying fashion design, and her experinece competing on the top-rated Bravo TV show "Project Runway."
 
"I have so many girls in Kandahar looking up to me," Spanta says in the film. "If I could save two more lives, then this is the time."
 
Those two lives wound up being her younger sisters, who were living in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Spanta wrote a letter to President Wallace asking for help. Wallace responded within an hour, which began what Spanta called "a two-year mission working with SCAD, in between almost losing hope." The effort's ultimate success means Spanta reunited with her sisters — both of whom are currently studying architecture at SCAD Atlanta.
 
The film highlights the transformative power of art. It also sends up a flare of hope for a future where women are free from persecution. Following its Oct. 31 premiere during the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, Spanta and Merlin appeared together on-stage.
 
I will never forget coming to the USA," Spanta said. "There were so many shocking first moments, most notably seeing my adoptive mom wearing pants, instead of a dress, and driving a car." That moment inspired Spanta's senior collection at SCAD, refashioning and refitting traditional Afghani menswear into trend-setting womenswear, including the creation of her signature X-Pant. 
 
The Q&A allowed Spanta to speak on how the documentary came to be. "When my sisters came, I met with President Wallace and the girls in her office. We were talking about just being able to tell the story, there are so many people out there who need to be inspired. That led to me getting an email from Leslie [Mann, filmmaker] that said, ‘I'd love to meet.'"
 
Mann: "I'd read about her and her siblings and was interested in the telling the story. We jumped on a phone call to see if she'd be interested in doing the documentary project. She was, and thanks to our producer and writer Keri Brooks, we were able to accomplish this story together."
 
"One Step Away" was followed by a screening of "Champions of the Golden Valley," director Ben Sturgulewski's feature documentary about the raw, passionate, and inclusive competitive skiing scene in Bamyan, Afghanistan — and what happened when the Taliban again came to power.

Watch "One Step Away" on Film Freeway.

The SCAD Savannah Film Festival continues through Sat., Nov. 2.

It happens. The amount of talent in an enclosed space creates a vibration so strong the building begins to levitate.
 
Luckily, the "Behind Her Lens: Directors" panel on Tuesday afternoon at SCAD Savannah Film Festival was grounded in experience and common sense. The Gutstein Gallery stuck to its moorings.
 
The participants included some of the most talented and influential directors working today: Marielle Heller (Nightbitch), Rachel Morrison (The Fire Inside), Erica Tremblay (Fancy Dance), Jordan Weiss (Sweethearts) and Kaila York (Discovering Love) were joined by moderator and film journalist Reshma Gopaldas. As the panel began, Gopaldas trumpeted its title: "‘Welcome to ‘Behind Her Lens'!" Pause. "Better that than ‘Under His Eye.'"
 
To kick things off, the panelists spoke of their paths to directing. Heller, whose directorial debut was 2015's Diary of a Teenage Girl, said: "I came to directing via acting. I was in my twenties, auditioning, and I was really frustrated with the roles for women, none of them felt three-dimensional and real to me. I knew I had to do more with my creativity, so I decided to write, and I adapted [Phoebe Gloeckner's book] into a play, then a movie. I became a director through making that first movie. Now I feel all my training as an actor and writer feeds my directing and is a real help."
 
Tremblay, whose directorial feature Fancy Dance debuted this year on Apple TV+, said: "My journey as a filmmaker and storyteller started growing up on a reservation in Oklahoma. I'm from the Seneca-Cayuga Nation. I remember watching elders tell stories and I thought, wow, what is that power? I want to get people to physically lean in when I tell stories, so I was really inspired by growing up and by traditional stories."
 
Weiss discussed her route to helming Sweethearts, which will screen Thursday night at Trustees Theater: "I wrote this script with my best friend and had no intention to direct it. We were confident Jud Apatow was going to want to direct this movie. He didn't. My wonderful writing partner and agents and producers looked at me and said, ‘Are you sure you don't want to throw your hat in the ring for this?' I made a directing presentation, and now this is my directorial debut. The next time I have a chance to direct I will raise my hand right away."
 
Gopaldas asked the panelists how they each set a positive tone on the set. York, who has directed more than ten feature films including the new UPtv movie Discovering Love, said: "The tone gets set in the production meeting, that's the first time when you and your crew are all sitting around a table talking about how you're going to accomplish everything you're going to accomplish, and that tone carries over to the first day of filming. I always try to lead with kindness. I don't think you have to be a yeller or screamer to get things done fast or efficiently."
 
The Fire Inside's Morrison weighed in: "I've grown up working on films since I was a DP, and I can see what worked and what didn't and why. We give up so much to make films. You have to love who you're working with and create a family, supportive environment. Efficiency is importnant. Prep and know what you want and need. People really appreciate that, because then they get to go home to their families. Life is too short."
 
The hour-long panel also felt too short. Topics discussed included staying true to a vision, fundraising, and the continuing push for equality in the industry. The students in attendance buzzed in appreciation. The building felt like it was levitating.

'Lens' friends (l-r): Marielle Heller, Rachel Morrison, Kaila York, Erica Tremblay, Jordan Weiss, and Reshma Gopaldas.

"We're as unknown to ourselves as the bottom of the sea," says the singular French artist Jean Cocteau near the beginning of Lisa Immordino Vreeland’s stunning new documentary Jean Cocteau. The doc — which screened Monday during SCAD Savannah Film Festival — dives deep into Cocteau’s life and films including The Blood of a Poet (1932), Beauty and the Beast (1946), and Orpheus (1950), surfacing with a gem worthy of its subject.
 
Immordino Vreeland frames the documentary with footage from 1960 of Cocteau addressing the young people of the future in what he imagines is the year 2000. He praises the humanity of these future youngsters, and encourages them to be serious, to work, and not to grow cynical. His words ring out an inspiring note that is deeply earned — especially considering the sorrows of Cocteau’s life.
 
After the film, SCAD dramatic writing professor Chris Auer welcomed Immordino Vreeland to the SCAD MOA stage and an ecstatic ovation. Auer prompted the filmmaker with an observation: "Cocteau was born in the 1800s, did the majority of his work in the 20th century, and in that film that he made at the end of his life, he’s addressing young people in the 21st century. So, really, he spanned three centuries."
 
"He’s a complex human being," Vreeland said. "This incredible interview where you see the tapestry behind him at Villa Santo Sospir, that was something he did that was televised that I found in the National Film Archive in Paris. It was like Cocteau never stopped speaking, like he never took a breath of air."
 
Folding in his sublime illustrations alongside historic footage of the artist and his contemporaries, Jean Cocteau is itself a work of art. The narrative backbone comes from voiceover by actor Josh O’Connor (Challengers, The Crown) reading from Cocteau’s journals and letters to his mother. Immordino Vreeland spoke highly of O'Connor and her tight team of collaborators, including editor and producer John Northrup, musical composer Claire Cowan, and cinematographer Shane Sigler, with whom she filmed additional 16mm color footage at the villa with a Bolex camera to blend with historic footage.
 
"I worked very closely with the Comité Jean Cocteau," Immordino Vreeland said. "They knew [this documentary] wouldn’t be a pedantic film, it would have this abstract quality to it, which is what we wanted. We wanted it to feel like it was in a dreamy Cocteau-land, so you float into this world. We talk about the things that defined him, we put in the Ballets Russes and Diaghilev, to get a cross-section of his creative process. Really, making this film was about peeling it back and making it simpler and simpler."
 
"I always try to entertain people," acknowledged Immordino Vreeland. "But in this film you don’t laugh, because I felt there was a really important message to tell the youth of today, and I’m following Cocteau’s prompt here, which is to be awake, be alert, and to plant a new seed."

Lisa Immordino Vreeland and Chris Auer discuss Jean Cocteau at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival 2024.

SCAD proudly presents Sandy Powell's Dressing the Part: Costume Design for Film, the debut U.S. exhibition by esteemed British costume designer Sandy Powell, opening Oct. 11 at SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film in Atlanta. Altogether, costume drama has never looked so good.
 
Curated by Rafael Gomes, creative director of SCAD FASH museums, the exhibition displays a stunning swathe of genres, periods, and realities. Showcasing Powell's inventive and dynamic work for films including Shakespeare in Love, The Favourite, Cinderella, The Wolf of Wall Street, and How to Talk to Girls at Parties, the exhibition welcomes cinephiles and costume lovers from around the world to Atlanta to witness the Academy Award winner's worldbuilding legacy.
 
"With 15 Academy Award nominations and three wins to her name, designer Sandy Powell has masterfully costumed iconic films beloved by generations," said SCAD President Paula Wallace. "Sandy is no stranger to SCAD — we have honored her at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, and I've welcomed her as a guest on my series On Creativity. Now, we bring our friendship full circle with Sandy Powell's Dressing the Part: Costume Design for Film. As home to the only museum whose mission focuses exclusively on both fashion and film, SCAD provides the perfect set for her award-winning oeuvre in her first U.S. exhibition!"
 
Powell, recipient of the BAFTA Fellowship, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts' highest honor, is a formidable force in filmmaking. Her career-long partnerships with directors Martin Scorsese, Todd Haynes, Neil Jordan, and Derek Jarman and actors Cate Blanchett, Leonardo DiCaprio, Julianne Moore, and Tilda Swinton have contributed to the creation of iconic film characters. In vignettes featuring more than 125 costumes from films such as Gangs of New York, Carol, Interview with a Vampire, The Young Victoria, The Aviator, The Other Boleyn Girl, Mary Poppins Returns, and Velvet Goldmine, SCAD FASH immerses viewers in Powell's nearly 40-year career.
 
"I am very excited that SCAD FASH has given me the opportunity to exhibit my first ever retrospective in the university's amazing museum in Atlanta," Powell said. "I hope that the carefully curated collection will serve to inspire students and aspiring costume designers just as I have been inspired by the ingenuity and creativity of the designers I have admired throughout my career."
 
The exhibition also presents a new, SCAD-produced documentary on Powell, highlighting how her spirit enriches her craft and proves essential to actors and directors. The film features interviews with her long-time technicians and collaborators, including Blanchett and Moore, providing an authentic look at Powell's creative process and her garments.
 
Sandy Powell's Dressing the Part: Costume Design for Film exemplifies SCAD's continued commitment to the art of costume design. The university is proud to now offer its top-ranked production design and costume design degree programs in the prestigious SCAD School of Film and Acting at SCAD Atlanta.
 
SCAD FASH creative director Gomes remarked: "Sandy Powell is one of the greatest artisans working in film. Her devotion to costume history, coupled with her visionary approach, has elevated some of the most unforgettable films over the past three decades. We are excited to be the first museum in the U.S. to present an exhibition of her work, and for the rich educational and cultural opportunity Dressing the Part presents to our students and everyone who visits the museum."

Witness Dressing the Part at SCAD FASH. 

Human-centered design is on the move! Esteemed alum Simran Monga (M.F.A., design for sustainability, 2024) has joined Catapult Design this fall on a six-month fellowship, the newest beneficiary of an ongoing partnership between Catapult Design and SCAD. The alliance helps young SCAD graduates apply design as a tool for transformative change by providing them with the opportunity to work with Catapult's experienced changemakers .
 
"I am thrilled to receive the opportunity to contribute to the impact-driven organization that is Catapult Design," Monga said. "My experience at SCAD in the design for sustainability program was transformative, equipping me with valuable insights in systems thinking and social innovation. I see this fellowship as a chance to grow, learn something new every day, and connect with the inspiring network of global partners and clients that Catapult brings together."
 
"We are excited to welcome Simran as our new fellow at Catapult Design, and I am delighted to continue this partnership between SCAD students and Catapult designers," said Catapult Design CEO Angela Hariche. "I look forward to the innovative solutions that will be discovered with Simran bringing her skills and energy to the team. Welcome, Simran!"
 
Monga, an Indigo Design Award winner and recipient of the SCAD Design for Sustainability Endowed Scholarship, presented her master's thesis "Lights, Camera, Climate Action" in spring 2024. In August, she was named India's Best Design Student 2024.
 
"Growing up in a family deeply rooted in cultural values, I learned the importance of 'sewa' (selfless service) to our community and 'jugaad' (innovating with limited resources) in shaping the essence of life," Monga said. "These values have informed my personal and professional journey and resonate deeply with Catapult's mission to uplift underserved populations through innovative design."
 
Monga expressed gratitude to the faculty at SCAD, including professors Scott Boylston and Saty Sharma, and service design chair Kwela Hermanns, for proving the confidence and skills to explore this exciting opportunity. "At SCAD, I was able to find the deep intersection between visual communication, design research, and sustainability, all aimed at uplifting communities and the environment. At Catapult, I look forward to contributing to incredible human-centered design and research projects focused on gender equality and global healthcare."
 
Design for sustainability professor Boylston returned the compliment: "We are thrilled to see Simran accepted as this year's Catapult Fellow. Our program is fortunate to mentor a diverse group of talented designers who are committed to driving positive change in the world, and even among this group, Simran excelled throughout her two years with us. It continues to be an honor to align directly with Catapult Design, an organization we have long admired."
 
The efficacy of the partnership is reflected by the fact that inaugural Catapult Fellow Haleemah Sadiah (M.F.A., design for sustainability, 2021) is currently a senior designer at Catapult.

Embracing this positive continuity, CEO Hariche said: "As we welcome Simran to the Catapult Design team, we look forward to working alongside her and with future graduates of the SCAD design for sustainability program."

Connect with Simran Monga!

"Sand eats through everything," said Monira Al Qadiri, as a knobbed bronze drill bit glowed purple on the screen above her, an image from her sculpture series Alien Technology. "I try to use the most durable materials I can, so the sculptures survive."
 
The Kuwaiti artist  — dressed in black trousers, matching greatcoat and fresh wallabees — was not in the Arabian desert but on the SCAD MOA theater stage, discussing her exhibition Holy Quarter with curator Ben Tollefson, alongside images and clips of her work.

In the exhibition's eponymous film, Al Qadiri tumbles myth and truth while riffing on British explorer Harry St. John Philby's trek to the Arabian Peninsula in the 1930s in search of the lost outpost of Ubar. Philby instead discovered remnants of meteorites which resembled black pearls. As Al Qadiri said: "It's really fascinating to imagine pearls in the desert."

Al Qadiri's presence at SCAD was part of a major MOA week, which included talks by fellow exhibiting artists Anthony Olubunmi Akinbola and P-Funk Mothership pilot George Clinton. While discussing Holy Quarter, Al Qadiri intertwined stories from the past (pearls) and the present (oil) of the Gulf economy. Intriguingly, as she reflects in her work, pearls and oil "have the same dichroic iridescent color."

"Kuwait is 90% dependent on oil revenue to survive," she said. "From the inside, you almost don't really notice the oil, it's like a magic potion that makes everything great. When I went to Japan to study and came back, I felt like an alien from my society. I started to see it from the outside."

Monira Al Qadiri, installation view of "Holy Quarter," 2020, 20 min. single-channel video and glass sculptures, dimensions variable.

Tollefson prompted Al Qadiri to speak about shooting the film in Oman. "The landscape there is really diverse," the artist said. "There's a desert with magical golden sands and then a half hour away, lush green mountains. Oman is the number two place in the world after Antarctica where meteorites land. It was a two-week road trip filming different landscapes, very difficult because the war in Yemen was happening next door. I almost died seven times."
 
Museumgoers entering Holy Quarter can experience wonder without the risk. Zone into the otherworldly imagery of shifting sands...unpack the deft undercutting of Philby's colonial mentality....and embrace the bass from the sci-fi soundtrack, supplied by renowned electronic musician Fatima Al Qadiri, Monira's sister. It's all good, as the students eager to engage during the Q&A attested.
 
Asked about how she perceives her own work, Al Qadiri summoned humor to make a serious point. "I think making art is like having a baby — you don't really know how that's going to turn out, and how people might react, you know?" As the theater rippled with laughter, she explained how her work means different things in different places: "If I'm showing a film or installation in Europe, I get ‘Oh, this is very artistic' and in the Arab world, people are laughing and think it's comedy, and in Japan people are crying. Part of my enjoyment is not knowing how people are going to react to my work."

Looking out at her swelling sea of SCAD admirers, the artist offered her sly smile. "You never know how people will take care of your baby."

Al Qadiri drills down before a rapt theater audience.

Holy Quarter is on view at the SCAD Museum of Art through Dec. 23, 2024.

On a muggy Wednesday evening at the SCAD Athletics Complex in Hardeeville, South Carolina, Mario Goic pivoted to make space. As defenders narrowed his options, the attacking midfielder nudged the ball with the outside of his left foot. Time seemed to slow. Bam! Goic uncorked a sizzling shot past a leaping keeper and into the twine. At the end of the first half: SCAD 2, New College of Florida 0.
 
"Tricking the opponent into thinking I don't know what I'm going to do is part of it," Goic says. "Next comes doing it."
 
A day earlier, the first-year luxury and brand management graduate student sat enjoying a chicken katsu lunch outside The Shed following strategic financial management class. Good-natured and impeccably put-together, 26-year-old Goic traced his past: born in Austria to Croatian parents, he joined European powerhouse Dinamo Zagreb at age 16, returned to Austria as a member of the national team, then arrived in the U.S. to play Division I soccer at Queens University of Charlotte, where he earned his business admin degree in marketing. "Life pushed me to understand, you have to focus on the step ahead of you," he says.
 
Now Mario is rounding out his college career playing at the NAIA level for SCAD, where "The University for Creative Careers" attracts a special type of student-athlete. "I'm living proof," agrees Mario. "The reputation of SCAD's De Sole School of Business Innovation got my attention, and when I reached out to the coach and knew I could play here, I said yes."
 
"Mario is not bombastic, but he is a big presence," says SCAD men's soccer head coach John Haworth. "We're in lockstep on our soccer philosophy. In tough moments during a game, newer players might get skittish, and Mario calms them by being balanced himself and saying, ‘Let's keep doing what we're doing, we'll be fine.' What better way to build our program than with a player and person of his high caliber? All I have to do is let Mario be himself."

Mario makes his move against New College of Florida.

With cosmetic tape around his wrists, bright white socks above his knees, and bleached locks showing dark roots, Goic exudes fashion on the pitch. He names Brazilian superstar Neymar as the player who inspired his belief that looking his best means playing his best. "We're here to win, but if I can add a touch of my style to everything that I do, that's important too," Mario says.
 
SCAD's LXMT program is a route to conjoining his primary interests: "If I can combine luxury and soccer as a career, that will be ideal." He is intrigued by "the collaboration between luxury and streetwear, for example Louis Vuitton and Supreme, which speaks to a younger generation, especially Gen Z because we are very socially aware and care about things that are not so over the top. I'm interested in luxury that feels approachable."
 
Goic's current project is his own brand, Le Flair Studios. He is featuring his teammates Alessandro Morales and Michael O'Brien as brand models, while SCAD golf standouts Max Fallenius and James Fraser have helped edit visuals. Le Flair Studios drops its new collection this Saturday, Sept. 21, the same day SCAD men's soccer hosts Southeastern University in a Sun Conference showdown — proving for Mario it's all part of one passion.
 
Which connects back to Wednesday's match. In the second half, New College of Florida clawed back two goals to tie the game. Then Mario struck again in the 62nd minute to reclaim the lead for SCAD, before his teammate Kimi Husler headed in an insurance goal off a Goic corner. Final score: Bees 4, Mighty Banyans 2.
 
"I reflect on where I've been, and the opportunities I have now, and it's easy to play with a smile on my face," says Mario. "Life is sweet."

Connect with Mario Goic!

On the auspicious morning of July 1, the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus rolled into Reno. Six musically inclined youth from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern Nevada would soon climb aboard "the coolest mobile recording studio on wheels" to compose and record an original song and accompanying music video, set to debut at the downtown culture festival Artown. There were intimations, too, that Avengers actor Jeremy Renner would drop by to elevate "Imagine: A Musical Collaboration" with his sonic superpowers.
 
Mixing engineer and music producer Caleb Green (B.F.A., sound design, 2023) was ready. The 23-year-old Green was spending the summer working on the Lennon Bus, including a visit to Centennial High School in Compton, California, engaging students with free, hands-on learning opportunities in audio, video, and digital media. The work had been intense — and intensely rewarding. "Shout-out to SCAD for preparing me for such an incredible experience," says the genuinely upbeat Green.

Caleb's journey began as student at Cypress Creek High School in Houston, Texas, where he learned about SCAD through a visiting regional rep. He entered the pre-college Rising Star program, taking classes with foundation studies professor LaRaine Papa Montgomery. As an undergrad studying graphic design, he enrolled in Fundamentals of Audio (SNDS 110) with sound design professor Rob Miller; the elective was a revelation. As Green says: "I learned that my passion for sound is otherworldly compared to anything else on this planet."
 
He has leaned into that passion this summer. The John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, founded in 1998 by Yoko Ono and artist and educator Brian Rothschild, helps young people from underserved communities develop skills in music and career awareness in allied fields. The state-of-the-art bus currently counts Apple, Gibson, Genelec, and Adobe among its partners. "As technology has evolved, we're constantly updating the facilities on the bus to have the best studio possible," executive director Rothschild says. "Recently we brought on Dolby as a strong partner for a major upgrade, and we were looking for engineers who already had Dolby Atmos experience."
 
Green got the gig by being prepared for opportunity. Sound design professor Jamie Baker explains: "In October 2023, I went to the AES [Audio Engineering Society] convention in New York, where I met Brian Rothschild. He told me, ‘We're coming to Savannah on the bus.' So, we put out a blast on our SCAD sound design Discord server, for students who might want to see the bus. Brian had mentioned to me that they were hiring, with specific requirements, and in Savannah, as they showed their new Atmos set-up, Caleb was there."
 
At SCAD, under the tutelage of sound design professor Robin Beauchamp, Green had earned his Dolby Atmos 7.1.2 certification — only the 20th person in the world to do so. "Once we got Caleb on board, I could tell he could be the creative lead on projects right away," says Rothschild. "He has a great personality, he's fun and serious, and he can work very, very quickly. I would say Caleb is in the top percentage of crew members the bus has ever had." In Professor Baker's words: "I'm thrilled SCAD prepared Caleb to sit in any seat that opens up along his journey."

In Reno, Caleb and the kids laid down a new, original country-soul tune. When special guest Renner arrived, Green says, "He was just a real sweet guy, and a great singer and guitar player. We started going through the melody, and Jeremy laid down a couple ideas and was encouraging the kids to really belt it out."

With the song and video complete, Renner invited the kids and the crew back to his Camp RennerVation among the towering pines in Stateline, Nevada. In between sessions demoing the bus for campers, Caleb took a leap in ice cold Lake Tahoe.
 
"One great thing about the bus is that it's where young people realize that there's more to music than writing the song," Green says. "They learn about recording and mixing, and how to prepare for creative decision-making."
 
Caleb will return this fall to his job aboard the Lennon Bus, where he will be joined by fellow alum Panashe Mugadza (B.F.A., sound design, 2023) working the Dolby Atmos system.
 
"With music, you build so much mystique around it because it's such a magical thing, so when you see and hear everything that goes into it, it demystifies the process," concludes Caleb. "That, to me, makes working on the bus even more fantastic."

Connect with Caleb Green!

SCAD is thrilled to present the exhibition Isabel Toledo: A Love Letter at the SCAD Museum of Art. Curated by SCAD FASH creative director Rafael Gomes in close collaboration with Isabel's husband, noted fashion illustrator and artist Ruben Toledo, A Love Letter is the first posthumous exhibition of the designer's work to be presented in the United States.

The immortal Isabel Toledo, photographed by Randall Bachner.

"One word evokes the legacy of Isabel Toledo: unforgettable," said SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace. "This beloved designer eschewed celebrity, though all the world could not look away. She and her creative partner and husband, Ruben, embraced joy at every turn and generously donated their time — and endless bolts of fabric — to SCAD students over the years. SCAD proudly invites students and guests to experience Isabel's inestimable genius and joie de vivre at the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah. XOXO, Isabel!"

Presented in SCAD MOA's André Leon Talley Gallery, A Love Letter honors the legacy and resonance of Isabel's ingenious artistry. The exhibition highlights the Cuban American designer's expertise in techniques, textiles, construction, and color and celebrates her enduring status as a legendary figure in fashion. Revered among her peers as a "designer's designer," Isabel was focused on craft and guided by emotions, with a unique process that translated into exquisite creations, masterfully executed with precision. A Love Letter presents nearly 40 signature Isabel Toledo garments — including never-before-seen looks from the Toledo archives — with complementing illustrations by Ruben. The exhibition also features the SCAD-produced film Echoes and Vibrations, which documents their eternal love story.

Inside the gallery, a Love Letter inspires. 

"I am excited to see the ongoing creative dialogue between Isabel's work and the next generation of designers and artists with this beautiful exhibition at the SCAD Museum of Art," said Ruben Toledo. "It is my honor to share never-before-seen Isabel Toledo designs unearthed by SCAD FASH creative director Rafael Gomes from our extensive archives, and it is my hope to see her work spark new ideas in the open minds and able hands of SCAD students. Both Isabel and I believed that art and design are living languages that grow when shared. A new visual vocabulary is born by deeply exploring art and design, which SCAD MOA does so brilliantly and thoroughly."
 
Born in Cuba in 1960, Isabel emigrated to New York as a young girl with her family. She met Ruben Toledo in high school, originating a lifelong partnership in which they served as each other's muse, collaborator, and confidant. Inherently curious and creative, Isabel began making clothes for herself as a teenager, soon appearing on international "Best Dressed" lists. She honed her approach during her time working under legendary fashion editor Diana Vreeland at The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, where she had intimate access to garments by iconic couturiers such as Cristóbal Balenciaga, Coco Chanel, Madeleine Vionnet, and Christian Dior. After presenting her first namesake collection in 1985 to critical acclaim, Isabel maintained a fully independent label dedicated to her craft while deflecting the limelight. This pure devotion to her work and honest artistic mindset led her to become one of the most respected fashion designers in the industry.
 
"Isabel Toledo's timeless creations are remarkable in their impeccable technique," said Rafael Gomes, SCAD FASH creative director. "She was one of the most beloved and iconic figures in American fashion. SCAD is honored to celebrate her incredible body of work and to intimately collaborate with Ruben to pay homage to her enduring legacy and to Isabel and Ruben's eternal love story."

Ruben Toldeo (left) with SCAD FASH Creative Director Rafael Gomes.

Isabel Toledo: A Love Letter is on view Aug. 14–Dec. 26, 2024. For more information, visit scadmoa.org.