Kehua Wu is staring at her own nose, mouth, and glasses. Rows of squiggly self-portraits stare back.

These figurative drawings — dozens of them, pen on paper, pasted along her studio wall in Alexander Hall — are stoic, scary, silly and sly. As impulsive depictions, they complement Wu's more carefully planned and technically precise works. Beautifully.

"I started making these little self-portraits the first day I came here," says Wu (M.F.A., painting). "In China, I did what's called cognitive recording therapy. It's a writing process that helps you analyze yourself in the moment, to help you understand your feelings are not based in truth, but in how you think." Wu's self-portrait series, called 'Diary Plan', is, she says, "a kind of visual version of that."

Face time: drawings from the series 'Diary Plan' by Kehua Wu.

It's a little over 48 hours before the opening reception for Wu's thesis exhibition "Where the Home" at ArtStryngs Gallery, and the master's student from Changsha is discussing the range of works she is about to cart across town.

Leaning against the wall is a five-foot tall painting titled "Trinity." This self-portrait is "about my own body, and how it conflicts with my desire and my happiness to eat," Wu explains. Influenced by the fleshy oils of British artist Jenny Saville, "Trinity" incorporates principles of geometric art and collages from restaurant menus. The painting stuns with its shifting spectrum bent into a bow.

"I layer the colors on the paper — in English what's called rice paper, in Chinese it's called xuān zhǐ — layer by layer, over and over. I also use a technical pencil in this piece, so my process is a bit different, but I still follow the Chinese technique of layering colors."

Kehua Wu, "Trinity," 48 x 60 inches, raw canvas, Chinese paper, Chinese watercolor, high flow acrylic, collage.

The result is as fine as fine art can be. Painting professor Holly Mathews, a member of Wu's thesis committee, provides context and insight.

"Kehua is an exceptional painter whose work reflects deep cultural lineage and a fiercely independent voice," Mathews writes via email. "Coming from China to Savannah, Kehua carried the weight and beauty of a traditional painting background. Through her reflective and inquisitive mindset, and her technical sensitivity and ability to merge controlled brushwork with collage, she has found a way to navigate her cultural history while developing a contemporary language that is honest, rigorous, and entirely her own. Watching her evolve has been a real privilege."

Wu also mentions painting professors Todd Schroeder ("I took his course 'Experiential and Conceptual Art'") and Greg Eltringham as keys to her development. While working as Eltringham's teaching assistant, Wu welcomed his class into her studio to see her process. "I said to them, 'Make a bunch of artwork you are not satisfied with. That's OK.'"

Practice, preach: For the past three years, Wu has spent a minimum of six hours a day, at least four days a week, in her studio, making work.

"What I gained the most at SCAD is [the idea] that you don't prepare to start making art. You grab anything, in any moment of your life when you think this can be art. Then you find out. You gain more from the process than the artwork itself."

Kehua Wu's "Where the Home" opens Friday, May 1st, 6-9 p.m. at ArtStryngs Gallery, Savannah.

If you happened to wander past the Forsyth Park bandshell on Saturday during Sidewalk Arts, you were in luck. Witnessing the Bee Sharps performing their version of KATSEYE's top bop "Gabriela," complete with choreography, was another perfect part of an unforgettable, magical day.

The weather was sweet. The record-breaking crowd celebrated chromatic chalk excellence. The 45th edition of beloved Sidewalk Arts festival reached its colorful culmination.

Prizes for best student, graduate student, prospective student, and student group artworks were richly, deeply, deserved. Spirit Awards and Best of Show were, as ever, the chalk of the town.

Stroll control: a great day for Sidewalk Arts 2026!

And the winners are….
 
Student Spirit Award: "Lawnmowers" (Federica Merljak, Nicolas Espinosa, Thiago Franco Morassutti)
Alumni Spirit Award: Morgan Winters
Best of Show: Daniella Reilly
 
Individual Student 1st Place: Casey Russ
Individual Student 2nd Place: Catherine Bock
Graduate Student: Grace Wisdom
 
Student Group 1st Place: "Purple" (Lily Anderson, Mikaela Parrish)
Student Group 2nd Place: "Soulcrushers" (Chris DeMassa, Isabella Kiely)
 
Alumni 1st Place: Britt Spencer
Alumni 2nd Place: Hunter Muddiman

Prospective Students:
1st: Star Peteranetz
2nd: Lola Gourneau
3rd: Dana Kim

Art by Casey Russ.

Art by Lily Anderson and Mikaela Parrish.

Art by Britt Spencer.

Art by Daniella Reilly.

Art by Morgan Winters.

Free to Bee: thanks for coming to Sidewalk Arts 2026!

"How do you photograph the unphotographable?" asked artist Farah Al Qasimi, her head tilted at a curious angle. The artist also known as Frequently Asked Question then offered her answer: "A little bit of intervention."

Al Qasimi was in conversation with museum exhibitions associate curator Brittany Richmond. It was deFINE Art 2026 live on the SCAD MOA theater stage, and it was awesome.

The occasion was the opening of Psychic Repair, Al Qasimi's double whammy activation of the museum's street-facing marquee vitrines and trippy inner gallery. "You're an image maker and you have a very specific relationship to images," Richmond began, prompting Al Qasimi to explain the dynamic between Instagram posts and museum-ready fine art.

"For photographers there's often this hierarchy where something made with your camera is an art object, and things made with your phone somehow count less," Al Qasimi replied. "I think of it all as the same enterprise, the same project of world-making."

What a world she's made: the Abu Dhabi-born, Brooklyn-based artist spoke of her "collaged sense of identity" (Emirati father, Lebanese mother, fluent in Photoshop and the Ivy League scene) that has left her "feeling like an outsider everywhere. Luckily that's a very good quality for a photographer to have, because you can find something a little bit fantastic or otherworldly in the everyday."

Psychic Repair (per the exhibition's promo collateral) presents "highly saturated images that explore rituals of self-presentation and their ties to identity, memory, and belief formation." Photographs like "Absolute Radiance" vibrate at freakish peaks of the chromatic spectrum, seductive and strange.

Farah Al Qasimi, Psychic Repair, exterior museum view, 2026.

Al Qasimi then name-checked doyenne of dancing dolphins Lisa Frank, and mentioned "something a little bit more sinister underneath the surface of all that celebratory color." "We are so accustomed to images trying to sell us something," Richmond observed.

"I like the idea that these [photographs of mine] aren't trying to sell you on anything except maybe a deeper understanding of the language of consumerism and the seduction of the image," Al Qasimi replied, shuffling her boots.

At one point, the artist referred to Psychic Repair's video installations as "moments to pause." When the curator encouraged the audience to go experience the exhibition, those moments had arrived.

In the museum, TV screens flickered. One was labeled "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love My Room," its title a riff on Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. Headphones beckoned.

There was Al Qasimi on screen, dressed in a suit like Robert Palmer in his iconically vapid 1986 MTV smash "Addicted to Love." Then she appeared as a dorky Dubai teen, smitten with Iron Maiden and high on skin whitening cream, crooning through her karaoke machine: "Hey dad / I bought a guitar / I'm in a band / please don't be mad."

Post-sinister, parody-ready pop pantomime became a fun way to beat time. FAQ's little bit of intervention had gone the distance.

Farah Al Qasimi, "How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love My Room," video still from digital video, 2016.

Courtesy of the artist and Francois Ghebaly, Los Angeles / New York.

SCAD continues to shape the film industry. This year, 212 SCAD alumni and current students as well as two professors contributed to films nominated for the 98th Academy Awards®, emphasizing SCAD's role as a premier pipeline to the world's leading studios and creative teams.

SCAD talent worked on 21 films recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, including seven Best Picture nominees, three Best Animated Feature nominees, and all five films nominated for Best Visual Effects. These acclaimed films include Sinners and One Battle After Another as well as global blockbusters Avatar: Fire and Ash, KPop Demon Hunters, and Zootopia 2.

"This extraordinary showing reflects what makes SCAD unique," said Andra Reeve-Rabb, dean of SCAD's School of Film and Acting. "Our students and alumni are prepared across every aspect of filmmaking, learning from Oscar-winning professors and working with resources that rival professional studios, from an 11-acre Hollywood-style backlot to LED volume stages and industry-run casting offices. That hands-on, real-world training is how we prepare the next generation of artists and storytellers who will shape the films audiences around the world celebrate each awards season."

SCAD's School of Film and Acting and School of Animation and Motion have launched thousands of alumni into the entertainment industry, with graduates contributing across every stage of filmmaking to Academy Award®–recognized films this year. These include alumni from the following degree programs: film and television (21 alumni), production design and costume-focused majors (six alumni), sound design (12 alumni), visual effects (79 alumni), and animation (69 alumni).

"This year's nominations once again demonstrate the impact SCAD visual effects alumni are having across both animated and narrative filmmaking," said Gray Marshall, chair of SCAD's visual effects program. "Our graduates are not only contributing to these films, they're leading teams, solving complex creative challenges, and pushing the boundaries of what's possible on screen."

"What we're seeing this year reflects years of dedication to craft, collaboration, and creative leadership," said Dan Bartlett, dean of SCAD's School of Animation and Motion. "We're incredibly proud of our alumni, who are trusted with shaping the visual language of major films — from cinematography and lighting to animation and storytelling — because they graduate with the ability to think holistically, collaborate across disciplines, and lead creative teams at the highest level."

Top creative contributors include:

●      Nathan Engelhardt (B.F.A., animation, 2007) directed and co-wrote Forevergreen, a Best Animated Short Film nominee that tells the handcrafted, visually inventive story of an orphaned bear cub who finds an unlikely home with a fatherly evergreen tree, while also serving as animation supervisor on Zootopia 2, a Best Animated Feature nominee. A supervising animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios, Engelhardt has helped shape beloved films including Moana, Frozen 2, Encanto, and Zootopia, blending heartfelt storytelling with innovative animation techniques.
●      Stephen Null (B.F.A., visual effects, 2005) worked as the lighting supervisor on Zootopia 2 and Forevergreen, guiding lighting teams in establishing mood, atmosphere, and visual continuity across complex animated sequences. Zootopia 2 is a Walt Disney Animation Studios production nominated for Best Animated Feature and Forevergreen is nominated for Best Animated Short Film. 
●      Jordan Rempel (B.F.A., visual effects, 2009) served as director of photography on Pixar Animation Studios' Elio, a Best Animated Feature nominee, crafting the film's cinematic lighting and visual language. He also contributed to Toy Story 5 and is known for sci-fi–inspired lighting cues that add richness, depth, and a distinctly cinematic feel to animated storytelling.
●      Johnathan Nixon (B.F.A., visual effects, 2007) is a senior visual effects head of department and senior visual effects production manager at Weta FX and worked on Avatar: Fire and Ash, a film nominated for Best Visual Effects, where he helped lead the creation of cutting-edge water simulations that bring the world of Pandora to life with unprecedented realism.
●      Virginia Berg (B.F.A., production design, 2015) worked as assistant art director on Avatar: Fire and Ash, a Best Visual Effects nominee, contributing to the film's expansive visual worldbuilding. She was named Variety magazine's Top 10 Artisans to Watch in 2025.
●      Tyler Kupferer (M.F.A., animation, 2011) served as director of cinematography – layout on Zootopia 2, a Best Animated Feature nominee, overseeing shot composition, camera movement, and staging to define how audiences experience the film visually long before final lighting and rendering. His previous credits include Frozen 2, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and Moana.
●      Filipe Messeder (B.F.A., sound design, 2016) served as the  supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer on The Perfect Neighbor, a Best Documentary Feature Film nominee. The Emmy-winning sound editor shaped the immersive sonic landscape of  the film, balancing emotional nuance with technical precision.
●      D.W. Moffett, chair of SCAD's Film and Television program, was a featured character actor in One Battle After Another, a drama that received 13 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. Moffett brings current on-set industry experience into the classroom, providing students with firsthand insight into professional performance, collaboration, and the realities of today's film and television industry.
●      Robert Nagy, a production design professor, served as set designer on Weapons, a horror-thriller filmed in Atlanta. A total of 22 SCAD students and alumni contributed to the film's immersive, tension-filled environments.

The 98th Academy Awards® will be televised live on Sunday, March 15, 2026, at 7 p.m. ET on ABC.

Banner image from Academy Award-nominated Best Animated Short Film Forevergreen.

Lady Whistledown is serving! And rest assured, at this year's SCAD TVFest, her invitation is making good on its promise.

At a glorious event to celebrate the festival opening evening, SCAD students and very special guests mingled over tea, macarons, and "other petit delicacies." The news came fully detailed via an exclusive edition of Lady Whistledown's SCAD Society Papers, including the announcement that "two gems that certainly set Shondaland aglimmer" would appear.

Penelope requests your presence: "Bridgerton" fans at TVFest.

Cue the festivites at the SCADshow theater in Midtown Atlanta. Adjoa Andoh (Lady Danbury) and Golda Rosheuvel (Queen Charlotte), the scintillating stars of "Bridgerton" and its prequel "Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story," appeared to receive the Outstanding Achievement in a Series Award.

SCAD TVfest, held from Feb. 4-6, highlights the achievements of critically and commercially acclaimed performers, writers, artists and producers in television and streaming. Entering its 14th year, the festival brings together professionals from all aspects of content production, including broadcast, cable, streaming, web, social media, and advertising to discuss current industry trends and showcase today's best content.

"SCAD students and alumni are basking in the limelight alongside the industry's brightest stars, on screen and on set, with Emmy Award winners, showrunners, and casting visionaries," said President Paula Wallace. "Our SCAD students specializing in film and television are gaining a front-row seat to learn directly from their mentors and future collaborators."

"We are truly living in a golden era of television — one where the bar continues to rise and storytelling grows bolder and more ambitious every year," said Christina Routhier, senior executive director of SCAD TVfest.

Our Queen: "Bridgerton" star Golda Rosheuvel radiates with students.

This year's lineup of award recipients also includes Aldis Hodge (the Luminary Award); Ali Larter (the Distinguished Performance Award); "Survivor" host Jeff Probst (the Legend of Television Award); Lili Reinhart (the Spotlight Award); and Jackson White of the Atlanta-filmed series "Tell Me Lies" (the Rising Star Award).

Series from network and streaming platforms such as ABC, Adult Swim, Apple TV, CBS, Fox, HBO Max, Hulu, Mubi, NBC, Netflix/Shondaland, Prime Video, The Roku Channel, Sony Pictures Television, Universal Studio Group and Warner Bros. Television have been confirmed to be featured as part of the festival's content.

As stars Andoh and Rosheuvel mingled with students, was there a tiarra-topped chance to pick up hints to the fairy-tale inspired part two of the fourth season of "Bridgerton"? Perhaps.

Now please inform "the ton" that the time is now night to polish off those majestic macarons and sweep the crumbs from the table. There are more desserts to come at this year's SCAD TVFest!

Red is the color: Andoa Anjoh of "Bridgerton" at TVFest 2026!

Witness a jar of olives. Seen through a die cut in the red-and-white label, the blue cheese-stuffed green globules float in their briny bath. "It's a very fine balance between making it look really good and it looking gross," says Aubrey Lauer (B.F.A., graphic design) with a knowing laugh.

Seated atop a high stool on a Tuesday morning at Origin, Lauer (curly pixie cut, electric blue scarf, matcha latte) is happy to discuss the evolution of her work. "I did the Filthy Food project two years ago, my first Studio One project with Professor Hiltabiddle. I was pushing myself out of my comfort zone and trying my absolute best. Last spring, I revised the project in my portfolio class with Professor Whitney, where I learned how to photograph my work to make it portfolio-ready and present it in the best way possible."

Mission accomplished: Lauer's speculative brand redesign for Filthy's signature cocktail garnish is the stunning opener to the portfolio that earned her the coveted "Rookie of the Year" 2025 top honor, selected from thousands of submissions worldwide at the 15th Annual Rookie Awards.

Shaker maker: Aubrey Lauer's award-winning brand redesign.

"Aubrey is highly focused, conceptual in her approach, and receptive to feedback," says Michael Whitney, the graphic design professor who taught Lauer in Graphic Design Professional Portfolio (GRDS 408). "She makes the creation of large projects with many parts seem easy, even as she puts many, many hours into the work. The way she has chosen to showcase her portfolio projects is story-oriented and very professional. She has grown immensely as a designer at SCAD."

Other projects in Lauer's portfolio represent an expansive aesthetic. There is an experimental 150-page typography publication called Form & Feeling, and a print magazine named Spectra that focuses on "a new wave of photographers who blend realism with surrealism." In another lane, the graphic designer created a brand identity and physical space for a hybrid destination called Roll & Reel that combines a bowling alley with a film lab to "tap into the resurgence of analog culture and nostalgia." Yes, yes, and yes.

Comprehensive mood boards and deep demographic research have become essential and enjoyable parts of her process. Lauer honed these techniques last summer as a brand intern for fashion retail company Express. "You can be outside your personal sphere of reference when you work on a project. You're given a specific prompt and identify the problem within it. That's so interesting to me," she says.

Now a senior, with SCADpro and The Manor experiences in her quiver, the Cincinnati, Ohio native is hoping for and looking towards a big city, big agency job after graduation. In the present, the "Rookie of the Year" digs in on the Filthy stuff.

"As a brand designer, it was important for me to show how people would actually eat the olives," she says. "Some spillage is always inevitable."

Connect with Aubrey Lauer on LinkedIn.

Passion is in fashion: SCAD students from the university's elite fashion and business programs are due to receive more Fashion Scholarship Fund awards this year than any other institution nationwide.
 
SCAD is proud to announce that 20 talented students from the prestigious School of Fashion and De Sole School of Business Innovation have been named recipients in the 2026 Fashion Scholarship Fund (FSF) program. This achievement marks a new SCAD record, surpassing last year's historic 18 wins and securing SCAD's position as the university with the most scholarship recipients in the country for the FSF Class of 2026.
 
"SCAD earning twenty Fashion Scholarship Fund awards for 2026 is a record-breaking achievement, made even more significant with Rylee Funfsinn representing the FASM, luxury, and beauty department as a Top Four finalist," says fashion professor Andrew Fionda.
 
Funfsinn (B.F.A., business of beauty and fragrance, 2026) was named a Top Four Finalist for the Chairman's Award Scholarship with a $25,000 grand prize. She will present her case study live to an audience of top fashion industry design leaders and executives at the 2026 FSF Gala in New York City on March 23, 2026.
 
"It is an incredible honor to be named a finalist for the prestigious 2026 FSF Chairman's Award," says Funfsinn says. "I am so grateful to be surrounded by a talented group of scholars, the phenomenal FSF community, and the dedicated faculty at SCAD, whose constant guidance and support empower students to achieve their greatest aspirations."
 
Six SCAD students were named Virgil Abloh Post-Modern Scholars. Madison Osborne (B.F.A., fashion, 2026), Jasmine Cox (B.F.A., fashion, 2026), Zaria McLeod (B.F.A., fashion, 2027), Jenna Daoud (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2026), Zuriel Quashie (B.F.A., fashion, 2026), and Chloe Miles (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2026) were selected as recipients of the namesake scholarship founded by the late fashion designer Virgil Abloh. Created to foster equity and inclusion, the fund supports the next generation of Black fashion leaders by providing scholarships to students of academic promise. These students each receive a $10,000 scholarship and gain access to career-focused support, internship opportunities, and mentorship from industry leaders.
 
"We are immensely proud of our scholarship recipients, and every student who committed to the rigor of the case study process," says Fionda. "This level of ambition, discipline, and creative excellence continues to set SCAD apart."
 
FSF provides scholars with intensive mentorship, industry networking, internship and career opportunities, professional development, and direct access to the world’s top companies and most influential leaders in fashion and related business sectors. Since 2019, SCAD students have earned more than 90 scholarships from the FSF, totaling over $1.2 million.
 
2026 SCAD student FSF Scholarship winners:
 
SCAD FSF Scholars ($10,000 scholarship)
Rylee Funfsinn (B.F.A., business of beauty and fragrance, 2026) (Top Four Finalist)
Gianna Petitto (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2026)
Ellie Warnke (B.F.A, fashion, 2026)
Shaely Stabler (B.F.A, fashion, 2026)
Trevor Lloyd (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2027)
Emmalee Allbritton (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2026)
Ella Epstein (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2026)
Maeve Murray (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2027)
Catalina Olsen (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2026)
Karla Quinones (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2026)
Tess Clemens (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2026)
Lily Arnold (B.F.A, fashion, 2026)
Gabriela Gastone-Guilabert (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2027)
 
Virgil Abloh Post-Modern Scholars ($10,000 scholarship)
Madison Osborne (B.F.A, fashion 2026)
Arya Shah (B.F.A, fashion 2026)
Jasmine Cox (B.F.A, fashion 2026)
Zuriel Quashie (B.F.A, fashion 2026)
Zaria McLeod (B.F.A, fashion 2027)
Jenna Daoud (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2026)
Chloe Miles (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2026)
 
The SCAD School of Fashion offers a dynamic, innovative curriculum in design and construction, fashion history, and merchandising and marketing. Fashion students hone their creative and intellectual thinking, master inventive design skills, and gain the practical expertise necessary to succeed in global fashion careers. SCAD students and alumni continually innovate at the forefront of fashion and design, and are known around the globe for their industry-redefining labels and ventures. SCAD fashion alumni elevate design studios at global brands like Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Thom Browne, Marc Jacobs, The Row, and Anthropologie, and dress cultural icons like Beyoncé, Rihanna, Zendaya, Michelle Obama, Madonna, Tracee Ellis Ross, Heidi Klum, and Jodie Turner-Smith.

Banner photo (left-to-right): Rylee Funfsinn (B.F.A., business of beauty and fragrance, 2026), Arya Shah (B.F.A., fashion, 2026), Jenna Daoud (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2026), Chloe Miles (B.F.A., fashion marketing and management, 2026).

"If they like you, they like you. If they don't like you, they kill you."

There is a wild, willful glint in Luke Cornell's eye as he speaks of lions, cheetahs, and hyenas in "Cornellskop: Freedom From Fear," the capstone thesis film by Nathan Oliva (B.F.A. film and television, 2025). The founder of Cornellskop Animal Sanctuary in Bot River, South Africa does not flinch. "The fact that I'm still alive, and they trust me, is a tribute to them," Cornell says.

Directed and written by Oliva, produced by Jack Bart (B.F.A., film and television), and edited by Grace Lavery (B.F.A. film and television, 2025), the documentary short shows the beauty of zebras and ostriches mingling across the verdant veldt. Cornell feeds a lion named Mojo hunks of raw meat as narrator Peter Coyote intones: "Amid South Africa's troubled wildlife industry, places like Cornellskop offer a refuge for animals rescued from the brutal realities" of poaching and corruption.

"Cornellskop: Freedom From Fear" has been newly nominated for the Television Academy Foundation's 45th College Television Awards. Pretty sweet for a film whose origin dates to Oliva watching YouTube as a kid growing up in Robbinsville Township, New Jersey.

"Watching travel videos, Cape Town became a dream destination for me," Oliva says. "When I got to SCAD, my first friend, James Ross Fraser, happened to be from Johannesburg, and that summer I visited South Africa and just fell in love with Cape Town."

Following his sophomore year, Oliva returned to South Africa to intern at a film company called Moonsport, where he met siblings Dixie and Luca Cornell. "One day Luca said to me, 'You probably think all South Africans have lions as pets. Well, actually I do. They're in my backyard.' I thought that was funny, then I put two and two together and we went and visited Cornellskop. I met their father, Luke, and I thought oh, if I can tell this story, it would be amazing."

Earning his stripes: on location at Cornellskop.

In November 2024, Oliva began filming. "It was my first time directing, normally I'm a DP. I knew I needed to tell a story people might never experience firsthand." Shooting with lightweight FX6 and FX3 cameras, he and his South African crew soon accumulated four terabytes of footage.

Enter editor Grace Lavery, who had met Oliva in Senior Project I: Preproduction (FILM 431). Oliva was able to send proxy files via LucidLink from South Africa to Savannah, and Lavery began sorting and assembling the footage "almost immediately."

"As we dug into the footage, it became clear that the focus was on the animals being targeted, and Luke Cornell's mission and deep passion for protecting and working with them," Lavery explains. "We reworked the film a thousand times, some versions leaning more emotional and music-heavy, others more grounded in the reality of the poaching world. For us, it was really about doing Cornellskop justice and telling their story in an honest, respectful way."

Connecting the dots: Luca Cornell meets a cheetah.

SCAD film and television professor Chris Brannan guided the project's development from the start. "Nathan has a strong cinematographic eye, a genuine curiosity about the world, and the ambition to follow through on challenging work," Brannan says. The professor also taught Lavery in Production Lab: Picture and Sound Editing (FILM 474). "One of Grace's greatest strengths is her willingness to explore every possible avenue in service of the material."

The SCAD team looks forward to the College Television Awards ceremony in Los Angeles along with three days of professional development events March 26-28, 2026. "Cornellskop is a strong example of what a SCAD capstone film can be when students bring together skills developed across the curriculum," says Brannan with admiration.

Meanwhile, "Cornellskop: Freedom From Fear" will continue to screen at festivals, advancing Luke Cornell's sobering message: "If you don't treat your animals properly, then there's not much hope for us as humanity, because that's indicative of how you treat people."

Connect with Nathan Oliva on LinkedIn and Instagram.

From pixel glitches and coffee aromas to United Nations reports and poetic brand identities, Xiaoyue Shen (M.F.A. graphic design and visual experience, 2025) designs at the intersection of emotion and innovation. Her portfolio spans tactile branding, retro-digital experiments, and global collaborations. Each project reflects her belief that design is both seen and felt.

"For me, design starts with emotion," Shen says. "I want people to feel something before they even think about what they're seeing."

Textures and forms combine for Woodkit Coffee Bar.

That philosophy shines through her work. In her Woodkite Coffee Bar identity package, Shen turned the feeling of looking up at a kite into a daily experience. "The café shifts from coffee to cocktails as the day unfolds. I wanted the brand to feel like imagination itself: light, curious, and free," she says. Shen blended handcrafted textures and telescope-inspired forms to capture that sense of wonder.

Her conceptual book, A Story of HAL, takes a different path — one that embraces the imperfect. "I've always been fascinated by the ‘flaws' of early digital culture," Shen explains. "The pixelation, the flicker, the awkward beauty. The ‘90s internet wasn't perfect, but it was full of courage and mystery."
 
The project, with its silver foils and broken image codes, reimagines 2001: A Space Odyssey as a tactile tribute to that era of exploration. The balance of concept and craft earned Shen an Official Selection in Communication Arts magazine's 16th Annual Typography edition, Jan./Feb. 2026. A Story of HAL demonstrates how she turns imperfection into visual poetry, proving that even the language of error can become art.

'A Story of HAL,' a narrative project exploring AI, trust, and control through cinematic storytelling.

That same curiosity and precision led Shen to create The Everyday Space Traveler, a sensory-driven visual narrative that explores how isolation and imagination coexist in modern life. The project's poetic execution and experimental typography earned her a 2025 Red Dot Design Award, one of the industry's highest honors.

"Winning Red Dot showed me that personal emotion can still resonate globally," she says. "It's proof that honest storytelling matters."

At SCAD Atlanta, Shen learned how design creates real-world impact. Collaborating on community and global projects from a large-scale installation with SCADpro x Coca-Cola to her graphic design internship with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), she discovered how to balance creativity with accountability. The Coca-Cola collaboration culminated in a large-scale artwork installed outside the historic Fox Theatre.

"That project taught me patience and respect for process," she said. "It took a long time, and I understood how much communication and coordination were needed to protect brand copyrights."

Shen remembers the moment her mentor, SCAD associate chair of graphic design Sam Eckersley reached out to share that the design had finally gone live.
 
"Seeing it in the real world after all that collaboration was surreal. That's when I truly felt what design for impact means," Shen says. "I like to say that I live in a retro future. Technology changes, but our emotions don't. That's the timeless part of design."

Selected work from Xiaoyue Shen's internship with United Nations Development Programme.

Connect with Shen on LinkedIn and view her portfolio.

Learn more about top-ranked graphic design programs at SCAD.

Eddie Vedder's swinging from the scaffolding. An unwashed horde of fans roils behind him. It's a classic, unhinged moment from Pearl Jam's performance at the 1992 "Drop in the Park" concert in Seattle's Magnuson Park. The image graces the cover of "Seattle Sound: The Big Four of Grunge," a zine written and designed by second year student Lydia Wollard (B.F.A. writing).

"It's a photo by Lance Mercer, a prominent photographer of the Seattle scene from the nineties. He was close with Alice in Chains and he took that photo of Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam, and I knew I had to use that picture on the cover of my zine, because it represents the ethos of grunge, and doing what you want," Wollard says. "My zine explains why grunge was important, that it's more than an aesthetic. That was my goal."

Come as you are: the cover of the zine.

Generational change surged through rock music at the dawn the 1990s, when the insipid poodle metal of the eighties was obliterated by bands charging hard out of the Pacific Northwest. The music of those bands — Wollard's zine focuses on four key acts — resonates decades later, as she writes in her opening essay: "As I grew up in the early 2000s, my folks frequently introduced me to the hits of Soundgarden, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam. [...] When I reached high school and began exploring music with my closest friends, I fell in love with grunge's vulnerability and intensity."

Professor Tish Hamilton taught Wollard in Writing for Arts and Entertainment (WRIT-205), the ten-week fall course where the zine was created. "I launched the Zine Project to give my students the opportunity to understand content creation and execution, from idea to finished product, and from the jump, Lydia excelled," Hamilton says. "Lydia's writing is conversational, cogent, and convincing, and her design, type treatment, and visuals perfectly complement the grunge scene." (It's worth noting that prior to teaching at SCAD, Hamilton was an editor at Rolling Stone, and experienced the grunge era firsthand.)

"On the first day of class, Professor Hamilton mentioned zines, and I was like oh, this my moment," Wollard says. "When I came to SCAD, I initially thought I'd major in graphic design. Then I became a writing major, and making this zine I was able to use those passions and blend them."

Here we are now: a page of Wollard's work.

Across 20 punchy pages, "Seattle Sound: The Big Four of Grunge" features a timeline, song recommendations ("Your Grunge Prescription: Seven Tracks for the Emotions You Can't Escape"), an analysis of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" music video, and original reporting including an interview with drummer Mark Vaquer of Rody's Records in Savannah.

"I had a checklist of every piece, and went through every single one, dissecting it, ripping out unnecessary stuff, took my classmates' and Professor Hamilton's notes, and edited and edited and edited, listening to grunge the whole time. When I got sick of Alice in Chains, I found Mudhoney, and Green River, and then I ended up on, like, Temple of the Dog and Audioslave."

At the end of the quarter, WRIT-205 students brought their completed, printed zines to class to share and judge. "Lydia's time, care, and dedication showed, and her peers easily voted her zine as the winner," Hamilton says admiringly.

Readers of a certain age may likely recall the moment they first heard Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" — a song that once usurped classic rock, only to become classic rock itself. After this aging fan bestows an original grunge generation seal of approval on Wollard's zine, its creator offers fresh perspective: "Every generation experiences something that came before them, and they don't make it like that anymore. That's how I feel about grunge, and that's what makes it so special."

On a cobweb afternoon: connect with Lydia on LinkedIn and check out her SCAD Radio show "Tune Den."