Each year, President Paula Wallace awards many deserving SCAD professors a Presidential Fellowship for use during scheduled breaks or during spring and summer quarters. The program supplements opportunities for travel, conference support, sabbatical grants and professional development and advancement. SCAD recently spoke with five of the 14 professors whose Presidential Fellowship experiences occurred over the summer.

Today we learn about Edwin Johnson, art history professor at SCAD Savannah, whose fellowship took him to South Africa to study a different kind of social network.

• Art history professor at SCAD Savannah
• B.A., history, Castleton State College
• M.A., museum studies, Seton Hall University
• M.A., art history and archeology, University of London
• Ph.D., African art history, University of London

SCAD: Your SCAD Presidential Fellowship was awarded for a project titled “Collectivity and Artistic Agency at the Bag Factory.” Tell us more about it, and why you chose this subject.

EDWIN JOHNSON: Much has already been written about the individual artists who are or have been associated with The Bag Factory (a.k.a. The Bag) in the Fordsburg/Newtown part of Johannesburg, South Africa, such as David Koloane, Pat Mautloa, Sam Nhlengethwa, Blessing Ngobeni, Benon Lutaaya and so many others. What I wanted to understand about The Bag was how it functions as an organism. Through a series of interviews of both artists and administrators at this nonprofit art collective, I wanted to build an understanding of how the socio-creative dynamic of the whole place nurtures and inspires artists who work there, either during a short-term residency or as paying, long-term "tenants," as Pat Mautloa calls them.

SCAD: How will SCAD students benefit from what you’ve learned?

JOHNSON: As important as scholarly journals are in the gleaning of knowledge about contemporary African art, what students are interested in is lived experience and the anecdotes that spring from lived experience, which can be used to shed light on and flesh out the lives of contemporary African artists. It adds a human component to my understanding of what challenges contemporary artists are facing during their careers as well as the positive experiences they have, which push them as creative agents. Since most of my students are studio artists themselves, this draws them closer to the content in my art history lectures.

One thing that the collected data supports is a point that I have been making to my students for years, which is that artists cannot always be understood as lone creative individuals. While much of what they do involves time alone to paint or create sculptures, it is their social interactions within their network of relationships that either serves as an artistic catalyst or helps to sustain an artist’s creative momentum. Not only is this information I gathered helpful in terms of a richer understanding of the creative endeavors of the South African artists, students should also take away the knowledge that they themselves need to nurture social networks, which can, in turn, nurture them.

SCAD: If you could take any course at SCAD, what would it be and why?

JOHNSON: Any graduate-level class in critical theory. For me, critical theory is an essential tool for understanding art and culture. The more I learn about critical theory, the more tools I will have at my disposal, combined with a heightened ability to put these analytical tools into practice.

Check back throughout the week for more interviews. Tomorrow: Christine Wacta, architecture professor at SCAD Savannah.

Each year, President Paula Wallace awards many deserving SCAD professors a Presidential Fellowship for use during scheduled breaks or during spring and summer quarters. The program supplements opportunities for travel, conference support, sabbatical grants and professional development and advancement. SCAD recently spoke with five of the 14 professors whose Presidential Fellowship experiences occurred over the summer.

Today we learn about Sam Norgard, foundation studies professor at SCAD Savannah, who traveled across North America over the summer pursuing her creative focus of beadwork.

• Foundation studies professor at SCAD Savannah
• B.F.A., painting and printmaking, University of North Carolina, Greensboro
• M.F.A., ceramic sculpture, University of Cincinnati

SCAD: Your SCAD Presidential Fellowship was awarded for a project titled “Beads: Technique, Inspiration, and Teaching.” Tell us more about it, and why you chose this subject.

SAM NORGARD: I am fortunate to be located in foundation studies where I currently teach design courses. During winter and spring quarters in the fibers and jewelry departments, I teach beaded surfaces and structures and bead technique for jewelry courses.

In my studio you are likely to find me working on larger scale sculptures and installations, and, just as likely, to find me working on pieces that will fit in your pocket — typically in the form of beaded jewelry. Bead technique filters between both my large-scale and small-scale work. In my bead classes I work to help my students see their smaller beaded pieces as metaphors for larger ideas. We see my former teaching assistant Michael-Birch Pierce’s work installed in SCAD Savannah buildings embodying this idea.

During Spring of 2015, I was invited to The Atomic Ranch to participate in a Bead Summit where top beaders in the Contemporary Geometric Beadwork movement were meeting to exchange ideas and share techniques. This invitation was the catalyst for my application for the Presidential Fellowship. The fellowship took me to The Atomic Ranch (Tucson, Ariz.) for technique development, and on to the Corning Museum (Corning, N.Y.) and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, Mass.) for inspiration. All of this knowledge was synthesized in my studio in Nova Scotia over the summer.

SCAD: How do you predict the knowledge and experience gained through your fellowship will influence your future work and inform your goals as an educator at SCAD?

NORGARD: The fellowship has a number of layers to it that will influence my future work as an educator. Specifically, I will give the technique knowledge I have gained to my students in my bead-based courses. More broadly, I have modeled behavior for stimulating innovation. I often tell my students that what keeps me in the classroom is this space, where the peanuts meet the M&M's (thanks to Scott Boylston for the metaphor). It is where innovation happens. Continuing to create opportunities for students to innovate and to help students understand how they can be the authors of their own innovative processes and practices is a pedagogical goal brought into focus through the Presidential Fellowship.

SCAD: How has your fellowship aided your creative process?

NORGARD: The fellowship has reinvigorated my interest in fashion and rekindled my desire to work with large-scale installation. My visit to the Corning Museum and my conversation with their chief scientist furthered my interests in applied bead technique to larger works. For several years I have been interested in creating jewelry for architecture. My time at the Isabella Stewart Gardner was filled with serendipity. To my surprise, I arrived to find a giant necklace draped around the two chimneys of the museum. Meaningful coincidence? Synchronicity? I’m still thinking about this.

Several opportunities have developed from the fellowship. I will be participating in contemporary beadwork fashion shows, hopefully coast to coast, and I have been asked to speak at the next Bead Summit at M.I.T. this fall. Work from the studio is already being scheduled to be shown in San Diego and in St. Bernard, Nova Scotia.

Check back throughout the week for more interviews. Tomorrow: Edwin Johnson, art history professor at SCAD Savannah.

SCAD has many extraordinary and talented professors who are not only respected in the classroom, but also within their industry. In August this legacy continued at the 2015 IDSA Awards with Owen Foster, industrial design professor and department chair, winning Educator of the Year.

With the belief that walls do not limit classrooms, professor Foster strives to teach his students that every experience is an opportunity to learn something new. His background includes industrial design, architecture, landscape and environmental design. He also co-found and co-directs the SHIFT Design Camp, where high school and university students from across the country artistically create and explore for a week every summer in the outdoors of Alabama.

In light of this award, we caught up with SCAD alumna Sasha Neumann (B.F.A., industrial design, 2013), who shared his experience with professor Foster:

“I’ve never seen talent of teaching like that of Owen Foster … It’s one thing to cram information down a student’s throat, it’s another to ingrain — intrinsically — a new way of thinking, self-scrutiny and problem solving. He would rarely give a direct answer; he would instead sort of nudge you in the right direction if you needed it. My success and identity as a designer is due, in part, to his Jedi mind tricks. I am happy to hear he’s getting the recognition he deserves.”

Congratulations, Owen Foster! You continue to inspire and encourage the very best in students.  

Each year President Paula Wallace awards many deserving SCAD professors a Presidential Fellowship, for use during scheduled breaks or during spring and summer quarters. The program supplements opportunities for travel, conference support, sabbatical grants, and professional development and advancement. SCAD recently spoke with five of the 14 professors whose Presidential Fellowship experiences occurred over the summer.

Today we learn about John Colette, chair of motion media design at SCAD Savannah, whose engaging work investigates modern public spaces.

• Chair of motion media design at SCAD Savannah
• B.A., mass communications and semiotics, Macquarie University
• M.F.A., digital media, University of New South Wales

SCAD: Your SCAD Presidential Fellowship was awarded for a project titled “Public Narratives: Public Space Media and User Experience.” Tell us more about it, and why you chose this subject.

JOHN COLETTE: The work stems from the fact that we are seeing more and more development of public displays — media installations that develop rich communicative networks in public space. There is a long familiarity with the idea of the “media city” — in Times Square or Las Vegas, for example — where the glut of advertising displays reveals a type of collective personality to the commercial communications of a city.

These spaces are exciting and frequently challenge typical display parameters with their shape and scale, but they are managed as simple media inventory on which people buy space — very much like the profusion of LED billboards that are deployed today as “programmable” advertising surfaces by the sides of highways.

Recent works in this area have started to incorporate media walls, large-format displays and other surfaces as part of a public space storytelling specifically designed to modulate the visitor perception through the use of media elements. This is tightly integrated with both architectural programs and visitor user cases, so these displays now have a specifically narrative purpose, becoming part of a broader story of the passage through a public space.

This aspect of these displays is under-theorized — the spectacular scale of the display or the particular content of the display is usually discussed. I am interested in moving to a broader understanding of how these works add purpose and value to the development of sites and the integration of architecture and media in public spaces.

SCAD: How do you predict the knowledge and experience gained through your fellowship will influence your future work and inform your goals as an educator at SCAD?

COLETTE: This work goes straight into teaching. I have developed a range of initiatives in public space media within the motion media program. Working with these technologies is a given for the future of our graduates, but working with them in an intelligent and persuasive way across different situations will help them build sustainable careers. Laying the intellectual groundwork for design thinking on this area is vital to not replicating the serial nature of many of the “projection mapping” things we see being developed around the world. There is a place for all of those, but the longer-term picture will be far more considered as the role of these displays in architectural planning matures and the costs go down.

I also kicked off the fellowship with a very successful student exhibition of projection/public space work in Florida at Digital Graffiti 2015, which was a great start to the process for the students working in this area.

SCAD: What is most distinctive to you about a SCAD education? 

COLETTE: We offer the most comprehensive opportunities for students not only to study motion design, but to have the widest possible suite of skills upon graduation. This is incredibly important because it makes them adaptable to new opportunities and new trends in the industry. I have personally produced a range of different visitor experience projects in this area — so like all professors here, we blend the theory, creativity and business practice of the work and bring this experience to the classroom.

Check back throughout the week for more interviews. Tomorrow: Sam Norgard, foundation studies professor at SCAD Savannah.

Each year, President Paula Wallace awards many deserving SCAD professors a Presidential Fellowship for use during scheduled breaks or during spring and summer quarters. The program supplements opportunities for travel, conference support, sabbatical grants and professional development and advancement. SCAD recently spoke with five of the 14 professors whose Presidential Fellowship experiences occurred over the summer.

Today we learn about Marcia Cohen, Foundation Studies professor at SCAD Atlanta, who has dedicated her career to the exploration of color.

• Foundation studies professor at SCAD Atlanta
• B.F.A., painting and drawing, Wayne State University
• M.A., painting and drawing, University of New Mexico

SCAD: Your SCAD Presidential Fellowship was awarded for a project titled “‘Fashionable Color’ (Yves Saint Laurent).” Tell us more about it and why you chose this subject.

MARCIA COHEN: I began with a working title of “Fashionable Color” and a core idea related to the genesis of the couture (and color) of Yves Saint Laurent. However, several months into my SCAD Presidential Fellowship project, I refined the title to “Color Mode” as an open-ended exploration into the character of fashion (or style) and the engagement of color to define or communicate about a period or an era.

It was during my Fulbright-Hays Fellowship in 2011 to Morocco where I discovered the Jardin Majorelle, the Marrakech residence of Yves Saint Laurent. This garden is known for its distinctive blue, a very mysterious, indigenous hue known as “Majorelle Blue.” I knew I wanted to return and study the color of the garden’s interior spaces and the importance of the North African color for Yves Saint Laurent. 

SCAD: How do you predict the knowledge and experience gained through your fellowship will influence your future work and inform your goals as an educator at SCAD?

COHEN: I have begun color studies and maquettes related to the exhibitions I have seen in preparation for the ideas that I want to integrate into the classroom. I visited libraries in Paris devoted to fashion, viewing their collections dedicated to color that were prominent in 20th century fashion design. My personal documentation and color studies of this material will be invaluable in my personal studio and in the classroom for years to come.

SCAD: How will SCAD students benefit from what you’ve learned?

COHEN: Bringing original sources to the classroom cannot be understated in a world that is increasingly based on subjects and materials very far removed from original experience. As an educator, being able to convey what is authentic and genuine is critical for any learning environment. I have gained a lot, and this collective experience is what I can impart in the classroom, enriching the lives of young artists and designers. 

Check back throughout the week for more interviews. Tomorrow: John Colette, chair of motion media design at SCAD Savannah.

Watching your own collection go down the runway at New York Fashion Week is the dream of many designers. For alumnus Kathleen "Kate" McKenna-Schliep (B.F.A., fashion, 2015), she had the surreal experience of seeing that dream come true last week. And with it came the $10,000 grand prize and top honors at the eighth annual Supima Design Competition.

Her West African and Haitian voodoo-inspired collections went down the runway at the Skylight Clarkson Sq gallery space on Sept. 10, and will also be seen during Paris Fashion Week on Oct. 2 at Hôtel de Pontalba — the official residence of the U.S. Ambassador to France, Jane Hartley.

Here's Kate on her prestigious win:

The Supima competition has hands down been one of the most amazing experiences of my life — I could not have imagined just three months after graduating I'd have the opportunity to share my work at such a huge event. So many designers dream of showing at New York fashion Week, and many work their whole lives chasing that dream — and I am so lucky for having the chance to do that so early in my career.

I am so honored and fortunate to have had the support system from SCAD and our fashion department. My mentors Evelyn Pappas and Stephanie Foy, the sewing technicians, Dean Fink and Chair Oeltjenbruns have been behind me 100% every step of the way, and I am so appreciative of their guidance and the amount of time they gave to help me make this dream happen. They all believed in my vision and stood by me every step of the way and I am so grateful! I've never been more proud to be a SCAD graduate.

The Supima experience is something that I will never forget. I'm so humbled by all the kind words and praise that I've been getting since receiving the award. It's been so overwhelming!

We wish Kate all the best and can't wait to see what she does next!

Click here to request more information or apply to SCAD.

The new One World Trade Center is a vibrant beacon in New York City. By day, it reflects and refracts light like a kaleidoscope. By night, a horizontal light beam can be seen shining from the top, even from miles away. And greeting visitors as they enter is a powerful mural by former SCAD student José Parlá.

 

My friend Nancy Nasher inspecting and enjoying the colors of Union of the Senses at @oneworldtrade @nashermuseum @nashersculpturecenter thank you @deb_artz for the magical day! ✨

A photo posted by José Parlá (@joseparla) on

Jul 10, 2015 at 5:48am PDT

Titled “One: Union of the Senses,” the mixed media mural is about the strength, unity and resilience of the nation following the devastation of September 11, 2001.

The 42-year-old painter is based in Brooklyn, earning praise for the astonishing juxtapositions of color and form in his murals and large-scale mixed media works. More of his work can be seen on his website.

Hero image: "Lower Manhattan from Jersey City November 2014 panorama 3" by King of Hearts

Along with landmarks like Centennial Olympic Park, Atlanta is synonymous with traffic. Long lines of vehicles — 300,000 per day — winding through Interstate 75/85 are staples in the city’s landscape. So are the concrete bridges that traverse these five miles of highway. What if these exchanges could delight and inspire drivers? What if, rather than ignoring them, commuters looked forward to passing under the structures for a momentary reprieve from their slow-moving circumstances? That is the reaction architecture students from the Savannah College of Art and Design were going for when they crafted the winning concept for the annual American Institute of Architects National Conference Student Legacy Charette design competition.

In a nod to the host city of their 2015 convention, the AIA asked students to lend their ingenuity to the Atlanta Bridgescape Competition, the city's initiative to beautify the I-75/85 corridor, known as the Connector. Their task was to transform the area between Folk Art Park and the Peachtree Street Bridge, which passes over the Connector. The only requirement was that their “capping mechanism” engage pedestrians and drivers.

The contest's six-hour time limit left SCAD graduate Bradley Green (B.F.A., architecture, 2015) and his team just enough time to present sketches and a site plan for a cap that could be a solution for any city focused on urban renewal.

Our undulating designs allowed room for commissioned art, worked to collect rainwater in bioswales and used wind turbines to collect wind energy that would also create a visual display of light underneath the bridge. — Bradley Green

Inspired by the roundabout in Folk Art Park, the designers envisioned a collection of earthen mounds to create greenspace for pedestrian traffic on top of the cap. Some mounds would be constructed as verticle tunnels, either hallow — to allow light to spill through onto vehicles below — or equipped to host multiple genres of artwork to be enjoyed by those passing on top of and beneath the bridge.

Creating a spectacle – to be constructed so as not to endanger drivers – was only one part of the SCAD team's intention. The other objective was to promote interaction with community groups who could provide the art, and even among drivers and pedestrians who could see one another through the hallow mounds. It’s Green’s way of bringing the tight-knit feel of his hometown of North Augusta, South Carolina to the big city. "As an architect, I’m doing a lot more than creating a building; I’m creating a long-standing relationship with the area I’m building in," Green said.

Thanks to the SCAD team and the finalists of the National Bridgescape Competition, traffic won’t always be the only thing by which we remember Atlanta’s roadways.

Learning just got a lot more fun, thanks to Santiago Acevedo (B.F.A., industrial design, senior). He took on the challenge of facilitating the physical and emotional development of children and became a finalist in the 2015 Royal Society of Arts U.S. Student Design Competition. Acevedo’s “Little Peaks” toys — three over-sized roll-on paint brushes that resemble scepters — help children from five to eight years of age refine their motor skills and express their creativity with water-based paint. Here’s the designer on what could be the next big thing on kids’ wish lists.

SCAD: Where did you get the idea for your "Little Peaks" line?

SA: Much of what we used to do as children, like playing, singing, drawing and dancing, are natural forms of art, which is key for successful development. However, not every child develops at the same rate others do. Some have a hard time learning new skills or even expressing themselves. The inspiration inspiration came from trying to understand children’s needs to take their levels of creativity and self-expression to the next level.

SCAD: What was your design process?

SA: In the initial stages of the project I worked with two other talented designers. In our research, we came across art therapy. Art therapy works as a platform to discover and experience new emotions. After exploring different approaches we came up with the initial concepts for "Little Peaks." Then I took the initial sketches and concepts and further developed them to be what you see today: a family of scepters that push children’s creativity to the limit by giving them the tools to explore and discover. After refining the ideas, I proceeded to develop prototypes to understand the form better and define the adequate proportions and measurements. I also built CAD models and final renders of the models. After defining the design I proceeded to develop the "Little Peaks" brand, which includes logo, packaging, special paint for the toys and overall personality of the project.

It’s easy to get lost in the design process, but with the right mentorship a project can become a great success.—Santiago Acevedo

SCAD: How did your professors help throughout the process?

SA: Owen [Foster]’s help was crucial for the successful development of the project. He guided me through the whole process from the ideation to the final development.

SCAD: What’s next for the scepters?

SA: I have been submitting “Little Peaks” to several competitions, which has been very successful. It has received more attention than I ever imagined, which makes me very excited. Hopefully I will be able to create a working prototype to further develop the idea and maybe one day be able to give one of my toys to my kids.

“Little Peaks” earned Acevedo a three-month internship with Nooka, a luxury design company focused on the intersection of design and technology. So big kids may one day be able to enjoy his products, too.

Amanda Surowitz is a storyteller by nature, starting with the awful things she wrote when she was six. Since then, she's earned a B.F.A. in writing from Savannah College of Art and Design, become a caffeine addict, and a workaholic. Follow her on Twitter @ajswitzy.

In an increasingly global society where digital connectivity dissolves physical boundaries and opportunities to encounter the unfamiliar abound, design needs people like Tara Headley (M.F.A., interior design, 2015, B.F.A., interior design, 2012).

The International Interior Design Association’s Student of the Year, Headley left Barbados in 2008 to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her undergraduate capstone project was a Caribbean cultural center for second-generation Caribbean immigrants. Garnering the Chair’s Award for the “Most Outstanding Senior Project” at SCAD and a 2014 and 2015 IIDA Best of the Best Award for “Innovation in Design” and “Social Relevance in Design,” Headley’s work struck a chord.

It’s very relevant to the conversation now in interior design how you can showcase human rights and peace and culture within buildings. — Tara Headley

It’s not hard to detect Headley’s West Indian accent, which she emphasizes in some circles and softens in others. It’s a sign of her cultural receptivity, something that dominates her approach. “I don’t think my culture influences my work in the sense that I bring a Caribbean perspective; it influences it in the way that, since I am from another culture, I am sensitive to other cultures,” Headley said.

The National Center for Civil & Human Rights in Atlanta is one of Headley’s favorite buildings and a primary source of inspiration. She takes cues from how The Center and places like the 9/11 Memorial and the Holocaust Museum not only effectively convey facts and figures, but trigger emotions. David Mandel, The Center’s director of exhibitions and Headley’s mentor, served on the committee for her thesis project, The Iraqi Center for Peace and Cultural Understanding.

As with The Iraqi Center, Headley’s intention to promote a holistic understanding of cultures frequently portrayed in a one-dimensional context shone through in a class project that involved plans for a casino infused with references from Tuscaroran Native American tribal culture.

I think that everyone’s push to move to contemporary design is hindering people’s cultural sensitivity somewhat. — Tara Headley

The ability to promote cultural understanding and authenticity is an asset to international hospitality design firms like Hirsch Bedner Associates, which hired Headley as an intern. Her projects for HBA included hotels in Dubai, Turkey and China. She’ll continue her mission to make the world feel more accessible at HBA’s Atlanta office this summer. Her first stop, though, is Chicago, Illinois, where she’ll accept the IIDA’s inaugural Student of the Year Award at the organization’s annual meeting and make contacts that could bring her work closer to you.