Makumbi Muleba puts the "multi" in multi-hyphenate: artist, musician, entrepreneur, and humanitarian are all part of this master's candidate's skill set.

As a high school student at Chengelo Secondary School in Mkushi, Zambia, Muleba ran a small design studio where he made custom printed T-shirts and designed record jackets all while managing his own dance crew, Cyber Graffiti.

"My secondary school art teacher, Mr. Saul Tembo, sat me down and we had a long conversation about my potential and my future possibilities," says Muleba (M.F.A., branded entertainment). "He told me about SCAD and I applied immediately. I knew something great would come from that."

Muleba recently returned to SCAD Atlanta after an extended hiatus in Zambia. "I had to fly home to get my visa renewed. Unfortunately, the pandemic hit my home country and what was supposed to be a two-week trip turned into a seven month stay. I made the best of it and partnered with Zambian Alliance for Empowered Communities (ZAFEC) to help young women gain access to computers and the internet for the first time in their lives."

Here is the incredible story of how one SCAD student changed the lives of young women eight thousand and ninety-two miles away.

Makumbi Muleba:

As the world was shutting down and we were starting to feel the first effects of the quarantine in Atlanta, I wanted to do something to uplift people and share a little love. I wrote and performed "Thank You 4 Being There (ft. Raphael Bahindwa)" under my musical alias Jak Mohn. I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but I knew I wanted to use it to create happiness for those in need.

When I realized I was going to be in Zambia longer than I had initially planned, I began to speak to local organizations about how I could use the skills and lessons I have learned at SCAD to help the community.

I began to work with The Pink House Project, an initiative within a community-based organization called ZAFEC, to help young women gain access to digital literacy programs and training. These women have very little in terms of modern resources and educational opportunities. ZAFEC aims at promoting empowerment among adolescent girls and young women, linking them to health services in their communities.

When I spoke with them, they told me they wanted to be fashion designers, teachers, and UN diplomats. They wanted to give back to their community, but they didn't know how or where to start.

Seeing these women unable to connect to the world around them gave me an idea. I would buy them computers.

The first step was to raise awareness. I spoke to a few of my friends in the music industry in Zambia and we made a music video highlighting The Pink House, the young women, and the local community. I set up a GoFundMe account with a goal of two thousand dollars and—thanks to a lot of support from my SCAD friends—we raised the money in less than a week.

I then bought five computers, built desks, and taught the young ladies how to set up an email account. They immediately began emailing each other as they sat elbow-to-elbow. Local government officials even came for a ribbon cutting ceremony.

The day I flew back to Atlanta for Spring quarter was the day the first set of young women received their digital literacy certificates. They were sending me photos, all of them holding their certificates in the air.

People back home can now see the power of creative careers and the ability for us to dream of a better, happier, more loving future for everyone. I could not have done this without SCAD and the relationships I have created here.

Banner photo and ZAFEC accent photo by Mutumbi Lungu.
Young women photo by Mwanga Simwanda.

Show love and follow Makumbi on Instagram!

"Your students and alumni never cease to amaze me," Academy Award-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter said to SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace as they announced the winners of the SCAD Changemakers Design Challenge.

The challenge, envisioned by President Wallace, invited recent SCAD fashion and production design graduates to create original garments inspired by Carter's iconic costume designs. The alumni garments embraced Carter's Afrofuturism aesthetic, while demonstrating the preeminent creative talent of the university's top ranked School of Fashion and School of Entertainment Arts.

"Alumni were given six weeks to concept and create garments honoring cultural leaders with global impact, and the results are as fascinating as they are fashionable," President Wallace said. "Ruth E. Carter and I had the privilege of celebrating the spectacular finalists. Congratulations to our winners, and bravo to all Bees who participated!"

The selection process began as SCAD faculty selected 10 garments from the numerous alumni submissions for inclusion in the Changemakers Design Challenge. The final garments were judged by Carter and President Wallace following Carter's appearance at the university's 15th annual SCADstyle signature event.

Winner:
Viviane Carvalho (B.F.A., fashion, 2016) designed for Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Runner Up:
Austin Nelson (B.F.A., fashion, 2017) designed for Malcolm X.

Second Runner Up:
Mariana Alvarez Zubillaga (B.F.A., fashion, 2018) for the Barlovento Tambor Dancers.

Ruth E. Carter and President Paula Wallace with Viviane Carvalho's winning garment.

SCADstyle 2021 united the design community through powerful conversations on contemporary practices and future innovations, engaging SCAD students, alumni, and audiences around the world.

Ruth E. Carter: Afrofuturism in Costume Design is on view at SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film through Sept. 12, 2021.

Jessica Ma (B.F.A., interior design, 2020) has been named Emerging Interior Designer of the Year by the International Design Awards (IDA). Her award-winning portfolio focused on helping people, companies, and venues surmount obstacles that hinder human interaction. 

"Interior design is truly a way to make substantial differences in our well-being," Ma says. "As a creator, I shape experiences and the feelings associated with them."

Born in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Ma grew up believing she would be a doctor. As a teenager, her family moved to Macau, where she attended International School of Macau. As a volunteer desk clerk at The Macau University of Science and Technology hospital, Ma saw first-hand how a building's inefficiencies and outdated design components impact the treatment and well-being of patients.

The SCAD Atlanta 2020 valedictorian lives in New Jersey, speaks Mandarin, Cantonese, and English and, in her downtime, plays classical piano.

Jessica Ma:

As a child, I was always drawing and expressing myself creatively through art. As I got older, I started making my mom take me to open houses in our neighborhood. I loved seeing how people decorated their homes. When I got into The Sims, I played it a lot. My mom should have probably understood then that I was going to become an interior designer.

Before transferring to SCAD Hong Kong in 2017, I was studying medical engineering at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. While I was doing well in my courses, I realized I had to make a change. I remember telling my parents, "I have to follow my heart. I'm going to be an artist."

At SCAD, I became a different person. I was finally able to embrace my creative spirit. Following my heart and studying interior design was the best decision I ever made.

Interior design truly is a way to help people and make substantial differences in our well-being. We are constantly indoors, and we use spaces to connect with each other hundreds of times a day, whether in an office, home, café, hotel, or other public or private space. As a creator, I shape those experiences and the feelings associated with them.

My professors at SCAD provided guidance, and gave me space and freedom to create. There were no boundaries placed on what was possible, and that allowed me explore groundbreaking ideas. Working with chair of interior design Ryan Hansen, I was able to embrace new concepts on each new space I worked on.

In my submission to the IDA, I included designs I created for The Independent Living, Inc. I began working on the concept my junior year in the class Interior Design Studio II: Specialized Interior Environments. Professor Hansen encouraged us to reimagine and design a space that would assist autistic individuals integrating more fully into society.

The project helped me realize the power of designing for specific industries. For example, healthcare providers are constantly upgrading their facilities as the needs of their patients change. Interior designers are crucial to that effort.

Interior design is a young industry. It will be crucial to our society for years to come. We need safe havens to curate relationships, create connections, and rejuvenate ourselves. I see myself as a difference maker. I wouldn't have gotten here without SCAD.

Learn more about SCAD interior design.

"What is presented to you in an artwork is not the whole story," said honoree Sanford Biggers during his keynote address at SCAD deFINE ART 2021. "There is a lot of code, and a lot of layers, to what you're looking at."

A 2020 Guggenheim Fellow, Biggers was speaking not of a specific piece, but of resonant works that have informed his own practice and world view, from "Rapper's Delight" to the Venus de Milo to the quilts of Gee's Bend. He was referring too to the work in his current solo exhibition Contra/Diction at the SCAD Museum of Art's Walter O. Evans Center for African American Studies, the occasion for his deFINE presentation.

Biggers' keynote was an artwork unto itself.  He integrated aspects of his childhood in L.A., the subsequent mentorship of Spelman College's Frank Toby Martin, and the patronage and friendship of collagist Varnette Honeywood into the hour-long talk. Delivered virtually in an open-to-the-public format, his keynote specifically addressed the concerns and interests of SCAD students. Biggers' allyship was enhanced by the intimacy of the in-camera address.

"I started to consider myself an artist even before high school, maybe junior high," he said. "This was the early 80s, and I was a first-generation fan of Rap music. It was not hip-hop at that point. A cultural revolution was happening. As an early practitioner of the b-boy and b-girl arts, I found myself loving DJs, graffiti, and breakdancing. One of my earliest art experiences was sneaking out of my parents' house and painting graffiti in the train yards of Los Angeles. This was pretty influential to the way I perceive art as not something one does in a vacuum or just in a studio, per se. It has performative elements, it has collaborative elements, and it has resonance beyond the galleries and museums where we typically show. I always strive to make art that can translate between those different contexts."

Biggers discussed pieces from throughout his career, including ground-breaking works "LOTUS," "OM II," and "BLOSSOM." He addressed Shinto singing bowls, melted-down boom boxes, and how art objects need to be not merely created but "activated." He referred repeatedly to the formative experiences of his youth.

"In my high school AP class, I was assigned to paint portraits of the people around me," he said. "The final day, I showed my oil paintings of my family and friends, and the white teacher held up my work and said, ‘Why do you always paint black people? Is this something political?' I was 15. I thought it was a joke. Somehow painting my family and friends was a political statement? What we were considering normative was coming from one particular lens. Right there, I knew there was a polemic set up between my work and what my work was being perceived as. It had a profound effect."

Biggers' keynote culminated in a Q&A where he considered what students should do when they feel they have reached a limit in their art.

"Creativity presupposes output. If you've hit a wall, respect that and put it down for a while. You can overwork a muscle and at that point you're destroying the muscle, and it's time to work on other muscles. Creativity also has many different modes. It is not always output. Sometimes creativity is intake. It can mean taking time off to read, or not to think about art. I guarantee if it's in your bones, creativity will find a way out. You have to not be so hard on yourself sometimes. The creative process is an unwieldy beast — we can't control it all the time."

See Contra/Diction at SCAD MOA.

Tuesday begins the 12th edition of SCAD deFINE ART, the university's annual program of talks, tours, and exhibitions featuring work by contemporary art's most vital voices. This year's dynamic online programming, presented February 23–25, includes a keynote lecture by renowned New York-based conceptual artist Sanford Biggers, a Q&A with prominent Brooklyn-based artist Marcel Dzama, and a conversation on Dzama's work with famed comedian Amy Sedaris, among additional inspiring talks, gallery tours, and studio visits.

The virtual program complements new exhibitions on view at the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah and SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film in Atlanta, featuring work by Biggers, Dzama, and other globally recognized artists including Christto & Andrew, Kate Cooper, Helen Frankenthaler, Emily Furr, Carlos Garaicoa, the Haas Brothers, Paulina Olowska, Brandon Sadler, Rose B. Simpson, and Albert Watson. These artists' evocative works present new ideas or different ways of being in the world and encourage greater reflection on the narratives we inherit, the identities we create, and the roles we are expected to play. While many of the artists challenge the status quo, their unique perspectives on art and culture ultimately offer the viewer a sense of hope for the future.

"SCAD deFINE ART 2021 marks another first in the event's 12-year history — our inaugural virtual edition," said SCAD President Paula Wallace. "In a season of reimagination, SCAD's renowned fine arts program showcases the shifting explorations and revelations of self. From Sanford Biggers' ‘future ethnographies' to Kate Cooper's representations of the feminine ‘ideal,' SCAD deFINE ART constructs and deconstructs identity through works by internationally celebrated contemporary artists. This year, your home and SCAD museums become one."

For more than a decade, SCAD deFINE ART has brought together an international roster of culture-defining arts leaders to engage with audiences through curated experiences and encounters with thought-provoking work. This year's programming includes a series of virtual conversations and a new season of exhibitions at SCAD museums featuring evocative works that encourage greater reflection on the narratives we inherit, the identities we create, and the roles we are expected to play, and ultimately offer a sense of hope for the future. SCAD deFINE ART 2021 offers opportunities for connection and contemplation, uniting our university and local communities across nations, generations, and mediums.

Top image: from Carlos Garaicoa's A City View from the Table of My House, presented as part of deFINE ART 2021.

"We founded Q4 to change the shoe game," says Quintin Williams (B.F.A., industrial design, 2011), chief global designer at athletic and leisure apparel company Q4 Sports. "We are building something that will fundamentally revolutionize how athletes and influencers work with their brands."

Williams and co-founding business partner Aaron Sokol launched Q4 Sports in 2016. Today, SCADpro Fund has committed to providing investment backing and creative business consultancy for the young company. "Quintin is a next-level designer who understands what makes shoes desirable and functional at the highest competitive level," says Ray Crowell, SCADpro Fund managing director. "For us, partnering with Q4 means backing an entrepreneur whose business mind and values make him a pioneer in his industry."

At Q4 Sports, Williams works with athletes, influencers, and entertainers to create distinct, highly functional products that reflect the individual designer. "We cultivate true partnerships," he says. "We want to help our athletes monetize their full potential, and we are here to help them capitalize on their extraordinary talent."

Williams grew up dreaming of one day playing in the NBA. Standing at six-feet-seven-inches, it's not difficult to imagine the life-long Chicago Bulls fan gliding up down court, draining seventeen-foot jump shots, wearing his favorite pair of Q4 495 Lo SP White Streaks. "I always wanted to play. Designing sneakers was my hobby when I wasn't on the court."

As a SCAD industrial design student, Williams participated in an internship with Simple Factory Group (SFG). "Michael Mack, who was at SFG and is now a SCAD accessory design professor, helped ignite my entrepreneurial spirit," Williams explains. "He showed me that designing my own shoes was achievable if I learned the business."

In 2010, as a SCAD junior, Williams was selected to participate in the inaugural Pensole Footwear Design Academy. "I was one of twenty-three students from across the nation to work with D'Wayne Edwards, the design director of Brand Jordan, and godfather of sneaker design," Williams says.

Shortly after graduating in 2011, Williams won Power Force Apparel's Design the 'YOU' Shoe competition and took home the twenty-five-thousand-dollar cash prize. "After that competition I got offers to join all of the big brands; Nike, Adidas, Puma, New Ballance. I turned them all down to lead the design team at Power Force. I wanted the challenge of establishing something new."

Williams spent the next five years fully immersed in every aspect of the footwear design industry. "I lived in Dongguan, China for a time, meeting suppliers, learning the machinery process, researching where the materials were produced, all in the understanding that it would lead me to where I am today."

Williams and Q4 Sports currently partner with two NBA stars, E'Twaun Moore and Langston Galloway, both of the Phoenix Suns. "Working with E'Twuan and Langston has been special," Williams says. "They have design input from the colors of the shoes to the special touches to the box the shoes come in. These are their shoes, and we work hard to make sure they see themselves represented when they hit the court."

Williams is committed to building his brand from the ground up. As a Black entrepreneur in a space not traditionally rich in diversity, Williams says, "I'm thankful to SCADpro Fund for the commitment to Q4 Sports. I understand the importance of allies in this space, and the SCADpro team have been incredible."

Register here to tune in to Quintin Williams 'Guests and Gusto' happening Thursday, Feb. 18, 2 p.m. The virtual talk is free and open to the public.

SCAD is proud to announce the appointment of DJ Hellerman as curator at SCAD Museum of Art. An experienced curator, writer, archivist, and art historian, Hellerman brings a deep understanding of site-specific, interdisciplinary projects to SCAD MOA.

"SCAD welcomes DJ Hellerman, a curatorial leader with a reputation for creating distinguished programming of relevance and interest to the communities he serves," said Kari Herrin, SCAD VP of brand experience and head of exhibitions. "Since opening our doors in 2011, SCAD MOA has delivered engaging exhibitions in an array of disciplines, and as we usher in our next decade, DJ's presence ensures that the museum will continue to be an institution that educates and inspires."

Hellerman joins a SCAD MOA curatorial team committed to elevating the museum's international renown. Current exhibitions at SCAD MOA feature artists including Paulina Olowska (Poland), Carlos Garaicoa (Cuba), Gonzalo Hernandez (Peru), and Hass Brothers (Austin, Texas, U.S.A.). The annual deFINE ART festival, featuring honoree Sanford Biggers, will be held Feb. 23-25, 2021.

Prior to joining SCAD, Hellerman worked at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York, where his numerous curatorial projects included exhibitions by Yoko Ono, Jeff Donaldson, Edie Fake, and Vanessa German. He also worked as chief curator with Burlington City Arts in Burlington, Vermont, and as registrar at the Progressive Art Collection in Cleveland, Ohio. He holds an M.A. in art history from Case Western Reserve University and a B.A. in English and philosophy from Lake Erie College.

"I'm enthusiastic to be here at SCAD MOA, and I'm committed to advancing the museum's legacy of delivering dynamic exhibition programming in Savannah," said Hellerman. "By providing audiences with the opportunity to get first looks at emerging artists alongside more established international voices, we'll continue to make SCAD MOA a world-class destination."

The SCAD Museum of Art is a premier contemporary art museum that features emerging and established international artists through commissioned works and rotating exhibitions, engages local communities with special initiatives of an international scope, and serves as a resource for SCAD students and alumni during their academic careers and beyond.

The museum incorporates the oldest surviving antebellum railroad depot in the U.S. into its striking design. It has been recognized by the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation, the Congress for the New Urbanism, the International Interior Design Association, and the Historic Savannah Foundation, and received the American Institute of Architects Honor Award for Architecture.

Visit scadmoa.org.

Alumni comprise a key facet of the growing SCAD family, with over 40,000 degree-holding Bees representing worldwide. Speaking with these alumni about their professional accomplishments brings light to the value and potential of the SCAD experience. Here are ten memorable posts from 2020 that focused on work being done by our stellar alumni.

Taylor Ayers, unequivocally: Ayers (M.A. creative business leadership; B.F.A., fibers, 2019) co-created the BLACK LIVES MATTER murals atop student residence hall FORTY in Atlanta and the exterior of Gutstein Gallery in Savannah.

“Say His Name”: Mickey Demas (B.F.A., industrial design, 2020) created potent new work, commissioned by BET, that captured the mood of a nation demanding positive change.

Danielle McCoy spells it out: The clever, text-specific, screen-printed work of McCoy (B.F.A., advertising, 2015) shone as part of the group show “Black Power is A Color.”

Danielle Elsener’s zero waste win: Proven problem-solver Elsener (B.F.A., fashion, 2013) got the attention of Virgil Abloh en route to winning the inaugural Activate Movement Program grant for her Zero Waste Scrub Set.

Victoria Wanjuhi’s creative upcycling: Fibers phenom Wanjuhi (M.F.A., fibers, 2020) took deconstruction as a prompt to building new ways to see and wear colorful creations cut from cast-offs.

Eleanor Turner: changing underwear: Entrepreneur Turner (B.F.A., fashion, 2008) is putting pima cotton where it counts with her new sustainable line of undergarments, The Big Favorite.

Ariel Felton, write on!: This year, Georgia native Felton (M.F.A., writing, 2015) published key pieces in outlets including the Washington Post, investigating the kind of stories that her home state tells about itself.

D.J. lights the way: Publishing powerhouse D.J. Kirkland-DeJesus (B.F.A., sequential art, 2009) is proud be raising the profile of Black and LGBTQ artists and storytellers in a rapidly evolving industry.

Alumni Atelier ambassador Kacie Willis: Willis (M.F.A., sound design, 2013) dedicated her Alumni Atelier experience to creating a new podcast, White Angle.

Generous gallerist Arnika Dawkins: The Atlanta gallery of Dawkins (M.A., digital photography, 2008) is dedicated to "speaking both to the moment we're in, and contributing to the grand dialogue across generations.”

Thank you for following SCADworks this year…see you in 2021!

It's the time of year to reflect on the accomplishments of our incredible students. Speaking with them (Zoom counts!) about their process and projects is one of the real treats of being part of the SCAD family. Here are ten memorable posts from 2020 that focused on student work.

Devon Vander Voort's Museum Mission: This museum studies minor (B.F.A., art history) presented her project "An American Tail Immigration Brochure" at this year's Southeastern Museums Conference.

Shark Tank of Wellness Winner Samii: Krysta Silva (B.F.A., advertising) collaborated with fellow SCAD Atlanta students Daranie Mor (B.F.A., advertising) and Megan Ip (B.F.A., advertising, 2020) to create Samii, first-place winner at the 2020 Global Wellness Summit.

Open Studio spotlight: "lé dieguê": SCAD Fall Open Studio artist Diego Cardenas (M.F.A., painting) enthused about the power of murals.

AnimationFest spotlight on 'Bearly': Producer Cameron Brown (B.F.A., animation) and director Cherry Zhou (M.F.A., animation) decided not to hibernate, and instead discuss their film about a bear who similarly refuses sleep.

Enya's themed entertainment journey: Yun Enya Huang (M.F.A., themed entertainment design) wrote about being an international student and learning to translate the theme park experience in a diverse world.

Jaylyn Lassiter: Open Studio spotlight: Virginia native Lassiter (M.F.A., painting) celebrated the “incredible feeling” of her new work connecting with her audience.

Actors grow 'Closer': In the tantalizingly brief window this year where live theater was a thing, Clare Tassinari and Sarah Smeltzer Wright (M.F.A. performing arts) brought the house down with their production of Patrick Marber's "Closer."

Erin Gabrielle Tutcher: A couch to faint for: Fearless fabricator Erin Tutcher (M.F.A., furniture design) put in the hard work, by hand, to make her dreamy furniture come to life.

Mora Medina talks Walky: Award-winning designer Armando Mora Medina (M.F.A., furniture design) decided that instead of reinventing the wheel, he'd simply to make the best chair around.

Lina Deeb Forrester's deep dive in the Kravet archive: SCAD fibers building Pepe Hall was transformed by Lina Deeb Forrester (B.F.A., interior design), who curated a display of fabrics from the archive of industry-leading textile company Kravet.

Thank you for following SCADworks this year...see you in 2021!

SCAD recognizes that continuous faculty professional development contributes significantly to the quality of teaching and learning at the university. The SCAD Presidential Fellowship and Sabbatical Awards provide eligible professors with opportunities to pursue professional growth and new or renewed professional achievement through study, research, and practice.

This year, SCAD professor of photography Josh Jalbert traveled to England for his sabbatical project "An Experience of History: Photography’s Early Years."

"Photography, for me, is a question of perception and experience, not of representation," Jalbert explains. "Photography presses at the borders of the visual. It makes the visual explode and unfolds access to perception and feeling."

Jalbert visited museums and historic locations associated with selected photographers’ work and photographed his journey. He traveled to areas where some of the earliest and most influential photographers lived and worked in order to trace their footsteps, recreate historic photographs, and document their visual history. This research has become teaching tools for his courses.

"I became gradually more interested in photography over time through classes and my own practice," Jalbert explains, "but have only come to genuinely appreciate the complexity of photography through many years of involvement with it."

Josh Jalbert:

As a professor, I teach the history of photography. My favorite photographers are the pioneers, especially William Henry Fox Talbot, who is considered the inventor of the photographic negative.

My SCAD Faculty Sabbatical award enabled me to travel to England to visit Lacock Abbey, the mansion in Wiltshire in the English countryside where Fox Talbot lived and worked and made some of the earliest photographs way back in the 1830s.

I also traveled to Tintagel Island on the coast of Cornwall, a place famously associated with the legend of King Arthur and the wizard Merlin. Tintagel was a site of photographs by Peter Henry Emerson, who wrote one of the earliest arguments for photography as an art. From there I traveled to the home of photographer Julia Margaret Cameron on the Isle of Wight, and walked along Tennyson Down, the chalk cliffs by the sea, named after Alfred Tennyson, the great poet of the Victorian Era.

Cameron and Tennyson were neighbors and friends, and in the 1870s they collaborated on "Idylls of the King," based on the legend of King Arthur, with Cameron crated the photographic illustration to accompany Tennyson’s poetry. Many of the first examples of photographic art were produced by Cameron, including portraits of eminent individuals such as Charles Darwin and Virginia Woolf.

My sabbatical experience has direct correlation with my professional appointment and influences my scope of knowledge of the discipline of photography. This enhances my classroom instruction, and my ability to produce scholarly and creative work. I’ve shared the research documentation from my project with colleagues and students, serving as teaching tools for courses. That research and travel documentation are accessible here. Thank you to President Wallace for endowing the fellowship.

Josh Jalbert, Merlin's Cave, photograph, 2020.

Learn more about photography at SCAD.