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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There are more arrows in their quiver.

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

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

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

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

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

Nikole Nelson:

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

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

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

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

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

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

Botanical transnational: Nikole Nelson at SCAD Lacoste.

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

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

Learn more about the Alumni Atelier program here.  

Who better to do this work? Sauda Mitchell (B.A., visual communication, 2013) is an archivist, artist, and educator—indivisible facets of a unified identity, all on display in her solo exhibition Re-Cor-Dare, at the Jepson Center in Savannah.

"Having attended SCAD, having worked at the Georgia Historical Society, having archived and processed the W.W. Law Collection—all those experiences have shaped my view of history," Mitchell says. "It's my responsibility to share what I have had the privilege to engage with."

Re-Cor-Dare—impeccably installed in a light-filled upper wing of the Telfair's flagship museum—comprises a series of works in an array of tactile media: prints, paintings, artist books, textiles. The exhibition's title is an etymological extension of the act of recording, incorporating the Latin roots "cor" (heart) and "dare" (to give).

The formal evolution of Re-Cor-Dare dates to 2017 and Mitchell's SCAD Alumni Atelier residency when, she explains, "I met board members from Friends of the African American Arts, which led to crossing paths with Erin [Dunn, Telfair associate curator], who scheduled a visit to my studio. I showed her my sketches for Voyage, and she asked if I'd be the next #art912 artist"—the Telfair initiative dedicated to exhibiting artists living and working in Savannah.

Displayed in the gallery's hull-like big room, Voyage Windsails No. 1-5 are hand-painted acrylic, cotton fabric, and hand-dyed indigo textile pieces depicting a journey in the Atlantic slave trade. The sails— mounted in windows, not on walls—render the gallery pelagic. Iconography reappears. "The star is significant because it references the journey enslaved people made," Mitchell says. Speakers in a half-baffled corner swell with Robert Glasper's 2004 rendition of Herbie Hancock's 1965 composition Maiden Voyage. The immersive presentation suits the work.

Sauda Mitchell (American, b. 1981); Voyage No. 3, 2020; linoleum on paper; courtesy of the artist.

"Inspiration came from a poem I wrote as a SCAD student, titled Voyage, about the Middle Passage," Mitchell explains. "The poem had been tucked away for years. Then, when I heard Glasper's Maiden Voyage, it was as if I was transported into a ship in the Middle Passage, I could hear moans, bees buzzing, water—all elements that were very much part of my poem. I revisited my sketchbook and reread that poem, and it was timed perfectly to the music. From that experience I decide to create a series called Voyage."

On an adjacent wall, sense memories manifest in a lively collaboration between the artist and her father, wood carver Alfonzo Mitchell.

"As a child, I'd go downtown and smell the tobacco and see it going out of the silos," says Sauda, a Winston-Salem, NC native. Finding Grandma Judie comprise two pieces whose flue-cured whole tobacco leaves hang from walking sticks carved by the elder Mitchell. Viewers peer through the long leaves to see portraits of ancestors.

"I'd conducted genealogy for other patrons at the Georgia Historical Society, but never provided myself that service," Mitchell says. "When I started digging, I discovered that my grandmother's maiden name was Hairston. That's how I made the connection to the Hairston family, and found the book by Henry Wiencek." As documented in The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White (St. Martin's Press, 1999), the Hairstons owned several plantations and thousands of people—including Mitchell's great-great grandmother. "This is the first time that I am incorporating my own family history and how it unveiled itself into my work."

Re-Cor-Dare exemplifies Mitchell's mastery at using archival research to facilitate creation in the resonant present, an ability that makes her invaluable as the much-beloved archives and special collections librarian at SCAD. "It's an energetic collaboration with SCAD faculty, always," Mitchell says, of connecting students to proper collection items, and supporting their ideal learning outcomes. "In order to curate and bring together a collection of resources for students to engage with, you have to understand what they're learning, and what is going to propel them and inspire them." And who better to do that work?

Portrait of Sauda Mitchell by Labeeb Abdullah (B.F.A., motion media, 2004).

Re-Cor-Dare is on view at the Jepson Center in Savannah through Feb. 27, 2022.

"My style is taking unexpected materials and transforming them," says Caroline Mae Heidenreich (B.F.A., fashion, 2009) as she tugs at the ripstop nylon wrap worn by student model Shiloh Smith (B.F.A., painting). Soon Smith is zipping on a moped down the corridors of Alexander Hall, gauzy garment billowing behind him to fabulous effect. The moment is part of a photo shoot documenting Mae's collection-in-progress FLY, the culmination of her work as SCAD Alumni Atelier Ambassador 2021. "Mae fills the room with light," says Smith. "As soon as she put me in the clothes, I felt uplifted."

While a SCAD undergraduate, Mae created a senior collection of gowns made from military parachutes, mosquito netting, and hand-painted canvas that earned her the Jeffrey Fashion Cares New Talent Award. From 2013-2021, she worked as creative and executive assistant for Madonna, creating costumes for the Madame X Tour. When Madonna posted a video of her son David Banda wearing a Mae Couture dress to Instagram earlier this year, it scored two million views. "Madonna is an idol of our lifetime who believed in me and helped me believe in myself," Mae says.

Mae is carrying that spirit forward. As a 2021 SCAD Alumni Atelier ambassador, she has mentored students, led virtual classroom workshops, and aligned with SCAD SERVE so that sales of her work will benefit the local community. During the new academic year, Mae's capsule collection will be exhibited at SCAD FASH in Atlanta, while her epic oil paintings — emphasizing themes of higher consciousness and "the self as light energy" — will be featured in Savannah at Alexander Hall.

SCAD students Shiloh Smith and Emma Calverley model Mae, with assitance by Beckham Lin (far left) and Ann-Hammond Gift (far right).

Caroline Mae Heidenreich:

I'd always wanted to be an Alumni Atelier ambassador, but working full-time meant my schedule didn't allow it. I stayed in touch with President Wallace, sending her updates about my work, and she connected me with Alumni Atelier director Tiffani Taylor. Then there was an opportunity for me to become one of the first digital Alumni Atelier ambassadors during winter quarter 2020-2021. Now I'm here in Savannah, completing my work in person. I had so many transformational experiences as a student at SCAD that being back in Savannah, a place where I learned so much, feels so right.

The ability to connect with students and classrooms virtually was eye-opening. I began mentoring a student who is now one of my assistants, Ann-Hammond Gift. Ann-Hammond was a fashion major who switched to a painting major, and I was a fashion major who now paints on garments, and I love the energy that's come from that connection, and from working with talented, hardworking students, including Beckham Lin (B.F.A., fashion) who has also been an invaluable assistant to me.

For my Atelier, I found a massive, 66-foot parachute and realized, I can paint on this, this can be my canvas. Some of the garments are silk. The aim with the reversible pieces is for them to be black and white on one side and really colorful on the reverse. The language you see on the garments, like the word FLY, is about spreading your wings. That's symbolic in Andean shamanism, where you travel above the tree tops and truly see from a higher perspective. I paint it and flip it, so the mantras face the body. The repetition of the word LIGHT means the collection recognizes my light within myself and the light within others.

I love the feeling of one-of-a-kind work. Big corporate designers are what everybody is trained to think fashion is. As an artist, I want to make things that can't be mass produced. Even when we make a pattern and cut it out a hundred different ways, it's never going to be the same. Let art be art.

SHOP MAE COUTURE

Rebonjour! SCAD is pleased to announce the re-opening of SCAD Lacoste, an imaginative center for the study of art and design sited in the beautifully preserved medieval village of Lacoste in the Provence region of France. In 2002, SCAD acquired the site and meticulously revitalized more than 30 historic structures. This summer, SCAD will host dynamic activations throughout SCAD Lacoste, inspiring students, alumni, and visitors to the region.

The exhibition Notre Ami, Pierre Cardin, the university's latest ode and homage to the indomitable designer, is now open to the public. The exhibition features exceptional garments and two films produced by the university — including I Am Thinking of Pierre Cardin, awarded Best Fashion Documentary at the London Film Festival — celebrating Cardin's remarkable life story. The exhibition is set in an installation reminiscent of Cardin's famous Palais Bulles, his dream residence near Cannes and a future-forward architectural marvel that rivaled his greatest fashion creations.

Notre Ami, Pierre Cardin highlights the designer's long and treasured friendship with the university that began with the establishment of SCAD Lacoste in the historic village, which Cardin, a longtime resident, knew would serve as an endless source of inspiration for young artists. For nearly two decades, Cardin embraced the role of mentor, engaging hundreds of SCAD students across the university's top-ranked degree programs, from fashion to architecture and beyond.

In 2008, the university honored Cardin with the SCAD Étoile for his contributions to the fields of fashion and design as well as his role in the historic restoration and cultural life of Lacoste. In 2018, the university's SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film in Atlanta originated the exhibition Pierre Cardin: Pursuit of the Future, a major retrospective presented in partnership with the Pierre Cardin Museum in Paris that included iconic looks from the 1950s held in the SCAD Permanent Collection. Notre Ami, Pierre Cardin is curated by Rafael Gomes, head of fashion exhibitions at SCAD, in collaboration with Pierre Cardin Paris and Rodrigo Basilicati.

Visitors to Lacoste can also experience the creative process firsthand as they observe working artists selected for the prestigious SCAD Alumni Atelier, an elite artist residency conceptualized and endowed by SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace. Originated in 2015, the SCAD Alumni Atelier offers visionary graduates the time, space, resources, and business education to thrive creatively and professionally. As ambassadors or associates, alumni advance their careers, strengthen their connection to the university, and join a select cohort of emerging and established entrepreneurs, artists, designers, and scholars. Now in its sixth year, the SCAD Alumni Atelier has disbursed more than $1 million in support of new or expanded alumni ventures including fashion brands, jewelry collections, screenplays, feature films, exhibitions, and more — a testament to the university's lifelong commitment to the SCAD community.

Launched in 2021, the SCAD Alumni Atelier associateship encourages graduates to pursue their creative practice with a focus on engagement with the SCAD community. While creating, ideating, or brand building, associates reconnect with faculty, serve as student mentors, and engage with staff in admission, communications, and career and alumni success. SCAD Alumni Atelier associates Melinda Borysevicz (B.F.A., painting, 2011), Masako Maupu Masukawa (M.F.A., illustration, 1995; B.F.A., illustration, 1992), Liz Robb (M.F.A., fibers, 2014), Serge Ruffato (B.F.A., sculpture, 2012), and William M. Ruller (M.F.A., painting, 2013) will create new work in personal studios within the university's enchanting medieval caves and share their artistic practice with students and the public throughout the summer.

The university will also reopen shopSCAD in Lacoste. Nested on the Rue Saint-Trophime, the boutique retail space and gallery features an ever-changing melange of original jewelry, accessories, apparel, stationery, home décor, and unique gifts by SCAD students, alumni, and faculty.

"Summer sunshine bathes France's Luberon Valley in lavender hues and beckons adventurers to SCAD Lacoste, where enthralling exhibitions and explorations await," says President Wallace. "À bientôt!"

Visit SCAD Lacoste!

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!

Eric Ross (M. Arch, 2010; B.F.A., architecture, 2009) is an award-winning director at William McDonough + Partners in Charlottesville, Virginia. His work at WM+P focuses on the integration of Cradle to Cradle thinking at all levels of a project, embodying regenerative design and development principles across scale and typology.

Eric's Fall 2020 Alumni Atelier project, A Return to Zero, addresses mass timber, the building material that is a critical element in the fight for carbon positive buildings. A collaborative endeavor with contributions from mass timber manufacturer Nordic Structures, A Return to Zero will serve as a landmark case study for carbon positive architecture.

Rendering excerpted from A Return To Zero: A Case Study Report, Eric Ross, AIA, 2020.

Eric Ross:

Through deep research, the building industry has set targets to reduce carbon emissions substantially in the next 10 years, and ultimately reach zero by 2050. Larger companies have embraced the challenge internally rather than waiting on the public sector and politicians to lead. The housing industry continues to lags behind because it deals with the most economic hurdles.

My idea is: How can we take the work we're doing for major companies and distill it into case study house projects that can serve as roadmaps for architects and builders?

We've been using a new building material called mass timber in lieu of concrete or steel which both have pretty substantial carbon footprints. The test case house is meant to employ mass timber as much as possible, as well as prefabrication techniques which reduce on-site waste. It's a big vision thing. For Bill McDonough, my boss, it's something he's been pushing for 30 plus years. My Alumni Atelier project is a chance to distill it all down as a case study.

For me, this journey began about fifteen years ago. I had been in the Army and decided I wanted to study architecture. My sister living in Hilton Head recommended checking out SCAD. I immediately started the five-year program. Since I was a little bit older, I was working full time while going to SCAD and by the time I started that fifth year, I was completing my thesis and at the same time transitioning into a real architecture profession role, doing high-end architecture including 3D modeling that I learned in at SCAD. It was a nice dovetail.

Bill McDonough and Michael Braungart's book Cradle To Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (North Point Press, 2002 was required reading for my first SCAD studio project with professor Tim Woods. This ethos of designing beautiful, compelling architecture with a strong, sustainable ethos was instilled early on at SCAD. Now, at WM+P, I've worked on five mass timber projects, building on this breadth of knowledge.

With these projects, we can do pretty great photorealistic renderings throughout the process. There are VR walkthroughs and prototype 3D printed models and laser cut models, analogous to what a studio project might produce in the end, but with a with a lot more real world thought and input.

Returning to SCAD for Alumni Atelier project has been wonderful. I've enjoyed speaking directly with students, taking them on a virtual walk-through of my work space, answering questions, and sharing my project in progress. I appreciate the opportunity to pay it forward.

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

Learn more about the program here.

"My hope is that the podcast will show that we can have difficult conversations," says Kacie Willis (M.F.A., sound design, 2013). A Fall 2020 SCAD Alumni Atelier ambassador, Willis is speaking of White-Angle, her new podcast exploring "empathy in documentary filmmaking, dissecting how perspective and privilege factor into storytelling in our modern time of civil unrest."

Born in Detroit and based in Atlanta, Willis is a founding producer at Could Be Pretty Cool, has worked at the Center for Puppetry Arts and 7 Stages Theatre, and was one of 10 participants in last year's Spotify Sound Up program, an initiative to amplify underrepresented voices in the podcasting world. Boost the levels on Kacie for maximum effect.

Kacie Willis:

Of the pitches I submitted to the SCAD Alumni Atelier program, I was surprised that White-Angle was the one selected. I'd submitted three or four fun and quirky ideas, but this was the topic that I was asked to explore.

White-Angle is a podcast that pairs a white documentary filmmaker who's made a film about Black trauma with a Black filmmaker in conversation. It's a podcast about storytelling, agency, ownership, and about who should be telling stories. It's flipping the script in the sense that the documentarian is now the documentary subject of the podcast.

I'm primarily a theatrical sound designer. Since COVID-19 shut down live theater, a conversation has been presenting itself in the theatrical world about the future of race in theater and how to address those issues. I was on a panel where someone said they didn't think a white director should be allowed to direct plays by Black writers. I felt really conflicted about that.

I have friends from all different backgrounds who take their work very seriously, including several cis white male friends who have made feature length-documentary films on Black trauma. One has a film premiering at the Atlanta Film Festival next week that was based on a cold case in Griffin, Georgia. Another made a film about a black male who was having a bipolar episode and was killed by police in 2014. I thought, what can I do to speak to this moment?

Two members of my White-Angle team are also SCAD sound design alumni: Cooper Skinner (M.F.A., sound design, 2013; B.F.A., sound design 2010) will be doing the mixing and mastering, and Jacob McCoy (B.F.A., sound design, 2010) is cutting together a video trailer for the show.

Everything is going to be hosted on a standalone website. There'll be three episodes, each one about 30 minutes. The first episode will feature Stephen Robert Morse, director of In the Cold Dark Night and filmmaker and puppeteer Raymond Carr. Episode two will pair Roee Messinger, director of American Trial: The Eric Garner Story with screenwriter and producer Nakia Stephens. The third episode will feature Erik Ljung, director of The Blood is at the Doorstep, in conversation with filmmaker Derrick Jones.

Part of my Alumni Atelier project is figuring out my target audience for this podcast. This means strategically marketing a difficult piece of work at difficult time where people are looking for levity. It means figuring out how to spark important conversations about difficult topics. As a creative community, we can help one another to tell these stories.

Visit Kacie at her excellent website. Stay tuned for more about the launch of White-Angle, coming October 2020.

The SCAD Alumni Atelier, conceived and endowed in 2015 by SCAD President Paula Wallace, supports select alumni with time, space, and resources to facilitate the creation of new work.

Interested alumni applicants should email [email protected] or visit www.scad.edu/success/alumni-programs/alumni-atelier for details.

photography: Kelley Raye

On a sunny, summery Saturday in Lacoste, France, SCAD celebrated the arrival of its new alumni atelier residents with a puppet processional through the vibrant, medieval village. Regional officials, concierges, residents, and SCAD faculty and students, many of them in costume, waved colorful ribbon wands while enjoying a second-line jazz band and freshly spun cotton candy.

Inspired by A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sam Lasseter (B.F.A. sculpture), created large‑scale, papier-mâché puppets for the parade with the assistance of Mitchell Biggio (B.F.A. sculpture). Puppet characters included cicadas, rabbits, a boar, a mare and the SCAD Bee. Martha Enzmann (M.F.A. painting) and Karen Butch (M.F.A. painting) also designed costumes, props and puppets for the processional.

SCAD Lacoste is one of the university’s four global locations. This summer, alumni atelier residents Joseph Gamble (M.F.A. photography), Melissa Hagerty (B.F.A. illustration) and Lily Kuonen (M.F.A. painting) will live in the storybook village, revitalized by SCAD’s restoration of buildings dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries. The alumni will host workshops and work in the SCAD Olivier Caves, the studios along the Rue Saint-Trophime that offer a living lesson in the creation of art for students, tourists and villagers.

“This celebration stands not just to welcome our new alumni residents for the summer,” proclaimed SCAD president and founder Paula Wallace, “but to showcase our deep-rooted love for Lacoste’s history and significance to the global art community.”

A handful of fluorescent green acrylic letters, millimeters thick, lay scattered on a paper plate balanced on top of Kathleen Grebe’s crossed legs as she sat in one of the Forsyth House studios.

“I’ll turn these laser-cut letters that spell out the word ‘brave’ on their side so only the edge is showing and string about 40 of them together to create a large 3-D necklace and an internal message for the wearer,” said Grebe (B.F.A. graphic design), a SCAD Alumni Atelier Ambassador.

“In order to wear my jewelry, someone has to be brave — willing to make a fashion statement — and my collection is a celebration of that courage and bravery,” said Grebe, a North Carolina native, who made her own statement as an art and design director for highly established brands, including Adidas and T-Mobile, for more than a decade.

At a crossroads in her career, Grebe turned her focus toward creating jewelry like the geometrically shaped and incandescently colored necklaces that will be for sale during her “Fever Dream” trunk show at shopSCAD. Jewelry from another collection featuring polished gemstones and frosted acrylic in organic shades will also be available for purchase.

“I’ve always loved the super modern, but I also have a bohemian side and I love when the two can work together,” said Grebe.

She cuts the letters in Fahm Hall, where the jewelry department and laser cutting technology are housed. These resources are afforded to Grebe as part of the SCAD Alumni Atelier Program, a new artist residency endowed by SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace that provides recipients with access to university facilities, a budget for materials and on-campus accommodations in Savannah, Atlanta or Lacoste for an academic quarter.

“Before the program I had a great graphic design job working with organizations like the NBA, but I wanted to be in control of my own creative vision,” Grebe said. “I didn’t necessarily know how graphic design would shape jewelry … but computer skills are where the two worlds combine, and any design fundamentals I learned at SCAD have influenced all of my artistic pursuits.”

See more of Grebe’s original designs at shopSCAD, 340 Bull St., from 5-7 p.m., Friday, March, 11.