CLASS NOTES

Class Notes provides a way to update fellow alumni on what you have been up to lately. Whether you have found a new job or revived an old passion, received a promotion or recently retired, changed galleries or published a book, let the Pratt community share in your excitement. We welcome your latest Class Notes news at classnotes@pratt.edu. Be sure to include your name, degree, year of graduation, major, and any relevant images with caption and credit information. Please note that your submission may be edited for length and clarity.

1890s

Max Weber (1898–1900), who is celebrated for introducing Cubism to America, lived on Long Island from 1920 until his death in 1961. A selection of 24 of the artist’s finest Long Island landscapes will be on view in an exhibition, titled “Max Weber on Long Island,” at The Heckscher Museum in Huntington, Long Island, from April 28 through August 5, 2012.

1940s

Herb Meyers (B.F.A. Communications Design '43), a Lifetime Trustee, has co-authored a new book, titled Business Ours—Starting Out and Building Your Own Business (Tate Publishing, 2012), which should be of particular interest to entrepreneurs thinking about opening their own design consulting office.

Ellsworth Kelly, Colors on a Grid, 1976, lithograph on 350-gram Arches 88 paper, 48 ¼ x 48 ¼ inches, edition of 46, © Ellsworth Kelly and Tyler Graphics, Ltd.Ellsworth Kelly (Cert. Painting ’44) is showing 100 lithographic works, prints, and several major paintings drawn from international private and public lenders in a solo exhibition, titled “Ellsworth Kelly: Prints and Paintings,” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art through April 22, 2012. The exhibition is the first major overview of Kelly’s work in almost 30 years and emphasizes his prodigious print practice.

Lilian Thomas Burwell (Fine Arts ’44–’46), a sculptor and painter in Washington, D.C., recently celebrated the installation of a new three-dimensional work, I Am the Mother Nile, at Howard University’s Blackburn Center. Her homage to motherhood was inspired by President Barack Obama’s response when on Fathers’ Day he was asked what it was like to be a father and replied, “It’s like having your own heart walk around outside of your body.

1950s

Sue (Alexander) Adabody, (Industrial Design ’53-’55) has recently designed a patent-pending children’s safety product called the Whoopsiee®, a soft, stylish, helmet-like cushioning that protects the heads of infants and toddlers as they crawl, climb, and take their wobbly first steps.

Ray Sternbergh (Illustration ’55) is being recognized by a posthumous retrospective at Villanova University Art Gallery in Villanova, Pennsylvania, on view through April 11, 2012. Arranged by his widow and daughter more than 10 years after his death, the show comprises never before publicly seen landscapes, seascapes, portraits, still lifes, and sculptures. Active as an illustrator, industrial designer, and art director in the marketing and point-of-purchase industries, Sternbergh saved painting for his private life and never sold or tried to sell one.

1960s

Herb Loeffler (B.I.D. ’61) appeared on the History Channel’s new series Invention U.S.A. in December 2011, showing his Easy Down personal descender, an invention that could save people from burning buildings up to 100 floors high. The harness, which straps over the head, allows people to rappel out through a window. Leoffler told television viewers that he began working on his harness after 9/11.

Nancy Grossman (B.F.A. ’62), Suet, 1977–1980 (detail), wood, leather, and mixed media, 16 x 9 x 11 inches. Collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art. Courtesy of the artist and The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Skidmore College Nancy Grossman (B.F.A. ’62) is having her first major museum retrospective, titled “Tough Life Diary,” at The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, through May 20, 2012. The exhibition brings together five decades of Grossman’s powerful work in many media, including drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, assemblage, and sculpture.  The fully illustrated catalog that accompanies the show includes an essay by artist Carrie Moyer (B.F.A. Painting ’85). 

Rosemary (Rehak) Connor (B.F.A. ’66) will display her realist paintings in a solo exhibition at the 30 Bridge Street Building, New Milford, Connnecticut, from April 27 through July 27, 2012. Connor’s land, sea, and cityscapes are prized by collectors for their luminosity, immediacy, power, and intensity.

Clare Satin (M.F.A. ’68), a book artist, sculptor, creator of public art installations, and designer of art jewelry has been exhibiting extensively in the United States and Europe for more than 30 years. She has had seven solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group shows. Satin’s many awards include a $15,000 Florida Cultural Consortium grant, an SFA/NEA fellowship, two state fellowships, and two artist residencies to Venice, Italy, in 2009 and up coming in spring 2012.

Carol Lynn Levine (B.F.A. Graphic Arts ’69), Everybody’s Story 4, 2011, acrylic on mylar, 34 ½ x 48 inches.Carol Lynn Levine  (B.F.A. Graphic Arts ’69) recently had a solo exhibition of the series Everybody's Story at Gallery 117 in New York City. Her work was also included in the group exhibition “Momentum,” in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the National Women's Caucus for Art, held at Gallery 825 in Los Angeles through March 2, 2012.

Judith Linn (B.F.A. Graphic Art and Design ’69) has published Patti Smith 1969–1976 (Abrams, 2011), a book of black-and-white photographs she took of her friend and cohort during those years. Linn’s images document Smith's maturation into one of the most influential women of her generation while also spotlighting her close relationships with other artists, including Robert Mapplethorpe (B.F.A. Painting ’70) and Sam Shepard.

Maxine Yalovitz-Blankenship (M.S. Art Education ’69) held a public portfolio presentation of Nine Houses, nine matted archival pigment prints of symbols of the house, on February 7 at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she was formerly a painting fellow.  A boxed folio of Nine Houses, published in 2011 by Tahawus Press in a limited edition of 50, is held in the collection of the Fine Arts Library of Harvard University.

1970s

Elaine Smollin (B.F.A. Painting ’75, M.F.A ’81), Trakai, 2010, color photograph 16 x 14 inchesElaine Smollin (B.F.A. Painting ’75, M.F.A ’81) teaches painting, drawing, and visual art special topics at the School of Architecture, Art and Historic Preservation at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island. She lives and works in Lincoln, Rhode Island, and Alpine, New Jersey, just north of Manhattan.

Peter Selgin (Illustration ’76-’78), who is Viebranz Distinguished Writer in Residence at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., recently published Confessions of a Left-Handed Man: An Artist’s Memoir (University of Iowa Press, 2011). In this work, the award-winning short story writer and novelist presents a deeply personal account of his journey from unconventional roots through gritty experience to artistic achievement.

Mavis Smith (Illustration ’77), who has written 10 children’s books and illustrated 75, is showing a range of work in a solo exhibition, titled “Hidden Realities: Mavis Smith,” on view at the James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, through May 20, 2012. Smith will give a lecture and demonstration, titled “Egg Tempera, Then and Now,” on May 17 from 7 to 8:30 PM. 

1980s

Edward Re Jr., (B.S. Construction Management ’81; M.S. Facilities Management ’97) adjunct associate professor, Construction and Facilities Management, was recognized by the International Facility Management Association of New York City with the organization's Distinguished Educator Award at their annual Awards of Excellence Dinner on January 26 in Manhattan. Re is also a principal at Con-Solid Contracting, Inc., in Far Rockaway, N.Y., where he specializes in large project management, corporate real estate, real estate investment trusts, facilities management, and real estate development.

James Ransome (B.F.A. ’87), an award-winning children’s book illustrator, and his wife, writer Lesa Cline-Ransome (B.F.A. ’87), recently celebrated their eighth collaboration, Words Set Me Free: The Story of Young Frederick Douglass (Simon & Schuster, 2012), with a double-barreled book launch at Rhinebeck’s Oblong Books & Music; his paintings also grace Margaret King Mitchell’s just-released When Grandmama Sings (Amistad, 2012).

Anthony Iovino (B. Arch. ’88), Korean Presbyterian Church, Oakland, New Jersey, completed 2011Anthony Iovino (B. Arch. ’88) is a principal of the architectural firm Arcari + Iovino Architects in Little Ferry, New Jersey. The firm, which specializes in public sector projects, was recently designated the 2011 Firm of the Year by the New Jersey chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

1990s

Dawn (Arnold) Diamantopoulos (B.F.A. Printmaking ’92) and Megan Green, (B.F.A. Photography ’91) showed work in a three-woman exhibition, titled "Decompression," which challenged artists to show how they decompress at the end of the day. Diamantopoulos showed ink drawings from her History Repeats series and Green exhibited her Out of Town photographs. The show ran from January 3–January 26, 2012 at Christopher Gallery at Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, Illinois.

Hisham Modine (M.S. Urban Design ’94) was featured an article, titled “His Style, Her Style, Their Style,” that ran in the Real Estate section of The New York Times (January 20, 2012). The story and accompanying slide show describe Modine’s gut renovation of his historic Brooklyn brownstone in Clinton Hill and mention the Egyptian native’s “deep fondness” for the neighborhood developed during his years at Pratt. 

Debbie Han (M.F.A. New Media ’99) had a solo exhibition, titled “BEING: Debbie Han 1985–2011,”at Sungkok Art Museum in Seoul through March 18, 2012. It showcased about 60 of Han’s paintings, sculptures, and installations through which she pondered identity issues and artistic values.

Lara Knutson’s (B. Arch. ’99, M.I.D. ’11) art piece, Soft Glass Basket, 2011, was chosen by Palindrome Design as the inspiration for the firm’s Breakfast Room in the Washington [D.C] Design Center’s 2012 DreamHome: “Design Craft” exhibition on view through November 30, 2012, at 300 D Street SW, 5th Floor. Based on Knutson’s work, the room is layered with natural colors and materials to create an inviting environment.

2000s

Samantha Pleet (B.F.A. Fashion Design ’05) was selected to show at Gen Art's New Garde show during Fashion Week New York in February 2012. New Garde gives three emerging designers a chance to be featured in a cutting-edge, high-profile runway show attended by press, retail buyers, stylists, celebrities, and the Gen Art consumer audience, all courtesy of Gen Art and participating partners.

Terrance Clark (M.P.S. Design Management ’09) and Will Staley (M.I.D. ’07) are founders of Thrive, a non-profit design firm working to boost economic development in rural America. Birthed as Staley’s Pratt thesis project in 2007, Thrive runs 10-week classes for budding entrepreneurs out of an old storefront in Helena, Arkansas. The two-man team also provides affordable branding and marketing services to small businesses and non-profits of the Delta Region.

Ariele Alasko (B.F.A. Sculpture ’09) is making cheese boards from salvaged floorboards at her Brooklyn studio. She also built the interior for Il Vecchio, her family’s traditional Italian restaurant in Pacific Grove, California, from salvaged materials from remodeled Brooklyn brownstones and churches that she trucked across the country, adding items from abandoned diners and farm buildings along the way.

Oded Hirsch (M.F.A. Visual Arts ’09) is having his first solo exhibition in New York, titled “Nothing New,” at Thierry Goldberg Gallery through April 15. Hirsch’s recent videos and photographs present seemingly purposeless collective endeavors performed in real time. His work is also currently on view through April 14, in “The Workers,” an exhibition at MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts, and will also be included in the forthcoming 2012 Liverpool Biennial, U.K.

Dayoung (Daisy) Lee (M.S. Comm-D ’10) has recently returned to Korea. Her thesis project was selected as a Gold Winner by Creativity International Awards in 2011. The project has also been featured in the book Asian Pacific Design: APD No.7 (Sandu, 2011).

Daniel Lopatin (M.S. LIS ’10), an electronic musician, was cited in the “Pop Music” section of  The New Yorker (November 21, 2011) for his new album Replica, described by critic Sasha Frere-Jones as “phenomenal.”

Dave Irwin (B. Arch. ’11), Display for Isaora’s booth, ISPO 2012Dave Irwin (B. Arch. ’11), founder of organicMobb studio, recently designed a booth for Isaora clothing at ISPO 2012 in Munich, Germany, the leading international sports business trade show. Not wanting to display garments in the traditional sense, he integrated them with architecture to create a hybrid space that evoked the senses.  Irwin’s practice is poised between an invention workshop and an architectural studio.

Adrian Volz (B.F.A. Comm-D ’11) has work featured in “The New Modernism,” a poster exhibition that runs through March 31 at Backstage Coffee, a coffeehouse in Denver, Colorado’s bustling theater district. Volz believes his poster series will have a positive impact on the city and demonstrate how design can effectively make observations of the times.

Text: Compiled by Adrienne Gyongy
Images: Courtesy of the artists, unless otherwise noted