Nov.-Dec. 2011 - Maryland Institute College of Art

NEWS, EVENTS, & EXHIBITIONS 

November–December ’11 

MARYLAND INSTITUTE COLLEGE OF ART 

HEROES IN SERVICE 

MICA COMMUNITY TRANSFORMS LIVES, NEIGHBORHOODS 

PRESERVING THE GLOBE POSTER LEGACY 

RECORD-BREAKING STUDENT BODY SIZE, PRESTIGE 

THE COMMON OBJECT EXHIBITION 

MICA ART MARKET 

YOUNGMI SONG ORGAN SOLO SHOW 

Find up-to-date event details and expanded information at fyi.mica.edu.

NEWS 

COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT 

MICA Heroes in Service 8 

Students Design Mobile Farmers Market 11 

Designing Fruitful Solutions for Baltimore Corner Stores 23 

INNOVATION 

One-of-a-Kind Information Visualization Program 12 

MICA Welcomes Record-Breaking Freshman Class 13 

New Grad Programs Propel Smart Artists, Designers 13 

MICA Welcomes New and Potential Gates Millennium Scholars 15 

A Week in the Life of a MICA Graduate Student 16 

Illustration Roundup 25 

New Faculty Faces 44 

GLOBAL 

Trustee Produces Special on First Lady Michelle Obama 18 

MILE Program Crosses Borders 20 

Artwork Made Abroad: Irish Delight 21 

Artwork Made Abroad: A Search for Soda 28 

CONNECTIONS 

MICA Acquires Historic Globe Poster Collection 4 

Declarations of Independence 26 

New Publications by MICA Alumni and Faculty 30 

Shop MICA 34 

ALUMNI 

Geographic Spotlight: Southern California 22 

Alumnus Turns Daily Life Into Art Through Comics 24 

Alumni Office Abuzz 29 

Alumnus Brings Art to Baltimore’s Miracle on 34th Street 32 

(this page) An installation of Dandelion Creatures by Payton Cosell Turner and Brian Kaspr in the colorway, 

Out of the Jungle, one of two hand-drawn, hand-printed wallpapers featured in The New York Times. 

(Story, page 34) 

(cover) Cait Byrnes during Artscape 2010 (Photo by Daniel Bedell). Byrnes coordinated the parades for the 

summer event. 

(Story, page 8)

EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS 

November 

Through 11/9 

Frédérique Morrel 

and Aaron Levin: Fall/Fail 38 

Through 12/18 

Student and Departmental 

Exhibitions 42 

Through 11/13 

Regina DeLuise: 

Photographs From the Field 38 

Through 11/20 

Juried Undergraduate 

Exhibition 38 

11/2 

Lecture: Neil B. Chambers 40 

11/4-11/13 

Master of Arts in Teaching 

Exhibition 38 

11/7 

Design Double Feature: 

Book Launch 43 

11/9 

Lecture: Kelly Dobson 40 

11/12-11/30 

Sight.Sound [interaction] 38 

11/13 

Graduate Open House 45 

11/16 

Lecture: Adelina Vlas 40 

11/18-12/18 

Youngmi Song Organ Solo Show 39 

11/28 

Lecture: Joyce J. Scott 41 

11/28 

School for Professional and 

Continuing Studies Open House 41 

11/28 

Lecture: Paul Chaat Smith 41 

December 

12/1-12/18 

Sabbatical Exhibition 38 

12/1-3/11 

The Common Object 36 

12/2 

Master of Professional Studies 

(MPS) Open House 45 

12/4 

National Portfolio Day 45 

12/7-12/10 

MICA Art Market 33 

MICA Venues 

Main Building 

1300 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

Brown Center 


Fox Building 


Bunting Center 


The Gateway 


Dolphin Building 

100 Dolphin St. 

Jewelry Center at Meadow Mill 

3600 Clipper Mill Road 

Mount Royal Station 

1400 Cathedral St. 

Studio Center 

131 W. North Ave. 

MICA PLACE 

814 N. Collington Ave. 

MICA Gallery Hours 

Monday through Saturday, 

10 am–5 pm 

Sunday, noon–5 pm 

Closed major holidays 

MICA PLACE Hours 

By appointment; contact 

Kristy Taylor at 410.225.2254 

or ktaylor03@mica.edu 

Although every effort is made to ensure the completeness and accuracy of event listings, event plans do sometimes change. We suggest you confirm event details by checking MICA’s website 

at www.mica.edu, where you will also find driving directions and a campus map. For more information, please call 410-225-2300. To request disability accommodations, call 410-225-2416 

or email events@mica.edu. Events and exhibitions are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. To submit story ideas or comments, email news@mica.edu. 

Editors: Jessica Weglein, Libby Zay, Lorri Angelloz Contributing Editors: Tamara Holmes, Simona Meynekhdrun, Jazmin Tanner Designer: Mike Weikert ’05 

Twitter: @mica_news 

facebook.com/mica.edu 

YouTube: MICAmultimedia 

Flickr: MICAmultimedia 

Thank you for your support of MICA and its programs! MICA’s exhibitions and public programs receive generous support from the Robert and Jane Meyerhoff Special Programs 

Endowment; the Amalie Rothschild ’34 Residency Program Endowment; The Rouse Company Endowment; the Richard Kalter Endowment; the Wm. O. Steinmetz ’50 Designer in Residence 

Endowment; the Rosetta, Samson, and Sadie B. Feldman Endowment; the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency dedicated to cultivating a vibrant cultural community where the arts thrive; 

and the generous contributors to MICA’s Annual Fund. 

BBOX—Betty • Bill • Black Box—is named for Betty Cooke ’46 and Bill Steinmetz ’50. 

© 2011 Maryland Institute College of Art 

President: Fred Lazarus IV Vice President of Advancement: Michael Franco, EdD Associate Vice President of Institutional Communications: Cedric Mobley

04 CONNECTIONS 

MICA Acquires Historic Globe Poster Collection 

Materials Preserve Legacy While Providing Learning Opportunities for Students 

(left to right) A classic reprint of the poster from a Miles Davis concert in Baltimore (courtesy Globe Poster Printing Corporation); Bob Cicero (left) gives the spring 2011 letterpress class (pictured: student 

Nate Cubeta and faculty member Mary Mashburn) a crash course in poster lockup; finished poster from Lincoln Center’s Out of Doors free festival (2011). 

Globe Poster PrintinG CorPoration, historically 

one of the nation’s largest showcard printers, has been telling 

the story of American music and entertainment through bright 

and iconic posters since 1929. Globe began by printing posters 

for vaudeville acts, movie theaters, drag races, burlesque houses, 

and carnivals and became known for its work with R&B, soul, 

and jazz performers—including James Brown, B.B. King, Otis 

Redding, Ike and Tina Turner, Billie Holiday, and Solomon 

Burke—as well as gospel, rock, hip hop, funk, and go-go acts. 

When Globe Poster closed its doors in late 2010, owners 

and brothers Bob and Frank Cicero hoped to keep the collection 

in Baltimore. Welcoming the opportunity to maintain a local 

legend’s collection and an important piece of entertainment 

history, MICA acquired more than 75 percent of the Globe 

collection of wood type, images, and illustration cuts employed 

for letterpress and screen printing. The acquisition strengthens 

a relationship developed with Globe over recent years through 

letterpress class visits, a graduate student thesis, and other 

student projects. 

Bob and Frank worked with their father, Joseph Sr., and 

brother, Joe, since they acquired the shop from its previous owner, 

Norman Shapiro, in 1975. “My father would be pleased Globe is 

staying here,” Bob said. “It’s part of this city’s heritage and shows 

Baltimore’s contributions to music and entertainment.” 

Big, bold, fat type, DayGlo colors, and distinctive lettering 

were hallmarks of the Globe style. The company’s unrivaled archive 

includes letterpress wood type, printing cuts and images, sketches 

and mockups, and original posters. Globe’s sturdy wood and metal 

type and cuts have survived decades of use, outliving the hands 

that created them and many of the musicians they popularized. 

While preserving the legacy of these historic assets, MICA 

is also using items in the collection as academic and research 

resources. Through this acquisition, young artists and designers 

have the opportunity to learn first-hand traditional printing 

practices and the Globe style, even as they explore contemporary 

methods in the digital age. The materials are being utilized in 

classes and workshops by several graduate and undergraduate 

departments within the College, including printmaking, graphic 

design, and illustration. 

“Globe is a national treasure and a unique part of Baltimore’s 

cultural history. MICA is thrilled to be able to bring this 

extraordinary collection onto its campus and allow its legacy to 

live on through the eyes and hands of the many artists, designers, 

and scholars who will benefit from its continuing to serve as 

an active, working press,” MICA Provost Ray Allen said. “The 

integration of Globe will distinguish MICA among its peers 

nationally and make Baltimore a special destination for those 

with a special interest in hand letterpress work.” 

Allison Fisher, who graduated in the spring and now works 

as a letterpress printer at Gilah Press + Design, was a student 

leader in bringing the collection to MICA and is learning Globe’s 

style first-hand from Bob. Fisher explained, “I love letterpress, 

and I got involved in this project because it meant preserving the 

collection for future generations to see in its magnificent glory.” 

Story continues on page 6.

Students display ampersands while sorting Globe pieces. 

CONNECTIONS 

05


Highlights of MICA’s acquisition include: 

• A significant portion of Globe’s substantial wood type collection, which 

includes more than 450 drawers of mostly Gothic type in an astonishing 

array of weights and sizes, enough to keep four compositors at a time 

setting type in Globe’s heyday. 

• Approximately 10,000 letterpress “cuts”—the illustrations, lettering, 

and photo images used to create posters—including many hand-carved 

blocks. The cuts show the range of Globe’s poster clients, from R&B and 

hip-hop acts, both famous and long-forgotten, to carnivals, circuses, drag 

races, and burlesque. 

• Original posters and lockups—the forms combining printing elements of 

type, images, and lettering—that demonstrate Globe’s craftsmanship and 

long history, from the era of the magician Blackstone to the early days of 

hip hop to Frank Zappa’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 

• Large wood carvings, including the silhouette used by the FBI for target 

practice, over-sized fair and carnival cuts, and a Ringling Bros. and Barnum 

& Bailey Circus billboard. 

The acquisition received Baltimore magazine’s “Best 

Acquisition” award in the annual Best of Baltimore issue and 

made international news in the print world and beyond, 

including outlets such as NPR, Print magazine, and ReadyMade. 

“Everyone is excited about the opportunities the 

collection brings. Amazing support has come from the printing 

community, other schools and universities, and MICA faculty 

and students from all disciplines,” said Gail Deery, chair of the 

Printmaking Department. “Integrating Globe into departments’ 

curricula strengthens many of MICA’s core priorities: innovation, 

research, and community engagement through visiting artists 

and collaborative projects.” 

This fall, the newly established Globe Collection and Press 

team is busy cataloguing and assessing the collection, which 

arrived in 16 truckloads this summer, and analyzing how the 

College and broader community can best take advantage of this 

working press and archives. 

Globe Collection and Press will integrate with MICA’s 

Dolphin Press & Print, which already encourages fine art 

collaborations between visiting artists and students. Globe 

Press will continue Dolphin’s tradition of passing master 

printing skills from artist to student. A portion of the Globe 

Collection and Press will be housed in the Printmaking 

Department’s Dolphin Building, where it can be used with the 

College’s collection of Vandercook printing presses, offering 

students, faculty, and visiting artists the opportunity to work 

with elements of the collection. 

In the first Globe-related visiting artist program, students 

in the MFA in Illustration Practice program worked with MFA 

Director Whitney Sherman and Esther K. Smith of Purgatory 

Pie Press to proof imagery from the Globe collection to create 

new imagery for a mashup project and a flip-flop book. 

Globe Collection and Press also hopes to continue 

collaborations similar to those that began before Globe Poster 

closed its doors. This past summer, Bob Cicero worked with 

letterpress faculty member Mary Mashburn and MICA students 

to create a poster for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival R&B tent 

and visual identity for Lincoln Center’s Out of Doors festival. 

“It’s exciting to see the fresh and unpredictable ways 

students, faculty, and visiting artists interpret the Globe pieces 

after learning Globe’s style,” said Mashburn, whose letterpress 

classes helped spark student interest in Globe. 

Bob is teaching a letterpress course in the graphic design 

graduate program this semester at MICA, using the same wood 

type, tools, and images that once filled his print shop. “It’s 

amazing to me the interest these students have in letterpress, in 

learning this craft and keeping it alive,” he said. “We are really 

pleased the collection will be kept together to be studied and 

used by a new generation.” 

To sign up for Globe updates and support the collection, 

visit www.mica.edu/globecollection. 

For additional information, email globe@mica.edu. 

A kiosk in the Smithsonian Folklife Festival R&B tent explains the history of the Globe, including MICA’s 

acquisition of the collection.

Making History /Making Art: MICA was 

named “Best Coffee Table Book” by Baltimore 

magazine. Above are excerpts from the article. 

Makes a great gift!! Purchase your copy today at 

the MICA Store, online at www.mica.edu/historybook, 

or complete and mail the form below. 

Note: The following Baltimore area retailers also carry the 

book: THE STORE LTD (Cross Keys), Greetings & Readings 

(Hunt Valley), and Ivy Bookstore (Lake and Falls Road). 

Making History / Making Art: MICA 

by Douglas L. Frost 

Payment Method: Enclosed is a check for: $___________ 

Please charge my: MasterCard Visa Amex 

Baltimore magazine 2011 Best of Baltimore Issue: 

Name: ______________________________________________________ 

First Middle Last 

Street Address______________________________________ Apt. #_____ 

City: _________________________ State: _____Zip: _______________ 

Email: ____________________________Day Phone: ________________ 

Card #: _____________________________________________________ Exp. Date: _____/_____ (month/year) 

Name on Card: _______________________________________________ 

please print 

“Doug Frost…crafted a well researched, highly readable narrative” 

“lavishly illustrated and gorgeously designed” 

“raises the bar for all future institutional history books” 

“ the scope of the book [makes] it a must-have 

for local history buffs” 

Signature: ___________________________________________________ Date: ________________________ 

Please mail to: MICA College Store, 1200 W. Mount Royal Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21217 

Copies #____x $65.00/EA =____________ 

Sales tax (MD residents only): 

add 6% ($3.90) for each book 

=____________ 

S&H: 

$6.95 for one / additional $1.95 each 

(United States) 

=____________ 

TOTAL =____________

08 COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT 

MICA Heroes in Service 

Members of the MICA Community Perform Tremendous Feats of Community Engagement 

tyPiCally, a hero is someone who is willing to be of service to others and looks for ways to improve the world around them. 

No shortage of heroes exist in the MICA community, where artists and designers use their talents for the betterment of their 

communities and the world. The following pages honor some of the heroes who have been nominated by a MICA member. 

Sarah Tooley (Photo by Bruce Weller) 

One of the activities Kayleigh Porter worked on while teaching ceramics 

at Good Shepherd Center with nonprofit ceramic art center Baltimore 

Clayworks (Photo courtesy Baltimore Clayworks). 

Natural Connection 

For some, community engagement is a natural outlet for art. Cait Byrnes, a general fine arts 

major who graduated in 2010, fulfilled her desire to help others through MICA’s Community Art 

Partnership (CAP), a MICA program that links artists, communities, and organizations. “I did 

some work teaching art at a senior housing apartment, and I started an event sophomore year 

called CAPfest, which is a celebration of all things related to community arts,” she said. 

Byrnes’ work with CAP led her to the Community Art Collaborative (CAC), an AmeriCorps 

program that connects artists, communities, and educational institutions. Through CAC, Byrnes 

was placed as a program coordinator at 901 Arts, an organization founded upon a successful 

partnership between MICA and Baltimore community leaders that provides free after-school programs 

in art and music to children of the Better Waverly neighborhood. “The process of making 

art connects everybody,” Byrnes said. “The process of working on art together is enough to open a 

conversation and create a relationship,” she added. 

Joining Byrnes at 901 Arts is fellow MICA alumna Sarah Tooley, who serves as director 

of the organization. “I believe 901 Arts is one of MICA’s greatest success stories in connecting 

with community,” said Tooley, who received an MA in Community Arts in 2010. Among the projects 

901 Arts has completed with community youth is the Sea Creature Storm Drain project, 

an effort in which young people painted sidewalk murals of sea life around the neighborhood’s 

storm drains. The designs brought attention to what happens to underwater life when street 

trash and litter are dumped illegally in storm drains or streets since that trash eventually drains 

into the Inner Harbor. 

A recipient of a $49,000 Open Society Institute Baltimore Community Fellowship, Tooley 

will use the money to further her work at 901 Arts. “The point of my fellowship is to create a 

more sustainable infrastructure for the program,” Tooley said. Among the changes Tooley has 

managed to implement: “We created a summer employment program to hire high school teens 

from the neighborhood.” 

Breaking Barriers, Changing Lives 

When Whitney Frazier ’07 arrived in Baltimore from her hometown of Plano, Texas, “I was in 

shock about what poverty meant and how it was affecting people,” she said. She thought art could 

be used as a means for young people in the city to communicate about what they were going 

through. “I knew art could break down barriers and change lives,” she said. 

While working on her MA in Community Arts, Frazier completed her residency at Child First 

Authority, Inc., an organization that partners with 17 Baltimore City Public Schools to create 

after-school and daytime mentoring programs. Afterwards, Frazier was hired full time as the 

community arts coordinator, where she created arts and youth leadership programs, including Art 

Core, a program in which local artists teach art classes in the schools. 

The change in the students who discovered an appreciation for art showed Frazier that her 

instincts about art’s potential impact were correct. “Child First took it to the next level for me,” 

she said, “showing that art can make tangible change for people.”

Local artists pose on top of one of the community murals that Whitney Frazier spearheaded. 

Another MICA alumna who discovered how art could impact young 

people is Ashley Minner, who completed her BFA in 2005, her MA in Community 

Arts in 2007, and her MFA in Community Arts in May 2011. Born 

and raised in Baltimore, Minner sought to bring art to the Native American 

community she grew up in. She did so by creating The Native American 

After School Art Program, which uses art as a vehicle for Lumbee Indian 

youth to address issues that matter to them. “Having grown up in the community, 

I think it’s wonderful that you can dedicate yourself, your career, 

and your living to doing something you would do naturally,” Minner said. 

“And I can instill it in young people so that they might follow similar paths.” 

Kayleigh Porter, a ceramics major who graduated in 2010, found that 

art could make a difference with troubled young people. When she started 

teaching a ceramics class at Good Shepherd Center, an organization for atrisk 

youth, she found the class gave some of the girls a sense of freedom 

they did not have in other areas of their lives. “I thought it was important 

that they have a place to retreat to and still be able to make decisions for 

themselves without being questioned,” Porter said. As a result of her class, 

many of the girls developed a love and talent for ceramics they never 

knew they had. 

A Bridge Between Worlds 

Of course, it’s not only young people who can benefit from art classes. Gina 

Pierleoni, who received her MFA from Mount Royal School of Art in 1985, 

runs creativity workshops for women once a month. “For the most part 

they’re people who have always yearned to make things,” Pierleoni said. 

“What I do is provide them with a garden bed that’s just been composted so 

they can do whatever they want with it,” she said. 

Pierleoni traveled to Kenya for 10 days in October to help build a school 

with the people of Masai Mara. Pierleoni believes such a trip does not only 

help the people of Kenya, but also her art. “Being in a variety of communities 

deepens my artwork,” she said. “It’s important that my artwork and what I do 

are connected and accessible to others.” 

COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT 09 

Also recognizing how art can impact culture is MICA alumna Julie Lin. 

Having immigrated to the United States with her family from Taiwan when 

she was seven, “I always wanted to find a way to bridge my background 

with my own artmaking and community arts projects,” said Lin. She did so 

by having participants in community arts projects share aspects of their 

cultures while working together and also by using art to illustrate different 

cultural customs. Lin graduated from MICA in 1999 with a degree in 

painting and now serves as a MICA staff member for CAC. 

Lin also created the Kitchen Stories Project, an effort that lets immigrants, 

refugees, and asylum seekers share conversations, recipes, and 

memories through artwork and writing. Participants attend workshops 

where they share stories and illustrate their experiences through artwork, 

writing, and recipe development. When recounting emotional stories, some 

participants have even been driven to tears of joy because they are able to 

keep their memories alive, Lin said. 

(top to bottom) Ashley Minner taking part in community activities sponsored by The Native American 

After School Art Program; artwork from Julie Lin’s Kitchen Stories Project.

10 COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT 

Carl Clark’s work highlights the beauty of ordinary people from the community in everyday situations. 

A Healing Effect 

Not only can art be used to educate and communicate, but it can also promote 

healing. Dennis Isaac, a member of MICA’s fiber faculty and a senior 

pattern maker at Under Armour, is using his artistic talent to help injured 

veterans in their rehabilitation process. Using compression fabrics that are 

built into garments, Isaac has helped veterans transition into their prosthetic 

legs and arms. Thus far, Isaac has completed garments for about 60 soldiers. 

“There are soldiers that have gotten into these garments and where 

they used to be able to walk only 15 minutes, now they can walk an hour,” 

Isaac said. “My role goes beyond just making visible products; there’s a need 

to make under garments that are personalized and can be reproduced. There 

are soldiers that went back to school because they now have this compression 

garment.” 

Another member of the MICA community who has seen the healing 

power of art first-hand is Emily Wade, who graduated from the Master of 

Arts in Teaching program in 2011. While an undergraduate at the University 

of Virginia, Wade learned that a local artist she admired had died of cancer. 

In honor of the artist, Wade taught workshops about pain and healing at a 

local cancer center. When she relocated to Baltimore to attend MICA, Wade 

continued to bring comfort to cancer patients at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. 

Since 2010, she’s taught art classes to children with cancer and their families 

through the hospital’s pediatric oncology unit, a program funded by a grant 

through the MICA Student Affairs Community Service Fund. 

For the young patients, who range in age from about 4 to 21, “art is 

empowering,” said Wade. “It can be relaxing; it’s exciting, and they have 

control over what they’re making, whereas they don’t have control over 

what’s happening to their bodies.” 

Bringing Art to Communities 

Many MICA heroes seek to bring art to people who might not be inclined to 

visit galleries or exhibitions. After meeting with community leaders interested 

in creating murals that drivers would see as they traveled busy Baltimore 

streets, Frazier and 15 local artists created two murals on Harford Road— 

one of fruits and vegetables outside a local farmers market and grocery 

store, the other of a sunflower near a community garden. “There have been 

studies that art calms traffic,” Frazier explained. 

Carl and Linda Day Clark, who met at MICA while studying photography 

and later married, both bring art to communities that might not 

otherwise be exposed to it. “I make portraits of people who walk up and 

down the street,” said Carl ’86. “Poor people don’t have portraits of themselves. 

They’re unable to see themselves. I give them Polaroid portraits.” 

Linda ’94 produced a series called The Beauty of North Avenue that 

highlights everyday people on the busy Baltimore thoroughfare. “We love 

to make art in the community, and we find ways to teach and do workshops 

about art in the community,” Linda said. The Clarks also look for 

unusual places to show their art. For example, some of Linda’s work that 

just left a solo show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art is now hanging in a 

local barbershop. 

Her views reflect those of many MICA heroes engaged in community art. 

“People can live their daily lives and still benefit from works of art,” she said. 

Emily Wade brings art to pediatric cancer patients.

Students Design Mobile Farmers Market 


In the communities surrounding Baltimore’s Clifton Park neighborhood, about 27,500 low-income residents have limited access to fresh fruits and 

vegetables. Real Food Farm, an urban agricultural enterprise developed by Baltimore’s Civic Works, has been addressing the problem by growing crops 

on a six-acre plot of land. But when it came time to get the food from the farm onto tables across northeast Baltimore, the farm called on MICA’s Center 

for Design Practice for help. 

After weeks of research and even some hands-on experience at the farm and markets, students developed a new visual identity that has been rolled out 

across the farm’s website, stationery, advertisements, and even reusable shopping bags. The shining achievement, however, is the conversion of a former 

Washington Post delivery truck into an eye-catching mobile farmers market. 

For the project, an old blue box truck was transformed into a sleek market on wheels. “The goal was to incorporate a design that would increase public 

awareness, entice potential shoppers, and be easy to use for both workers and customers,” said Mike Weikert, director of the Center for Design Practice. 

“Everyone loves it,” said Maya Kosok, the community outreach coordinator for Real Food Farm. Kosok seemed genuinely impressed by the students’ 

ambition and dedication, pointing out nearly all the students involved stayed on two semesters in order to see the project come to fruition. 

The mobile market shifted into gear over the fall for home deliveries and as a farm stand at local markets. It has also been stopping on the side of the road 

to sell produce, much the same as an ice cream truck serves frozen treats. For students, the project was a demonstration of how design can positively affect 

communities. The Center for Design Practice recently received a Sappi Ideas That Matter grant of $15,000 to continue its work with Real Food Farm. 

ONLINE MASTER’S DEGREE in the 

BUSINESS OF ART & DESIGN 

(left to right) The Real Food Farm 

mobile farmers market opens for 

business; a young shopper has his eye 

on the beets; promotional bumper 

stickers available for $1. 

Gain the business skills you need to start or grow an art- or designrelated 

business—or advance as a creative manager within one— 

from your home, business, or studio. 

www.mica.edu/business

12 INNOVATION 

College Introduces One-of-a-Kind Information 

Visualization Program 

When Creative Professionals talk, David 

Gracyalny makes sure he listens. After all, as dean of MICA’s 

School for Professional and Continuing Studies, it’s essential that 

he understands their professional needs in order to craft relevant 

academic programs. Recently, he heard the same refrain from 

artists and designers—to advance in their careers, they need 

new skills that will enhance their creative talent, including skills 

related to emerging technologies and market demands. 

The Master of Professional Studies degree (MPS) in 

Information Visualization, in development for 2012, is a response 

to that need. MICA’s new graduate offering gives artists and 

designers the training necessary to translate their existing skills 

to the visualization industry. It is also open to non-creative 

professionals who want a better understanding of design and how 

visual communication works, including those currently employed 

in fields where management of complex data is essential—such 

as architecture, national security, disaster management, medicine, 

and public health. 

“This is the first such program at an art and design school. 

As such, we bring a unique perspective to what students will 

learn,” Gracyalny explained. “The curriculum has a strong 

emphasis on the visual and creative aspects of the field, and 

it goes beyond the formulaic design currently seen in the 

visualization industry. We want our students to think creatively 

and present data in compelling ways that will be much more 

interesting to read and more useful to the fields they’ll work in.” 

He added, “Another defining aspect is that the program 

takes both a multi- and inter-disciplinary approach. In addition 

to the conceptual and creative aspects involved in information 

visualization, the MPS will extensively cover technical, cognitive, 

and content-specific features.” 

Students will be immersed in visualization concepts, issues, 

and practices, leaving the highly specialized program with a 

deep understanding of visualization theory and the principles 

of application, user interface design, visualization software and 

hardware, statistical analysis, and more. 

Though the program requires three short residencies on 

MICA’s campus, the majority of study will take place online. 

Residencies are comprised of five-day technical and productionoriented 

workshops. Online intensives build on the residencies 

with application-specific, integrative, and summative training, 

while online sessions address conceptual, cognitive, and 

technological aspects of visualization. 

“Working artists and designers want programs that fit into 

their lifestyles, and they want these programs to fit very specific 

professional goals,” Gracyalny said. “In response, MICA is offering 

programming focused on very specialized skills that will enable 

students to find a path for success in numerous professions, 

and we’re allowing them to access these programs online so 

they can maintain their responsibilities outside of the learning 

environment. Both the content in these programs and the method 

of content delivery gives our students a competitive edge—and 

further MICA’s reputation as a pioneer in graduate programming.” 

For more information on this program, visit www.mica.edu/infovis12.

MICA welcomed its largest class ever during Orientation in September. 

MICA Welcomes Record-Breaking 

Freshman Class 

Students Include Winners of Prestigious 

National Scholarships 

When 520 neW freshmen stepped foot on MICA’s campus 

earlier this year, they not only made up the largest entering 

class in the College’s history—they also represented MICA’s 

most accomplished batch of incoming students. While MICA 

routinely attracts well-rounded artists and designers, as well as 

student leaders, athletes, musicians, writers, and more, this year’s 

crop of freshmen is especially talented. 

As Theresa Bedoya, vice president for admission and 

financial aid, explained, “This past September, we welcomed 

two young artists who were each recipients of two prestigious 

scholarships. Competition for these awards is intense, and 

it’s rare that you see someone who captures more than one 

such honor. The fact we attracted two students with these 

accomplishments, students who literally had their choice 

of art schools and who were being actively recruited by our 

competition, is a testament to MICA’s national reputation.” 

One of the students Bedoya is so enthusiastic about is Lee 

Heinemann, a US Presidential Scholar in the Arts and Scholastic 

Gold Award winner from Kansas City, Missouri. Heinemann, 

who plans to pursue a BFA in general fine arts, entered MICA 

with a profound interest in and experience with communityfocused 

art. Before entering college, he volunteered at a 

nonprofit community arts organization named Whoop Dee Doo 

Story continues on page 14. 

New Grad Programs 

Propel Smart Artists, 

Designers 

a lonGtime leader in the Graduate 

eduCation of visual artists, MICA 

continues to create programs that will heighten the 

impact graduates have on our culture and society. 

MA in Critical Studies 

The MA in Critical Studies will prepare artists and 

designers interested in the scholarly investigation of 

contemporary art to become art professionals, critics, 

journalists, and scholars. A faculty of scholar-teachers, 

led by a committee from the departments of humanistic 

studies and art history, theory, and criticism, will guide 

students in the production of cutting-edge criticism 

for both scholarly and popular venues. The program is 

distinguished by its intensive, yearlong grounding in critical 

research and analysis, as well as by the flagship graduate 

colloquium, designed to engage graduate students across 

the College campus in critical discourse. 

“The MA in Critical Studies program seeks to empower 

and engage a new generation of art and design writers, 

thinkers, and practitioners to better navigate and succeed 

in these complex contexts,” Gunalan Nadarajan, vice 

provost for research and graduate studies said. 

For more information on this program visit 

www.mica.edu/criticalstudies. 

MBA/MA in Design Leadership 

INNOVATION 13 

To provide business, engineering, and design-focused 

students with the training they will need to become 

leaders of innovation in the worlds of business or 

nonprofit organizations, a new program has been 

developed in which students earn an MBA from 

The Johns Hopkins University’s Carey School of 

Business and an MA in Design Leadership from MICA. 

Students will learn to apply the principles of design 

thinking to complex problem solving and opportunity 

development—integrating creativity, collaboration, iterative 

processes, tolerance for new ideas, research, intuition, 

and synthesis with traditional and emerging business 

practices. Course topics will range from strategy, finance, 

statistics, economics, ethics, law, marketing, operations, 

and human capital management to creativity, visualization, 

prototyping, cultural relevance and awareness, design 

theory, sustainability, and social responsiveness. 

For more information on this program visit 

www.mica.edu/mba.

14 INNOVATION 

that produces a variety show that works with under-served youth 

in Kansas City. When applying to the College, he stated, “It is 

important for my education to encompass both studio practice 

and community engagement. As an artist, I hope to be able to 

bridge this same gap between community-oriented arts and fine 

arts on a large scale with my work.” 

Audrey Gair of Miami, Florida, who also plans to major in 

general fine arts, is another winner of two prestigious awards: the 

Latino Art Beat scholarship and Scholastic Gold Award. 

As a whole, students attending MICA in 2012 represent 

bright and talented artists and designers from across the nation 

and around the world. Total campus enrollment is 2,169, with 

students hailing from 48 states and 54 countries. In addition to 

the 520 entering freshmen, 85 transfer students, and 206 new 

graduate students also joined the MICA community this fall. 

Bedoya summed up her thoughts about this year’s class 

when she said, “Once again, MICA is attracting students who 

have already been recognized by major arts organizations and 

foundations for their superior artistic achievements prior to 

entering as freshmen. I’m thrilled to welcome these talented, 

intelligent, and motivated men and women to our community 

of artists.” 

Artwork by Audrey Gair 

Additional Admissions Trends 

• Graduate enrollment has increased 60 percent over last year 

as a result of adding six graduate programs. 

• MICA annually serves an additional population of 1,314 

School for Professional and Continuing Studies students. 

• The increasing interest in MICA from around the world is 

evident by the rise in the number of foreign and minority 

students coming to the College—an additional 43 percent 

and 19 percent, respectively, compared to last year. 

• From China alone, the population has grown from three 

students last year to 24 this year. 

Sophomore Rose He has told prospective students from her native country, China, “If you really want to 

learn something, you should come to MICA,” according to a Baltimore Sun front-page article.

Richelle Vargas, Thoughts, oil pastel and soft pastels, 2010. 

MICA Welcomes New 

and Potential Gates 

Millennium Scholars 

this fall, tWo Gates millennium sCholars entered 

miCa: Jessica Bastidas, who attended Lehigh Valley 

Charter High School for the Performing Arts in Bethlehem, 

Pennsylvania, and Richelle Vargas, who attended the Design 

and Architecture High School in Miami, Florida. 

Bastidas hopes to pursue a BFA in illustration as well as a liberal arts minor 

in creative writing. Not only is Bastidas an award-winning artist, she is a 

gifted athlete, having won gold medals in both grappling and kickboxing in 

the Challenge of Champions. In the future, she hopes to share her personal 

storybook world with children, and allow them to, in her words, “glimpse 

another dimension beyond our now digital universe, one where there is still 

an air of mystery that allows the imagination room to discover for itself.” 

Along with her plans to study interaction design and art, Vargas 

is interested in MICA’s liberal arts minor in art history and studio 

concentration in illustration. She is another of MICA’s entering students 

with interests outside of the visual arts. As a volunteer at The Shimmy 

Club, Inc., for example, Vargas worked as a mentor for visually impaired 

and blind teenagers who were learning the physical art of the Argentine 

tango through the club’s You Move Me program. When speaking of her 

artwork, she stated, “I am aware of the environment the figure is in, 

whether one is depicted or not. The environment can say as much about 

the mood as the expression on a figure’s face.” 

Since its establishment in 1999 by a $1 billion grant from the Bill & 

Artwork by Jessica Bastidas 

INNOVATION 15 

Melinda Gates Foundation, the Gates Millennium Scholars program has 

had a remarkable record of success. The program is dedicated to providing 

outstanding minority students with significant need the financial ability 

to reach their highest potential. Already, it has funded more than 15,000 

scholars in 50 states and five outlying areas. These students have enrolled 

in more than 1,500 colleges and universities; the first four cohorts saw a 

graduate rate of 79.9 percent in five years. In fall 2010, Aurelia Javier ’14, a 

student of Dominican descent who came from the New World School of the 

Arts high school visual arts program in Miami, became the first ever Gates 

Scholar to enter MICA. 

Yet until recently, young artists and designers were not taking advantage 

of the opportunities provided by the scholarship program. MICA President 

Fred Lazarus IV decided it was time to change the trend—not just for the 

College, but for art colleges nationwide. He called a meeting with the Gates 

Millennium Scholars administration in Fairfax, Virginia, and invited his fellow 

presidents from Rhode Island School of Design, Pratt Institute, School of the 

Art Institute of Chicago, and California Institute of the Arts to join him. The 

outcome was a MICA-initiated program to identify and mentor young artists 

in the application process for the Gates Millennium Scholarships. 

“Our goal is to have more artists become competitive for these awards, 

and mentoring these young artists and designers is essential,” Theresa 

Bedoya, MICA’s vice president for admission and financial aid, said. “The 

process for applying for a Gates Millennium Scholarship is demanding. Eight 

essays are required, and leadership and community service are key elements 

in the selection process. Students also must maintain a 3.3 cumulative grade 

point average through their senior year.” 

Bedoya continued, “This past summer, we began by meeting with 11 

students in our pre-college program who met the criteria to become Gates 

Scholars. We offered them the opportunity to work with College faculty or 

staff through the application process—and I’ve already had one student 

contact me to discuss her first essay. This effort will truly impact next 

year’s class.”

16 INNOVATION 

A Week in the Life of a MICA Graduate Student 

Lauren Richel Kelly ’06 (graphic design), is a New York-based art director, wedding designer, and crafter. She’s worked for both 

Martha Stewart Weddings and kate spade, and while she’s currently designing for Madewell at J.Crew, Kelly has launched Ditto 

Paper with her friend and fellow MICA alumna, Gina Dean ’06 (graphic design). Together they offer custom stationery designs. 

Kelly decided to pursue MICA’s online Master of Professional Studies in The Business of Art and Design program because she felt the 

program’s unique focus would benefit her as a freelance designer, giving her the skills to grow Ditto Paper even as she continues to lead a 

busy life. Earlier this year, Kelly gave Juxtapositions a snapshot of a week in her life as student, designer, entrepreneur, wife, and friend. 

Monday 

5 am – 6 am: Get started on this week’s very rigorous schedule. I am a 

very organized person, and I love making “to-do” lists, which ensure I 

accomplish all I need to do—and with my schedule, that’s a lot! I begin 

the day by watching a pre-recorded lecture covering memos and letters 

for Tuesday night’s business writing class. 

6 am – 6:40 am: Get ready for work, walk to train station. 

6:56 – 8:25 am: Read required texts for Tuesday night’s class while 

on Metro-North train to Manhattan and again on the subway. We’re 

covering a broad range of business-related writing needs and styles in 

this class—today’s assigned textbook reading covers résumés. 

8:30 am – 5:30 pm: Another day at work in downtown Manhattan as 

in-house graphic designer for the marketing department at J.Crew. 

5:30 pm – 7 pm: Continue to read for Tuesday’s class on subway and 

while on Metro-North train home. 

7 pm – 11 pm: Eat dinner, spend time with my husband, Craig, and our 

cat, Marmalade. Check emails after dinner and follow up with clients, 

as well as my friend and business partner, Gina Dean, for our freelance 

stationery business, Ditto Paper. 

Tuesday 

5 am – 6 am: I’m an early bird and don’t require a lot of sleep (which is 

hereditary). This trait helps, as I’ll spend the early morning continuing to 

watch pre-recorded lectures for Tuesday night’s business writing class. 

6:56 – 8:25 am: Read required reading for Tuesday night’s class while on 

Metro-North train and subway if needed. We have 10 readings assigned 

each week for both classes! 

8:30 am – 5:30 pm: Another day at work! 

5:30 pm – 7 pm: Continue the required reading on the subway and 

Metro-North train home. 

7 pm – 8 pm: Eat dinner, spend time with Craig and our cat, Marmalade. 

8 pm – 9:30 pm: Log onto online conference center for my MPS business 

writing class. The MPS curriculum includes designated live lecture times 

twice a week, and in tonight’s business writing class, we’re reviewing 

some of our required reading from the past week. It’s fun to interact 

with my fellow students during our residencies in Baltimore—but the 

online nature of the course is what allowed me to be a part of this 

program. If it were held on MICA’s campus each week, I wouldn’t be 

able to participate. 

Wednesday 


6:56 – 8:25 am: Read required reading for Thursday night’s business 

management class while on Metro-North train and subway. I’m studying 

profit and loss statements today. 


5:30 pm – 7 pm: Continue to read for Thursday’s class on the commute 

home. 

7 pm – 8:30 pm: Eat dinner, spend time with Craig and Marmalade. 

8:30 pm – 11 pm: Work on homework assigned in Tuesday’s business 

writing class—a press release for my business—due Friday afternoon; 

check emails, and follow up with clients and Gina for Ditto Paper. 

Thursday 


6:56 am – 8:25 am: Continue required reading for Thursday’s business 

management class on Metro-North train and subway if needed. Or, if 

finished with class reading, read The New York Times for pleasure. 


5:30 pm – 7 pm: Continue to read for tonight’s class on subway and 

Metro-North train home. 

7 pm – 8 pm: Eat dinner, spend time with Craig and Marmalade. 

8 pm – 9:30 pm: Log onto online conference center for my business 

management class. Tonight, we’re following a virtual lecture; after a 

PowerPoint presentation on creating strategic business plans, we’ll 

discuss real-world experiences from our own work lives. 

Friday 


6:56 – 8:25 am: My required reading is finished for the week! Today I 

decide to re-read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (for the third 

time) during Metro-North train and subway ride. 

8:30 am – 1 pm: It’s Friday! We get to leave at 1 pm during the summer 

on Fridays. :) 

1:43 pm – 2:35 pm: Continue Harry Potter on the commute home. 

2:35 pm – 5 pm: Complete my press release for my MPS business writing 

class; upload the document to MICA eLearning, a content management

system that allows everyone involved in the MPS program to upload 

homework, review recorded lectures, track grades, and—in the student 

“common area” discussion board—get to know our virtual classmates. It’s 

harder to form a tight-knit community of artists when they are all sitting 

in separate homes during class, but we have managed to create bonds 

and will continue to support each other. 

5 pm onward: Enjoy Friday night; make and eat dinner, spend time with 

Craig and Marmalade. 

Saturday 

5 am – 6:59 am: Sleep in! ;) 

7 am – 10 am: Work on homework assignment due for Tuesday’s 

class—writing a business plan for Ditto Paper. 

10 am – noon: Go to farmers market with Craig, make and eat brunch. 

Noon – afternoon: Check emails, respond to clients for my freelance 

stationery business, and talk to Gina. 

Evening: A free evening! I have such a busy schedule between being 

a student, working full time, having a freelance business, and being 

married. I’m just relaxing tonight. Maybe I’ll knit or make something 

with the berries we bought at the market this morning. 

Sunday 

7 am – 10 am: Work on the business plan due for Tuesday’s class. 

11 am – noon: Go to church if we’re home and not away for the 

weekend. 

Noon – afternoon: Complete homework due on Tuesday for class, 

upload assignments due to MICA eLearning, and follow up with clients 

and Gina. 

Evening: Relax with Craig and Marmalade; watch a movie or read The 

Time Traveler’s Wife (I read it every year); reflect on the week and 

my experience in The Business of Art and Design program. Throughout 

this program and when I was an undergraduate student at MICA, the 

College has been consistent in its mission to nurture the professional, 

intellectual, and personal growth of emerging artists and designers. 

They have structured this course uniquely for artists and designers 

pursuing business endeavors and are proving why MICA is such a 

pioneer in art education. 

Monday 

Repeat! 

Lauren Richel Kelly and her husband, Craig. 

Ditto Paper’s work for a Texas-style BBQ wedding. (Photo by Johnny Miller) 

INNOVATION 17

18 GLOBAL 

Trustee Produces Special on First Lady 

Michelle Obama 

miCa trustee James F. Blue III is no stranger to high-stakes broadcast reporting and film production. He has reported from 

Afghanistan, Kosovo, Russia, China, Pakistan, South Africa, Iran, the Persian Gulf, Latin America, and Europe. He worked with 

Bryant Gumbel in Zimbabwe, Ted Koppel in London, and led a news team into southern Iraq as US forces advanced. Over 

his 14 years as a producer for ABC News, NBC News, and the Discovery Channel, he has won eight Emmy Awards, two George 

Foster Peabody Awards, and numerous other accolades. However, even he was surprised when he was approached to produce a 

Black Entertainment Television (BET) special on First Lady Michelle Obama’s recent trip to Africa and to help transform the cable 

station’s programming brand. 

Blue is founder and executive producer of Public Affairs Media Group, Inc. 

and was asked by BET to also produce a documentary on the Martin Luther 

King, Jr. memorial unveiling. He sat down with Juxtapositions in his home 

to reflect on his filmmaking, his unique access to Mrs. Obama, and the 

possibilities for BET. 

Juxtapositions: 

Tell us about your opportunity to highlight the first lady’s trip to Africa. 

James Blue: 

BET has recognized that there is an under-served market, particularly in 

the black community, that really wants quality original programming. This 

summer they called me up and said they had the opportunity to do a project 

with a celebrity in South Africa. They wouldn’t tell me who it was. A few 

days later, they called me up and said it would be Michelle Obama. I said, 

“Great. Let’s do it.” We went in late June and spent a week with the first 

lady and her family and went on this mission to Africa, as Mrs. Obama called 

it, and it was amazing. 

JP: 

What was she doing in Africa? 

Blue: 

It really was a working trip. She was highlighting the things that were 

important to her and her agenda—youth empowerment, women’s 

empowerment, and healthy living. So she did visits to child care centers, 

universities, and AIDS clinics, where she could shine a light and inspire 

people to do better. She thinks that—and I think it’s accurate—people can 

identify with her in a way that perhaps they haven’t been able to identify 

with former first ladies. So there is an authenticity to what she is saying: 

“You can do it. You can do anything.” 

JP: 

What was the reaction to her visit? 

Blue: 

It was pretty overwhelming. People were inspired, and as they say in the 

story, they’ve never seen an American first lady who looked like them. I’m 

pretty jaded. I’m a journalist; I’ve been doing this for over 20 years. But it 

is pretty amazing that we have a first family in the White House who could 

easily be my contemporaries. We know people in common. So it is amazing 

that we have gotten to the point where we have a black first family. 

JP: 

You’ve seen other interviews with the first lady before so what kind of 

special insight did you want to bring out? 

Blue: 

This is my first time working for a majority black network. I worked at ABC; 

I worked at NBC; and I worked at the Discovery Channel. It’s a much more 

general audience. So I think one of the reasons the Obamas asked BET to 

go is because they really wanted to show the BET audience, mostly urban 

and black, the possibilities of life. Mrs. Obama makes a point in the segment 

that middle-class black people when she was growing up didn’t just go get 

a passport and go overseas. But she wants people to recognize that those 

are the things that are possible for all of us, black, white, red, or whatever— 

and how connected we all are. She gave a speech in one of the old Soweto 

churches, and she really spoke quite movingly about how were it not for the 

struggles of all the people that have come before us—King, Mandela, and 

others—she would not be standing there as first lady of the United States. 

And that was pretty powerful. 

JP: 

You had behind-the-scenes access. What did you learn from her that you 

wanted to incorporate in your storytelling? 

Blue: 

I was really taken with her personal warmth. I think she is probably the 

engine of that family. The president seems to have an even keel, and I think 

she’s the one that provides the spark. I came away impressed. It’s really 

rare when I come away really impressed. She’s trying to do something with 

her platform. During our visit, she told a young woman she believed in her. 

And for this woman in Botswana, that was the first time anyone had ever 

said that to her. 

Hear the full interview with Blue and view clips from the 

documentary special at fyi.mica.edu.

(top) James F. Blue III (pictured on left) with First Lady Michelle 

Obama. (Photo by Fletcher Johnson) 

(left) Film still from James F. Blue III’s documentary Michelle 

Obama on a Mission: Impact Africa. 

GLOBAL 19

20 GLOBAL 

MILE students carve and paint pumpkins and gourds as 

part of a Celtic Halloween program. 

GRADUATE OPEN house 

SUNDAY, 2011 

Meet program directors and current students, 

tour facilities, and learn how graduate or postbaccalaureate 

study at MICA can help you achieve 

your career goals. 

Visit mica.edu/gradopenhouse, 

or call 410.225.2256. 

MILE Program Crosses Borders 

MICA’s Meyerhoff International Living Experience (MILE) program takes its tag line, Living Without Borders, 

seriously. Students involved in the program not only come from diverse countries around the world— 

including Korea, Japan, Germany, England, China, and Kenya—but they also participate in a wide range of 

cultural programs unique at an art college. 

From a Jackie Chan vs. Jet Li film battle to a trip to Amish country, the MILE program gives both 

domestic and international students the opportunity to experience a variety of culturally enriching activities. 

The students involved in the program live together, socialize together, and learn together—and all along, they 

are learning from each other. 

Director of Residence Life & Off-Campus Housing Scott Stone said the program was initiated last year to 

support international students who have unique challenges when it comes to finding off-campus housing. “As 

a result, we decided to not just give them a space on campus, but to create a community that would foster 

learning and intercultural exchange,” he said. 

The two-dozen-or-so students in the program live together in the Meyerhoff House residence hall, where 

they meet regularly to discuss intercultural events to plan and partake in together. 

Kathleen Marcotte ’11, the residential advisor during MILE’s inaugural year, said the program gave 

her a broader view of other cultures. For example, after the disaster in Japan, Marcotte worked with 

other students to plan an event that celebrated Japanese culture through a calligraphy demonstration and 

Japanese food. 

“I formed several friendships with international students I probably would not have met if I had not 

been a part of this program,” she added. 

These types of connections are what MILE is all about, according to Stone. “The majority of our 

programs are open to the public, and we encourage any student that has a passion for learning about 

different cultures or just meeting interesting people to join us.” 

NOV 13

Irish Delight 

Last spring, senior Zach Wade set off to Ireland for a semester-long 

adventure, studying at Burren College of Art in County Clare. Wade 

created this landscape, Perspective, from his photographs of the Giant’s 

Causeway, a UNESCO World Heritage Site made up of thousands of 

interlocking basalt columns that were the result of an ancient volcanic 

eruption in Northern Ireland. 

Visit fyi.mica.edu for more images of MICA 

student artwork from overseas. 

GLOBAL 21

22 ALUMNI 

Geographic Spotlight: Southern California 

the southern California art sCene has no shortage of talent—after all, there’s a reason Los Angeles is often referred 

to as “the Creative Capital of the World,” while San Diego has long been known as a vibrant cultural destination. Since 

many MICA alumni seek out the West Coast after graduation, President Fred Lazarus IV and Director of Parent and Alumni 

Relations David Hart traveled to Southern California this past June, where they were welcomed into the homes, studios, and 

businesses of alumni to see where their East Coast education has taken them. 

Juan f. bastos ’83 

Alumnus Creates Connections Through Portraiture 

“At 10 years old I posed for my first portrait, and since then I’ve always felt the illusion of a likeness on 

paper or on canvas was something almost magical,” said Juan F. Bastos, a 1983 graduate and portrait 

artist living in Los Angeles. With an impressive list of portraits that includes Charlize Theron, Susan 

Sontag, Tennessee Williams, Sir Ian McKellen, Gore Vidal, and Don Bachardy—plus several hundred 

commissions hanging in private homes, corporate offices, government buildings, embassies, libraries, 

churches, and universities, including Harvard and USC—it comes as no surprise that Bastos takes pride in 

his ability to make connections. 

“It’s an interesting profession, being a portrait artist…it is about establishing a relationship with 

a family or an institution,” Bastos said. “I am very fortunate to have the talent that I do but also to 

have the social skills to maintain relationships,” he added. 

Born in Venezuela to an expatriate Bolivian family, Bastos shares the same philosophy on social 

interactions as his grandfather, who was a Bolivian government minister and ambassador. “He could 

talk to the gardener or talk to the president with the same kindness and the same kind of respect,” 

Bastos said. 

Bastos, who also creates representational art that utilizes mythology and symbolism, says 

his time at MICA was essential for his formulation as an artist. He is currently excited about his 

new book, The Art of Juan F. Bastos. Any client can order the art book with the portrait they 

commissioned on the cover, allowing Bastos to receive more exposure. “Sometimes the portrait is in 

a client’s bedroom, and very few people see it. But the coffee table book remains in the library or in 

the family room so then there is more of a chance guests will ask to see the portrait.” 

“It’s the process of a lifetime,” Bastos said of portraiture. “You always learn, no matter how old you are.” 

dena robertson ’94 

Alumna Preserves Memories Through Quality Books 

While studying painting at MICA, Dena Robertson ’94 fell in love with a student at The Johns 

Hopkins University named Robert Greenberg. Two years after graduating, the couple was married— 

but Robertson was having trouble finding the perfect album to display the couple’s wedding images. 

“I really wanted something that was unique and special and that had more of a fine art 

presentation,” Robertson said. For months, she poured her heart into researching and creating an 

elegant, museum-quality book for the photographs. The result was an album made with exquisite Swiss 

ribbons, luxurious Japanese bookbinding fabrics, and papers repurposed from a mill on the East Coast 

that became the prototype for Cypress Fine Handmade Albums and Boxes. 

Today, Cypress employs 12 artisans who work round-the-clock to create intimate, personal 

albums. Robertson, who lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three children, said the 

6,000-square-foot bindery where she works and keeps a studio offers the perfect creative 

environment for her. “Everyone who works here is also a painter, or graphic designer, or some kind 

of artist. We really feed off of each other,” Robertson said. 

Of her time at MICA, Robertson said, “It was such an amazing experience for me; I think about it all 

the time. It has led me to where I’m at right now.“ 

Juan F. Bastos, Gore Vidal, pastel, 2006. “A number of Juan Bastos’ 

portraits remind me of John Singer Sargent,” said Gore Vidal, noted 

American author. 

Cypress Fine Handmade Albums and Boxes. (Photo by Yvette 

Roman Photography)

View of Lux Art Institute, featuring an on-site installation of brick furniture titled Home by Turkish artist Ali Acerol. 

reesey shaW ’64, ’66 

Alumna Encourages Viewers to Not Just “See Art” But 

to “See Art Happen” 

As the founding director of Lux Art Institute, Reesey Shaw ’64 ’66 is on a mission to redefine 

the museum experience by providing access to living artists at work. At the nonprofit institute, 

viewers do not just see finished works of art—they get to see the artistic process firsthand in a 

working studio environment. 

Founded in 1998, the institute invites internationally recognized artists to work in a facility 

that sits on the bluffs of Encinitas in California, allowing artists “to use the landscape as both 

inspiration and materials,” Shaw said. Visitors are encouraged to observe and engage with the 

artists in residency, creating what Shaw describes as a “new way to inspire art experiences.” 

Shaw and her colleagues have also developed a six-week summer art camp for students and 

a “Kids-in-Residence” program that brings young artists between the ages of eight and 14 into 

the institute for an after-school program that spans multiple weeks. The children are able to 

follow the progress of an artist-in-residence’s work from start to finish, while also engaging in 

conversation and experimenting with similar techniques and materials. 

“Art is the core of education, not a frill. Mentors, parents, and teachers should be in the 

business of making the ordinary extraordinary. That’s what artists do. That’s the kind of ‘Wow’ 

experience from which children learn. And that’s what happens at Lux,” explained Shaw. “The 

world becomes new. It’s one of the great gifts that art continually gives.” Shaw currently lives in 

La Jolla with her husband, David, who studied at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. 

Southern California has many other notable alumni, including: Elizabeth Turk ’94, 

who received the MacArthur “Genius” Grant in 2010; emerging sculptor Matt Johnson 

’00, who is known for his innovative manipulation of objects; Al Hurwitz ’41 and 

Leven Leatherbury ’47, two leaders in the field of art education; and many others. 


Testing of the cardboard prototypes for a fruit display at Blooming 

Sun Supermarket. 

Designing Fruitful Solutions 

for Baltimore Corner Stores 

at a number of small bodeGas 

and markets in baltimore, food 

choices are often limited to high-calorie snacks, 

sodas, and convenience foods that have little or 

no nutritional value. “These stores are only two 

minutes from here,” explained environmental 

design faculty member Inna Alesina. With help 

from the The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School 

of Public Health, Alesina challenged the students 

in her spring 2011 Object Design 2 class to 

implement designs that would help make these 

corner stores healthier. 

The class focused on two Baltimore stores, where 

the students identified obstacles to healthful 

eating and then developed strategies to increase 

access to a nutritious diet. According to Alesina, 

her students’ main task was to use design as a 

problem solver to “make fresh fruits appealing 

and encourage more consumption.” The students 

created prototypes of designs that would cost less 

than $100 to manufacture and then presented 

them to the store owners, who decided whether 

or not to implement them in their business model. 

“The store owners are like mothers to these 

neighborhoods,” Alesina said. The project is 

continuing through the fall, when Alesina’s 

students revisit the same stores to refocus the 

project and move onto the next phase: creating 

working models out of wood and aluminum. If the 

designs show positive outcomes, the project may 

expand to cover more Baltimore stores. 

Healthful eating solutions have also been pursued 

by MICA’s Center for Design Practice, which 

teamed up with the Baltimore City Health 

Department to develop branding for the Virtual 

Supermarket program. This initiative enables 

Baltimoreans living in locations void of nearby 

supermarkets to order healthy food online 

through a partnering grocery store, Santoni’s 

Supermarket, and then pick up the groceries at 

the Enoch Pratt Free Library.

24 ALUMNI 

Alumnus Turns Daily Life Into Art Through Comics 

American Elf by James Kochalka. 

miCa alumnus James Kochalka’s success as a cartoonist 

should come as no surprise. After all, “my mom says I started 

drawing comics before I could write,” the 44-year-old artist said. 

This year, the 1991 graduate from the Mount Royal School of 

Art is trying on a new role for size, by becoming the state of 

Vermont’s first cartoonist laureate. 

“It’s an honor,” Kochalka said of the distinction. Each day, 

he writes American Elf, a daily comic strip that is basically a 

diary of his own life. He’s also written more than 30 books for 

children, young adults, and adults, including Johnny Boo and 

Dragon Puncher. “Almost all the stories are set in Vermont,” he 

said. “Many take place in the field by my house.” 

Though Kochalka first honed his talent at an early age, he 

stopped drawing comic strips when he went to The University 

of Vermont for his undergraduate studies in art. But when he 

arrived to study at MICA, he worked part time on campus as a 

guard during his second year, when he rediscovered his forgotten 

talent. “A couple of different guard desks had sketch books on 

them, and people were working on comics,” he recalled. “So 

during your shift, you’d draw a few panels and then the next 

person in their shift would draw a few panels.” 

That experience led Kochalka to submit his work to a local 

zine called Uno Mas, where it was published. “Seeing your work 

in print changes the way you think about it,” he said. 

When he left MICA, he continued to create comics, and 

sent his work to other cartoonists hoping they would critique 

it, and many did. Over time, he developed a following as he 

continued to chronicle daily life in Vermont through his books 

and comic strips. 

“There’s something sort of magical about the way the 

pictures fit together to tell a story,” he said. He also respects the 

power that cartooning can have in the life of the reader. “Reading 

a comic can cause in the reader the same sort of revelatory 

experience that great literature or great painting does—that sort 

of transformative experience,” he said. “The right comic can 

change your life just like the right novel or the right painting can 

change your life.” 

That love for cartooning has certainly changed Kochalka’s 

life. When his position as cartoonist laureate was announced, 

Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin said: “A cartoonist laureate 

is the kind of thinking outside the box that Vermont supports. 

Cartooning promotes literacy and literature, two things we can’t 

have enough of.” 

James Kochalka

(left to right) José Villarrubia (pictured center) showing his Best Colorist 2011 Harvey Award with editor Joan Hilty and artist Dean Haspiel. They worked together on the graphic novel Cuba: My Revolution; 

Paige Vickers; and original artwork by Annie Wu. 

Illustration Roundup 

Illustration Chair Wins Prestigious 

Harvey Award 

José Villarrubia ’83, chair of MICA’s Illustration Department, won the 

prestigious Harvey Award in the category of Best Colorist, presented 

at Baltimore Comic-Con on August 20. It was the first Harvey Award 

nomination for Villarrubia, who was recognized for his work in Cuba: My 

Revolution for Vertigo/DC Comics. Harvey Award nominees are selected 

by an open vote among comic book professionals. Villarrubia explained, 

“It’s an honor to be selected for an award by your peers.” 

Villarrubia’s expertise, along with student interest, has also led to 

new opportunities in the Illustration Department at MICA. Villarrubia has 

developed a sequential art and pre-production track for students interested 

in specializing in comics, graphic novels, film, and video game industries. 

Illustration Student Wins National Award 

Senior Paige Vickers ’12 was named the 2011 Zankel Scholar by The 

Society of Illustrators. This prestigious award is given annually to an 

outstanding junior for support in their senior year of college. Nominees 

for the award are submitted by illustration departments nationwide, with 

four finalists selected to compete for the $20,000 scholarship. Senior 

Craig Bowers ’12 was also a finalist and was granted a $1,000 scholarship 

toward his studies. 

“I think a lot of the reason I won was the combination of my interview 

with my portfolio,” Vickers said. “At MICA, a lot of emphasis is placed on 

professionalism and confidence in your work and path. I felt comfortable 

talking truthfully about the career I desire because I’ve had access to really 

open conversations about the ‘real world’ of freelance illustration.” 

Alumnus Adapting Best-Selling Book 

Into Graphic Novel 

INNOVATION 25 

Orpheus Collar ’09 is adapting The New York Times best-selling author 

Rick Riordan’s Kane Chronicles: The Red Pyramid into a graphic novel 

for Walt Disney Books. The Red Pyramid is part of a trilogy based on 

Egyptian mythology that is set in the modern United States and follows the 

adventures of siblings who seek to awaken the pharaoh of the gods. The 

graphic novel is scheduled for release in May 2012, in sync with the release 

of the final book of the Kane Chronicles series. 

Collar worked with a team of artists when he drew the layouts for 

another graphic adaptation of Riordan’s work, The Lightning Thief, which 

appeared on The New York Times children’s bestseller list and the Young 

Adult Library Services Association’s Best Books for Young Adults. He worked 

in comics throughout his stay at MICA, assisting José Villarrubia ’83, now 

chair of the department, as a flatter, or coloring specialist. 

Alumna Featured as Creator to Watch 

Annie Wu, who earned her BFA in illustration in 2010, was listed as a 2011 

Creator to Watch by newsarama.com in its 11 for ’11: Things To Watch in 

the New Year series. Wu was recognized by the leading comics news outlet 

for her work on a motion comics serial with Elle magazine and TRESemmé 

called Dirty Little Secret, which followed an aspiring hair stylist as she 

dealt with professional and personal misadventures. Wu began the project 

while at MICA, designing and illustrating characters in each episode of the 

animated web series/motion comic hybrid. 

Wu recently wrapped up illustrations for a short story in Vertigo’s 

penultimate issue of House of Mystery, which was released in September. In 

addition to comics, she’s pursuing freelance assignments, with a client list 

that includes DC Comics, Lacrosse Magazine, and Coca-Cola Brazil.


Declarations of Independence 

Alumni, Faculty Pen National Success Stories as Contributing Illustrators 

illustrators leave miCa with a personal voice that resonates with contemporary culture. Some alumni choose to use their 

vision and business know-how to pursue freelance work with newspapers and magazines, enabling them to participate in current 

affairs through a diverse array of publications. 

“Illustrators are very lucky to engage their art with events of our times. Working with publications, you have to be aware of 

what’s going on in the world—not only the profound but the ridiculous. It’s all part of the mix,” said Whitney Sherman ’71, 

director of MFA in Illustration Practice. 

The following alumni and faculty members have celebrated great career successes as contributing illustrators for national 

publications, such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Time magazine. Here they share their experiences, insight into 

making connections, and ways MICA helped them get on their illustrating feet. 

Whitney Sherman ’71 

direCtor of mfa in illustration PraCtiCe 

Partial Client List: the neW york times, the boston Globe, 

los anGeles times, the WashinGton Post, harPer’s 

maGazine, businessWeek, and time maGazine 

www.whitneysherman.com 

“Contributing to national publications is brilliant. The distribution is wide 

and prominent; there’s nothing like it. Having a freelance career—or as some 

of us like to call it, an independent illustration studio—gives you the chance 

to do other things. I also teach and create limited edition housewares and 

linens. The field of illustration allows for this kind of diversity. Illustrators are 

not just working only for ‘the page.’ 

“Getting work from publications is a cumulative process. You do a project 

for one publication—others see it and call. My first break came from a piece I 

did for San Francisco’s Focus Magazine. Once that was published, my clientele 

went from regional to national, then international. For years my bread and 

butter was editorial, then it branched out to institutional, corporate (brochures 

and annual reports), cultural and nonprofit (posters), and book jackets. Each 

was a different market, but my editorial style worked for all of them.” 

As former chair of the undergraduate Illustration Department, Sherman 

grew the program into the largest at MICA and has helped many MICA 

illustrators connect with key art directors. She explains, “While undergraduate 

chair from 2000-2010, I developed a strong professional development 

program for MICA illustrators, including the MICA Illustration Showcase 

that paired student illustrators with art directors at major magazines and 

design firms. Students in the MFA in Illustration Practice will be introduced 

on a more ongoing basis to prominent individuals, both in the position to hire 

and in a position to give insight into creating original works that expand the 

practice of illustration, who will give support and criticism to the students’ 

growing body of experimental and well-tested work.” 

Whitney Sherman, Accounting Jail, editorial illustration for The New York Times, 1990s.

Shannon May, How Pleasure Works, editorial 

illustration for the The New York Times 

op-ed, 2011. 

Ana Benaroya, illustration for The New York 

Times op-ed The Transformation of Bartholomew 

Fortuno, 2010. 

Emily Flake, an illustration for The Globe and Mail 

about Jane Jacobs, 2011. 

Shannon May ’10 

Partial Client List: the neW york times, harvard business revieW, and readymade 

Magazine 

www.shannon-may.com 

“Freelancing is both challenging and rewarding. I love always having new problems to solve (every assignment is 

different) and working with different art directors. 

“My first job for The New York Times came from the Illustration Department’s senior showcase, in which each 

senior has a Skype interview with an art director of his or her choice. I chose Nicholas Blechman of The New York 

Times Book Review, and he gave me my first assignment within a week of graduation. The Illustration Department 

helped me immensely, requiring me to have a website, business cards and promotional materials, business plan, and 

portfolio before releasing me into the real world. 

“Much of the attention I have received came from being featured in Communication Arts, American Illustration, 

and Design*Sponge blog. I highly recommend contacting other illustrators in the field, sending emails to companies 

you’d like to work for, and overall not being afraid to put yourself out there.” 

Ana Benaroya ’08 

Partial Client List: the neW york times, the los anGeles times, bloomberG, 

niCkelodeon maGazine, and abC neWs 

www.anabenaroya.com 

“When I first get an assignment, I try and hold onto that initial idea/vision in my mind,” Benaroya said, explaining 

her design process to The Artfuls, an online platform for illustrators. “Then I start sketching out my composition 

and try and get an approval from my client. I then ink the approved sketch, scan it in, and color on Photoshop. 

Sometimes I will add painted textures; sometimes I won’t. But I believe in starting everything by hand; this makes 

it truly unique and human.” 

Benaroya told Juxtapositions, “I love freelancing because it gives me the freedom to schedule my days as I 

like and the ability to do what I love. Every job I do as an illustrator varies in experience. It all depends on the art 

director I’m working with and the deadline and subject matter, but most of the time, it’s a very enjoyable experience. 

I go about getting connections through research. I look at companies and publications that use illustrators 

and then try and get in touch with their art directors and email them a link to my portfolio website. 

“MICA helped me become a successful illustrator by teaching me how to incorporate artmaking into my 

everyday life.” 

Emily Flake ’99 

Partial Client List: the neW yorker, niCkelodeon maGazine, mad maGazine, time 

maGazine, and Canadian business 

www.eflakeagogo.com 

CONNECTIONS 27 

“What I like about freelancing is the fact that I get to do something I love for a living and largely do it in my pajamas. 

In all seriousness, I feel incredibly lucky and blessed to be doing this. 

“I started bringing my portfolio up to New York a few months before I graduated in ’99, and continued to do so 

after I moved to Chicago (I moved to Brooklyn in ’04, which made the commute shorter). I would call ahead and 

find out when drop-off days were. Nowadays, of course, it’s essential to just have your portfolio online, but I still 

think there’s a lot to be said for meeting people face to face. I’ve also been with my agent for about a year now, 

which has been wonderful. 

“MICA was an incredible environment—so many smart, hardworking, talented students and incredible faculty. I 

am really lucky I got to go there—the entire experience, not just of MICA, but of living in Baltimore, was crucial to 

my becoming who I am today.”

28 GLOBAL 

A Search for Soda 

Last spring in Wrocław, Poland, Justin Schmidt ’12 felt a little lost 

because he couldn’t find any root beer. This, along with wanting to 

portray a Delacroix-esque sea, inspired him to create Soda Pop at Sea 

(oil on cotton, 2011). 

Visit fyi.mica.edu for more images of MICA 

student artwork from overseas.

Alumni Office Abuzz 

miCa’s alumni and Parent relations offiCe has been 

working hard to implement regional initiatives focused on 

the five largest pockets of MICA alumni: Miami, Northern 

California, Southern California, New York City, and 

Baltimore/Washington, DC regions. Here are some of their 

efforts in doing so: 

Regional Facebook Groups: 

The New Way to Stay Connected 

Five new Facebook pages have been launched to cover popular alumni 

regions. In addition to creating online communities for alumni populations to 

strengthen connections with one another and remain involved with MICA, 

regional programming will include: invitations to local alumni openings, 

reunions, and cultural events; information on presidential visits; parent and 

student welcome parties; and opportunities for professional networking 

such as informal happy hours. Alumni are encouraged to join these Facebook 

communities and post updates about exhibitions and news. 

MICA Alumni Exhibition in New York City 

Wednesday, January 11–Wednesday, February 1 

A collaboration of MICA alumni in the New York City region, this showcase 

will exhibit the creativity and acknowledge the professional careers of 

numerous MICA alumni. The exhibition will take place at Art Connects 

MICA ALUMNI: WE NEED TO 

TALK ABOUT OUR RELATIONSHIP. 

former students, you are automatically members of the MICA 

Alumni Association—an international network of over 16,000 

graduates, in every state and 64 countries. We know you’ve paid 

your dues, so we don’t ask for any, but here is just some of what we give you: 

SUPPORT through access to the Joseph Meyerhoff Career Center. 

OPPORTUNITIES to participate in exhibits, receptions, openings, and talks. 

FRIENDS & FOLLOWERS Find us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. 

15% DISCOUNT from the School for Professional & Continuing Studies (does not apply to non-credit courses). 

Additional Alumni Benefits are being considered. For a comprehensive list, please visit www.mica.edu/alumni. 

It will only take a second to show us how much you care... visit 

mica.edu/alumnicontact, call 410/255-2397, or email us at 

alumnirelations@mica.edu, so we can be together again. 

ALUMNI 

New York (491 Broadway, 5th Floor), the former studio space of the late, 

legendary abstract expressionist painter, Bill Dutterer ’65 ’67. Jamie 

Johnson, Bill’s wife, runs the studio. 

Strategic National Arts Alumni Project 

MICA is participating in the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project—a 

one-of-a-kind survey that explores the lives of arts alumni nationwide. 

When MICA alumni complete the survey, they’ll have access to a site 

where they can see how their experience compares to other arts 

graduates—where they live and work, what they earn, and how their arts 

educations have influenced their lives. 

By providing the alumni office with a current email address, alumni 

can be sure not to miss their chance to share their experiences and help 

shape the future of arts education across the country and at MICA. Contact 

Alumni Relations at alumnirelations@mica.edu or 410-225-2397. 

The (E)merge Art Fair in Washington, DC 

Numerous MICA alumni came together at the Capitol Skyline Hotel from 

September 22-25 for the (e)merge art fair, which featured international 

galleries and nonprofits, along with artists, curator and panel discussions, 

and performances. 

New Class of Alumni Council Members 

Forty-one council members have been appointed to MICA’s Alumni Council, 

each reflecting the diversity of the above regions. These members will serve 

three-year terms, which are set to expire in May 2014. A full list of council 

members is available on www.mica.edu. 

29

30 

CONNECTIONS 

New Publications 

by MICA Alumni and Faculty 

the aCCidental Genius of Weasel hiGh 

this illustrated novel for young adults was authored by cartoonist and 1974 alumnus Rick 

Detorie, creator of the nationally-syndicated comic strip, One Big Happy, set in Baltimore. The book 

follows Larkin Pace, a 14-year-old student who finds himself in typical teenage situations: his parents 

don’t seem to understand him, his sister—whom he calls “The Beast”—is a drama queen, and his 

girlfriend turns out not really to be his girlfriend at all. Although the book is aimed at teenagers, 

adults—especially parents—will find Detorie’s book to be laugh-out-loud funny. Detorie has written 14 

adult humor books, and his freelance cartoons have appeared in the Saturday Evening Post, TV Guide, 

Working Woman, and National Lampoon. 

ContemPorary art and ClassiCal myth 

the 14 essays in this book exPlore, and in a large part establish, the intersection of 

contemporary art and classical myth. This often overlooked relationship is discussed through a variety 

of methodological frameworks and across an impressive range of artists, including Roy Lichtenstein, 

Luciano Fabro, and Francis Alÿs. Jennie Hirsh, assistant professor of modern and contemporary 

art, commissioned the essays and edited the book, along with her colleague, Isabelle Loring Wallace, 

associate professor of contemporary art and theory at the University of Georgia. Hirsh’s own essay 

that appears in the book, Double Take, or Theorizing Reflection in Felix Gonzalez-Torres, addresses the 

confluence of the myths of Narcissus and Orpheus through the literal and metaphorical staging of 

reflective encounters in the work of Gonzalez-Torres, the late Cuban-born, United States-based artist 

who succumbed to AIDS in 1996. 

hoW they Croaked: 

the aWful ends of the aWfully famous 

aCComPlished Children’s book author Kevin O’Malley ’83 lent his illustration skills for this 

engaging chronicle of gruesome deaths written by Georgia Bragg. The book opens with a line that reads: 

“If you don’t have the guts for gore, do not read this book.” A flip through the page-turning book shows 

that O’Malley’s clever drawings add just the right tones of humor to keep the descriptions from getting 

over-the-top. O’Malley’s snarky, offbeat humor has also come through in the 13 books he’s authored, as 

well as the 20 books by other authors he has illustrated, including the popular Miss Malarkey titles. He 

lives in Baltimore with his wife, Dara O’Malley, who also graduated in 1983. 

beautiful/deCay 

What started as a humble zine painstakingly photocopied by 16-year-old Amir H. Fallah 

’02 grew into a full-color, internationally distributed magazine. Now, Beautiful/Decay takes the 

form of a limited edition, hand-numbered art book series that features the work of emerging artists 

and subculture art. Besides producing Beautiful/Decay, Fallah is an accomplished artist who has 

launched Something In The Universe, a design agency that connects artists who have been involved in 

Beautiful/Decay with high-profile clients.

like ? 

On Twitter: 

@mica_news 

On Facebook: 

facebook.com/mica.edu 

On YouTube: 

MICAmultimedia 

On Flickr: 

flickr.com/photos/micamultimedia 

For the most up-to-date information and 

additional news, events, and exhibitions 

as well as videos, photos, artwork, and 

interactive features, visit: 

fyi.mica.edu

32 ALUMNI 

Alumnus Jim Pollock Brings Art to Baltimore’s 

miraCle on 34th street 

When four ColleGe friends Graduated from miCa 

in the late 1980s and needed a house with studio space, they 

found themselves living in the middle of one of Baltimore’s 

quirkiest holiday attractions: a block of row houses in 

Hampden known during the winter as the Miracle on 34th 

Street. Every December, neighbors deck the street out in 

thousands of Christmas lights, glowing candy canes, model 

trains, and other displays of holiday cheer. 

Roommates, neighbors, and holiday decorations have come 

and gone over the years, but Jim Pollock ’89 has been keeping 

the tradition of sharing art with his neighbors alive. Pollock 

ended up buying the house he once rented with his college 

buddies and for the past 15 years he has been welcoming 

passersby into his front room, which now serves as an exhibition 

space. Last year, 27,000 people came through Pollock’s front 

door to check out his art displayed there, along with the art of 

seven of his friends. 

Amongst all the over-the-top holiday kitsch, Pollock’s studio 

is a reminder that art brings communities together. “It’s a 

wonderful gift to share, and I always encourage people who show 

in the house to stand in the house. The whole point of being an 

artist is meeting the public,” said Pollock. 

Pollock, who considers himself a folk artist despite his formal 

training at MICA, makes his work out of salvaged materials 

from the Potomac River, flea markets, and “wonderful treasures” 

left on his front porch by admirers. Among his signature pieces 

are bike wheels stacked and welded together to form snowmen, 

National Bohemian Beer cans that take the shape of angels, 

crisscrossing strands of pencil steel that look like snowflakes, and 

crabs with wrenches for appendages. 

But what Pollock is most known for is stringing hubcaps 

together to create the form of a Christmas tree, which he has 

done every year since 1995. 

Although his neighbor originally had the idea for the hubcap 

tree, Pollock has expanded the sculpture from three feet to a 

towering 10 feet tall. There are now more than 100 hubcaps 

that make up the sculpture, a collection that was mostly aided 

by a historic snowstorm in 1996 that left the nearby streets 

riddled with potholes, allowing a large number of hubcaps to be 

“loosened” from passing cars. 

Today, the hubcap Christmas tree is a sculptural landmark 

amongst all of the glitz and glamour of the rest of the street. 

Jim Pollock’s Christmas tree made of hubcaps during the 2010 holiday season. (Photo by Libby Zay) 

Although more artists seem to be moving to the block and 

taking part in the Miracle on 34th Street, Pollock said many of his 

creative neighbors who should consider themselves artists don’t 

see their glowing creations in the same light. 

“Most of the people here don’t want to call themselves 

artists and don’t want to be tagged,” he said. “Although there 

are finally artists moving in, it ebbs and flows as people move 

into rented spaces.” 

According to Pollock, however, when all the neighbors come 

together and decorate, “it feels like the whole block lights up.” 

Visitors who come to see the block in all its shining glory can 

stop by Pollock’s studio at 708 W. 34th Street.

(top to bottom) Ursula Minervini, Red Deer Notecard, letterpress from a 

woodcut and handset type; Natalie Jacob, Scrabble Word Necklace. 

MICA Art Market 

Offers Buyers Art-Filled 

Holiday Shopping 

Wednesday, December 7–Saturday, December 10, 10 am–6 pm 

Brown Center: Leidy Atrium and Falvey Hall lobby, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave 

for the fifth year in a roW, 250 MICA students, alumni, 

faculty, and staff will come together just in time for the holidays to 

sell original jewelry, illustrations, paintings, prints, posters, sculptures, 

mosaics, stationery, T-shirts, ceramics, textiles, book arts, toys, 

wrapping paper, and more. 

At MICA Art Market, shoppers and collectors can discover 

work by emerging artists or find collectibles from leading artists in 

their respective fields. Visitors can talk one-on-one with the artists 

about their work while taking in the lively atmosphere of the market 

and supporting the local economy. 

Sponsored by the MICA Alumni Association and the Master 

of Professional Studies in The Business of Art and Design program, 

the market fosters student professional development and peerto-peer 

networking, while also providing funding for need-based 

student scholarships. 

Vendors will accept the following forms of payment: Visa, MasterCard, 

MICARD, cash, and check. 

Jodi Hoover, Treena, screen print, acrylic ink, and color conte on 

paper, 2009. 

EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS 33


Shop MICA 

Members of MICA Community Show Off Wares During Holiday Retail Season 

the holiday season, with its focus on the spreading of cheer and gifts, is an ideal time for members of the MICA community to 

showcase their artistic talents. In one such effort, the MFA in Illustration Practice has partnered with The Baltimore Museum of Art 

Shop in its holiday initiative, Maryland Made. Students and faculty are producing exclusive products that sell in the museum’s gift 

shop. Shown here are other artistic expressions available over the holidays from members of the MICA community. 

Flat Vernacular, Eyelets in Ogle (detail). 

Mary Walsh-Reynolds of Myrtle Dove Vintage 

Flat Vernacular 

When Payton Cosell Turner ’08 (painting) and Brian Kaspr ’06 (general 

sculptural studies) met at MICA, little did they know they’d be forging a personal 

and business relationship. Today, the newlyweds are enjoying the success of Flat 

Vernacular, a wallpaper business that has already been featured in the likes of Elle 

Décor, The New York Times Home section, and W. 

The couple’s hand-drawn and hand-printed wallpaper designs can best be 

characterized as “referencing the traditional but with a contemporary voice,” 

said Cosell Turner. “We like to make strange tongue-in-cheek wallpapers.” For 

example, Eyelets in Ogle, is a design that from far away looks like lace, but when 

you get up close it features hundreds of eyelids and pronounced eyelashes. “We 

like to do something that’s a little bit humorous,” Cosell Turner said. 

This fall and winter Flat Vernacular will release hand-printed double-sided 

wallpaper. Cosell Turner credits MICA with helping to teach her how to find her 

creativity. “MICA gave me the foundation. The teachers allow you to breathe and 

seek your own voice,” she said. 

Shop online at: www.flatvernacular.com 

Myrtle Dove Vintage 

all her life, Mary Walsh-Reynolds loved thrift-store shopping. So when an 

opportunity came for the manager of MICA’s Writing Studio and the Learning 

Resource Center to open a store of her own, she jumped at the chance. With her 

sister Michelle Walsh, Walsh-Reynolds opened Myrtle Dove Vintage last July. 

“We offer vintage clothing and accessories for men, women, and children,” 

Walsh-Reynolds said. The store also serves up retro housewares, and kitschy 

knickknacks. “Since I’m an artist and work at MICA, we like to have locally made 

artwork and crafts,” she added. Walsh-Reynolds also creates some products such 

as jewelry and mosaics that are sold in the store. 

Located in the Roland Park neighborhood, the store has proven a hit with 

other thrift-store shoppers. “I love to see a customer come in and try on something 

that hasn’t been worn in 40 years and breathe new life into it,” she said. 

Visit Myrtle Dove Vintage at 5006 Lawndale Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland or 

shop online at: www.etsy.com/shop/myrtledovelove

Brittney Posternock wearing one of her crochet necklaces. 

The Whole Package 

B.Pos Jewelry 

CONNECTIONS 35 

When she’s not foCusinG on getting her Certificate in Jewelry at MICA 

or working full time as a men’s department manager at Nordstrom, Brittney 

Posternock is adding to the collection of wares she sells through b.pos jewelry. 

“I’m making these crotchet necklaces—they’re a mix between a scarf and a 

necklace,” she said. “They’re perfect for the fall and winter time. Scarves are really 

popular right now and it gives you the scarf look with a touch of glitter.” 

While her scarves would simply be slipped over the head in past seasons, 

Posternock is working on a clasp for her newest collection. She plans to sell them 

online on Etsy as well as in a couple of local boutiques. At the same time, she is 

working on metalsmithing and learning to make jewelry for men. “It’s a whole 

new adventure for me,” she said. 

Shop online at: www.facebook.com/bposjewelry 

not only do PeoPle JudGe books by their Covers, but they judge 

products by their packaging and associated advertisements. Luckily, several MICA 

alumni are contributing to well-known brands. Julie Diewald, a 2009 graphic 

design major, uses her artistic talent to create product packaging for toy and 

game company Hasbro, designing the packaging for such brands as Lite-Brite, 

Spirograph, and Play-Doh. “Hasbro prides itself on making packages that tell a 

really cool story from front to back to side so when the girl or boy gets it off the 

shelf, the packaging adds to the toy,” Diewald explained. 

Diewald credits much of her success to what she learned at MICA. “There’s 

a lot of conceptual thinking, which is something I got out of MICA,” she said. 

“You really think about the reason you’re doing things. You’re not just making 

a pretty package.” The first designs Diewald created will hit the toy shelves this 

holiday retail season. 

While doing holiday shopping, you might also notice the work of 2000 

Mount Royal graduate Kate (Creeden) Neckel, who was hired by fashion label 

Cole Haan to illustrate look books, tool kits, store windows, and billboards— 

including one featuring tennis star Maria Sharapova for the company’s 2011 

spring ad campaign. 

While her creative license is her first priority, “if someone’s walking down Fifth 

Avenue and my drawing entices her to come into the store and think about buying 

a purse, it’s a bonus,” Neckel said. With her work appearing in such top notch 

publications as Vanity Fair and Vogue, Neckel is excited about where her work will 

ultimately take her. “I’m open to everything,” she said. “Open to opportunities.” 

Shop online at: www.hasbro.com and www.colehaan.com 

Kate Neckel models for Cole Haan in front of her illustration work.

36 EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS 

(clockwise from top left) Richard Baker, Wonder Towel, gouache on paper on board, 2009; Sharon 

Yates, Mixed Flowers with Towel, oil/panel, 2009; Mark Karnes, Light Bulb, oil on board, 2009; and 

Anthony Martino, Summer Tea and Soft Soap #1, casein and gouache, 2009.

the Common obJeCt 

Thursday, December 1–Sunday, March 11 

Fox Building: Meyerhoff Gallery, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

Reception: Friday, December 2, 5–7 pm 

zeuxis still-life Painters assoCiation and miCa have come together 

to present The Common Object, an exhibition of more than 60 diverse paintings 

that incorporate the same everyday object: a dishtowel. The title The Common 

Object suggests both the subject matter is an ordinary dishtowel and that the same 

towel is common to each painting. 

This traveling exhibition features paintings by 37 Zeuxis artists, including 

former MICA students Richard Baker and Anthony Martino ’76 (general fine 

arts), as well as faculty member Mark Karnes, and prior faculty members Stanley 

Friedman and Sharon Yates. 

“As a tool and as a visual element, the dishtowel is versatile and absorbent, a 

bland ingredient that can be molded to many uses,” Imogen Sara Smith writes 

in the 36-page, full-color exhibition catalog. “Wet or dry, smooth or wrinkled, 

clean or stained, it symbolizes the blank canvas, the eternal challenge to make 

something out of nothing.” 

The dishtowel might be treated as an inanimate object—for its drapery folds, 

its pattern, or use as a backdrop—or might be examined for its versatility and 

usefulness. The painters approached the object in different ways, some leaving it 

quietly in the background, others featuring it as the main subject; some depicting 

it in realistic detail, others turning it into an abstract form. 

MICA’s Meyerhoff Gallery is the fourth and final presentation of The Common 

Object, which previously appeared at the Prince Street Gallery in New York City, 

the Peninsula Fine Art Center in Newport News, Virginia, and the Lancaster 

Museum of Art in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. 

The artists showcasing work in the exhibition are: Martha Armstrong, Richard Baker, 

Rita Baragona, Lucy Barber, William Barnes, Temma Bell, Suzanne Biggins, Rick Brazill, 

Susan Cohen, Kate Emlen, Bevin Engman, Phyllis Floyd, Stanley Friedman, Elizabeth Geiger, 

John Goodrich, Christine Hartman, Robert Jessel, Mark Karnes, Catherine Kehoe, Tim 

Kennedy, Deborah Kirklin, Carmela Kolman, Lynn Kotula, Penny Kronengold, Richard La 

Presti, Ginger Levant, Ying Li, Sydney Licht, Anthony Martino, Margaret McCann, Ruth 

Miller, Janice Nowinski, Don Southard, Sandra Stone, Amy Weiskopf, Megan Williamson, 

and Sharon Yates. 

Zeuxis is a grassroots organization formed in New York City in 1995 to explore the possibilities 

of still-life painting in the post-Modernist art world. To date, Zeuxis has organized more than 50 

exhibitions in museums, commercial galleries, and other exhibition spaces all over the country. 

Ruth Miller, Shell and Dishtowel, oil on canvas, 2009. 

(Courtesy Lohin Geduld Gallery) 

the Common obJeCt 

Programming 

Gallery Talk 

EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS 37 

Friday, December 2, 3 pm 

Fox Building: 

Meyerhoff Gallery, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

Artists: Elizabeth Geiger, Robert Jessel, 

Temma Bell, and Margaret McCann 

Four exhibiting artists discuss how they work and 

their philosophy about artmaking, keeping the 

young artist in mind. 

Dialogue With Moderator 

Friday, December 2, 6:30–8 pm 

Fox Building: 

Meyerhoff Gallery, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

Artists: John Goodrich and Bevin Engman 

Moderated by William Corbett, director of 

student writing activities in the Massachusetts 

Institute of Technology’s Writing and Humanistic 

Studies program 

William Corbett plans to discuss what we as 

critics, painters, and fans mean when we talk 

about painting.


Check out the following events & 

exhibitions before they close. 

fall/fail 

Through Wednesday, November 9 

Brown Center: Rosenberg Gallery, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

aCCordinG to Parisian artists and couple Frédérique 

Morrel and Aaron Levin, Fall/Fail is an artistic adventure 

designed to explore the realms of humanity’s origins: Adam 

and Eve, the animals of the Garden of Eden, and paradise lost. 

A series of animals and human figures was constructed out 

of discarded vintage tapestries found in yard sales and thrift 

shops, serving as the artist’s solution to “re-enchant the world.” 

Regina DeLuise: 

PhotoGraPhs 

from the field 

Friday, October 21–Sunday, November 13 

Bunting Center: Pinkard Gallery, 1401 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

Reception: Friday, October 21, 5–7 pm 

PhotoGraPhy faCulty member Regina DeLuise 

will showcase more than 35 images taken with an 8x10 

large format camera while she traveled in India, Nepal, 

Italy, and Bhutan. DeLuise traveled to India and Nepal on a 

Guggenheim Fellowship, to Italy both to study and teach, and 

to Bhutan on a recent sabbatical. Although the destinations 

have varied, DeLuise has been moving in the same direction, 

desiring to roam toward the unknown and bowing to her 

subject through the lens of her camera. 

Juried Undergraduate 

Exhibition 

Wednesday, October 26-Sunday, November 20 

Fox Building: Decker and Meyerhoff galleries, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

Reception: Thursday, November 3, 5–7 pm 

the Work in this annual exhibition is a selection 

of the best submissions from all four years of undergraduate 

students. From hundreds of entries, approximately 100 were 

chosen in a variety of disciplines based on artistic merit, creativity, 

and vision. Jurors were Doreen Bolger, director of The 

Baltimore Museum of Art and Philippa P.B. Hughes, creator of 

the Pink Line Project in Washington, DC. 

MAT student Jaime Bennati in collaboration with May Wilson, Conectado, mixed media, 2011. 

Master of Arts in Teaching 

(MAT) Thesis Exhibition 

Friday, November 4–Sunday, November 13 

Fox Building: Fox 3 Gallery, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

Reception: Friday, November 4, 5–7 pm 

the Center for art eduCation at miCa presents the 

fall 2011 Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) Thesis Exhibition. 

Students in the MAT program investigate personal connections 

between their artmaking and teaching practice through their 

studio thesis work. During their teaching preparation, students 

created a body of artwork demonstrating the importance of the 

interwoven nature of artist-teacher identity. Work in a variety of 

media will be exhibited, illustrating the diversity of expertise of 

MAT candidates. 

Sabbatical Exhibition 

Thursday, December 1–Sunday, December 18 

Fox Building: Decker Gallery, 1303 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

Reception: Thursday, December 8, 5–7 pm 

the sabbatiCal exhibition showcases the work of faculty 

members who took a semester away from MICA during the 

2010-11 academic year to explore new themes, develop old ones, 

or collaborate with other artists and designers. 

ssi.6 siGht.sound 

[interaCtion] 

Saturday, November 12–Wednesday, November 30 

Brown Center: Rosenberg Gallery, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

shoWCasinG a broad seleCtion of Work from local and 

internationally recognized artists, Sight.Sound [interaction] brings 

together art celebrating the language of interaction, new media 

technologies, and the aesthetics of experimentation. For more 

information, visit www.sightsoundmica.org.

end to end: 

Works by Youngmi 

Song Organ ’02 

Friday, November 18–Sunday, December 18 

Bunting Center: Pinkard Gallery, 1401 W. Mount Royal Ave. 


With an interest in everyday ContemPorary life, 

drawing faculty member Youngmi Song Organ ’02 uses every 

tool imaginable to create art. The 15-20 pieces in this solo show 

were created by affixing strands of her own hair to paper in 

tightly arranged, geometric compositions. 

Organ’s work reflects her understanding of what it means 

to live by carefully depicting thought processes through the 

geometrical shapes of her drawings. In this case, Organ’s 

self-reflective process is made possible each morning when 

she brushes her hair, producing enough loose strands for that 

day’s work. 

“For me, it was natural to begin using the hair which 

had belonged to me. Once it falls off it becomes a different 

substance itself,” said Organ. “By using my own hair in my 

work, I realize that I try to make a connection between the past 

and the future. My hair was the section of my body that was 

the perfect example of the circle of nature which has a sense of 

history and relationships.” 

When speaking of her work, Organ said: “Each line 

represents each individual life which never stops going, the 

continuation of history. I learn that my existence is just a small 

part of the huge cosmos.” 

Born in Korea, Organ has studied traditional oriental 

painting since she was 15. She received her MFA at MICA 

in 2002 and has since shown her work in numerous solo and 

group shows across the country. She currently lives in Virginia 

and teaches Sumi Ink Painting and The Coloration of Asian 

Painting at MICA, as well as Drawing 1 and 2 at George 

Mason University. 

(top to bottom) all work by Youngmi Song Organ. Clouds, artist’s hair, 2010; 

Balance, artist’s hair, 2006. 

EVENTS & EXHIBITIONS 39


Urban Green with 

Neil B. Chambers ’00 

Wednesday, November 2, 7–9 pm 

Main Building: 

Room 110, 1300 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

aWard-WinninG Green desiGner 

Neil B. Chambers ’00 will talk about 

his unique perspective on design, 

construction, and architecture, and sign 

his new book Urban Green: Architecture for 

the Future. In his book, Chambers shows 

how ecologists and environmentalists 

around the world are joining forces with 

architects and city planners to make the 

natural world an integral part of cities. 

Plus, he demonstrates how anyone can 

do his or her part to restore the natural 

world in simple ways. Chambers is a 

national fellow with the Environmental 

Leadership Program and has taught at 

New York University and the Fashion 

Institute of Technology. With nearly 20 

years of experience in the fields of green 

building and infrastructure, Chambers 

is recognized by his peers as a visionary 

and an innovative force for the future of 

sustainability. This talk is sponsored by the 

Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Fine Art. 

Neil B. Chambers 

Kelly Dobson 

Wednesday, November 9, 7 pm 

Brown Center: 

Falvey Hall, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

artist and enGineer Kelly Dobson 

will present her work in the realms 

of technology, medicine, and culture. 

Dobson is the department head of the 

digital/media program at the Rhode 

Island School of Design, and her 

areas of investigation include voice, 

identity, prosthetic social extensions, 

public performance, re-appropriation 

of domestic appliances, new materials 

innovations, and companion machines. 

Dobson explores the relationship 

between people and machines, and 

is developing a method of personal, 

societal, and psychoanalytical engagement 

termed “Machine Therapy,” a response 

to the overwhelmingly pervasive 

effects of machines in everyday life. 

Dobson’s lecture is cosponsored by the 

Interdisciplinary Sculpture Department 

and the Fiber Department’s Collaborative 

Smart Textiles Research Lab. 

Kelly Dobson (Photo by Kris Krug) Adelina Vlas 

Art@Lunch: Adelina Vlas 

Wednesday, November 16, 12:30 pm 

Brown Center: 

Room 320, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

adelina vlas, assistant curator for 

modern and contemporary art at the 

Philadelphia Museum of Art, will 

discuss her role in organizing new media 

exhibitions there. Vlas holds an MA in 

Art History from York University as well 

as an MA in Curating Contemporary 

Art from the Royal College of Art in 

London. The talk will focus on the 

exhibitions in the Notations and Live 

Cinema series that Vlas has organized, 

as well as the exhibition, Live Cinema/ 

Peripheral Stages: Mohamed Bourouissa 

and Tobias Zielony, on view at the 

museum starting Saturday, October 15. 

This talk is part of the 2011-2012 Art@ 

Lunch series of discussions on world art.

Monday Artist at Noon: 

Joyce J. Scott ’70 

Monday, November 28, Noon 

Brown Center: 


knoWn as the “Queen of 

beadWork,” Joyce J. Scott ’70 creates 

provocative beaded sculptural forms and 

neck pieces that address political and 

social issues such as gender, race, and 

class struggle. A native Baltimorean, 

Scott is inspired by the three generations 

of storytellers, quilters, basket makers, 

and wood, metal, and clay workers that 

came before her as part of her African- 

American, Native-American and 

Scottish heritage. At this talk, Scott will 

speak about her artwork, life, and career. 

Joyce J. Scott (Courtesy Goya Contemporary and John Dean) 

Paul Chaat Smith 

Monday, November 28, 7 pm 

Brown Center: 


Paul Chaat smith is a Comanche 

author and curator whose work focuses on 

the contemporary landscape of American 

Indian politics and culture. Smith joined 

the Smithsonian’s National Museum of 

the American Indian in 2001, where 

he currently serves as associate curator. 

He is the co-author of Like a Hurricane: 

the Indian Movement from Alcatraz to 

Wounded Knee, a standard text in Native 

studies and American history courses, 

and author of Everything You Know about 

Indians Is Wrong. He served as creative 

consultant for the PBS television series 

We Shall Remain: A Native History of 

America. This talk is sponsored by the 

Humanities Department. His residency is 

made possible by the MFA in Curatorial 

Practice and Rinehart School of Sculpture 

programs with the support of the Center 

for Race and Culture. 

Paul Chaat Smith 


Joyce J. Scott, Tanzanian Flayed Albino Man’s Face, seedbeads and 

thread, 2008 (Courtesy of Goya Contemporary). 

the monday artist at noon 

leCture series is organized by the Drawing, 

General Fine Arts, Painting, and Printmaking 

Senior Thesis programs. The Art@Lunch lecture 

series is organized by the Department of Art History, 

Theory, and Criticism with support from the Office 

of Academic Services.


Student Exhibitions 

shelby seu ’11 

Romantic Dysfunction 

(PaintinG) 

Monday, October 17–Friday, November 11 


Gateway: Gallery One 

erin murPhy ’12 

Encounters 

(PaintinG) 



Gateway: Gallery Two 

hannah Cohen ’12 

Cluster 

(General fine arts, 

ma in teaChinG) 



Bunting Center: Student Space Gallery-Pinkard 

suze raeG ’12 

Audrey 

(PaintinG) 



Meyerhoff House: Piano Gallery 

(above) Hannah Cohen, Untitled. 

(opposite page top to bottom) Fiona Sergeant, Stars and Stripes; and Aaron Dunn, Falling In. 

aaron dunn ’12 

Dream States 

(PaintinG) 

Monday, November 14–Friday, December 9 


Gateway: Gallery One 

raChel forte ’12 

Retrospections 

(PaintinG) 



Gateway: Gallery Two 

kristin mCWharter ’12 

The Intimacy Project 

(interdisCiPlinary sCulPture) 



Bunting Center: Student Space Gallery-Pinkard 

fiona serGeant ’14 

Looking/Seeing 

(PhotoGraPhy, 

interdisCiPlinary sCulPture) 



Meyerhoff House: Piano Gallery 

Departmental 

Exhibitions 

PrintmakinG 

Thursday, October 20–Sunday, November 6 

Brown Center: Brown 3 Gallery 

draWinG 

Tuesday, November 1–Sunday, November 6 

Fox Building: Fox 2 Gallery 

General fine arts/ 

PaintinG/draWinG 

Wednesday, November 2–Sunday, November 13 

Main Building: Main Gallery 

CeramiCs 


Mount Royal Station: Middendorf Gallery 

advanCed PlaCement PaintinG/ 

draWinG 

Tuesday, November 8–Sunday, November 13 


video and film arts 

Wednesday, November 9–Monday, December 5 


GraPhiC desiGn 

Thursday, November 10–Sunday, November 20 

Brown Center: Brown 3 Gallery

General fine arts 

Tuesday, November 15–Monday, December 5 


PhotoGraPhy 


Main Building: Main Gallery 

interdisCiPlinary sCulPture 

Wednesday, November 16–Monday, December 5 

Mount Royal Station: Middendorf Gallery 

rinehart sChool of sCulPture 

Friday, November 18–Monday, December 5 



PaintinG 

Wednesday, November 23–Sunday, December 4 


mount royal sChool of art 

Friday, December 9–Sunday, December 18 

Reception: Friday, December 9, 5–7 pm 


HOW TO GENERATE IDEAS 

Design Double Feature: 

Book Launch 

Monday, November 7, 6 pm Reception; 7 pm Presentations 

Brown Center: Falvey Hall, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave. 


miCa is Proud to announCe the release of two important new books on 

graphic design written and designed by MICA faculty, students, and alumni. 

Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brainstorming and Participate: Designing 

with User-Generated Content both affirm MICA’s continued contribution to 

the discourse of contemporary design education. 

Graphic Design Thinking: Beyond Brainstorming was written and designed 

by students and faculty in MICA’s MFA in Graphic Design program. 

Published by MICA and Princeton Architectural Press, the book presents tools 

and techniques for generating ideas, ranging from quick, seat-of-the-pants 

approaches to more formal research methods. At the book’s core are techniques 

for releasing creative energy and stimulating fresh thinking to arrive at 

compelling and viable solutions. 

Participate: Designing with User-Generated Content is co-authored by two 

MICA alumni: Helen Armstrong ’09 and Zvezdana Stojmirovic ’05. Published 

by Princeton Architectural Press, Participate looks at ways designers are engaging 

users in the creation of their work, using systems thinking to establish openended 

structures through which other people might create. Part theoretical 

exploration and part how-to manual, Participate challenges designers to turn 

audiences into users. Stojmirovic is a member of MICA’s graphic design faculty; 

Armstrong is an associate professor of design at Miami University in Ohio. 

For the event, short presentations by participating authors and designers 

will follow a reception and book signing. Presenters include Lauren Adams 

’11, Helen Armstrong, Christina Beard ’11, Keetra Dean Dixon and JK 

Keller, Ann Liu ’11, Ellen Lupton, Chris McCampbell ’11, Ryan Shelley 

’11, Zvezdana Stojmirovic, Aggie Toppins, and Bruce Willen ’02 and 

Nolen Strals ’01 (Post Typography). The event is hosted by MICA’s Center 

for Design Thinking, which assisted in the creation of these publications.

44 INNOVATION 

(top to bottom) Aaron McIntosh; Mark Sanders; 

Shadra Strickland; and Eva Wiley, Embedded 

Threads, silkscreen on the wall, installation at 

Gallery Joe, 2010. 

New Faculty Faces 

as ProGramminG exPands aCross CamPus, so has the number of full-time faculty 

members who have joined the College’s roster of instructors during the 2011-12 school year. 

Coming from world-renowned, wide-ranging, successful careers as artists, designers, and 

educators, the new freshman class of faculty includes: 

Curatorial Practice 

Jeffry Cudlin has worked as an artist, critic, educator, and curator. He often uses performance, cross-disciplinary 

collaboration, and parody to create opportunities for awkward encounters. In his most recent project, By Request 

at Washington, DC’s Flashpoint Gallery, Cudlin used polling data to create what he claimed was the ideal art 

exhibition—featuring only images of himself. Cudlin also served as director of exhibitions for the Arlington Arts 

Center for the past five years and is a freelance art critic for The Washington Post and Washington City Paper. 

Foundation 

Stephen Hendee produces ambitious sculpture and installation works for art museums and public commissions 

inspired by architecture and speculative fiction literature. Hendee’s work has been shown at SculptureCenter, the New 

Museum for Contemporary Art, and The Museum of Modern Art’s PS1 in New York. 

Ulric Joseph, Jr. ’99 ’00 studied computer science at the University of the West Indies and left the Caribbean 

to receive a BA in painting and an MFA in Digital Art from MICA on a scholarship. He has exhibited extensively 

in America, the Caribbean, and the United Kingdom. Joseph combines diverse elements to create highly evocative 

pieces that speak to the human condition in the digital age. 

Aaron McIntosh grew up in the Appalachian mountains of East Tennessee, where his family’s economic challenges 

and domestic activities such as quilt making have figured largely in his visual vocabulary. His work explores the 

intersections of material culture, family tradition, and identity-shaping. His teaching experience includes positions as 

adjunct faculty at Virginia Commonwealth University and as the fiber area head at James Madison University. 

Graphic Design 

Sandra Maxa is a graphic designer and educator with an extensive background in typography and systems design. 

Maxa worked on corporate branding projects in Minneapolis and with publishing clients in New York before forming 

the multidisciplinary studio, Q Collective. Maxa has taught visual studies, typography, and publication design at Rutgers 

University, Parsons The New School for Design, and Pratt Institute. 

Mark Sanders worked as a project designer and manager of large-scale hotel projects in Atlanta before choosing 

to earn an MFA in Visual Communication from Virginia Commonwealth University. Sanders has taught identity, 

systems, and publication design at Rutgers University, experimental typography at Parsons The New School of 

Design, and typography, design, and technology at Pratt Institute. 

Illustration 

Shadra Strickland has worked as a teacher, book designer, and artist’s assistant along her artistic path. She won 

the Ezra Jack Keats Award and Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent in 2009 for her first 

picture book, Bird, written by Zetta Elliott, and co-illustrated Our Children Can Soar, winner of a 2010 NAACP 

Image Award. She also illustrated A Place Where Hurricanes Happen, a story of four children in New Orleans at 

the time of Hurricane Katrina written by Renee Watson, as well as White Water, which tackles the subject of 

segregation in the Jim Crow South. 

Deanna Staffo ’03 is a Philadelphia-based illustrator whose work has been recognized by American Illustration, the 

Society of Illustrators West and The Altpick Awards (2nd place in Series Illustration). Her work has been published 

in the Communication Arts Fresh List (August 2005) and Taschen’s Illustration Now!. She received her BFA in 

illustration with honors from MICA, where she later taught sophomore and junior illustration students. She also 

teaches junior illustration majors at The University of the Arts. 

Printmaking 

Eva Wylie’s work juxtaposes organic imagery with images that intimate how humanity and its detritus merge into the 

natural world. She was a resident at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2007 and is a 2006 Pennsylvania 

Council on the Arts grant recipient. Wylie was a member of Vox Populi Gallery in Philadelphia for six years and has 

upcoming exhibitions at the Philadelphia Art Alliance and Space 1026.

School for Professional 

and Continuing Studies 

Open House 

Monday, November 28—Thursday, December 1, 5-7 pm 

School for Professional and Continuing Studies, 1229 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

eaCh eveninG from 5-8 Pm, come meet faculty, visit 

classes, tour facilities, and learn more about MICA’s School 

for Professional and Continuing Studies courses and 

program offerings. Please visit www.mica.edu/SPCS for 

more information. 

Graduate Open House 

Sunday, November 13, 9:30 am-3:30 pm 

Campuswide; sign in at Brown Center: Leidy Atrium, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

the CamPus Will be oPen to allow prospective graduate students 

to meet program directors and enrolled students, tour graduate 

facilities, and learn how MICA’s graduate and post-baccalaureate 

study can help achieve career goals. All attendees must pre-register 

at www.mica.edu/gradopenhouse. 

“I can’t even begin to thank my scholarship donors enough 

for everything they have done for me and my family. Because 

of their kindness, I will be able to finish my education.” 

— James Bouché ’12 

Master of Professional Studies 

(MPS) Open House 

Friday, December 2, 4-6 pm 

Main Building, Room 110, 1300 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

YOUR SUPPORT 

EMPOWERS 

ARTISTS AND 

DESIGNERS 

WHO WILL 

CHANGE 

THE WORLD. 


meet faCulty and learn more about MICA’s Master of 

Professional Studies (MPS) degree programs—the MPS in 

The Business of Art and Design, and the MPS in Information 

Visualization that will be offered in September 2012 (for more 

information see page 12). 

National Portfolio Day 

Sunday, December 4, 9 am-5 pm 

Campuswide 

rePresentatives from more than 50 leading art colleges 

and universities will be at MICA to review high school students’ 

artwork, discuss educational and professional goals, and share 

information about programs, careers, admissions, and financial 

aid. For more information, visit www.mica.edu/portfolioday. 

Join the growing family of MICA donors and support 

students like James at www.mica.edu/give or return 

the enclosed envelope.

46 ESSAY 

“ Curators determine 

what art will be 

seen and in what 

context.” 

Curating the Future 

By George Ciscle, curator-in-residence 

and director of the MFA in Curatorial Practice 

Curators Play a key role in the creation 

of a vibrant cultural life. Their choices place 

aesthetic, social, and intellectual values 

on work of the past and present. Curators 

determine what art will be seen and in what 

context. It is essential they be prepared not 

only for the tasks they will perform, but also 

for the responsibilities inherent in their chosen 

field. The next generation of curators will need 

to forge their own career path as established 

professional roles develop, change, and in 

some cases disappear. They will need to think 

outside of traditional exhibition venues and 

engage and invite audiences into a meaningful 

relationship with art and artists by creating 

relevant, timely, and accessible exhibitions. 

Traditionally, a career as a curator of 

contemporary art necessitated a graduate 

degree in art history. This assumption has 

been challenged in the last 15 years. Today’s 

curators possess an array of academic 

credentials, including degrees in the fine and 

applied arts, and liberal arts and sciences, and 

professional credentials in education, nonprofit 

management, museum studies, and other 

fields. The diversity of curatorial perspectives 

has yielded an exhibition landscape that 

encompasses traditional and unexpected venues, 

and is richer and more engaging for both the 

artists and audiences as a result. 

A respect for varied aesthetics, in 

combination with personal and experimental 

viewpoints, is reflected in a range of exhibitions 

and community outreach that seek to extend 

the audience for contemporary art and to 

enrich personal lives. Ideally, this respect will 

help promote both sustainable and socially 

responsible approaches to the presentation and 

experience of art. 

MICA’s new MFA in Curatorial Practice 

program builds on the national reputation the 

College has established over the past decade 

for its innovative approach to educating artists 

to explore the role of curators through both 

the multidisciplinary Exhibition Development 

Seminar and the recently introduced 

undergraduate concentration in curatorial 

studies. Designed to serve practitioners who 

wish to combine the rigors of an intensive 

liberal arts education with an active hands-on 

methodology, the two-year graduate program’s 

philosophy and curriculum are focused on 

creating new models of exhibition design, 

amplifying the voice of the artist in society, 

and forging cogent and powerful connections 

among art, artists, and community. 

Students will be expected to pursue a 

curatorial practice that emphasizes the creation 

of transformative exhibitions and a purposeful 

synergy between artist and audience. They will 

examine their own emerging practice as an 

artistic, social, and critical pursuit. Coursework, 

ongoing discourse, and hands-on experiences will 

complement a contemporary vision of exhibition 

practice, and audience engagement and an 

understanding of the shifts and changes in the art 

world of the 21st century. 

Graduates will be creative thinkers committed 

to working in an interactive, collaborative 

process and able to provide audiences with 

a multi-cultural and worldwide outlook on 

contemporary art. They will be well prepared 

for the complex and evolving role curators will 

play within cultural institutions, galleries, the 

marketplace, and their own communities. These 

aspiring curators will make lasting connections 

with artists and the community through the 

region’s vibrant, emergent art scene, and MICA’s 

solid working partnerships with arts venues, 

educational institutions, and community 

organizations. The focus on conditions of display 

and understanding will infuse an authentic 

professional development experience relevant 

to real-world settings that will shape students’ 

future careers as exhibiting artists, designers, 

educators, and curators.

fat PiG and reasons to be Pretty 

Thursday, April 5–Sunday, April 15 

The Gateway: BBOX, 1601 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

Controversial playwright Neil LaBute takes on beguiling questions of beauty 

ideals in two of his most-celebrated plays. MICA’s student theater company, 

Rivals of the West, will present both of these critically acclaimed and 

provocative plays over two weekends in spring 2012. More information will 

be available at www.rivalsofthewest.org. 

MFA Thesis I, II, and III 

MARK YOUR CALENDAR 47 

Friday, March 23–Sunday, April 29 

Fox Building: Decker, Meyerhoff, and Fox 3 galleries, 

Bunting Center: Pinkard Gallery, 1303-1401 W. Mount Royal Ave. 

Receptions all 5-7 pm: MFA I, Friday, March 23; MFA II, 

Friday, April 6; MFA III, Friday, April 20 

Graduate students from the MFA in Graphic Design, Hoffberger School of 

Painting, Mount Royal School of Art, MFA in Photographic & Electronic 

Media, and Rinehart School of Sculpture exhibit work. 

Sign up to receive weekly event or monthly news updates at www.mica.edu/signup. 

MA in 

ART EDUCATION 

Advance your career and develop your practice as both a studio artist 

and art educator through an online/low-residency curriculum that fits 

your lifestyle—at an art college at which graduate programs are ranked 

among the top four nationally by U.S. News and World Report. 

www.mica.edu/maae

Maryland Institute College of Art 


Baltimore, Maryland 21217

Nov.-Dec. 2011 - Maryland Institute College of Art

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