a century of re-imagining interior design - The New School

juri morioka ’90 presented a collection
of paintings, Pure Love, in June 2006 at
Butters Gallery in Portland, Oregon. Her
newest works, Compositions in Four
Dimensions, are on display this February
and March at Merge Gallery in New York
City. (www.juri.org)
olja stipanovi ’98 (BFA) and ’00 (MFA)
exhibited photographs at the Centre
Culturel Français de Turin in Turin, Italy,
this December and January. The show,
Video Dia Logh, featured several interna-
tional artists.
gRAPHIC DESIgN
jack looney ’56 (AAS) recently published
a book titled Now Batting, Number…
The Mystique, Superstition, and Lore
of Baseball’s Uniform Numbers (Black
Dog & Leventhal Publishers). It took
him 14 years to compile this passionate
look at the numbers in the game of
baseball that includes dream teams,
boyhood idols, history, retired numbers,
behind-the-scenes tales, complete ros-
ters, and hundreds of photographs. Jack
and his book were featured on the front
page of the sports section of the Bergen
County Record in August, on ESPN2’s
Cold Pizza in July, and on more than 50
radio shows nationwide.
peter fasano ’72 (AAS) is a wallpaper
and fabric designer with a showroom in
Dallas, whose celebrity clients include
Oprah Winfrey, Martha Stewart, and Tiger
Woods. He was recently summoned to the
White House by Laura Bush to work on the
wallpaper and upholstery in several
rooms, including the Lincoln and master
bedrooms. His distinctive hand-printed
designs, available only to the design
trade, are carried in 14 showrooms across
the country.
ethel clark smith ’27 (Interior Design).
During her extraordinary 70-year career in
interior design, Smith (with Betty Sherrill
’51, above) created rooms in the White
House, the Ritz Carlton in Boston, and the
Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck,
New York. After studying at the New York
School of Fine and Applied Arts (now
Parsons), Smith worked under the direc-
tion of Eleanor Brown (’20), the legendary
founder of McMillen, Inc. Among Smith’s
clients were Douglas Dillon, George
Abbott, Mrs. Joseph P. Kennedy, Doris
Duke, and Marshall Field.
hillary vermont ’72 (AAS) has her own
manufacturing business, Tic Toc Rocks, in
Sante Fe, New Mexico. Inspired by the
beauty of the Southwest, Vermont etches
rocks with ancient motifs and her own
designs, transforming them into afford-
able home accessories including clocks,
coasters, and tables. Previously she
worked for ten years in advertising at large
agencies and CBS Records and then start-
ed her own graphic licensing business,
Hillary Vermont Designs, whose licensees
include MoMA, the Metropolitan Opera,
and the Smithsonian. Contact her via
email at hillaryvermont@hotmail.com,
and visit www.tictocrocks.com and www.
oakcreekprintworks.com/artistprofiles/
hillaryvermont.
ILLUSTRATION
michael chesworth ’86 is a children’s
book illustrator. His most recent work,
Inventor McGregor, follows Rainy Day
Dream (1992), Archibald Frisby (1994) and
Alphaboat (2002), all published by Farrar
Straus & Giroux. For more information,
visit www.crashbangboom.com.
joseph dunn ’01 writes a comic series
about “crappy movies” titled Joe Loves
Crappy Movies. It has been published for
the past year online at www.digital
pimponline.com.
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INTERIOR DESIgN
charles rutherford ’51 was elected
Life Member of the Interior Designers
Guild, the oldest interior designers group
in Texas.
zoya bograd ’87 and scott sanders
’98 participated in the 2006 Designer
Showhouse of New Jersey, where more
than 20 professionals collaborated to
“create a masterpiece in interior design
and landscaping for a modern-day man-
sion in Saddle River.”
sheila bridges ’93 is currently embark-
ing on a new Internet venture, www.
thenestmaker.com, to keep design-
conscious consumers privy to notable
interior design trends, products, and
resources. She is an accomplished interi-
or designer, perhaps best known for
designing Bill Clinton’s New York offices.
marina shevelev ’95 is co-creator of the
family-run real estate development com-
pany Princeton Development Associates.
She and her husband, Michael Shevelev,
work together, combining her interior
design skills with his woodworking and
business background to create desirable
homes in the Princeton, New Jersey, area.
anna wolcott ’04 works for Sarah Smith
Interiors, Inc.
PHOTOgRAPHY
gina cassese ’06 is working as a graphic
designer for LiveTechnology, a provider of
marketing communications technology
offering an array of online business solu-
tions. Gina has recently designed an
application for voice-over IP communica-
tions geared toward the online gaming
community.
Image Courtesy of Interior Design magazine
paul siskin ’79 (Interior Design) believes
the substance of space and its ability to
function matter as much as its style, and
all should reflect its inhabitants. He
launched the New York–based interior
design firm Siskin Valls in 1984 and was
ranked among the country’s top 100
designers by both New York and House
Beautiful magazines. He was inducted
into the Interior Design magazine Hall of
Fame in November.
“I try to express what my clients want,”
says Siskin. “But often what they want are
design fantasies. One aspect of my job is
to bring them back to reality about the
way they actually live.”
IN MEMORIAM
florence klotz ’41 died November 1,
2006, at age 86. Six-time Tony award win-
ner Klotz designed some of Broadway’s
most memorable costumes: The beaded
showgirl togs for Follies, the ornate
Japanese robes of Pacific Overtures, and
the iconic webbed dress worn by Chita
Rivera in Kiss of the Spider Woman.
stuart shedletsky (faculty) died on
May 29, 2006, age 62. Shedletsky was a
beloved and influential member of the
Parsons fine arts faculty for more than 30
years. An artist and curator, he has had
work in numerous solo and group exhibi-
tions and is represented in the permanent
collections of the Whitney Museum of
American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and
the Albright Knox Gallery, among others.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, he studied at
Parsons and the University of New Mexico
before receiving his MFA from Yale.
adrienne “adri” steckling-coen ’58
died November 5, 2006. A sportswear
designer known for clean lines and color-
ful patterns, she began in the studios of
designers including Oleg Cassini and
Anne Fogarty and at retailer B.H. Wragge.
She launched her own collection, Adri
Designs, Inc., in 1966, and created lines
under several different labels, including
Collectors Items and Clothes Circuit. In
1976 she opened Adri Studio Limited on
Seventh Avenue, which is now a private
client, buy-and-order-based company run
from Adri’s loft on West 20th Street. The
studio plans to issue a spring collection.
A memorial service was held at Parsons
on February 9.