Unconventional Advertising instructor Frank Anselmo (BFA Advertising and Graphic Design Department) has come up with a fitting tribute to one of the greatest innovators off all time. Through his company KNARF®, Anselmo has created The Steve Jobs Moment of Silence, a music track that offers eight seconds of silence in memory of the late co-founder and CEO of Apple. The track is available through iTunes for $0.99, and all proceeds go toward the research of pancreatic cancer, the disease that took Jobs’ life a few months ago.
Anselmo created the The Steve Jobs Moment of Silence with current BFA Advertising and Graphic Design student Hyui Yong Kim and former SVA exchange student Bryan Wolff Schoemaker. “It’s rare to produce an idea you love—dedicated to someone you admire—designed to help people,” said Anselmo. “This idea is more rewarding than anything I’ve ever produced since it was produced entirely by my company KNARF® by just a few pair of hands doing everything.”
For more information about the track and a demonstration of how it works, watch the video below. To download it to your iTunes library, click here.
The Golden Ass of Lucius Apuleius (David R. Godine, Inc. 2011), story by M.D. Usher and illustrations by BFA Illustration and Cartooning faculty member Tom Motley: Adapted for children by Usher, this classic tale centers on the misadventures of a young man obsessed with magic who mistakenly turns himself into a donkey. According to the publisher, “Motley’s lively, thoroughly contemporary drawings capture the boisterous, see-sawing plot, while wittily quoting any number of graphic predecessors.”
Orcs: Forged for War (First Second 2011), story by Stan Nicholls and illustrations by Joe Flood (BFA 2002 Illustration and Cartooning): Through highly detailed drawings, Flood brings to life the brutal warrior orcs that inhabit the fantasy landscape of Nicholls’ graphic novel, which has drawn comparisons to Frank Miller’s 300.
Life Dressing: The Idiosyncratic Fashionistas (self published, 2011) by current MFA Illustration as Visual Essay student Joana Avillez: As part of a semester-long project at SVA, Avillez focused her attention and cartooning skills on style icons The Idiosyncratic Fashionistas, whose motto is “Growing Old with Verve.” The result is Life Dressing, an illustrated book that chronicles the adventures of the art-loving duo.
Just in time for the holidays, the 2011 Degenerate Craft Fair arrives to prove that quality, creative gifts don’t have to be expensive. Taking place on Saturday, December 10 from noon to 9pm and Sunday, December 11 from noon to 6pm at 159 Bleecker Street in New York City, the third annual event features works by over 75 artists and designers, including DCF founders Amy Wilson (faculty member BFA Visual and Critical Studies Department) and Shannon Broder (BFA 2011 Visual and Critical Studies), as well as several SVA students, faculty members, and alumni.
Most of the wares available at the Degenerate Craft Fair are priced under $50, and run the gamut from knitwear, handmade jewelry and ornaments to original paintings, sculptures, and artist books. The fair’s opening night reception from 6 – 9pm on Saturday features live music and free Brooklyn Brewery beer for those of age, and on Sunday, the first 50 visitors receive a tote bag full of goodies. For more information about the DCF and a full list of participating exhibitors and artists, visit the Degenerate Craft Fair Web site.
SVA and the BFA Illustration and Cartooning Department have forged into pioneering new territory with the launch of INK, the world’s first 100% student-run, exclusively digital comics publication, available as a free iPad app at iTunes. INK aims to focus primarily on showcasing the work of students from across SVA’s comics community alongside alumni and faculty, but also hopes to provide students with the real-world experience of publishing their work professionally.
The inaugural Fall issue of INK (now available), edited by Amedeo Turturro and Trent Thompson, features faculty members Joey Cavalieri, Klaus Jansen, and Nick Bertozzi, as well as student contributions from Eric Arroyo, Ian Bertram, Pablo Castro, Kat Fajardo, Jose Feliciano, Pierce Hargan, Lucretia Hoagland and Mike Luckas.
For more information, visit www.sva-ink.com; To download the current issue for free, visit iTunes.
SVA Launches INK, the World’s First Student-Run Digital Comics Magazine
SVA and the BFA Cartooning department have forged into pioneering new territory with the launch of INK, the world’s first 100% student-run, exclusively digital comics publication, available as a free iPad app at iTunes. INK aims to focus primarily on showcasing the work of students from across SVA’s comics community alongside alumni and faculty, and also hopes to provide students with the real-world experience of publishing their work professionally.
The inaugural Fall issue of INK (available now) was edited by Amedeo Turturro and Trent Thompon and features current faculty members Joey Cavalieri, Klaus Jansen, and Nick Bertozzi, as well as student contributions from Eric Arroyo, Ian Bertram, Pablo Castro, Kat Fajardo, Jose Feliciano, Pierce Hargan, Lucretia Hoagland, and Mike Luckas.
Join students in the MFA Design Criticism Department on Wednesday, November 16 at 6pm at the Bumble and Bumble Theater (415 West 13 Street, New York City) as they celebrate the release of their D-Crit Chapbook #2: Dress. The second installment of this series turns a humorous eye on the fashion choices of public figures in the world of pop culture. Alan Rapp ponders Metallica frontman James Hetfield’s “bogus descent to Armani-toting sellout,” while Stephanie Jönsson critiques the wardrobe of Pope Benedict XVI. Eleven essays in all, with illustrations by Peter Arkle. Below is an excerpt from “Dora the Explorer” by Saundra Marcel:
. . . One great thing about fictional characters is that they never have to grow up. Real-life pop princess Miley Cyrus, at age 18, faces the battle of balancing her emerging sexuality (and drug experimentation) with her girl-next-door image, but cartoon-animated Dora won’t ever have to reveal womanly curves. She can imperviously continue to solve puzzles and overcome obstacles in a happy-go-lucky fabricated world.
But we should have known a makeover was around the corner. After 10 years of success as a positive role model for young girls, the squeaky-clean explorer has adopted a controversial new image. In December 2009, Mattel launched a toy called Dora Links, a plastic 12-inch-tall doll controlled by . . .
To order a copy of D-Crit Chapbook #2: Dress, click here.
In conjunction with the retrospective exhibition of his work, “The Masters Series: Edward Sorel” (on view at the Visual Arts Gallery, 601 West 26 Street, 15th floor, through Saturday, November 5), the acclaimed illustrator and political satirist recently spoke to an audience at the SVA Theatre about his decades-long career. Interviewed by artist James McMullan, Sorel discussed the influences and inspirations that helped shape his signature style as well as his career struggles and achievements—sharing anecdotes about his experiences working with some of the nation’s most notable art directors and offering advice for advice for emerging illustrators.
The conversation is now a part of the College’s iTunes U archive, available through Apple’s iTunes software (free download here), along with other video and audio recordings from SVA events and programs. To see Edward Sorel in conversation with James McMullan, click here. And to view some of the more than 300 works by Sorel included in the current exhibition, visit SVA.edu.
Image: Edward Sorel (right) with James McMullan. Photo by Keri Murawski.
After completing studies in the MFA Illustration as Visual Essay Department in 2009, Russ Spitkovsky, Kristy Caldwell, Ray Jones, Matt Barteluce, and Christopher Darling sought to create a platform where artists, writers, designers, and illustrators could have full creative control but still participate in the commercial art market. The result is Carrier Pigeon, a quarterly journal of illustrated fiction and fine art that challenges the idea that there is a hierarchy among artistic disciplines. Each issue contains six sinister tales of short fiction along with six forward-looking artist portfolios. The main aim of the project is to create a publication that is also a stand-alone work of art.
Issue 4 (now available) features an eye-catching cover design by BFA Fine Arts Department faculty member Bruce Waldman. Kristy Caldwell captures the mood of an artfully crafted monologue with her clever brush and ink drawings, while artist Rachel Allison (MFA 2009 Illustration as Visual Essay) locates the essence of “discovery” in a story about reconciliation through her intimate illustrations that read like environmental snapshots. Editor-in-chief Russ Spitkovsky adds some poetic musings about sleeping and dreaming in outer space, complimented by Matt Barteluce’s playfully whimsical images. Plus much more.
For more information about Carrier Pigeon and to preview the latest issue, visit www.carrierpigeonmag.com.
The latest edition of SVA’s bi-annual Visual Arts Journal is now available online, and among the many highlights are:
>>An exclusive interview with Joe Quesada (BFA 1984 Media Arts), chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment, who talks about how he first fell in love with comics, the challenges of translating popular characters from one medium to another, why he never gets tired of drawing Spider-Man, and much more.
Arts and culture blog Flavorwire recently compiled their list of “10 Disturbingly Brilliant Graphic Novels,” and the authors of three of those books are members of the SVA community: Art Spiegelman (faculty 1979 – 1986), Dash Shaw (BFA 2005 Illustration), and current BFA Illustration and Cartooning Department faculty member David Mazzucchelli. Here’s what Flavorwire’s Emily Temple had to say about their work.
Maus by Art Spiegelman: Based on the life of Art Spiegelman’s father, Vladek Spiegelman (who was a Polish Jew), the Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus is an unforgettable tale of one family’s survival of the Holocaust. Vladek Spiegelman’s “harrowing story is made both more accessible and more frightening” by his son’s illustrations, “which figure the Jews as mice and the Germans as Cats, a way of illuminating the absurdity of cut and dry racial distinctions. The book is deeply touching, deeply scary, and a must-read.”
BodyWorld by Dash Shaw: This futuristic story about a seemingly perfect suburban town with a serious drug problem bubbling beneath its surface unfolds when a smokable plant is discovered that allows users to inhabit each other’s minds and bodies. “But trust us, however weird that sounds to you, BodyWorld is weirder. Shaw’s pared-down style, white characters walking through a colored world, supports his crazy storytelling style, and we only hope we keep seeing more from him.”
Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli: This “modernist opus” proves that “Mazzucchelli’s brilliance is in the deftness in which he exploits style as content, manipulating his beautiful blue, pink, and purple illustrations to show what they mean.” Case in point: The “staunchly unemotional Asterios,” who holds firm to the opinion that anything lacking function is merely decorative, “boasts a 2-D head when talking to his fully formed (and emotionally complex) ex-wife.”
MPS Branding Department Chair Debbie Millman has just released a thought-provoking new book. In Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits, Millman interviews 22 of today’s sharpest minds in marketing, design, and culture—such as Malcolm Gladwell, Daniel Pink, Brian Collins, and Seth Godin—on topics ranging from the overuse of the word “branding” itself to the effectiveness of market research, and much more. Here are some responses to Brand Thinking so far.
As if “serving as AIGA’s president, running the world’s most listened-to podcast about design, working as a Chair at the SVA, and being the president of Sterling Brands” weren’t enough, said Steve Delahoyde at Mediabistro’s UnBeige blog, now Debbie Millman delivers Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits. We “have been fans of Millman’s for years,” and this book “seems like almost necessary reading and is sure to be great.”
“I am ordering my copy right now,” said Swiss Miss. Each interview in Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits “cuts through all the empty jargon and buzzwords to expose the underpinnings of how people respond to the ideas of designers, and how the best brands open avenues for cultural change in our daily lives—whether we’re aware of it or not.”
The word “brand” is “a challenge to define in our hyper-consumer economy: marketing differentiator, manipulative sales tool, creative triumph, all of the above,” said Graphic Design USA. But “Debbie Millman tackles the issue, or rather elevates the discussion, with Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits.”
To read Millman’s interview with Stanley Hiansworth from Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits, visit Fast Company.
