Visual Arts Briefs

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.

On May 16, the BFA Advertising and Graphic Design Department hosted “The Year of the Rabbit Short Film Festival,” a screening of original works by 15 students completing a year-long course with award-winning director and longtime faculty member Bob Giraldi, who also chairs the MPS Live Action Short Film Department. Taking on subjects from Internet dating and sexual abuse to the immigrant experience and adoption, the films played to a full auditorium at the SVA Theatre. Nina LoSchiavo, whose film “La Mia Famiglia” is a coming out drama that unfolds over dinner with a suburban Italian-American family, filed this dispatch about the experience of making it.

Bob Giraldi’s “The Project” course gives advertising and graphic design students the opportunity to create a live action short film, exposing students to, what is for them, an entirely new method of visual storytelling. Bob swore at the beginning of the semester that with the proper dedication to our film, it would change our lives. On behalf of myself and my classmates, I can say that that turned out to be quite the understatement.

“The Project” gave me the opportunity not only to write a screenplay, but to work with highly experienced professionals to execute that vision. In fact, the most overwhelming and most rewarding part of the experience was working with the actors and crew. Hiring a group of talented individuals who are pursuing careers in the film business gave me a brief look into the lives of people I would never have had the opportunity to meet otherwise. Standing on set, I was surrounded by 20 people who were passionate about their work, and who took a moment out of their lives to help me do my ‘homework.’ At times like that, the value of the experience exceeded the goal.

Image: Nina LoSchiavo, still from La Mia Famiglia.

A packed audience at the SVA Theatre gathered to see the work of the inaugural graduating class of the MPS Live Action Short Film Department at its first film festival, “A Coupla Quickies: An Evening of Short Films About New York.” Actor Danny Aiello, writer Pete Hamill and film festival director Doug LeClaire were among the viewers who came to check out the new filmmakers’ work. Department Chair Bob Giraldi introduced the 16 short films that were screened.

The festival judges selected Ryan Kwon’s film Bittersweet Life to take the top prize. The film tells the story of a homeless man who continually interrupts a businessman during his repeated attempts to commit suicide. Second prize was awarded to Ed Caban for his film Friends & Strangers, about a lonely old man who invites a woman he meets at a bar to attend a holiday dinner with his family.

Doug LeClaire, founder and director of the NY Short Film Concert, New York City’s longest running short film exhibition, plans to screen selected films from the festival in an upcoming program.

Image: Ryan Kwon, still from Bittersweet Life

The inaugural class of the MPS Live Action Short Film Department will present its first film festival, “A Coupla Quickies: An Evening of Short Films About New York” at the SVA Theatre on Saturday, May 14 at 6pm. In advance of the screening, the Briefs sat down with student Ed Caban to hear about his experience in the program.

What drew you to this program?

Firstly, having the chance to work with Bob Giraldi. He’s a legend. Also, I think the fact that it’s production-oriented and geared toward working professionals. I’m a vice-principal at an all-boys high school in the South Bronx.

Has what you learned at SVA impacted your professional life?

Absolutely. I teach media arts at the high school – it’s a program I began there several years ago. I’ve got a passion for storytelling and I want my students to be able to use technology to tell their own stories. I want them to be able to be both competitive and creative in a 21st-century economy.

Tell us a little bit about your film:

In a nutshell, my film is about two lonely people who meet at time in which both are reflecting on their lives and their life choices. But really it’s about how sometimes the people who are supposed to look out for you can actually be more like strangers, and strangers can be turn out to be friends. It’s about how friendship can come from the oddest of places. It centers on what happens during a family gathering when the grandfather, a lonely widower, brings home a new guest for the holidays. My initial tag line for the film was ‘no one took Grandpa seriously until he brought home a prostitute.’ While the final version retains some humorous elements, it definitely became more of a human drama the more I worked on it. I was inspired and motivated to move outside of my comfort zone.

What are some of the challenges of working in the short film form?

It can be a hard process to condense heavy thoughts down to a few minutes and to give emotion to a piece, enough so that the audience can come to care about the characters in a short time span and get immersed in their lives. It’s also tough to achieve closure in less than 12 minutes, but we spent lots of time talking about this in class and Bob gave me great advice. He really kept me on the right track during this whole new experience.

Image: Ed Caban, still from Friends and Strangers

Over the course of five days in May, the BFA Film, Video and Animation Department will present the 22nd Annual Dusty Film and Animation Festival. The Dustys highlights over 100 films by students graduating from the department, including screenings of short films, videos and animations; in addition, this year’s Screenwriters Night is a collaboration with Susan Batson Studio, featuring SVA graduating screenwriters’ selected scenes performed live by professional actors. The festival culminates in a gala awards ceremony with notables from the film and animation industries presenting awards to students selected for their exemplary work. This year’s presenters include animator and alumnus Aaron Augenblick (BFA 1997 Animation), director/actor Edward Burns, director Doug Liman and Academy Award-winning sound mixer and faculty member Chris Newman.

The 2011 Dustys takes place May 6 – 10 at the SVA Theatre, 333 West 23 Street: screenings: May 6 – 9; Screenwriters Night: Saturday, May 7, 6:30pm; animation screenings: Sunday, May 8, 7 – 11:30pm; awards ceremony: Tuesday, May 10, 6:30pm. Screenings are free and open to the public, but an RSVP is required for Screenwriters Night and the awards ceremony. For  inquiries regarding tickets, please contact 212.592.2124, and visit sva.edu/dusty for more festival information.

On Thursday, May 5, the MFA Interaction Design is hosting its inaugural Open IxD event, showcasing the thesis work of the department’s first graduating class of students. The day-long festival at the SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd Street, will feature multimedia presentations of narrative and interactive projects, with working project prototypes on display in the theater lobby.

The program includes a morning welcome from Department Chair Liz Danzico and faculty members Jennifer Bove and Paul Pangaro; keynote addresses from comics theorist Scott McCloud and designer Marc Rettig; and four themed groups of student presentations: Discovery, Connections, Mindfulness and Play.

For more information in Open IxD, visit the department’s Web site; to RSVP for the free event, click here.

On Wednesday, April 20, students, alumni and faculty joined with business and design leaders to participate in Ideopolis: The 2011 MFA Design Thesis Forum. Held at the SVA Theatre, members of the MFA Design Department’s graduating class showed their thesis work in lively presentations. The 20 entrepreneurial products, campaigns and services showcased a wide range of interests and concerns.

Some project highlights included WeDo by Wes Gott, a Web-based calendar application that connects users online and encourages them to participate in cultural activities offline; Fuzz Bucket by Jennie Glaser, a traveling yarn shop and community knitting project; Seize Your Power Days by Lydia Reynolds, a campaign and Web site created to empower young adult women through basic knowledge about their bodies; Milestones by Andy Sir, a desktop accessory that manages, organizes and stores digital assets including images, videos and music; Arlequin by Jules Tardy, an online channel that promotes alternative European culture; and ROWAN by Lauren Wolff, a clothing line for young adults with tactile sensitivity, a common symptom for people on the autism spectrum.

Hosted by MFA Design Department Co-chairs Steven Heller and Lita Talarico, the forum concluded with an poignant endnote by faculty member Scott Stowell that stressed the importance of being “loud and clear” in not only your design practice, but in all methods of communication about your work and your passions; Stowell noted that the day was filled with great examples of this philosophy from all 20 graduating students. To see more images from Ideopolis, visit our Facebook gallery and the MFA Design Department blog.

The students’ work will be on view at the Visual Arts Gallery (601 West 26th Street, 15th floor) as part of  “Ideopolis,” the exhibition, through May 14. There is a reception on Thursday, May 5,  6 – 8pm.

Images: (top) Lita Talarico and Steven Heller at Ideopolis, photo by Esther Ro-Schofield; (bottom) MFA Design Department students at Ideopolis, photo by John Wyszniewski.

Ideopolis Promo from SVA MFADesign on Vimeo.

Roadie, the new feature film directed by alumnus Michael Cuesta (BFA 1985 Photography) is part of the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. The story of a burnt-out rock and roll roadie Jimmy (played by Ron Eldard), who returns to his childhood home in Queens, is screening at the SVA Theatre on Saturday, April 23, 9pm; at the AMC Loews Village on Tuesday, April 26, 4pm; and at the Clearview Cinemas Chelsea on Thursday, April 28, 10.30pm, and Saturday, April 30, 3.30pm.

For more information on Roadie, visit the Tribeca “Faces of the Festival” Q&A with Cuesta and read the recent Daily News feature.

Few sports rivalries can match that of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier (a.k.a., “Smokin’ Joe”), a former Olympic and world-champion boxer whose career is the subject of a new feature-length documentary. On Thursday, May 5, the BFA Film, Video and Animation Department is hosting a sneak preview of Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears with the boxing legend as guest of honor. Alumnus Quenell Jones (BFA 2003 Film and Video), the film’s director of photography, will be joined by two of his fellow filmmakers for a post-screening discussion.

Through interviews with Frazier, his son Marvis, former Ali trainer Angelo Dundee, and former heavyweight champions George Forman and Larry Holmes, among others, Joe Frazier: When the Smoke Clears tells the story of a father and a businessman whose gym became a sanctuary of sorts for his community. Adding to the sense of history surrounding the project, 2011 marks the 40th anniversary of “The Fight of the Century,” the first boxing match between Frazier and Ali, as it was dubbed by media of the day. Sports writers continue to debate whether it was the greatest sporting event of all time, and LIFE magazine recently published never-before-seen photographs of the match-up.

The screening takes place Thursday, May 5, 7pm, at the SVA Theatre, 333 West 23 Street. RSVP by Thursday, April 28, to quenelljones@mac.com.

Three visual effects maestros who are all alumni of the BFA Computer Art, Computer Animation and Visual Effects Department are returning to SVA to take movie fans behind the scenes of recent action and sci-fi blockbusters 300, Skyline and Battle: Los Angeles. In a program entitled Creatures, Gore and How We Destroyed Los Angeles, Jeremy Butler (BFA 1999 Computer Art), Joshua Cordes (BFA 1997 Computer Art) and Joel Sevilla (BFA 1999 Computer Art) will show clips of projects they’ve worked on and take questions from the audience.

Moderated by Department Chair John McIntosh, the event takes place Tuesday, April 19, 7pm, at the SVA Theatre, 333 West 23rd Street. Admission is free and open to the public.

Image: Jeremy Butler, Joshua Cordes and Joel Sevilla.