HALLOWEEN COSTUME CONTEST SHOWCASES CREATIVITY

For Department of Communications Design, Hosting Contest is Tradition

The winners, L-R: Melodi Bozkurt (Industrial Design '12), Most Beautiful Costume, "Lady Gaga"; Lyndsay Schoer (Art Education '13), Most Original Costume, "Six Decks of Cards"; Madison May (Fashion Design '14), Most Beautiful Costume, "Lydia"; Adam Munger (A.A.S. ’10), Scariest Costume, "Corinthian"; Maxwell Cohn (Film '11) and Jaclyn Atkinson (Communications Design '11), Funniest Costume, "Lobster Couple"; Cristalina Delnicola (Art Education '12), Best Mask, "Evil Polar Bear" Pratt students recently celebrated the annual Halloween Costume Contest for the seventh consecutive year. Out of the several hundred attendees, 75 Pratt students paraded their elaborate, inventive costume designs before a panel of nine judges including Communications Design Chair Kathleen Creighton and Assistant Chair Cecilia Almeida. Cash prizes, ranging from $300 to $500 dollars, were awarded in five categories, and a gift certificate was given for the best pumpkin carving. The event was sponsored by the Department of Communications Design in conjunction with the Office of Student Activities, Dean Concetta M. Stewart of the School of Art and Design, and the Prattstore.

Photo: Jeff Winterberg

ART SCHOOL LEADERS FROM CHINA LEARN ABOUT PRATT PROGRAMS

Visiting academic leaders from China meet with Pratt administrators to learn about M.F.A. programs. Sixteen academic leaders from China’s leading universities and art and design schools visited Pratt on October 29 to learn about how arts schools in the United States manage graduate studies, especially M.F.A. programs.

The visiting delegates came from schools across China, including the China Academy of Art, Shandong University of Arts, and Beijing Film Academy. The trip was organized through the China Education Association for International Exchange, a non-profit organization founded by the Chinese government to promote international educational collaboration.

Donna Moran (L), chair of the Department of Fine Arts, guides a tour of a jewelry-making studio. Their visit began with a tour of Pratt’s Brooklyn campus and a visit to the fine arts studios. The delegates were later joined for a roundtable discussion by Provost Peter Barna, Todd Galitz, vice president for Institutional Advancement, Donna Moran, chair of the Department of Fine Arts, Peter Patchen, chair of the Department of Digital Arts, Concetta Stewart, dean of the School of Art and Design, and Associate Provost Marianthi Zikopoulos. The participants exchanged ideas on such topics as degree requirements, student exhibitions and thesis projects, and preparing students for success after graduation. 

Photos: Diana Pau

GOVERNOR-ELECT ANDREW CUOMO VISITS PRATT

Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo held a campaign breakfast at Pratt’s Higgins Hall on October 21 in preparation for the release of his “Urban Agenda” at a press conference at City Hall later in the day.

Among the people who attended were Congressman Edolphus Townes, New York State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, New York City Council Member Letitia James, and New York City Council Member Al Vann.

Photo: Diana Pau

PRATT LAUNCHES 125TH ANNIVERSARY LOGO DESIGN CONTEST

Alumni, Students, Faculty, and Staff Eligible to Enter

Pratt Institute is holding a competition to find the best logo design to mark the Institute's 125th anniversary.

Pratt will be celebrating the occasion with 16 months of events beginning in September 2011 and lasting through December 2012. The winning design will become the official logo for the lectures, exhibitions, and other events and activities taking place in honor of Pratt’s 125th anniversary; it will be used on all anniversary-branded materials such as street banners, invitations, and commemorative products.

 The 125th Anniversary Logo Design Competition runs through January 15, 2011. All alumni, students, faculty, and staff are eligible to enter. Read the design brief and learn how to enter. 

PRATT OPENS NEW STUDIOS FOR M.F.A. CANDIDATES

L-R: The new Flushing Avenue studios; first-year M.F.A. candidate in painting Anna Sorenson The Department of Fine Arts has leased a 10,460-square-foot space near the Brooklyn Navy Yard and turned it into 36 semi-private studios for some of its first-year M.F.A. candidates studying painting and drawing, and a seminar room for classes.

The Institute entered into a five-year lease for one floor of the five-story industrial building at 248 Flushing Avenue between Hall and Ryerson Streets, because of an increase in the number of undergraduate freshmen, as well as M.F.A. candidates, who enrolled at Pratt this year.

Until this school year began, one campus building, Cannoneer Court, offered both residential and studio space. However, due to the increased number of freshmen living on campus, it was converted into an entirely residential space.

The Flushing Avenue space, which is a 10-minute walk from campus, is equipped with wireless Internet and storage racks in common areas as well as individual desks, chairs, and personal file cabinets in each of the studio spaces. As with Pratt’s other studio spaces, students are guaranteed access 24 hours a day, seven days a week on every day of the year except Christmas.

The space in the vicinity of the Brooklyn Navy Yard is in an area quickly being rented by artists and other creative professionals. Many Pratt alumni and faculty work in studios nearby, something Fine Arts Chair Donna Moran says will be beneficial.

“The studios at Flushing Avenue afford our students a professional working environment in close proximity to the flourishing artist’s community that is part of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and its surrounding environs,” says Moran. “The spaces are geared towards the individual while still promoting a healthy atmosphere for peer dialogue.”

There are currently 147 students enrolled in the Graduate Fine Arts program, 68 of whom are first-year students. The program, which emphasizes fine arts disciplines in painting and drawing, printmaking, sculpture, photography, and new forms, was ranked fifteenth in the nation according to U.S. News & World Report in its 2009 guide to America’s Best Graduate Schools.

Meantime, in Manhattan, Pratt also opened a new, 10,000-square-foot facility at 123 West 18th Street that will house 125 student studios, a computer lab, printing facilities, a resource center, and a lecture and seminar room for its Graduate Communications and Package Design Department in anticipation of its new M.F.A. degree program that will be offered starting in fall 2011.

Photos: Amy Aronoff