About Gateway

Gateway was the community newsletter of Pratt Institute published monthly by the Office of Communications, in the Division of Institutional Advancement through spring 2014. For current Pratt-related news, visit the News page on Pratt’s website.


Archives
Friday
Feb152013

PAINTING STUDENTS FIND THEIR FOOTING

On Friday, one week after the fire, the Institute’s student-run Painting Club, a group established in 2010 to foster a supportive artistic community, assembled for its monthly meeting in temporary space in the first floor M.F.A. galleries in Steuben Hall. While closer quarters in contrast to Main Building’s 6th-floor studios, impressive work already lined the walls including self-portraits for Professor Joseph Smith’s drawing class and vivid canvases slathered with donated paints almost in defiance of the flames. One student even painted images of the fire in a cathartic gesture.

Senior painting student Matt Black is getting back to work in short-term studio space in Steuben Hall.The meeting was led by senior and Painting Club President Matt Black, who sat in front of his own precinct of the ad hoc studio with the motto “Work Will Set You Free.” Black sees it as “a reminder to not fear hard work and to realize that my labor will produce something greater than the work that was put into it,” he explained.

“I wrote the same quote on my drawing desk in the 6th floor studio on the first day of class last semester,” he said. “I wrote it because I knew I would be working more than I have ever before this year and needed to remind myself of the benefits of working and dangers of laboring in futile pursuits.” Of course, now it is imbued with another layer of meaning.

As the dozen or so members of the Painting Club assembled, they talked about the new studios the Institute was building for them in the ARC Building. “The 6th floor wasn’t great, but we loved it,” remarked one student of the old space with its irregularly-sized warren of studios. “Maybe we will love the new space.”

“Home is where you make it,” reminded Professor Shirley Kaneda, the painting coordinator. While new studio space cannot bring back their lost work and the fact that they won’t have their solo thesis shows, Professor Kaneda reminded the students that the administration was trying to plan a group show of work.

Black shared the encouraging news that, in a gesture of solidarity, their fellow seniors at Parsons The New School for Design had invited them to be part of a joint show in March, where Pratt students could show their work—what they are able to create in that short time, be they mono-prints, small drawings, or paintings—together with Parsons seniors. The work of Parsons students in the Fine Arts, Illustration, and Photography programs would be offered for sale, with all proceeds going to the Pratt Institute Main Recovery Fund to assist students in the Department of Fine Arts who were affected by the recent fire.

Painting senior Susan Luss is one of a number of students getting back up to speed with donated art supplies.Throughout the meeting, seniors and affected underclassmen came into the gallery toting their new art supplies, provided by several art supply companies as well as the Institute in the form of gift cards.

For both students and faculty, it is clear that there is no one way all are coping with their loss, but for most it is an emotional experience. “Feelings must have their say if they are to be used in a positive way later on, and this is especially so for highly creative people,” said Catherine Redmond, an adjunct associate professor who teaches seniors painting. “The remarkable thing about artists is that their heightened sensitivity and ability to be vulnerable enough to create with abandon is coupled with their tremendous capacity to endure.”

“This is especially so in painting, where they follow a calling that guarantees nothing monetarily. It takes tremendous drive in a money-driven culture to be brave enough to pursue one’s dreams,” Redmond explained the students' feelings. “Listening to each other with mutual respect is the platform for their repair.”

Many of the seniors’ work focused on memory. Memories of a culture and family in a different country. Memory of a vibrant landscape that whooshed by on a morning run. Along with these memories comes the emotion of that experience. And now these memories have another layer of meaning and emotion.
While the students who lost work are coping differently, many, including senior Sally Novak, are finding art-making cathartic
Student Elina Ansary, whose photorealistic work focused on resurrecting past moments in objects, was initially at an utter loss. “My work is based a lot on personal experience, so losing all my memories and physical evidence of what I’ve been doing definitely has an effect on the way I think about what I do,” she said.

Adjunct Professor Dennis Masback holds to a positive outlook on the devastation. The day of the fire he told the New York Times: “I’m here to tell my students that even though all the work no longer exists, all the time, and the effort, and what they learned making the works still exists, and nothing, not even a fire, can take that away.”

Text: Bay Brown

Photos: Kevin Wick

References (29)

References allow you to track sources for this article, as well as articles that were written in response to this article.
  • Response
    Gateway - Top Stories - PAINTING STUDENTS FIND THEIR FOOTING
  • Response
  • Response
    Gateway - Top Stories - PAINTING STUDENTS FIND THEIR FOOTING
  • Response
    Response: web marketing
    Gateway - Top Stories - PAINTING STUDENTS FIND THEIR FOOTING
  • Response
    Gateway - Top Stories - PAINTING STUDENTS FIND THEIR FOOTING
  • Response
    Response: Pick 6 Leak Proof
    Gateway - Top Stories - PAINTING STUDENTS FIND THEIR FOOTING
  • Response
    Response: morning coffee
    Gateway - Top Stories - PAINTING STUDENTS FIND THEIR FOOTING
  • Response
    Response: Church Staffing
    Gateway - Top Stories - PAINTING STUDENTS FIND THEIR FOOTING
  • Response
    Gateway - Top Stories - PAINTING STUDENTS FIND THEIR FOOTING
  • Response
    Response: my review here
    Gateway - Top Stories - PAINTING STUDENTS FIND THEIR FOOTING
  • Response
    Response: 阜阳唐谦
    Sub-headline: Golden Age Games International Group Ltd. or GAG Group 阜阳唐谦 introduces the virtual currency, G coin. People can use G Coin for enjoying online games and online shopping, besides creating a financial wealth. The popularity of bitcoin is gr
  • Response
    Response: 缇香艺术
    中国证券网讯(记者 严洲)记者10月17日从农业部获悉,农业部开展了2014年中国最美休闲乡村和中国美丽田园推介活动。经过地 网上哪里 方推荐、专家评审和网上公示等程序, 迪士尼儿 网上哪里,认定北京市密云县干峪沟村等100个村为2014年中国最美休闲乡村,迪士尼儿,北京市密云县蔡家洼玫瑰花景观等140项农事景观为2014年中国美丽田园。   根据名单显示,中国最美休闲乡村分为特色民居村(29个)、特色民俗村(22个)、现代新村(28个)、历史古村(21个)等4大类。   中国美丽田园则分为,油菜花
  • Response
    Gateway - Top Stories - PAINTING STUDENTS FIND THEIR FOOTING
  • Response
    Gateway - Top Stories - PAINTING STUDENTS FIND THEIR FOOTING
  • Response
  • Response
    Response: 防腐扑洞
      接上      @小呆ZX :那个绝密档案的开篇可以不要用宇宙的图像么?人有各种各样的恐惧症,宇宙恐惧症的队伍是比较庞大的……看得我心脏病快发了 烟塔新建 。   回复by龙吟:不好意思,以后 ​中 我们会注意的。         @chenxiaying126 :对26期想说的一些话:主题起得好,整个节目都围绕主题展开。主持人的服装由谁提供,赞助等,在片尾可以体现下,作为对服装设计的工作人员的表扬。前半部分回顾天涯一周的帖子的报道选择很不错,都是必须谴责的对象,特别是哈药 人大裸模苏 六厂那个,最讨厌了,烟塔新
  • Response
  • Response
    Response: Grimm Box Set 1-3
    1984-1 Devious Maids Season 3 new dvd releases 990 so I went to the store to buy and Zhang Xi radio,Devious Maids Season Boardwalk Empire 3 new dvd releases,after a long Women's sexual and emotional narrative from the perspective of women. Meanwhile director Guillermo del Toro says.or like a ...
  • Response
    Response: 广州桑拿网
    ,番禺桑拿 关于“QQ游戏启动客户端失败”的解决方案 2008年11月27日 星期四 07:3 番禺桑拿 5 可以进入QQ游戏,番禺桑拿论坛,也可以登入到房间,但却不能坐到桌子上! 番禺桑拿论坛 一坐上去就提示“打开游戏客户端失败,如果由于此问题而不能进行游戏,请尝试重新XX游戏”之类的,越秀桑拿。 下面是一些解决方法。 错误图片: ...
  • Response
  • Response
    Whatsapp has become a senstional messenger app for smartphones.Worldwide wide millions of people are using whatsapp messenger for sending free text messages, images and videos.The WhatsApp download for Samsung is completely free! You can directly start downloading without paying anything.
  • Response
    R.S Aggarwal Quantitative Aptitude pdf is good for the quantitative aptitude. Nowadays aptitude is very much useful for the compitive examination. The book provides the fantastic explanations in each and every topic of aptitude.
  • Response
    Response: pseb 10th result
    Check PSEB result- PSEB10th result- PSEB12th class result online and all other information about PSEB 10th and 12th examinations.
  • Response
    SSLC results 2016. Check SSLC exam results online. Karnataka SSLC results, TamillnaduTN SSLC examinations results 2016
  • Response
    Response: hsc result 2016
    Check CBSE 10th class results- cbse 10th results 2016 and all other information about CBSE examinations.
  • Response
    Pride and Prejudice is story between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, which is so touching and magical. It is a unique, fun and romantic with the charm of Jane Austen.
  • Response
    Whatsapp has become a senstional messenger app for smartphones.Worldwide around 300 million people are using whatsapp messenger for sending free text messages, images and videos.
  • Response
  • Response
    Response: UK Visit Visa

Reader Comments (3)

Hello Pratt! - I come to you all from the distant past—I graduated from Pratt in 1977 (BFA Communications Design). Please pardon my belated response, but reaching the present from 1977, and earlier, takes a bit of time.

Seeing the resiliency and strength of Pratt and its students in the face of this terrible loss is as heartening as the news of the loss was shocking. I painted, drew, and made prints in that beautiful old building for four years, so the flood of memories that came with the news of the fire was intense.

I have an idea—although some public health law may be an impediment to its implementation—Make an oil-based paint from the fire ashes, tube it up, and sell it (or give it) to the students so that the ashes can speak to the past and the future in images.

As for the name of the color: Perhaps "Post-Prattpocalypse Grey" or—more forward-looking—how about "Phoenix Grey"?

Go forth and make Art, my friends.

Matt Kiffin
Seattle, WA
March 6, 2013 | Unregistered Commentermatt kiffin
As a Pratt alumni, I deeply empathize with the student artists at Pratt and wish them much luck in rebuilding. However, I was puzzled by painting class president Matt Black's motto "work will set you free." Is he aware that this precise phrase "Arbet macht frei" was inscribed at the entrance to Auschwitz, the Concentration camp that the German's used to gas millions to death? They used this infamous phrase to get the victims to think they were entering a work camp and then annihilated them.
April 15, 2013 | Unregistered CommenterGrace Deitel
I am indeed aware that this phrase was inscribed on the gates Auschwitz, and I am also aware of it's grim significance. At the beginning of the school year I wrote that phrase on my drawing desk in the 5th studios so I could see it as I was working every day. It encapsulated the feelings I had toward being school. It was really an effort to remind myself that hard work and persistence can lead to great things but also to beware having my labor taken advantage of by an institutions or anyone else. It was not my intent to offend anyone, and I write messages on my studio walls as symbolic reminders. I don't think that the weight of the phrase is something to run from, I think it should be embraced, lived with, meditated upon, understood.
June 12, 2013 | Unregistered Commentermatt black

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
All HTML will be escaped. Hyperlinks will be created for URLs automatically.