ARTIST JEAN SHIN COLLECTS MEMORIES FOR ALUMNI DAY

Pratt faculty and staff reacquainted 400 alumni with campus life on September 29 with a full day of exhibitions, lectures, departmental presentations, walking tours, and reunion luncheons.

The first-ever Alumni Art & Design Fair was one of the highlights of Alumni Day 2012. Nearly 40 alumni participants displayed paintings, jewelry, photography, notecards, and other arts and crafts in booths along Grand Walk. Guests and community members strolled among the offerings, munching on free popcorn as they eyed—and bought—the professional artwork handsomely displayed on tables.

A special event this year was the unveiling of the art installation RECALL in the lobby of the Pratt Library on the Brooklyn campus. Commissioned for Pratt’s 125th Anniversary and executed by faculty member and alumna Jean Shin (B.F.A. ’94, M.S. ’96), RECALL is a repository of memorabilia contributed by numerous Pratt alumni.

The library’s Neo-Romanesque lobby provided an impressive setting for RECALL, Shin’s stacked arrangement of black file cabinets containing the memory objects of hundreds of alumni. Written statements adorned a “wall of memory” along the back of the cabinets.

“It was a long process,” Shin told the assembled alumni, “encouraging you to share what you remember,” yet it resulted in a modern-day “cabinet of curiosities—a way for people to recall the memories they have of Pratt, and to create what is truly a place of memory for Pratt students,” who may add their messages on the back. RECALL will remain on display in the library through December 21.

“We had no idea what you’d come up with,” said Vice President for Institutional Advancement Todd Galitz at the unveiling, “but it’s wonderful to see art in the library.” Galitz explained that RECALL is intended to “engage alumni in a unique way” and urged the gathering to “feel free to explore the work” by opening the drawers and discovering the memory items within.

Making new friends and revisiting old ones is an important part of Alumni Day. Convivial get-togethers such as the 50th+ Reunion Lunch entertained 70 alumni, while the 25th Reunion Lunch brought together 50 alumni. The day ended with a 125th Anniversary Cocktail Celebration, which left everyone in high spirits. 

Text: Adrienne Gyongy
Video: Jonathan Weitz