Author Archives: creativeoutlook
The Next Level of Collaboration: Art and Technology
By: Anne Canfield
Kansas City Art Institute
Even artists and designers who rely on traditional media are turning more and more to digital technology for purposes ranging from exploration to implementation.
“There are approaches to art practice that involve traditional media, such as paint, pencils, 
charcoal, and sculptural material, and then there are areas of practice and academic programs that rely primarily on digital technology,” said Mark Salmon, Ph.D., vice president for academic affairs at the Kansas City Art Institute. “But today more than ever, artists and designers are using digital technology no matter what kind of media is the centerpiece.”
Salmon said artists and designers who may or may not use digital technology to create work nevertheless use it to document and archive their work, as well as to share the work with the public at large and with colleagues. “They have electronic portfolios, websites and blogs,” he said.
Technology also can play a supporting role when it comes to conceptualization for artists working in traditional media. “Our fiber students and faculty use digital programs when designing fabric,” he said, “and sculpture students make use of 3-D modeling programs to create sketches of what a sculptural object might look like.”
Larry Dickerson, KCAI’s chief information officer and vice president for technology, agreed, stating, “Artists use digital capability in the same ways that scientists and engineers use it: for collaboration, communication and presentation.”
Dickerson said some of the more exciting technological advances include expanded digital capability for everything from creating 3-D movies to being able to digitally create a concept for a painting before ever having to apply brush to canvas or pen to paper.
“Warren Rosser, chair of our painting department, tells me that many of our students use digital tools during the conceptual stage,” Dickerson said. “Students lay out their thoughts on the computer before making an attempt at creating the piece.”
Dickerson said students at KCAI value access to new technology, including Wacom tablets, which are digitally attached to a computer. Using the tablets, students can draw with a digital pen and see work on a monitor.
“These tablets make it possible to capture images as the student works —
images that can be stored and easily retrieved,” Dickerson said. “The student can enhance the work, alter it, take it through stages and show the development of the work to the professor. In this regard, the tablet is very useful as a teaching tool.”
Other advancements in technology include Computer Numerically Controlled (CNC) routers, which, Dickerson said, “can make the creation of artistic conception more efficient and more precise.” He said a new CNC router is now available for KCAI students to use.
“If an artist has a concept of how to carve or cut designs into a piece of wood, it could take days or weeks by hand,” he said. “But if she writes the program that tells the machine what to do, the machine does it — precisely, completely without interference and multiple times as exact copies.”
Art and technology go hand in hand. “Throughout history, technological advances have gotten turned to artistic use pretty quickly,” Salmon said, citing photography as one example, and game design art as another, more recent, example. “It’s no longer debated whether game art is art; it’s accepted in the larger world as a legitimate art form. Like other forms of art, game art is the fruit of the creative imagination.”
To keep their fingers on the pulse of new technology, Salmon and Dickerson attend trade shows that spotlight the newest innovations. These include SIGGRAPH (an acronym for the Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques) and the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) annual conference, which bills itself as “the world’s largest event covering filmed entertainment and the development, management and delivery of content across all mediums.”
Dickerson noted artists and designers can also pick up a lot of information on the Internet, including demonstrations by artists and designers showing new ways they are using technology to create work.
“Artists today are sharing things they could never share before,” he said. “The important thing to remember is that technology is the servant of the artist or designer. The artist is the one who has to have the creative concept, the one who envisions the artistic product. I understand what Picasso meant when he said, ‘Computers are useless; they can only give you answers.’ It’s up to the artist and designer to ask the important questions.” ■
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Continuing to Move Toward Sustainability and Preservation
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. Sustainability embodies stewardship and design with nature. Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historic significance. According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, historic preservation can – and should – be an important component of any effort to promote sustainable development. The conservation and improvement of our existing built resources, including re-use of historic and older buildings, greening the existing building stock, and reinvestment in older and historic communities, is crucial to combating climate change.
Wege Center for Sustainable Design
When the restored old Federal Building opens in 2012, Kendall will have finalized its sustainability plan, the cornerstone of which will be the Wege Center for Sustainable Design, made possible by a $1 million gift from philanthropist Peter Wege. That plan calls for an integrated, whole-systems approach to sustainability
in art and design education, a wholly revamped look at how the college approaches preparing future leaders.
“Over the past year or so, the college has been evaluating and revising its processes and practices relative to sustainability, engaging in an evaluation of its current practices and the potential for enhancing those practices,” said Kendall President Oliver Evans. “The decision to establish a Center for Sustainable Design in the Federal Building has provided a further opportunity to build upon the work. Within an institution dedicated to art and design, a commitment to sustainability must be a part of the academic programs, but its presence in those programs must reflect the college’s entire commitment to sustainability.”
Furniture Design Chair Gayle DeBruyn has helped shepherd the college through the evaluative process on how sustainability fits within the organization. “ It’s a process that started first in the classroom and required buy-in from the students before spreading throughout the organization. The students have pushed Kendall to consider becoming a climate-neutral campus, helped establish baseline metrics for a greenhouse gas inventory from 2009 to 2010, and piloted a test run of Recycle Mania,” DeBruyn said. Because of their efforts, Evans will also sign the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment.
“Oliver has been encouraging me to bring this into the classroom at a student level. It was really quite strategic. We’ve been graciously welcomed to the collegiate community to look at how we might move forward and at our core competencies – the things we bring to the region that are unique in design and fine art – and how we can strengthen what has been done from a collegiate, government and business level,” DeBruyn said.
Ferris State University President David Eisler said, “I can’t see a future for Kendall offering design degrees without sustainability built into it.” Moreover, he 
said he could envision no better embodiment of Kendall’s sustainability aspirations than to renovate and reuse the historic Federal Building.
Kendall will house the Wege Center for Sustainable Design on the fourth floor of the Federal Building, along with the largest Material ConneXion® collection in the state. While plans are still in development, the center will likely feature collaborative space for interdisciplinary design education and hands-on learning, Eisler said.
“Design has been in Kendall’s DNA from day one. It’s always been a part of what Kendall does,” Eisler said. “When you think of the transitions in the Michigan economy, so much of the furniture is no longer manufactured here, but the design skills remain. … That’s where the field is moving. The intent behind the Wege Center for Sustainable Design is to bring sustainability as a core organizing concept for Kendall’s work in the design field.”
Historic Preservation Minor:
Everything Old is New Again
If you believe that historic preservation is little more than keeping old buildings from being torn down, Adjunct Professor Jennifer Metz will set you straight. Metz teaches the classes needed to achieve a minor in Historic Preservation. Introduced to Kendall just seven years ago, the topic has become a favorite of interior design and art history majors.
Yes, it does involve visits to really old and not-so-old buildings – and a lot more. According to Metz, historic preservation seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historic significance. “Preserving national historic landmarks – such as Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home – has been taking place on a national level, but it wasn’t until the devastation of our historic resources during the ‘urban renewal’ of the 1960s that people began to realize the importance of saving more common historic buildings,” she says.
Three classes toward the minor specifically address historic preservation: Introduction to Historic Preservation, Historic Preservation History and Theory, and Historic Preservation Theory and Practice. Throughout the program, students learn how to evaluate buildings and styles; how to conduct archival research into a building’s history; and what makes a building, area, neighborhood or district worthy of preservation. “Age, integrity, architectural type, rarity, and association with certain building trends or historic figures are just some of the criteria,” explains Metz.
“Knowledge of a building’s history makes a huge difference when someone is
deciding how to renovate a building, which, in this economy,
more developers are doing instead of building new.”
Jennifer Metz, Adjunct Professor
Kendall College of Art and Design
Metz is most often asked what one does with a minor in Historic Preservation. “It teaches anyone analytical thought and archival research techniques, and it gives interior designers an edge,” she explains. “Knowledge of a building’s history makes a huge difference when someone is deciding how to renovate a building, which, in this economy, more developers are doing instead of building new. Designers are armed with historically accurate information instead of conjecture and guessing.”
Combining historic preservation with sustainability knowledge elevates an interior designer above his or her peers. “After all,” says Metz, “the highest form of green design is reusing an existing building. Unfortunately, people believe that a historic preservation commission sets down rules that tell owners what they can and cannot do, and makes it expensive to renovate or update their home or business. Commissions gladly work with owners to find workable solutions that will maintain the visual integrity of a building. And there are usually great tax incentives that can help offset the costs. The Federal Building is a perfect example of the value of historic preservation. It’s a wonderful space with a high degree of historic integrity, and it’s being remodeled as a ‘green’ building. It’s a great example of history meets sustainability. And ultimately, that’s what historic preservation is all about.”
A Brush With Kindness Combining Preservation and Sustainability
Gabrielle Fahlen’s passion for sustainability is palpable. Just discussing the subject makes her eyes light up. The only thing Fahlen (known as “Gabe” to friends) is more passionate about is her devotion to affordable housing and Habitat for Humanity.
Habitat for Humanity International is an ecumenical Christian ministry dedicated 
to the cause of eliminating poverty housing. Since its founding in 1976, Habitat volunteers have built, rehabilitated, repaired or improved more than 400,000 houses worldwide, providing simple, decent and affordable shelter for more than 2 million people.
Last semester in her Collaborative Design class, Fahlen’s project involved designing a Habitat for Humanity home that could sustain itself “off the grid.” Such homes do not rely on the municipal water supply, sewer, natural gas, the electric power grid or similar utility services. “Habitat is buildinghomes in Grand Rapids with 12-to-16-inch block walls, solar heating and cooling, and radiant heat. It is possible to have an affordable, energy-efficient home,” she explains. “In fact, the home is now returning 2 percent of the energy used back to the grid.”
An Interior Design senior, Fahlen believes, “Everyone deserves a home that not only functions well but looks good too.” So after her Collaborative Design class 
ended, she began volunteering with Habitat for Humanity’s A Brush with Kindness program, an exterior home preservation service designed to revitalize the appearance of neighborhoods, encourage connections within the community and, most importantly, help preserve affordable housing stock. A Brush with Kindness ensures that families live in safe and well maintained homes by offering painting, landscaping, weather stripping and minor repair services for homeowners in need.
Fahlen has been volunteering with A Brush with Kindness in the Wealthy Heights section of Grand Rapids, located west of Eastown. She has been working with a professional designer to create exterior color palettes for each new or renovated home, using whatever materials have been donated. “So often, a Habitat home sticks out in a neighborhood because it is bland in appearance,” she explains.
“ Everyone deserves good design, and when the exterior of one home is spruced up, soon others in the neighborhood begin to take more pride in their homes.” ■
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Designing for Difficult Surfaces
By: Chris Burnett
Chair, Department of Art, The Center for the Visual Arts, University of Toledo, OH
How do you print a two-dimensional graphic on a three- dimensional surface, or even figure out how to design the graphic in the first place with all the growing options of screens and mobile devices? Students in the University of Toledo’s new BA degree in New Media Design Practices (NMDP) will be doing just that. In planning this new program we aimed to create a unique balance between a broad view of art with specific practical experiences in the design field. The curriculum accomplishes this balance with a wide assortment of studio and liberal arts courses peppered with internships and externships that will give students real world experience with the design activities of area arts organizations and institutions. The program will weave together classroom-based skills with practical experience in producing materials for a museum exhibition for example. In beginning this program, we are especially keen on looking outside the studio at what student designers actually do with their graphical works: where do their designs go, what shape do they take, even what surfaces they might occupy.
Given the wide range of design practices in the world together, it was important that the emphasis on new media productions tools would expand rather than limit the options for output and product. Clearly the design world today consists of a crazy quilt of print and paper graphics folded, cut, and rolled in a wild assortment of formats. Alongside these textured and glossy surfaces, there exist the electronic screens that are growing and shrinking to become almost as pliable as their 
paper-based cousins. We felt strongly in creating this program that the NMDP student needs to navigate easily between these graphical spaces and surfaces. Moreover, the student designer should not only be able to switch-hit – to design a print piece for one project; an interactive screen-based design for another – but to germinate hybrid forms where their design-creatures can easily creep from the fixed-form of print to the fluid windows of screen-space. Of course, these imperatives, to design more flexibly and adaptably, have gelled into important principles and specific systems of the design process today, such as CSS in web page design, where the designer deliberately separates content and information structure from the application of style. Even with these well-worked-out principles, there remain slippery questions about how a designer proceeds in face of the mutable surfaces emerging in the world today. What do we call these surfaces that elude categories of either print or screen?
To suggest an answer, we would like to explore a prominent trade show of the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA). There, you will find every kind of decorated, adorned, printed, inscribed, patterned, and stenciled surface imaginable. There are T-shirts, ball caps, posters, envelopes, and stamps, just to mention a few of the forms. All these specimens are hung in the air on wires, lying on the ground, applied to walls, and stacked in corners. 
Accompanying these graphic products are the very machines and printers that would create them. They, too, are adorned in colors and designed but in a low-key functional manner. On the other side of the gap between production and consumption are the accoutrements of distribution: the folders, mailing tubes, and polyethylene bags that send all these graphics into orbit – seemingly out of this world. “Where do they come from and where do they go?” one wonders while walking from one booth to another in this vast trade-show pavilion.
One booth in particular, offered a ray of hope — that particular term that might sum up the proliferation of output options in graphic production. “Difficult 
surfaces” is a term the trade uses for surfaces that are simply difficult to print on. In practical terms, these include objects that because of their dimension or surface-quality cannot receive ink, pigments or markings with the traditional printing processes of letterpress, engraving or screen-printing. Often their curves, rounded, or excessively intricate shape prohibit the ready surface-to-surface contact of normal printing processes. Their very dimension and spatial twists make them difficult: a challenge for the printing and graphic design professions.
Of course, the flooding of our world with these difficult surfaces would certainly give vivid testimony that design professionals have met the challenge. Examples of these objects are bottle caps, ink pens, basketballs, coffee cups, bowls, tennis rackets, beer cans, cup insulators, lampshades, pencils, and a galaxy of other such objects. Even though these things may pose a challenge, they scream at us that no human substance or artifact today may escape graphic culture: everything is positioned for the marking. Difficult surfaces don’t so much speak to the difficulty but, conversely, to the ease and ubiquity of signs in forming material culture. And, they serve as a metaphor for the still difficult-to-grasp combinations of conventional and electronic surfaces that are emerging in communications today.
To come back to the New Media Design Practices program, we are looking at ways to take advantage of the kaleidoscopic range of surface effects and material options open to designers in practical terms. Following the metaphor of “difficult surfaces,” designers have to make designs not only look a certain way in fixed terms of shape, color, pattern, and so on. But they must also consider how allow them to change shape according to the difficult surfaces that they might occupy. Like hairstyles, the graphics are designed to be flipped, air blown, turned upside down, and, somehow, to fall back into place. Like objects in the real world, they must scale up to occupy the sides of buildings or shrink down to the head of a pin. And, like one of Salvador Dali’s dripping clocks, they can be hung out to dry and then ironed out flat, stiff as a starched shirt.
By paying attention to the variety of difficult surfaces in the physical world, we are hoping that the NMDP program can inspire students to approach other levels of variability in electronic media. The first action in forming the bridge is to understand how closely electronic images still cling to surfaces. Their “difficulty” has merely shifted from tangible texture and volume to the properties of particles. It will be an exciting process for our new program to investigate the design properties of these electronic surfaces in all the forms they are taking: from large-format LED screens to the hand-held screens of mobile technologies. One lesson that we will always hold in mind is that these emerging formats are surfaces nonetheless, difficult surfaces that expand the possibilities of graphic communication. ■
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Jazz: An International Language
By: Dan Thomas
Jazz Instructor, Jazz Studies, UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
With the help of James Kanki and the Heart of America Japan-America Society, the UMKC Conservatory Concert Jazz Band traveled to Japan to perform as invited guests in a jazz festival. The trip would forever change the lives of all the participants.
The Japanese representatives took great care in planning the trip, and no detail was left undone. Representatives from the Kurashiki government and a travel company met us in Tokyo and stayed with us throughout the duration of our trip. James, Nishi, Pam, Chiaki, Uchida, and Yoshie began as our translators, became our food and tour guides, and soon became part of our road family.
An early observation the band took away from Japan was the social graces of the Japanese, which began in the Tokyo airport. It is one of the busiest airports on Earth and one could hear a pin drop.
Assistant Director Dan Thomas, jazz instructor, jazz studies, says, “We were reminded about courtesy daily throughout our concert tour because even in the middle schools, you could hear a pin drop. The students knelt in orderly rows and did not speak. For musicians, these listening skills are critical.”
The group stayed at the Ivy Square Hotel in the Bikan area. The Bikan area has plenty of traditional architecture to see, and many restaurants, which was an excellent place for the band to be located.
“Our Jazz Band met a number of collegiate and middle school bands, and professional ensembles through a variety of celebratory banquets, performances and festivals,” Thomas says. “Some of the more fantastic events included the JFE steel festival performance, attended by more than 100,000 people, (where we toured the steel works facility); the festival banquet ceremony in which we were welcomed by a traditional bamboo percussion group of all ages; and a performance by Fukuda Junior High, which moved many of us to tears.
“Impressive does not begin to describe the sound we heard.”
Dan Thomas Assistant Director, Jazz Instructor, Jazz Studies
On the third day of the trip Kurashiki City Hall literally rolled out the red carpet and the band was welcomed with an official ceremony and presented medallions from Mayor Ito.
Another memorable experience was the trip to Miyajima Island and Hiroshima. “The day was filled with introspection and emotion, and reminded us of the power of music to unite people. We also enjoyed a trip to the Ohara Museum of Art, which was very impressive,” Thomas says. The ensemble experienced a traditional Tea Ceremony whose host has practiced the discipline of making tea everyday for 35 years.
“Each day we were presented a variety of traditional foods including sushi, sashimi, udon, and tempura. We even had a traditional junior high lunch. They don’t serve corn dogs! Most of our UMKC students were fantastic foodies by the end of the tour, however some of them still relied on a heavy dose of McDonald’s, which they claim is better in Japan. Bobby and I are still trying to recover from tuna sashimi overload, which was as amazing as it can get,” Thomas says.
The trip wrapped up with a Jazz Festival performance at the Mabi Center. “This was a very impressive production, as we had a full light show during this event. It was a great way to say good-bye,” he says. “Finally, we say thank you, Kurashiki, for giving our students a once in a lifetime experience that they will cherish forever!”
This year, the UMKC Concert Jazz Band, along with the several Conservatory ensembles will perform at the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, giving the students an unequaled opportunity to perform in what critics are hailing as an acoustic masterpiece. More than 300 Conservatory students from dance, jazz, winds, choral, and orchestra will perform in the Kauffman’s inaugural year, giving these students an unparalleled opportunity to experience this state-of-the-art new hall.
Conservatory Dean Peter Witte notes, “The opening of the Kauffman Center is historic–and UMKC is honored to part of that history. Muriel McBrien Kauffman’s dream was to create a home for the kind of diverse and exceptional performances our faculty has imagined. In this great era for the arts in Kansas City, we are thrilled to showcase the Conservatory’s greatest strengths, our exceptional faculty and students.”
The Conservatory Artist Series, which continues its focus on collaboration, will sustain our commitment to great performances while celebrating our bonds with leading national and Kansas City arts organizations. Performances by PRISM Quartet, performing William Bolcom’s Concerto Grosso, a PRISM commission, the Conservatory’s own Concert Jazz Band, performing Bobby Watson’s The Gates BBQ Suite, and Conservatory Wind Symphony, which performs Corigliano’s Circus Maximus will dramatize the Conservatory’s innovative strengths.
The Conservatory’s Concert Jazz Band, conducted by Bobby Watson, performed Watson’s The Gates BBQ Suite Sept. 28. The Conservatory Wind Symphony, directed by Steven D. Davis will perform Corigliano’s Circus Maximus, Symphony No. 3 for Large Wind Ensemble. The Conservatory will also welcome PRISM Quartet, who will perform William Bolcom’s Concerto Grosso for saxophone quartet and winds, a PRISM commission.
Photo courtesy of Indiana University of Pennsylvania
The other concerts are in February and April. On Feb. 20, the Conservatory Dancers, Choirs, and Wind Symphony perform Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Orff’s popular Carmina Burana, conducted by Robert Bode, is an audience favorite for its diverse offerings of love, lust, and the evocative moods of spring. Choreographed by Paula Weber, the dancers evoke the poetry of spring and the Carmina Burana’s cycle of life. On April 28, under the direction of Robert Olson, this stellar group of Conservatory students always dazzles the audience with amazing artistry. The program includes Chen Yi’s Chinese Myths, a cantata for orchestra with four Chinese traditional instrumentalists, mixed choir and dancers. The performance will include the Conservatory’s dancers, choir, and orchestra. ■
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Three Unique Paths to an Arts Education
By Anne Shulock,
Communications Specialist, San Francisco Art Institute
In art school, there is no single way to approach your education. Art is messy—not just in the splatter-painted-clothes sense, but in the way that artists must grapple with form, content, and concepts to arrive at meaning. At the San Francisco Art Institute, students embrace an interdisciplinary, experimental approach to contemporary art, taking many paths to and within the school. Here are some SFAI stories.
Melanie Piech
BFA Sculpture
For many people, being a partner in a major law firm would be a fulfilling professional achievement. But after 13 years of practicing law, Melanie Piech had a different thought: that her career choice had been a mistake.
In her childhood, Melanie was surrounded by hands-on work: her father spent 10 years remodeling the family home, doing everything from woodworking and tiling to plumbing and electrical work. Despite a similar knack for building, Melanie became an attorney—but the urge to create didn’t go away. After taking time off work to raise a child, Melanie decided to pursue her true passion for sculpture, furniture, and art.
In choosing a school for this second act, she was drawn to the “funkiness” of the San Francisco Art Institute, as well as the emphasis on ideas. Says Melanie, “[Professors] really push you to go to the next level, a more conceptual level, and to figure out not just what you want to build, but what is it within you that you’re trying to express.”
At SFAI, Melanie has made ambitious sculptures such as an oversized redwood chair that resembles an exoskeleton, and a chair with welded 7-foot wheels that turn independently, allowing the sitter to maneuver and perform. She has also studied computer-aided design, using Vectorworks to model a fountain that a local housing complex has asked her to build for its courtyard.
Art school has proven to be a far cry from her structured former profession. “Here, it’s pretty wide open and you have to forge your own path,” says Melanie. “My experiences at SFAI have given me ammunition to figure out where I’m going.” And along the way she’s achieved not just artistic but personal growth. “When I was a lawyer, I always felt like I was pretending to be somebody else. Now I just feel a lot more comfortable in my skin.”
Djavan Santos
BFA Design and Technology
“Before coming to SFAI, I had a narrow view of what I understood art to be,” says Djavan Santos, who, like many kids, grew up drawing and painting. But in his first semester, he took the course Intro to Digital Sound. “That really opened my eyes to what art couldbe and the broad spectrum of what other artists in the world were doing,” he says. “I felt really drawn to experiment with new technologies and the intersection of art and technology.”
In 2009, SFAI received a grant for the development of a digital platform to facilitate new media collaborations between institutions in San Francisco and Paris, and Djavan, now a Design and Technology major, has participated in the resulting projects. “It’s really interesting to me what role technology plays in our social lives and in connecting geographies,” says Djavan. “What do geographic borders mean in the age of the Internet? What does it mean for someone to be in Paris and someone to be in San Francisco if I see you on my computer screen and we can make work together?”
Djavan further explored these questions in Hamburg, Germany, where during summer 2011 he participated in the HFBK Art School Alliance, a prestigious study abroad program in which seven students from renowned institutions around the world live and work together. The Alliance aligned perfectly with his interest in cross-cultural art and the appealing risk of collaboration: “You can sort of jump in this pool with other people and see what happens.”
That willingness to try new things has been a big part of Djavan’s SFAI experience. “You don’t need to know exactly what you want to do before you come here,” he says. “There are a lot of pathways for you to take, and the teachers and staff will really help you find out what’s best for you.”
Kimia Kline
MFA Painting
An education at the San Francisco Art Institute is based on rigorous studio practice and coursework—but what happens outside the classroom is also a vital part of the experience. “Here, you’re really encouraged to make connections with artists and with faculty, and fostering those relationships is almost as important as academics,” says Kimia Kline, a figurative painter whose work takes on notions of femininity, sexuality, and idealized beauty. “[There is a] sense of energy and camaraderie that exists, both in terms of the undergraduate and the graduate program, and then the way that those two programs intermingle.”
Building on that spirit of collaboration, students frequently exhibit together, both on and off campus. In 2010, Kimia participated in a show at San Francisco’s Treehouse Gallery called Meet Me in the Middle, featuring the work of female Iranian and Israeli artists from SFAI. The show explored how, in a time when political rhetoric and generalizations dominate global discourse, artists’ personal narratives can offer new perspectives on inter-cultural conversations.
And there are more inter-cultural experiences to come: immediately after graduating last spring Kimia moved to Chennai, India. “I’m really excited to see how India affects my work—the colors, the aesthetics there,” she says. She has already tried painting with beet juice to capture the ubiquitous hot pink of the country, and has also received both an artist residency for painting and design work for an advertising company.
In these new explorations, Kimia will draw on her interdisciplinary
education at SFAI. “I came in as a painter, but I’m leaving this school with so many other skills under my belt,” she says. “I’ve been able to study documentary film, I’ve learned how to use Final Cut Pro, Illustrator, Photoshop, I’ve taken a course in graphic design—so even though you may be in one department, they make it very easy for you to use these other artistic practices and bring that into your own.” ■
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