A roundup of ideas and projects from around the Institute
Charlotte Böhning and Mary Lempres, both MID ’23, are finalists for the 2022 Lexus Design Award. Their Chitofoam material research project reuses discarded polystyrene foam as food for mealworms and then uses their exoskeletons for an environmentally friendly alternative to polystyrene foam.
Mark Grattan, BID ’06, spoke with Untapped Journal for “The House I Grew Up In,” the 2025–2026 theme of their symposium, Making Space. “It’s important to sit in [your home], understand how you feel in it, acknowledge how you move around the space, and identify things that will make you feel better in it.”
We Were the Scenery, directed by Assistant Professor of Film/Video Christopher Radcliff, screened at IFC Center from July 4 to 10 as part of the Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour. Radcliff also had a recent film screening at Metrograph, alongside a film screening by Visiting Assistant Professor of Film/Video Suneil Sanzgiri.
Alessandra Clemente, BFA Interior Design ’22, was profiled in Haute Residence. At Pratt, her thesis “received the prestigious Pratt Institute Social Justice Award in the Leadership Category, highlighting its engagement with real social and spatial issues.”
Pratt Institute was the lead in a WNYC radio spotlight and Gothamist feature article on the high demand for an arts education, with record-breaking enrollment at New York City schools, a surprising trend given recent headlines. “Especially when the world is so unstable and insecure, I think that art is a place of reflection, resistance and imagination,” Pratt Institute Fine Arts Chair Jane South said in the piece. Professor of Fine Arts Adrienne Elise Tarver added that students are “very interested in the material,” and Manar Balh, BFA ’26, was quoted saying, “A lot of my peers understand that nothing is guaranteed really, no matter what you study, so you should just study the thing that matters the most to you.” Coverage also appeared in The Art Newspaper.
Eshaan Mehta, BArch ’26, curated the Architecture = Art: The Susan Grant Lewin Collection exhibition at The Paul Rudolph Institute. “These drawings transcend function,” Lewin told School of Architecture News. “They are personal, poetic, and often provocative. They show how architecture begins with a bold visual idea.”
Adjunct Professor – CCE of Fine Arts Jean Shin was selected as an Artist-in-Residence in Everglades (AIRIE) 2025–2026 AIRIE Fellow.
Hyperallergic covered the ongoing Process In Practice exhibition at Pratt Manhattan Gallery, which runs through Sept. 6 and features work by Pratt Communications Design alumni from both the graduate and undergraduate programs. “From branding and type design to social impact work and fine art, the alumni featured in Process in Practice span the breadth of design’s potential. Their practices cross disciplines and geographies, covering public art in New York, children’s book storytelling in Mexico, type innovation in Bangkok, sustainability in publishing and user experience, and beyond.”
Vice President for Student Affairs Delmy Lendof has been selected to be one of the keynote speakers for the closing session of the 2026 NASPA Student Success Conference. Lendof was also recognized by NASPA Region II for her service to the profession earlier this month.
Pratt Institute’s Communications and Marketing Creative Services team earned third place in Archinect’s Spring ’25 Get Lectured competition for their design of the School of Architecture’s spring 2025 event series poster.
From Pratt Institute News
From Pratt Institute News
