Mickalene Thomas, BFA Fine Arts ’00, was honored at The New Museum’s 2024 Spring Gala, and will receive the Vanguard Award at the upcoming Los Angeles LGBT Center Gala. “My art has always been about more than pretty pictures,” she said. “Seeing the deep dark complexities of Blackness, of the Black body and its loveliness, is what pushes me forward to making what I make. It’s about creating a language that resonates and that challenges societal norms.”
The Daily Hub
A roundup of ideas and projects from around the Institute
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Associate Professor of Writing Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts will present her work at the launch of The Device, a new publication focused on the archives and history of the Poetry Project.
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Chair of Graduate Architecture, Landscape, and Urban Design Andrew Holder’s firm, The Los Angeles Design Group, has been chosen to construct a public installation for the 2026 Coachella Valley Music Festival. “‘Visage Brut’ reimagines the logic and mythology of a totem pole through the language of contemporary construction.”
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The Pratt Center for Community Development released an EnergyFit Toolkit, “a new resource for communities, organizations, and policymakers to create programs that will help small homes be healthier and more energy efficient.” They will also be hosting a webinar walkthrough of the new toolkit on March 11 to help organizations jumpstart retrofit programs for 1-4 family homes.
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Qinyan (Doris) Liu, MFA Communications Design ’23, was profiled in Our Culture Mag. The article focuses on her photobook series Distant Flash. “Driven by a commitment to crafting sophisticated, layered visual narratives, Liu has expanded her experimentation to include mediums such as risograph printing and polaroid transfers.”
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Sophie Andes-Gascon, BFA Fashion Design ’15, and Claire McKinney, BFA Fashion Design ’15, were featured in Vogue Runway for their Fall 2026 Ready-to-Wear collection. “With their fall collection, as with all their work, the designers invited people to enter their world, where imagination flourishes and there is room to play. ‘We invite people to wander there on their own, whether it leads them to a place of familiarity or somewhere new. In either case it’s a place of discovery and calm,’ the designers said.”
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Raísa Lin Garden-Lucerna, MS Sustainable Environmental Systems ’24, was chosen as a 2026 Forefront Fellow by Urban Design Forum. “This year’s interdisciplinary cohort will explore how to transform public spaces into living, adaptive, and sustaining landscapes of care.”
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Professor of Social Science and Cultural Studies Cisco Bradley discusses his book I Hear Freedom with Columbia University Press. “Since 2013, I have conducted over 500 oral history interviews with jazz artists. Around 2018, I began to focus on the elders of the community, in particular, to preserve their vital perspectives on this profound American artform.”
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Dean of the School of Information Anthony Cocciolo was interviewed by The New York Times’ Wirecutter in a guide to preserving and storing family memories. “It’s an artifact of a person, and once you change that you lose that,” said Cocciolo. “If it’s a total mess you can organize it. Anything that helps retrievability, that’s fine. But respect the original method.”
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Visiting Assistant Professor of Undergraduate Architecture Sara Jazayeri was inducted into the American Institute of Architect’s College of Fellows for “exceptional work and contributions to architecture and society.”
More Pratt Institute News
Pratt Architecture Graduates Are Building the World Around Us
For over 70 years, Pratt Institute has been preparing architects to shape the world we live in, from the homes and schools that anchor neighborhoods to the parks, infrastructure, and civic spaces that bring communities together.
Three Pratt Students and Two Alumni Named 2026 Fulbright Semifinalists
From Pratt Institute News
Each year, the Fulbright U.S. Student Program offers graduating seniors, recent college graduates, graduate students, and young professionals from the United States the opportunity to engage in academic projects, learn from diverse cultures, and work on pressing societal issues.
Imagining Alternative Futures for the Brooklyn Marine Terminal
From Pratt Institute News
Architecture students worked with local groups in Red Hook on neighborhood revitalization and climate resilience plans as NYC looks to redevelop the Brooklyn Marine Terminal.