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The Daily Hub

A roundup of ideas and projects from around the Institute

  • Pratt alumna Anna Park, who studied Illustration and Fine Arts, is profiled in Vogue about her black-and-white drawings made with charcoal or India ink. “The absence of color was never really a conscious decision,” Park tells Vogue. “It’s similar to someone picking up an instrument, and it feels right or natural. There are so many formal qualities that I wanted to explore within the world of charcoal, paint, and ink that I didn’t need color.”

  • Cait Opperman, BFA Photography ’12, was interviewed for We Present’s New Rules: Navigating photography’s unfixed future about her photography background and starting her creative studio, FLOWERS. “People trust you if you are confident in your abilities and have the evidence to back it up,” she says. 

  • Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, MFA Communications Design ’15, is featured in The New York Times. Her installation, the primitive sign of wanting, is part of the exhibition New Worlds: Women to Watch 2024 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

  • Professor of Digital Arts and Animation Claudia Herbst-Tait was featured in Animation Magazine for her class 3D Lighting and Rendering. “I think there’s an awareness that things are coming that will change the landscape,” she said. “I try to contextualize that and tell them how the past connects to the future.”

  • Students and faculty from the School of Architecture discuss gender imbalances in the field of architecture, the importance of inclusivity, and efforts to empower women in an article in Archinect. “For female architects, there are preconceived notions that they might not be as good as men,” said Kriti Malik, BArch ‘26. “The Femmes of the Future mission is to push design that’s women-led—for women, by women, of women.”

  • Jan Dutkiewicz, assistant professor of social science and cultural studies, considers the clash between climate policy and farmer interests in the EU for Vox. “The protests have come as the EU seeks to pass a slate of laws as part of its Green Deal, a sweeping climate plan that includes checking the worst harms of industrial agriculture, which takes up more than a third of the continent’s landmass and contributes disproportionately to its ecological footprint,” writes Dutkiewicz. “That agenda is colliding with Europe’s longtime paradigm of few-strings-attached welfare for agribusiness.”

  • Maria Gaspar, BFA ’02, presented Unblinking Eyes, Awaiting (2024), at Frieze New York 2024 as part of Frieze Reframe. The work consists of “multiple panels of high-resolution photographs of the north-end wall of the Cook County Department of Corrections in Chicago, the largest single-site jail in the US and a dominating fixture of the artist’s childhood neighborhood.”

  • Pratt MFA in Photography Thesis Exhibition: Erin O’Flynn, Ethan Li, Kunwar Prithvi Singh Rathore, was reviewed in Hyperallergic. “With this show, Pratt’s MFA photographers reveal the fingerprints on the landscape to coax out questions of race, power, sexuality, and sustainability.”

     

  • Associate Professor of Photography Stephen Hilger wrote an essay for Full Bleed on various books about Los Angeles histories that have influenced his work. “My photographs reflect the ways in which Los Angeles absorbs me. I rely on looking and recording to make both personal histories and larger histories visible,” he writes. “My approach is also inspired by shelves of books authored by photographers, artists, and writers who explore LA’s pasts.”

More Pratt Institute News

A group portrait of nine smiling Project SEARCH interns dressed in formal and semi-formal attire, seated together on wooden steps in a brightly lit interior space. The group includes a diverse mix of individuals, with some in suits, button-down shirts, and one wearing a white ruffled dress. They appear proud and celebratory, possibly marking their graduation or completion of the program.

Workplace Ready: Project SEARCH Interns Graduate

New York City high school students received career training through Project SEARCH, a national program focused on workforce-readiness for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Pratt Names Courtney Knapp New Chair of the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment

From Pratt Institute News

An award-winning scholar and professor in the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment’s Urban and Community Planning program, Knapp will assume the role on July 1, 2025, succeeding Eve Baron, who is stepping down to join the full-time faculty.
Two smiling individuals dressed in formal attire pose on a red carpet holding Tony Awards. The man on the left wears a blue tuxedo with a colorful bow tie, while the man on the right wears a black suit with decorative details and a white high-collared shirt. The background includes logos for CBS, Paramount+, and the Tony Awards.

Alumni Harvey Fierstein and Paul Tazewell Shine at the Tony Awards

From Pratt Institute News

Esteemed writer and actor Harvey Fierstein was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the theater; Oscar-winning designer Paul Tazewell won for Best Costume Design in a Musical.