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The Daily Hub

A roundup of ideas and projects from around the Institute

  • Loren Daye, MID ’06, discusses her latest projects, interests, and career in an interview with Surface. “I’m trying some new things out that I don’t have a model for, but the unfolding—not the future outcome—is the objective,” she said. “Even on the gritty days, I’m riveted at its evolution. No built project will ever keep adapting the way a group of people pursuing an idea does.”

  • Hiba Schahbaz, MFA Fine Arts ’12, offers a glimpse into her Bushwick studio for Curbed. “I started painting hundreds of myself and people I knew,” she said. “I still have them somewhere. They were all in profile because in Mughal paintings, you have the side profile, and in Persian ones, you have three-quarters. I think it took me another couple of years to face outward.”

  • Divya Anantharaman, BFA Fashion Design ‘06, discusses their Sunday routines and career as a taxidermist in The New York Times. “Taxidermy is a very homogeneous field. It’s very, very white and very, very straight,” they said. “I’m not either of those things.”

  • Daiwen Mila Wang, BFA Fine Arts (Jewelry) ’23, was selected for inclusion in the So Fresh + So Clean Exhibition by Ethical Metalsmiths. Her Glass Vitamin Necklace from her 2023 thesis collection will be featured.

  • Mark Grattan, BID ’06, was featured in Elle Decor for designing the home of U.S. sports stars Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird. “I wanted to try a moment where it doesn’t work on paper,” Grattan said. “It works only in real life.”

  • The experimental play “Kinderkrankenhaus” by Jesi Bender, MSLIS ’12, will show at Brooklyn’s Brick Theater in September. The play “explores neurodiversity, the pathologizing of difference, and the complexity of labels in a world where the unspeaking are seen as unthinking.”

  • Raymond Figueroa Jr., visiting instructor in the Graduate Center for Planning and the Environment (GCPE) and president of the New York City Community Garden Coalition, was interviewed for The New York Times article “Vital Places of Refuge in the Bronx, Community Gardens Gain Recognition.” The story describes how communities throughout NYC are adapting to climate change with the help of community gardens.

  • A Tortoise’s Year of Fate by Yi Xiong, BFA Film ’22, will have its world premiere at this year’s Locarno Film Festival, held from August 2 to 12 in Locarno, Switzerland. The short film, which depicts the journey of a factory worker longing for hope, has been selected for the Pardi di domani section of the festival. This section showcases emerging talent and promising works in the world of cinema. This short film was originally created as Xiong’s thesis project at Pratt.

  • Adam Friedman​​, chief strategy officer of research and strategic partnerships, was interviewed for the City & State article “New York City’s uphill battle to save manufacturing”: “People need heat pumps, people need probably dry wells to handle the downpours, people need a whole bunch of existing technology … If we can channel more of that to be produced in the city, I think that there’s some real job creation opportunities there.”

More Pratt Institute News

A man stands in front of a building. He wears a suit and tie and glasses. There is greenery behind him.

Dr. Peter West Appointed Dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences 

The accomplished writer, scholar, and academic leader joins Pratt Institute from Mercy University. He will assume the role on July 7, 2025.
A man in a yellow shirt holds up a drawing of an infinity symbol while leading a classroom activity with students seated around a table, working on maps and drawings. A photographer on the right captures the moment as the students concentrate on their projects.

Rafael de Balanzo Joue Receives Fulbright Specialist Program Award

From School of Architecture News

School of Architecture faculty member Dr. Rafael De Balanzo Joue has been awarded a Fulbright Specialist Program grant by the U.S. Department of State and the Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.

Barbie, Houseboats, Book Arts, and Beyond

From Pratt Institute News

Class trips invite students to experience art, conduct research, and meet with industry experts in New York City and around the world.