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The Daily Hub

A roundup of ideas and projects from around the Institute

  • Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, MFA Communications Design ’15, was featured in Artsy as one of the “must-know women artists.” “I first came across Amanda’s work at a fiber arts show at the South Street Seaport in New York last spring,” said arts patron Carla Shen. “She had this stunning site-specific installation of layers of cotton and silk flowers and greenery draped over a 12-foot diameter grain hoist that had been part of the building since the 18th century. She has also created numerous large public installations and murals driven by her commitment to using art to engage the community and find collective ways to address loss, transformation, and healing.”

  • Annabelle Selldorf, BArch ’85, and Pratt Trustee Mickalene Thomas, BFA Fine Arts ’00, were named among Time Magazine’s “100 Most Influential People of 2025.” For more than two decades, the TIME100 list has highlighted the artists, icons, leaders, and innovators that are shaping our present day. Annie Leibovitz writes that Selldorf’s work “embodies the values she holds dear. Art and life are not separate.” About Thomas, Alicia Keys says that “she’s constantly creating new lanes, breaking boundaries, and exceeding expectations.”

  • Mark Reyes, BFA Film ’20, announced that two of his films will be screening at the Fantaspoa Film Festival in Brazil. “WOW! What an Honor! TALES FROM THE END will be making its INTERNATIONAL premiere alongside my brand new short THE NIGHTWALKER being shown for the first time ever as its WORLD PREMIERE!!!,” Reyes wrote on social media. 

  • Visiting Assistant Professor of Writing Benjamin Krusling was awarded a 2025 Nightboat Poetry Prize. Of over 900 submissions, three manuscripts were chosen for publication. Krusling’s manuscript Fear of God Essentials “narrate the goings-on of a sticky, discomfiting city, one in which the speaker witnesses a parade of delights and atrocities as they cohere in the present—the Cybertruck on Nostrand Avenue, the Candy Crush–playing cops in the subway station, the subversive humor of living in an era of upheaval,” write Emily Bark Brown and Gia Gonzales. 

  • Thomas Klinkowstein, adjunct professor – CCE of graduate communications design, will be conducting an art project on a sub-orbital space flight with Virgin Galactic in 2027. As part of his year-long research leading up to lift-off, he has been facilitating creative workshops with students in the US and abroad. At Yonsei University in South Korea, Klinkowstein taught speculative design students a “Synthetic Memories” workshop, which involved using ChatGPT to predict their future careers, and creating a design responding to their results. In Pennsylvania, he ran a “Space Art Challenge,” in which middle school students created triptychs around the theme of “space as place, space as persona, and space as idea.”

  • Donni Davy, BFA Photography ’10, was interviewed by PopSugar for her work as a Hollywood makeup artist. “Makeup communicates so much to the audience,” she said. “It’s extra info; a storytelling tool.” 

More Pratt Institute News

Graduate Architecture Student Quinn Gregory Named 2025 Fulbright Finalist

Gregory will spend nine months in Europe to study how bicycle theft undermines collective efforts to increase urban cycling.
Two graduates in caps and gowns celebrate outside, smiling and holding a Pratt diploma folder, with one tossing their cap in the air.

Hats Off to Pratt’s Class of 2025! 

From Pratt Institute News

Graduates accepted their diplomas during an exuberant Commencement at the iconic Radio City Music Hall. Honorary degrees were bestowed upon Claudia Rankine, Annabelle Selldorf, and Stefan Sagmeister.

Runway Ready: Pratt Fashion Seniors Shine at Powerhouse Arts

From Pratt Institute News

The 2025 Pratt Shows: Fashion runway presentation featured nearly 160 looks from collections by 30 graduating seniors; Haeone Son, BFA Fashion Design ’25, received the 2025 Christopher Hunte “On Point” Award.