A roundup of ideas and projects from around the Institute
Professor of Fashion Design and Black Dress exhibition co-curator Adrienne Jones spoke to Essence about this year’s Met Gala, its theme “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” and the history of Black fashion design and styling. “There’s more than three colors in the crayon box,” she said. “Where was the vibrancy? I think of African tailors, of Caribbean elegance—rich color, texture, vibrance. That’s what I wanted more of.”
Pratt Institute has earned a STARS Gold rating in the 2025 Sustainable Campus Index by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). For the second consecutive year, Pratt earned gold for its overall performance, with especially high scores in curriculum, research, campus engagement, and innovation and leadership. STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System) measures and encourages sustainability in all aspects of higher education.
The Digital Preservation Outreach and Education Network (DPOE-N), based at Pratt iSchool, will receive the Outstanding Support of Archives award by the Archivists Roundtable of Metropolitan New York at their symposium on October 17. Dean Anthony Cocciolo and DPOE-N program manager Kirk Mudle will receive the award on behalf of the program.
Pranav Dawar, Film ’25, earned the Audience Choice Best Documentary at the Tasveer Film Festival for his film Karnama (Well of Death).
Hanna Pennington, MSLIS ’22, archivist and associate director at the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, has co-curated an exhibition, The Guggenheim Fellowship at 100, on view through November 30, 2025, at The New York Historical. The exhibition is marking the centennial of the Guggenheim Fellowship program and exploring its impact on American cultural and intellectual history through the mission of supporting exceptional scholars, scientists, and artists to pursue their work “under the freest possible conditions.” [image from SoI newsletter]
Associate Professor and MFA Program Faculty Director Katherine Hubbard will exhibit her work with New York-based gallery Company at Frieze London. “I believe deeply that photography is a form of sociality and a way of being in the world,” said Hubbard. “Photography transforms [my mom’s] home from a space which overwhelms me into a stage where the accumulation of her life’s collections and a perverse sense of composition become the world of the image.”
Poet Mahogany L. Browne, MFA Writing ’16, posits a future for New York’s art scene in 2050 for The New York Times. “We will exchange languages, recipes, resistance tactics and survival stories. History will not be handed down but braided in: song, story, dance. We’ll defend the old, hold space for the silenced and dream the new.”
Visiting Assistant Professor of Undergraduate Architecture Annie Coombs is featured in The New York Times for her work developing an innovative form of housing for the Lakota people of South Dakota. Read more at the School of Architecture News Page.
Dean of the School of Architecture Quilian Riano discussed the School’s increasing focus on housing with Archinect. “We have a particular interest in co-housing and understanding how models of living are shifting, as many of our studios and seminars postulate, people become more willing to share more spaces for social and environmental impact.”
Pratt Munson celebrated its 25th anniversary. “For 25 years, our unique partnership with Pratt Institute has brought emerging artists to Utica,” Pratt Munson President and CEO Anna D’Ambrosio told the Daily Sentinel. “Each fall over 100 students, the next generation of creatives, join our community, honoring a legacy while creating their own.”
From Pratt Institute News
From Pratt Institute News
