Press Release Announcing Rowena Reed Kostellow Appointment as Chair of Industrial Design

April 3, 1962

PRESIDENT RICHARD H. HEINDEL, OF PRATT INSTITUTE IN BROOKLYN, HAS ANNOUNCED THE APPOINTMENT OF ROWENA REED KOSTELLOW AS CHAIRMAN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN OF THE ART SCHOOL. THE APPOINTMENT WILL BE EFFECTIVE AT THE END OF THE ACADEMIC YEAR.

ROBERT KOLLI, THE PRESENT CHAIRMAN OF THE DEPARTMENT, IS RESIGNING FROM HIS ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES TO CONCENTRATE ON OUTSIDE COMMITMENTS AND TO PREPARE HIS FORTHCOMING SCULPTURE EXHIBIT. MR. KOLLI WILL CONTINUE AS PROFESSOR IN THE DEPARTMENT•

MRS. KOSTELLOW’S PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE INCLUDES FREELANCE DESIGNING IN THE AREAS OF FURNITURE, GLASS MANUFACTURING, PRODUCTS AND SHOW ROOM INTERIORS. SHE WAS THE CO-DESIGNED OF THE FIRST “KITCHEN OF TOMORROW” FOR THE FRIGiDAIRE CORPORATION IN THE 1954 EXPERIMENTAL PROJECT WHICH HAS HAD A WIDE INFLUENCE ON THE MECHANICAL AND VISUAL CONCEPTS OF KITCHEN DESIGN. SHE HAS BEEN A DESIGN CONSULTANT FOR GENERAL MOTORS CORP. IN THE AREA OF AUTOMOTIVE DESIGN.

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ROWENA REED KOSTELLOW WAS EDUCATED AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI, WHERE SHE MAJORED IN JOURNALISM, AND AT THE KANSAS CATY ART INSTITUTE, WHERE SHE STUDIED FOR THREE YEARS. SHE ALSO STUDIED AT THE ART STUDENTS’ LEAGUE IN NEW YORK AND SPENT A YEAR AT THE HANS HOFMANN SCHOOL IN MUNICH• UPON HER RETURN SHE ACCOMPANIED HER HUSBAND, ALEXANDER KOSTELLOW, TO PITTSBURGH WHERE HE, WITH DONALD DOHNER, ESTABLISHED THE FIRST DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN IN THIS COUNTRY. FROM THERE, MR. KOSTELLOW AND MISS REED, AS SHE IS KNOWN PROFESSIONALLY, WERE INVITED TO PRATT INSTITUTE WHERE MR. KOSTELLOW ESTABLISHED THE FOUNDATION YEAR PROGRAM — THE PROGRAM OF FUNDAMENTAL TRAINING IN VARIOUS ART MEDIA REQUIRED OF ALL STUDENTS, WHO THEN GO ON TO OTHER FIELDS IN THE APPLIED ARTS. MR. KOSTELLOW LATER BECAME CHAIRMAN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN, OCCUPYING THE SAME POST

TO WHICH MRS. KOSTELLOW HAS BEEN APPOINTED. ROWENA REED HAS TAUGHT IN THE FOUNDATION YEAR AT PRATT INSTITUTE, AND IN THE DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN WHERE SHE HAD AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE IN THE BUILDING OF THE CURRICULUM. SHE CONTINUES HER INTEREST IN SCULPTURE AND IN THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF VISUAL RELATIONSHIPS AS APPLIED TO ALL FIELDS OF DESIGN AND TO INDUSTRIAL DESIGN IN PARTICULAR•

SHE HAS LECTURED AT THE BOSTON INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, THE DOXIADES SCHOOL OF TECHNOLOGY IN ATHENS AND AT OTHER ORGANIZATIONS OF INDUSTRIAL DESIGN. IN 1959 SHE JURIED THE ANNUAL SCULPTURE EXHIBITION OF THE ASSOCIATED ARTISTS OF PITTSBURGH.

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