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MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN 0708president’s report july 2007–june 2008 DEEPENING OUR engagement WITH THE world Throughout the past year countless members of the MassArt As we look to the future it is essential that the college sustains its community—from faculty and staff to students, alumni, and donors — commitment to increasing cross-cultural learning and preparing have demonstrated unwavering dedication to global education, students for a more diverse world. This year MassArt established an sustainability, civic engagement, and diversity. actionexchange program with the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in Beijing, the leading art school in China. We were thrilled to welcome The stories within are only a few examples of our values in action as our first CAFA exchange student to campus in August. In addition, we work toward common goals, step-by-step. The college’s partnership a number of faculty members recently have exhibited their work in with the commonwealth—now permanent legislation—has enabled much China—from Shanghai to Beijing to Hong Kong—bringing fresh of our progress as it allows MassArt to retain one hundred percent of inspiration full circle, back to the classroom. its revenue. With the partnership firmly in place, we are set to proceed with an ambitious vision for the future of Massachusetts College of Art and Design. VALUES IN 2007-2008 The Industrial Design Meaningful modi- The college formally Jon Watanabe ‘08 MassArt enrolls Faculty members Raising more than Chadwick’s spotlights The Commonwealth The 2008 Whitney Travel courses send highlights Society of America fications to the adopts a master plan, and Kate Casey 1,597 undergraduate Kianga Ford and $623,000, the 2008 clothing designed by of Massachusetts Biennial features nearly one hundred recognizes Paul curriculum increase which will fully trans- ‘08 are awarded students in fall Cauleen Smith receive art auction is the Peter Buer ’08 in its commits $30 million Gretchen Skogerson, students to Ecuador, Sukphisit ‘08 with its students’ studio time form the campus over prestigious $15,000 2007, its largest highly regarded grants most successful 2007 holiday catalog. to a new design and assistant professor Turkey, China, Brazil, student merit award. with faculty. the next ten years. Windgate Fellowships. enrollment ever. from the Creative in history. media center at of Media and and other countries. Capital Foundation. MassArt. Performing Arts. For many months our students, faculty, staff, and friends have worked Through the presence of our CAFA exchange student and other new together to envision a fully transformed campus. We have channeled students, faculty, and staff, MassArt ensures the world inside its walls their vision into a comprehensive master plan, a vital part of which reflects the rapidly changing world outside. As one component of our is sustainability. These changes will create a greener, more visible, and strategic diversity initiative, this year the college successfully increased more welcoming campus, as well as one that is increasingly tailored the number of faculty of color by thirteen percent. to the particular needs of art and design students. I hope you enjoy learning more about some of the extraordinary I am pleased to report that Governor Patrick and the state legislature individuals who work and learn here at MassArt. As always, thank you share our enthusiasm. Recognizing the critical importance of creative for your continued support. industries to economic growth, the commonwealth already has commit- ted $30 million for a new design and media center at MassArt. 3 17 2 Kay Sloan President Cover art: Accretions I, acrylic on canvas, 48" x 37", 2007. Guhapriya Ranganathan, MFA ‘08. By mapping cell structures and patterns as they transform and evolve, Ranganathan explores how changes at the microcosmic level lead us to visually and spiritually reflect on the macrocosm. MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN OF ART COLLEGE MASSACHUSETTS MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN OF ART COLLEGE MASSACHUSETTS wherever peter wayne lewis travels, painting is home PETER WAYNE LEWIS INFINITE Peter Wayne Lewis speaks in the Lewis’s growing connections have allowed him to show clear, measured cadence of a born the work of other artists from MassArt. In 2008 at educator, pausing to point out pho- the Two Lines Gallery he curated Perfume Painting, a tos of his Beijing studio on his office solo exhibition of the work of Fred Liang, professor of LOOP wall. Since Lewis was born in Kingston, fine arts 2D, and Boston High Tea: Master Prints +, an Jamaica, it’s surprising to discover no exhibition of prints created mostly by guest artists at trace of the Caribbean island in his voice. MassArt. Lewis also brought the exhibit to the Sunshine International Art Museum, a village of four thousand Lewis’s black-framed glasses and orderly artists in Songzhuang, Beijing. This exhibition includes office seem in direct opposition to the energy the work of other MassArt faculty members, includ- palpable in his abstract paintings, which are ing Nona Hershey, Fred Liang, Roger Tibbets, John collected and exhibited worldwide. The more Thompson, Stuart Diamond, and Kofi Kayiga. “I’m trying time you spend with the professor and chair of to help MassArt establish studios in Beijing so students fine arts 2D, the more you feel the soul of a beat can work here,” said Lewis. poet humming beneath his academic mien. The studio he built in 2007 at 318 International Art Over the past four years, Lewis has merged his creative Camp allows him to create and ship his work worldwide spirit with that of the community of international artists inexpensively. It was there, washed in Beijing’s gray in Beijing. On his first visit the city’s energy spoke to light—and enveloped in what he calls the city’s “wicked him. “While New York is dog-eat-dog, this community humidity”—that Lewis painted Booster #8 for Olympic feels like family. It’s quintessentially Chinese: more about Fine Arts 2008. He was one of only a select number the community than the individual,” said Lewis. of artists asked to represent the United States in That spirit—and a concurrently exploding contemporary the exhibition. “The Olympic energy was amazing,” art market—prompted Lewis to invest himself more said Lewis. deeply in Beijing. He built a 4,000-square-foot studio As Lewis’s calling leads him around the world, his near 798 Art Zone, the city’s contemporary hub, where 2 inner universe still revolves around the act of creation. 3 he hosted students from one of MassArt’s travel courses, Everything he does—from curating and directing to became a partner in the Two Lines Gallery, exhibited teaching and collaborating—has its origin in the during the 2008 Olympics, and was active in the paintings he makes, which nourish him. “My work is Jamaican community. my balance,” said Lewis. “Everything else flows out of that.” MASSACHUSETTS COLLEGE OF ART AND DESIGN OF ART COLLEGE MASSACHUSETTS AND DESIGN OF ART COLLEGE MASSACHUSETTS INTERNATIONAL TRADE EAST MEETS WEST When a faculty fellowship enabled Matthew TO SHARE IDEAS, Connors, assistant professor of media and KNOWLEDGE performing arts, to spend August 2008 taking pictures in Beijing, his goal was not to document Olympian feats of strength and speed, but to capture the dramatic architectural and social upheaval occasioned by the games. MATTHEW CONNORS While the rest of the world watched Michael Phelps win eight gold medals, Connors wandered Beijing’s streets shooting raw material for the latest installment of his ongoing series of digitally altered “I was interested in seeing the ways the photographs. (He did, however, attend a city had adapted itself to the influx of quarterfinal Olympic ping-pong match.) with international friends at CAFA, she international visitors,” said Connors, who easily met the exchange’s language require- The series, which challenges conceptions of last visited Beijing in 2003. “I was fascinated ments. Similarly, MassArt students applying photographic credibility and fictionalizes by the unprecedented systems of control to CAFA must learn Chinese. “Our students the dynamics of the street, includes images and mass motivation the authorities created can take advantage of cross-registration to Connors shot in cities all over the world— and enforced.” study Chinese at Simmons College to help from Beirut, Berlin, and Damascus to Hong While cruising around on an old steel bike them prepare for study at CAFA,” said Kong, New York, Reykjavik, and Tokyo, he bought at a pawnshop, Connors took Jean Wallace, assistant director of academic among others. photographs continuously, discovered a advising. vibrant art scene, and struck up acquain- Although MassArt rarely places graphic tances with Chinese artists. “This is a good my family is happy i can go design exchange students in junior or senior time to be young and creative in China,” to different places and courses, RuFei’s superior portfolio landed her said Connors. “There is a growing sense of have different experiences in upper-level classes. She is also taking an the inevitability of progress among young ” economics course at Emerson College. Chinese artists that has emboldened them.” RuFei likes Boston’s historic architecture, Connors, who has been teaching at Newbury Street, Chinatown, and MassArt’s Massachusetts College of Art and Design friendly community, from faculty who since 2004, plans to include the Beijing Massachusetts College of Art and Design introduce her to fellow Chinese students images in a two-person exhibition opening and the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) to her three roommates in the Artists’ March 2009 at the Mau Tau Kok Cattle in Beijing both have a rigorous selection Residence, who RuFei describes as “nice, Depot Artist Village in Hong Kong. process, renowned faculty, and talented friendly, all-American girls.” students.

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