SPRING · VOL 11 2010

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE

PAIDBOSTON, MAPERMIT NO. 54162

FOLIOA Biannual Publication For MassArt Alumni And Friends

Resurrecting ancient wooden synagogues in Poland to educate

the world about an important chapter in Jewish history. Creating

multimedia projects in Indonesia based on multi-dimensional

realities of the Javanese people. Exploring the relationship

between ceramics and architecture in China. Receiving a national

award in Washington DC on behalf of an innovative youth arts

outreach program. Inspiring others in Boston and beyond through

a stirring autobiographical installation. Generously contributing

to help the next generation of MassArt students from around

the country thrive. As you’ll soon discover in this issue of Folio,

MassArt professors, students, and alumni are making a real

difference all around the globe.

A WORLD OF GOODchasing dreams, inspiring passions near and far

FULL,

A Nobel Peace Prize winner, former security-

general of the United Nations, chairman of the

board at Intel, even several MassArt professors

are Fulbright alumni. Just to be named a

Fulbright scholar as a student is a rare honor.

And although they are each working on very

different types of projects, they both plan to

add to the impressive Fulbright legacy in their

own distinct ways.

Holt is currently researching Javanese culture

and philosophy in a small village in Indonesia.

She’s specifically focusing on the Javanese

concept of multi - dimensional reality and how it

influences society and the individual. To better

understand these concepts, she’s creating

novel diagrams and using them to shape her

artwork, which eventually will include sculp-

ture, video, performance, and installation.

When Allison Holt, MFA ‘07, and Andrew

Ippoliti, ceramics ‘02, won Fulbright

scholarships last year to study abroad,

they joined a select group of recipients.

BRIGHTFUTURE

Ippoliti atop his SHEAR (2009, Canadian red cedar skin with a skeletal structure of pine) at the Cranbrook Art Museum

ALUMNI WIN PRESTIGIOUS

ScHOLARSHIPS TO STUDy ABROAD

He’s displayed his artwork in

museums from Boston to Beijing to

Barcelona. He’s been a guest lecturer

and visiting artist at some of the

most prestigious institutions in the

world. He’s recently written a book

on his unique teaching methods,

which he honed during his thirty - four

years at MassArt. And now, Professor

Emeritus Dean Nimmer has a new

honor for his résumé — the College

Art Association’s prestigious 2010

Distinguished Teaching of Art Award.

“I am very proud and humbled to be

given this award, particularly con-

sidering some of the past recipients.

As a teacher, I strive to energize

and encourage my student’s desire

to make art by giving them lots of

options and doorways that open up

the process to the best potentials of

their creativity. In turn, I’m inspired

to paint as I observe my students

working and that cycle has kept me

going over my 40 - year dual career

as an artist/teacher.”

NIMMER EARNS DISTINGUISHED PRIZE

TOP: Holt BOTTOM: Part of Holt’s dia-gram - in - progress describing the basic behavior of energy during a Javanese ritual

“Apparently visualizing the Javanese culture

in this way has never been done before” she

said. “But it allows me to use their structure

of thinking to inform my thinking and develop

my art.”

While Holt examines the philosophical world,

Ippoliti is investigating the physical world in

China. Based in Beijing and working through

a museum, Ippoliti is researching the relation-

ship between ceramics and architecture in

China’s dynastic history. Part of his experience

will include traveling around the country to

three other historical capitals of ceramic

production, including Jingdezhen, where he’ll

get to create his own ceramic pieces using

ancient kilns.

“My professors introduced me to the Fulbright. They made me believe it was possible.”

“China is a great place if you’re interested

in history because every day you can find a

cultural artifact or tradition that dates back to

an older period,” he said. “It’s also a country

that’s on the move and growing, and I feel that

architecture in the future is going to be a very

important way for them to define their culture.”

Ippoliti plans to stay in China after his Fulbright

runs up later this year and eventually he would

like to open up his own studio there. “Ten years

ago if you asked me if I would be spending

this much time in China it wouldn’t have

seemed logical or even probable,” he said.

“But MassArt taught me not to fear anything

and to stay open to new ideas.”

Holt, who plans to return to the United States

in the fall and pursue a PhD in the fine arts,

feels a similar gratitude to her alma mater:

“I experienced community at MassArt to a

greater level than I have in any social situation

in my life. My professors introduced me to the

Fulbright. They made me believe it was possible.”

AMBREEN BUTT

Fine Arts 2D, MFA ‘97, for

Distinguished Achievement

as an Artist

THE FRIENDS OF

KIRSTEN MALONE

Distinguished Achievement

in Support of the Arts

SAVVAS SPyRIDOPOULOS

Glass ‘02, for Distinguished

Achievement as an Artist

ROBERT FERRANDINI

Painting ‘72, for

Distinguished Achievement

as an Artist

On October 31, 2009, the Alumni Association recognized

the following individuals with a 2009 Alumni Award:

2009 alumni award

recipients

dean of graduate education, and chair of the

exhibitions committee. Her research, which

tackles a diversity of subjects, includes an

exhibit she considers her most important —

Seeing Through “Paradise”: Artists and the

Terezin Concentration Camp, which debuted

brave and poignant drawings by Jewish

prisoners, discovered decades after the war

ended. Branson wrote the exhibition catalog

and helped organize the 1991 event — which

received a rave review from the New York

Times — with MassArt’s Michèle Furst and

Jeffrey Keough.

When she leaves in June, Branson said she’ll

most miss the people at MassArt and the

thrill of seeing art as it’s being produced. But

she’s also excited about “the opportunity to

improvise with my time and follow all these

same interests, but in a different way.”

When Johanna Branson, senior vice president

for academic affairs, first arrived on campus

in 1972 to teach contemporary art part time,

she knew immediately she didn’t want to leave.

Now, twenty-eight years later, after helping

MassArt grow into one of the nation’s top art

and design colleges, she feels it’s time.

“I don’t know if most people have the oppor-

tunity over the course of their career to feel

like they’ve been a part of something that’s

progressively and constantly gotten better,”

said Branson, who will retire at the end of June.

“The people here are so talented and it’s been

such a privilege to work with them and help

build this community.”

In her current role, which she’s held since

1995, Branson has helped grow the academic

programs, shape curriculum, build a diverse

faculty, improve the facilities, and keep

the college true to its mission of offering a

comprehensive art and design program.

Prior to transitioning into administration

full - time, Branson taught art history and held

a number of other posts — chair of the media

and performing arts department, acting

“The people here are so talented and it’s been such a privilege to work with them and help build this community.”

AccOMPLISHED cAREERbranson retires after 28 years

DONOR PROFILE

GENEROUS GESTURE annual fund is an annual priority

That is, until Katie Osediacz, art education

‘06, won the honor as a senior at MassArt.

It was no surprise, really. Since transferring

to MassArt as a sophomore, she excelled in

the classroom, ultimately graduating with

departmental honors and earning the Rachel

Whittier Memorial Fund Award for excellence

in teaching and learning.

To say thanks to her alma mater, Osediacz has

contributed each year to the MassArt Fund,

which helps support scholarships, financial

aid, and academic programs. “I feel like the

opportunities I’ve been afforded here have

been invaluable. Although I can’t give much,

I feel like giving something is a symbol of my

appreciation and reflects how MassArt has

affected my life.”

Osediacz is especially appreciative of the pro-

fessors who influenced her, particularly Beth

Balliro, MSAE ‘99, Maureen Kelly, John Crowe,

and John Giordano. “They helped me be more

realistic and grounded as a teacher. I learned

how to approach really difficult situations with

kids and be much more helpful to them.”

Each year the Boston Arts Academy

(BAA), the city’s first and only high

school for the visual and performing

arts, awards a full - year internship

to a deserving graduate student.

After graduating, Osediacz earned a post -

baccalaureate certificate at the School of the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, then taught art

at Narragansett Regional High School for a

year, followed by a year and a half at BAA. In

January she moved to Chicago, where her

brother lives, to explore new career opportuni-

ties, which might include teaching or blending

her passion for art with her passion for urban

gardening and farming.

“I told my students [at BAA], ’I’m casting my net

and I’ll see what I get back.’”

Osediacz with senior visual artists at Boston Arts Academy

“Although I can’t give much, I feel like giving something is a symbol of my appreciation and reflects how MassArt has affected my life.”

MEMORy

She remembers hearing her mom sobbing and

screaming Danny’s name outside their West

End Boston home, then looking out the window

and seeing two police officers holding her up

on each side as they helped her towards their

house. Berde was just six years old at the time.

She kept that memory trapped inside her for

decades, never quite able to express it in her

drawings or paintings, like she’s been able to

do with other painful memories. But something

about her own son coming home late that

night made Berde think about her mom and

that tragic day. She went to her studio, picked

up a piece of charcoal, and began drawing.

What emerged was a somber, moving portrait

of a haunting memory — and inspiration for

a larger collection. For the next ten months,

Berde, art education ‘72, worked day and night

to create an exhibit called Leaving the River,

blending paintings, sculptures, pieces of fur-

niture and clothing, collage, and other media.

The installation, which debuted at MassArt’s

Arnheim Gallery in November 2009, chronicles

three of the most influential experiences in

her life — how she and her staunch Irish Catholic

parents dealt with her brother’s death; watching

the slow destruction of her tight - knit West End

neighborhood as construction crews leveled

it, house by house, to make way for high - rise

buildings, until her family was forced to move

when she was nine; and living with congenital

scoliosis, a condition that forced her to wear a

plaster back brace and undergo several painful

procedures to straighten her crooked spine

well into her teens.

“I wanted to have this exhibition at MassArt

because it was my saving grace,” said Berde.

“It changed my life. MassArt let me know that

I could have choices other than choices that

my family had made for me. Because I had

so many different health issues as a child,

they didn’t have high expectations of things

I could do.”

Besides working on her own pieces, Berde

teaches art in her Brookline studio, volunteers

as an art consultant for Brookline Public

Schools, and serves as artist - in - residence for

Jewish Community Housing for the Elderly.

She’s currently exploring opportunities to

take Leaving the River on the road. “I think it

can help others learn to process their painful

memories. Sometimes it’s much easier to

draw a picture and then talk about it.”

ALUMNI FOcUS

A RIVER RUNS THROUGH ITinstallation flows with emotion and history

One night in 2008, when her teenage son didn’t

come home when he was supposed to, Evelyn

Berde’s mind raced back to July 12, 1956, the

day her nine - year - old brother and best friend

Danny drowned in the Charles River.

OPPOSITE TOP: Berde’s recreation of the living room and kitchen of her childhood West End Boston home in Leaving the River

BOTTOM LEFT: Berde in the Arnheim Gallery

BOTTOM RIGHT: “The Rabbi and Me” from Leaving the River

MEMORy“I think it can help others learn to process their painful memories. Sometimes it’s much easier to draw a picture and then talk about it.”

FAcULTy FOcUS

cRAFTIt’s a place where architects, sculptors, histori-

ans, and students work side by side to recreate

centuries - old objects out of stone, wood, and

metal. A place where production companies

such as the Discovery Channel and PBS search

for answers to history’s mysteries. A place

where “learning by doing” is the guiding

principle. It’s a place called Handshouse Studio,

a non - profit educational organization that’s

the brainchild of MassArt sculpture professors

Rick and Laura Brown.

The massive timber - frame facility, which

the Browns designed and built almost

entirely by themselves from 1995 to 1999,

provides the space they need to bring

together multi-disciplinary partners to

construct unique projects — a Revolutionary

War American submarine, an eighteenth

century French crane, a seventeenth century

Polish synagogue.

OBjEcTS OF DESIRE sculpting professors carve out historical niche

Tucked inside dense woodlands

twenty - five miles south of Boston

is a place where the past comes

alive in unusual ways.

cRAFT

“Our projects are cross cultural, from different

time periods,” said Rick, a full - time MassArt

professor since 1988. “We’re not fixed on

any subject matter. We look for objects that

we could potentially start with as a point of

departure for a learning adventure.”

Although not formally affiliated with MassArt,

Handshouse often serves as a training

ground for MassArt students who are able to

incorporate Handshouse projects into their

program. A recent example includes a nose job

for the Great Sphinx of Giza, which was part

of a project for PBS’s popular science show,

Nova. The Handshouse team, which includes

several MassArt students, chipped, chiseled,

and polished a 6 - ft. block of limestone for

two - and - a - half weeks into a giant nose to

give viewers a better understanding of how

long it likely took to build the giant statue.

The students learned about the craft of sculpting

as they learned about ancient Egyptian history,

including how to forge the copper chisels and

stone hammers used by the Egyptians 4,500

years ago.

“The reward of Handshouse is seeing the

excitement, the interest, especially from

students, when taking on these projects,”

“The reward of Handshouse is seeing the excitement, the interest, especially from students, when taking on these projects...”

said Laura, sculpture ‘93, who has taught at

MassArt part-time since 1996. “It’s a real high

to show them what they can accomplish when

they work as part of a team and open their

eyes to a new way of studying something.”

The Browns’ largest Handshouse endeavor to

date is a project they’ve been working on for

six years — reconstructing seventeenth and

eighteenth century Polish synagogues, elabo-

rate wooden structures destroyed by the Nazis

in World War II. They will be traveling to Poland

over the next three summers to collaborate

with an international team of builders on a

full - scale replica and hope to include students.

“There are certain things you can learn only by

doing,” said Rick. “And as we tell our students

today, you can make history.”

“It’s a real high to show them what they can accomplish when they work as part of a team...”

Members of the Handshouse team with the Sphinx nose

OPPOSITE: Rick Brown at work on the Sphinx nose

STUDENT SNAP

WHITE HOUSE WONDER freshman accepts award from first lady

the Humanities — they were asked to send one

student and one adult representative to DC to

attend a special awards ceremony hosted by

Michelle Obama. Farmer, who at the time of

the invitation was waiting to start her fresh-

man year at MassArt, was a likely choice, since

she had participated in Art a la Carte from

seventh through twelfth grade.

“Liana stood out because, unlike many of

our students who utilize the Art a la Carte

program to fulfill a personal desire to increase

art skills and improve their college candidacy,

Liana started from the foundation level and

increased her skills in hopes of pursuing

Liana Farmer thought it was a joke, or perhaps

spam. Even though the email was from an

organization she recognized, the Federated

Dorchester Neighborhood Houses (FDNH), she

had a hard time believing she was actually

invited to the White House.

“I didn’t understand what was going on at first.

They were asking for my social security num-

ber and all this personal information. I thought,

‘That doesn’t sound right. I don’t think I should

give out that information,’” she said with a

laugh. “It was kind of funny how it happened.”

As it turned out, the email was real. FDNH had

won the Coming Up Taller Award for its after-

school program, Art a la Carte, which engages

kids from some of Boston’s underserved

neighborhoods in the visual and performing

arts. As one of just fifteen youth programs in

the country to receive the award — presented

by the President’s Committee for the Arts and

“Liana started from the foundation level and increased her skills in hopes of pursuing a career in the arts.”leslie moore, director of adolescent development, fdnh

FULL cIRcLEcreate your legacy

A passionate art educator, Diane Edstrom

was a loyal member of the class of ‘65 and

often organized gatherings with her class-

mates over the years. We were saddened

to learn of her recent passing in January,

but grateful that she had included

MassArt in her estate plans. Diane chose

one of the simplest ways to remember

a charity in one’s estate — specifying a

certain percentage to go to a cause that

the donor cares about.

Leaving a bequest to MassArt is an

uncomplicated way to make a gift that will

be appreciated by future generations at

the college. A philanthropy staff member

can help you discuss the type of gift you’d

like to include in your will, and how it can

support students at MassArt. If the gift is

over $25,000 a special named endowed

scholarship or lecture fund can be set up.

However, even smaller amounts can be

directed to your priorities.

Whatever type of gift you are considering,

our philanthropy staff is happy to discuss

your thoughts, and we can even tell you

about gifts that give back — such as

annuities or trusts. To learn more, contact

Karin Blum at (617) 879 - 7080 or

karin.blum@massart.edu

a career in the arts. We thought it would be

especially rewarding for her as a MassArt student

to be exposed to the activities and honors

associated with the President’s Committee for the

Arts and Humanities,” said Leslie Moore, director

of adolescent development.

The Coming Up Taller Awards ceremony, which

Farmer attended with FDNH CEO Mark Culliton,

was held November 4, 2009. When she accepted

the awarded, Farmer hugged the First Lady and

even exchanged a few quick words. It was an

experience she said she’ll not soon forget and

one for which she is truly grateful, especially

since she got to represent a program that had

such a positive influence on her young career.

“I think I always wanted to apply to MassArt, but

I wasn’t sure I was good enough,” she said. “But

[my Art a la Carte teachers] definitely gave me

the confidence to go ahead with it. Lucky for me

I got accepted early and it was my first choice.”

“We thought it would be especially rewarding for her as a MassArt student to be exposed to the activities and honors associated with the President’s Committee for the Arts and Humanities.”

leslie moore, director of adolescent development, fdnh

Farmer, with FDNH CEO Mark Culliton, accepting the Coming Up Taller Award from Michelle Obama

621 HUNTINGTON AVENUE BOSTON, MA 02115 USA MassArt.edu

NONPROFIT ORGUS POSTAGE

PAIDBOSTON, MAPERMIT NO. 54162return service requested

04.10.10Twenty-first Annual Benefit Art Auction

We are grateful to the generous artists,

buyers, and sponsors who helped raise

more than $500,000 at the twentieth

annual auction last spring. Funds raised

support student scholarships and academic

programs. Mark your calendar for the

auction on April 10, 2010.

05.03.10Spring Sale

The college’s annual spring sale, open May

3 – 8 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., features original

works of glass, ceramics, painting, jewelry,

photography, sculpture, fibers, and more.

The sale benefits artists, and a portion of

the proceeds provides financial support

to students.

05.21.10Commencement 2010

The class of 2010 graduates and joins the

MassArt alumni community. This year the

college will award an honorary degree to

Lowery Stokes Sims.

Editor: Dani Williams; Copy: Mike Ransdell; Design: Moth Design, Katie Magee ‘09, Dan Rukas ‘03; Photography: Sonia Targontsidis MFA ‘02, Joel Veak, and Steven Purcell

Folio contains 100% postconsumer waste recycled paper that’s been manufactured with Green – e certified renewable wind-generated electricity.

For details on these and other events,

visit the alumni online community at

alumni.massart.edu.