WELCOME CAMDEN ANDERSON CHOW!

Congratulations to Ai New York City Director of Institutional Effectiveness Rebekah Chow and her husband Chris on the birth of their first child Camden Anderson Chow!  Camden weighed in at an even 7 lbs. and 20 inches tall! 

She went into labor on the train ride home (scary thought!) and the baby was born at 8 a.m. this morning (12/20).  Leave it to our extremely organized Director of Institutional Effectiveness to have her baby on the due date!  Mommy, daddy and baby Camden are doing well.

A photo of the new addition appears below.




Camden Anderson Chow; 7 lbs. 20 inches; 12/20/11



RINGING IN THE HOLIDAYS AT 67 LIVINGSTON RESIDENCE

Hard-working Ai New York City students not only got a chance to take a break from their studies but also a chance put their creative talents to use at the student 2011 Holiday Party on Thursday, December 16.  Organized by Tavis Young, Ai New York City's Director of Residence Life & Housing, the event was held at Ai New York City's residence at 67 Livingston Street in Brooklyn.  Students got a chance to mingle, enjoy some delicious food and apply their creative talents to making gingerbread houses, s'mores and planning residence events for 2012. 

Special thanks to the Student Affiars team Joe Pirrello, Dean, Tavis Young, Director of Residence Life and Katie Nekiunas, Student Support & Disabilities coordinator for all of their efforts!

RINGING IN THE HOLIDAYS IN STYLE AT AI NEW YORK CITY

Hard-working faculty and staff had an opportunity to mingle, meet some new faces and enjoy each other's company at the Ai New York City annual holiday party held in the Gallery on Friday, December 16th.

Organized by Camille Bateman, of Ai New York City's Human Resources department, participants enjoyed delicious hors d'oeuvres, cookies, hot chocolate and sparkling apple juice, made by City Bakery.  Some photos of the revelers appear above.

Thanks to Camille once again for making this all happen!  Happy Holidays everyone!

GD/WDIM LUNCHTIME LECTURE SERIES A HIT!

Left to Right:  Ai New York City Academic Advisors Gene Tolan & Paul Henkel,
Dean of Academic Affairs Dave Moughalian, Maurizio Masi, GD/WDIM Faculty & Myles Tanaka, Chair-GD/WDIM

Maurizio "Mo" Masi and lecture series attendees

Ai New York City Graphic Design/WDIM instructor Maurizio "Mo" Masi hosts an 11-week (Week 1 - Week 11) extra lecture series to interested GD/WDIM students wishing to gain "real-world" knowledge for all things Graphic Design and Web Design.  

The lecture series was designed to provide Graphic and WDIM students with real-world, industry-specific information from an expert on how to prepare portfolios for review by potential employers.  The series also covered personal style development, the GRID system, In Design Program rules, personal presentation and matching skill sets with professions inside the Graphics and Web fields. 

Over 40 Ai New York City students attended the lectures during their lunch breaks.  Now that's dedication!  A group shot appears above in which the students presented an award to Maurizio to show their appreciation of his efforts to assist them in becoming better designers.

Thanks Mo from all of us at Ai New York City ... you rock! 

Photos appear above.

AI NEW YORK CITY INSTRUCTOR TO SHOWCASE PHOTOS IN THREE EXHIBITIONS

Ai New York City Liberal Arts & Sciences instructor Marcia Lloyd will be showcasing her photographic talents in three current and upcoming shows as follows:

Show #1 - Rush Arts Gallery & Resource Center December 1-10, 2011
This is a 5" x 6" postcard exhibition of the top 150 entries ranked by the Curate NYC panel of judges
The gallery is located at 526 W.26th St. #311 (between 10th & 11th Aves.), NYC.  Phone - 212-691-9552 http://www.rushartsgallery.org/about.html
Hours Wednesday-Saturday 12:00-6:00 p.m. and by appointment.
Marcia's photograph was selected by Curate NYC for the top 150 works selected from 1,500 entries.  The work can also be seen at http://www.curatenyc.org/.

Show #2 - Viridian Artists Opening Reception Thursday, December 15, 6:00-8:00 p.m. (show runs from December 6-31, 2011
The gallery is located at 548 West 28th St./547 West 27th St. (Between 10th & 11th Aves.) #632, NYC.  Phone - 212-414-4040; http://www.viridianartists.com/
Hours:  Tuesday-Saturday, 12:00-6:00 p.m. 

Show #3 - PLG Arts (off Flatbush Ave.), Brooklyn, NY - Sunday, December 11 4:00-8:00 p.m.  (Marcia will be there from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. only for this exhibit.
The Gallery is located in Brooklyn at 65 Feminore St. (Off Flatbush Avenue - Take Q Train to Prospect Park stop and exit at the Lincoln Road exit).  http://plgarts.org/about.htm
This exhibit will be the inaugural exhibition of the photography group F-Stop: Brooklyn, under the auspices of PLG Arts. 

All are welcome to visit any one of these three shows!

A DELICIOUSLY GOOD CAUSE

Ai New York City instructor Frank Lord and his Entrepreneurship class will be holding a bake sale in Ai New York City's gallery on Tuesday, December 6 starting at 1:00 p.m.  All of the proceeds will be donated to Toys For Tots. 

The students in Frank's class are conducting this sale as a class project so not only are we helping needy children, but helping Frank's students succeed!  Let's all venture down to the Gallery and give them all the support they need!  Mark the date ... Tuesday, December 6 @ 1 p.m.! 

WE LOVE OUR VETERANS!

On Friday, November 18 the Ai New York City Student Veteran's Club held their first social and meeting in the campus Gallery.  Fifteen veterans attended the function to connect not only with each other but with school personnel who were on hand to offer assistance with questions or just to lend an ear.  From the Ai New York City staff Associate Registrar and VA Certifying Officer, Laura Febrez, Dean of Academic Affairs Dave Moughalian, Academic Advisors Gene Tolan and Paul Henkel, Student Support and Disabilities Coordinator Katie Nekiunas, Dean of Student Affairs Joe Pirrello, Liberal Arts and Sciences Department Chair John Mancuso, Graphic Design Instructors Miguel Martinez and Daniele Imperiale-Warner (Veteran's Club advisor) attended the function.

The vets attending were Jonathan Nunez, Frank Laino, Dave Rodriguez, Brandon Alicea, Dwight Garland, Francisco Ayala, Jonathan Chinchay, Anthony Wheeler, Christin Southard, Vivian Panek, Christian Caiafa, Sarah Williams, Michael Salas, Adrian Maldonado, Ciera Jones and Lester Williams.

Thank you all for your service and thank you for "Creating Tomorrow" at Ai New York City!

LITTLE BLACK DRESS COMPETITION UNDERWAY!

Time again for Ai New York City's Little Black Dress Competition!

45 students have entered the competition organized by Ai New York City Fashion Design Chair, Amanda Lovell and Assistant Fashion Design Chair Vikki Nulman (who designed the sample dress captioned above). Student entrants will have from Wednesday, November 23 through Sunday November 27 to complete their designs. The deadline for all entries is Monday November 28. Students must use black t-shirts as material and the Ai logo has to appear somewhere in the design. Students can use their choice of closure or trim. There will be a reception and viewing of the winning entries on Wednesday November 30 from 5:15 to 7:00 p.m. in The Ai New York City Gallery.

The first prize winner will receive a portable overlock machine and second place winner will receive a $50 gift card.

Good luck to all the entrants!

AI NEW YORK CITY'S FAB FASHION FACULTY

Ai New York City's Fabulous fashion faculty were honored last week for their great work in changing students' lives, culminating with a high tea on Wednesday prepared by Assistant Fashion Department Chair Vikki Nulman.

The faculty participated in a raffle in which 10 prizes were awarded and even a couple of students won prizes presented by the fashion faculty. The event was organized by Ai New York City Fashion Department Chair Amanda Lovell who had nothing but high praise for her department's faculty members:

"Our faculty make a profound difference in the lives of our students. As one student recently mentioned: "I'm not sure if I have faith in God, but I sure have faith in [faculty member] Larisa Ioselovich!" We feel that way about all these wonderful folks."

Congratulations and thanks to all!

CALLING ALL STUDENTS!

The Gowanus Print Lab located in Brooklyn is conducting an open call for entries for their upcoming show entitled "The Art of Rebellion" that will run from December 15, 2011 through January 26, 2012. Deadline for entries is Monday, November 28. A description of the exhibition appears below:

2011 has been a year of rebellion. This year has seen long-standing monarchs overthrown in Egypt and Libya and mass protests for calling change in the economic-political power structure in Europe and the United States, most notably in Occupy Wall Street. Dissent at this level has not been seen since the late 1960's, where protesters developed both nonviolent and more radical protest techniques that are still used in today's struggles.

Young people in particular are standing up and using their voice, and in times of social turmoil and political upheaval art can be used as a powerful and emotional communicative tool.

In recognition of these calls for change, The Art of Rebellion will feature politically-fueled artwork selected from an open call to currently enrolled students. The exhibition will include a variety of mediums used to convey political messages, such as street art, fashion, photography and poster design. All political view points are encouraged to submit. See the link below for specifics on how to enter.

https://gowanusprintlab.com/Art_of_Rebellion.html

What are you waiting for? Click on the link today to get started!

WELCOME ARIANNA MARIE

Ai New York City Director of Admissions Rich Lebel and his wife welcomed Arianna Marie Lebel to the world at 2 p.m. on October 26, 2011. Arianna weighed 7 lbs. 9 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long. Mom, dad and baby are are all doing fine!

Congratulations!

FALLING FOR EVERYTHING HEALTHY

Hard-working Ai New York City employees got treated to tarot card readings, chair massages, chiropractic, reflexology, flu shots, dental tips and even a financial health check-up today from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event took place both in the Gallery and the third floor conference room and needless to say, the massages were well-attended! Check out the pictures above. Special thanks to Ai New York City Director of Human Resources Camille Bateman for putting this together for us ... you rock!

AI NEW YORK CITY AT NEW YORK MARATHON!

Congratulations to Ai New York City Digital Film instructor, Jason Moore and Ai New York City Fashion Design instructor Jennifer for completing the New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 6. This is a third go-around for Jason and a second for Jennifer!

Good job! We are all very proud!

AN AUTHOR IN OUR MIDST

During the day, he is mild-mannered Ai New York City Academic Advisor, David Nash - By night, he is an accomplished author! ... who knew? His novel, "VanGogh's Ear", which "... is the soul-rending account of love between two brothers. It is the narrative of their last few months together in a world where love tears apart and the lessons of the mind are rarely those of the heart (Amazon.com)", has been getting rave reviews from fellow authors and customers alike as per the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/Van-Goghs-Ear-David-Nash/dp/1932842039/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320436852&sr=8-1

Ai New York City Interior Design Chair Anthony Caradonna remarked "... It is truly a very accomplished piece of literature, I am reading it now and I must say I am totally impressed."
Director of Library Services, Betsy Nichols heard about the novel and immediately ordered two copies for the library!

Congratulations David! You make us proud! Stay tuned for more news! Could there be a public reading in the near future?

Ai NEW YORK CITY LOVES FUR-FREE FASHION

Local fashion design student Jeremy Stewart will be representing Ai New York City as a finalist in the seventh-annual "Cool vs. Cruel" Fashion Design competition. Stewart is one of 18 finalists from across North America who will compete in the fur-free competition that is sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States and The Art Institutes.

Over 200 entries were reviewed by a distinguished panel of judges including fashion photographer Nigel Barker, John and Victoria Bartlett, Marc Bouwer, Ally Chomer, Leanne Hilgart, Elizabeth Olsen, magazine editors Mickey Boardman and Shelly Vella and Discerning Brute blog founder, Joshua Katcher.

The contest challenges Art Institutes fashion design students throughout the United States and Vancouver to creatively reinterpret and replace animal fur on runway designs by designers such as Fendi, Alexander McQueen, Gucci or Oscar de la Renta. Mr. Stewart's design appears above.

In addition to being a national finalist, Mr. Stewart will receive a cash award.

The competition winner will receive an expense-paid, week-long internship in New York City with a celebrated designer from the panel of judges.

Check out the link below to learn more about the contest and see the original runway looks the students will be recreating http://www.coolvscruel.org/ .

Congratulations Jeremy ... on to the Nationals!

Stay tuned for more information on the national competition!

ANOTHER OPENING ... ANOTHER SHOW!

Transitions 2 (Nathalie at 11)

Transitions 1

Ai New York City Libral Arts & Sciences instructor, Marcia Lloyd will be exhibiting two of her photographs entitled "Transitions 1" and "Transitions 2" at the upcoming PLG Arts Group Show in Brooklyn. Ms. Lloyd says that the two photographs are part of a series she is developing on the emotions and attitudes accompanying major life transitions.

The show will run from Sunday, October 30 through Sunday, November 13, 2011. There will be an opening reception on Sunday, October 30 starting at 4 p.m. The gallery is located at 552 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn (between Lincoln Rd. & Maple Street) and is easily accessible from the B & Q subway lines as well as the B41 & B43 busses (to Lincoln Rd.). Take the Brooklyn-bound B or Q train to the "Prospect Park" station and exit at Lincoln Road (the gallery is two blocks from this exit).

Come one ... come all! For more information on PLG Arts, click on the link below!

http://www.plgarts.org/home.htm

BRINGIN' HOME THE GOLD (AND SILVER)

Ai New York City Graphic Design students were selected to submit work to compete in the 41st Annual Creativity Awards, which is an international competition with over 1,100 professional and educational-level entrants. Nine Ai New York City students were selected by the competition's judges for the Gold, Silver and Honorable Mention categories! In fact, Ai New York City received the most awards of any college participating in the competition!

These nine students, competed against students from premier design schools such as Art Center College of Design, Drexel University Graphic Design, New York Institute of Technology, Pratt Institute, Rhode Island School of Design, School of the Art Institute of Chicago and School of Visual Arts and Ringling College of Art & Design.

It is important to note here that Ai New York City is the ONLY Associate degree-granting institution in this group (almost all of the above schools are Master's degree level institutions)! The following graduate students/graduates who won are listed below:

Stacey Raia (Gold Medal)
Jeff Kasper (Gold Medal)
Angel Kim (Gold Medal)
Patrick Egglinger (Silver Medal ... TWICE!)
Anna Sudit (Silver Medal)
Rowen Davis (Silver Medal)
Jorge Artega (Silver Medal)

Honorable Mention:
AJ Tarrant
Stalin Espinal
Fei Suzuki
Lauren Mullins
Sophie Cooke

Ai New York City Dean of Academic Affairs, Dave Moughalian attributes the win to a "... community effort ...) and many other thanks are due: to the liberal arts department, the Admissions staff that recruited those students, the Financial Aid Staff, the Registrar's office, Academic Advising Staff and the technology staff ... "the list goes on and on".

Dave cited particular thanks to Ai New York City Graphic Design Instructor Simona Prives for coordinating the entries under the direction of Department Chair Myles Tanaka and the entire Graphic Design team!

In the coming months, the Ai New York City community will have a gallery show of the winning work as well as an awards ceremony so stay tuned!

Congratulations to all the winners! We are all very pleased and proud of each of you!

Check out the link below for more information about the awards:

http://campaigns.ratepoint.com/campaigns/6ab55ad60281005790f1371f31f9a57d?r=3199b4520d1fcbf06f0ce3a17422d69f

READERS' THEATRE A HIT!

Ai New York City Summer Semester 2011 students of Diane Orr's "Readers' Theater" class held their last performance on September 23 at the Metropolitan College of New York's Conference Center.

The students (all in costume), read monologues and scenes from masterpieces such as "Streetcar Named Desire", "Long Day's Journey Into Night", "Soldier's Play", "Doubt", "Six Degrees of Separation" and "All My Sons". The students also attended a performance of "Master Class" starring Tyne Daly and read from this recent production.

A photo of the performers appears above (photo taken by Aliah Kellier). From left to right they are: Jenna Thurman, Atanacio Perez, Diane Orr, Philip Maniaci, Adelia Jones, John Cinardo, Jr., Hasani Noel, Derell Mirjah, Aliah Kellier, Sean Singh and Shanita Isaacs.

Great job everyone!

Ai NEW YORK CITY AT RADIO CITY!

Tavis Young, Ai New York City's Director of Residence Life & Housing and a group of 30 new and continuing Ai New York City students attended a performance of Cirque du Soleil's acclaimed show "Zarkana" at Radio City Music Hall on September 30. The students had a great time and not only got a night out on the town, but a chance to bond with each other at a great New York City landmark.

Check out the photos above!

LIGHTS! CAMERA! ACTION!

Ai New York City Digital Filmmaking instructor, Jason Moore and his Professional Production Team class have been busy servicing their client, Young Audiences New York (YANY) for the past two quarters. Jason's class wrote, directed, filmed and edited two promotional videos "Youth Choir Project" http://www.yany.org/youth-labs/music-unites-youth-choir/ and "The Animation Project http://www.yany.org/youth-labs/the-animation-project/. YANY features the two videos prominently on their site. Students participating in "The Animation Project" were Christopher Conway and Philip Maniaci.

Please take a moment to click on the links to these two great videos. Great job all!

There is a third video being created for YANY this quarter, so stay tuned!

ROLLING ON THE RIVER!

Ai New York City's hard-working staff and faculty were invited to a luncheon aboard Spirit Cruises "Spirit of New York" on Friday, September 16. Those that participated had a picture-perfect day, great food and beverage and a longer than usual lunch period. The cruise was a great way for everyone to relax, bond and see the sites of NYC.

The "brain child" behind this popular event (now in it's third summer) is HR's own Camille Bateman with the assistance of Dianna Harper. Great job ladies!

Some photos of the event appear above.

INTERIOR DESIGN SHINES IN THE GALLERY

The Ai New York City Community is invited to view at their leisure the wonderful exibition curated by the ID students and faculty under the expert guidance of Interior Design Department Chair (and Co-Chair of the Gallery Committee), Anthony Caradonna.

The work is on display in Ai New York City's Gallery on the first floor and can be viewed during normal school hours from Monday, August 29, until Monday, September 19, 2011. The work consists of a wide range of student projects from various drawing and design studios.

Some photos appear above. Congratulations to all on a job well done!

EAT DESSERT FIRST!

Ai New York City Staff and faculty were treated to an hour-long ice cream social at 12 noon this afternoon in the third floor employee lounge.

A Good-Humor ice cream cart was on hand and staffers/faculty got to sample classic treats such as ice cream sandwiches, sundae cones, frozen fruit bars and other tempting chilled delights. Ai New York City Human Resources Director, Camille Bateman and Human Resources Generalist, Dianna Harper donned chef's hats and aprons and greeted the staff who stopped by. A photo of the two appears above.