Senior Capstone course students recently traveled to visit two exhibitions and experience the energy of New York City. The itinerary included tours of AIGA's "365 Design Effectiveness" exhibition, Grand Central Station and MoMA's "Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects" exhibition. The combination of seeing creative work by artists from around the world and walking through the streets of NYC certainly gave the students valuable inspiration in developing their own senior thesis projects.

AIGA's "365 Design Effectiveness" exhibition.

"Taxi Hand Sign Shape Lingo for Blind People" by Susan Woolf at the MoMA.

Students in Sage's Illustration I course recently toured the Pulp Fiction Paintings exhibit at the Mandeville Gallery. In conjunction with the visit, the students will be researching the genre and working on a multi-week pulp illustration project.

Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ has invited professor Sean Hovendick to exhibit his work in the 2011 Annual Fall Exhibition titled Mass Distractions & Cultural Decay.
The exhibition will showcase artists utilizing strategies and techniques that counter and subvert numerous culture-industry ideologies, which promote racism, classism, nationalism, militarism, sexism, imperialism, colonialism and consumerism.
Professor Hovendick will be included with other international artists such as Michael Paul Britto, Heather Bursch, Taeyoon Choi, Raphael Dallaporta, Emory Douglas, Sam Durant, Hasan Elahi, Marc Handelman, Jaqueline Hoang Nguyen, Jon Kessler, Laura Mulvey, Olive Morris Collective, Martha Rosler, Ivor Shearer, Scott Thode, Hank Willis Thomas and Jasiri X.
September 30 - October 22, 2011
Reception: Wednesday, October 5, 5-7 p.m.
Admission is free.
The Mason Gross Galleries at Civic Square
33 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 10-4; Wednesday 10-6; and Saturday 12-4.
For more information visit www.masongross.rutgers.edu/visual-arts/calendar or call 732-932-2222, ext. 798.

Four graphic design seniors were chosen to attend the prestigious NYC Art Director's Club National Portfolio Review on Monday, May 2 in New York City. Students are selected by the faculty to attend the event, and were courted by creative directors, art directors and recruiters for jobs in the industry. Only 100 students are chosen to attend from the best design schools in the country.

May 2 - July 22, 2011
Opalka Gallery
Sage College of Albany
Opening Reception: Friday, May 6th, 5-9pm
A selection of the best work by 4th year BFA students receiving their degrees in Studio Arts, Interior Design, and Graphic Design. This year's exhibit is juried by Sharon Bates & Paul Miyamoto.
The exhibit continues at the Little Gallery in Rathbone Hall.
Gallery hours: Monday-Friday 10-4
Commencement weekend: May 14 &15, noon-4pm
Closed: May 30 and July 1-4.

Vernacular, the annual student-produced publication that features literature, art and design work from the students of Sage College of Albany will be released to the public this week. "It's a great opportunity for students to work together on a real-world project that celebrates the creative work of our campus." said Professor Sean Hovendick, faculty advisor of the student team responsible for the design and production of the annual publication. Another faculty advisor guides the student literature team in selecting creative writing works to be included.

Walking with the students during the press check, Professor Hovendick describes the process of publication design that students rarely get the opportunity to experience. "There's so much more to this than making it look good on your computer. You need to understand what happens after you drop off your files to the printer... and how to make quick changes so the printed page is what you expect."

The official release of the 42nd edition of Vernacular will be held on April 27th in KCC 224 at 12:30pm. Free editions of Vernacular are available in limited quantities to published students and their families, as well as Sage faculty and staff.

Sage students in the BFA degree program will exhibit recent interactive and motion design work in the Little Gallery on the Albany campus. The exhibition cleverly titled Stay Tuned will be the first of its kind in the Little Gallery and feature numerous student works that explore web design and animation.

Established in 1987, the National Conferences of Undergraduate Research (NCUR) is dedicated to promoting undergraduate research, scholarship, and creative activity in all fields of study by sponsoring an annual conference for students. The conference is from March 31- April 2 at Ithaca College. Rachel's thesis, "REACTION: Food Allergy Iconography" is a project that provides important food safety information to consumers with food allergies by means of visual communication.

Robert Simpson recently completed his study abroad semester in London, England. While there,  he completed a design internship at The Big Issue, a London street newspaper written by professional journalists. Robert designed this cover featuring the actor Russell Brand.

Sage College of Albany sent three seniors to the Art Director's Club annual National Portfolio Review in New York City. An honor for any graduating senior, Sage students are hand-picked by the Graphic + Media Design faculty for a unique opportunity to show off their hard work and speak to numerous representatives of the creative industry. All part of Creative Week held throughout the city, the review showcased student work from around the country for three days.