Laura Drake, Sigrid Zahner, Art and Design Team
Please join me in congratulating Laura Drake, associate professor of industrial design, Sigrid Zahner, associate professor of fine arts, and students from the Department of Art and Design in the Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts for winning the 2016 CONNECT student competition SOFA Chicago.
The Sculpture Objects Functional Art and Design (SOFA) Fair in Chicago is the premier gallery-presented art fair dedicated to three-dimensional art and design. SOFA invites visitors to “connect” on the SOFA CHICAGO show floor at the annual CONNECT student design competition. Each year, six schools are chosen to create unique installations based on their prestige as top design institutions. As the winning school, the team was awarded a cash prize.
Their project, Urban Nature: A Recycled Sanctuary, created a space that reflected financial economy and creativity, with references to natural iconography such as leaves and insects. Using leftover materials from industrial design, sculpture, ceramics and textile classes, they intended for these materials to speak for themselves. Texture, line, silhouette and color are very important to the overall design.
Congratulations, Dr. Drake, Dr. Zahner, and students!
David A. Reingold
Justin S. Morrill Dean
College of Liberal Arts