June 20, 2009

Just because the school year ends, doesn't mean faculty stop working. The summer is a busy and productive time as many faculty continue to teach, conduct research and to present creative and scholarly work. Here is brief glimpse into the summer plans of some members of our community. Lisa Hayes will be presenting her paper Changing Business Practicies in Fashion: Liz Claiborne, an American Innovator, at the European Business History Conference in Milan, Italy. Her "Little Green Dress' project, made using eco-friendly fabrics and processes, will be included in the China Industry & Academic Association international exhibition in Cheung Du, China and the Korean Society for Clothing Industry international fashion exhibition in Uzbekistan. In August Lisa will present a paper Connecting Through Technology and Creativity: Designers Meet The Challenge, about synthetic polyester fiber innovations and their application in fashion at the International AATCC-TC2 Conference in Philadelphia. Also, her design "Modern Architecture' has been selected as one of ten finalists in the US in the Queen Sirikit Institute of Sericulture Peacock Standard of Thai Silk Competition, and is currently on display in Thailand.

Jen Blazina will have work in several overlapping shows in the Netherlands, Arizona, Millville, NJ, and Pittsburgh, PA. Andrea Modica will be jet setting: in July, she will be photographing in Italy and in August she will teach a workshop in portraiture in Rockport, Maine followed by a workshop at the Japan Institute of Photography and Film in Osaka, Japan. David Raizman will be spending two months in London, first teaching the history of modern design through Drexel's Study Abroad program, and then beginning his sabbatical research. Blaise Tobia's work "Plain and Fancy' will be on display as part of the Philadelphia International Airport art exhibition series. Blaise will also travel to the Venice Biennale, Germany and Poland as part of his ongoing photographic documentation of global material culture.

Marcy Rauer Wagman will be finishing her book on college and university music business programs and will be working with high school students in the Music Industry Summer Program. John Langdon will be attending a workshop at the New Mexico AIGA, which will explore the relevance of symbolism to effective and engaging visual communications. Sarah Steinwachs will be having a solo exhibition at Gallery Palazzo Gravino, University Federico II, Napoli Italy. The show, Hand Made, will consist of miniature relief constructions made from intricately cut out patterns from paper. Sarah will also give a lecture at the University. Charles Morscheck will spend the summer finishing his book on the Solari Family of Milanese Renaissance Artists.

Ulrike Altenmüller will be presenting the paper "Bruno Taut - The City Crown'at the10th International Conference of the Utopian Studies Society: Far Other Worlds and Other Seas in Oporto, Portugal in early July. Ulrike will also translate into English Die Stadtkrone from Bruno Tauts' anthology which will be the first translation ever included in the Journal of Architectural Education (JAE).

After three solo shows this year at the Santa Monica Museum of Art, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts and the Fleisher Ollman Gallery, Bruce Pollock will return to his studio to develop new paintings for upcoming 2010 exhibitions. Darren Walters will be teaching in the Music Industry Summer Program and taking care of his newborn baby, due very soon. Lydia Hunn will spend time in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire on Lake Winnipesauke, Moosehead Lake in Maine and then Harborside, Maine for four weeks of reading, writing, picture-making, canoeing, hiking and bird watching without TV, newspaper or mail. Nick Cassway will attend the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC) Leadership Institute for Visual Arts Organizations in Oregon and will return home to renovate his house for a new addition to his family, a baby boy.

Ada Tremonte will be traveling to Italy to stay in her husband's hometown of Castel Frantano, along the Adriatic Sea, and then she'll visit Tuscany, Florence, Bologna, Pisa, Rimini and Rome, where her children will be playing in soccer tournaments. In mid-July, Ada will return to Drexel to run the Interior & Architecture summer program. The professional firm Ada works for has just started working on the Consulato Generale D"Italia (Italian Consulte) in Philadelphia. She will be helping them through the programming and schematic design phases to determine if renovating their 10,000 square foot space in the Public Ledger Building is appropriate or if moving into a new building in the best solution.

Dean Sabinson will travel on vacation to Bolivia in late July and early August.