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& Then

NESADSU Alumni Newsletter

Spring 2007

Issue # 12

NESADSU Graphic Design Students:
Learning to Make a Difference
What can we do?
Here we all are in Boston leading privileged lives,
when so many across the globe live in such desperate circumstances. What can you, as art students, do
to influence the lives, for example, of the world’s 40
million HIV-positive people? It seems like an impossible task; however, any small step you can take is
worth the effort.
Since the spring of 2004, the students in Graphic

…a desire to have simple, impactful visuals that could
be used to solicit discussion among health care clinicians.
The issue? How can pre-natal clinicians engage men in
caring for their children?
Design II (ADG S207) have been assigned projects
dealing with sustainability, both environmental and

social. One project addressed
the design of posters directed to
partners of HIV-positive pregnant
women in Namibia. This project
was inspired by the work of a dear
friend, Mary Jo O’Hara, who is an
international AIDS educator. Her
work takes her to India, China
and sub-Saharan Africa, where 29
million of the world’s 40 million
HIV-positive people reside. She had
expressed to me a desire to have
simple, impactful visuals that could
be used to solicit discussion among
health care clinicians. The issue?
How can pre-natal clinicians engage
men in caring for their children?
After intense research, my students,
in teams of two, produced posters based on their own concept
Poster design by Kayla Hicks
conclusions. PDF files of their work
were sent to Mary Jo in Namibia, where she is
working on a draft curriculum for nurses implementing programs to reduce HIV transmission to
infants born to women with HIV. An important challenge for health care workers has been erasing the
stigma of implementing HIV testing during pregnanEditor’s Note . . . . . . . . 2
cy, as women are often perceived by the community
Make a Difference (cont.) 3
as being responsible for the ongoing epidemic since
News & Tidbits . . . . . . . . 4
they are the ones getting tested.
Zorking in q Foreign
Lqnguqge . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Mary Jo shared the students’ work with colleagues
Life Lessons in
who viewed and evaluated the images sent.
Advertising . . . . . . . . . . 8

Inside

Tim Enright’s and Gregory Mills’ poster image was
enthusiastically received by her Namibian colleagues
as was a design done a year earlier by Kayla Hicks.
Because the images portrayed men as being strong,
powerful and engaged in family decision-making, it
offered a different approach to the fear and recrimiPoster design by Tim Enright and Gregory Mills

continued on page 3

Class Notes . . . . . . . . . 10
Alumni Interview . . . . 14
Faculty Interview . . . . 18
Gallery Schedule . . . . 20

E d i t or ’ s N ot e

After two-and-a-half years of designing the NESADSU alumni magazine (I
refuse to call it a “newsletter” anymore;
it’s become much more than that!), Kate
McLean (Graphic Design 2004) is contributing this time in a second way. Kate
is, as some of you know, many things besides an extraordinarily talented graphic
designer. She is English, a perpetual traveler, a photographer,
a snowboarder, a keen observer of the world and everyone and
everything in it, a foodie and wine connoisseur, and one of the
most inquisitive, open-to-experiences-of-all-kinds people it has
ever been my pleasure to know. She is also married, to Mick, and
that has taken her to Paris, where the two of them are comfortably ensconced in a balconied (the better to observe the city)
apartment on rue Gounod in the 17th arrondissement.
Not content to spend her days exploring a city most of us would
love the chance to see full-time, Kate has established herself as a
practicing professional graphic designer in a new city and in a
(fairly) new language, with all the attendant pleasures and pitfalls.With some months of work behind her, she thought it might
be interesting to write about her experiences for “…And Then”. A
very quick “Go right ahead” from me and she was off on the first
of a planned three articles for this and our next two issues. So,
for spring 2007, we bring you “Working in a Foreign Language”,
to be followed in the fall by “Cultural Differences” and, next
spring, “KnowYour Country’s Typography”. All I’ll say at this moment is that it’s a whole different ballgame. Read and enjoy.
Sara

Lost Alumni
Does anyone know where I can find these NESADSU alumni? They’re
no longer at the addresses I had for them and I haven’t been able to
trace them. If you know, please email me at schadwic@suffolk.edu.
Many thanks, detectives!
Sara
Christine Jellow
Anne Noble
Jean Kuntz
Jessica Huang
Ricardo Gonzalez
Josephine Place
Bethia Haider
Darren Breault
Dan Meuleman
Sun Sun Ye
Lucy Beltran
Shawn Mullen

Interior Design
Interior Design
Graphic Design
Fine Arts
Fine Arts
Interior Design (MA)
Graphic Design
Graphic Design
Graphic Design
Fine Arts
Graphic Design
Interior Design

1979
1982
1982
1996
2000
2001
2001
2002
2002
2003
2004
2004

Th e N e w E n g l a n d S c h ool o f
A rt & D e s i g n at
S u f f ol k U n i v e r s i t y
Spring 2007

A l u m n i N e w s l e t t e r, S p r i n g 2 0 0 7 I s s u e # 1 2

& Th e n

2 3

EDITOR:

Please send your photographs and news for inclusion
in the next issue. Send all photographs, slides, or digital
files, with an accompanying caption that identifies who
is in the picture and when and where it was taken. All
photographs, slides and digital files should be 300 dpi at
5”x7” (1500 x 2100 pixels, total filesize four megabytes
approximately), a high-resolution JPEG taken with at least
a three-megapixel camera.

Sara Chadwick

design concept & DESIGN:
CONTRIBUTING designer:
special thanks:
printing:

Kate McLean

Rita Daly

Mish McIntyre

Reynolds DeWalt, New Bedford, MA

web site: www.suffolk.edu/nesad

Send updated contact information, questions or requests to Sara Chadwick at
schadwic@suffolk.edu or call (617) 994-4294 or use the new online form on the
Alumni page of the website.

S p e c i a l Fe at u r e

SPECIAL
feature

continued

NESADSU Graphic Design Students:
Learning to Make A Difference
continued from page 1
nation that are often seen in HIV prevention messages. The image,
used as a “trigger” to generate discussion among healthcare providers, aims to find strategies to educate men as to the important role
they can play in their babies’ health, and to raise awareness among
them regarding HIV transmission to their partners and children.
The image was included in the draft curriculum being used to train
nurses and midwives providing care to pregnant women throughout Namibia. After success there, the image was then added to the
draft curriculum, regarding prevention of mother-to-child transmission, in the 56 nursing schools in Tanzania. Because student nurses,
men and women both, are at risk for HIV, the image can be used
for discussion within personal relationships, within the classroom,
and within the community.
A success story? Yes. We as graphic designers have at our disposal
a powerful means of communication. We need to realize our gift
and use it to improve life as often as we can.

Namibian children (featured above and below) will benefit from the
knowledge passed on by the AIDS awareness program..

Rita Daly §

Many thanks to Mary Jo O’Hara for
access to her photo archives.

A typical Namiibian village hut.

Mary Jo O’Hara (second from left) with the
nursing team in Namibia

Enormous sand dunes are one part of the varied landscape.

NEWS & TIDBITS

NEWS tidbits
&
A N e w O p p ort u n i t y f or

NESA/D/SU Alums

View from the Downtown Harvard Club of Boston
As alums of Suffolk University – and this
includes grads of NESA and NESAD as well
– you are all invited to become members
with full privileges at the Downtown
Harvard Club of Boston. Located on the
38th floor of One Federal Street in Boston,
the club provides sweeping views of the
city (and the Suffolk campus), as well as
à la carte dining Monday through Friday
for breakfast, lunch and dinner. In addition,

members can host or sponsor private
functions or meetings and attend special
member events. Membership in the Downtown Harvard Club also includes reciprocal
privileges at over 130 national and international private clubs. Join alumni of Harvard,
Babson, Bentley, Cornell, Dartmouth and
Holy Cross and find out what the Club has
to offer you. For information, visit www.
harvardclub.com and click on “Become a

Member”. Then just follow the instructions
for applying. And check the Suffolk website
(www.suffolk.edu) for information on Suffolk events being held at the Club.
S.C. §

A n A f t e r noon O f Tu s c a n S u n s h i n e I n Th e
M i d d l e O f A N e w E n g l a n d Wi n t e r
Noted author Frances Mayes, whose book Under the Tuscan Sun was an international best seller, spoke to Suffolk students, faculty and administrators on the
afternoon of Thursday, February 1st, as part of Suffolk’s Centennial celebration.
Through her words, Frances transported her audience to Tuscany, making them
feel the sun’s mid-summer warmth and the breezes flowing through the swaying
cypress trees, fluttering bowers of jasmine, and bobbing heads of roses found in
her gardens at Bramasole in Cortona, Italy.
Suffolk, specifically NESADSU, has begun a wonderful relationship with Ms. Mayes.
Last year, the students in Wallace Marosek’s 6-week Italian Journal program enjoyed a day of painting throughout Frances’ gardens. The students captured with
watercolor the beauty that she has so deftly and poetically described with words.

Spring 2007

Catherine Headen (left) with noted author Frances Mayes (right)

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4 5

Pictured (at left) is Frances Mayes with Catherine Headen, who presented the
author with an original watercolor of Bramasole. Catherine is a graduate student
in the MA program in Graphic Design who happily spent last summer in Italy
along with 10 other students watercoloring a journal of her travels as part of
the Italian Journal program. Italian Journal is offered each summer through the
Graphic Design program at NESADSU to all University undergraduate and
graduate students. For more information, contact Wallace Marosek at
wmarosek@suffolk.edu.
Wallace Marosek §

NESADSU Undergoes
R e ac c r e d i tat i on P ro c e s s
Shortly after the merger with Suffolk University in 1996, NESADSU
applied for and was granted accreditation by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). NASAD is composed of
“schools and individuals representing the highest traditions and aims
in the education of the artist and designer….NASAD is the only accrediting agency covering the whole field of art and design recognized
by the U.S. Department of Education.” (NASAD Handbook).
Accreditation must be renewed on a regular basis and ours came due
during the 2006-2007 academic year. The renewal process involves
submission of a self-study, describing and assessing everything the
school does, in terms of its mission and goals, the faculty and administration, programs and curricula, finances, facilities and equipment, the
library, recruitment, admissions, record-keeping and advising, published
materials, and much more. The self-study, written over the course of a
year by Sara Chadwick, ran to 338 pages, not including faculty resumes
and other appendices. Submitted to NASAD in January, the self-study
was then reviewed by a two-member team of art and design school
educators, who were then to visit the school to see whether all we
had said was true.
The visiting team of Alan Barkley, Dean of the Lyme Academy College
of Fine Arts (CT) and Anedith Nash, Provost of Columbus College
of Art and Design, arrived on Sunday, March 25th and were here until
Wednesday the 28th. They met with NESADSU Chairman Bill Davis
and Sara, with the Suffolk Provost, Patricia Meservey, and the Dean
of the College of Arts and Sciences, Ken Greenberg, as well as with
undergraduate and graduate students, faculty members, program directors, alumni, and numerous members of the art school administration. The team also reviewed a comprehensive display of student work,
covering nearly every available wall in the school. The visit ended with
an exit interview on Wednesday morning.
While the decision to renew or deny reaccreditation will not be made
until October, at the NASAD annual meeting in St. Louis, we were left
with the impression that we had demonstrated to the team’s satisfaction that NESADSU is worthy of continuing recognition by NASAD, as
a demonstrated leader in the field of arts education.
The reaccreditation process is long and exhausting and could never
have been completed without the help of the entire NESADSU community. As the “driver”, I’d like to extend heartfelt thanks to all who
participated. I’m very grateful.
S.C. §

“ ew England’s
N
Finest”
While our pride in all our graduates’ accomplishments is evident, we wouldn’t want to be
accused of exaggeration, so “New England’s
Finest” isn’t necessarily a phrase we’d toss
around freely. However, Yankee magazine
thought it appropriate to describe the work of
Paul and Lianne (Cortese) Stoddard (Graphic
Design 1992) in just that
way. The December 2006
issue of the magazine highlighted several holiday items
produced by New England
designers, among them Paul
and Lianne’s tree ornaments that sell under the
name “Swirly Designs”. The
painted polymer clay ornaments (for seasons other
than Christmas as well) sell
for between $17.00 and
Samples from “Swirly Designs” lauded by $24.50 and are worth every
Yankee Magazine
penny, as you can see. Their
line of ornaments “presents
a playful, contemporary
take on snowmen, Santas,
stars and so on…..and each
ornament has 3-D details
– such as a bell that actually
rings, ribbon, sparklers, and
danglers – that capture
the magic of the season”
(Yankee). Check out their
webpage at www.swirlydesigns.com. What the article
doesn’t describe, however,
is how Paul, an illustrator, and Lianne, now in
the Publications Department at the Museum of
Science, can work full-time, raise son Gryffin,
now nearly two, and still have time for their
rapidly-growing ornament business. Sleep must
be a luxury.
S.C. §

NEWS tidbits
&
NEWS & TIDBITS

We Love A Parade

Lori in her Imperial Officer’s uniform (with two friends from Detroit)

Careful readers of this magazine may remember that Lori Sartre (Graphic
Design 1992) is a fan of the Star Wars movie series. An obsessed fan? We’ll
leave that to you to decide. But, in any case, she has an abiding love for the
movies and more knowledge about Star Wars minutiae than anyone I can
imagine. So it shouldn’t have come as any surprise when, last December, I
received an email from Lori saying that she had been selected, from the millions of fans all over the world, to march in costume in the 2007 Tournament
of Roses Parade in tribute to George Lucas.
Apparently Lucasfilm had sent out word that they wanted to see videos
from various 501st clubs (that’s the Stormtrooper Legion) marching. A video
audition, so to speak. So Lori and her group submitted one and 8 of their 25
members were chosen to march in the parade. It turns out, though, that they
had something more in mind for Lori.

Fine Arts
Students Score!
Students from NESAD’S Fine Arts program
have recently been included in several prestigious juried exhibitions.
Christina Watka and Kaitlyn Sullivan participated in the 18th annual Student Exhibition
at Boston’s Copley Society, a competition
open to students in all Boston area schools.
Christina’s work was awarded the Johnson
Paint Creativity Award.
Kaitlyn and Clara Wolverton were included
in the BFA/BA exhibition at the University
of South Florida. The juror was Dave Hickey,
noted author and critic.

Spring 2007

Juan Berrios, Bonnie Birge, Imonga WellsWingfield, Sam Spano, Shawnna Lyons, and
Silvi Naci exhibited their work in the Arches
student show, part of the 60th Annual Boston
Printmakers North American Biennial.

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6 7

Additionally, Kaitlyn, Kimthy Nguyen, Christina
Watka, Jazmin Brown, Alison Balcanoff, Mike
Farley, Rachel Rickert, Mitsu Toda, and Richard
Schum have installed their work in Suffolk’s
new Sawyer Library at 73 Tremont St. where it
will be on view for the next year.
Randal Thurston§

Not having been chosen with that group, Lori sent a note to a friend at
Lucasfilm, offering her services in a different capacity, any capacity. After all,
she had all the experience in the world: Drill Captain, member of the 501st
for 5 years, Trooper of the Month in February 2006, coordinator of costumed
characters for 30+ events at the Boston Museum of Science, and participant
in two Star Wars Weekend parades at Disney’s MGM Studios Park. She even
volunteered to stick flower petals on the Star Wars float if that would get her
to Pasadena!
Then, suddenly, an email from Lucasfilm offered her the chance to be part of
the Elite Squad, a dozen members who would help with anything that could
make the parade, or at least the Star Wars part of it, work.
So Lori flew to Pasadena, with Lucasfilm paying her airfare and hotel accommodations, to be a bus monitor, a make-up artist, and a pants hemmer,
anything to support the marchers. She made sure everyone was where they
were supposed to be, she painted, head-to-toe, alien women, starting at 2 in
the morning, and she hemmed the pant legs of 175 Grambling State University marching band members. Who says show business isn’t glamorous? But,
more than that, she was one of a dozen Imperial Officers who made sure the
Star Wars portion of the parade went off without a hitch.
More than 350 costumed characters, including Stormtroopers, Imperial Officers, Ewoks and Darth Vader entertained the nearly one million people who
lined the parade route, and the millions more who watched on television.
George Lucas, who was the parade’s Grand Marshall, sat in the stands until
his Star Wars battalions passed by, then rode in a car for the remainder of
the parade.
Adding to her trove of Star Wars–related memories, Lori, who had met Lucas
at the Museum of Science some months before, distinctly heard him say
“Lookin’ good, Lori” as she passed by during one dress rehearsal. Needless to
say, that was the icing on the cake.
S.C. §

Ov e r s e a s c or r e s p on d e n t

OVERSEAS
correspondent
Zorking in q Foreign Lqnguqge
Kate McLean, whom you all know as the designer of this magazine,
graduated from NESADSU in 2004 and, in 2006, she relocated to
Paris. After establishing herself there as a graphic designer, Kate has a
unique perspective on the joys and pitfalls of the trans-cultural work
experience. So, if you think you might like to try designing somewhere
other than in the US, read on.
My first day at Jean-Louis’ “boîte”, as every office or studio is
known as in Paris, was the first of many learning opportunities in
working in a foreign language. The first question was about coffee;
did I want it long or short? Long is about one fiftieth the size of
your average Starbucks coffee and short is half the size of a long. I
requested a “long”. The next question concerned which language
we would speak—we started in French, moved to English, and
continued in Franglais (an ungrammatical combination of French
and English). I realized that my French was not fully up to par for
work as a designer in France and swiftly signed up for a semester of
intensive classes at the Sorbonne.
My semester at the Sorbonne passed. I studied the rules of French
grammar and the exceptions to the rules of French grammar (there
are many more exceptions than rules) and simultaneously negotiated the tax office and the “Maison des Artistes”. In order to work
legally I had to complete whole dossiers of bureaucratic forms.
The second time I went to Jean-Louis’ “boîte” I was ready
to work. On his desk I spotted a brief from a famous
historical site in the south of France, called the Pont du
Gard. I asked if I could come up with some ideas and
in return he asked how much it would cost him.
This project was in the form
of a bid, or a competition
(locally known as a “spéculatif)—where you work for
no fee. If the client selects
your work, you are awarded
the contract and are paid for
the remainder of the work
involved. Jean-Louis paid
me, but we did not get
the contract.
I then started
working on
my own
freelance

Aaaah bon –Illustrator menus in French

The French keyboard–not QWERTY but AZERTY
projects at the boîte.There is a spare computer in the eaves with
CS2 and Quark, which is now known as Kate’s computer. I sat down,
opened Illustrator and freaked.You see what I mean? Some of the
menus are obvious, others rely on an instinctive knowledge of where
the option is located in relation to the others, and the keyboard
shortcuts thankfully keep their American keystrokes, so if you get
stuck figuring out what “associer” means, you see the shortcut “apple” (called “pomme” here) and “G” and obviously it is the command
to group a set of objects. My vocabulary for strange, design-specific
words has thus expanded enormously. However, using these words in
everyday conversation tends to result in people rolling about laughing.
The following paragraph is touch-typed on a French AZERTY keyboard:
Qnd qs for the keyboqrd; let ,e introduce you to the %QWERTY%
keyboqrd: Of course you hqve qll those chqrqcters qccents to deql
with first; so the nu,ber keys are forced into second plqce qs qccented vozels tqke pride of plqce on the 2nd roz 9under the function keys0: Since there are not enough qccents to fill the roz, some
s,qrt cookie qdded in speciql sy,bols used in French typogrqphy
that qre not used qnyzhere else. To type a nu,ber you have to hold
down the shift key to get &; é; “; ‘; (; §; è; !; ç qnd à: The “Q” qnd “A”
keys qre inverted qs qre the “Z” qnd “W”, the “,” is sepqrqted fro,
“N” it ,oves up & line and lives next door to “L” qnd zorse still to
hit the period key; you hqve to hold down shift!! This ,qkes typing
zeb qddresses qnd e)mqil qddresses with the 2 sign exceptionqlly
pqinful.
I know you are clever enough to figure out what it says.
My client-list currently comprises several multi-lingual small businesses. Thankfully the business language is English as I am still
happiest discussing design concepts in my native language. When
I first studied Graphic Design at NESADSU (having moved from
England) Laura Golly liked my accent but “couldn’t understand a
word I said”. In France equally, everyone appreciates my efforts and
loves my accent but cannot always understand what I am trying to
say. Plus ça change, plus c’est la meme
chose!
Kate McLean §

QUIT join…
to
Fe e d b ac k : N ot e s F rom You

Life Lessons In Advertising
On Tuesday, February 21st, I had a call from a 1970 NESA alumnus by the name of Rob Lopes. Rob, who lives in Connecticut and produces television
commercials in NewYork, was planning to be in Boston the next day, on a round of college visits with his son, Giancarlo, and wanted to know if he could
stop by NESADSU and see how things had changed in the intervening 37 years. Of course I said yes, as I always like to see alumni I’ve not met before.
We had a wonderful chat and I gave them a tour of our facilities, which I think was an eye-opener to Rob, to say the least.The next day I received the
following email, which I’d like to share with our current students and recent alums alike:

Dear Sara,
Can’t express how wonderful the tour was­—immensely nostalgic.
Giancarlo, as well, was very impressed and now happily wants to include
Suffolk in his list.
I [wanted to pass along my resume] from my fifteen years (1970-1985) as an
art director before [I became] a commercial film director. Here it is. With
hopes it won’t bore you to tears and might serve as some encouragement to
your students.
1970: Photo-Lettering (spacing type). My very first job out of
NESA.
Lesson # 1: Even if your first job is not optimum, in most cases
take it anyway/get working.You¹ll make contacts, get a pay check
and use it as a base to move on. It¹s always easier to get a job if
you already have one. Employers need permission to believe.Your
former employer tacitly gives that permission. Quit to join...
1970: Lois Weiss Advertising (mechanical man in the bullpen). Was laid off when they lost their biggest account, Cunard Lines.
Lesson # 2: Don’t let setbacks bring you down - they’re inevitable.
Wasn’t it Nietzsche who said, “What doesn’t kill you will make you
stronger”?
1971: Alexander and Associates (mechanical man/bullpen,
some designing). This was a tiny, rinky-dink ad house in Brooklyn.

Huntley, Schmidt. After about six months Allen Beaver made me his
assistant and after a year I became a full-fledged art director. In the
early and middle 70’s, the five most creative shops in New York were Ally,

Spring 2007
8 9

May of 1971-1975: Marvin and Jesse Levine (mechanical
man/bullpen, some designing). This was a smallish, agency with
primarily fashion accounts in Manhattan. It was there that my career
really took off. The future Advertising Hall of Fame team of Allen Beaver
(advertising) and Larry Plapler (writer) were hired as creative directors
and under their considerable talent transformed this smallish fashion
house into a medium-sized, all-around agency. It was renamed Levine,

& Th e n

Lesson # 3: From bad comes good. Even if the place is horrible,
and this one was, there’s always something good coming out of it. I
met my best friend of 36 years there. Quit to join...

Gargano; Doyle, Dane, Bernbach; Scali, McCabe, Sloves; Della Femina; and
Levine, Huntley, Schmidt. Levine was by far the smallest and yet it, pound
for pound, would win more Andy and One Show awards than any of the
rest. In those years I won many awards and, at the end of my stay, I was
made a senior AD.
Lesson # 4: When a good opportunity comes, be open and savvy
enough to recognize it. Milk it for all it’s worth. If you¹re lucky
enough to land in a phenomenal creative shop that’s the equivalent
of, say, Microsoft in the tech world, and if they recognize your talent, reward you with promotions and raises on a timely basis, then
don¹t be stupid - stay. However, keep in the back of your mind such
places and opportunities are far and few between. Quit to join...
1975: Kurtz and Simon. Ostensibly came to get more TV commercial
work as opposed to just print.
Lesson # 5: Don’t be afraid to move on when it¹s obvious a place
is going to be limiting. Don’t feel you have to stay in any one place
forever, even if it was your creative womb. Moveon.com is generally
a good philosophy—doing so broadens your contact base. At least
in my day, the creative world was not like the corporate world
where you get points for longevity. Creative directors loved to hire
young hot shots who they knew were in demand elsewhere. Quit
to join...
1975: Burson-Marstellar Advertising. Came here with the idea of
getting more TV. I won’t say I was laid off. I was out and out fired, largely
because I didn’t care for Marstellar’s level of creativity and was naïve
enough to say so openly.
Lesson # 6: Learn to curb your tongue and bide your time. If a
place is beneath your creative standards, make your ultimate comment by quitting to join a better place. Never bitch from inside.
Remember: most ad agencies, design firms, etc. [tell] themselves
that their creative environment is just tip-top. And again resurrecting lesson # 3—from bad comes good. This firing turned out to be
a great turning point.
1976: Wells, Rich, Greene. After a great summer off, I was hired at
WRG to work in the late, great Bob Wilvers’ group (another Hall of Fame
inductee and even more legendary a personage than my two earlier
mentors). This man taught me that a television commercial need not

All photos from Rob Lopes’ personal archives.

be a still-life. At that time the great majority of AD’s clung to their print
background and were either too afraid or too unschooled to move the
camera. Film should move.
Lesson # 7: Always seek out mentors who can elevate you, challenge you. Although Wilvers was tough as nails, he brought me up
to another level. Without his influence, I probably wouldn’t have
become in later years a director. Bob became not only a great
mentor but a great friend all the way up to his untimely death.
Adjunct to Lesson # 7: Don’t smoke (he was a chain smoker). Quit
to join...
1976: Ally, Gargano. There I met and I worked with the late, great
Pat Kelly (Advertising Hall of Fame-- considered one the ten greatest
writers in advertising history. He came up with the famous and much
copied Federal Express commercials of the 70’s and 80’s.). Pat also
became a dear friend. And it was he who encouraged me to follow in his
footsteps and leave the agency side to become a commercial film director as he had done.
Lesson # 8: Even if you’re hired into the holy of holies, as Ally was
considered in those days, you have to take a very critical look at
the political and structural landscape of any place you join. It was
clear that the creative director (AD) was hogging all the choice
work and it would have taken me years to get around that. People
thought I was crazy to quit an agency that hundreds of AD’s would
have killed their twin to get into. But it was the right move. Milton’s
Lucifer was right, at least in our industry...” Better to rule in hell
then serve in heaven.” Quit to go back to...
1977-1979: Wells Rich, Greene. Back again for more TV. Then
around 1980, I quit to follow a dream. One which, sadly for me, I’ve yet to
accomplish; i.e. write and direct original screenplays. People thought I had
taken leave of my senses to leave Wells, in that I just bought a house.
Lesson # 9: There comes a time in your life when, even if it’s
financial lunacy, you have to chase the muse. If you don’t she’ll turn
on you and devour your spiritual guts.
1980 - 1983: Wrote screenplays (never sold any) and, in
between, took freelance jobs to pay the bills.
1984: Wells, Rich, Greene. When Wells asked me to come back for
the third time to be a VP/ Group Head I drove a hard bargain. Following
Pat Kelly’s advice (he had already made a successful transition from celebrated writer to director), I asked to do the same; i.e. to direct any and
all commercials and campaigns I came up with. Amazingly they went for
it. Over the next eighteen months, I built a reel of ten spots, most notably
the HEFTY-WIMPY campaign for Hefty Garbage Bags.

Lesson # 10: When the time is right, don’t be afraid to ask for
the juice. All they can say is no. If you want to build a following of
believers, the first person you must start with is yourself. P.S. At the
time the prevailing wisdom coming from the big time sales reps and
executive producers that I polled was that I was insane to leave
my post as an established AD to become a fledgling director. They
told me that, “the pond was glutted”; said “I’d be eaten by all the big
fish”. They were right about the pond being glutted but what they
failed to mention was that was only true at the bottom and middle.
At the very top there’s plenty of swimming room!
1985: Started Pfeifer-Lopes Pictures. In the year that I left Wells
to form my company with my partner Chuck Pfeifer, I was named the
East Coast Director of the Year by Ad Week Magazine.
Lesson # 11: Don’t always listen to the prevailing wisdom.
1992:The Lopes Picture Company. After seven years with my
partner Pfeifer we decided to part company and the outfit was renamed.
Over the years we’ve had close to twenty directors shoot through our
company; however never more than five at a time and usually averaging about three at any given time. As a side note my dear old friend Pat
Kelly also shot through us until his sad and untimely death. In total we¹ve
been shooting commercials for the past eighteen years. During that time
I¹ve garnered many an award, including an Emmy for HBO featuring the
world champion boxer George Foreman. At this point I¹m probably being
redundant since some of these notes should be covered in the website,
but I’ve shot Henry Kissinger, Jesse Jackson, and Rush Limbaugh for the
New York Times, Michael Jordan for Hanes, supermodels like Rachael
Hunter to Saturday Night Live comics like Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz
for American Express. After 37 years in the business, my career is starting
to wind down, happily. Now I can spend time with my kids. But It’s been
a terrific ride and it’s largely due to my fabulous and state-wide honored
high school art teacher, Pauline Hopkins, and the wonderfully nurturing
environment of NESA. Back in 1967 I couldn’t have either academically or financially gotten into RISD, the Art Institute of Chicago, Pratt, the
Museum School in Boston or any of the top LA schools. But if I had a five
spot for every time, over these past thirty-seven years, that… grads from
those schools have had to run around and fetch me a decaf latte, I could
take this year’s NESAD graduating class out to a banquet at the best
restaurant in Boston.
Lesson # 12: NESAD will give you all the tools you need to kick
ass and take names out there in the commercial art world. Don¹t
let anyone tell you differently.
Hope this proves of some help and encouragement to the kids. If not, I
apologize for the long windedness of it all.
Best Regards, Rob Lopes

C l a s s N ot e s

CLASSotes
n
1969 – Coral (Moon) Lewis (Advertising Design) recently contacted the school
with an update on her life since NESA. After
graduation, she worked for seven years as a
graphic designer for The Arizona Bank, before
moving to State Farm Insurance, where she
was communications coordinator, designer,
editor and photographer for 26 years. Having
taken early retirement, she is now a fine
artist. Coral and husband John live outside
Phoenix, AZ where she can be reached at
clewis06@cox.net.
1972 – Ed Mitchell (Graphic Design)
has recently changed jobs, moving from
Quinn Printing to Pond-Ekberg. It’s a business
Ed knows well, so, if you have printing needs,
get in touch at 1mitch@comcast.net.
1980 – Christine (Lahiff) Slatas (Interior Design) is currently working in international admissions at Bentley College, while
doing freelance design work on the side.
Chris’ daughter has just applied to Suffolk,
where she hopes to study communications
while taking art classes on the side. You can
reach Chris at cslatas@bentley.edu.

Spring 2007

Please be sure to send your updated information
to Sara Chadwick at schadwic@suffolk.edu (for
our database and/or for publication) and also, if
you wish, to classnotes@suffolk.edu for the Suffolk
Alumni Magazine.
1980 – Nancy Mouat (Graphic Design)
has moved to Monterey, CA, after some
years in Santa Barbara, where she and two
partners are co-owners of the East Village
Coffee Lounge. (You can Google her to read
the shop’s reviews.) Nancy’s been in the
restaurant business for a number of years,
up and down the California coast, but loves
Monterey, where she lives just above the
Monterey Bay Aquarium. (Editor’s note: I
visited the aquarium two years ago for the
first time. It’s an amazing place and absolutely
worth the trip if you’re in the neighborhood.) Email Nancy at nlynm@hotmail.com.

& Th e n

10 11
1980 – Karen Neskey (Graphic Design) has given up Texas (“land of the big
hair”) to return to New England, specifi-

cally Marlborough, MA. She’s a Senior Art
Director for the TJX Companies, owners of
TJMaxx, Marshalls, Home Goods, and other
great places to shop. Karen and Nancy
Mouat (see above) are planning an Eastern
reunion sometime in 2007, having stayed in
touch since graduation. You can reach Karen
at karen_neskey@yahoo.com.
1982 – Nancy (Khoury) Flosdorf
(Fashion Illustration) recently got in
touch with us to update us on her activities
since graduation. After 25 or so years as a
graphic designer, she stopped working when
she decided she was missing out on watching
her son, now 8, grow up. Now she’s working
part-time and trying to motivate herself to
get back into drawing and painting. Though
she misses the graphic design field, the
thought of becoming comfortable with the
computer is daunting, so, for the time being,
she’ll stay with non-design work. You can
reach Nancy at gfloz@comcast.net.
1982 – James Kraus (Graphic Design)
and Art Guy Studios had a great 2006. Jim
launched a new website (www.artguy.com)
and continued to do a weekly Boston Globe
piece (examples of which are added to
the website on a regular basis). In addition,
he was asked to provide artwork for the
premier issue of Harvard’s new magazine,
02138, “designed by the folks at Pluto Media,
owned and run by Patrick Mitchell, the original designer of Fast Company magazine”).
In addition, James does a weekly radio show
called “In With the Old” on WZBC 90.3 FM.
“If you love independent and alternative
music with a nod to the past, check it out.”
You can also stream the freshest show and
the past two weeks’ worth by checking out
http://www.artguy.com/radio/index.html. In
March he also appeared on Boston cable’s
BNN-TV, on a show called It’s All About Arts,
which focuses on local artists, writers and
musicians. He tells us he gave NESADSU a
big rave, for which we thank him! To keep up,
email James at jfk@artguy.com.
1982 – Paula Whalen (Fine Arts) is
currently working on a series of paintings
of Hull’s last open spaces with a grant she
received from the Hull Cultural Council, a
local offshoot of the Massachusetts Cultural Council. In addition to painting, Paula
has a freelance apparel design company,

Whalen Studio, as which she designs for such
companies as TJMaxx, Marshalls, Chadwick’s
of Boston, Fresh Produce, and Telluride
Clothing Company, to name a few. She and a
partner also recently
started Two-Studios.
com, which designs
websites for small
businesses. When
not busy with any
of these enterprises,
Paula works with
her husband, James
Hardison, restoring
carousel horses. She
and James also have a nine-year-old daughter,
Louise and a house in Hull, very near the
ocean (“…which was a lifelong dream of
mine”.) Email Paula at whalenstudios@
cs.com.
1986 – Brida (DaSilva) Moreno is
currently living in Madrid and is working for
Euroamykasa, and architecture and interior
design firm doing residential and commercial
projects in Spain, France, Britain, Saudi Arabia,
Morocco, and the Dominican Republic.
Check their website at www.euroamykasa.
com and contact Brida at dasilvabrida@
yahoo.com.
1986 – Juan Lucero (Graphic Design)
has landed a job with the Newbury Street
design firm, Kaminsky Strategik Design,
whose client list includes Cabot Corporation,
Gillette, Mass. General Hospital, and Palmer
& Dodge. Check them out at www.ksdboston.com and email Juan at chanoc455@
hotmail.com.
1991 (BFA Suffolk 1993)– Kathryn
(Mahoney) Hehir (Graphic Design) is
living in Douglas, MA and has been teaching
art in the Sutton public schools for 12 years.
Happily married, also for 12 years, Kathy
has four children: Emily, Isabelle, Thomas
and Molly. Her eldest daughter, Emily (11) is
interested in art, from fashion to sculpture
and drawing so let’s see if she ends up at
NESADSU! You can contact Kathy at kathyhehir@charter.net.
1992 – James Schenck (Graphic
Design) is working as a Park Ranger at the
Grand Canyon and has managed to design
himself the perfect job. “I, unlike many others,

M o r e C l a s s N ot e s

got into the permanent side of the Park
Service very quickly and for that I am very
fortunate and thankful. It seems that in my
attempts to change careers a few years ago,
to get out of the office and as far away from
cubicles and 20-hour days, I somehow created a unique job for myself where I can still
pursue my heart’s creative needs, the artistic
side of my brain, my love of people, teaching,
and being outdoors most of the day… My
responsibilities include researching, writing
and producing interpretive programs for a
wide audience ranging from 10 to hundreds
of visitors each day. I patrol trails, helping
hikers. I work with a team of historians
designing and producing a large exhibit for
the 75th anniversary of the CCC (Civilian
Conservation Corps) in 2008 here at the
park. I am responsible for producing all promotional signage for programs, events and
advertisements. And, during any given day, I
work at the visitors center desk answering
questions from the 4.5 million visitors that
move through here every year… I am very
glad that I can finally say with honesty…
I love what I do and do what I love.” Isn’t
that what it’s all about? Contact James at
jschenck2007@yahoo.com.
1995 – Carroll Conquest (Graphic
Design) has been accepted to graduate
school at Tufts University/The School of the
Museum of Fine Arts, beginning in late May,
where she will be working on an MAT in Art
Education. Carroll has her own graphic design firm, Conquest Design Inc. in Arlington
and teaches in the Graphic Design program
at NESADSU as well. You can get in touch
with her at c.conquest@conquestdesigninc.
com.
1995 – Matt Ohnemus (Graphic Design), Creative Director for FOX-5 and MY9 in New York, was married in September of
2006 to Phyllis Silverman, a writer/producer
for WNBC. Send your congratulations to
Matt and Phyllis at matohnemus@mac.com.
1998 – Del Hawbaker (Graphic Design) was married on June 17, 2006 to Edith
Gutierrez, the Art Editor of Business Week’s
SmallBIZ magazine. Del is still with Tommy
Hilfiger as the Design Manager in men’s
sportswear, doing the graphics for t-shirts,
hats, knits, etc. You can send congratulations
to Del at delhawbaker@mac.com.

1998 – Charleen Hilton (Interior
Design) keeps in regular touch regarding
her classmates, as the Secretary for the class
of 1998, but recently filled me in on her own
doings since graduation. From 1998 to 2000
she worked in Washington, DC for interior
designer Lisa Vandenburgh Ltd., for whom
she had worked part time while at NESAD.
“I was a design assistant to Lisa and was so
fortunate to have this experience. My favorite clients and homes…were on Embassy
Row and Nantucket Island. I was even fortunate enough to live in a client’s guest house
for 8 months to see the completion of one
project.” Then, from 2000 to 2001, Charleen
fulfilled a life-long desire to do floral design,
working for KaBloom on the South Shore. In
2001 she went out on her own, as Charleen
Marie Designs (CMD), consulting, in partnership with several contractors, for clients on
the Cape and South Shore. Now she’s also
an independent consultant for Arbonne
International products (“pure Swiss skincare”) as well. Charleen would love to find
classmates, Kavi Kittani and Chris Bordence,
so if anyone knows their whereabouts, please
email Charleen at charleenmd@yahoo.com.
Other classmates too: please get in touch
with Charleen and give her an update!
1998 - Melissa Horvath (Graphic Design) has left Boston to return to the New
York area, where she’s a full-time freelance
at Pearson Education/Prentice Hall, designing
high school literature textbooks. She’s also
freelancing at the same time for Maxim and
Stuff magazines. Though she’s hoping to find
a full-time position in New York in the near
future, the freelance work provides flexibility
as Melissa plans for her November 9, 2007
wedding to Ron Plyman, an Associate Art
Director at Business Week magazine. Our
congratulations to Melissa and Ron! Send
yours to her at melissa@melissahorvath.com.

2000 – Mary Ellen Stefanides (Graphic
Design) is in her fourth year with Wilkins
Management in Cambridge, doing both
design and musicians’ management for this
entertainment company. “Over the last year,
I have helped my boss design pieces related
to post-Katrina fundraising, specifically for the
Habitat for Humanity Musicians’ Village.” Mary
Ellen, who married John Fortin in August of
2003, is expecting her first child this summer.
Send your congratulations to her at omaryellen@hotmail.com.
2000 – Anna Valleser (Graphic
Design) is now working for Kovel-Fuller, a
full-service advertising agency in Culver City,
CA, as a production artist. She is also in her
second year as a Navy Reservist and has recently been promoted to Petty Officer Third
Class. As she says, “I am not yet deployable
but I will be within six months.” Anna has
also applied for the Officer’s Program, with
a special interest in public affairs, where her
design skills will be put to good use. You can
email Anna at anna_valleser@hotmail.com.
2000 – Jose Miguel Zulategui (Graphic
Design) has, in partnership with a friend
who has a two-branch advertising agency,
with offices in Madrid and Pamplona, opened
a third in Marbella, Spain. While the three offices are independent, they work in concert
on special projects or for special clients. The
agency, Gap’s Comunicacion Costa Del Sol,
does all kinds of advertising (TV, radio, print),
as well as graphic design and event planning.
Check out Miguel’s website at www.gapscostadelsol.com or the other two agencies
at www.gaps.es or www.gapspamplona.com,
and email Miguel at jmzulategui@hotmail.
com.

Ye t M o r e C l a s s N ot e s

CLASSotes
n
2001 - Laura Granlund (Fine Arts)
took part
in a show
called Soft
Sell: A Plush
Exhibition at
DVA Gallery
in Chicago in
December.
Get in touch
with her
at intimidnation@
hotmail.com.
2001 – Malena Luongo (Graphic Design) has taken a job as a graphic designer
in the in-house design department of the
Milken Family Foundation in Santa Monica,
CA. The Foundation’s mission is to “discover
and advance inventive and effective ways of
helping people help themselves and those
around them lead productive and satisfying
lives….primarily though its work in education
and medical research…”.
You can email Malena at malenaluongo@
hotmail.com.

Spring

Please be sure to send your updated information
to Sara Chadwick at schadwic@suffolk.edu (for
our database and/or for publication) and also, if
you wish, to classnotes@suffolk.edu for the Suffolk
Alumni Magazine.

& Th e n

12 13

2001 – Orsolya
Windhoffer
(Graphic Design)
just emailed us
with a change of
address (she’s still
in Maryland though,
working as Creative
Director for FlavorX,
a company that
develops flavoring for children’s medicines),
and added that she’s going to be married on
November 3rd. You can read all about it, see
lots of photos, and offer your congratulations
by logging on to www.orsolya.net.
2002 – Nick Heigelmann (Graphic Design) is working as a designer for Wellington
Management Company on State Street in

Boston, where his manager is Catherine
Pipes (Electronic Graphic Design 2002).
Check out Nick’s website at www.nickheigelmann.com and contact him at nheigelmann@
gmail.com.
2002 – Joyce Parent (MA in Interior
Design) has moved from Oak Point Associates to JSA Architects/Interiors/Planners in
Portsmouth, NH, where she joins two-year
veteran Chris Carver (Interior Design 2004).
You can reach Joyce at jpjm@gwi.net.
2003 – Vy Horwood (Interior Design)
has moved to Washington, DC and, since
October of 2005, has been working for
Gensler in Arlington, VA. She is engaged
to John Knaus, who is with the National
Endowment for Democracy, with plans to
marry on June 9, 2007 in St. Mary’s City, MD
and honeymoon in Italy. She also sends a
“hello” to Mark Brus (“I’m glad to hear he’s
still teaching at NESAD – he was one of the
best teachers I had.”) You can reach Vy at
vy_horwood@gensler.com.

working on the Renaissance in Boca Raton, a
Marriott in Ft. Lauderdale, and Waters Edge
in CT. You can reach Lauren at ldorazio@
dileonardo.com.
2004 – Earl Misquitta (Graphic Design) is working as a graphic designer for
United Gulf Management, Inc., an investment
management company in Boston. You can
reach him at earl@earlmisquitta.com.
2004 – Jemima Pierre (Graphic Design) has relocated to Los Angeles, where
she is an admissions representative for Argosy University in Santa Monica. She is also a
student at Argosy, pursuing her MBA degree.
You can reach her at jemima__pierre@
hotmail.com.
2004 – Brian Reardon (Graphic
Design) has left Houghton Mifflin and has
moved to Cool Gear International in Plymouth, where he’s working with Larry Kwong
(Graphic Design 2004). You can get in touch
with Brian at brian.reardon58@gmail.com.

2004 – Samantha Calden (Graphic
Design) has moved to Oakland, CA to pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree in Graphic
Design at the Academy of Art University
in San Francisco. At the same time, she is
working remotely as a freelance designer
for Hearts on Fire, a Boston-based diamond
company and one of the luxury industry’s
fastest growing companies. Get in touch with
Samantha at scalden79@yahoo.com.

2004 – Julie Richard (MA in Interior
Design) has left the Duffy Design Group
and opened her own firm, Shelter, specializing in residential and small hospitality
design, in Salem, MA. She is also teaching at
Endicott College in Beverly, retail design last
fall semester and construction documents
this spring. In addition, Julie and husband,
Keven Hobbs, are expecting their first child
in July. Email your congratulations to them at
jricharddesign@comcast.net.

2004 – Katherine DeMelo (Interior
Design) has relocated to Miami Beach,
where she is an interior designer for RTKL
Associates, Inc., an international architecture,
engineering and planning firm. You can email
her at kdemelo27@yahoo.com.

2004 – Lisa Young (Interior Design) has
returned to Massachusetts and is currently
working as an Account Manager for Office
Environments of New England in Boston. You
can reach her at lisayoung05@yahoo.com.

2004 – Lauren Dorazio (Interior
Design) has left her job in the facilities
management department at Rhode Island
Hospital in Providence and has moved to
DiLeonardo International, a hospitality design
firm in Warwick, RI. There she joins the
subject of our last alumni interview, Marc
Ciannavei (Interior Design 1985), who has
been with the firm for about a year. Lauren is
a Specifier, which means that she works with
a designer, helping with the design itself and
the finishes, furniture and equipment, then
adds all the design specifications. She’s now

2005 – Michele Levy-Kodarin (Interior
Design) has returned to Toronto and is
currently the Manager, In-Store marketing
for jewelry and footwear for the Hudson’s
Bay Company. Working for 98 Bay stores and
400 Zellers stores across Canada, Michele is
putting to good use both her background in
visual merchandising and her interior design
experience (“The best of both worlds!”). You
can reach Michele at mlevyk@msn.com.
2005 – Elizabeth (Viall) Lazay (MA in
Interior Design) is the Design Direc-

T h e L a s t o f t h e C l a s s N ot e s

tor for her family’s business, Tweed, a chain
of retail stores in New Jersey and Virginia,
soon to expand elsewhere. Liz is the Vice
President for Design and Communications
for stores that sell furniture, home accessories and gifts, for which she does visual
merchandising and graphic design, as well as
the corporate website. Prior to her joining
the firm, Liz practiced interior design for
William Hodgins in Boston. Contact her at
Elizabeth@tweedathome.com.
2006 – Colleen Barrett (Interior Design) is a junior designer at ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge, an architecture,
planning and interior design firm with such
clients as the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, Genzyme, Syracuse University, and St. George’s School in Newport, RI.
You can reach Colleen at colleenbar@gmail.
com.
2006 – Marissa Borst (Interior Design)
has taken a job as an interior designer at
Boeckl Gates In Washington, CD. Boeckl
Gates is a full service design firm that does
a variety of work, from retail (many of the
stores on M Street in Georgetown) to the
Croatian Embassy in Washington. In her
spare time, Marissa works for Anthem Entertainment, a Washington events firm, doing
sales and marketing. Soon, however, she’ll be
starting her own firm, All’s Well That Ends
Well: Designs by Marissa Borst, as a freelance
graphic designer. With her full-time job and
freelance interior design work, that will make
a full schedule. You can reach Marissa at
marissa@boecklgates.com.
2006 – Emily Burgess (Interior
Design) has moved to the Washington,
DC area and is working for an interior
design firm in Annapolis, MD. She is a junior
designer in the model homes division at
Interior Concepts, a company that, among
other things, creates model home designs
for homebuilders nationwide. You can reach
Emily at emilypburgess@hotmail.com.
2006 – Jennifer (Caldwell) Chambers
(Electronic Graphic Design) and her
husband, Brett, moved to North Berwick,
Maine in September. Once settled, Jennie
started her own stationery and greeting card
company (check out www.20limedesign.
com) with one line of note cards, but

reception has been brisk so she’s expanding
quickly. “I’m also taking on some freelance
work and recently designed an identity system for a charter school in Pennsylvania and
an annual report and newsletter for a community hospital, also in Pennsylvania… I can’t
believe that it has already been a year since
graduation. Seems like time is flying these
days.” Contact Jennie at jenilime@mac.com.
2006 – Margaret Furlong (MA in Interior Design) is currently with Group One
Partners, Inc., an architecture and interior
design firm with offices in South Boston.
You can reach Margaret at mfurlongdesign@
verizon.net.
2006 – Allison Hughes (Interior Design) has started her own residential interior
design business, Hughes Design, in Beverly,
MA. She also took part in the designers’
showhouse sponsored by the Jewish Community Center of the North Shore, which
opens to the public on May 6th, running
through June 3rd. Questions? Email Allison at
a.hughesdesign@gmail.com.
2006 – Layla Khashogji (Interior
Design) returned to Saudi Arabia after
graduation and has found a job with a firm
called Signature Interiors, a young and growing firm based in Jeddah. The company does
residential, corporate and commercial architecture and interior design work throughout
Saudi Arabia. Since returning, Layla has been
in touch with Hasan Al Mutawakel (Interior
Design 1986), who himself owns an interior
design firm, called Multiform, in Jeddah. You
can reach Layla at khashogji.layla@yahoo.com
and Hasan at Multiform2000@yahoo.com.
2006 – Brooke Knight (Interior Design) is an interior designer with TRO/Jung
Brannen, along with Cheryl Spigler (MA In Interior Design 2006). TRO and Jung Brannen,
two of the Boston area’s best known design
firms, merged in October and will relocate
this summer to new offices on Boston Wharf
Road. You can reach Brooke at bknight105@
yahoo.com.
2006 – Oriana Merlo (Interior Design)
is currently working for the internationally
known architectural firm of Moshe Safdie
& Associates in Somerville. She is also an
adjunct instructor at NESADSU, teaching
Interior Materials & Finishes. You can reach

Oriana at orianamerlo@comcast.net.
2006 – Lisa Sobolewski (Interior
Design) has joined Marilyn Shen (MA in
Interior Design 2006) and Michele Kennedy
(MA in Interior Design, September 2005)
at Visnick & Caulfield, Inc. Architects and
Interior Designers, around the corner from
NESADSU on Boylston Street. You can reach
Lisa at yasuadio@yahoo.com.
2006 – Eileen
Umba (Fine
Arts) is taking
some time off
from work to
care for her
new daughter,
Siena Bella, born
September 16,
2006. You can
reach Eileen with
congratulations
at eileenumba@
hotmail.com.
2007 – Mary Orlando (MA in Interior
Design) has taken a position as an interior
designer with SLC Interiors in South Hamilton, MA. SLC Interiors is owned by Suzanne
Csongor, who used to teach at NESAD, and
is also where Karin Barrows (Interior Design
1999) has been employed for a number
of years. You can contact Mary at maryorlando2002@yahoo.com.
2004 – Bethany Lyford (Interior
Design) is working as an interior designer
in Providence for Robert Amendolara Associates. You can reach her at hedkrueger@
cox.net.

A l u m n i I n t e rv i e w

ALUMNI
interview
I w e n t b ac k t o w h at I or i g i na l ly wa n t e d,
w h i c h wa s a rt.

Mish in California, 2006
One of the most interesting aspects of interviewing an alum for
this feature is finding out what that person did before they came
to NESADSU, then where those two sets of experiences led after

Balsam. I was in the Grand Canyon for six months and it was aweinspiring. It really changed me, changed everything I did and thought.
It was the first time I was immersed in a culture that was so alien

graduation. In other words, what goes in and what comes out.
Michelle McIntyre is a case in point. For all I thought I knew about
her, there were 100 things I didn’t.

from my own that I had no reference points. Everything from flora
and fauna…to prayers in the morning and the flow of life was
totally, totally different. I was able to spend some time with the
elders of the Hopi tribe. We whitewater rafted the Grand Canyon
together to look for traditional cultural property…a property that
is identified by the tribe itself as being valuable. They were caring
and open, treating me as a granddaughter during the trip, teaching
me at night the names of the Hopi constellations.”

Spring 2007

After an unsatisfying semester at Bridgewater State College, Mish
returned to college in 1990, attending Massasoit Community College, not so much because she thought it was ultimately the place
for her but rather as a steppingstone. “My parents were against me
pursuing any kind of a bachelor’s degree in art. Both were convinced I would starve to death as an artist…so I hatched a plan to
attend a two-year community college where I could work and pay
the tuition in several payments. The time would allow me to build a
strong GPA to apply
I went for the closest thing, half-science, half-art, for scholarships to
transfer to a four-year
which was archeology. And I absolutely loved it.
institution.” Massasoit,
I did illustrations, photography, everything, but I however, was more
life-transforming that
loved the science as well.
Mish realized it would
be. As a big fish in a relatively small pond, she found herself taking
leadership roles more than once, and developed an intense interest in politics. As a member of the Student Senate, she organized
a rally to protest state cuts in education funding. From this one
experience came a dawning awareness of the power of politics, of
crowd manipulation and abuse of power. The underlying political
overtones of much of her artwork were born here.

& Th e n

14 15

Mish’s successes at Massasoit led to her being awarded a scholarship to Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire, where she
completed a bachelor’s degree in anthropology (“halfway between
science [where her parents wanted her to be] and art”). Upon
graduation, in 1993, “I literally threw my cap off, got in a car, and left
for Arizona. I’d won an internship at the Grand Canyon, with one
of the most famous up-and-coming archeologists of the day, Jan

I then asked how Mish got from the Grand Canyon back east.
“They wanted me to stay…but they were only paying me $42 a
week and I couldn’t survive on that!” While with the Hopi, she
had been working with the GIS system, “basically an early global
positioning system. I was doing GPS work with the government and
their satellites…. So, when I came back, I fell into computer work,
and got a job with a company that was associated with Microsoft,
so we were basically Microsoft’s help desk…. Then I moved to
Compaq. I’d been working for a Visual Fox Pro product, a relational
database that Microsoft had, so at Compaq I did remote control.
That’s now standard in any computer but at that point it was
revolutionary. Now if you have help desk problems, you can call and
they can connect to your computer through the Internet.”
Then I asked how she’d decided to go into art from the computer
world. “I didn’t. At that point, I got the call, in 1997, telling me I
had a brain tumor. So I left Compaq. I had several operations and
I was really sick. It took me years to gain back health enough to
do anything. I was REALLY disabled. Then, after the second brain
operation, I started feeling better. I was still having sight problems
but I was really feeling better. So I said, look, I can have a complete
do-over. I have no ties, I have no job to go back to. I couldn’t go
back to archeology, because I physically couldn’t do that anymore. I
had been an artist when I was in high school and I’d always wanted
to be an artist my entire life, but my parents refused to allow me
to. They said I’d starve to death. So I went for the closest thing,

“As soon as somebody plays a glass the entire room turns and…becomes involved.
half-science, half-art, which was archeology. And I absolutely loved
it. I did illustrations, photography, everything, but I loved the science
as well.”
So was that when she decided to go to art school? “At that point,
they didn’t know what was going to happen to me, how long I was
going to live, if this was going to be a life-shortening sort of disease.
So I thought, if I had only so much time, I was going to do what I
wanted to do! So I went
“I had such a love for drawing and painting back to what I originally
and sculpture. I couldn’t bear to leave it! So wanted to do, which was
art. I still had that sciI didn’t…”
ence thing, so I thought of
architecture or interior design. I could combine all that in interior
design, and that’s why I came here [to NESADSU]. I wanted to do
the Masters program and I didn’t care how long it was going to
take. Disability paid for the first semester…and that’s all I needed.
At that point I could get scholarships. I could show Suffolk real
financial need and academic excellence. I went through the Foundation program, loved it, started the interior design program, started
working for [Interior Design Program Director] Karen [Clarke]
with a [library] fellowship, loved working for Karen. Then I started
my first actual, technical interior design course – hated it! I didn’t
care what the fire code of the building was. I just wanted to draw
and design and craft, so quickly decided I was in the wrong major.”
So Mish transferred from the Master of Arts program in Interior
Design to the Diploma program in Fine Arts. “I had such a love for
drawing and painting and sculpture. I couldn’t bear to leave it! So I
didn’t. I worked under [Fine Arts Program Director] Audrey [Goldstein] and [Adjunct Instructor] Deb [Weisberg] and they kicked my
butt! It was good for me. It really pushed me out of the box I was
in and made me think about other things. They gave me the ability
to give a strong opinion in a narrative direction.”
From here our conversation turned to Mish’s art work. The first
thing out of her mouth was, not at all apologetically, “I am a video
game geek! I love board games, I love card games, I love everything

about games! Sudoku, all those strategy games. I just like that
challenge and that engagement. It’s like submersing yourself in a
new environment: everything else just floats away, except for what
you’re doing. It’s a natural instinct. One of the most basic human
natures is to play the game successfully. It goes back to natural
instinct, survival of the fittest. If you have a challenge in front of you,
you want to solve it. You have a biological need to solve it, so you’ll
be successful. It engages your whole mental capacity…it helps hone
your memory and your skills. The whole idea of strategy is to guess
the other person’s next move. If you can figure out what they’re
going to do before they do it, then you have the edge.”
Mish’s work also contains some potent political statements. “My
family is terrible! Half of us are Republicans and half of us are
Independents. I’m the only Democrat. There’s a lot of yelling and
screaming going on all the time. I have this sense of what’s right and
wrong and I get really angry when I believe things that are wrong
happen, which is all the time now…. I believe a politician should
rise above and be the best of us and guide us…. But now you have
all these actors and actresses and it’s all about public speaking and
presentation. I get so angry about it all.”
How to combine the two? “I’m starting on a new piece now. I’m
in the design phase and I’ll take about three months to research.
I’m thinking about the game of Monopoly and the city of Boston.
There’s a complete disconnect between what they’re saying [about
the local economy] and what’s happening on the streets. There are
more and more people losing their jobs, more people are being
forced out of Massachusetts, college kids can’t stay here. So I’m
going to take Monopoly, as it’s based on land and land prices and
housing, and turn it into a commentary, economically and socially,
about Boston. It’ll be about foreclosures, land prices, crime, Mayor
Menino and what he’s doing…. I’ll use it like a science project.”
A science project is what gave life to October, one of Mish’s most
provocative works. “I recorded my leisure time every day for the
month of October, to see how much leisure time I actually have in
a day and how that varies. The other part of the research had to do

M i c h e l l e M c I n t y r e C l a s s o f 2 0 0 6 — F i n e A rt s

continued

A l u m n i I n t e rv i e w

ALUMNI
interview
“October” by Mish McIntyre
with the fact that Benjamin Franklin once created what was called
an armonica, which was a series of bowls, with differing amounts
of water in them, on a spindle. Instead of moving your finger over

casually and Jill did my senior thesis review. I looked at MIT, Cal
Arts, San Francisco Institute of Art, the Museum School, I checked
out Chicago. When I visited the schools, I found that the faculties

the glasses to make a tone, the spindle moved the glasses and you
could actually play it, kind of like a piano roll. With the armonica,
there was a certain interaction of the kind I want between the artist and the public. The glasses and the water look beautiful but, until
an audience member actually plays with the piece, it doesn’t come
alive. As soon as somebody plays a glass the entire room turns
and…becomes involved. That’s what I want.”

were amazing. But when I talked to the students, I was significantly
disappointed. This sounds really ignorant, but I was well beyond
them intellectually. They weren’t being pushed the way I wanted
to be pushed…and they were so isolated. They didn’t have any
understanding of what was going on locally or internationally in
art. And they argued with each other. They weren’t supportive and
I didn’t want any of that, not after NESADSU.” But she obviously
didn’t find the same conditions at Mass. Art? “Nope, a completely
different story. Jill came and did my final review. She had amazing
insights into my work…. It was the first time someone other than
Audrey or [Assistant Professor] Randal [Thurston] or Deb, just
exceptional faculty members, really had insight I hadn’t thought
about. And, when I went and talked with their grad students, they
were intellectually equal, AND they were supportive of each other.
I don’t want to go into a graduate program that is so competitive
that everyone is isolated. Another reason I chose Mass. Art. is that
there’s been a loss of the master/apprentice relationship in the art
world, since the Bauhaus in the 1930’s. You’ve lost that one-on-one
with a master. Both Audrey and Deb were mentored by Jill and Judy
so, by moving from Audrey and Deb to Jill and Judy, I’m reestablishing that kind of master/apprenticeship. It’s a similar pedagogy that
I’m comfortable with.”

Spring 2007

The wine glasses that make up Mish’s own armonica are filled with
levels of water corresponding to the amount of leisure time she
registered each day in the month of October. The differing levels
give each glass a different tone (“I even had a musician come in
and identify the fifteen different tones they made.”) So you could
actually play a song? “And people did! But it doesn’t come alive for
me until I see it. Hiding in the back of the room, I get to see that
private moment when the audience actually explores the piece.
There’s a wonder that takes over and they engage. Then it’s a community builder as people play the glasses together.”

& Th e n

16 17

Many, if not most, art works say “Do Not Touch” and that aggravates Mish. “One of my big challenges is trying to engage the audience without telling them what to do.” In Lost Hopes, Lost Dreams,
Lost Prayers, she filled a military-issue body bag with thousands of
Islamic prayer beads (the “lost prayers”), one for each civilian casualty of the Iraq war, inviting the public to take or add beads. A sign
on the bag gives the unofficial, but, in Mish’s mind, more accurate
tally of the dead and wounded (“The US government actually had a
policy of not counting civilian casualties, until it became such a big
deal in the press. But the count is still not accurate.”), providing a
political context for both bag and beads.
I asked whether Mish’s goal, while a student at NESADSU, had
always been to go to graduate school. “Yes! I want to teach!… I
applied at Massachusetts College of Art, in Fine Arts/3-D, because
of Judy Haberl and Jill Slosberg-Ackerman. I’ve met both of them

“Lost Hopes, Lost Dreams, Lost Prayers” by Mish McIntyre

“Lost Hopes, Lost Dreams, Lost Prayers” by Mish McIntyre
At the moment, Mish is working at NESADSU as Program Coordinator for the Graphic Design program, under the direction of
Program Director Laura Golly (“YAY!”). Where is she healthwise?
“April’s my next MRI. I have a fourth brain tumor so am looking
at my fourth surgery. It’s no big deal”, she said with a laugh. “I hate
the hospital so much that I rebound really quickly! But the surgery
is more difficult this
time because of all the
What about teaching, which is what Mish
scar tissue. And radiawould like to do after graduate school? Her
tion will kill my pituitary,
teaching philosophy, like so many things, devel- which controls just
oped, in part at least, from her association with about everything, so I’d
have to go on all kinds
the Hopi in Arizona.
of drugs. Unfortunately
I’m allergic to just about everything, drug-wise, so that complicates
things…. It’s going to be hard but the last time I went through this,
I found a social worker who taught me all the tools I needed to
make these decisions, without allowing them to consume me…to
keep my life together.”
There have been so many obstacles that illness has put in Mish’s
way, but, for all that, she can still see the positive. “Randal remembers in 2003, in my first semester here, when I took 2D Design
from him and Drawing I from Jeff Hull. I actually lost my eyesight
during that semester, so I would actually come to class with a cane
because that was the only way I could get there. Randal taught me
how to draw by scientific formula because I couldn’t draw what
Jeff wanted otherwise. It was brilliant! Jeff taught me how to relax,
Randal how to use tricks to identify what was going on visually. I’ve
used those tricks to this day, in every aspect of my life.”
I asked Mish about her various philosophies, her political philosophy and the one that dictates that, because she doesn’t know
exactly what may happen down the road, tells her to “seize the
day”, to do what is important to her and not to others. Are there
others? “Yes. The other is because I like and attract people. I naturally migrate to leadership roles, I have a huge skill set because of
my crazy life, and I have a lot to contribute. But I also have played

around with numerology and I know that I have a karma debt of
abuse of power. There’s a line between leading and helping and
being a good person, and abusing my ability to manipulate people.
That’s my balancing act.”
What about teaching, which is what Mish would like to do after
graduate school? Her teaching philosophy, like so many things, developed, in part at least, from her association with the Hopi in Arizona. “The elders shared their knowledge with me but the teaching
method was radically different from anything I had experienced at
school [at Massasoit and Franklin Pierce]. The Hopi elders are leaders but they let their students come to their own conclusions, so
all they do is to manipulate the environment to allow the students
to figure out the solution to the problem. The emphasis was on
the self-esteem-building that comes from figuring something out
yourself. From that point on, when I tutor or teach, or present my
artwork, it all revolves around the “game” I’ve put out for you and I
allow you to figure it out for yourself. I poke you in a certain direction with a little stick you don’t even see.” Doesn’t sound like a bad
way to learn.
S.C. §

FACULTY
interview
A n I n t e rv i e w w i t h C h a r l e s G i u l i a no
After over a quartercentury with The New
England School of Art &
Design, Charles Giuliano
is retiring at the end of
the spring 2007 semester.Therefore it seems
only fitting that he be
Charles (center) with Lydia Martin (left) and
given the opportunity, in
Michael Brodeur (right) circa 1989.
this interview, to tell the
story of his years with the school, the legions of students who have passed
through his classes, and what he’s done and plans to do outside of school.
The holder of a BA in Fine Arts from Brandeis University and an MA in
American Art and Architecture from Boston University, Charles was hired
as a part-time instructor of art history in January of 1980 and as Gallery Director in 1995. Since then, he’s had in class the vast majority of
students who have passed through NESAD and NESADSU and it’s safe
to say most remember him vividly. Charles’ goal in teaching art history
to non-art historians was always to make the class much more than a dry
recitation of names and dates. After all, the course description says that
“the objective of this… survey course is to provide a path by which the
student may take the ideas and lessons extracted from the study of art
history and turn those ideas into meaningful insights to be utilized in
the studio”.

Spring 2007

In addition, Charles is also a writer and critic, well known to New England artists, curators, and gallery-goers, as well as the keeper of Maverick
Arts and Berkshire Fine Arts web-based newsletter on all aspects of the
American art scene. But we’ll let him tell you about all of that.

& Th e n

18 19

Q. What brought you to NESAD in the first place?
A. It was a matter of chance. I happened to be late getting to a class
at Boston University, where I was a graduate student, and bumped
into a classmate who was also running late. In that encounter
she informed me that she was graduating and would be leaving
Boston. She asked if I would be interested in applying for the job
she was vacating at The New England School of Art & Design. I was
interviewed by Bill Davis, who was then second in command to the
director, Chris Rufo. Bill hired me, I don’t recall the year, probably
around 1980 or so, and I have been with NESAD ever since.
Q. As an art history major in college myself, I can attest to the fact
that the subject can be as dry as dirt or as fascinating as anything.
What’s your technique for avoiding the former and keeping your
students interested in the subject at hand?
A. That is a most challenging question and issue. I often point out to
students that the course is called Ideas of Western Art and is not

just about memorizing images and dates, although that is an aspect
of what they learn. Memorizing is the hard part of art history and
there is no way to avoid that. But more importantly objects and
buildings need to exist in a place that includes what we call the
zeitgeist, which is the mood of the period. What are the ideas and
issues that surround the pyramids, Chartres cathedral or the new
building of the Institute of Contemporary Art? Works of art and
buildings get created for a reason and reflect the concerns of the
time. So in that sense an artist and art historian needs to know and
be curious about virtually everything from religion and philosophy,
to politics, history, science and technology. This is what I try to
bring to students and often they feel overwhelmed by the glut of
information. But most of all I try to stimulate their curiosity of
the world they live in and the images that surround them. That art
and architecture may also signify propaganda and marketing. Art is
always about selling us something. And, of course, most of all I try
to make the classroom a place where learning is fun. That entails
really bad and now ancient jokes.
Q. Since the merger with Suffolk, how have your students changed?
Are they more mainstream, so to speak, or still the free thinkers
they used to be? And has your teaching philosophy changed over
the years? Are you still as provocative as you used to be or have
you been mainstreamed too?
A.Yes, students have changed dramatically from the wild west
years on Newbury Street. The students of that era were not gifted
academically but many of them were wonderfully creative and went
on to have brilliant and successful careers. All of us old timers can
readily recall the infamous ‘class from hell.’ We were so glad to
push them out the door but they were also demanding and amazing on other levels. The students today are far more qualified and
disciplined. There were questions about how they would succeed
when we merged with Suffolk. I was unique at the time as I was the
only professor who was then teaching for both institutions. So I
had a different perspective. It was wonderful to observe that when
our students got folded into the Suffolk community they were often the most dynamic and successful. Ask any Suffolk professor and
they will readily state that their NESAD students are outstanding.
For one thing they are far more serious and disciplined.You can’t
party your way through NESAD in the manner that has become
all too familiar at Suffolk. It is just not possible to fake studio assignments and pass those courses after an all-nighter. As to being
provocative, unfortunately, that hasn’t changed. Maturity and reason
still elude me.
Q.You used to require performance pieces of your art history
students, many of which I remember very well as being absolutely
hilarious. Many of your former students do too…..

A. Actually that wasn’t really my idea. Our chair at the time was
Steve Belcher who wanted an extreme makeover of the entire curriculum including art history. So I was mandated to find a different
way to teach art history. The performances as an end of the year
alternative to exams was the outcome. They were great but clearly
belong to another era. Some of the pieces were truly inspired while
other students were self conscious and uncomfortable. It seemed
to bring out the best and worst of the students. Most importantly
if brought out the freedom of truly being avant-garde. Some of the
students went on from there and continued as performance and
video artists. Often when we did those pieces it felt like we really
were an art school. Even now that feeling is all too rare.
Q. Talk about your tenure as Gallery Director. What have you tried
to do with the gallery and how has that changed since the merger?
A. It has been wonderful to have the chance to serve as the director of exhibitions. It was an opportunity to pull together a lot of
elements particularly functioning as an art critic and arts activist
for many years before evolving as a full time curator. I had done
shows prior to that including exhibitions that traveled to museums.
But programming the gallery twelve months a year and creating
consistently relevant exhibitions that fit the mandates of the school
and community was enormously challenging. The first issue was
convincing first class artists that it was to their benefit to show
with us. Those initial shows were so well received that after that I
was basically never turned down when approaching the best artists.
Some projects never came through because of unforeseen factors.
Most of the time artists delivered and we only really got stuck on a
couple of occasions. Once when an artist cancelled at the last minute. That resulted in a student having a much deserved solo show
of which I was enormously proud. And the notorious show last
year when the artist strung me along for a year, was evasive about
the project, and then wrote on the wall “This exhibition has been
cancelled” and listed several reasons why. I approached it as a “conceptual” project but it caused a backlash from faculty and students
that I tried to channel into a dialogue about the avant-garde. I still
stand by allowing an artist the freedom and opportunity to make
that conceptual statement. It was actually quite an important statement and learning experience. Also our two shows with Native
American artists have been pioneering and of great importance to
the University. Our show with the Visionary artist Paul Laffoley got
little media attention but won a critics award and it was gratifying
that the artist was given a huge spread in the Globe and our show
was finally recognized.
Q.You’ve got quite a reputation as a writer and critic. Is that where
you’ll put your post-retirement energies? And what about the
website? Any plans there?

A. Thanks for asking and readers are invited to check them out at
www.maverick-arts.com and www.berkshirefinearts.com. Both sites
have been growing steadily and now equal or exceed the readership of magazines such as Art New England. So I will continue to
put creative energy into further development of the sites.
Q.You’ve always done a great deal of photography. Are you going
to continue that or are you headed in another direction? Are you
showing these days?
A. For the past several months I have been going through a vast archive of images and scanning them into Photoshop. I am preparing
for a retrospective of the portraits for a show in the gallery in May.
They cover all aspects of my creative interests and interviews from
art through jazz and rock. I think it will be a fun show. It is typical of
me to plan my own retirement party and I hope lots of people will
come and see the result of all these years of covering the arts.
Q. If you could choose your replacement, either as a teacher of art
history or as Gallery Director, what would you look for and how
could you be certain that person would fit in here?
A. It is absolutely clear that in today’s academic world I would
never get hired. The University is far more established with a
greater emphasis on credentials. But I hope that whoever teaches
art history realizes and adjusts to the reality that they are teaching artists and designers. That is a very special audience with a
unique range of challenges and opportunities. So I would hope
that the search is for someone who combines both creativity and
art history. Perhaps an individual who is an artist, curator or critic
and not just an academic. As to the gallery I have hand picked and
trained James Manning. Given a chance I have every confidence that
he will do a terrific job.
Q. What has kept you at NESADSU for 27 years?!
A. Good heavens. Has it really been that long? That makes me feel
so old. But the truth is that I have really and truly loved being a
part of NESAD. A couple of times over the years I actually went
into Bill’s office and offered to resign. He always talked me out of
it. So we have Bill to thank or blame.
It’s his fault. And I am sure that is true
for a lot of us. He has been a terrific
and supportive person. He saved not
just me but NESAD itself during some
dark days. We all owe him our love
and gratitude. Hey guys, thanks for the
memories.

Charles shortly before his retirement in 2007.

The New England School of
Art & Design at Suffolk University
75 Arlington Street
Boston, MA 02116

G a l l e ry S c h e du l e

GALLERY
schedule
2007
MAIN GALLERY: Last Call: A Retrospective: Charles
Giuliano
This will be Charles’ last exhibition as Gallery Director at NESADSU and the opening reception will constitute his retirement party.
Come and let Charles know how much you appreciate his years
of teaching!
May 17th to June 29th
Reception/retirement party: Friday May 18th 5–7 PM

MAIN GALLERY: Stencils

MAIN GALLERY: John Powell
A sculptural lighting exhibition.
September 4th to October 6th
Reception: Thursday September 6th 5–7 PM

MAIN GALLERY: Susan Nichter
Recent paintings by a NESADSU faculty member.
October 11th to November 10th
Reception: Thursday, October 11th 5–7 PM

These interactive installations will be guest curated by Hiroko
Kikuchi
July 26th to August 25th

MAIN GALLERY: Ozspirations

Reception: Thursday, July 26th 5–7 PM

November 15th to December 22nd
Reception: Thursday, November 15th 5–7 PM

The Land of Oz, curated by Associate Professor of Graphic
Design Jennifer Fuchel.

Note: The Gallery will be closed from August 25th to September
3rd for repainting and preparation for the fall 2007 season.

* Call (617) 573-8785 to confirm dates and times of exhibitions
and opening receptions.