June 2014 - In This Issue:
PHOTOS OF THE MONTH
Four of the five Distinguished Communicators with Dean Tsolakis

Distinguished Communicators 

This May, five College of Art & Design students graduated with the distinction of Distinguished Communicators, a coveted designation that becomes part of the students' official transcripts and gives the certified graduates significant leverage in today's job market: Lindsay Boley (BArch), Annette Marie Couvillon (BArch), Kaitlyn Claire Kehoe (BArch), Steven Milton Pedeaux (BFA), and Elena Proskurina (BID). Part of the Communication across the Curriculum (CxC) initiative, LSU Distinguished Communicators is a unique academic excellence program where students work to refine their communication skills and learn discipline-specific approaches to communication that will enable them to excel in their chosen professions. Read more commencement highlights.

Contemporary Dutch Design 

Students have returned from studying abroad in Amsterdam and the Netherlands. The intersession program, Contemporary Dutch Design, was orchestrated and led by Greg Watson, associate professor at the LSU School of Architecture. The program included planned excursions to Rotterdam, Delft, Utrecht, Eindhoven, and The Hague and visits to the Rijksmuseum, the Stedelijk Museum of Modern Art, the Netherlands Architecture Institute, the Escher in Het Paleis, and the design offices of Droog, West 8, OMA, UNStudio, MVRDV, and more. Read more about Academic Programs Abroad.  

WHAT YOU CAN DO

DesignIntelligence Surveys for Professionals and Firms

Alumni and professionals, please fill out these surveys and help strengthen the rankings in America's Best Architecture and Design Schools 2015. Please use the following links to complete the survey(s) that apply to your office, and help increase the LSU College of Art + Design's rankings for its architecture, landscape architecture, and/or interior design programs - and increase the value of your degree! Read more

 

Links to surveys:

Architecture

Landscape Architecture

Interior Design

Adopt-a-Studio

The LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture has launched Adopt-a-Studio, an online fundraising initiative geared toward recent graduates of the program. Adopt-a-Studio invites alumni to help update the studio spaces where they once honed their own art and design skills. Shop now.
EVENTS

 

7/20 at 3 p.m.

LSU Museum of Art & Hilltop Arboretum

In Bloom Tours: Margaret Stone's Flora of Louisiana

 

8/7 - 8/10
LSU School of Architecture
Project Pipeline Summer Camp 

 

9/6, 3-5 p.m.
College of Art & Design
Tailgate with the Dean

EXHIBITIONS

Now - July 12, 2014
Baton Rouge Old State Capitol 
Fonville Returns
Curated by James R. Turner, FAAR, FASLA (BLA 1969)

 

Now - 8/10/2014

LSU Museum of Art

Rooted Communities: The Art of Nari Ward

 

6/14 - 8/3/2014

Glassell Gallery

reWORK! 13th Annual Summer Invitational Exhibition

 

8/22/2014 - 2/15/2015
LSU Museum of Art
Accalia and the Swamp Monster: Works by Kelli Scott Kelley, professor at the School of Art 

SAVE THE DATE
RRSLA Alumni Reception in Denver, November 21, 2014

Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture alumni, please plan to attend an alumni reception hosted by the Design Workshop in Denver on Friday evening, November 21, 2014. The reception will be in lieu of the ASLA Tailgate/Gala event. You will not have to be registered for the ASLA Annual Meeting to attend. Complete details about the location, time, and more will be sent later. We are looking forward to seeing everyone in Denver!

DONOR PROFILE

The Thomas Byron Smith Memorial Scholarship

Martha Richard (left) and Eva Rodriguez

Martha Richard never attended LSU, but she recognizes how the university has impacted her life. After her husband's death, Richard began celebrating his birthday by giving to the Thomas Byron Smith Memorial Scholarship. The award is given to an upper class student studying architecture at LSU. "I want it to go to somebody who is committed to the program," Richard shared. This year, which would have been Smith's 70th birthday, Eva Rodriguez was named the scholarship recipient.Richard shared that establishing the scholarship is something she knows her late husband would have wanted. "Because of what LSU provided to him as far as income and improving his life, he accomplished so much." Read more.

COA+D NEWS

Van Cox Returns as Interim Director 

On July 1, 2014, Professor Emeritus Van Cox is returning to the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture to serve as interim director while the school searches for a new director. Bradley Cantrell, former director and associate professor, has accepted a position as associate professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. The search committee will be headed by Professor Emeritus Suzanne Turner. Read Harvard's press release about Bradley Cantrell at gsd.harvard.edu.
STUDENT HIGHLIGHTS
FACULTY HIGHLIGHTS
ALUMNI NEWS

Painting by Kristin Malin (BFA 1979) Finds Its Way Home 

In 1979, LSU School of Art painting alumna Kristin Malin received the Purchase Prize at the LSU Union Student Art Show for her work entitled Metamorphosis. Malin took the painting home so she could capture images of the work and promised to return the painting shortly after. However, as it often does, life got in the way, and the painting never made it back to LSU-until now, thanks to Malin's recent discovery and the efforts of Professor Emeritus Ed Pramuk. Read more.

Melissa Seanard (BArch 2009) at Smith Holt 

Seanard's latest project, an optometry office in Austin

Melissa Seanard received her Bachelor of Architecture from LSU in 2009. While at LSU, she proposed and implemented LSU's first season of recycling in Tiger Stadium and received the Chancellor's Service Award for her work. She has since received a Master of Science in Urban Design from the University of Texas and is now employed at Smith Holt Architecture and Project Management in Austin, Texas, as a senior designer. "I received an education from LSU that I am most proud of and feel that not only was I enriched academically but I also was taught pride-in my work, for my fellow classmates, my professors, and the university," said Seanard.  

Clark Derbes (BFA 2002) in The Boston Globe 

Sunny by Clark Derbes

Recently, The Boston Globe covered an exhibition by Clark Derbes (BFA 2002) at the Clark Gallery in Lincoln, Massachusetts. "Clark Derbes's lean and remarkable sculptures, wrought with a chainsaw from old tree stumps, seem to quote old game boards, boxes, and quilt patterns. Derbes riddles with perspective, volume, and space . . . [he] revels in the tensions between his deft illusion and the telltale revelations of it." Read more

Perry Howard (BLA 1975) Retires from NCA&T University

Perry Howard (BLA 1975), professor and landscape architect, has retired from North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro. During his time at NCA&T, Howard helped secure the initial accreditation for the university's landscape architecture program and secured research and architecture grants from NASA and the US Department of Agriculture. Among his numerous accomplishments, Howard was appointed to the North Carolina Board of Landscape Architects by former Governor Jim Hunt; he was named Harvard Graduate School of Design's Top 100 Distinguished Alumni; and he was elected as president of ASLA in 2008. Read more about Howard at The History Makers and at asla.org.  

Dave Baldwin (BLA 1975) Designs Master Plan for West, Texas Explosion Site

Everyone remembers when the West Fertilizer Company plant in the small town of West, Texas, exploded on April 17, 2013, resulting in the death of 15 people. Included in the destruction was the town's primary park located immediately adjacent to the blast site. Dave Baldwin (BLA 1975) volunteered his park planning services to the town on a pro-bono basis. The result was a master plan for the 1� acre site. The city has received FEMA funding and numerous contributions for the park's reconstruction and the hope is that the improvements will be underway in the near future. Baldwin's interview with Dallas WFAA Channel 8 News can be viewed at wfaa.com

Aaron Adolph (BLA 1995) Designs Card and Studio Space for Painter Alexis Walter
The New Orleans Advocate covered the intimate, uptown garden design by Aaron Adolph (BLA 1995) for painter Alexis Walter and her husband. "A local landscape architect, Adolph was raised in Port Sulphur and educated at LSU; he has also lived and worked in Dallas and Japan. He routinely designs elaborate gardens 10 times the size of the Walters', which helps explain why there's nothing small about his craftsmanship, his plantings or his vision," wrote Mimi Read, special to The Advocate. View pictures of the project and read more at theneworleansadvocate.com.

About LSU College of Art + Design

The LSU College of Art + Design supports programs in studio art, art history, architecture, graphic design, interior design, and landscape architecture. The college brings together a focus on creativity and expression, talented faculty, specialized concentration areas, outstanding studio and gallery spaces, and a connection to the community to create a dynamic program. For more information, visit design.lsu.edu.

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