School Notes: School of Art
March/April 2020

Spring lecture series begins with conversation on design and gender

In continued celebration of its 150th anniversary and its status as a coeducational institution, the School of Art launched its spring lecture series on January 22 with a conversation on gender, design, and identity held between Sheila Levrant de Bretteville ’64MFA, renowned designer, Caroline M. Street Professor of Graphic Design, and Woman’s Building cofounder; and Laura Coombs ’17MFA, senior designer at the New Museum in New York.

This year marks the beginning of de Bretteville’s third decade as director of the school’s graphic design program, and last year she and Coombs were commissioned by School of Art dean Marta Kuzma to create an anniversary mark that both celebrates and conveys the profound history of the school. Rather than creating a singular symbol, the designers collected a range of 150 interchangeable marks constructed with typefaces made by students, alumni, and faculty, to, in their words, “create a visual statement of unending potential and accomplishment among past and future generations continually at work here at the Yale School of Art.” 

School of Art opens student studios to the public

The Yale School of Art will host its annual graduate open studios on April 4 and 5. Featuring work from the Departments of Graphic Design, Painting/Printmaking, Photography, and Sculpture, open studios offers the public the opportunity to witness the working processes of the students at the School of Art firsthand. Studios are open to the public and located across three buildings on Yale’s campus in downtown New Haven: 1156 Chapel Street, 353 Crown Street, and 36 Edgewood Avenue. Members of the public are also invited to view Group Two of the Sculpture MFA Thesis Show, which will be installed in the Green Hall Gallery at 1156 Chapel Street, New Haven, through April 5.