The Penn Design MFA Forum has been recognized among the Top 50 Graduate School Blogs in the nation. Graduate schools foster diligent individuals embarking on an interesting adventure. Blogging has become the ideal method for encountering, exploring and sharing the workings of each unique program. Penn's MFA Forum allows faculty, students, alumni, the institution and the public to connect with one another throughout professional development. Graduate students are willing to share their thoughts, insights and creative process making the MFA Forum exceptional.

Many thanks to everyone who has contributed to the MFA Forum! It is your voice and creativity that drives the Forum's success.

To see more visit, http://bestonlinemastersdegrees.com/2010/top-50-blogs-by-graduate-students/ Posted by Amy Archambault at 8:19 PM

At Penn, he left imprint as artist and as teacher From the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Hitoshi Nakazato, 74, a painter and master printer who was on the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania for four decades, died Saturday, July 17, at Bellevue Hospital from head injuries suffered in a fall in his loft in New York City.

A native of Tokyo, Mr. Nakazato graduated from Tama Art University there in 1960. He earned a master's degree in art from the University of Wisconsin and a master's degree in fine art from Penn.

In 1970, Mr. Nakazato's work was selected for an exhibition of contemporary Japanese art at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. The next year, he was invited to join the faculty of the Graduate School of Fine Arts at Penn and was appointed its master printer.

"He called Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania the place of his intellectual awakening," said his wife, Sumiko Takeda Nakazato.

Mr. Nakazato established the Print Studio at Penn in 1979 and reinstated the major in printmaking that had been dropped years before. He wasn't given a lot of resources and was adept at finding funding and equipment, said a colleague, John Moore.

From 1995 to 1999, Mr. Nakazato was chairman of the Graduate School of Fine Arts. He retired from Penn in 2007.

"Hitoshi had such a long history with the department, he was its institutional memory," said Moore, who chaired the department from 2000 to 2009.

While attending to his academic duties, Mr. Nakazato pursued his art. In 1999, 13 of his brightly colored paintings were exhibited at the Ericson Gallery in Old City. He told an Inquirer reporter that his circle, square, and triangle forms were inspired by the art of Sengai, a Zen monk and artist whose work he had seen as a young man in Japan.

"I chose the three forms, created by man, not nature, in order to focus on the essential element of placement," he said. "Realistic images would only diffuse the tension."

In 2007, Inquirer art critic Edward Sozanski reviewed the artist's exhibit at the Arthur Ross Gallery at Penn. "Nakazato's prints tend to be bold and assertive, to the point where they burst off the wall," Sozanski wrote. "Some hang like banners from the ceiling. They imbue the large, high-ceiling space with a ceremonial or celebratory feeling. They make one feel energized."

"He displays a mastery of all the traditional graphic methods plus a few of his own," Sozanski added. "These include 'viscosity' color etchings, drypoint etchings, offset lithography, aquatints, monoprints, and a process he calls sand serigraphy, which produces a sandpaper-like surface."

Last year, the Pageant Soloveev gallery in Bella Vista exhibited Mr. Nakazato's work commemorating the bombing of Hiroshima. Though he was known as a colorist, he produced somber black-and-white works titled Black Rain for the show.

Mr. Nakazato's works are in collections in Japan, Israel, and the United States, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

In June, an exhibit of more than 400 of his works opened in the Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts in Tokyo. A memorial for Mr. Nakazato will take place before the closing of the exhibit in August.

A celebration of his life will be held in September in New York City.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Nakazato is survived by a son, Gene; a daughter, Amy Filiaci; a brother; two sisters; two grandchildren; and his former wife, Anne Richter.

By Sally A. Downey of the Philadelphia Inquirer Posted by EL at 11:40 AM

Tetsugo Hyakutake (MFA '09) in Group Exhibition at Ramis Barquet, July 8th - August 21st

Tetsugo Hyakutake (MFA '09) has work in the group exhibition titled "Imperial Video" at Ramis Barquet Gallery in Chelsea, NYC. Following last summer’s East Coast Video, "Imperial Video" brings together the work of five artists from five nations: England, Germany, Japan, Mexico and Puerto Rico. United by themes of nationality and national identity, the works included explore modes of cultural assimilation and imperialism in an era of mass media and global communication. Engaged in notions of social legacy and consequence, these are simultaneously contemporary portraits of places and people. Artists featured aside Tetsugo include Karlo Andrei Ibarra, Mauricio Alejo, Rob Carter and Wieland Speck.

Exhibition Dates: Thursday, July 8th - Saturday, August 21st
Gallery Hours: 10:00am - 6:00pm (closed on Sundays and Holidays)

Ramis Baquet Gallery
532 W 24th Street
New York, NY 10011
(212) 675-3421

To see more of Tetsugo's work, visit http://www.tetsugohyakutake.com/ Posted by Amy Archambault at 9:19 AM

MFA '10 Alumni in Group Exhibition at Solamon Contemporary, NYC, Opening July 15th 6-9pm Graduates from the Penn Design's class of 2010 will be featured in an upcoming exhibition titled "Notes on Induction: Selected work from the University of Pennsylvania MFA Program" at Solamon Contemporary Gallery, NYC. "From instances come principles." The artists featured will present different variations on what it means to be creating in the present. Artists include Tay Cha, Susan Fang, Matt Krawcheck, Chris Lawrence, Jiwon Lee, Maria Rajewski, Heather Ramsdale, Ramon Urenia, Leigh Van Duzer, Christie Whisman, Nathan Thomas Wilson, and Cay Yoon.

Opening Reception: Thursday, July 15th 6:00 - 9:00pm
Exhibition Dates: Thursday, July 15th - Saturday, August 14th

Salomon Contemporary, NYC
526 West 26th Street

Gallery Hours: Wednesday - Saturday, 12:00 – 6:00pm or by appointment

To see more regarding Penn Design, visit, http://www.design.upenn.edu/fine-arts/exhibitions Posted by Amy Archambault at 6:56 AM

Susan Fang (MFA '10) in exhibition at the Bronx Art Space, Opening July 7th, 6pm Susan Fang (MFA '10) will be in a group exhibition titled, (Sonic) Fest & Synthetic Zero at the Bronx Art Space, NYC. The event will feature performance, experimental film and works of art by various contemporary artists. The work has been curated by (Sonik) and Synthetic Zero. This year, Linda Cunningham, Mitsu Hadeishi and a group of artists, curators and arts organizations have collaborated to create a series of events, shows, experimental film, performance, music and readings in the space. The first event for this exhibition was held July 3rd with the next scheduled for this week.

Exhibition Dates: Saturday, July 3rd - Saturday, July 17th
Exhibition Hours: Fridays & Saturdays, 2:00 - 7:00pm

Bronx Art Space
305 E. 140th Street #1A
Bronx, NY 10454

To see more of Susan's work, visit http://susanfang.com/ Posted by Amy Archambault at 2:19 PM

Joshua Mosley (Associate Professor/Acting Chair) in "Histories in Motion" at the PMA, June 29th - July 25th Joshua Mosley, Associate Professor and Acting Chair, has work titled International, 2010 in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Live Cinema exhibition "Histories in Motion". Live Cinema is a series of programs in the film gallery of the Museum that explores the production of single-channel video and film work by a diverse group of local, national, and international artists. Mosley's work will follow the installments of Jennifer Levonian and Martha Colburn's. "Histories in Motion" presents work that infuses with the artists personal reflections on contemporary life and its complex dynamics. Characterized by a critical engagement with the world, their films are representative of a generation for whom the moving image and its cinematic qualities have become the prevailing form of expression. The exhibition is made possible by The Women's Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Edna W. Andrade Fund of The Philadelphia Foundation, and the Mondriaan Foundation, Amsterdam. It has been curated by Adelina Vlas, Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art. For more information, visit http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/399.html?page=1.

Exhibition Dates: Tuesday, June 29th - Sunday, July 25th

In Dialogue: Joshua Mosley and Adelina Vlas: Friday, July 9th, 6:30 pm

The Philadelphia Museum of Art
26th Street, Benjamin Franklin Parkway
Philadelphia, PA 19130
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