Features

At the School of Visual Arts, May is in full bloom, with plentiful thesis exhibitions and presentations. As the academic year comes to an end, students will show the culmination of their time at SVA through mediums including visual effects, animation, illustration, design, fine art and more. Attend a live event at the SVA Theatre, or stroll through the College’s gallery spaces to see inspired work by the undergraduate and graduate classes of 2023. This month also brings the anticipated “Milton Glaser: POP” exhibition, featuring the late designer and SVA faculty member’s grooviest works. And on Sunday, May 21, tune into the SVA Commencement live stream to see the acclaimed photojournalist and 2022 Masters Series Award and Exhibition recipient Lynsey Addario take the stage as the honored guest speaker.

EXHIBITIONS

Through Wednesday, May 3 | “Intimate Documents: Classified 2023” | SVA Flatiron Project Space

BFA Visual & Critical Studies presents “Intimate Documents,” a show by graduating students curated by artist and faculty member Suzanne Joelson. This class came to school in 2019, rose to the possibilities, and never returned after spring break. Their new vista gave way to an all too familiar—and smaller—space as the pandemic spread fear and promoted isolation.

Through Thursday, May 4 | “Hide and Seek” | SVA Flatiron Gallery

An interactive installation by BFA 3D Animation and Visual Effects student Mary Lindstrom that takes viewers on a transcendental metaphysical journey of matter, from primordial essence to final physical form, realized by interactive technologies, 3D software and projection mapping. The exhibition features sound composed by the artist metra.vestlud. 

Through Saturday, May 6 | “Début 23” | SVA Gramercy Gallery

The annual exhibition of multidisciplinary work by BFA Advertising and BFA Design students and recent alumni. Thanks to digital displays, viewers can peruse over 200 student projects in addition to the dimensional pieces in the gallery space reminiscent of an opulent salon. This year’s spring salon displays the breadth of student work created during the 2022 – 2023 school year, from graphic design and motion graphics to interaction and traditional and emerging advertising. 

Through Friday, May 26 | BFA Photography and Video Senior Show | Online

BFA Photography and Video present a virtual thesis show, providing a dynamic and interactive experience with the final projects of the class of 2023.

Thursday, May 4 – Monday, May 22 | “The Yellow Wallpaper” | SVA Chelsea Gallery

An exhibition of artwork by 19 MFA Illustration as Visual Essay students based on Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s short story of the same name, and curated by department faculty member and BFA Comics and BFA Illustration chair Viktor Koen (MFA 1992 Illustration as Visual Essay). Gilman’s story inspired direct and associative comics, ceramics, elaborately folded narrative fragments on paper, intricate compositions of graphic color and allegory, but also animation and interactive applications with haunting results and fantastical environments, much darker than initially expected.

Thursday, May 4 – Monday, May 22 | Selections from Thesis Projects | SVA Chelsea Gallery

An exhibition of artwork by 16 MFA Illustration as Visual Essay students, curated by acting chair and thesis coordinator David Sandlin. This show’s wide-ranging, imaginative works explore themes of fear and paranoia, monsters, nature and memories.

Monday, May 8 – Wednesday, May 10 | Art Education Thesis Presentations | Online

MA/MAT Art Education presents arts and action-based research theses presentations by students, in person and online.

Friday, May 12 – Thursday, May 25 | “New Artifacts” | SVA Flatiron Gallery

An exhibition of multimedia work by six SVA students selected by a jury of their peers. The artists in “New Artifacts” remind viewers that the concept of an artifact is important when substantiating a past and considering alternate futures in the present. Performing a sort of personal archeology, the artists excavate memory and manifest the intangible through their artistic practices, giving presence to a relic that may otherwise go unseen. 

Friday, May 12 – Tuesday, June 6 | Animation Celebration Exhibition | SVA Flatiron Windows

BFA Animation presents a gallery exhibition alongside its 2023 Animation Celebration Screening. Continue the celebration outside the SVA Theatre with a special trailer reel and film posters from the class of 2023’s thesis projects.

Wednesday, May 17 – Monday, June 5 | “Milton Glaser: POP” | SVA Gramercy Gallery

Steven Heller, design historian and co-chair of MFA Design; artist, designer and longtime SVA faculty member Mirko Ilić; and Beth Kleber, head of the Milton Glaser Design Study Center and Archives and the SVA Archives, present an exhibition based on Milton Glaser: POP (Phaidon), their new book collecting work created by the late designer, illustrator and SVA faculty member Milton Glaser during the 1960s and ’70s. 

Wednesday, May 31 – Thursday, June 8 | Summer Residency Exhibition | SVA Flatiron Gallery

An exhibition of work by artists participating in the SVA summer residency program. 

​​EVENTS

Thursday, May 11, 12:00 – 3:00pm | MFA Design for Social Innovation Thesis Showcase | SVA Theatre

MFA Design for Social Innovation presents its annual thesis show. This year, the class of 2023 thesis projects center community partners and collaborators to co-create for change. A meaningful spectrum of social-design topics includes hearing health and care, keeping the art of Miao embroidery alive, sustainable water sourcing in India, a game exploring power and privilege in the Indian education system, kombucha brewing cultures and the microbiome, resources for the Chinese gay community, ADHD care for women, perinatal care and mental health, urban coexistence with wildlife, advocacy for those living with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), community-based support for Chinese elderly people, small business resiliency in New York City’s Chinatown and food waste. The event will be live-streamed and contain live captioning, and the SVA Theatre has ramp access.

Saturday, May 13, 12:00 – 6:00pm | Animation Celebration Screening | SVA Theatre

BFA Animation presents its 2023 Animation Celebration screening, featuring the latest group of graduating seniors and their animated projects. Enjoy a great selection of films and meet the filmmakers afterward live at the SVA Theatre. 

Monday, May 15, 6:00 – 8:00pm | Drawing in Madison Square Park | 23rd Street and Broadway

Bring materials and come ready to draw—or even paint! Drawing in Madison Square Park will allow participants to make art by observing nature, distinctive architecture and public art around the park. Artist and Continuing Education (SVACE) instructor Elise Engler will provide prompts and guidance throughout the drawing session.

Monday, May 15, 7:00 – 8:30pm | i3 Photo Lecture: Alicia Bruce | Location provided upon registration

MPS Digital Photography presents a talk with Alicia Bruce, an award-winning, working-class photographer, community collaborator, educator and activist based in Scotland. It is part of its i3: Images, Ideas, Inspiration lecture series, guest curated by Elizabeth Avedon. Bruce’s photography sits between documentary and staged imagery, focusing on communities, environments and human rights. Bruce is a member of the collective Women Photograph and a teaching fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Her photographs are held in several private and public collections, including National Galleries of Scotland, Martin Parr Foundation and St Andrews University. I Burn But I Am Not Consumed (Daylight) is Bruce’s first monograph and documents 16 years of Donald Trump’s impact on the community and environment in the northeast of Scotland during his quest to build “the greatest golf course in the world.”

Thursday, May 18, 4:00 – 9:00pm | Evolve | SVA Theatre

MFA Interaction Design presents its 2023 thesis festival, Evolve. A culmination of the two-year program, the festival showcases work from the graduates who present their thesis explorations in a public forum. This year’s topic is inspired by the act of changing ourselves and broadening our perspectives to persevere, grow and ultimately, push boundaries through design.

Thursday, May 18, 7:00 – 8:30pm | Daredoodles With Tom Motley | Online

Join cartoonist, illustrator and educator Tom Motley and SVA Continuing Education for another round of Daredoodles. This time, we’ll get down to brass tacks, reviewing the primary dares to warm up for the upcoming online course, Comics Inventions, in which cartooning principles will be taught through creative challenges.

Friday, May 19, 2:00 – 9:00pm | Second Annual Apple Box Short Film Festival | SVA Theatre

MPS Film Directing presents its thesis film festival. This year, the festival will be broken into two two-hour screening blocks of eight films. Each screening block will be followed by a Q&A, a special screening of MPS Film Directing’s Learning Film, Goodbye Jonathan’s Soul, and an awards presentation.

Saturday, May 20, 12:00pm | SVA Premieres | SVA Theatre

BFA 3D Animation and Visual Effects presents a screening of thesis films by the class of 2023 at the SVA Theatre.

Sunday, May 21, 1:00pm | SVA Commencement | Radio City Music Hall

SVA President David Rhodes will recognize some 1,250 degree candidates from the College’s 31 academic degree programs, including BFA, MA, MAT, MFA and MPS. Award-winning photojournalist and 2022 Masters Series Award and Exhibition recipient Lynsey Addario will return to address the class of 2023.