Features

In this edition of The Five, a yearly celebration of School of Visual Arts staffers’ talent finally gets its due, and alumni across curation, filmmaking, illustration, and more offer advice and support to aspiring artists while creating their own work in wide-ranging spaces from galleries to publishing, public space and outer space, and streaming services. 

1. SVA’s long-running All-Staff Art Show is beloved—and one of the College’s best-kept secrets. But this year, thanks to Gothamist, the word is out! In a piece about the tradition of staff art exhibitions at several institutions—including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, New York Academy of Art, and even Sotheby’s and Christie’s auction houses—SVA’s recent, 13th edition of the show takes its place among such prestigious company. Touted for its diverse array of works like zines and multimedia pieces, SVA’s All-Staff Art Show finally received the recognition it deserved.

2. Students in the BFA Design and BFA Illustration programs were featured this week on NY1’s Mornings on 1 for their amazing poster designs created in collaboration with NASA. Next year’s Artemis II mission, which will see four astronauts venture around the moon and pave the way for future crewed Mars exploration, was the inspiration for the two dozen works on display in “SVA + NASA: The Artemis II / Earthrise Poster Project,” which is on view through Saturday, September 20, at the SVA Gramercy Gallery. In the piece, BFA Design student Eleanor Leung discusses visualising a fingerprint for her poster: “. . . The idea that the lines or the grooves of your fingers sort of align with the orbit or space, I thought there was a really cool connection there.”

3. Barbadian filmmaker Sonja Moses (MFA 2022 Social Documentary Film)—who has worked on documentary projects for ABC, HBO, Hulu, and Netflix, as well as music videos for Sabrina Carpenter, Lady Gaga, and Olivia Rodrigo—was recently featured in the Barbados Gazette. Moses reflects on her time attending SVA amid the pandemic and the crucial support from her family to help her realize her dream. She advises fellow Caribbean creatives: “Shove away the background noise and just go for it.”

4. The Queens Gazette interviewed resident, award-winning visual artist, and educator Chemin Hsiao (MFA 2013 Illustration as Visual Essay; BFA 2011 Animation), who also serves as a mentor and consultant to immigrant artists. In addition to some favorite restaurants and cultural institutions, Hsiao encourages people to take art classes, saying, “Artistic talent can be developed as long as there is motivation or interest in it.” In 2021, his six-banner series, “Dandelions Know,” was chosen for display outside of the Noguchi Museum to raise awareness of anti-Asian violence surging during the pandemic.

5. “I believe images can carry ideas, evoke empathy, and serve as a quiet but powerful form of expression,” says illustrator Zhen Lin (BFA 2025 Illustration) in a recent interview with Canvas Rebel. “I hope my work can act as a mirror for others’ inner worlds and, even if only for a moment, offer them reflection, resonance, or emotional response.” Lin, whose work deals in fantasy and surrealism and is inspired by traditional techniques, has found her groove as a freelancer, favoring the unpredictability and independence of the projects that have come her way, from book covers to custom pieces and editorial work.