Kudos to Jeremy Lasky ‘93 IL, director of photography for Pixar’s summer hit WALL-E. Jeremy was featured in an article in his home town newspaper in St. Louis earlier this summer, in which he talks about how one directs the filming of virtual characters. Check it out!

Trustee and RISD parent Dick Haining reports that there is an upcoming exhibition of work by alumni Bill Hall ‘70 IL and Kenn Speiser ‘68 SC at the Greenleaf Gallery in Duck, NC. The exhibition is on view August 1-31 and will feature watercolors and oils by Bill and a series of handmade prints by Kenn. So, if your summer travel plans include a trip to the Outer Banks, be sure to stop in!

Thanks, Dick, for keeping us informed!

Summertime is vacation time in New England, and there are few better places to visit than Newport, RI. If you’re in the area, you might want to drop by alum Didi Suydam’s [RISD ‘85, Jewelry + Metalsmithing] gallery which is featuring new sculptural work by Prof. Peter Diepenbrock [RISD ‘83, Industrial Design] of the RISD Furniture Design department from this Saturday. The exhibition closes August 12 and it’s an event I certainly don’t want to miss.

Here’s a report from Joan Herron ‘64 GD, President of RISD’s Alumni Association, about the RISD Northern California Alumni club (RISD NoCA) event at Mina Dresden Gallery in San Francisco:

“Our RISD NoCA “One Night Stand” show last night was an incredible success….about 4 times the people we expected to showed up. The atmosphere in the gallery was high-pitched, enthuhsiastic, exceedingly warm and certainly FUN. The work was of high quality and people really enjoyed sharing what they had been doing, and seeing each others work. it was exciting for me to see the inagination and creative energy that our local alumni have…and we do love being with each other.”

Many thanks to volunteers Eric Engstrom ‘64 IL, Jeannie Pettigrew ‘90 PT, Kate Rittman and Joan, and the others who pitched in to make the one night show a success. There is power in community!

Welcome to Bill Gaylord BAR ‘77 and Kyle Gaffney BAR ‘90, who have agreed to take on leadership of the Seattle Alumni Club.

Here’s a photo of Bill:

And here’s a photo of Kyle:

Bill and Kyle are full of ideas for new events and activities for alumni, and welcome your input as well. You can contact Bill at BGaylord*AT*GGLO.com and Kyle at kgaffney*AT*skbarchitects.com. Get involved!

If alum Scott Mednick (GD 78) is RISD’s Thor, then Seth MacFarlane (FAV 95) is RISD’s Superman and Shepard Fairey (IL 92) is RISD’s Batman. Seth is the whimsically brilliant creator of the popular TV series Family Guy which has many subtle RISD tie-ins; Shepard is the creator of the eponymous Obey Giant brand that placed propaganda art on the contemporary map.

I sat with RISD alum Scott Mednick (GD ‘78) while in Los Angeles last week and became completely inspired by his personal story of development from starting as a RISD student that later connected creativity with the commercial world on his very own terms. Scott has been involved with iconic films like Jerry Maguire and Dirty Dancing, and has executive produced the uniquely beautiful 300 among many other exciting new films. Coincidentally Scott and I were in the same series of covers for UCLA Extension School.

During my conversation with Scott, I scribbled down something he said that struck me profoundly, “Don’t look for someone else’s ending in life.” Scott’s point was that you should be free and open to find your own path in life instead of sticking yourself into a pre-recorded destiny. Find your own path — I believe this is the RISD way.

Now there’s another reason to get to the movies this summer: Michael Riley ‘91 GD and his company Shine were selected by Dreamworks Animations to design and produce the main title sequence for Kung Fu Panda, an animated feature in theaters now about a lazy panda who dreams of becoming a Kung Fu Warrior. Take the kids, take a friend, have some popcorn, enjoy. RISD is everywhere!

Watch for Aaron Tang ‘02 ID on the second season of Everyday Edisons, a PBS program featuring new inventions and the stories of the people who invented them. The 14 inventors, selected from thousands of entries, share the evolution of their extraordinary ideas, which began for Aaron at RISD in 1999 with his first sketch of the Anemone Clock. As Aaron describes on his blog, designverb, “The Anemone Clock is designed to rumble, tremble, and literally bounce away from your beside when the alarm sounds forcing any sleeping beauty out of bed to wrestle it down, pick it up, get shaken awake, and finally turning it off. This clock will definitely wake you up through its engaging use of sound, interaction, movement, light, and fun.”

Looks like it’s the end of the snooze button for me - I can’t wait to buy one! To find out when Everyday Edisons is showing in your area, click here.

For all you digital RISD folks out there: Rick Shnitzler BAR ‘66 phoned me yesterday to tell me about an exciting project Brian DeCubellis is producing for MTV. Called MTV Engine Room, this new program will feature teams of digital artists (at least 18 years of age) from around the globe to compete in a series of creative challenges utilizing HP computers. The team will compete in groups of 4 participants each for prizes by creating animations, websites, short films, sound mixes and more in the “Engine Room”. MTV will cover incidental expenses (including flight and hotel) for those selected to participate in the “Engine Room” show. The winning team will get $400,000USD in cash and HP gear to be divided equally among the 4 teammates. Go to their website for more information about the competition. The deadline for entries is coming up FAST so don’t delay. Go RISD!