Blog Archive

July 26, 2024

Introducing the Design and Illustration Department

Author: Jordan Cameron

Effective July 1, 2024, the department formerly known as Graphic and Interactive Design was renamed to Design and Illustration (D&I). This change, over six years in the making, better represents the breadth and depth of the degree programs offered and positions the department for future expansion into other related disciplines.  “The new name encompasses our dedication to both traditional and emerging fields, underlining our commitment to providing students with a comprehensive and forward-thinking educational experience,” D&I faculty said in a statement shared with the Tyler community on July 1.   Read More

Joni Baumgarten, Sasha Eisenman, Laura Toran, Josh Caplan and Abdullah Al-Amin
July 25, 2024

Temple faculty hope to save PennDOT’s plants from deadly road salt

Author: Jordan Cameron

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from Temple and Villanova was commissioned by PennDOT in 2017 to research and monitor bioretention basins—small green spaces filled with a variety of flowering plants, grasses and trees—along I-95 to help improve their design. These basins become filled with deicing salt used to treat roads in the winter, which is detrimental to the health of the plant life. The Temple group includes Josh Caplan, an associate professor of horticulture at Tyler, and Sasha Eisenman, chair of Tyler’s Architecture and Environmental Design Department.  Read More

July 22, 2024

Envisioning a Therapeutic Career Path Through Fieldwork

Author: Wanda Motley Odom

Art therapy major Paloma Collins (BA ’24) had never worked with elderly adults before, so she didn’t know what to expect when she started fieldwork as part of her capstone studies with residents of the older adult community at Wesley Enhanced Living at Stapeley in Philadelphia.“I learned to ask a lot of questions,” reflected Collins, who was instrumental in helping residents design and craft a four-foot by eight-foot sensory mural on the memory care floor in a hallway where residents pass by to get to their apartments or seek out activities. She described the project as “born of conversations,” spending time getting to know about the residents, their lives and capabilities, and what gave them feelings of calm, comfort and security. Read More

Cover of Ground Control: A Design History of Technical Lands and NASA’s Space Complex by Jeffrey Nesbit
July 18, 2024

Architecture Professor Publishes Book on NASA's Infrastructure History

Author: Alina Ladyzhensky

Tyler Professor of Architecture Jeffrey S. Nesbit has published a new book that examines the 20th-century American rocket launch complex at the intersection of architecture, infrastructure, and aerospace history. Ground Control: A Design History of Technical Lands and NASA’s Space Complex (Routledge, 2024) surveys the architectural histories and aesthetic considerations that helped to develop America’s public image of early space exploration. Read More

Derek Resse, PBJ
July 16, 2024

MFA Student Curates Show about ‘Myth’ of American Dream

Author: Jordan Cameron

Natalia Purchiaroni, a second-year MFA candidate in Photography, had never curated an art exhibition before having the idea for what would become The Myth of the American Dream, now on view in the Stella Elkins Tyler Gallery this July.Over the last 10 years, Purchiaroni has observed more and more people—across all political affiliations—begin to ask questions about how much the American government protects and serves its citizens. She has noticed that an increasingly large number of conversations with peers, family members, and even in professional and academic settings, center around the state of the nation and the anxieties about it.  Read More

July 10, 2024

Prof. Alpesh Patel publishes article on teaching

Author: Jane DeRose Evans

Alpesh's article, "Forever Becoming: Teaching “Transgender Studies Meets Art History” and Theorizing Trans Joy" was based on the course he taught in Fall 2022. It is available as open-access in Arts. 2024; 13(4):115. https://doi.org/10.3390/arts13040115  Read More

July 1, 2024

Ali Printz (PhD candidate) curates show on Appalachian art at PAFA

Author: Jane DeRose Evans

Ali Printz, PAFA Terra Foundation Curatorial Fellow, has curated "Layers of Liberty: Philadelphia and the Appalachian Environment", running at PAFA June 27, 2024-November 3 2024.“In addition to Ali's innovative scholarship that examines American art through an eco-critical lens, Layers of Liberty acts as a test case for our approach to the reinstallation of the permanent collection in 2026,” says PAFA Chief of Curatorial Affairs Anna Marley.  Read More