Re-Present: Photographic Practice

September 4, 2024 Criscola Design

A Symposium Open to All Interested in Technologically-Captured Images

above: © Suzanne Anker, Nonbinary

Thursday, October 17, 2024

9:30 am – 4:00 pm

Torp Theater
Davidson Hall
Central CT State University
1615 Stanley Street, New Britain

Morning 9:30 am – 12:30 pm
Welcome by CLASS Dean Andreas Mueller, Opening Remarks, Panel Discussion, Q&As

Afternoon 1:30 – 4:00 pm
Guests, Faculty & Student Presentations

Photography, simply put, is a mirror of a moment.

Re-Present traces the timeline from early photographic images captured by such different artifacts and devices as chemically sensitive surfaces, the camera obscura, photography, cinema, video, and digital systems, to examine the recording of biological systems, various scientific applications, e.g., the Hubble and James Webb Space telescopes, tasked to explore and transmit deep space data, visual, spectral, and beyond.

Re-Present is a series of integrated events constituting a continuing symposium that will look at Photography through a wide and narrow lens. This overall multi-part symposium project addresses the technologies birthed in the 1800s that have opened our vision of ourselves and of the universe, and the contemporary ways we develop, disseminate and share what we have captured.

Re-Present is configured as a three-part forum taking place over multiple years. The first iteration of Re-Present is “Photographic Practice” a day-long symposium that includes a panel discussion by experts in a variety of aesthetic and commercial fields that utilize photographic technologies.

Participants will share and present aspects of the significance of the image in their praxis. The symposium is open to students, faculty, and members of the CSCU system and to the general public. The symposium proceedings will be accessible in person and virtual.

OVERVIEW

In 1934, Walter Benjamin questioned the role of photography in technology, art, and society. In 2024, as Artificial Intelligence has become an almost ubiquitous component of technical reproduction, Re-Present looks at the many ways in which photography has evolved: Photography extends the human body through the artificial vision of the “apparatus” to engage the maker and the viewer in varying ways from passive appreciation, documentation of political events, and a celebration of social connections. Photography and subsequent image-technologies profoundly contribute to contemporary knowledge-formations, recasting what it is to see, to know, and to be.

The moderators and panelists of this symposium highlight the different ways that the image interacts with one’s practice. Considering the power and influence of the image to “tell the truth,” each capture is a means to an end. In virtually all aspects of daily life, the visual is the preferred mode of discovery in the social sciences, life sciences, geosciences, forensics, business, communication, personal interaction, and much more. And now artificial and augmented realities are merging with photography making this series of Symposiums a timely event.

Images are ubiquitous and their senses and meanings can be found in virtually all fields, disciplines, and practices. Why and how images are captured, edited, manipulated, and curated form an intrinsic component in contemporary teaching and curriculum.

As more people use a personal imaging device, cell phone camera, et al. the situations and events that shape our lives come—intermittently—into focus to tell stories of today and the future.

ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM SERIES

Re-Present: Photographic Practice traverses trans-disciplinary dialogue to embrace an array of practices that move between theoretical reflection on the nature of photography and case studies of its practice from research-based to experience-based perspectives. The annual Re-Present series of forums offer an interdisciplinary colloquium to explore photography in professional and disciplinary terms.

Disciplines & Keywords Graphic Design, Photography, Communication, Journalism, AI, Philosophy, Life Sciences, Geosciences, Material Culture, Astronomy, Forensics, Law Enforcement, Industrial, Commercial, Art, Tourism, Anthropology.

Symposium Dedicated to John T. Hill

John T. Hill is a graphic designer, author, and photographer. Hill was Norman Ives’s student and teaching colleague at the Yale University School of Art where he taught both graphic design and photography. Hill co-founded Yale’s first Department of Photography and was its first director of graduate studies. For nineteen years, Hill was executor of the Walker Evans estate. He has produced a number of books and exhibitions on this iconic artist. Most recent was Walker Evans: Depth of Field, a comprehensive book and exhibition sponsored by the Josef Albers Museum. Hill is currently focused on book and exhibition design, and writing. Two of his book designs were selected for the AIGA 50 Books of the Year Award.

Hill has recently published a book of his photographs, Random Access: Photographs by John T. Hill. A second volume, Winnowing, is in gestation.

Education

As an undergraduate at the University of Georgia, Hill studied painting, design, and photography, earning a BFA in design in 1955, and an MFA in painting in 1956. After a tour of infantry duty he continued graduate studies in design and photography at the Yale School of Art and Architecture.

Teaching

On graduating, he was invited to join the Yale faculty, where he taught both graphic design and photography. His faculty colleagues from the 1960s and 70s included Alvin Eisenman, Walker Evans, Herbert Matter, Norman Ives, Bradbury Thompson, Anton Stankowski, Lisette Model, and Paul Rand.

When Yale’s Graphic Design Department was established in 1951, photography was seen as an integral part of the curriculum. Twenty years later, with photography’s increased presence in the arts, Eisenman and Hill founded Yale’s first Department of Photography, making it independent from its parent, Graphic Design.

Hill served as the department’s first Director of Graduate Studies in Photography from 1971 to 1978.

Professional Work

In more than twenty years of teaching, Hill continued to work as a photographer, taking pictures for numerous books, magazines, and corporate publications. As a designer, his work is diverse, ranging from US postage stamp design to exhibition installations. Within the last ten years he has focused primarily on books, exhibition design, and writing.

Executor of the Walker Evans Estate

Three years before his death, Walker Evans asked Hill to serve as executor of his estate. On Evans’s death in 1975, Hill took as a goal the expanded reading of Evans’s work. At the time, Evans’s work was commonly perceived as, at best, a bathetic record of the Great Depression in the rural South. For Hill and many others, however, Evans’s work rose above that limited appraisal, and deserved to be more closely examined as a more universal statement transcending the specifics of time and place. As executor, Hill produced four books for the Evans Estate. Others followed, all with that same purpose.

During and after his 19-year tenure as Evans’s executor, Hill created exhibitions of gelatin silver prints made from Evans’s negatives. Within the last ten years, Hill has used digital techniques and printing to interpret Evans’s images.[1] These digital tools allow maintaining detailed information in both dark and light passages, in a manner not possible with gelatin silver printing. Hill has used these digital techniques to produce prints, exhibitions, and books that extend the appreciation of Evans’s intricate and multi-layered work. These exhibitions have been shown in museums and galleries in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Korea, New York City, Vancouver, and numerous other institutions worldwide.

With Hill’s help, the Evans archive was acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art[2] in 1994. There it has received appreciation for its intrinsic value as the work of one of America’s seminal artists. Proper conservation and cataloging can only be realized by an institution with such perception, size, and depth. The major portion of that archive is now available for study online.

Writings and Publications

Hill has also produced books presenting the work of wide-ranging talents, including Walker Evans, W. Eugene Smith, Edward Weston, Erwin Hauer, and Peter Sekaer.

In 2013 Hill designed the book Calder by Matter[3] for Cahiers d’Art. It is Herbert Matter’s intimate account of Calder’s work and his family life over thirty years.

Books Related to Walker Evans produced by J.T. Hill

Walker Evans: First and Last

Walker Evans at Work

Walker Evans: Havana

Walker Evans: The Hungry Eye

Walker Evans: Lyric Documentary

Walker Evans: Depth of Field

Books Designed, Edited, Authored, Co-authored, or Produced by Hill

The Eye of Walker Evans. Luc Sante. On the occasion of the exhibition Walker Evans: New York (Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, 28 July–11 Oct 1998). Broadly surveys the life and work of Evans.

Walker Evans: First and Last. Harper and Row, New York, 1978. Seker Warburg, London, 1978. Design, picture sequence, and production by Hill.

Walker Evans at Work. Harper and Row, New York, 1982. Thames and Hudson, London, 1982. Essay, Jerry L. Thompson. Concept, design, and picture editing by Hill

Walker Evans Havana 1933. Contrejour, Paris, 1989. Pantheon, New York, 1989. Concept, design and picture editing, Hill with Carla Miller.

Walker Evans: The Hungry Eye. Co-authors, Hill, Gilles Mora. Les Editions du Seuil, Paris, 1993[4] Harry N. Abrams. New York, 1993. Winner of the Prix de Nadar, Paris. The Krasna Krausz Book Award, London. Design Judy Kohn, concept and supervision by Hill.[5]

W. Eugene Smith Photographs 1934-1975. Co-authors, Hill, Gilles Mora, Editions Le Seuil, Paris, 1988. Harry N. Abrams. New York, 1988, Thames and Hudson, London, 1988, Design and picture editing, Hill and Dorothy O’Connor Hill.

Walker Evans Simple Secrets. High Museum of Art. Harry N. Abrams. New York, 1998. Design, picture editing, and production by Hill. Honored by the AIGA as one of 50 Books of the Year.

Walker Evans: Depth of Field. Co-authors, Hill and Heinz Liesbrock. Design by Hill. Prestel, Munich, 2015.

Edward Weston: Forms of Passion, Passion of Forms. Seuil, Paris, 1998. Harry N. Abrams. New York, 1998. Thames and Hudson, London, 1998. Design and picture editing, Hill and Dorothy Hill.

Walker Evans. Biography by James Mellow. HillBasic, New York, 1999. Design, picture editing, Hill and Dorothy Hill. Honored by the AIGA as one of 50 Books of the Year.

The Idea of Cuba: Alex Harris. University of New Mexico Press. In association with The Center of Documentary Studies. Duke University, 2003. Design by Hill.

Herbert Matter[6] Stanford University, 2005. On the occasion of the acquisition of the Matter Archive. Design, picture editing, separations, and production by Hill.

Erwin Hauer: Continua. Architectural Screens and Walls. Princeton Architectural. New York, 2004. Design and picture editing by Hill.

Walker Evans: Lyric Documentary. Author and picture editor, Hill. Steidl, Göttingen, Germany, 2007. Book design, and digital separations by Hill.

Walker Evans American Photographs. Books on Books. Errata, New York, 2008. Primary essay, “The Legacy of Seeing,” by Hill.

Peter Sekaer: Signs of Life. Author and picture editor, Hill. Steidl, Göttingen, Germany, 2010. Book design, and digital separations by Hill.

Calder by Matter. Essays by Jed Perl and Hill. Cahiers d’Art, Paris, 2013. Book design, separations, and printing supervision by Hill.

May Day at Yale, Recollections 1970[7][8] Co-authors, Henry Chauncey, Thomas Strong, and Hill. 2015.

Walker Evans: Labor Anonymous. Edited by Thomas Zander. Walther König, Cologne. Essays by David Campany, Heinz Liesbrock and Jerry L. Thompson.

Random Access: Photographs by John T. Hill, edited by Corinne Forti, Steidl, 2022

Exhibitions Produced by Hill

The Work of Hebert Matter and Alvin Lustig, Hill created the first exhibition featuring their work in the University of Georgia’s art school gallery, 1954

Lincoln’s America, USIA Exhibition. Hill was part of a small team of students and faculty who created the exhibition over a Christmas Holiday in 1958 and early 59. Faculty advisors were Alvin Eisenman, Norman Ives, and Bradbury Thompson, 1958

Photographs by Hebert Matter, with work by Herbert Matter, Foto Festival, Arles, France, 2000

Photographs by Peter Sekaer, with work by Peter Sekaer, Foto Festival, Arles, France, 2002

Walker Evans: Carbon and Silver, produced by Hill and Sven Martson, Evans’ centennial exhibition, Yale University Art School Gallery, 2003; Harvard University, 2003; Duke University, 2003; Museo di Roma, Palazzo Brachi, 2005–06; UBS Gallery and Yale School of Art Avenue of Americas, 2006; Museo Alinari, Piazza S.M. Novella, Firenze, Italy, 2007.

Walker Evans: New Translations and Vintage Prints, Galerie Thomas Zander, Cologne, Germany, 2004

Norman Ives: Constructions & Reconstructions, American Institute of Graphic Arts, New York City, 2007

Walker Evans: Carbon and Silver, Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York, 2009

The Exacting Eye of Walker Evans, Florence Griswold Museum, 2011/12[9]

Walker Evans’s “Havana 1933”, Laguardia Community College, 2013[10]

The Art of Walker Evans, Sandra Naddaff and Leigh Hafrey Three Columns Gallery, 2014

Walker Evans: Depth of Field, accompanied by the book of the same name, Josef Albers Museum, curated by its Director, Dr. Heinz Liesbrock, Bottrop, Germany, 2015/16 – most comprehensive exhibition to date, with over 300 items including 30 signed prints

Walker Evans: Depth of Field, Vancouver Art Gallery, 2016

Norman Ives: Constructions & Reconstructions, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2016/17

Norman Ives: Constructions & Reconstructions, UMASS North Dartmouth, 2021

Exhibitions of Works by Hill

Four Directions in Modern Photography, Yale University Art Gallery, 1973[11]

Bulldog and Panther Exhibition, Yale University Art Gallery, 2014[12]

John T. Hill: Persistent Observer, The Institute Library (New Haven), 2021/22[13]

Random Access: Photographs by John T. Hill, Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, CT, 2023

Museum Collections

International Center for Photography: 4 prints

Yale Art Gallery: 1 print

Bibliotheque Nationale

MoMA, Study Collection

Black Mountain College

Josef and Annie Albers Foundation Collection

Josef Albers Museum, Bottrop, Germany

References

1. Marth, Eric. Printing American Photographs

2. Metropolitan Museum of Art

3. “Cahiers d’Art | Shop – Monographs – Calder by Matter, Standard Edition, 2012”. www.cahiersdart.com.

4. Boxer, Sarah (1998-08-07). “PHOTOGRAPHY REVIEW; 3 Degrees of Separation on the Road to Art”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-02-05.

5. Grundberg, Andy (1993-12-05). “Photography”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-02-05.

6. Fernandez, Chantal (2010-02-23). “Designer’s life and works explored”. Yale Daily News. Retrieved 2023-02-05.

7. “Hartford, Connecticut Breaking News, Sports & Entertainment”. Hartford Courant. Retrieved 2023-02-05.

8. Home / Connecticut / Avoiding Armageddon: How the 1970 Riots in New Haven Never Happened Avoiding Armageddon: How the 1970 Riots in New Haven Never Happened http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/avoiding-armageddon-how-the-1970-riots-in-new-haven-never-happened/

9. “The Exacting Eye of Walker Evans”. Florence Griswold Museum. Retrieved 2022-02-01. http://www1.cuny.edu/mu/forum/2013/04/29/photographer-walker-evanss-havana-1933-collection-at-laguardia-community-college [dead link]

10. “[Exhibition poster for Four Directions in Modern Photography, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut]”. International Center of Photography. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 2022-02-01.

11. “’Bulldog and Panther’ exhibition explores legacy of May Day rally”. YaleNews. 12 February 2014. Retrieved 2022-02-01.

12. “Closing Reception: John T. Hill: Persistent Observer”. institutelibrary.org. Retrieved 2022-02-01.

13. Authority control databases Edit this at Wikidata

Updated Program

Morning Presentations

9:30 – 10:00 am Meet and greet with coffee, tea, and water

10:00 – 10:15 am Welcome: CLASS Dean Andreas Mueller

10:15 – 10:45 am Opening remarks by Robert Lisak with a dedication to John T. Hill, author and designer of 21 books on Walker Evans, Norman Ives, with two underway on Herbert Matter and Hill’s book titled Winnowing. Hill, a graphic designer, photographer, and author, has taught both graphic design and photography at Yale School of Art. Hill co-founded Yale School of Art’s first Department of Photography and was its first director of Graduate Studies in the Yale School of Art.

Our distinguished panelists each have a strong connection to Yale and New Haven and its significant contribution to the theories, fields, and practices of Photography and Graphic Design will follow with a conversation about Hill with Hugo Fernandez,  Linda Lindroth, Robert Lisak, and Jeanne Criscola.

10:45 – 11:00 pm BREAK

11:00 am – 12:30 pm Introduction of the Panelists—Suzanne Anker, Linda Lindroth, Robert Lisak, Hugo Fernandez,  David Margolis, and Rachel Leonard. Followed by a Panel Discussion and slideshow of each panelists photographic practice. Ending with a Q & A session.

12:30 – 1:30 pm Lunch (on your own)

1:30 – 4:00 pm Presentations by guests, faculty, and students on Re-Present: Photographic Practice themes (10 minutes each)

Afternoon Presentations

Karen A. Ritzenhoff, Ph.D., Department of Communication (1:30–1:40)

Restaging of a Painting in Photography
Students in a course on Visual Communication were asked to select a painting or art object. They had to rearticulate its message by staging an adaptation. They were encouraged to use their own tools: costumes, background, people, pets, recreating a mise-en-scene with basic building blocks. The results were original and highly creative. This process of translating a finished art piece into a contemporary adaptation allowed students approach art in new and innovative ways.

Aimee Crawford, Robert C. Vance Endowed Chair in Journalism and Mass Communication (1:40–1:50)

Covering Women’s Sports: How Magazines Portray Women Athletes
Aimee Crawford is serving as the Robert C. Vance Endowed Chair in Journalism and Mass Communication at Central Connecticut State University. She has nearly 30 years of professional sports media experience, including as an editor for Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News and ESPN the Magazine, where she was part of the ESPN team that won a 2019 Peabody Award for its work on “Spartan Silence: Crisis at Michigan State.” The courses she teaches include Sports and Media: Images and Representations and Multimedia Sports Journalism.

Suzanne Anker (1:50–2:00)

After Eden: The Double Identity of Carbon
Suzanne Anker is a visual artist and theorist working at the intersection of art and the biological sciences. Her practice investigates the ways in which nature is being altered in the 21st century. Concerned with genetics, climate change, species extinction and the non-human other, she calls attention to the beauty of life and the “necessity for enlightened thinking about nature’s ‘tangled bank’.” Chairing SVA’s Fine Arts Department in NYC since 2005, Ms. Anker continues to interweave traditional and experimental media in her department’s digital initiative and the SVA Bio Art Lab. Her work has been shown both nationally and internationally in museums and galleries. Her exhibitions have been the subject of reviews and articles in the New York Times, Artforum, Art in America, Flash Art, the Brooklyn Rail, Hyperallergic, and Nature among others.

Martha Lewis (2:00–2:10)

Chemical Experiments, Magic Lanterns and Found Images: Dancing Around the Edges of the Medium
Martha Willette Lewis is a visual artist, curator, and radio presenter. She has degrees from Cooper Union (BFA, 1987) and Yale University (MFA, 1993). Over the years Lewis’ work has merged mathematics and science into abstract diagrammatic and drawn work. This has manifested itself in myriad ways, notably in 2017 when she was the inaugural artist-in-residence at The Yale Quantum Institute, where she spent the year working with scientists and making art, with whom she continues to collaborate. Additionally, Lewis has been in residence at Lost & Found Lab, the School of Architecture at Hong Kong University and The Camargo Foundation in France. She is currently resident curator at the Institute Library in New Haven, where she organizes contemporary art exhibitions revolving around words, books, and archives. Permanent commissions include a mural for the Yale Quantum Institute and a collaborative installation with Marion Belanger, for the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, using their historic library of materials.

Linda Lindroth (2:20–2:30)

Throughline: Making Sense of a 50-Year Career
Lindroth’s singular enduring passion is photography. Since receiving a Kodak Brownie camera when she was 7-years-old, Lindroth has taken pictures. Not just taken but made, installed, considered. Her photographic work includes everything from Polaroid SX-70 and 20x24 formats to theatrical and ballet stage sets, video, installation, series, and mixed media. Her works are held in the permanent collections of 14 international museums including the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, the WestLicht Museum in Vienna, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Princeton University Art Museum, and the Newark Museum of Art in NJ.

Nan Hu (2:30–2:40)

Integrating New Technology in Graphic Education
Nan Hu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art & Design at Central, specializing in Graphic Design, Augmented Reality (AR), UI/UX, and emerging creative technology. Nan has taught a range of design courses at CCSU and is actively involved in curriculum development. Nan’s research centers on enhancing user experiences, integrating AR into design education, and exploring AI-enhanced design practices. Nan is a member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and the University (AIGA) and College Designers Association (UCDA) in USA.

Wujun Wang (2:40–2:50)

From 3D Models to Immersive AR Experiences
Wujun “Will” Wang is a Professor of Graphic/Information Design at CCSU. Wang holds a MFA in Graphic Design from Iowa State University. He specializes in Graphic Design, 3D, and emerging creative technology including Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality.

Kevin Skrocki (2:50–3:00)

Through the Lens: How Photography Effects and Influences Cultural Trends
Three words that describe Kevin Skrocki are: ambitious, wild, and hungry—yes, hungry for developing strong creative work. Skrocki comes from the digital marketing world, working at a Rebellion Group—a digital creative agency in Cheshire. Throughout Skrocki’s graphic design experience, he developed a versatile skill set that encompasses both strategic and creative proficiency. Skrocki’s portfolio includes clients such as Aetna, United Healthcare, Cornell University, and other higher education institutions, amplifying their brands. As an adjunct professor at Central, Skrocki shares his passion for creativity with students, providing them with firsthand information from the industry bringing new perspectives helping students see the world of creativity through a different lens.

Jon Kosak (3:00–3:10)

A View from All Angles: Documentation with 3D Photogrammetry
Jon Kozak is a student in the Public History master’s program at CCSU. He has a BS in Photographic Science from the Rochester Institute of Technology and is studying the application and utility of visual media in the field of history.

Jennie Morenz (3:10–3:20)

Above the Glass
Jennie Morenz is in her junior year at CCSU. She has a graphic design degree from CCSU. She is back for her Art Education degree. Her love for photography is just one of the many creative passions that she possesses. She is drawn to the abstract side of art and design.

Audrey Adams (3:20–3:30)

Liminality
Audrey Adams is an art major in her senior year at CCSU. Her photography deals with liminal spaces in modern architecture.

Q & A (3:30–4:00)

Moderator

Kelley Fryer Independent photojournalist, lecturer in Central’s Communication Dept. teaching Sports Photography, and former Chief of Photography at Shore Publishing.

Panelists

Suzanne Anker A visual artist and theorist working at the intersection of art and the biological sciences. Suzanne is currently Chair of the SVA’s Department of Fine Arts where she founded the Bio Art Laboratory in 2011.

Linda Lindroth’s singular enduring passion is photography. Since receiving a Kodak Brownie camera when she was 7 years old, Lindroth has taken pictures. Not just taken but made, installed, considered. Her photographic work includes everything from Polaroid SX-70 and 20x24 formats to theatrical and ballet stage sets, video, installation, series, and mixed media. Her works are held in the permanent collections of 14 international museums including the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Bibliotheque Nationale de France, the WestLicht Museum in Vienna, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Princeton University Art Museum, and the Newark Museum of Art in NJ.

Robert Lisak first studied photography as an undergraduate at Harvard University. He went on to receive an MFA in photography from the Yale School of Art. He printed for the Walker Evans estate for 12 years in association with John T. Hill. He taught photography at Sacred Heart University for twenty years, where he designed and implemented courses in digital photography. He has been a guest lecturer and critic at several other universities. Lisak is a past board member and current member of the Connecticut Chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers. In 2023, Robert, along with co-author David Ottenstein, published Capitol America: A Photographic Portrait of the Fifty State Capitols. Robert has exhibited his work regularly throughout Connecticut and elsewhere and has been a regular participant in New Haven’s Citywide Open Studios. Lisak’s photographs are held in several private collections.

Hugo Fernandez Born in Miami, Florida, Fernandez was raised in Dade County and the northeastern United States. Studying photography at Miami Dade Community College, he received an AS in Communications and went on to earn a BFA in Photography at Florida International University. After traveling to Chile, Bolivia, and Peru, he entered the Yale School of Art, earning an MFA in Photography. Fernandez has exhibited Hemingway House panoramas in New York City and in South Florida, at the Florida International University North Campus Library. He has published in the New York Times and “An-My Lê, Between Two Rivers” by the Museum of Modern Art. Currently, Fernandez is a Professor at LaGuardia Community College teaching courses in photography.

David Margolis With a career spanning four decades, Margolis has made a name for himself as a leading photographer in the fields of aerial and architectural photography. Margolis is the owner of Skyviews Survey, a photography firm known for its high-quality imagery. His impressive client list includes notable names like Cesar Pelli, Davis Partners, and CB Richard Ellis, and his work has graced the pages of top-tier publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Architectural Digest.

Rachel Leonard Former Fashion Director for Brides Magazine, Condé Nast. Leonard’s career spanned three decades of editing bridal fashion, covering markets in the US and Europe, and styling photoshoots. Rachel worked on the creative editorial side of the magazine with different crews consisting of photographers and hair and make-up specialists. The locations she selected ranged from ateliers to studios to historic homes, and gardens to other worldly and exotic locations all staged to modernize and romanticize the fashion of the bride. During her career at Brides, Leonard witnessed the transformation from transparency and negative film to digital photography and video. She is a now the co-founder and Editorial Director of The Bridal Council.

FACULTY ORGANIZERS

Jeanne Criscola is an Associate Professor of Graphic/Information Design at Central Connecticut State University. Re-Present is the brainchild of Criscola inspired by the photographers and designers she has the privilege to work with through Criscola Design, an award-winning studio focused on social justice and arts and culture projects. Her work spans decades of publication design created for Soros’ Open Society Foundations Network with one in MoMA’s Franklin Furnace Artists’ Book Collection. Criscola’s design praxis includes objects and experiences, curatorial and exhibition design, and cultural production multiples for authors, artists, and organizations. Her imprint, OctoberWorks.com, is a publishing/think-tank/research initiative focused on digital print technologies to foster experimentation with the multiple using emerging technologies on paper, fabric, and other materials. Her drawings, moving images, installations, generative art, performances, and books have been exhibited in international venues. As a designer and educator, Criscola brings her interests, research, and experimentation into the classroom to instigate students to think beyond the forms and conventions of today’s information.

Wujun Wang is a Professor of Graphic/Information Design at Central Connecticut State University. Wang holds a MFA in Graphic Design from Iowa State University. He specializes in Graphic Design, 3D, and emerging creative technology including Artificial Intelligence and Augmented Reality.

Peggy Bloomer is an Assistant Professor of Graphic/Information Design at Central Connecticut State University. Dr. Bloomer is developing two courses that deal with the various ways image, design, traditional storytelling, and data can qualitatively and quantitatively be used effectively to understand and elicit social change. She has recently presented to several conferences on the role of AI in the Design Curriculum and design workflow and teaches “Digital Storytelling” and other core design classes.

Nan Hu is an Assistant Professor of Graphic/Information Design at Central Connecticut State University, specializing in Graphic Design, UI/UX, and emerging creative technology. Hu has taught a range of design courses at CCSU and is actively involved in curriculum development, including establishing a UX certificate program. Hu’s research centers on enhancing user experiences, integrating AR into design education, and exploring AI-enhanced design practices. Hu is a member of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and the University College Designers Association (UCDA).

CONSULTANT

Dr. Karen Ritzenhoff is a Professor of Communication at Central Connecticut State University. She is also affiliated with the honors program, the minors in Cinema Studies and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her most recent co-edited two-volume anthology on “Contemporary Asian Popular Culture” (Palgrave, 2025) is a product of a hybrid international conference on “Squid Game and Beyond” that took place at Central in April 2023. The conference chairwoman was Dr. Yeojin “Julie” Kim, Department of Communication. She is also involved in co-editing an anthology on “Barbenheimer” with Drs. Carolyn Jacobs and Anna Young (Communication).