The Chavón School of design certainly has lots to boast about lately! Their students have been doing great things in the short amount of time they’ve been in class this year, receiving praise from both Dominique Bluhdorn and Stephen Kaplan which led to a display of their work on the second floor of The Gallery. This year, as you may remember back in February, they also opened a new technical career in film headed by Tanya Valette, who joined the school after serving as the director of the International School of Cinema and Television in Cuba. With high hopes and expectations for the film students, everything seems to be falling into place rather quickly.
Just a few weeks ago, the Chavón School of Design was featured as one of the “Stellar Film Schools in 2017” by Variety! With only a few months of classes, the international entertainment magazine recognized the work the school is doing to solidify students as stellar film professionals. We are not sure if the schools are listed in order of highest rank, but the fact that Chavón appears as the second is amazing!! Congratulations!
Last year, the school opened The Atelier Gallery, a place dedicated to exhibiting student work with the purpose of showing the community their undeniable talent, as well as the opportunity to purchase great pieces of art for a very affordable price. All goes to benefit student needs like art materials, as well as a percentage to the school’s general scholarship fund for new enrollees. The exhibitions will change periodically, and the gallery will officially open THIS FRIDAY, October 13th at 8:30 am. Find below a piece written by Stephen Kaplan, the school Rector describing the current exhibition:
Not a Digital Display: An Exhibition of the 2-D Works of Chavón’s Fine Art Students
Currently the exhibition, which is scheduled to open to the public on Friday, October 13th appears at first glance to be some sort of computer printout. The regimentation and meticulous rendering of each work feels almost too precise to be the hand-painted work it is, in reality. Nothing here is virtual or electronic, all the work is painstakingly done as analog studies. These works are the labor-intensive products of the course work at the School of Design, a Foundation Year subject known as two-dimensional design. The course provides the students with the design insights of under the guidance of a master teacher, Jacinto Luis Lam Gonzalez, who for many years was professor and chairperson at Havana’s industrial design university. The syllabus he’s using here is based loosely on the books of Harvard’s Wucius Wong, a brilliant thinker and analyst of form and the relationships of form to line. Geometry, and geometric shapes are employed to develop a series works that speak not only of craftsmanship, but also of theory. Themes like radiation, anomaly, scale variation, and optical illusion, stand behind this exhibit’s work, art that is both stunning in its decorative presence and challenging in its execution.
The show is at the Atelier Gallery, a show place for the work of the School of Design’s student work. It’s a collection that is not to be missed, the gallery is next to what was once the Chocolate Museum of Altos de Chavón, it’s only meters away from the main gallery where the work, popularly priced, profits benefit the student artists’ need for art materials (and a percentage goes to the general scholarship fund for all the students).
The Atelier gallery is open most days from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 at night. The works are all priced at US$150 and may be purchased with credit cards or cash at the main Chavón Gallery.
Once again, kudos Chavón School of Design! Your work and your students’ performance continues to demonstrate the excellent job you do to develop the country’s talented youth.
The Atelier Gallery
What: A show place for the work of the School of Design’s student work
Where: Next to what was once the Chocolate Museum of Altos de Chavón, it’s only meters away from the main gallery
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