Emma Conley

EMMA DOROTHY CONLEY

BA Visual & Liberal Arts, Bennington College (2010)
MFA Collaborative Design, PNCA (2013)

Emma Dorothy Conley attended the University of San Diego and Bennington College in her undergraduate education. Her focus was in sculpture, installation, performance, and interactive art. Her work was mostly conceptual and consisted of mixed media with an emphasis on the fantastical or speculative. Emma’s work occasionally involved printmaking and digital art. Her thesis project was a floating dwelling designed for the pond at Bennington College. She moved from Massachusetts to Portland in 2010 where she now studies at the Pacific Northwest College of Art.

http://www.emmadorothyconley.com

Laura DeVito

Laura DeVito is a questioner through art, design and photography.

DeVito received her BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Kansas, and then went off to Clermont Ferrand, France, where she taught English at university and studied graduate-level photography. Upon return to Kansas, DeVito managed an art gallery and planned her next abroad excursion in Xi’an, China. While in China, DeVito learned Mandarin and taught English at university and other schools while being a photographer and writer for various magazine publications. Later, DeVito went to Oregon State University and earned an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies in which her thesis explored how visual cues in the new environment affect Chinese internationals while studying abroad. After, DeVito worked at INTO – Oregon State University. However, DeVito realized that the world of art and design in a meaningful manner, designing with the environment and humanity, was a path that she needed to take. Bringing DeVito to the Collaborative Design program.

Laura DeVito’s current work includes photography exhibitions that demonstrate “Oneness.” In a nutshell, humanity is slowly returning to the thought of nature and making the realization that everything is connected and interdependent upon one another.

MA Oregon State University (Interdisciplinary Studies — Political Science, College Student Services Administration, & Photography)
BFA University of Kansas (Graphic Design)

http://lauradevito.com

Sharon Dvora

Sharon Dvora is a community-based artist and creator of innovative curriculum and public programs in the field of museum, early childhood and art education. Sharon’s prime passion is collaborating with others to create new worlds that inspire, including works of public art, public art happenings and workshops designed to elicit creativity from intergenerational participants. Sharon moved to Portland from Ashland to pursue her deep curiosity to discover new methods of practice for community engagement and catalyzing systemic change in education for the 21st century.

MA Southern Oregon University (Teaching)
BFA CA State University

Santigie Fofana-Dura

Santigie Fofana-Dura has over 10 years experience working as a teacher for elementary, middle and high school students. His vigorous passion for creativity has served to inspire hundreds of Portland area youth as he has worked in schools in all quadrants of the city. In addition to spending time in classrooms, he has spent the past five years with Portland Parks and Recreation facilitating programs geared toward the physical, social, and emotional health of kids of all ages.

Santigie’s main artistic practice is illustrative design. His work is often compared with M.C. Escher for it’s use of three dimensional interplay between realism and fantasy.

MAT Concordia University (education)
BS Santa Clara University (sociology)

Dustin Freemont

Dustin Freemont came to Portland OR to attend Reed College, where he pursued a BA in political science. His thesis was an examination of Jeremy Bentham and Michel Foucault regarding the dangers of a surveillance society. Before joining the MFA collaborative design program Dustin worked at the US Census Bureau, recruiting staff and eventually working into a position managing canvassing operation in SE Portland. Dustin likes tea, go, yoga, and political theory, esp post-structuralism. Research interests include surveillance, power, the state, international relations, Foucault, Derrida, Wittgenstein, Nietzsche, Marx, and Machiavelli.

MFA 2013 PNCA (Collaborative Design)
BA 2007 Reed College (Political Science)

David Laubenthal

After studying architecture and sculpture at Arizona State University, Dave worked for Michael Curry Design, managing the sculpture department for 8 years. Dave still collaborates with MCD occasionally on commissioned projects, with highlights including masks and puppets for Broadway’s Lion King, Cirque du Soleil, and the Winter Olympics opening and closing ceremonies in Salt Lake City, Utah. Dave has been operating his own company, DJL Studio since 2001, specializing in custom design and fabrication in wood and steel. Objects include furniture, lighting and fixturing. He has shown sculpture and encaustic paintings in various group and solo shows in Portland and in Phoenix Arizona.

Most recently Dave has worked on a large project for Brooks shoes, for which he co-designed and fabricated kits for the international rollout of their new Pure line. This project has also led to further opportunities to create similar work for Mountain Hardware. Currently Dave is working on two separate public art commissions for the city of Portland. One is an ongoing sculpture installation at the Burnside Couplet (MLK and Burnside) as part of the design collective, LODGE. The second project is a sculpture piece he is working on with mosaic artist, Ruth Frances Greenberg, which will be installed in NE Alberta.

BFA Arizona State University (Sculpture)

http://djlstudio.blogspot.com/

Joan Lundell

Joan Lundell earned a Bachelor of Industrial Design degree at Auburn University. After graduation she lived for one year at Arcosanti, a sustainable community located in the high desert of Arizona designed by visionary architect Paolo Soleri. While there she worked in the bronze foundry crafting the bells that are sold to generate funding for the project. Following six months of travel throughout South America studying the language and culture, she settled in Portland where she worked for PVS In-Store Graphics, a large format print production company. Her responsibilities included working with clients to develop prototypes for retail displays and signage. She is now beginning graduate studies at Pacific Northwest College of Art leading to an MFA in Collaborative Design.

BA Auburn University (Industrial Design)

http://cargocollective.com/joanlundell

Katie Mays

Katie is originally a Midwesterner—raised in Quincy, Illinois, but lived in Chicago for six years prior to moving to Portland. Her thesis centered on the idea of Design Volunteerism— enabling design students to gain real world experience working on social change projects that wouldn’t normally fall within the scope of traditional design practices. After graduating, she filled a variety of roles including working as a junior designer at a commercial architecture firm, and as a personal assistant to an entrepreneur. She moved to Portland last year to work as a Jesuit Volunteer at Sisters Of The Road, a nonprofit cafe in Old Town that serves meals to folks experiencing homelessness. Katie seeks to honestly evaluate her role in the world, and find a way to work towards a future that is just—her intention is to find the intersection where design meets social justice. She believes the way to accomplish this is through collaboration: the relentless, open-minded exploration of every idea among diverse ways of thinking, by incredibly intelligent people.

Katie enjoys cold-brew iced coffee, mountains, fractals, Venn diagrams, trips to Seattle, Skype dates with her sister, and cooking dinner for other people.

BFA 2008 The Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago (Interior Design)

http://katie-mays.com

Morgan O'Hara

Morgan O’Hara was more or less born and raised in the rolling fields of East Orange, NJ. In 2006, she moved to Portland, OR. It was here that she earned a BA in anthropology from Reed College with a particular interest in the imagined futures of communities who are currently preparing for the apocalyptic demise of planet Earth. Armed with acute critical thinking, she took a year off. In 2011 she enrolled in the Collaborative Design program at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, where she works with her peers to address social and environmental issues in creative ways. She spends her free time going on long dog walks, working on art projects, and attempting to manage the abundance of modern artifacts she accumulates from Goodwill. You can see some things she’s made at seethesenicetees.com. You can contact her at ohara.morgan@gmail.com

BA Reed College (Anthropology)

http://seethesenicetees.com

Danielle Olson

Danielle Olson is an MFA Collaborative Design student at Pacific Northwest College of Art where she overlaps art, design, social science, technology and business. Finding ways to positively influence human experience and interaction is her passion. She is a problem solver and works well under pressure. She has a long history of working in the visual realm through both art and design, but is also very analytic and organizationally minded.

In 2010, she graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead with a BA in graphic design, and a minor in art history. Her work was accepted into the Juried Student Exhibition at MSUM in 2009. In undergrad, she also had a lot of experience with architecture and fine art: including drawing, ceramics and printmaking. While in school, she was employed by the Department of Art & Design as an administrative assistant where she did record keeping, in-house design and came up with solutions to better organize the department. Outside of school, she has done a variety of freelance work: including designing websites, print materials and branding systems. She has also designed interior spaces and illustrated commissioned portraits.

http://www.drodesign.com

Halley Roberts

Prior to entering the MFA in Collaborative Design program, Halley worked as a professional photographer for a number of years, during which time she started her own editing business, as well as taught beginning graphic design. Currently she is working on a local food project for the city of Portland to create a dynamic visual guide to food systems within the Pacific Northwest. She will be studying indigenous food systems this summer, and looking at the larger system of food through the PNW.

One of the most transformative aspects of the Collaborative Design program for Halley thus far has been the self-discovery, leadership training, and individual growth involved, as well as the continually expanding interpersonal dynamics that take shape as relationships are formed through the program.

BA Humboldt State University (Studio Art, Photography and Graphic Design)

http://halleyroberts.com

Lauren Schaefer

Lauren’s academic and professional focus has been in management and development in the arts and design industries. In Minneapolis, Minnesota, she has worked with nonprofits and galleries in positions such as exhibition assistant, project curator and event coordinator. Lauren has worked in various development departments as well, most recently with the Seattle Symphony. She has also exhibited her work in galleries, including the Science Museum of Minnesota and was an honorary member of the Society for Contemporary Photography in Kansas City, Missouri.

Emerging Leader Scholarship
BS Minneapolis College of Art and Design (Visualization)

http://cargocollective.com/laurenschaefer

Chelsea Stephen

Chelsea Stephen’s interest lies in finding cohesion between her background in science and her passion for art. She was drawn to the Collaborative Design program with the hope that it will help her stay rooted in the fields of research and science, while bringing a new and fresh meaning to it through the creative process — incorporate her scientific knowledge into illustrations and other forms of media.

After working in the fisheries and aquaculture field for several years, and taking a stab at advancing her science degree, she realized that she sought something simpler, and her focus as of late has been on fostering happiness, contentment, and fulfillment with less – less consumption, less wants, less needs, and less waste. She and her canine companion, Luca, are most happy being with people, listening to stories, sharing stories, challenging constraints (personal or otherwise), traveling and experiencing new places, new landscapes, and new cultures, and creating beautiful and sometimes provocative imagery through illustration. For Chelsea, design should be about striking a balance with all parts of the system; where humans are functioning units rather than viral antagonists.

http://mycrapp.tumblr.com