Working closely with Debra Simon, Dylan鈥檚 tasks span scheduling and arranging travel, graphic design, managing social media and the company website, public relations, writing press releases, new business development, photo assisting, and distributing marketing materials. Her experience at Debra Simon Art Consulting has not only honed her professional skills but also fostered a valuable mentorship relationship with Debra Simon herself.

Since joining the team, Dylan has played an instrumental role in installing public art across major cities, including Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City, and Washington, DC. She also co-curated a significant art project at Chicago Union Station, featuring licensed images from Science Photo Library on barricade walls. Dylan鈥檚 work has expanded to include assisting in public dance performances, including an all-day event with artists in residence at Baryshnikov Arts Center, where she had the remarkable opportunity to meet Mikhail Baryshnikov.

鈥淭he main thing is that I am learning a lot!鈥� Dylan shared. 鈥溇烦扇烁＠谙� University prepared me for this opportunity by instilling confidence in myself and my work ethic. Advocating for my own practice made it easier to advocate for myself professionally and connect with other professionals and artists.鈥�

Her position also allows her to travel frequently, with business trips to Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC, and prospective installations in Lancaster, PA, and Wilmington, DE. Dylan鈥檚 relocation to Brooklyn in July has been another major life change, where she鈥檚 focusing on personal creative projects, such as drawing, digital collages, and planning long-term works while exploring local community art spaces.

Dylan emphasizes the importance of continuing creative practices post-graduation. 鈥淜eep making art. It鈥檚 hard to maintain momentum without critiques or deadlines, but finding a community of creative people can hold you accountable and keep you inspired,鈥� she advises. 鈥淪ee a lot of art and connect with like minded individuals. And keep in touch with your professors鈥攖hey care about your success.鈥�

精品成人福利在线 University鈥檚 emphasis on fostering confidence and networking helped Dylan develop the tools to thrive in her career. Her story is a testament to the power of mentorship, community, and perseverance in building a fulfilling and impactful career in the arts. We celebrate Dylan鈥檚 accomplishments and look forward to her continued contributions to the art world.

After the pupils won a virtual听Shark Tank-style pitch competition, Principal Harold Abraham 鈥�13 MEd invited recent alumni from the University鈥檚 Fashion Studies program to continue working with his students to create a prototype of a mask infused with essential oils. The idea, the students say, is to help the wearer 鈥渇eel safe, comfortable and calm.鈥�

It鈥檚 much like what Abraham did in preparing his school for the return of students in the fall at Sandyston-Walpack School in Sussex County, New Jersey.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 tell you how many vendors for PPE we met with, measuring our classrooms, measuring our hallways, our cafeteria and the outdoor spaces, working with facilities and grounds to make sure that students would be socially distanced at all times, figuring out how many students we could have in a classroom, how many we could have in a lunch period,鈥� Abraham says. Students on rotating days attend school on Zoom or in class wearing masks and studying at desks with plexiglass tri-fold barriers.

鈥淢y goal is creating experiences for kids that they鈥檒l never forget,鈥� he says.

But the coronavirus has made creating opportunities for the extraordinary especially challenging. 鈥淣ow is really more of an important time than ever to kind of think outside the box,鈥� Abraham says.

When the principal learned of the SuitUp New Jersey Business competition, a program that matches company employees with students to solve real corporate challenges, Abraham entered the school as a way to expose the students to other forms of learning.

Competing against middle schools from throughout the state, students designed products, developed a marketing strategy and financing, and pitched their idea to a panel of judges.

Members of 鈥淭eam superMASK鈥� came up with the idea for a Dri-FIT fabric face covering infused with essential oils. The judges called the students鈥� innovation 鈥渙verwhelmingly relevant for today鈥檚 day and age鈥� and praised its potential as a viable product for consumers.

The success made a huge impact. 鈥淚 learned today I can be a CEO,鈥� remarked a Sandyston-Walpack fifth grader, Emma McEvilly.

鈥淭he students wanted to develop something that would make a lasting impact on the people around them,鈥� Abraham says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to design a beautiful garment that people will admire from an aesthetic perspective, but if you create something that is going to help people, and can also look aesthetically pleasing, then you鈥檙e really on to something.鈥�

Enter 精品成人福利在线鈥檚 Fashion Studies program. Meeting over Zoom, Hannah Salvaryn 鈥�20 and Vincent Villapando 鈥�20, have been leading the students through the creative process and helping them understand all the decisions that come into play 鈥� from sizing and fabric choices to where to place the pocket for oils. They say they have enjoyed the experience.

鈥淚t reminds me that anything is possible, even the impossible,鈥� says Salvaryn, 鈥渂ecause talking with the students makes me believe their idea can come to life. Younger children have an 鈥業 can do it鈥� type of attitude. It鈥檚 something I hope they can keep with them as they grow older.鈥�

On a recent call, the students started thinking even more about marketing and how to promote the product. They asked one of their teammates to sing and write a jingle. They worried about the costs of materials and who holds the rights to their design. They wondered if a major company would ultimately buy the idea.

Fifth grader Dustin Slyman suggested a slogan, adapting Nike鈥檚 legendary 鈥淛ust Do It鈥� to pitch their masks, 鈥淛ust Wear It.鈥�

鈥淭he students are a testament to the community we have,鈥� Abraham says. 鈥淥ur students, even in fifth grade, had the wherewithal to go beyond that, to develop something that I think most would consider valuable to the community because it鈥檚 so needed. I think that鈥檚 the greatest takeaway from the competition.鈥�

Story by staff writer听Marilyn Joyce Lehren

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Butler, who graduated with a Master of Arts in Teaching in 2005, called the exhibit a 鈥渄ream come true鈥� and said the last few months have been 鈥渁 whirlwind.鈥�

In March, Butler鈥檚 portrait of 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner听听was featured as one of 100 covers produced as part of听Time鈥檚 100 Women of the Year. In July, the Toledo Museum of Art听听of Butler鈥檚 portrait of Frederick Douglass, titled听The Storm, the Whirlwind, and The Earthquake.

Her first major museum show,听, had a delayed opening at the Katonah Museum of Art due to the pandemic but has now traveled to the听听where her quilts are on exhibit from November 16, 2020, to April 19, 2021.

Butler鈥檚 unique technique involves reappropriating vintage photographs and giving them new life through a unique folkloric medium 鈥� quilting. Her portraits include famous people but often feature the unnamed, the forgotten. The man in听I Am Not Your Negro听is as regal and deeply layered as Frederick Douglass in听The Storm, the Whirlwind, and the Earthquake. Her work engages with themes of family, community, migration, history, creativity and promise using a variety of material including velvet, cotton wool, silk and West African kente cloth.

The beloved art educator (she was inducted into the Columbia High School Hall of Fame when she left teaching at her alma mater in Maplewood, New Jersey, to focus full-time on her burgeoning art career) has indeed been 鈥渉aving her moment,鈥� reported听听in April. And that moment looks like it is stretching into a long career of recognition and achievement.

鈥淢y exhibit at the Art Institute Of Chicago is a dream come true,鈥� she wrote in a recent email. 鈥淚 have been a big fan and admirer of Charles White, Margaret Burroughs and Kerry James Marshall for so long, and to be able to exhibit at one of the finest art museums in the world where their work is hanging lets me know that my art ancestors are looking out for me.鈥�

Story by Staff Writer听Mary Barr Mann