3, 2, 1, 0, Blast off…

This week Project Identity journeyed south under the stars to Randolph Upper School located in historic Huntsville, Alabama. Randolph is located in a beautiful city which can boast the preservation of several antebellum homes that were spared during the conflict of the Civil War. Additionally, this community has been a stronghold for the production of U.S. missile defense, rockets and space age technology. Huntsville is full of History, and PI made history this week at Randolph too, as the assigned class which collaborated on the project was our first group of film students!

With the guidance of Drama & Film faculty Mrs. Connie Voight, and the coordinating efforts of Visual Arts faculty Mrs. Kimberly Reyes, PI flourished with these focused students from Randolph. Many of these students one minute videos will become imbedded into the final animation of the project, but this group held their own at rotoscoping too. These students reminded me of the passionate group from Kettle Moraine High School in WI, where PI got its start in the early days of September. Quality, not quantity!

Mrs. Reyes and her colleagues are running a fine visual arts program as was evident by the contents of the numerous portfolio’s that I had the pleasure to review during my short stay. I’d also like to thank Mrs. Reyes for allowing me to present to her AP class about MIAD’s dynamic programming, and answering all kinds of questions about who we are and what we do. What’s even more impressive, is the dynamic integration that occurs between the Performing and Visual Arts at Randolph, allowing PI to work with these students for an entire day.

I’d like to thank Mr. & Mrs. Reyes for their genuine hospitality during my visit (Mr. Reyes is also a MIAD alumni – 92′ Drawing), and I’d also like to compliment the entire Randolph program for nurturing and realizing the importance of creativity in their curriculum. Lastly, a sincere Danke! to the students at Randolph, for introducing me to sweet tea!

Where the skies are so blue,

James Barany
Associate Professor of Foundations
MIAD
jbarany@miad.edu