Pulled In All Directions
1999
acrylic on Belgium linen
24" x 36"
In 1977 I attended Pratt Institute in New York City for three years of intensive art-only training. Upon completion of this curriculum, I felt not yet ready to tackle the corporate art directors world and decided to continue studying this time at Penn State, University Park, PA. A major in art with a specialization in graphic design upon portfolio approved by the head of the graphic design department. It was a highly competitive major to be accepted in and I was quite surprised when I was given a nod and accepted in.
I will forgo describing what several years of the tutelage of Mr. Sommese. It was better documented in a fictional book Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd which is based on the experiences a former Penn State Graphic Design major had while a student at P.S.U.
Lanny Sommese would only refer to me as "Pratt Reject". He would ask impossible tasks to be done in impossible times and nary a word of approval. I can only think of him as a childhood bully with tenure. Eventually I figured Life was too short to put up with such nonsense, my stomach was getting the better of me and I opted out of school altogether.
So even though I failed to turn and face you today when you burst upon a private meeting I was having with one of your colloquies I knew who you were and found it charming that you are one of the first people I run into when returning to Penn State
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