The current exhibition, running through November 29, features storybook depictions from The Wizard of Oz, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and fairy tales such as The Little Mermaid, as well as characters from Greek mythology, including Odysseus, Medusa, and Achilles.

Freeberg studied painting at the New York Academy of Art and has worked as a freelance children鈥檚 book illustrator for more than 20 years. His awards include an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, the Holbein Prize for Fantasy Art, and the 2024 Colorado Book Award for Juvenile Literature.

The Clymer Museum in Ellensburg, Washington, was created to honor noted 20th-century illustrator John Clymer, whose work included cover illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post, Woman鈥檚 Day, and Field and Stream.

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The event was conceived by First Year Program faculty Nate Gaefcke, who organized it with co-faculty Yvonne Holmes and their Department Head Karen Sullivan, among others, as a fun and exciting event that would also introduce students to a side of the art world they might not know existed. Gaefcke shared, “This year’s Figure Competition was a great success! The students had a great time, and I was very impressed with everyone’s drawings. This is such an exciting and wonderful opportunity for students to experience a professional competition environment. And we packed the Miano Academy for our award ceremony, which was also a very special night.鈥澨�

Before judging the competition, Miano gave an artist talk on Wednesday, February 19, in the Morganroth Auditorium. He is the founder and director of the nearby Miano Academy of Art and an advocate for representational art. In addition to giving an artist talk, judging the competition, and hosting the students for the awards ceremony, Miano also donated scholarships to the Academy as competition awards. 

Figure Competition Winners and their awards: 

• 1st Place: Annie Hua 鈥�28, Illustration听
• 2nd Place: Alex Cui 鈥�28, Computer Animation
• 3rd Place: Katya Nalitkina Nalitkina 鈥�28, Motion Design
• Honorable Mention: Clara Campbell听 鈥�28, Illustration
• 2nd Honorable Mention: Alain Mogena 鈥�28, Illustration

The competition was open to first-year students from every major. Winners were awarded credit to the 四虎影视 Art Store and a Scholarship to the Miano Academy. Learn more about the First Year experience online. 

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Eric Freeberg: Illustrated Classics will run from October 1 through November 30 and will feature works made for a variety of classic stories in oil, acrylic, and pencil. Those pieces include artwork for The Wizard of Oz, Grimms鈥� Fairy Tales, The Illiad and The Odyssey (among other Greek and Roman myths), Slavic folklore, and works by Dickens, Twain, and Poe, among others.

Freeberg, who studied painting at the New York Academy of Art, has earned a number of awards and accolades over his nearly 20-year career. His resume includes an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, the Holbein Prize for Fantasy Art, and the 2024 Colorado Book Award for Juvenile Literature.

Located in Ellensburg, Washington, the Clymer Museum was created to honor noted illustrator John Clymer. In the mid-20th century, Clymer created covers for The Saturday Evening Post, among other commissions.

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Graduating Entertainment Design senior Susan Saulnier has had a busy decade. In 2015, she graduated from 四虎影视 of Art and Design鈥檚 Illustration program and went straight into a job as the College鈥檚 coordinator of student volunteerism and service-learning. Four years ago, she embarked on a new adventure 鈥� a second bachelor鈥檚 degree from 四虎影视, and just in time to enroll in the Entertainment Design major鈥檚 inaugural class. She is the leader of this year鈥檚 Student Commencement Committee, responsible for the redesign of 四虎影视鈥檚 2023 commencement. She was also one of a select group of students to work with Wrenhouse Design on Ringling鈥檚 2022 fundraising gala, Avant-Garde: Caf茅 des Artistes.

We caught up with Saulnier in the midst of her teeming schedule of full-time job, commencement committee, and full-time graduating student at the end of her last semester, to share some reflections about her exceptional education and career paths here at 四虎影视.

Can you talk about your experience being a full time Entertainment Design student and working as Ringling鈥檚 coordinator of student volunteerism and service-learning?

Saulnier: It has been a whirlwind. The pandemic limited event design practice with my volunteerism coordinator events, but this year, I was asked to lead the redesign of what 四虎影视’s commencement looks like. That has been the most enlightening, inspiring, and exciting project that I have been a part of so far, but I feel like I have said that a lot since being an Entertainment Design student. 

How has your experience as a current Entertainment Design student been different to your experience as an Illustration student?

Saulnier: Right off the bat, life experience is such an amazing, wonderful thing. The first time around, I was always worried about getting in trouble, so I was that student; classic: 鈥淵ou said we had homework?鈥� student. I attended 四虎影视 in 2011 as a traditional straight-from-high-school to college student. Come graduation in 2015, I had nothing lined up and I was burned out. I have always felt strongly about service work and giving back to my community, so when the coordinator of volunteerism and student-service learning position opened up, I knew I had to apply. After two years of an art break, I slowly started creating again. It was during this time that I started therapy and was diagnosed with anxiety and a sprinkling of depression. After taking care of myself, I started to grow and flourish, and most importantly, I started to put myself first. I began seriously reworking my portfolio and applying to design jobs. I remember being at The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen at Universal Studios, chaperoning a school trip with a friend, and we were talking about the new Entertainment Design major that had just been announced at the time, and what the program would be like. 

I was excited to take what I learned from Illustration to Entertainment Design, especially with the expectation that I would be able to move through work faster, already having an understanding of computer design programs. What I was most excited about in Entertainment Design were the fabrication possibilities. I love working physically and traditionally. The first year of Entertainment Design, my class went to the woodshop to get certified and I got to use drills and saws for the first time. 

Entertainment Design has felt more self-guided regarding areas of focus. For example, a favorite project of mine during sophomore year was a prop fabrication project. Everyone was required to design and create a prop for an experience that we created and pitched earlier in the semester. I designed and created a flower light, one classmate made a costume, and another classmate 3D-printed a doorknob. This project eventually became a class assignment for Entertainment Design majors.

Tell us about your leadership role on the Student Commencement Committee.

Saulnier: I was approached by Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students Dr. Tammy Walsh and Entertainment Design faculty Jamie DeRuyter in September of 2022, explaining that, this year being Entertainment Design’s first graduating class, I was the perfect fit to lead a redesign of the college commencement event. At first, I was terrified. I sat down and thought about commencement, what happened during mine in 2015, and every commencement I have helped work since. Maybe five students and I started in September, meeting bi-weekly, to brainstorm possibilities. We continued to reach out to the school, and soon we had at least one student representing each major. By December we had a pitch meeting, where we presented our goals and changes. Starting in January, we met weekly to start finalizing everything. We broke out into teams including Senior Week (many of the wishes and suggestions included celebrations with the entire campus), President’s Reception (a gathering for families to meet faculty, staff, and the campus community the night before the ceremony), Gifts and Giveaways (student-suggested senior gifts), Graduation (day-of ceremony planning), and most importantly, Accessibility. If I am honest, this is where the imposter syndrome hit me hardest because I was actively designing, but rather directing which was new for me.

I planned and led all meetings with the help of my phenomenal right-hand student, Sara Giovanello 鈥�23, Game Art. I am the communicator between the students planning commencement and Student Life, who organizes (and controls funds) for commencement. 

I really view myself as the conductor of the orchestra that is the commencement redesign, and the students have been the ones ideating, fabricating, calling vendors, and finding solutions to problems.

What are your top three highlights of your Ringling career 鈥� these could be projects, experiences, favorite faculty, etc.?

Saulnier: OOF THAT’S TOUGH. 

1. Seongwoo Nam is my favorite faculty member and everyone in the department knows this. Why? The first day of his class, he sits us all down and explains that education is for us, and we will only get out what we put in. He explained that it’s his job as an instructor to help us along this journey, telling us to be patient with each other and be patient with ourselves; we are all on our own journey and must take the time we need to get to our best. As someone who has always had an issue with, and fear of authority, this was revolutionary for me. Since then, Seongwoo has been my go-to instructor for questions and advice. 

2. Rocky Horror Picture Show Parade Float Assignment was my favorite project. Second semester sophomore year, the class was given a group assignment. We were imagining we were working on the NYC LGBTQ+ Pride parade and our class was a group working on four floats, dedicated to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The group as a whole had to come up with the overall look and feel of the floats, but we would then separate into our designated teams to work on our individual floats. We delegated poster design and the design intent packet, and at the end, we had four different but cohesive floats. This project helped prepare me for the commencement redesign and I loved seeing everyone ebb and flow through the process and then come together at the end with awesome scaled models. 

3. Our Makerspace and maker classes (mold making and digital fabrication) were another favorite of mine. I have always loved traditional art because I get to use more than just my hands and I can get messy. Making a mess is the easiest way to get into trouble 鈥� and with a fear of getting into trouble, I loved the 鈥渁pproved messy time鈥� (queue Isabella Madrigal’s song, What Else Can I Do?). These classes are led by Morgan Jassen and Noah Coleman, and were the classes I had always dreamed of taking. I got to learn how to design for and run a CNC machine, 3D printers, vinyl cutter, how to make a two-part mold, resins, silicone molds, and everything a fabricator could need to get started. For my final project in mold making, I made a life cast of my face to then sculpt and create a Who-nose from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. They were the most fun and educational projects for the field I know I want to get into. 

What are your plans after graduation?

Saulnier: Ah yes, everyone’s favorite question for seniors. Currently, my post-graduation plans include celebrating the fact that I made it another four years at one of the most rigorous art schools while working full-time. One day after graduation, my husband and I are finally going on our honeymoon. We were engaged in the summer of 2019 after he proposed at Disneyland in California, in front of the Snow White wishing well, and we eloped in a secret on-campus ceremony on Feb. 29, 2020. The pandemic made us push our scheduled ceremony date of Dec. 6, 2020, to 2021, and with my classes, we decided to save up and take our honeymoon as soon as I graduate. We will be going to Iceland for a week and I will do nothing but relax and celebrate!

In her role for the commencement redesign, Saulnier led her team to make conceptual decisions on the design elements for the event: the program, invitations, and the tickets. The team followed the College tradition of using Pantone鈥檚 color of the year as their commencement color. The 2023 color is 鈥淰iva Magenta鈥� and is described by Pantone as 鈥渁ssertive, but not aggressive. A carmine red that does not boldly dominate, but instead takes a 鈥榝ist in glove鈥� approach.鈥� 

Commencement will take place Thursday, May 4, at the Bradenton Area Convention Center. 

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Student Government Association President Celi Mitidieri 鈥�24, Film, was the recipient of the Avant-Garde Endowed Scholarship. Sandra Lee 鈥�24, Graphic Design, Wilderley 鈥淲ill鈥� Mauricette 鈥�24, Film, and Rose Nachman 鈥�24, Fine Arts, were scholarship finalists. These scholarships are awarded based on the students鈥� commitment to 四虎影视 and to the campus community service. 

The stars of the event were 四虎影视 President Dr. Larry R. Thompson and his wife, Pat Thompson 鈥�16, Fine Arts, who performed a number of Elton John songs dressed as a feathery Elton John and sparkly Elton Jane. 

Their costumes were designed by faculty member Matt Myers 鈥�82, Illustration, who conceptualized and created Elton Jane鈥檚 look, and collaborated with Entertainment Design students Capri Easterday 鈥�25 and Olivia Dumas 鈥�25 to transform Larry Thompson into Elton John. 

Myers has been an instructor at 四虎影视 since 2019, teaching Figure and Costume Visual Development. After graduating from 四虎影视 in 1982, he went on to work all over the country. He freelanced as an artist for 35 years, starting his career in New York City, where he created murals and paintings for hotels, nightclubs, and international cruise ships. That work led to a career in the theatre as a scenic artist, and eventually led to his work as a costume designer and fabricator for small theatres and opera companies. 

Working with smaller organizations, Myers was able to combine all of his skills, creating cohesive designs that coordinated graphic design and illustration with costume and set design. In 2007, he began working as costumer in the Theatre Department at Missouri Southern State University, teaching costume construction while continuing to freelance as a costume designer.

Since his return to 四虎影视 as a faculty member, Myers has also helped develop the Figure Reference Library, a project started during the pandemic that has since become a valuable resource for the school. With the onset of remote learning, faculty discovered a great need for remote figure model references that fit the unique needs of the students. Myers collaborated with other faculty and staff to create a 3,000 plus image and video library, complete with 360-degree rotating imagery. 

Myers has been involved with Avant-Garde in myriad ways since his return, costuming guests, and contributing to stage direction. This year, in addition to costuming the Thompsons, he helped stage their much-anticipated grand entrance, and contributed to directing their much-anticipated grand entrance. He feels particularly invested in Avant-Garde as a former beneficiary. In his senior year at 四虎影视, Myers was a recipient of a scholarship that helped him complete his degree, similar to the Crossing the Finish Line Scholarship, a one-time scholarship established in 2014 to help students who experience an unexpected financial hardship finish their Ringling education, and primarily funded by the Avant-Garde paddle raise. 

Myers continues his mural work, and recently painted a site-specific two-story mural for the Sarasota Chamber of Commerce, celebrating the centennial anniversary for the county. He is currently dreaming up plans for multimedia wearable art projects.

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