Sophie Auger – Graphic Design Print & Web

Sophie Auger (she/her) is an interdisciplinary artist, designer and lecturer at Parsons School of Design and Rutgers University. Her situation-specific practice has taken numerous forms: writing, performing for the radio, hacking, publishing, building sculptural cameras, experimenting on the Ethereum Blockchain. Her work has been recently shown at Helsinki Contemporary Art Center and soon at Wesbeth Gallery in NY and Elektra Gallery in Montreal (2022).

 

Katerina Pansera – Drawing & Painting

Katerina Pansera (BFA Concordia University 2013; MFA Rutgers Mason Gross 2022) is a painter from Montreal, Canada currently residing in the USA. She is a Part-Time Lecturer at Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts, teaching undergraduate Painting courses. In her art practice, she uses the interior as a motif to explore persona and inner life.

 

David Torres – 2D Animation

Born in West Palm Beach, FL, David Torres is interested in the history of stories where the unseen forces of morality are at work. The PTSD factor embedded in culture has drawn David’s work to the idea of the “hero” as an empathic ideal for people to aspire to. David Torres is also interested in the illusion and delusional discussions that surround the complexities of the racial, sexual, religious, aging; old and young identities in culture. As a way of investigating these identities David Torres created “Riakman”, an alter ego, designed under the influences of 1990’s anime, video games, and his father’s middle school drawings. By channeling “Riakman”, David find pathways through high art and popular culture. Through Riakman, David tells stories within his fictional planet “Runetech” about a way of being in the world. Exploring a narrative with an embedded nostalgia for the future is the illusion David Torres uses to contend with the disillusions that exist within culture.

 

Stephanie Zimmerman – 3D Animation

Steph Zimmerman is a multimedia artist blending audio, sculpture, video, text, and craft in her installation-based art. She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, attending residencies at Atlantic Center for the Arts, The Vermont Studio Center, Arteles Creative Center, and Paul Artspace. She is the recipient of a Creative Stimulus Award from Critical Mass for the Visual Arts and an Artist Support Grant from St. Louis’ Regional Arts Commission. Before living in New Jersey, Zimmerman worked for years as a digital media manager, overseeing the development of interactive online features and short video documentaries at St. Louis Public Radio and St. Louis Magazine. Zimmerman received her MFA in art and design from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, and currently teaches in the school’s media department. She also holds a BFA in digital media and photography from the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.

• Registration Deadline: 1 week prior to the start of each program.
• Tuition must be paid in full 1 week prior to the start of the program.
• Please read our Policies & Procedures Document for additional information on payment, cancellation, participant conduct, and media waivers. Your completion of registration indicates your acknowledgment and agreement to abide by these policies.
• Covid Precautions:  
  • Students enrolled in the High School Art & Design Intensives must adhere to all RCA and Rutgers University COVID-19 safety protocols, which are subject to change at any time during the semester. Failure to adhere to safety protocols may result in cancellation of registration, at the discretion of the RCA Director.
  • All students, parents, guests, and staff must wear a face mask over their nose and mouth while on campus and in the classroom.
  • All students, parents, guests, and staff must maintain at least 6 feet of social distancing.
  • Parents and guests are asked to avoid common areas and hallways of the Rutgers facilities while students are in classes & lessons. Parents and guests will not be permitted in classrooms.
  • Students who are exhibiting signs of sickness or fever are asked to not attend.
  • At this time, guests to the RCA office are seen by appointment only. To make an appointment you must contact our office at least 24 hours in advance to be added to the university visitor log.
  • For additional information, please refer to these documents provided by Rutgers University:
    • Guide to Returning to Rutgers
    • Navigating our Classrooms and Student Spaces

David Torres – Introduction to Character Design

Born in West Palm Beach, FL, David Torres is interested in the history of stories where the unseen forces of morality are at work. The PTSD factor embedded in culture has drawn David’s work to the idea of the “hero” as an empathic ideal for people to aspire to. David Torres is also interested in the illusion and delusional discussions that surround the complexities of the racial, sexual, religious, aging; old and young identities in culture. As a way of investigating these identities David Torres created “Riakman”, an alter ego, designed under the influences of 1990’s anime, video games, and his father’s middle school drawings. By channeling “Riakman”, David find pathways through high art and popular culture. Through Riakman, David tells stories within his fictional planet “Runetech” about a way of being in the world. Exploring a narrative with an embedded nostalgia for the future is the illusion David Torres uses to contend with the disillusions that exist within culture.

 

Olympia Martin – Junior Drawing & Painting

Olympia Martin is a painter and illustrator born and raised in Ridgewood, New Jersey. She was given drawing instruction from an early age by her father who is also an artist, Andrew Martin. She works in a variety of mediums including oil painting, digital illustration, and pen and ink drawing. Olympia’s work draws from mythology and science fiction, seeking new ways to depict fictional worlds and characters. The figures she depicts are often in a state of internal conflict, fighting to find of sense of self-acceptance despite being torn between a mortal and a fantastical world.

• Registration Deadline: 1 week prior to the start of each program.
• Tuition must be paid in full 1 week prior to the start of the program.
• Please read our Policies & Procedures Document for additional information on payment, cancellation, participant conduct, and media waivers. Your completion of registration indicates your acknowledgment and agreement to abide by these policies.
• Covid Precautions:  
  • Students enrolled in the Middle School Art & Design Intensives must adhere to all RCA and Rutgers University COVID-19 safety protocols, which are subject to change at any time during the semester. Failure to adhere to safety protocols may result in cancellation of registration, at the discretion of the RCA Director.
  • All students, parents, guests, and staff must wear a face mask over their nose and mouth while on campus and in the classroom.
  • All students, parents, guests, and staff must maintain at least 6 feet of social distancing.
  • Parents and guests are asked to avoid common areas and hallways of the Rutgers facilities while students are in classes & lessons. Parents and guests will not be permitted in classrooms.
  • Students who are exhibiting signs of sickness or fever are asked to not attend.
  • At this time, guests to the RCA office are seen by appointment only. To make an appointment you must contact our office at least 24 hours in advance to be added to the university visitor log.
  • For additional information, please refer to these documents provided by Rutgers University:
    • Guide to Returning to Rutgers
    • Navigating our Classrooms and Student Spaces

Lilly Dlugosz – Basic and Intermediate Drawing & Painting

Born in Brick, NJ, Elizabeth Dlugosz grew up in an artistic household on the Jersey Shore. She was introduced to art making at a young age while working for her family’s small henna tattoo body art and face-painting business. Her appreciation for engaging in artistic experiences with the public led Elizabeth to begin teaching paint parties in 2018. Elizabeth has refined skills in painting, drawing, logo design, illustration, animation, large-scale murals, and tattoo design.

Elizabeth works with contemporary realism and paints impressions of moments that represent an outward appearance of a time and place as well as its inward significance. Elizabeth is interested in the mundane, relatable, daily activities of life and the passing of time. She explores the concept of what we do when there is nothing else to do and how the psychological effects of Covid-19 and living through a pandemic are present. Her informal portraits of figures trapped inside their personal interiors show them existing and occupying space through moments of forced leisure. They are glimpses into what her family’s everyday life had been like through moments that symbolize the passing of time as they face an internal conflict- are they immobilized from stress or enjoying their time lounging in captivity? The moments she chooses to depict are often displacement activities within familiar domestic spaces where she witnessed her family spending the most time in quarantine.

Harrison Hague – Introduction to Graphic Design

Harrison is a designer, developer & musician who grew up on a farm in central NJ. Currently, he works for a marketing firm where he specializes in building websites, as well as creating soundtracks such as for fellow Mason Gross alumni, David Torres’ Sunkeepers series.  

Outside of design, Harrison enjoys learning and exploring as much as possible: surfing, building computers, creating board games, photography & volunteering in the local fire department are all things he can be found doing after work. 

 

Olympia Martin – Drawing & Painting Portfolio Development

Olympia Martin is a painter and illustrator born and raised in Ridgewood, New Jersey. She was given drawing instruction from an early age by her father who is also an artist, Andrew Martin. She works in a variety of mediums including oil painting, digital illustration, and pen and ink drawing. Olympia’s work draws from mythology and science fiction, seeking new ways to depict fictional worlds and characters. The figures she depicts are often in a state of internal conflict, fighting to find of sense of self-acceptance despite being torn between a mortal and a fantastical world.

 

David Torres – Introduction to Film & Animation, Independent Study: Animation

Born in West Palm Beach, FL, David Torres is interested in the history of stories where the unseen forces of morality are at work. The PTSD factor embedded in culture has drawn David’s work to the idea of the “hero” as an empathic ideal for people to aspire to. David Torres is also interested in the illusion and delusional discussions that surround the complexities of the racial, sexual, religious, aging; old and young identities in culture. As a way of investigating these identities David Torres created “Riakman”, an alter ego, designed under the influences of 1990’s anime, video games, and his father’s middle school drawings. By channeling “Riakman”, David find pathways through high art and popular culture. Through Riakman, David tells stories within his fictional planet “Runetech” about a way of being in the world. Exploring a narrative with an embedded nostalgia for the future is the illusion David Torres uses to contend with the disillusions that exist within culture.

 

• Registration Deadline: 1 week prior to the start of each program.
• Tuition must be paid in full 1 week prior to the start of the program.
• Please read our Policies & Procedures Document for additional information on payment, cancellation, participant conduct, and media waivers. Your completion of registration indicates your acknowledgment and agreement to abide by these policies.
• Covid Precautions:  
  • Students enrolled in summer weekly Art & Design classes must adhere to all RCA and Rutgers University COVID-19 safety protocols, which are subject to change at any time during the semester. Failure to adhere to safety protocols may result in cancellation of registration, at the discretion of the RCA Director.
  • All students, parents, guests, and staff must wear a face mask over their nose and mouth while on campus and in the classroom.
  • All students, parents, guests, and staff must maintain at least 6 feet of social distancing.
  • Parents and guests are asked to avoid common areas and hallways of the Rutgers facilities while students are in classes & lessons. Parents and guests will not be permitted in classrooms.
  • Students who are exhibiting signs of sickness or fever are asked to not attend.
  • At this time, guests to the RCA office are seen by appointment only. To make an appointment you must contact our office at least 24 hours in advance to be added to the university visitor log.
  • For additional information, please refer to these documents provided by Rutgers University:
    • Guide to Returning to Rutgers
    • Navigating our Classrooms and Student Spaces