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Alumni

Students that graduate from SIM are uniquely prepared for lives as self-motivated artists as well as professionals in many commercial and non-profit fields. SIM grads have started their own galleries, TV shows, and businesses; worked as non-linear film and sound editors in Hollywood, New York and Boston (WGBH, ZOOM); as stage crew for theaters in New York City; as web developers for award-winning studios; as educators at Harvard, Stanford, Mills, Carnegie Mellon, and the New England Aquarium; and as practicing, exhibiting, and/or performing artists around the world.

Several SIM alum have been the recipient of Massart's Alumni award: 

  • 2011- Heidi Kayser
  • 2010 - Dave Schlafman 
  • 2010 - Tucker Stilley
  • 2001 - Ellen Rothenberg

The SIM community extends beyond the walls of Space46 (pre1990), North175 (1990-20002), the Tower Auditorium (2002-2004), or the Pozen Center (post2004). SIM alums are in Boston, West Virginia, Colorado, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Thailand, Holland, Viet Nam, and Italy - to name a few. SIM alums share information via a yahoo group, MassArt_SIM_alums, and a SIM group on Facebook that is also open to current students.

The college has been developing its alumni resources over the years. The MassArt Alumni Relations office encourages you to keep them posted on how you are doing after graduation. They send out a free monthly e-Connection newsletter to all alumni. To sign up, fill out the Alumni Directory @ http://alumni.massart.edu/. You can also use this form to tell the college about newsworthy professional and personal events in your life.

A Selection of SIM Alumni/ae career paths in no particular order:

  • Christian Marclay, who graduated from SIM in 1980, has received the top honor given out at the Venice Biennale. The 2011 Gold Lion award was presented to Marclay for his installation “The Clock” which was recently purchased by the MFA in Boston. Marclay is a performer/sound artist in NYC who composes and performs with phonograph records and turntables. He has collaborated with musicians such as John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, Fred Frith, Zeena Parkins, Shelley Hirsh, Christian Wolff, Butch Morris, Arto Lindsay, and Sonic Youth among many others. His works have been included in exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art New York, Centre Pompidou Paris, Kunsthaus Zurich, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
  • Suzi Walsh is Executive Director for The Center for Independent Documentary, based in Newton, MA, a one-of-a-kind organization dedicated to helping area filmmakers take their docu-vision from start to finish. In 1997, the CID was honored with the Commonwealth Award for Outstanding Cultural Organization in Massachusetts.
  • Andrew Schneider is a much sought-after engineer in the recording industry. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his audio DVD for "Blue Man Group." 

  • Adam Gilmore  is a professional camera operator and cinematographer who has worked on many Hollywood films including O Brother, Where Art Thou?,  The Family Man, The Love Letter, The Big Lebowski, Cop Land, The Ice Storm, and Fargo. 

  • Jason Arnone does sound design for video game development at 'Harmonix' in Cambridge, working with recording artists like David Bowie and Run-DMC. 

  • Gail Wight is an internationally recognized artist in new media. She works in digital media like video and web-art, but also uses unusual sculptural/performance materials like DNA and EEGs. She started a multimedia arts program at Mills College modeled after the SIM program. She is currently a tenured Professor at Stanford University. 

  • Matt Moore is a professional web and interactive designer, technical artist and programmer specializing in children's multimedia.  He also has designed award-winning websites for cities, created digital 3D prototypes and developed mobile game content. Currently, Matt is a lead flash developer at Disney Online Studios.

  • Susan Jones is an animator currently working on the series "Sponge Bob SquarePants" on Nickelodeon.

  • Joel Rubin, the creator of the original Eventworks Festival, was educational programs director at the New England Aquarium in Boston and is now a High School Science teacher.  

  • Michael Nishball is a Rigging and Stage Equipment Specialist with Theatre Projects Consultants. He has more than ten years experience in theatrical rigging systems design and has worked at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, NYC, College of Staten Island Performing Arts Center, NY, Cable Vision Headquarters, NY and the HBO Corporate Screening Rooms, NYC.

  • Caitlin Corbett isartistic director of the Caitlin Corbett Dance Company and professor of dance at Salem State College. She's received a Fulbright grant to create and perform new work at Theatre Academy of Finland in Helsinki for the spring 2009.

  • Ean White is a practicing artist as well as the studio manager at Harvard University's Studio for Electroacoustic Composition. 

  • Paul Lindale is a Professor in New Media at Greenfield Community College. 

  • Jenn Leong is a video artist and editor who, after working with the Toneburst Collective in Boston moved to NYC and is now working as a producer and editor at MTV. 

  • Ryan Hodson is a video artist and editor. She has been an editor for WGBH's  "Zoom!" and "Sesame Street" and is co-creator of the "Top Shelf TV Show" cable television series. 

  • Elizabeth Hottinger is a visual artist who runs her own gallery, Vagabond Gallery, on Cape Cod. 

  • John Taylor is an independent entrepreneur who created his own software company. 

  • Jenn Diamond, artist and musician, performs and tours with her band 'Vanity Press' in Los Angeles, CA. 

  • Candace Holman is a Computer Scientist and Convergence Engineer working in telecommunications at Harvard University.

  • David Wengertsman, a video and performance artist, is the technical director for the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center. 

  • Maura Jasper, a video and performance artist, she created "Punk Rock Aerobics" which has been reviewed on broadcast television and toured the U.K.  She is a Professor of Art at Ball State University.

  • Gregory Adams, Director of the Jorge Hernandez Cultural center in the South End, Boston. He told Dana once, "You know, coordinating and scheduling all the events including equipment rentals, making curatorial decisions, choosing and training tech people... every day I use stuff that I learned as a student producer in SIM." 

  • Ron Wallace, one of the first generation of SIM graduates, is now a senior software engineer at AVID. Ron is also an active member the Nature and Inquiry Artists group, producing many solo and collaborative artworks.

  • DJ Goldilox (when she was in SIM we called her Lisa Sirois) is a professional sound engineer and DJ. After a number of years in Ireland she is currently based in San Francisco. She performs every year at Burning Man. 

  • Ron Labbe owns Studio 3D Stereoscopic Imaging, a 3 DIMENSIONAL IMAGING specialist since 1980. Among many other clients, Studio 3D provided Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition with stereoscopic imaging technology and consultation.

  • Monica Pizzichemi and Mike Mckay started the Empty Set Gallery in Western MA.

  • DJ Flack (aka Antony Flackett) is a dj, producer and video/multimedia artist living in the Boston area.
  • San Shoppell was selected as "Artist of Hawaii" 2002 and 2003. Currently she is a culinary student and led her culinary team to win the 2009 American Culinary Federation Student Team Competition held in Orlando, Fla.
  • Danny Mydlack is an assistant professor of media production and history at Towson University near Baltimore, MD. Danny runs a broadcast journalism intensive at the George Washington University in Washington, DCPreviously he produced and directed media and interactive productions for financial, software and educational publishing clients in New York and Los Angeles.

  • Rich Streitmatter-Tran, now based in Vietnam, is a media artist, teacher and leader in the contemporary art and design culture of Southeast Asia. He has exhibited his work internationally, including the Singapore Biennial of 2006 and 2008. 

  • Ryan Cummings has been an accountant at the New Museum of Contemporary Art and Exit Art and a treasurer and financial administrator at Participant, Inc.  He composes, records and performs his own musical work in the NYC area.

  • Dave Schlafman is an award winning animation producer, director, and children’s book illustrator. Dave has worked professionally in the fields of design, animation, and illustration for clients such as Penguin Publishing, Hasbro Toys, Parker Brothers, PBS, WGBH, Johnny Cupcakes, as well as American Greetings. He recently won the Grand Prize for Current TV's 60 Seconds to Save the Earth PSA Contest. Al Gore now uses Dave’s animation during his global warming presentations. Currently, Dave is creative director at CloudKid Studios in Boston, MA, a children's media company that focuses on interactive storytelling by creating fresh and original characters.

  • Gina Mullen was the Production Director at First Night Boston and is founder of Park Street Production company. 

  • Dana Colley was a founding member of the band, Morphine. 

  • Nita Sturiale has been recognized for breaking ground in combining GPS technology, participatory performance, and handheld computing. She is included in Stephen Wilson’s Information Arts (MIT Press, 2001).  Nita is currently a Professor in SIM. 

Last updated Oct. 12, 2011 2:30pm