:: AIB Alumni

Dinora Justice | Fine Arts '01

Growing up in Brazil, Dinora always felt the pull of the artist (her mother) and the pragmatist (her father). Instead of studying art education at the local university, she got a degree in mechanical engineering. For Dinora, the intricate, exacting work of the engineer was not without its intellectual, abstract appeal. She eventually combined her design sensibilities with her engineering background in a career in footwear design.

But the artist in her would not be silent. We're really only given so much time, she believes. No matter how successful she was professionally, she felt like she was living someone else's life. So she came to the United States to get serious about painting, and eventually found her way to AIB.

Now an emerging painter, she brings her practical understanding of complexity to the canvas to create luminous landscapes both real and imagined. Critics have compared Dinora's classic style to works by Rembrandt and the old Dutch Masters.

She credits AIB with instilling in her a conceptual and intellectual background in art. It was at AIB that she became acquainted with the painstaking techniques of indirect painting which characterize her style. Layer upon layer of transparent color appears to almost light her scenes from within. She is fascinated by the visual phenomenon the wispy brush strokes create.

But her work has not been confined to two-dimensional surfaces. She is avidly exploring sculptural art. She likes being outside and working with actual space, so to her it makes sense that she's beginning to build out her ideas three-dimensionally.

"Once you start exhibiting," she says, "it starts a chain of events. One thing leads to another. You are invited to another show here, another show there."

Dinora has exhibited her paintings in galleries in both New York and Boston. As she continues to explore her vision and take more risks in her painting, she hopes to bring her patrons along on her artistic journey.

Russ Quackenbush | Photography '93

Lives/works: Boston, Massachusetts

Maybe it's because he can spot the ordinary in the absurd. Maybe that's why when he photographs a boat lodged in a tree, it just looks so, well, right. It's this flair for capturing offbeat images with humor and a certain reverence that has made Russ Quackenbush one of today's most sought-after commercial photographers.

His indelible images have been featured in campaigns for Mastercard, Volkswagen, Adidas, and Polaroid, as well as for a host of pro bono clients. While he is based in Boston, his work takes him on location all over the country. He has won a host of awards and acclaim for photos that are imbued with both a high degree of technical prowess and a sense of humanity.

"I like to look at people and treat them with humanity, regardless of where they are or who they are. It's easy to make fun of people. I prefer to respect them and let the natural humor come through," he says.

Russ can make the most complex shot seem almost off-the-cuff. While a student at AIB and in his early years as a photographer's assistant and then as a studio photographer, Russ learned how far he could push the equipment to create his vision. Today, most of his work is done in the field with available and selective lighting.

"The secret is to keep things as simple as possible," he says. While his shoots involve careful upfront legwork by a team of freelance producers and assistants, working in collaboration with the client and the advertising agency, he tries not to over think the shoot itself. "When you have five shots in a day, you have to relinquish some control," he says.

Always industrious, Russ passed on a full scholarship to another art school to come to AIB in the early 1990s. "There was no pretense at AIB. It was all about the work. I loved the art of photography but I was also thinking, How am I going to make a living? AIB showed me how."

Jason C. Otero | Graphic Design '95

Lives/works: Denver, Colorado

Jason Otero dubbed his first design studio in Denver with the intriguing name Matter. But, as he started getting a clearer idea about what graphic design is-or should be-the firm's name was feeling more ambiguous than innovative.

So he took stock of his ideas and ideals and started again. Three years ago, Jason launched the studio with the name that crystallizes what he believes to be the mission of graphic design: Art & Anthropology.

"Graphic design is a fusion. It's, of course, art-the desire to create and be expressive. Anthropology is the intent of that creativity-the understanding of how people use the tools designers create," he says. How does one gain this understanding? "Turn off the computer, leave the desk, go out into the real world, and explore," he says.

For instance, before beginning a recent public arts map for the city of Denver, A & A designers watched people fumble with existing maps at various kiosks along the route. "What we noticed in the field was how vulnerable people looked when they tried to open this conspicuous map," he says. "We designed the map with these faces in mind."

With an expanding list of "great" clients who appreciate the philosophy and intelligence behind his design, Jason proves it's possible to do work you love without compromising your values. For him, feeling connected to the community is what counts. By working with the mayor's office on high-profile public projects such as the citywide literacy program One Book, One Denver, he builds cultural bridges through design.

As he continues to work on-and win awards for-"tools" that resonate for him and his audiences, he plans to continue teaching design at Metropolitan State College of Denver and to keep Art & Anthropology vibrant and small. "AIB spoke to me because of its size, its human scale. It was like this little outpost of Art. It still inspires me today."

Cynthia von Buhler | Illustration '91

Lives/works: New York City

It probably wouldn't have taken a fortune teller to divine Cynthia von Buhler's destiny. Growing up in a family with a penchant for group art projects that included large-scale papier-mâché Halloween floats, it seemed only natural that she would attend and excel at art school.

The provocative twists and turns her career has taken since graduating from AIB in 1991, those may never have been foretold. With her considerable talent, unusual vision, and ability to manifest unique visuals, she has created a life suffused in artistic expression.

An internationally exhibiting visual artist and performer, Cynthia has gained renown for her ever-evolving "folk art meets Renaissance" style illustrations and paintings.

She has illustrated five children's books including The Little Girl in Red Dress with Cat and Dog, which met with widespread critical acclaim. She also contributed an illustration to Steven Spielberg's Starbright Foundation's book/audio benefit project, Once Upon a Fairytale, in which her work was paired with a story by Martha Stewart.

With influences as varied as Medieval art, the Dutch Masters, and modern artists Cindy Sherman and Barbara Kruger, Cynthia's style has been compared to Frida Kahlo's. "I always keep experimenting with my work, wanting it to see it mature as I do," she says. Her three-dimensional portraits often incorporate live caged birds and objects inset into recessed boxes. She then photographs them with a 4x5 camera for reproduction.

For her portrait of Jimi Hendrix for Rolling Stone, she inset a real Stratocaster guitar into his spine, set the painting on fire, and captured it on film for the magazine. Later, Rolling Stone's publisher, Jann Wenner, bought the slightly charred painting from Cynthia.

She has been able to make her many creative leaps, in part, because of the nurturing she received at AIB. "I was on a first-name basis with all of my teachers. AIB was my second home. That experience gave me confidence in all facets of my work."

Robert Castillo | Illustration/Animation '01

Lives/works: New York City

One of the first things that Robert Castillo tells you is not that he recently won a prestigious Student Academy Award for his first short film and that it put him in the running for a full-blown Academy Award. Nor that he just completed a series of ads in his unique animation style for ESPN. Robert Castillo tells you about Roberto Clemente.

Even though Robert was just a baby when Clemente perished in a plane that crashed en route to Nicaragua on an aid mission, the baseball great from Puerto Rico, "one of the greatest athletes and humanitarians ever," has always inspired Robert.

That generosity of spirit is evident in Robert's life and work. His film S.P.I.C.: The Storyboard of My Life has won high praise and avid interest from Hollywood but it is the kids that he reaches when he takes his film on the road, that is what makes Robert most proud. "Kids tell me and email me from around the world and say 'Hey, your movie opened my heart and my ears to storytelling,'" he says.

The title and the film are inspired by Robert's life. "When we were growing up, my brothers and I were so naive that when other kids called us the racist word Spic, and then told us it stood for Special Person in Chelsea, we believed them," he says. The film consists of five short stories-some funny, others sad-based on Rob's memories.

"The movie is me at my best, drawing with a camera over my shoulder!" He later wrote and added the narration himself. The movie, with its hand drawings and honesty, has a raw power and poignance that has garnered attention and awards in festivals all over the country.

"I took a lot of animation history courses at AIB. I remember studying a film from 1905. It was a chalkboard with a hand drawing on it, then erasing it-one of the first animated films," he says.

"AIB saw my potential." Robert continues to give back to AIB by teaching in the Pre-College Animation Program. "I made a vow to AIB that if they would accept me in the BFA program that I would make the honor roll every semester. I did," he says.

The Art Institute of Boston Alumni Committee Mission Statement

The committee's mission is to develop a strong connection to past and future AIB graduates. We want to promote staying active in the artist community and re-connecting with other AIB alumni by providing events and other alumni services. With the participation of our fellow alumni, we will grow and develop into a vibrant network of artists with common traits; superb training and the philosophy that, through expressing ourselves as artists, we can enhance our lives and the lives of those around us.

If you are interested in becoming involved with the Art Institute of Boston Alumni Committee, please contact the Office of Alumni Relations at (617) 349-8622 or Visit http://www.lesley.edu/alumni_and_others/alumni/index.html.

The Committee consists of the following AIB alumni:

• Kirsten Baumgartner '00, Chair
  Photography
• Jennifer Steeves Baldwin '98
  Graphic Design
• Ruth Moore'98
  Graphic Design
• Susie Hart-Walker '00
  Graphic Design
• Jason Wallengren '93
  Illustration