GMIT and New York School of Visual Arts host international exhibition

GMIT Centre for the Creative Arts and Media (CCAM) is delighted to partner with the School of Visual Arts, New York, to host the international touring exhibition “UNDERGROUND IMAGES” for the first time in the West of Ireland.



This exhibition includes more than fifty posters selected from a wide collection, conceived at the School of Visual Arts, for display in the New York City subway system. Curated by SVA Executive Vice President Anthony P Rhodes, these posters offer a glimpse of the history of the college and the collective talent of its acclaimed design, illustration and photography faculty. The exhibition will officially launch on Wednesday, 2 March at 5.30pm, and will run for four weeks.

There will be a live video link in the campus’ White room between CCAM and School of Visual Arts NYC. Staff members Beth Kleber, Archivist at SVA and expert on the collection, and David Sandlin, lecturer at SVA, will speak about the exhibition as well as guest speaker Leon Butler, Visual Narrative Designer, based in Galway.

Many staff at GMIT’s CCAM have strong connections with the Art and Design community in New York. Fergus Delargy, lecturer at GMIT, represented Ireland on the PS1 Fellowship award in the 1980s in Long Island. While there, he developed a strong working relationship and friendship with graphic artist David Sandlin, originally from Belfast, who also teaches at the School of Visual Arts. David visited Fergus in CCAM last year (2015) and discussed the opportunity to host the ‘UNDERGROUND IMAGES’ exhibition, which developed from there.

GMIT already collaborates with many international institutions and have plans to extend the development of collaborative projects, exchanges and residencies with international colleges around the world.

Cait Noone, VP of International Engagement at GMIT, says: “We are delighted to host the SVA exhibition and look forward to developing the potential of the relationship. International collaboration is hugely important for the Creative industries in the West of Ireland and CCAM will be instrumental in contributing to these opportunities for the sector.”

GMIT Centre for Creative Arts & Media are currently providing BA programmes in Contemporary Art (Paint, Print, Ceramics, Sculpture, Textiles, Photography, Digital Media), Film & Documentary (Editing, Screenwriting, Cinematography, Audio, Production Design, 4D Design), and Creative Enterprise.

From next September, the centre will also be offering a new undergraduate programme in Design (Graphic Design & Illustration, Animation & Game Design, Interior Design, Industrial Design, Fashion) and new postgraduate MA programme in Creative Practice.

The 29 current and former SVA faculty members who created these posters for the ‘UNDERGROUND IMAGES’ exhibition include: Gail Anderson, Marshall Arisman, Gene Case, Ivan Chermayeff, Paul Davis, Sal DeVito, Louise Fili, Audrey Flack, Nathan Fox, Bob Gill, Robert Giusti, Milton Glaser, Phil Hays, Steven Heller, Mirko Ilić, Viktor Koen, Stephen Kroninger, Marvin Mattelson, Clay Patrick McBride, James McMullan, Jerry Moriarty, Tony Palladino, Stefan Sagmeister, David Sandlin, Paula Scher, Eve Sonneman, George Tscherny, James Victore and Robert Weaver.

Dr Paddy Tobin, Head of GMIT’s CCAM, says: “"The SVA are one of top design schools in the world and we are delighted to host this exhibition of world-class graphic art and design here in CCAM." 

For further information on GMIT’s Centre for the Creative Arts & Media, please visit:

http://www.gmit.ie/creative-arts-and-media/centre-creative-arts-and-med…