Meet Your Department Heads
From L to R: Alan, Lindy, Jerry, Gary, Melissa
A Force to Be Reckoned With
Portfolio Center has grown its already considerable brain trust by adding four new department heads this past year. Jerry Burns is our new Department Head of Photography; Eddie Snyder joined us as our Head of Advertising; Lindy Burnett teamed with veteran Gary Weiss as Co-Chair of Illustration; and Alan Woodruff took the helm of the new and improved Media Architecture program. Being that each has a long history teaching at Portfolio Center, they are not exactly rookies to begin with; by now, they've had a few months to get settled into their new positions, and we've had a chance to see how they operate:
Photographer Jerry Burns, founder of the award-winning Studio Burns, has been practicing photography for over 25 years and has shot for an impressive client list that includes Interface, Neenah Paper, Georgia Pacific, Delta Air Lines, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His images have been featured in such notable publications as CA, Print, PDN, and Graphis, among others. Jerry brings great passion, as well as a nice balance of kindness and authority to his role here. When asked what drew him to Portfolio Center, he answers, "Portfolio Center is a vortex of unexplainable creative phenomena that is fueled by the students, the staff, the professionals who teach, and the visionaries who lead. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that?"
Eddie Snyder is Executive Vice President and CCO of Fitzgerald & Co., where he has spearheaded projects for such primo accounts as Coca-Cola, Durex Condoms, Longhorn Steakhouse, Time Warner, and Quikrete. Eddie has won every award imaginable for his creative work and has been recognized by CA, OneShow, Print, Art Directors Club of NY, Canne, and Graphis in a list of publications that continues to grow. As good a creative as he is, though, Eddie is an even better creative leader, known for his gentle giant approach to leadership and motivation. His methods have been proven at Portfolio Center over and over during his 17 years as an instructor.
Lindy Burnett has illustrated campaigns for such notable companies as Quaker Oats, Coors, Delta, Kellogg's and Nestles. The projects nearest her heart, however, are the children's books she's illustrated, which include The Book of Wizard Craft, The Book of Wizard Magic, I Live Here, The Sunset Switch, and the Seaside Switch--work, she believes, that answers a desperate need for books that respect children's intelligence and desire to learn. Lindy has an innate talent for understanding and relating to people of all ages, and our students love her for the way she blends kind criticism and exuberant encouragement.
Alan Woodruff, of Train404 Design, has been creating brand identities, websites, and print and digital communications of all types for more than eight years. He's done work for Orbitz, Sony, Motorola, Solution 6, and Oracle. Most recently, he served as a Design/Branding consultant for the Coca-Cola company. What he enjoys most about his role at Portfolio Center is "watching as students narrate a story and architect it visually." He sees a huge need for designers who can communicate in this new digital landscape and says, "Portfolio Center has always been a campus of thought leaders, and now we are applying that same conceptual equity to the New Media landscape." Alan has the intense focus of a computer geek combined with the sensibility of a true artist. He is young and hip, and because he's a Portfolio Center alum, he knows all the students' tricks.
This new crew joins our long-tenured Advisors and Chairs: Illustration Chair Gary Weiss; Portfolio Center's president, Hank Richardson, who is also our Head of Design; writing advisor Sam Harrison; and design and art direction advisor, Melissa Kuperminc.
Artist Gary Weiss has led the Illustration department for about 15 years but doesn't want to admit to the far greater number of years he's taught here. A graduate of the BFA programs at both Georgia State and Art Center's College of Design, his favorite subjects include plein-air landscape, the human figure, and still life. He spent 17 years as a commercial illustrator, doing work for companies such as BellSouth, Honda, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi. Quiet and patient, he also has a dry and biting sense of humor that keeps him from being too nice to like. Gary has stuck around for so long because he "loves watching talented artists grow into professionals." He's proud to be on the faculty of what he considers to be the best illustration program in the Southeast and part of a curriculum where experimentation and risk-taking are mandatory.
Hank Richardson has served on the National Board of AIGA and is an AIGA Fellow. He wrote the commentary for the Graphis New Talent Design Annual, 2001, Designing for the Real World, and his articles, speeches, and columns are published frequently in such venues as the AIGA National website, Transitions, and UCDA’s Designer. As a consultant, he has contributed to books by such industry notables as Steven Heller, Elizabeth Resnick, and Luke Sullivan. He is a tireless mentor, with a line of students always at the door. His infamous 5:30 a.m. classes are a rite of passage at Portfolio Center, and he is the quintessential storyteller who has a gift for making storytellers out of everyone around him.
Sam Harrison has done everything there is to do in the field of creative communications. Once the senior VP for an S&P 500 firm, he has worked for clients such as Microsoft, NFL, American Express, and the U.S. Humane Society. He is author of the books Zing! and Idea Spotting, and he is a sought-after creativity coach and facilitator at conferences and corporations all over the globe. Sam has a no-nonsense attitude about creativity and reminds students that "being creative is an important and necessary job and they can get paid darned well for doing it."
Melissa Kuperminc hales from Yale, where she received an MFA in graphic design. A natural teacher, her Logical Brain helps keep students grounded even as it has proven to be the most fertile ground for conceptual assignments--which is why she's so good at what she says she enjoys most: "watching the students take projects where they never dreamed they could go, where not even I thought they could go."
Together, the Department Heads and advisors bring about 180 years of industry experience to the leadership of Portfolio Center, which is about to celebrate its 30th anniversary as the South's premier school for communication arts. We have regrouped and recharged in the dynamic fashion of the industry itself and look forward to the next thirty years of being "The School for Nontraditional Creative Thinking."
